Outside Ranxiang Inn.
The owner of Book Sea Pavilion has given up explaining, as no matter how he explains, it serves no purpose.
Absolutely no use.
These people are all biased, and the more you explain, the louder they shout.
Moreover, the young gentleman from the Qin Jijiu family asked him, "If you were to compete with Mr. Songshan, how would it turn out?"
That naturally cannot be compared.
After ten years of hard study, he hasn’t much pondered academic matters since he became an Advanced Scholar.
Fortunately, by his side, there was an unclear Lin Junren helping him argue.
"Brother Heng, what do you know about establishing words, deeds, and virtue, which is called immortality? Mr. Qin Zhou has run the bookstore for many years; which scholar in the world hasn’t read the Collection of Strategy Writings printed and sold by the Book Sea Pavilion? It stands for establishing words, deeds, and virtue."
Upon hearing this, his face lightened up considerably. He glanced at Lin Ziqi; this guy still has some brains.
But others felt differently.
Qin Heng scoffed disdainfully and said sarcastically: "It seems that the whole family of the eldest sister is about to do great good deeds. Brother-in-law, we have matters to attend to and must leave first."
"...Ah...this, this," Lin Ziqi was left speechless.
The owner of Book Sea Pavilion felt resentment in his heart but could say nothing, for he couldn’t claim that only he could do these great deeds. So, he merely said, "Strategy writings are not the same as poetry collections."
Gu Baoshu quickly interjected: "With Mr. Songshan and Young Master Nantang here, our Dingbei Marquis Mansion can handle both strategy writings and poetry collections. By then, won’t it be lively for us all to do great good deeds together?"
Xiao Dong burst into laughter and hurriedly salvaged: "Haha, haha, I’m just happy. The Empress Dowager’s grand day really is a good one, hearing such wonderful news. I’m truly delighted for the scholars."
"No, I’m not delighted," the owner of Book Sea Pavilion shouted in his heart.
However, no one cared about his feelings.
Gu Baoshu lifted her chin slightly, signaling the guards behind her to make way, and said to him: "Please."
This was urging him to leave the Dingbei Marquis Mansion’s domain to avoid suspicion.
Truly infuriating.
He was seething, about to utter some harsh words to save face, when the shopkeeper beside him lightly nudged him, whispering: "Master, our poetry contest is what matters."
Indeed, why bother contending with these sharp-tongued kids.
The poetry contest is what truly matters.
Thus, he strode out with great momentum, supported by the shopkeeper, ignoring Lin Ziqi’s frantic shouts behind him. He pushed his way through the crowd, nearly scuffling halfway to death back to the Book Sea Pavilion.
He expected to see a multitude of scholars but was stunned to find the space beneath the Nine-Turn Lotus Lamp filled with women, children, the elderly, and casually dressed citizens, all exclaiming: "These lamps are well-made, I heard they cost quite a bit."
"Indeed, word is they hired a famous craftsman from Cangzhou who took many days to set them up; their lamps are the most beautiful on the street."
There were only a few in robes and Taoist robes in the crowd.
Struggling to see for a while, he barely spotted a few reputable poets he had invited, squeezed over, and asked: "Why are only a few of you here? When I left, there were more."
The person’s face turned unpleasant, frowning: "Without the host here, how can we properly entertain them... it’s difficult..."
"But, but..." the owner of Book Sea Pavilion felt guilty himself.
It indeed was his own fault.
After hesitating for quite a while, he finally said: "I spent a lot of effort to invite these people; how did they leave without composing any poetry? Weren’t there many Scholars and Advanced Scholars here?"
The Book Sea Pavilion had also set a prize—a copy of the Collection of Strategy Writings.
This was a prized treasure of the Book Sea Pavilion.
The top three would also receive a delicate moving lantern, decorated with tortoiseshell, with superior wood frame and painting skills; quite commendable.
The person sighed: "Previously, some came to lure people away, saying Ranxiang Inn was having a garden party with rich prizes, and many people left. As you went away and didn’t return, others came later and said..."
"Said what?"
"Said, said you admire Mr. Songshan, feeling unworthy, naturally, the remaining people left too. They heard the poetry selected from the poetry wall at the Ranxiang Inn garden party would also be collected and printed, so..."
Writing a poem is easy, writing a good poem is hard.
Sometimes it takes days of pondering for a word without finding the right one.
They naturally want to use the best materials where they matter most.
Those who hadn’t started writing left immediately.
Those who had already started smeared their writings before leaving.
Even he himself had much interaction with the Book Sea Pavilion; he couldn’t act too distastefully, so he stayed waiting for them.
If they didn’t come soon, he wouldn’t wait any longer.