Time passed minute by minute, Fang Yun was still sleeping, but undercurrents were surging in the capital.
Most of the Shangshe Jinshi have more or less connections with various aristocratic families or wealthy families, so the wives and concubines of Shangshe Jinshi can also be directly married to Juren or Jinshi.
In the No. 1 upper dormitory, many juren and jinshi came in and out. After a while, the servants of the jinshi's family in the upper dormitory became busy. Each of them left Fang Yun's house with a large stack of letters in their hands and delivered them to various families in the capital.
Unlike ordinary visiting cards or letters, these letters have fragrance and are written on stationery used by women.
Jiang Mansion.
"That old thing, for that bitch, he actually cried and recited Jiang Cheng Zi in public. Does he still have me in his heart?" Madam Jiang sat on the chair with a gloomy face. She was only about fifty years old, much younger than Minister Jiang Hechuan. If Jiang Hechuan's first wife had not passed away, she would not have been the principal wife.
At this moment, the doorman hurried in and shouted as soon as he entered the room: "Madam..." When the doorman saw that Madam Jiang's face was not right, he was so scared that he knelt down with a plop and begged for mercy in a low voice.
"Damn it, damn it..."
Mrs. Jiang suppressed her anger in the blink of an eye and asked in a friendly manner, "Tell me, what's the big deal?"
"A lady from the Chen Sheng family wrote to me, saying that she is Qiao Juze's legal wife and that she has a past relationship with you."
"Give me the letter quickly!" Madam Jiang stood up immediately. Although Jiang Hechuan was a great scholar, she was also a first-rank lady with a higher rank than Qiao Chen, but her actual status was far inferior to Qiao Chen. After all, the other party was the daughter of a semi-saint family.
The doorman handed it to the maid who came running over, and the maid ran over to deliver the letter to Mrs. Jiang.
Madam Jiang opened the letter and thought for a moment, then slammed the table and said, "Yuhuan is so chaste and loyal. How can I, as the wife of the Minister of Literature, stand by and watch? Someone, take my official uniform!"
Zhou Mansion.
Zhou Hanlin has passed away, and the power of the Zhou family has fallen into the hands of Mrs. Zhou.
Whether it is Zhou's relatives or neighbors, they all treat Mrs. Zhou with great respect, because Mrs. Zhou has another identity: the great-granddaughter of Chen Sheng and Chen Guanhai, and she is still healthy at the age of over 90.
Madam Zhou was quite famous in the capital at that time. Whenever the palace entertained the ladies of the capital, the first letter would be delivered to Madam Zhou. However, as Madam Zhou grew older, she rarely attended banquets and even did not attend the wedding of Chen Jing, the eldest son of the Chen Sheng family. She was unable to see Madam Chen for the last time.
Mrs. Zhou silently looked at the letter written jointly by Yang Yuhuan and Qiao Chenshi. She read it over and over again three times, and asked the maid beside her to read it three times before putting the letter aside.
Madam Zhou squinted her eyes, and after a quarter of an hour, she said in a hoarse voice, "Take the phoenix-headed walking stick bestowed by Chen Zu, and the official uniform bestowed by Emperor Jinglong. I am going to the gate of the imperial palace to listen to the drum for hearing the news! Wait, Cui'er. Go and draft three letters for me. I will tell you to write them, and stamp them with my seal at the end and send them off quickly!"
Li Mansion, Sun Mansion, Zhang Mansion, Zhao Mansion...
All the wives of officials or families who had expressed dissatisfaction with the left prime minister received one or more letters, and almost every wife sent one or more letters.
The officials in the capital were arguing in the court, but they didn't know that their wives were preparing to do something more meaningful.
Yufang Tower is the largest brothel in Jing State.
Yufanglou was open all day, but it suddenly closed a quarter of an hour ago, driving away all the guests.
The guests all knew that several disciples of the noble families had shares in Yufanglou and had lost money, so they all left tactfully.
More than two hundred women were standing in the lobby of Yufang Tower, and the madam of Yufang Tower, Saihua Niang, was standing on the second floor. Although she was wearing heavy makeup, she could not hide her red and swollen eyes.
"… Girls, what is the reason why our Yufanglou can sit firmly on the top spot of the capital's brothel? Money? Power? None of them! It is because those literati are so kind that they give the best poems to the girls of our Yufanglou! But! No matter how many poems those literati have, they are all bullshit! Do you know what the brothels of the ten countries say now? Whoever can be the first to invite Fang Yun and Fang Zhenguo to write poems will be the real number one brothel in the world!"
Saihua glanced at the girl whose eyes were also red and swollen, and said, "You have heard Fang Zhenguo's poems and lyrics. I don't need to say how good he is. I just want to ask, if Fang Zhenguo came here now, who is willing to pay money to accompany Fang Zhenguo?"
"I… "
"me!"
The crowd of prostitutes shouted loudly, and even the shyest prostitutes rushed forward.
"Good! Now you not only have the chance to accompany Fang Zhenguo, but also have the chance to win 100,000 taels of silver! Fang Zhenguo was wrongfully imprisoned, and we women can't do anything to help him, but we can still help him spit on others! If you are a woman, follow me out now and go to the Zuo Xiangfu! We won't curse people, but stand at the door of the Zuo Xiangfu to solicit customers, using your most coquettish methods and the most lewd voices to solicit customers, and make the Zuo Xiangfu the number one brothel in the capital! Whoever is powerful enough to get Fang Yun to write poems for our Yufang Tower will not only be rewarded with 100,000 taels of silver, but I will also guarantee that you will marry a husband of your dreams! Girls, follow me!"
"Let's go! For Fang Zhenguo!"
"I will fight hard!"
"I don't ask Fang Wenhou to write a poem, I just want him to look at me, and I will be happy!"
The women in Manchunyuan, Qunfangge, Baihualou and other brothels in the capital stopped receiving customers and went to the Zuo Xiangfu either on foot or in carriages.
The officials who were secretly monitoring the capital city held official seals, looked down from high above, shook their heads and smiled bitterly, and saw two strange places appearing in the capital city, and a large number of carriages or women began to head to these two places.
One is the main gate of the imperial palace, and the other is the residence of the left prime minister.
An hour later, the door of Zuo Xiang's house turned into a sea of women. Scantily clad prostitutes surrounded Zuo Xiang's house, and all kinds of dirty words flooded the house. Thousands of prostitutes shouted with all their might, and all the men who passed by felt limp all over. They were reluctant to leave, but had to leave.
The servants and other people in the Zuo Xiang Mansion were in a panic. The Zuo Xiang’s wives, concubines, and daughters-in-law were crying secretly. The men didn’t care, but the reputation of the women in the Zuo Xiang Mansion was afraid that it would be ruined.
In the study, Ji Zhibai looked at the Left Prime Minister nervously, fearing that the Left Prime Minister would become angry and use the power of the Grand Secretary to drive away these beautiful girls.
The left prime minister smiled calmly and said, "I was also a playboy in my past. How can a mere woman disturb my mind? Don't worry. When Fang Yun's third poem fails to protect the country, they will naturally disperse. By then, it will be their shame and Fang Yun's face that will be lost!"
"Master, you are right. I admire you." Ji Zhibai said.
The sun was setting. The people of the ten kingdoms were all waiting quietly. Thousands of women in official uniforms gathered in front of the Jing Kingdom's palace.
"Boom..."
"Unfair..."
As the drum sounded, Yang Yuhuan's mournful cry marked the beginning of a dramatic change in the capital.
In the tiger prison, Fang Yun suddenly opened his eyes.
"Sorry for the long wait."
After Fang Yun finished speaking, he said, "Please lend me three feet of drawing paper."
"I'll get it!" Huo Siyu turned around and ran.
Not long after, Siyu Huo came with a roll of drawing paper and spread it out for Fang Yun personally.
Without hesitation, Fang Yun began to paint in the freehand style of Zheng Xie, a famous bamboo painter, and Zheng Banqiao.
Fang Yun drew quickly, and soon, three bamboos appeared on the painting, rooted on the rocks. There was a strong wind blowing around, but it could not blow away the slender bamboos.
A Jinshi from the Criminal Hall said in amazement: "This painting has a sparse and clear appearance and thin and vigorous brushstrokes, which gives it a rather extraordinary and otherworldly look. It actually uses thick ink for the front and light ink for the back, which is a radical change from the previous method of painting bamboo. It is truly magical!"
"How can Fang Yun draw so fast?" Huo Siyu muttered to himself.
"He must have it all planned out in his mind!"
Fang Yun painted the bamboo in the style of Zheng Banqiao, and then wrote a poem on the painting.
"Bamboo and stone."
“Hold on to the green mountains and never let go.
The roots are originally in the broken rock.
Thousands of blows and blows still make it strong.
Let the wind blow from any direction."
When the poem was completed, his talent was three feet and nine inches, just one inch away from being able to stabilize the country.
At the same time, another crisp sound came from the paper, which was similar to the sound of the previous "Lime Chant".
But unlike before, this crisp sound was only heard by Fang Yun, and then it rose into the sky.
This strange sound flew towards the capital. During the flight, a few strange light spots flew from all directions of Jingguo and merged into the sound. It seemed that the sound carried the anger of the people and the hatred of all living beings.
"Another courage-testing poem!" exclaimed Huo Siyu.
"This poem and "Lime Chant" each have their own merits. "Lime Chant" has the spirit of sacrifice, while "Bamboo and Rock" has a firm heart." said the Jinshi of the Xingdian Palace.
Huo Siyu nodded, but suddenly froze and repeated the first sentence over and over again.
“Hold on to the green mountains and never let go, hold on to the green mountains and never let go…” Every time he read it, Huo Siyu’s face became uglier.
As Huo Siyu recited it repeatedly, the voice of Minister Jiang Hechuan had spread throughout the country. The talent of "Bamboo and Rock" easily exceeded four feet, and the poem became a national treasure.
Ji County Government Office.
When Jiang Hechuan was reciting "Bamboo and Rock", the county magistrate Cai He was drinking tea. After hearing the first sentence "Hold on to the green mountains and never let go", he spat out a mouthful of tea and then started coughing.
"What a great Fang Zhenguo! He will certainly avenge his grudge!"
In the north of Jing State, in the military tent of the front army camp.
“Hahahaha…” Zhang Poyue’s voice spread throughout the army, “Well done Fang Yun, you should kill the Left Prime Minister! I will personally help you tame the Royal Eagle Demon Commander!”
Capital city, the residence of the left prime minister.
Ji Zhibai, the top scholar of Jing State this year, looked at his mentor in front of him with horror. He just heard with his own ears that there seemed to be a slight sound coming from the center of his mentor Liu Shan's eyebrows.
Zuo Xiang Liu Shan clutched the table tightly with his right hand, blood was flowing from his nostrils and corners of his mouth, his lips were tightly closed and his teeth were chattering.
"Well... Master, what's wrong with you?" Ji Zhibai asked in panic.
"Fang Yun, you little brat! You actually hid my name in the poem and used the courage-refining poem to stir up the people and hurt me!"
"Impossible! You have the protection of the country, how could you be hurt?"
Liu Shan's hand slowly left the table, and he gently wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. His face was gloomy, and he slowly said: "His national destiny at the moment is already higher than mine! He first used national destiny to suppress me, and then hurt me with the people's hearts! This matter is very strange, he must have had a poem that could move the people's hearts before, otherwise he would not have such power!"
"Why didn't the Sage remind you?" Ji Zhibai asked.
Liu Shan smiled helplessly and said, "Lord Zongsheng is in the Holy Council. In order to fight against Lord Dongsheng, he must go there in person. Since it involves the dispute of the Holy Path, how can he have the opportunity to remind me?"
"Could it be that I was tricked?" Ji Zhibai was shocked.
Liu Shan shook his head and said, "It was just an accident, but... This poem at least set my literary talent back by several years! I could have become a great scholar at any time, but now it's extremely difficult to become a great scholar in a year!" As he spoke, a hint of anger flashed in Liu Shan's eyes.
"Fang Yun! How can I allow you to hurt my mentor!" Ji Zhibai rushed out suddenly.
"Come back!" Liu Shan shouted, calling Ji Zhibai back. (To be continued...)