Duan Qing snatched Fang Yun's poem, placed it on the table, and looked at Zong Yun.
Zong Yun lowered his head and said nothing. From today on, his literary reputation would be infamous throughout the human race. He could only stay in Qing Country. If he went to other countries, he would surely be laughed at.
However, Zong Yun did not give up!
Zong Yun, holding the official seal, delivered a letter to Zong Wuyuan who was far away in Qing Kingdom.
Zhang Zhixing stood on the high platform and smiled, "You all have seen what happened. Fang Xusheng not only did not fail, but instead wrote a seven-character poem containing the words 'odd', 'spring' and 'simple'. Who has any objection?"
No one responded.
"Okay, now I will send someone to collect all the poems and essays, and they will be judged by ten old students. However, if nothing unexpected happens, the first prize of this Spring Essay Competition will definitely belong to Fang Xusheng. Of course, I know that some people are not convinced. If you think that your poems are better than Fang Xusheng, you can stand up like Zong Yun and be an upright and brave scholar!" Zhang Zhixing's tone was a little joking.
Some people who were not on good terms with the Zong family laughed out loud, most people were laughing secretly, and only the more than a thousand people who had stood up before lowered their heads and smiled bitterly.
If they had known that the ten words constituted a whole poem, these people would have guessed that it was a palindrome. However, Fang Yun was in a hurry to leave and did not say a word. Even Fang Yun's deskmate thought that it was not finished. In addition, Zhang Zhixing defended him in every possible way, which made these people have a preconceived idea. No one cared about the palindrome behind the ten words.
Palindrome poems are different from ordinary poems. A normal good poem often has some excellent sentences that make people see its extraordinaryness at a glance, but palindrome poems themselves are too "clever". In order to make them smooth when read forward and backward, many aspects will inevitably be sacrificed, and they will often deviate from the original meaning of the poem, making it difficult to have good sentences.
A palindrome poem requires constant and repeated polishing and is difficult to complete in a short period of time. Fang Yun wrote these ten words shortly after the literary meeting, and it is even more difficult for people to connect these ten words with the most ingenious and complex palindrome poem.
The literary attendants at the venue collected all the new students' manuscripts in an orderly manner, and ten old students quickly reviewed them, selecting the good, average and bad ones, and then selecting the best and worst ten from the good and bad ones.
Compared with previous years, these people's review speed has obviously slowed down. When they encounter something they are unsure about, they will immediately send someone to ask the original author, for fear of making the same mistake as Zong Yun, mistaking a good poem for a bad one.
Zong Yun remained silent.
Finally, the results of the literary competition were officially announced, and Fang Yun's cross palindrome poem undoubtedly won the first place. At the same time, ten people whose works were extremely poor were selected. Those ten people sighed and could only bite the bullet and go to Kongcheng to shout "I am a pig" tomorrow.
However, just as Zhang Zhixing announced that the literary gathering was about to end, Zong Yun suddenly stood up.
"I have something to say, please give me some convenience, Brother Zhang." Zong Yun said to Zhang Zhixing.
Zhang Zhixing didn't give him a chance. He slammed the table and said, "The literary gathering is over! Everything from now on has nothing to do with me. Everyone go back to your residences. I'm leaving first!"
Zong Yun shouted, "Wait a minute!"
However, many people ignored him and slowly walked out of Chang Hong Courtyard.
Zong Yun said loudly: "The East Saint Pavilion has already dispatched people to intercept Fang Yun outside the Battle Hall! Those who attended this literary gathering should go there to testify."
"Are you done yet?" Zhang Zhixing was furious.
Zong Yun remained calm and said, "Duan Qing interpreted the ten words written by Fang Yun as a five-character palindrome, while Yan Yukong interpreted it as a seven-character palindrome. So, could this poem be a coincidence? I suspect that Fang Xusheng himself probably doesn't know that these ten words are a palindrome! Even if he knows, he might mistakenly think that this is a five-character palindrome. Then, the title of the Songchunwenhui champion must not be given to him!"
"Zong Yun. I was the host of the Spring Festival Essays. You reported it to Dongsheng Pavilion without my consent. You must give me an explanation for this matter!" Zhang Zhixing looked at Zong Yun angrily. His own face didn't matter, but what if Fang Yun's literary reputation was really lost? This made Zhang Zhixing intolerable.
Zong Yun sighed and said, "As long as we reach the gate of the battle hall and Fang Xusheng answers my questions, no matter whether his ten words are a coincidence or not, I will voluntarily resign from my status as a student of the Saint Academy and go to Liangjie Mountain to participate in the battle. I will never return unless I have made great contributions!"
Zhang Zhixing looked at Zong Yun with gritted teeth. He now understood that even if he didn't go to the War Hall, Zong Yun would be disgraced and would be ridiculed if he stayed in the Holy Academy. It would be better to make one last fight. If he won, he could wash away the stigma. If he lost, he could just go to Liangjie Mountain. If he could become a great scholar in the future, he would still have hope of returning home in glory.
"No, I will contact the president of Chongwen Academy right now!" Zhang Zhixing would never say this.
Zong Yun snorted coldly and said, "Since Brother Zhang is so stubborn, you can't blame me!" After saying that, Zong Yun turned around and walked out the door.
"What are you going to do!" Zhang Zhixing yelled.
The situation was tense, with some people even ready to resort to verbal battles to stop Zong Yun.
Zong Yun walked away with a cold smile, "Of course, we should go to the War Hall. After the meeting of the elders is over, we will ask him whether he has finished writing the poem. Also, don't waste your time. The East Saint Pavilion has temporarily cut off the internal and external connections of the War Hall. Even if you send a letter, he won't be able to receive it."
"Lawless! Do you think the Punishment Hall doesn't exist by doing this?" Zhang Zhixing said.
"I will bear all the consequences of this matter!" Zong Yun said.
Everyone looked at Zong Yun's back, feeling extremely angry. Zong Yun was completely desperate, and there was really no good way to deal with such a person.
Yan Yukong stood up and said, "Zhixing, let's go to the battle hall together. Fang Yun is a genius, he will definitely not be as blind as Zong Yun."
"That's the only way! However, I will contact the head of Chongwen Academy right now and try to stop Dongsheng Pavilion."
Thousands of students left Changhong Academy one after another and headed towards the battle hall.
Many people gathered in groups of three or five, talking as they walked.
"I was just trying to send off the Spring Festival Gala, but these villains messed it up. It's really annoying."
"The more I look down on the Zong family, yes, I dare to say it in public! Although the Zajia family back then was also good at internal fighting, Lu Sheng was so heroic and powerful. The Zajia family now, haha, is contemptible!"
"The Zong family could afford to lose before, but now they can't afford to lose anymore. They are simply another Lei family."
"No matter what happened to the Lei family, at least they knew to apologize. What about the Zong family? They were clearly defeated, but they still fought like a trapped beast. Even if they can't win, they can still disgust others."
"Now the Zong family is in charge of the East Saint Pavilion, and we have no way to stop it. Alas, I hope the human race will not be defeated by the Zong family."
"Mr. Jinglong is fine, why would he give up his position to Zongsheng?"
"There must be some unavoidable reason. Besides, Mr. Jinglong is quite old and will have to leave Dongsheng Pavilion sooner or later."
Soon, everyone arrived outside the gate of the War Hall, and found several people from the East Saint Pavilion standing at the door, holding official seals, isolating the communication between the inside and the outside, to prevent Fang Yun from receiving the news as soon as he came out.
Many scholars looked at the people of the clan with increasingly gloomy eyes.
Everyone looked through the gate at the wide battle palace square inside the courtyard. At the end of the square was the main hall of the battle palace.
After a while, the main hall door slowly opened.
.(To be continued.)