The Double Ninth Festival Literary Festival focuses on chrysanthemums. Looking around, you can see potted chrysanthemums everywhere in the festival, like a golden ocean.
The tables and chairs for the banquet were covered with bright red silk cloth, which looked even more festive against the golden color.
The literary event was crowded with people, many of whom came with their entire family, young and old, and children could be seen playing and running everywhere.
This is a mountainous area, not a flat land. The venue of the literary gathering is divided into three levels of flat ground, each higher than the last, like three huge steps.
At the deepest part of the third floor, there is a writing platform where people can write poems after the literary gathering begins.
Most of the women here wear festive red robes, while the men's clothes are relatively orderly, almost corresponding to their positions.
On the first floor, most of the men were wearing black robes, such as those of the Juren class, with a few wearing blue robes of the Xiu class mixed in. On the second floor, a little further away, there were many white robes, such as those of the Jinshi class, with embroidered swords, and occasionally some black robes of the Juren class. On the highest floor, most of the men were wearing white robes, such as those of the Ink Plum Hanlin class, with blue robes of the Grand Secretary mixed in as well.
There were no names at the dinner table at the venue and no one guided them, but everyone knew where they should sit.
The only exception was the old men on the third floor. They were of all ranks and clothing, and their white hair and beards were very eye-catching.
"Where should we sit?" Yang Yuhuan looked at the dark conference room, not knowing how to choose.
"Keep going forward until you reach the highest point." Fang Yun said.
"oh."
Fang Yun's tone was very flat, but after hearing it, Yang Yuhuan felt a force in her body. She straightened her body involuntarily and raised her chin.
The two of them walked slowly forward. Yang Yuhuan looked back at the masked woman, who was just getting off the chair. There was some confusion in her eyes, and then she turned back and continued walking with Fang Yun.
There were too many people at the Chongyang Literary Gathering. The further I walked, the louder the buzzing sound in my ears became.
Before he had taken a few steps, someone on the right suddenly bowed and saluted: "Greetings, Lord Fang Wen!"
Fang Yun looked in the direction of the voice. It was a student from the academy, so he smiled slightly and bowed in return.
"Ah? Is it really Fang Wenhou?"
Then I saw people sitting around, regardless of gender, age or status, standing up one after another.
Even the children who were playing and running around became surprisingly quiet and looked at Fang Yun together, wanting to see if this person who could hear it every day had supernatural powers.
"Meet Fang Wenhou."
"Meet Fang Zhenguo!"
…
At first, only the people near Fang Yun stood up, and the people next to him soon found out and quickly stood up as well. Most people looked happy, but a few stood up reluctantly and slowly.
"It's Fang Wenhou who's here."
"Fang Zhenguo? Get up quickly..."
Soon, tens of thousands of people on the first floor stood up.
The voices greeting Fang Yun kept coming one after another. They hadn't stopped since Fang Yun appeared.
“Fang Yun is greeting… Fang Yun is greeting…” Fang Yun kept bowing to both sides as he walked. Yang Yuhuan followed nervously behind him, lowering her head, not daring to look at those people.
The little fox, however, was very much in the spotlight and jumped around following Fang Yun, particularly enjoying this kind of scene.
There was no separation between the first and second floors except for a three-foot height difference and some stairs. The people on the second floor soon realized that Fang Yun had arrived.
Many people stood up involuntarily and stretched their necks to look down, wanting to see who Fang Yun was.
Soon, the people on the third floor stopped chatting, stood up one after another, and looked down from their high place.
Some of the people on the third floor had smiles on their faces, some looked surprised, some had gloomy faces, and some had expressionless faces.
When Fang Yun reached the second stone staircase, everyone on the third floor had already stood up. Even the blue-robed university scholars were not sitting down.
Afterwards, many people changed color.
Unless a great scholar came in person, even if Li Wenying, who was at the peak of his career, came here, the whole audience would not stand up.
But a juren can make everyone present stand up on their own initiative. This influence is terrifying, even though Fang Yun is visiting the capital for the first time.
Those with gloomy faces looked even more miserable, and a few even snorted coldly and sat down.
Under the gaze of tens of thousands of people, Fang Yun walked forward calmly, smiling and bowing to the people on both sides.
By the time Fang Yun reached the middle of the second floor, the people on the first floor had not yet sat down.
A thunderous sound like a huge bell suddenly rang out.
"Great! As expected of Fang Zhenguo, he not only defeated the entire state of Qing Kingdom, but also defeated all the people in this Chongyang Literary Contest!"
Fang Yun looked over immediately and saw a middle-aged man in white sword clothes in the crowd on the first floor. He was looking at him with a very kind smile.
The discussion suddenly arose, and a buzzing sound like mosquitoes and flies sounded in Fang Yun's ears.
"Who is that person? Why haven't I seen him before? Jingguo will never have such a Jinshi."
"From the accent, he is not from Jing Country. He dares to sow discord at this moment. He must be from a semi-saint family at least."
"That person's imperial examination uniform doesn't seem to be from Qing country either. It seems to be from Jia country?"
"Jiaguo makes sense. That person has too many accessories on him. Except for the people of the Lei family, other scholars don't like to wear messy things."
"The Lei family? It's over, it's over. This family is more difficult to deal with than an ordinary semi-saint family. Fang Yun would rather offend a noble family than the Lei family. When did he offend such a big family? It is said that it won't be long before the Lei family can leap from a wealthy family to a noble family. Given the relationship between the Lei family and the dragon clan, Fang Yun will probably be regarded as a thorn in the eyes of the dragon clan."
Before Fang Yun could speak, a familiar voice sounded among the crowd on the first floor.
"I don't know whether Fang Yun can suppress others or not, but once the great scholar Nangong comes, he will definitely suppress our Jing Kingdom. Lei Yuanting, if I'm not mistaken, it is your Lei family who invited the great scholar Nangong, right?"
Fang Yun took a closer look and found that it was Minister Sai who had gone to Yuhai that day with the empress dowager's secret order. He was also an official from Jiangzhou.
"Our Lei family did invite the great scholar Nangong, but he came here just for the sake of passing through, and has little to do with our Lei family. What I just said..."
"Okay, everyone, please take a seat." The voice of Grand Secretary and Right Prime Minister Cao De'an came.
Lei Yuanting looked at Fang Yun hatefully and sat down with the others.
Fang Yun bowed for the last time, then took Yang Yuhuan's hand and continued to move forward.
When the women present saw this scene, they all showed envy. A man willing to hold a woman's hand here was more intoxicating than any sweet words.
Those unmarried girls even had a look of longing in their eyes, whether they longed to become Yang Yuhuan, or wanted their future significant other to take them to such a place.
The road is in the middle, with tables and chairs on both sides.
Fang Yun took a glance and saw that the Left Prime Minister's loyal dog, Assistant Prime Minister Si Yueqing, Lei Yuanting who intended to sow discord, the Little Duke and others were all on the left, while the Right Prime Minister Cao De'an and Minister Sai and others were sitting on the right.
Near the desk, there were five large tables on each side, each of which could seat ten people, but none of them was full.
Fang Yun stepped onto the third floor. Everyone on the third floor was silent and just stared at him silently.
The atmosphere at the scene became depressing.
The road separating the two sides was obviously very ordinary, but in Fang Yun's eyes it was like a chasm that no one could cross.
Fang Yun was about to walk to the right when he saw an old Hanlin in white and black plum robe standing at the second table on the left. Fang Yun was slightly stunned. This man looked familiar, but he had never seen him before.
"I'm Tong Luan, nice to meet Fang Wenhou. This table is vacant, why don't you come and sit here." The man had a smile on his face and gray hair on his temples. He was a kind old man.
Fang Yun's eyes tightened. During the examination for the scholar, he had made a bet with a man named Tong Li about the broken palace of literature. They competed to see who could climb the highest mountain of books. In the end, he won and Tong Li committed suicide. Tong Li's grandfather was Tong Luan, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of War of Jing State. His position in the Ministry of War was second only to the Minister of War, and he was a senior official of the third rank, and like Fang Yun, he was a "cabinet walker".
Fang Yun had received news that after Tong Li's death, the Left Assistant Minister Tong Luan left the capital and headed south to Yuhai City, but was eventually forced back by Li Wenying.
Tong Luan had made many military achievements. He had killed countless barbarians in the northern border and was the best candidate for the next Minister of War. He had great potential and at least 15 years of official career.
Fang Yun sighed in his heart. Tong Luan was originally a neutral person in the army, but because he was stopped by Li Wenying and was unable to avenge his grandson, he switched to the Zuo Xiang camp in anger and added strength to Zuo Xiang.
The hatred between the two is now as deep as the sea.
Fang Yun bowed and said, "Fang Yun greets Master Tong, but the wind is strong on the left, so it's better for me to sit with Minister Sai."
Everyone on the right stood up to greet him, and the atmosphere improved.
Right Prime Minister Cao De'an, who was sitting at the first table on the right, smiled and said, "Marquis Fang Wen, you can sit here."
Fang Yun smiled and said, "I really want to sit there, but I'm not like you guys whose wives are devoted to you. The one next to me and I are not married yet, and I'm afraid she'll run away, so I have to sit with her. We can't be separated."
Everyone laughed.
Cao Dean pointed at Fang Yun and said to everyone with a smile: "Look at this Fang Yun. To put it nicely, he is a good man who loves his wife. To put it bluntly, he is a pervert who is trapped in the land of tenderness and cannot extricate himself!"
A university scholar nearby joked, "Prime Minister Cao, if you had a wife like Xi Shi from the capital, you might not have had the strength to climb the mountain. In this respect, Fang Yun is ten times better than you."
People on both sides burst into laughter.
Yang Yuhuan's face turned red, and she stamped her feet in shame, cursing in her heart a group of old hooligans.
Cao De'an laughed and didn't care. The other party said, "Then you can take your Jiangzhou Xishi to the third table. There are fewer people there."
Fang Yun saw that the people at the first and second tables were either high-ranking officials in the capital or important figures from semi-saint families. Among them was the Grand Secretary of the Chen family whom Fang Yun had met before. The people at the third table had indifferent expressions, unlike those from officialdom. Fang Yun vaguely guessed that they were heads of wealthy families, so he walked over with Yang Yuhuan.
Fang Yun had just walked to the table, and before the heads of the families could introduce themselves, a young man's eloquent speech came from the banquet on the left.
"Minister Tong invited Fang Yun but was rejected. He went to the right side but not the left side. It really makes us sad. How about we decide the champion of this literary gathering from the left and right seats?"
Even Yang Yuhuan looked over in surprise. "Determining the champion" was not a good thing. Generally, only when people from different countries were present at the same literary meeting, the "champion" would be determined before the meeting started.
The champions are often chosen between the same clans that have a grudge against each other, but it is extremely rare to choose the champion at such a large literary gathering. (To be continued...)