Yes, this is the Northern Song Dynasty.
A dynasty with the most outstanding group of civil officials in history.
Any person who comes out is Su Dongpo.
If you give birth to a girl, she will be Li Qingzhao.
If you pick a treacherous minister at random, he is the great calligrapher Cai Jing.
What’s even more hateful is that even Gao Qiu, the “Messi of the Northern Song Dynasty”, can write extremely beautiful calligraphy.
It's really shameful.
... ...
Dong...Who is Dongpo
Zhang Fei suddenly realized the seriousness of this problem. If Su Shi asked this question, there might be no Su Dongpo in the literary world!
This is a big sin!
However, as a fan of Li Qingzhao, he naturally has some hostility towards Su Dongpo. In the past, Zhang Fei has debated with roommates or netizens about whose poems are better, Su Dongpo or Li Qingzhao.
Although Li Qingzhao's father Li Gefei was a disciple of Su Shi, and Su Shi could be said to be Li Qingzhao's master, the problem was that Li Qingzhao's nickname was "Li Duidui", and she herself had criticized Su Dongpo, saying that the lyrics written by Su Dongpo could not be considered lyrics, but were just poems with untidy sentences.
Then her fans must also want to emulate their idol, I, Yi An Jushi, am the best in the world.
But those who understand know that no matter whether it is a talker or a keyboard warrior, they all have a fatal weakness, which is that once they see a real person, they will become scared faster than anyone else.
Zhang Fei was no exception and quickly changed the subject: "Mr. Su...Are you here to see the Grand Secretary Sima?"
Very well behaved.
Su Shi was slightly stunned, "Oh, I'm here to look for Zhang San."
What do you want from me? A lawsuit? The Wutai Poetry Case doesn't seem to be happening now! Zhang Fei raised his hand and said, "I am Zhang San."
"Are you Zhang San?"
Su Shi looked at Zhang Fei and frowned, "Strange! It's different from what I heard. I heard that Zhang San was dressed in seductive clothes, with a white face and red lips, neither male nor female, with shifty eyebrows and rat eyes, and a sharp mouth and monkey cheeks. You look quite ordinary!"
Zhang Fei was stunned immediately.
Am I just mediocre, or should I be sneaky
How to choose this
Sima Guang stroked his beard and laughed, gloating: "It's rare! It's rare! It's rare that someone can make this kid speechless."
Su Shi seemed to realize that what he said was a little inappropriate, and hurriedly asked: "Are you really Zhang San?"
Zhang Fei nodded gloomily: "Yes, I am Zhang Fei, my bandit name is Zhang San, my courtesy name is Yi'an, my pseudonym is Dongpo, and I am known as the freeloader in the waves."
Sima Guang looked at Zhang Fei in surprise and thought, you only have one poem, but you have all the characters in it!
Su Shi suddenly realized, pointed at Zhang Fei and said: "So Dongpo is you!"
Zhang Fei bowed and said, "It's Zhang Dongpo. I was just introducing myself."
Sima Guang asked, "Su Shi, why are you looking for him?"
Su Shi laughed and said, "What else can I do with Zhang San? Of course I want to sue him."
"Lawsuit?" Sima Guang asked in surprise, "You just came back and you're already involved in a lawsuit?"
Zhang Fei also looked at Su Shi curiously.
Su Shi suddenly took out a book and said, "Mr. Sima, please read this and see if there is any justice in this."
Sima Guang took it and looked at it. "Zizhan Collection. This is your collection of poems!"
Su Shi was immediately furious and said, "Those unscrupulous merchants are selling my poetry and lyrics collections again. There are countless typos, which is fine, but the problem is that they also mixed Liu Laoqi's erotic lyrics into my collections. Isn't this ruining my reputation as Su Shi?"
Zhang Fei asked, "Who is Liu Laoqi?"
Su Shi asked, "Liu Yong, do you know him?"
"... ... ?"
Zhang Fei was sweating a little, thinking, no wonder my idol's nickname is Li Duidui, it turns out her master is such a person. It's true that writers look down on each other! Forget it, I'd better not get involved in the affairs of these literary masters, so as not to embarrass myself.
Not to mention him, even literary giants like Sima Guang found it difficult to keep silent.
If someone else said this, Sima Guang would have to say something fair. No matter how useless Liu Yong was, he was not someone that could be criticized by just any Tom, Dick or Harry. It had to be Su Shi, a guy whose talent was so great that it was overflowing. If he criticized Liu Yong, then... what could be done
Even if Liu Yong were alive, he probably wouldn't be able to win the fight, after all, Su Shi passed the imperial examination and became a Jinshi at a young age, while Liu Yong failed countless times and only passed after the special examination was held and the selection criteria were relaxed.
Sima Guang laughed and said, "Liu Laoqi's poems are already pretty good, you should be content. Last time my wife bought a collection of your poems, only the first seven were written by you, the remaining thirteen were all written by others, most of whom I don't recognize. It seems that one of them was written by a singing girl in Baifan Tower."
Su Shi gnashed his teeth and said, "These profiteers are so despicable. I will never forgive them this time."
Then he looked at Zhang Fei and asked, "Can I sue you?"
Zhang Fei said stupidly, "What are you suing for?"
Su Shi said: "Of course, I will sue this bookstore called Ji Ju Xian."
Zhang Fei asked again: "What are you suing it for?"
Su Shi said: "Sue him for stealing my poems."
“Pirated?”
Zhang Fei exclaimed.
"Piracy?" Su Shi was stunned, then thought about it and said happily, "Piracy, piracy, this is a good term. He is indeed a man of ears and pens. He can easily fabricate charges."
Zhang Fei blinked and asked, "Are you praising me or criticizing me?"
Sima Guang frowned and said, "This kind of thing is not uncommon. Many officials in the court are dissatisfied with it, but it continues despite repeated bans. There is no law in our court to accuse it."
After all, the status of literati in the Northern Song Dynasty was unprecedented. They actually had copyright awareness, but lacked legal awareness.
People like Sima Guang sometimes felt unhappy when they saw their articles being plagiarized, but they would not say anything to avoid appearing too petty.
It’s still that word, pattern.
But Su Shi was different. He often complained about this and cursed whenever he saw it. After all, he loved Bai Juyi the most, and Bai Juyi was simply an expert in complaining and in the circle of friends.
It's not enough for him to just complain about his salary, he has to write a poem and post it on WeChat Moments. You really don't know whether he is being Versailles or he really thinks the salary is too little, or maybe it's both.
Su Shi was no less impressive.
Su Shi laughed and said, "If there were laws to follow, I would have gone directly to Kaifeng Prefecture. But since there are no laws, I came to ask Zhang San for help."
Sima Guang also looked at Zhang Fei.
Piracy? Copyright? Printing? Zhang Fei pondered for a while, then suddenly laughed and said, "Mr. Su is right. If there is no law, then I will come up with one."
Sima Guang was surprised and asked, "Can you tell me a law?"
Zhang Fei smiled and nodded, but did not say anything more. He then said to Su Shi, "Mr. Su, I will take your case."
"As expected of you, you are Zhang San, it is really as the rumors say." Su Shi couldn't help but look at him sideways, and then said, "But I have a condition."
Zhang Fei asked: "What are the conditions?"
Su Shi smiled and said, "Not only do you have to sue this bookstore, but you also have to make sure that no one else steals my poems and sells them for money."
I really didn't expect that Su Shi, who was a bold and unrestrained person, lived such a delicate life and was so meticulous in his lawsuits. Zhang Fei smiled and said, "I also have a condition."
"What conditions?" Su Shi asked.
Zhang Fei said: "A reward of one hundred strings of cash."
"... One hundred strings of cash?"
Su Shi immediately took a breath of cold air.
The look in his eyes when he looked at Zhang Fei seemed to be saying, why don’t you go and rob the government silver.
That annoying toothman isn't as cruel as you!
Zhang Fei nodded and said seriously, "Today is the day our law firm reopens, so I'm giving you, Mr. Su, a 20% discount."
"A hundred strings of cash for a 20% discount? If I were to invite you normally, wouldn't I have to pay at least five hundred strings of cash?"
Su Shi was dumbfounded.
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "If Mr. Su doesn't believe this, you can ask Sima Daxueshi."
Sima Guang stroked his beard and smiled, looking around and said, "Su Shi, look, he just opened his shop, but he doesn't even have a single guest. You know that ordinary people don't dare to sue him."
Wow... are all your words so poisonous
Zhang Fei looked at Sima Guang awkwardly, not knowing how to refute.
Su Shi was puzzled and asked, "But I heard that you did not receive a penny for the lawsuit for the historian."
"That's my wife."
"And you didn't charge a penny for the lawsuit you fought for Li Si."
"That's my little brother."
"Cao Yanei... ..?"
"Oh, Yanei spent two thousand strings of cash."
"... ... ?"
Su Shi thought about it and wondered whether it was better for me to treat him as his uncle or as his elder brother.
This price is really excessive!
Su Shi had just returned from mourning, so how could he have so much money? He thought for a moment, "This Jixian stole my poems and sold them, so they must compensate me for my losses, right?"
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "Of course."
Su Shi said, "I want to claim one hundred strings of cash."
Zhang Fei smiled and nodded: "It makes sense."
Su Shi immediately said, "Well, you can take the money that Ji Juxian compensates me as my reward. I don't want a penny."
Zhang Fei was about to nod when he suddenly realized, "This is unreasonable! Even if I lose, you still have to pay me! After all, I worked hard."
Su Shi laughed and said, "If you lose, no matter how much you lose, I will give you the full amount."
"All right!"
Zhang Fei nodded helplessly. Su Shi's brain was very quick. If he lost, he would lose more than a hundred strings of coins. However, Zhang Fei, a fan of Qingzhao, was unwilling to let Su Shi take advantage of him. After a moment's hesitation, he said, "Since Mr. Su has such confidence in me, I cannot let him down. So, to show my determination to win, I will not take a penny from Mr. Su, but all the compensation from this lawsuit will belong to me."
Su Shi looked at Zhang Fei, hesitated, and secretly glanced at Sima Guang.
Sima Guang kindly advised: "You can't beat him in this kind of thing, so don't use your brain to do it."
Su Shi smiled and said, "It seems that Mr. Sima was convinced of his defeat last time."
Sima Guang glared at him and said, "You, Su Zizhan, haven't changed at all!"
"Sorry! Sorry! I am the younger generation who made a mistake." Su Shi quickly bowed and said to Zhang Fei, "I'll give you the money."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "That's fine."
Um
Seeing that he agreed so readily, Su Shi couldn't help but think again, "I'll just do as you say!"
Sima Guang couldn't help laughing and said, "You are really showing off your skills in front of an expert. You are asking for trouble."
Su Shi smiled awkwardly.
"Zhang San! Zhang San!"
Suddenly, I heard a shouting sound coming from outside the door.
Cao Dongdong, Ma Xiaoyi and Fu Shichun walked in with a swagger.
"Oh! Uncle Sima is here too? I won't bother you anymore. Bye."
The few people who had just appeared immediately ran away again.
No dandy boy would be willing to live under the same roof with an old man like Sima Guang.
That's pure self-abuse.
Sima Guang just smiled and shook his head.
Zhang Fei didn't care and immediately asked someone to prepare pen and ink to sign a formal employment contract with Su Shi.
"Do I need to write?" Su Shi asked in surprise.
Zhang Fei said embarrassedly, "I know Mr. Su is very knowledgeable. I'm afraid the contract written by our shop will not be acceptable to Mr. Su. It would be better if you write it yourself."
Su Shi smiled and nodded, "Okay!"
Soon, Su Shi wrote two copies.
Of course, this cannot be written as a bold and unrestrained contract. Zhang Fei also proposed some rigid sentence patterns, and Su Shi could freely express the rest.
"Two copies are not enough?" Seeing Zhang Fei handing over a piece of yellow paper, Su Shi couldn't help but look at Zhang Fei in surprise.
Zhang Fei said: "Well, our firm is a partnership. The bookstore has one copy, and I need one for myself."
Su Shi didn't care and wrote another one.
Zhang Fei took it carefully, secretly delighted in his heart, he must keep this copy well and leave it to our descendants, so that they can brag to their classmates that Su Shi also sued my ancestor in the past. Hehe... .