Chapter 48 - Questioning"This time"s second place amongst the top three in the poem is you, Lin Feng! Congratulations. " w.a.n.g Wenjing announced the result with a smile.
"Second place!"
w.a.n.g Wenjing"s joyous news was no different from a thunderclap to Lin Feng. He was shocked to the point that the latter was completely frozen on the spot. His expression was stiff, and he was in a daze.
"How is this possible, how can I be second place!" Lin Feng crazily shouted in his heart as his mind was filled with disbelief.
He, Lin Feng, was such a proud person that aside from the perverted man and woman of the Orthodox Academy, who made him feel that he was incapable of surpa.s.sing them, he had almost never been convinced of anyone"s literary prowess.
Even though countless n.o.bles and officials had gathered at the Prince"s birthday banquet, including many truly talented people, Lin Feng still did not believe that there was anyone who could surpa.s.s the level of the poem that he had written this time!Even those two perverts in the academy might not be able to surpa.s.s him. He had already determined the moment he finished this poem, that he would definitely stand out this time and obtain first place!
However, now that w.a.n.g Xiangguo had personally told him that he had only won second place, how could Lin Feng"s proud heart accept this? His whole body froze on the spot, and he did not reply for a long time.
When w.a.n.g Wenjing saw this, he thought that Lin Feng was being overly nervous or had an abnormal reaction due to his excitement, so he gently smiled and said: "Lin Feng, the poem you"ve written this time is very amazing and can be considered a masterpiece. Even this old man probably does not have this level of literary talent, it seems like the teachings of Lin Xuan is truly brilliant, to be able to bring up such an intelligent grandson."
w.a.n.g Wenjing"s words finally brought the dazed Lin Feng back to reality. In the face of w.a.n.g Xiangguo"s praise, Lin Feng did not feel excited or happy at all. He only forced out a smile and looked at w.a.n.g Wenjing, "w.a.n.g Wenjing, you praise me too much.
As Lin Feng spoke, his heart was constantly tangled by a question. Since w.a.n.g Wenjing said that his poetry was pa.s.sed down in the world, why couldn"t he obtain first place? Could anyone else produce a better poem than this?A poem that was ranked above this historical work, wasn"t that a peerless work? How was this possible? In the entire three hundred years of the Wind Cloud Country, there hadn"t been a single poem like this!
Lin Feng could not help but think in his heart, could it be because of his ident.i.ty? If there was still Crown Prince Xiang Qian or Princess Xiang Fei who ranked in the top three this time, with their ident.i.ties, they would probably be ranked before him even if their poems were not as good as his. After all, they were dragons, how could they be willing to be behind others?Thinking up to this point, Lin Feng could not help but understand as his mood instantly became much better. Although he was unable to obtain the cloud weapon that he was determined to obtain, at the very least, he could prove that he did not lose because of the literary talent but rather because of his ident.i.ty.
However, Lin Feng was still a little curious as he asked: "May I ask which great talent managed to place first in the top three?"Hearing this, w.a.n.g Xiangguo"s smiling face turned slightly strange.
"The top three rankings huh?" w.a.n.g Xiangguo"s gaze swept across the crowd while w.a.n.g Shouyi and Lin Feng"s eyes followed closely behind. They all wanted to know who obtained the first position!
w.a.n.g Wenjing"s gaze swept past Xiang Jinglei and Xiang Jinghong. Soon after, it pa.s.sed by Crown Prince Xiang Qian and even Princess Xiang Fei was swept by him. His gaze suddenly stopped on Xiang Yun, who was cowering to avoid Xiang Fei"s cold gaze.Under the panic-stricken gaze of Lin Feng and w.a.n.g Shouyi, w.a.n.g Wenjing announced: "This time, the person at the top of the top three rankings is the son of the Crown Prince, Xiang Yun! His words have been discussed by all of us, and we feel that we can bear the burden of being first on the list. "
Actually, there was no need for w.a.n.g Wenjing and the rest to comment on the poem Xiang Yun had written. After reading it, they immediately came to the conclusion that if this poem was ranked second, then there would be no poem that could rank first.
Once w.a.n.g Wenjing announced this result, everyone in the Spring Pavilion felt better. Although they had some doubts in their hearts, they were, after all, already shocked. However, the shock they had towards Lin Feng and w.a.n.g Shouyi was not small.
w.a.n.g Shouyi was barely able to maintain his expression and it was not too weird. To one side, Lin Feng was completely dumbfounded as he revealed an expression of disbelief. Even a fool would be able to see the doubt on his face.
"How is this possible!" Lin Feng almost roared out loud. This time, if w.a.n.g Wenjing were to announce that the first place belonged to the Crown Prince or Princess, then even if it was Xiang Jinghong, the two heirs, he would still recognize them by their noses.
If one were to say how profound other people"s literary skills were, he did not know. However, as a fellow student, Lin Feng was very clear on Xiang Yun"s literary prowess!
The teacher who had once taught them had everyone compose a poem with seven sentences. Everyone in the cla.s.s had to think hard and write quite a few masterpieces.This Master Xiang, on the other hand, wrote a poem about the law of seven words on the spot!
"Spring is not a day for reading. The summer sun is just right for sleeping. When autumn comes and winter comes, pack up your school bag so that you can celebrate the new year." The moment the verse was completed, the students sitting around the table nearly broke into laughter. This infuriated the gentleman sitting high up in the hall so much that he clutched his chest and ferociously slapped the table with the ruler as he shouted!
"Nonsense, this is simply nonsense!"
If not for the latter"s ident.i.ty as the crown prince, the ruler would most likely have slapped Xiang Yun"s forehead.
However, this was not the first time Xiang Yun had shown his" talent "in cla.s.s A!
Another time, the teacher came up with a couplet, asking the students to match the couplet.
The first verse read: "Heroes of the world bow down before you!"
Someone said to him, "Scholars from all over the world can display their talents here!"
Some people said, "The Eight Immortals have shown their abilities after crossing the sea!"In short, the latter calmly looked at the upper half of the couplet. After pondering for a moment, the corners of his mouth hooked up into a self-confident smile, as he announced the second couplet in a loud and clear voice! "This … this … this … this … this … this … this … this … this … this … this … this … this … this … this … this … this … this … this … this … this … this … this … this … this … this … this … this …"
"Chast.i.ty women of the world, come in and undress!"
When these words came out, everyone fell silent. Soon after, everyone broke into laughter. They looked at Master Xiang as if they were looking at a G.o.dly person!
This time, the man in the hall was so angry that his whole body was twitching. The ring was suspended high in the air, and his two snow-white beards were fluttering as he chanted with a trembling voice, "Shameless! Shameless!"
Lin Feng, who had seen Xiang Yun"s" great talent "in the academy, naturally knew what kind of talent this dog-s.h.i.t prince had. He was just a good-for-nothing good-for-nothing, a good-for-nothing good-for-nothing young master who had no skills in any aspect whatsoever.
How could such a person write a poem that surpa.s.sed him? Wasn"t this the greatest joke in the world?! Being stepped on by Xiang Yun caused Lin Feng"s face to turn red from embarra.s.sment, his expression becoming extremely ugly.
"Crown Prince, did he really get first place?" Lin Feng was finally unable to endure it any longer, and unwillingly said these words. Although his tone could barely be considered gentle, the doubt in his voice was self-evident.
He then said to w.a.n.g Shouyi and Lin Feng, "Rest a.s.sured, the two of you, the prince and all the masters here are reviewing your poems together. Our ranking is absolutely fair and there won"t be any problems."
Hearing this, the dissatisfaction in Lin Feng"s heart immediately deepened. It was clear in front of him that these fellows were the ones defending Xiang Yun, and they wanted him to be first. Otherwise, with Xiang Yun"s level, even if there were a hundred Xiang Yun together, he would not be able to write a poem that would surpa.s.s him.
It was clearly these officials who had wanted to ingratiate themselves with the King of Shoulder and carry out secret operations, placing Xiang Yun at the top of the list. They had not expected that Prime Minister w.a.n.g would actually dare to say that it would be fair.
Sometimes, scholars were just so stubborn, and it was even more so for a scholar like Lin Feng, who was regarded as a genius by others. Even with w.a.n.g Wenjing"s explanation, Lin Feng still cupped his hands and said to w.a.n.g Wenjing, "Honored Minister, can I take a look at the crown prince"s masterpiece?"
First, he spread out the poems by w.a.n.g Shouyi and Lin Feng, then he personally placed the piece of xuan paper with Xiang Yun"s work on it in the middle. His meticulous actions seemed as if he was afraid of hurting the Xuan paper a little.This was not something that w.a.n.g Wenjing had faked for Xiang Yun and Shoulder King to see. As a scholar, w.a.n.g Wenjing valued this kind of masterpiece as if it were a priceless treasure. He was afraid of hurting it in the slightest.
Seeing w.a.n.g Xiangguo"s actions, Lin Feng could not help but secretly despise him in his heart, thinking that this w.a.n.g Xiangguo was really putting on an act, to be so flattering, and actually cherishing such a vulgar and cultured poem like Xiang Yun as a treasure. He was truly a hypocrite!
After laying out the Xuan paper with w.a.n.g Wenjing, he waved at Lin Feng and w.a.n.g Shouyi, indicating that the two of them could come over and observe.
Lin Feng and w.a.n.g Shouyi were already impatient to see just what kind of masterpiece this Master Xiang could write. Thus, the two of them quickly walked to the table and looked at the poem placed in the middle of the table!At this moment, the two of them had different expressions. w.a.n.g Shouyi was curious, while Lin Feng was secretly mocking them! However, when they lowered their heads to look at the center of the table, their expressions were that of shock, and immediately, surprise and suspicion filled their eyes.
These words were written by Lin Feng and w.a.n.g Shouyi, both of whom were rookies in the literary world. Although their research on poetry was not very deep, they could still be considered to be proficient individuals. Immediately, they discovered that the calligraphy skills contained in the poem in front of them were superb, almost to the pinnacle!"This was written by Xiang Yun?" This thought immediately arose within Lin Feng"s heart. He had seen Xiang Yun"s writing before, this fellow"s writing was crooked, just like an ant dancing. Back then, Mister had even criticized Xiang Yun"s writing more than once.
"Could it be that this kid has been practicing his calligraphy these past few years?" Lin Feng could not resist this conjecture, but he still felt that it was somewhat inconceivable.
The two of them were stunned for a moment and then started to read the contents of the poem.
"When will the moon be clear and bright?"
After reading the entire poem, w.a.n.g Shouyi and Lin Feng, who were both standing in front of the table, were completely dumbfounded. The two of them stood there dumbstruck with faces as blank as wooden chickens.