"Dad, why do you refuse?" Qi Surong asked in the study, "If we can become famous through this, it will not do any harm to the Qi family."
"Do you think dad doesn't know the benefits?" Qi's father shook his head and said, "But, Rong'er, have you ever thought about it. Once you take over this task, your identity will be exposed to others, regardless of whether you can embroider it in the end to satisfy the envoy. As long as you start embroidering, there will definitely be villains who will cause trouble. The envoy will only stay in the capital for three months, and any accident may happen during those three months."
Qi Surong looked thoughtful.
"It is impossible to guard against a villain's frame-up." Qi's father added: "If you fail to complete the task after accepting it, the entire Qi family will be severely punished. If you refuse from the beginning, deny that you can embroider or pretend that the embroidery master is someone else. , not in the capital, any reason is fine, the emperor has nothing to do. The worst result is to close Yunrong Xiuzhuang and never embroider again. "
Qi Surong nodded: "What dad said is not unreasonable. Please allow my daughter to think about it for a few days."
She really wanted to take on this task, but as her father said, once her identity is exposed, she will be greeted by all kinds of overt and covert attacks. It would be fine if the Qi family kept a low profile, but if they wanted to be in the limelight, they would definitely be suppressed.
She didn't dare to risk the Qi family's future before she thought of a safe solution.
After thinking about it, Qi Surong wrote a letter and sent it to Feng Zhan, asking him to help delay it for a few days.
Feng Zhan looked at the elegant fonts on the letter paper and murmured: "The words are like the person. I wonder what Miss Qi will look like now..."
He wrote a reply and agreed to Su Rong's request.
After receiving a positive reply, Qi Surong temporarily calmed down. Tomorrow was the day of the literary battle, and she planned to go and have a look.
However, first we need to ask Mr. Xu to hold Su Bao back...
The literary competition was held in Xingshi Garden. Four colleges, namely Baiyang, Yunzhong, Lucheng and Zhenwen, participated this time. Yingshu Pavilion is a relatively special existence. It was named by the late emperor and given to Xu Chen. He was authorized to collect books from all over the world, including some precious classics that could only be collected by the imperial palace.
Although Xu Chen has no official title now, he has the privilege of collecting books. As long as he sends a word, all states and counties will provide him with books unconditionally.
The Yingshuge will be opened every three months for scholars to read and copy. Its collection of books is second only to Ouchi, and its status is transcendent. As the master of the bookstore, Xu Chen, the disciples he accepted were also qualified to participate in literary battles.
The next day, Su Rong disguised herself as Zhuo Fan and took Yuan Xi to Xingshi Garden.
Compared with Fan Ziyu in the past, Yuan Xi today is not only much taller, his facial features have become mature, and his temperament is also very different. People who are not close to him may not be able to recognize him.
That's why Qi Surong took him with her at ease. Even if he was recognized, it wouldn't matter. At most, he would be ridiculed a few words. With Yuan Xi's current determination, ordinary people's gossips would not be taken to heart at all.
Arriving at Xingshi Garden, Surong handed Xu Chen the name card given to her, and the doorman let them in after checking it.
There are rows of doorless rooms in the Xingshi Garden, just like a tribute courtyard. The test questions are written on canvas outside each room. Su Rong arrived relatively late, and the literary fight had already begun. Hundreds of princes were scattered in various rooms, and the fight was in full swing.
In the middle of the courtyard stand several wooden signs half as tall as a man, with five names written on them: "Baiyang Academy", "Yunzhong Academy", "Lucheng Academy", "Zhenwen Academy" and "Yingshu Pavilion". The corresponding scores are hung below.
Baiyang Academy has 18 points, Yunzhong Academy has 12 points, Lucheng Academy has 9 points, Zhenwen Academy has 7 points, and Yingshu Pavilion has 12 points.
"Twelve points? Not bad." Qi Surong praised secretly. There were at least ten contestants from other academies, but Yingshuge only had three people, Ji Yun, Sun Lingxuan, and Huang Zheng. However, it achieved a score second only to Baiyang Academy, and its performance was quite impressive.
Qi Surong walked through each room one by one. When he encountered interesting test questions, he stopped to watch, thinking about how he should solve the questions. Along the way, she finally found an acquaintance—Sun Lingxuan from Yingshu Pavilion.
The competition he participated in was very interesting, testing his comprehension and memory of the contents of poetry and books.
When Su Rong arrived at the scene, she heard the examiner ask: "How many "Zi Yue" characters are there in "The Analects of Confucius"?"
Su Rong is speechless. Is this just deliberately making things difficult? Who can answer
All the contestants really looked disheveled, cursing in their hearts and reciting the Analects of Confucius crazily silently.
At this moment, Sun Lingxuan answered aloud: "There are a total of two hundred and one 'Confucius said' in the Analects."
"Correct answer." The examiner nodded.
As soon as he said this, everyone looked at him like a monster.
Then the examiner asked again: "Please memorize "The Inscription on the Humble Room" backwards for one stick of incense. If you make two mistakes or omit it twice, you will be eliminated."
This topic is really more tricky than the last.
Qi Surong looked at these contestants with sympathy, wondering how they could trample the examiner in their hearts...
Although "Inscriptions on a Humble Room" is not long, if you want to memorize it every time, it will not only test your memory.
"Why are you so humble, Yun Zikong..." Sun Lingxuan's voice sounded again, his expression was more relaxed than before, and under the sword-like gazes of everyone, he recited "The Inscription of the Humble House" word for word.
Where did this guy come from? Can you still give others a way to survive
Compared with his memory, Sun Lingxuan killed all the contestants present, and he was simply the leader.
It is estimated that after this fight, his "photographic memory" ability will become well known to everyone.
As you can imagine, the next competition became Sun Lingxuan's personal show. When it was over, everyone involuntarily showed expressions of relief.
Qi Surong was secretly amused. She estimated that in the next literary competition, the examiners would not ask such tricky questions again, and she would just recite poems calmly.
Sun Lingxuan scored another four points for Yingshu Pavilion, and the total score exceeded Baiyang Academy.
As soon as he walked out of the room, he saw Qi Surong.
"Junior Zhuo, you're still here." Sun Lingxuan walked over in a few steps.
"Brother Sun, the competition just now was really eye-opening for me." Qi Surong praised from the bottom of his heart.
"Junior Zhuo has received the award. I just have a better memory than ordinary people." Sun Lingxuan waved his hand and said, "By the way, what do you want to compete with later?"
"Let's take a look for the time being." Qi Surong said with a smile, "I have little talent and little knowledge, so I don't dare to show my embarrassment."
At this time, several teenagers came over and asked about Qi Surong.
Sun Lingxuan introduced them one by one, making them look familiar.
Then, he took Qi Surong to another competition site.
What is being compared here is a poem about fighting, with "Winter", "Pine" and "Fish" as the themes. One poem each, with a time limit of half an hour.
Sun Lingxuan pointed to a fat young man coming out of the corner and said, "That's Huang Zheng. He joined Mr. Xu with me. He is good at poetry and poetry."
Qi Surong looked intently and saw that the young man had a simple and honest appearance, with a smile on his face, as approachable as Maitreya Buddha.
When Sun Lingxuan and Qi Surong arrived, he just finished the last poem. After a little finishing, he submitted the poem to the examiner.
When he turned around, he saw Sun Lingxuan, who immediately ran over and said with a smile: "Brother Sun, have you finished the competition? How is your ranking?"
"Of course I came out on top." Sun Lingxuan replied with a smile.
"Awesome!" Huang Zheng gave a thumbs up, then looked at Qi Surong and asked, "Who is this?"
"He is the fifth student accepted by Mr. Xu, Zhuo Fan."
"Ah, hello, Junior Zhuo. I'm Huang Zheng, please be polite." Huang Zheng responded with a fist pump.
"You're welcome." Qi Surong replied, "Brother Huang looks calm, so he must have answered well."
"I don't know either." Huang Zheng touched his nose and said, "I've tried my best."
This person is quite open-minded.
Qi Surong smiled slightly.
Huang Zheng opened his squinted eyes and praised, "Junior Zhuo looks really good."
gratifying? Is this a compliment? Qi Surong was silent.
Sun Lingxuan patted his forehead and said, "You'd better not praise others casually in the future."
"Oh." Huang Zheng touched his nose and smiled naively.
"Okay, it will take some time for you to grade the papers. I'll go see Senior Brother Ji Yun first, right?"
Sun Lingxuan greeted everyone and walked towards the cell on the other side.
Ji Yun participated in debate, and this time he freely expressed his views on the theme of "The greatest has no outside, it is called the big one; the smallest has no interior, it is called the small one". The topic is profound and contains the concept that all things are interdependent and is quite difficult.
Qi Surong thought to himself that he should be able to see a wonderful debate later. Unexpectedly, when the three people arrived, the debate had already ended.
Looking around at the contestants, all of them had angry expressions on their faces, and they all glared angrily at Ji Yun, who was standing in front of them.
"It seems that Brother Ji Yun is in the limelight again this time." Sun Lingxuan said with a smile.
There were a lot of discussions around, everyone holding their own opinions. It must be that the debate just now was quite controversial.
Several examiners also discussed for a long time and finally ranked three who tied for first place.
Everyone was in an uproar. Three firsts
Although the controversy was quite controversial, Ji Yun's eloquence was outstanding and he clearly overwhelmed everyone. As a result, the three parties stood together, which was equivalent to a tie.
Ji Yun snorted lightly, saluted, and then walked out.
"Brother Ji Yun is really powerful. He can fight with all the heroes and never lags behind." Sun Lingxuan boasted.
Ji Yun shrugged: "It's a pity that we didn't win the first place."
"Don't worry, keep up the good work." Huang Zheng shook his fist.
Ji Yun nodded and noticed Qi Surong beside him: "Who is this?"
Sun Lingxuan introduced it again.
Several of Xu Chen's students were officially acquainted with each other.
Several people stood together, attracting the attention of many people. Yingshuge has made quite a splash this time. The three students, in addition to Ji Yun, who has long been famous, Sun Lingxuan and Huang Zheng, who participated in the competition for the first time, all became blockbusters. Not for Sun Lingxuan's super memory, but the seemingly harmless Huang Zheng was extremely talented in composing poems and essays. Six of Yingshuge's twelve points were obtained by him alone.
Ji Yun and others chatted for a while and decided to continue the competition. The competition only lasts for one day, so you must hurry up, otherwise you will be overtaken soon.
Seeing how active they were, Qi Surong thought to herself, should she also compete? After all, as a member of Yingshu Pavilion, several senior students are outstanding, but I am the only one who has no performance, which is a bit of a loss.
In terms of poetry, literature, and classics, she may not be able to compete with these outstanding scholars, but she may be able to compete in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.