Luo Fengjun’s expression changed several times, and the corner of his mouth twitched. He stood still, unwilling to move.
“Brother Luo.” a silhouette wearing a black Confucian robe with a sword hanging at his waist, walking over with a smile on his face. “The wind is strong here, I have ordered the palace attendance to prepare top-notch tea and snacks in the Water Pavilion. Would Brother Luo please come with me to rest first?”
This person has a handsome appearance, clear eyes and a refined demeanor throughout his body. He is one of the Four Princes of the Southern Kingdom, along with Luo Fengjun, Wei Yun, and Jiang Yun. He is Chen Qi, the Prince of the Chen Kingdom, and he is known for his literature.
Chen Qi is around thirty years old and is the oldest among the four princes. He was a nobody back then, but three years ago, at the Liushang Banquet, he gained great fame for his literary work “Qingque Fu,” which criticized the extravagance and debauchery of the Qi’s ruler and was sought after by scholars from all over the world. Chen Qi is also known for his hard work and diligence when it comes to literature.
It is said that in order to write the “Qingque Fu,” he only slept for one hour a day for several months, and every word in his article was carefully scrutinized no less than a hundred times, and the waste manuscripts alone can pile up half of the palace.
Because of this hard work beyond ordinary people, Chen Qi was highly reputed among the scholars.
The Liushang Banquet was held in the Chen Kingdom, and as the Second Prince of the Kingdom of Chen, Chen Qi naturally had the responsibility of maintaining order. He stepped in because he wanted to end this dispute as soon as possible so as not to harm the harmony of the countries.
Luo Fengjun, however, only glanced at Chen Qi lightly and ignored him.
Luo Fengjun is the Crown Prince of the Lou Kingdom, while Chen Qi is just a Prince of the Chen Kingdom. Although they are both Four Young Princes, upon closer examination, Luo Fengjun was far superior to Chen Qi, regardless of his status.
Lou Fengjun’s character was notoriously arrogant, and this kind of reaction was not surprising in the eyes of bystanders. It’s just that, standing in Chen Qi’s position, being flicked in the face like that in public is a bit embarrassing. But Chen Qi remained calm without any resentment or embarrassment, and still kindly invited Luo Fengjun to rest and taste the pastries.
“Brother Lou.”
At this moment, another silhouette gracefully walked over, with a jade crown tied in his hair and a snow-white brocade robe. His eyebrows were as black as ink, his lips were red, and his teeth were as white as a bright moon, attracting attention. It was Wei Yun, the Crown Prince of the Wei Kingdom and one of the Four Princes of the Southern Kingdom, who was famous for his appearance.
“What Brother Chen said is absolutely right. Coincidentally, I also have some music theory issues that I would like to consult with Brother Luo. Brother Luo, I would like to ask you for a favor today, so please teach me a thing or two.”
Unlike Luo Fengjun’s aloofness and Chen Qi’s upright demeanor, Wei Yun was born with a pair of beautiful peach blossom eyes. When he smiled, his eyes were slanted, coupled with his unparalleled appearance, giving him a unique charm. Even the most heartless person in the world may not be able to refuse his demands.
Under the joint persuasion of Chen Qi and Wei Yun, Luo Fengjun finally tugged at the corner of his mouth, bowed slightly, and turned around to head to the Water Pavilion with his zither.
Gongsun Yang looked at his own Highness through the curtain.
Jiang Yun always had his eyes lowered, staring at the book in his hands, as if he hadn’t noticed the situation outside in the slightest.
In order to resolve the awkwardness, the Guozhu of the Chen Kingdom ordered everyone to prepare the props for the next round of the competition. The accompanying ministers of the Luo Kingdom, on the other hand, fearfully boarded the Shui Pavilion to apologize to Jiang Yun.
Jiang Yun only faintly said, “It’s fine.” Then lowered his eyes and continued to read his own book.
The Ministers of Luo looked at each other, wondering if His Royal Highness’s anger was lingering or if he really didn’t care. They could only wipe their sweats and nervously retreated.
The next stage is the literature competition, and just like the music competition, it came as no surprise that Chen Qi won first prize.
Chen Qi made a new literary work on the spot, with magnificent lines and novel ideas, winning the approval and applause of all the critics and famous scholars.
Even so, he did not show any arrogance and instead patiently exchanged questions about his literary work with the other scholars from other countries, forming a sharp contrast with Luo Fengjun’s arrogance.
Some people couldn’t help but praise, “It is said that the Crown Prince of Jiang’s reputation for virtue is widespread, and he is willing to stoop to the level of honor and courtesy. But in my opinion, Brother Ji Cai is the one who is truly tolerant of the world and has the style of a gentleman from ancient times.”
Ji Cai is Chen Qi’s courtesy name.
Chen Qi quickly said with a serious tone, “Please be careful with your words. His Royal Highness’s status is as noble as the moon in the sky, while Ji Cai’s talent is nothing more than a body of dust and mud. How can I dare to be compared to him?”
Suddenly, there was a sneer.
Someone said, “That was also correct. You are an illegitimate son born to a lowly servant girl with a lowly bloodline that can’t stand on the stage. So what if you’re good at literature? When it comes to honor, I’m afraid you don’t even have the qualifications to lift shoes for the Crown Prince of Jiang. At the age of eleven, the Crown Prince of Jiang was able to create a literary work as stunning as ‘Jiangdu Fu’, which made famous scholars around the world compete to copy it. That thing you wrote about the Fugue of the Birds or something, which looks magnificent but is actually filled with rhetoric and imitations, isn’t even as good as his. The Four Princes of the Southern Kingdom, haha, do you really think you can get rid of the smell of horse manure on your body just because you have the title of the Prince of Literature?”
Chen Qi’s birth mother was of low status, and when she was young, she and her son were bullied and were once driven to live in a horse pen in the palace.
The one who spoke was also a noble young man of the Chen Kingdom. He couldn’t bear to see Chen Qi relying on his good writing skills to attract a group of underprivileged scholars to follow him, and he did not put them, the disciples of the nobles, in his eyes, so he spoke sarcastically.
Chen Qi’s face turned pale, as if someone had whipped him on the spot.
But soon, he regained his composure and said, “Today is the banquet of the six countries. If you don’t like me, you can say these things to me privately. You don’t have to tarnish the ears and eyes of the distinguished guests like this.”
After speaking, he turned around and apologized to the guests: “It was Ji Cai who caused trouble for everyone. I hope you don’t mind.”
He was clearly the victim himself, but he was still concerned about the emotions of the guests. A broad mind was needed in order to achieve this, so everyone comforted him: “How can this be considered Brother Ji Cai’s fault…”
The young man from the Chen Kingdom, who made a fool of himself cursed, “hypocrisy” before leaving in frustration.
“There is no need to listen to his nonsense, the matter of the ‘Jiangdu Fu’ is just a rumor. Last year, someone publicly asked His Royal Highness the Crown Prince about this matter and asked His Royal Highness to offer a stone tablet as a tribute, which was publicly denied by His Royal Highness.”
A renowned judge walked over from the seat and patted Chen Qi’s shoulder, comforting him. “How could an eleven-year-old child write such seasoned literature? Your literary work was already very well done, there’s no need to listen to his nonsense.”
Others also joined in.
“Master Cheng is right. We can all see how talented Brother Ji Cai is. Today’s article by Brother Ji Cai is no less impressive than that of Northern Yan Qi.”
Yan Qi was a skilled writer in the Sui Empire in Jiangbei. It is said that at the age of three, he could write poetry, and at the age of six, he belonged to the literary genre. He was a literary genius with a beautiful and graceful appearance. He was a famous and beautiful man in the northern region, and at a young age, many classic literary works have been passed down by him. There is a saying among the countries that “Chen Qi in the Southern and Yan Qi in the Northern” and “The Southern Qi and The Northern Qi.”
They are all masters of contemporary writing, naturally aware of how profound literary skills and agile literary thinking are required to create an article like “Jiangdu Fu.” If the Crown Prince of Jiang really had such literary talent, how could he have had no more articles published after the age of eleven and never participated in the literary examination section of the Liushang Banquet?
Most likely, just like the so-called “Feng Qiu Huang,” it was fabricated by the Jiang Empire to promote the reputation of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and someone else was hired to ghostwrite it!
It’s just that they don’t know where the Jiang Empire found such a powerful ghostwriter, which has led to doubts about the author of “Jiangdu Fu” to this day. The Crown Prince of Jiang dared to publicly deny this matter, which can be considered a sign of responsibility and is in line with his reputation as a gentleman.
Chen Qi smiled and thanked the crowd, personally escorting that appreciative Master Cheng back to his seat.
The competition was almost over when the Chen Kingdom’s Guozhu arrived late.
This country’s Guozhu reflex arc was incredibly long. It is said that he woke up from his nap, and heard about Luo Fengjun’s public provocation, and rushed here to apologize to Jiang Yun. The one accompanying him was the loyal and honest Crown Prince of the Chen Kingdom, Chen Tao.
“This old subject…has not taken good care of…cough…is guilty…”
The Guozhu of the Chen Kingdom is over sixty years old and was already an old man with gray hair. He was supported by palace attendants, panting three times in one step and speaking as if he could die at any moment. It is said that most of the country’s affairs have been entrusted to the Crown Prince Chen Tao for management.
No matter how much Jiang Yun was disturbed by the noise, he had to be patient and calm.
“Regardless of one’s status, only talent will be considered, this is the founding purpose of the Liushang Banquet. It is not appropriate to break the rules just because of one person.”
“Gu is not very knowledgeable, there is no need for Guozhu to worry.”
The Guozhu of the Chen Kingdom said that it must not be letting go like this, causing the Sovereign Country’s Crown Prince to be aggrieved in the territory of Chen, and then, sweeping around, he sternly instructed his palace attendants, “Let Chen Qi come over.”
Chen Qi quickly boarded the Shui Pavilion, but before he could stand firm, he was kicked and overturned by the Guozhu of Chen.
“I asked you to entertain guests and maintain order at the banquet. Is that how you maintain it? Why don’t you kowtow to His Royal Highness and apologize?”
Inside the Shui Pavilion, Jiang Yun frowned again and said, “There’s no need for that.”
“Your Highness, there’s no need to protect him!”
The Chen Kingdom’s Guozhu stood with his hips crossed and scolded Chen Qi, “Still not kneeling down? Do you really think that just because you can write a few convoluted essays, you can be lawless and have no respect for inferiority or superiority anymore?”
“This son is aware of his crime.”
Chen Qi kneeled on the ground, almost able to feel the gaze that fell on his back from all directions, like substance, either mocking, watching the excitement, or pity. His fists, which were hidden in his sleeves, were clenched tightly, facing the direction of the curtain, and he slowly kowtowed. “It was my negligence that caused Your Highness to be frightened, please punish me. Your Highness.”
Jiang Yun told him to get up.
The Chen Kingdom’s Guozhu said, “Your Highness, you must not spare this beast lightly. You must punish him severely and heavily!”
Jiang Yun felt helpless and finally said, with a hint of displeasure, “Gu has already said that this matter has nothing to do with the Prince. Guozhu doesn’t need to say anything more. Gongsun Yang, help the Second Prince up.”
Gongsun Yang takes the order.
Jiang Yun felt that this matter was indeed a shameless disaster for Chen Qi. When Chen Qi stood up, he said, “Gu really appreciate the article that Prince Chen just wrote. Gu hopes Prince Chen can produce another masterpiece in the future.”
He also instructed the Chen Kingdom’s Guozhu, “This matter has been settled, Guozhu must not chastise the Second Prince for it again.”
The Chen Kingdom’s Guozhu was once again deeply grateful.
After finally seeing off the hypocritical Guozhu of the Chen Kingdom, Gongsun Yang snorted, “This old man looks groggy, but he is actually very smart. Otherwise, when Luo Fengjun was causing trouble, he didn’t come out, but after the matter was resolved, he came to Your Highness to apologize, and even pushed his own son out to play such a bitter trick.”
“It’s really suffering for the Second Prince Chen.”
It’s an unspoken matter.
Fan Zhou told him to cut the crap so he wouldn’t get caught in the middle of a conversation.
On the other end, as soon as Chen Qi left the Shui Pavilion, he was surrounded by other scholars waiting outside.
“We have all seen the situation just now. The Crown Prince of the Jiang Empire was actually bullying people, he knew that Ji Cai was one among the Four Princes along with himself, but he relied on his identity as the Crown Prince of the Sovereign Country to make Ji Cai kneel in public and apologize to him.”
“Yeah ah, it’s clear that this is deliberately making things difficult and bullying Ji Cai… What virtue is known throughout the world? In my opinion, it’s just bragging.”
Chen Qi’s fists inside his sleeves were still clenched, but he said with a serious expression on his face, “Please be careful with your words. It was indeed Ji Cai’s fault for not maintaining the order of the banquet. No wonder His Highness is angry. It’s a great favor that His Highness didn’t condemn me.”
“Brother Ji Cai, there’s no need for you to explain, we all understand!”
“Ai, Ji Cai, you’re good at everything, it’s just that you’re too loyal and honest!”
“……”
Some people directly pulled him up. “Let’s go, Ji Cai. Let’s go to the Fuzi Terrace. We have many questions about literature that we want to ask you.”
Chen Qi smiled and agreed.
“Okay.”
