With Fang Yun's poem, everyone no longer hesitated. Some people left one after another and agreed to come to pay their respects tomorrow.
Not long after, Fang Yun and Zhao Hongzhuang said goodbye to the Chen family and walked out the door.
Zhao Hongzhuang said: "I will take you back. I have something to tell you on the way."
"Okay." Fang Yun said.
There were many carriages parked in front of the door. The two were looking for them when they heard someone shout, "Fang Wenhou, has the invitation for the Double Ninth Festival been delivered?"
Fang Yun looked in the direction of the voice and saw a middle-aged man in white Jinshi clothing walking towards him with a smile, followed by two followers.
Fang Yun didn't know this person. Just as he was about to ask, Zhao Hongzhuang whispered, "Wei Yuhuang from the wealthy Wei family. The Wei family is in charge of this Double Ninth Festival literary gathering."
Fang Yun was stunned. The name Wei Yuhuang was very famous. He was the champion of Jingguo State seven years ago.
At that time, Wei Yuhuang had a fight with someone in a restaurant and accidentally killed a scholar, and was arrested. According to the law, he would be sentenced to ten years of exile.
However, the Ten Kingdoms had the system of atonement through poetry and essays derived from the Spring and Autumn Period. Wei Yuhuang was a juren who took the imperial examination and had not committed a capital crime, which met the basic conditions for atonement through poetry and essays. Later, he wrote a good essay in prison and was temporarily atone for his crime. Finally, he participated in the imperial examination and won the first place in the imperial examination, successfully exempting himself from guilt.
In the past hundred years, many people in Jing State have had the opportunity to atone for their crimes with poetry, but only one in ten years can succeed. Wei Yuhuang is the only person who has successfully atone for his crimes with poetry in the past ten years, so Fang Yun remembers him very clearly.
Fang Yun looked at the man carefully. He had a handsome appearance and was well-mannered, without the arrogance of someone who came from a big family.
"Brother Wei, I've long heard of your name. I'm new in the capital and didn't receive an invitation to the Double Ninth Festival." Fang Yun bowed.
"This year, the Double Ninth Festival literary gathering of Jing State will be hosted by our Wei family. We can refuse to invite anyone, but we cannot refuse to invite you. If you don't go, our Wei family will lose face. Brother Fang, you must honor us." Wei Yuhuang said, and presented a red invitation with chrysanthemums on it.
Fang Yun hesitated for a moment, then took the invitation and said with a smile: "Brother Wei, you are too polite. It is not easy to host a literary gathering of this scale. Thank you for the hard work of all the children of the Wei family. I will definitely go to show my support."
Wei Yuhuang's eyes flashed with joy, and he said, "Everyone said how great Brother Fang was, I was afraid you would refuse, but now I know you are a modest gentleman. Other people's words really cannot be trusted, seeing is believing. On the ninth day of the ninth month, we will be waiting for you at Yushan."
"I will definitely go there."
Wei Yuhuang suddenly smiled and said, "Fang Yun, you can lose to anyone but not to the man from Qing Kingdom and Wu Kingdom."
Zhao Hongzhuang's face darkened and she opened her mouth to curse, but Wei Yuhuang gave a sly laugh and turned and ran away.
Fang Yun sighed helplessly and said, "Hongzhuang, it seems that you are very popular in the capital. Don't be picky, just find a good man to marry."
"Why does your tone sound exactly like my elder's? Stop talking nonsense. Get in the car!" Zhao Hongzhuang glanced at Fang Yun and walked quickly towards the carriage.
Fang Yun was about to follow, but suddenly someone said, "Marquis Fang Wen, please stay."
Fang Yun remembered that this was Yi Mingtian's voice, and when he turned around, he saw Yi Mingtian, Xiao Guogong and other people from Kangshe approaching quickly.
Yi Mingtian looked guilty, clasped his hands together and said, "Today, I was blind and didn't recognize a real talent. I also saw you being so intimate with Hongzhuang, and I was bewitched for a while. I hope that Lord Wen will forgive me."
Fang Yun smiled and said, "It's a small matter. If you apologize sincerely, I will accept it sincerely."
Yi Mingtian was stunned for a moment. He did not expect Fang Yun to be so direct. He immediately said seriously: "Although I have lost face today, it is only a loss of face. If I continue to entangle with you, it will not be as simple as losing face. Besides, I have a little friendship with Zong Wude, and he knows me well."
Fang Yun said with a smile: "I am going to go back with Hongzhuang today. Won't you be bewildered?"
Yi Mingtian smiled helplessly and said, "I know a little about your affairs. Not to mention whether you and Hongzhuang are in love, if you really make a move, there are only more than ten young talents in the ten countries who can compete with you, and I am not one of them. So, I will judge the situation and withdraw temporarily."
Fang Yun said: "That's a pity. If you don't withdraw, the young Duke will definitely help you with all his strength. Right, young Duke?"
Fang Yun looked at the handsome young Duke.
The young Duke smiled and said, "Mingtian is my best friend. If he needs anything, I will naturally help him with all my strength."
Fang Yun nodded, turned around, took a step, then turned back and said, "Please ask the young Duke to pass a message to Guan Chang Yu for me. This time you forced me to buy the longevity fruit from my teacher, but if you are determined to harm me next time, it will not be as simple as breaking my legs!" After saying that, he turned around and left.
The young duke had a gloomy expression on his face and stared at Fang Yun's back without saying a word.
The people around him didn't dare to speak. On the surface, Fang Yun was talking about Guan Changyu, but in reality he was warning the young Duke. Even a fool could see that even if Mr. Zhuang had eaten dragon gall, he would not be able to provoke Fang Yun when something happened to the Chen family. Yi Mingtian could definitely not be ordered to do so. Only the young Duke could do it.
"Go home and bandage your hand." After Yi Mingtian said this, he actually left the young duke and walked towards his carriage.
"Come back to the academy with me." The young duke's face darkened and he quickly got into his carriage. Several of his good friends also got in with him.
The carriage was quiet.
One of them used his literary courage to whisper, "Your Highness, it is unwise to be an enemy of Fang Yun. He is just a Guan Changyu, so just give him up."
The young Duke nodded and said, "What you said makes sense. Get out!"
"I..." The man's face turned pale.
"Get out!" There was no emotion in the young duke's eyes.
"Alas..." the man sighed and left.
After that person left, the carriage returned to silence, and the four people sat silently beside the young Duke.
The young Duke said slowly, "Do you really think I would make things difficult for Fang Yun for a Guanzhang Yu? It's better not to have such a fool. Guanzhang Yu is working for my Kangwang Mansion anyway. He was humiliated like this, but Fang Yun refused to let him go. If the Kangwang Mansion does nothing about it, how can we recruit talents in the future? My Kangwang Mansion is not afraid of the Queen Mother or the Left Prime Minister, so how can we bow down to Fang Yun!"
"Your Highness is right. But His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has ordered us not to provoke Fang Yun."
"My eldest brother is a cautious person. He doesn't have a good mother like me who comes from a semi-saint family. Naturally, he doesn't dare to provoke Fang Yun, who is at the peak of his career. But I'm not afraid. Even if Fang Yun wants to kill me, I'll hide at my grandfather's house. What can he do to me?"
"Then...are you still going to continue targeting Fang Yun?"
"I thought I would let him go after making him look bad today, but who knew that not only did he not look bad, but he was thanked by everyone in the Chen family. That would have been fine, but the Chen family now hates me. I suffered such a huge loss, how can I let it go? However, there is no need for me to do it myself. There are too many people in the capital who don't like Fang Yun!" The young duke laughed.
"In three months, the imperial examination will begin. I wonder how many people are hoping that Fang Yun will fail!"
"Humph, Fang Yun is used to being rampant in Jiangzhou, but this is the capital, if you are not careful, you will fall flat on your face!" (To be continued...)