Chu Yu moved her gaze, and out of the corner of her eye saw that Pei Shu was almost jogging in that direction, reaching the crowd very quickly. He raised his voice and spoke to the three walking up from the mountain path: “Finally, you are here.”
Three people strolled up slowly from the mountain path, one in the front, two following behind. The person in the front seemed to be old friends with Pei Shu, grinning and replying, “Apologies apologies, we enjoyed the mountain scenery so much, that we were delayed a little.”
Hearing this, Chu Yu almost laughed out loud: enjoyed the mountain scenery so much? Although this little mountain was beautiful, there was nothing spectacular; rather, there were a lot of complicated forks on the way up the mountain. If you ask her, these three probably got lost.
Don’t know if Pei Shu really believed him, or he was just covering up for him, but he laughed as he patted that person’s back, then turned to the two behind him, and bowed deeply: “Brother Yizhi, brother Yinzhi, we are so honored to have you two here.”
Chu Yu watched on indifferently. Judging by Pei Shu’s att.i.tude, the two that just arrived seemed to be some very prominent figures. She stood where she was and squinted slightly, and only then did she see the two’s appearances clearly. Although at first she was very indifferent, after seeing the two people clearly, she still couldn’t help praising in her heart: what figures!
Although Chu Yu thought this was a gathering of handsome men, the moment these two appeared, they immediately made all the handsome men surrounding them seem plain. Especially the one on the left, who looked to be about twenty-six or twenty-seven; and different from others, who wore bobs or even elaborate hair caps, his hair was only loosely tied behind his head, the corners of his slender eyes slanted upward, while a casual and leisure smile faintly graced his lips.
If only comparing their faces, the most that could be said about this man was that he tied with the others present; but when he stood there, he had this disposition that made people unable to move their gazes. He was obviously standing still, but Chu Yu had this illusion that he was like casually flowing water — even if she reached out her hand to grab him, she still wouldn’t be able to hold on to him.
The young man on the right looked to be about the same age, but was distinctly different from the person beside him. The edges of his chin seemed slightly arrogant, and his presence, seemed like dangerous mountain ranges, towering and overbearing.
The two’s dispositions were so contrasting, but complemented each other, too. When they stood together, it actually formed an odd ambience, strong enough to make people hold their breaths.
Taking a look at everyone present, Chu Yu glanced at everyone around herself, and realized that she actually couldn’t find anyone that could match these two people. No, there was actually two; one was the youth clad in blue in the pavilion — even with the commotion w.a.n.g and Xie’s arrival created, he still didn’t seem to notice at all, still like frozen ice, his entire body sending off an essence that warded strangers off. And the other person, was right by her side.
Huan Yuan’s ancient elegance and gracefulness had its own style. Although it may not be said to suppress these two people, they were comparable.
Naturally, neither Chu Yu nor Huan Yuan had those boring thoughts of competing about it. But Chu Yu was very curious: just who between these two was that Master Thousand-Gold Pei Shu was talking about the other day?
Pei Shu cleared his throat, then solemnly began introducing. The first to be introduced, was the person Chu Yu noticed: “This, is w.a.n.g Yizhi. I’m sure everyone knows about him.”
“w.a.n.g Yizhi?” Someone asked in the crowd, “Which w.a.n.g Yizhi?”
Pei Shu glanced at that person with a little pride and disdain in his eyes, and replied, “How many w.a.n.g Yizhis are there in the world? Obviously the w.a.n.g Yizhi from the w.a.n.g family of Langya.”
The moment Pei Shu finished his words, many in the crowd immediately started exclaiming. A moment ago they only thought highly of the two’s dispositions, but now some already showed admiration. Some even couldn’t resist going up and greeting them, and the most zealous ones even asked w.a.n.g Yizhi to write something on their garments.
When Chu Yu heard it, she was also surprised. Although she never did well in history cla.s.s, she still knew some about the w.a.n.g family of Langya.
Not because of anything else, just because this w.a.n.g family was really too famous, too prominent, too honored.
Taking the entire history of China into picture, there was almost no other family that could parallel the w.a.n.g family of Langya. This family was once so so flourishing and prosperous, continuously receiving t.i.tles and producing successive scholars one after another. Throughout the course of history and time, throughout all the dynastic changes over hundreds of years, the w.a.n.g family stayed standing firm, wealthy, famous, prominent, and honored. Over multiple hundreds of years, the number of governmental officials that came out of the w.a.n.g family was always counted with hundred as the base unit, and they produced more than ninety prime ministers. Such glorious splendor, such prominent history, no family could ever match.
There was this one line in Tang poetry: “The swallows that once lived in front of the w.a.n.g and Xie families, have now flew into the homes of ordinary people.” The w.a.n.g mentioned in it, was talking about the w.a.n.g family of Langya.
Completely unexaggerated, the w.a.n.g family was the best n.o.bility, the best clan.
At this moment, Chu Yu once again truly experienced that she had really traveled through time. She could use her own eyes, to see for herself the legend of the w.a.n.g family of Langya.
Chu Yu knew the w.a.n.g family. But what she didn’t know was, this w.a.n.g Yizhi, even within the w.a.n.g family, was a legendary figure. n.o.body knew what strength or skill he had, but everyone knew that the current head of the w.a.n.g family was his uncle, and that this uncle planned to skip around his own son, and let w.a.n.g Yizhi inherit the position and power of the leader of the w.a.n.g family. Facing such importance and attention, w.a.n.g Yizhi instead rejected with a smile, and gave most of his life to the mountains and waters; he became a famous freedom-lover.
But even though he was uninhibited, he was still a very famous freedom-lover. Until now, his uncle still hadn’t given up on the thought of letting him inherit the family property, sending people to try to persuade him every now and then. Every time someone was sent to persuade him, w.a.n.g Yizhi’s name would grow in fame.
Next, the ident.i.ty of the person that stood beside w.a.n.g Yizhi was also announced by Pei Shu. His name was Xie Yinzhi, and just by hearing this surname, with no need for anyone to remind her, Chu Yu knew that this person with Xie as his surname, eight out of ten chances must be from that Xie family in “in front of the w.a.n.g and Xie families”. This was a family often mentioned alongside the w.a.n.g family, and although it wasn’t as famous or prominent as the w.a.n.g family, it was still a top level n.o.bility.
After w.a.n.g Yizhi and Xie Yinzhi arrived, everyone sat down on the two sides of the stream. Chu Yu understood perfectly: seems like the two Masters w.a.n.g and Xie were the spotlight of this gathering of handsome men; once these two came, there weren’t many things left for the others. Her being here was just to add to the numbers too.
Then, Chu Yu watched as Pei Shu asked someone to take out paper and brush pens. She was very astonished, and only then did she finally remember, that this was that whatever flowing water poetry banquet; the appearances of the handsome men before took too much of the spotlight, and made her almost forget the real topic.
Chu Yu, with Liusang and Huan Yuan, found an empty seat that had relatively few people sitting around, and sat down beside the flowing water. Next to the silk cushions, on the short tables, were delicate-looking desserts. Chu Yu randomly picked one up and sent it into her mouth, and a soft sweetness melted at the tip of her tongue. But before she could swallow it, the corner of her eye caught the w.a.n.g Yizhi, who had caused the commotion a moment ago, slowly coming to a place not far from her, and sitting down leisurely.
Although he sat nearby, w.a.n.g Yizhi didn’t pay any special attention to Chu Yu, and the poetry banquet began very soon. This supposed poetry banquet with music, flowing water, and a feast, was really only the cultured version of “hot potato”. When the zither begins playing, they put a filled wine cup into the flowing water and let it just flow with the stream; when the music stops, whoever the wine cup was floating in front of, that person would have to drink the water and compose a poem.
The youth in blue garments sitting in the pavilion, whom Chu Yu had noticed before, now finally moved. He slowly lifted his hands up, and feeling the strings of the zither, started playing.
The wine cup flowed down with the water. Chu Yu prayed in her heart like chanting spells: don’t stop in front of me, don’t stop in front of me.
She really didn’t have that poetry talent!
But don’t know if it was Chu Yu’s crow mouth, or if fate specially wanted to go against her, when the music stopped, the wine cup was right in the swirl in front of Chu Yu, spinning in slow circles.
With everyone watching and unable to play it off, Chu Yu laughed bitterly and picked up the wine cup.