Chapter 82

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“Know, know, no need to fuss.” The scholars, unable to contain their impatience, said, “Just give the order.”

“I must say this first, if it’s a drinking game like counting sticks, flower branch game, or dice game, I can still join in,” Miss Diao said before Wang Xian could speak, “But if it’s a refined game for scholars, a minor clerk like me can’t play.”

He was not wrong at all. These people had seen him long ago and almost unanimously decided to take this opportunity to get back at him. They were all sons of officials and had achieved some scholarly titles; why would they fear a minor clerk in a green robe? So they dragged Wang Xian into the game, determined to make him lose face. How could they let him off when he tried to back out?

“Who would believe what Wang Yasi said?” Li Yu laughed, “Ask us, these poor scholars, who among us can write ‘Bite the green mountain, unyielding to the winds from all directions’?” He then asked the other scholars, “Can you? Can you?” Everyone shook their heads.

“Exactly, even if you are a clerk, you are a refined clerk, much more learned than us,” Scholar Yu said, “Wang Yasi is just too proud to do this. Otherwise, passing the scholar examination would be as easy as taking something out of a pocket.”

“Nonsense.” The clever little maid, Yinxing, immediately saw through their intentions and angrily said, “Who wouldn’t take the examination if they could? My brother just knows how to read and write.”

“Adults are speaking, little girl, don’t interrupt,” Scholar Yu glared at her, “Can someone who just learned to read write poetry?”

“I’ve already said, I didn’t write that poem,” Wang Xian suppressed his anger and said in a low voice, “I read it in an ancient book.”

“Which book?” Everyone asked.

“A tattered book without a cover.”

“Where is it?”

“It was burned for firewood...”

“Haha...” The scholars thought to themselves, who would believe that? Books were rare, and Wang Xian’s family, being minor clerks for two generations, could only read and write. Where would they find an ancient book?

The scholars looked at each other and thought, it seems they were right, the poem was written by Lin Qing’er.

After Wang Xian wrote the poem, it seemed to have only deeply moved Magistrate Wei, with no other ripples. That was because the circle he was in was low and vulgar, consisting of minor clerks and commoners. To them, what was poetry? Could it be eaten? Only when they heard the scholars praising him did they start to regard Wang Xian as a ‘talented scholar,’ ‘literary man,’ or ‘refined clerk’...

This was the power of discourse, always held by the literati. In the small county of Fuyang, all the literati had heard the poem, but there was almost no public commentary. Occasionally, there were a few comments like, “Not a single allusion in the whole poem, is it even poetry?” or “It’s just a doggerel!” Naturally, it didn’t cause a big stir.

But in fact, these people were almost envious to death. They had studied poetry since childhood and knew that the best lines in ancient and modern times were not fake, but came from direct inspiration. For example, Bai Juyi’s “Song of Everlasting Sorrow” used only two allusions, ‘Xiao Yu’ and ‘Shuang Cheng,’ because his talent was abundant, and he didn’t need to rely on allusions to enhance the literary quality of his poetry.

But how could these people, who thought they were as talented as Cao Zijian, accept that a vulgar minor clerk could write such a genius poem? If that were the case, wouldn’t their ten years of hard study be a joke?

So they carefully investigated Wang Xian’s past and found out he was an uneducated rogue who couldn’t even write... This was also evident from the description given by Chief Clerk Diao to his daughter. How could such a person write poetry? He was more likely to wet his seat.

They also remembered that Instructor Han had once praised Lin Qing’er’s talent and were convinced that the poem must have been written by her. Today’s plan was based on this: they first separated the men and women, cutting off any possibility of Lin Qing’er secretly helping Wang Xian, and then made Wang Xian lose face completely, seeing how he could still hold his head high in Fuyang County!

...

Seeing Wang Xian trying to back out, Miss Diao coldly smiled, “The drinking game has already started. If you want to leave halfway, you must drink three thousand cups!”

“...” Wang Xian was speechless. The wine in the Ming Dynasty was not like that in the Song Dynasty, where Wu Song could drink eighteen bowls and still kill a tiger. If he drank three hundred cups, he would definitely die of intoxication.

Seeing his dissatisfaction, Li Yu consoled him, “We are all friends here. If you can’t come up with a line, just drink a few more cups and go to sleep. Who would laugh at a Yasi?”

Wang Xian had no choice but to remain silent, thinking, today I fell into their trap, I’ll have to swallow my pride for now, but I’ll make them pay later!

Seeing he was silent, Miss Diao smugly said, “You, the great scholar, should use a refined game, while we women can use the flower branch game.”

“There are many refined games, riddles, poetry, couplets, word dissection, word separation...” The scholars laughed and asked, “Which one will you choose, Miss Diao?”

“Since Xiao Wang said he hasn’t read the classics, let’s do a poetry game. This is what you are good at, right?” Miss Diao smiled maliciously at Wang Xian and said, “Let’s start with the ‘Seven Level Seven Level’ game. Each person recites a line of poetry, requiring all seven characters to be level or all to be oblique. We’ll take turns, and those who make a mistake will be whipped ten times, and those who can’t do it will be whipped thirty times.”

So she, as the game leader, started with, “Why is it so hard to be round and square?” (Seven level)

Li Yu then said, “Why do you come so late?” (Seven level)

Yu Yifan followed, “A guest, a guest, points with chopsticks.” (Seven oblique)

Li Qi then said, “The emperor got a wise minister, named Du.” (Seven oblique)

It was Wang Xian’s turn, and he had just learned about level and oblique tones. It would take years of immersion to reach their level, so he had to accept the penalty of three cups.

After two rounds, Wang Xian had already drunk nine cups. Yinxing couldn’t stand it anymore and angrily said, “You’re bullying my brother, why is he the only one drinking?”

Everyone sneered, “The drinking game is like a military order. If you can’t do it, you drink.”

“Who knows if you’ve practiced before.” Although Yinxing was just angry, she hit the nail on the head. These young masters and misses often feasted and put a lot of effort into drinking games, and these poems were all prepared in advance.

“Although we absolutely haven’t,” Li Yu generously smiled, “to make the little sister feel better, Miss Diao, why don’t you change the game?”

“Alright...” Miss Diao thought for a moment and said, “Let’s do the ‘Spring Word Game.’ Each person recites a line of poetry, the first person’s line must start with ‘spring,’ the second person’s line must have ‘spring’ as the second character, and so on until ‘spring’ is the last character, then start over.”

“This is simple.” The scholars were delighted because they had played this game many times, including the ‘Spring Word Descending Game.’

So Miss Diao, as the game leader, started with, “Spring city, no place without flying flowers.”

Li Yu then said, “New spring, don’t let it be delayed by human will.”

Yu Yifan followed, “Doubt the spring color is in someone else’s home.”

The next person said, “Grass and trees know spring won’t last long.”

Another person said, “Spring color is everywhere in the twelve streets.”

It was Wang Xian’s turn, and he thought for a moment but couldn’t come up with a line, so he had to accept the penalty of three cups.

“Last night, every day, the spring flowers were sold.” Someone could continue.

“Poet’s sentiment is in the new spring!”

The scholars played three more rounds, and Wang Xian still couldn’t come up with a line, so he drank another nine cups, his face already red as a cloth.

The scholars, however, gloated and loudly urged him to drink, urging Miss Diao to give a new order.

In the women’s section, the ladies were laughing so hard that tears were streaming down their faces. Some stomped their feet, “Why don’t you come up with a line?” Some held their bellies, “I’ve never seen such a bumbler.” Others covered their mouths and laughed, “‘Bite the green mountain, unyielding to the winds from all directions’ has become ‘Bite the teeth, refuse to speak.’”

Seeing them mock her beloved brother, Yinxing’s eyes turned red with anger. She stood up, but Lin Qing’er pulled her back and said, “Sit down.”

“No, my brother is being bullied like this!” Yinxing angrily said.

“I’ll go.” Lin Qing’er stood up, walked to Wang Xian’s side, and bowed to everyone, “My husband is already drunk. From now on, I will take his place.”

“You...” The scholars looked at each other, thinking it would be more fun to get both of them drunk and throw them into a small boat. They all looked at the game leader.

Miss Diao was eager for Lin Qing’er to be humiliated like Wang Xian. She didn’t believe that with preparation, they could lose. She smiled, “Of course, but you will also be penalized the same way.”

“Naturally.” Lin Qing’er nodded.

So they continued with the ‘Four Books and Five Classics’ game, the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches game, and Lin Qing’er played smoothly, completely unbothered.

The scholars couldn’t help but look at her with new eyes, thinking this young lady was naturally intelligent, well-read, and memorized, and yet so charming. Marrying her to this bumbler was like putting a fresh flower on cow dung.

“I’ll give you a game. If you can come up with a line, you win.” Seeing that ordinary drinking games couldn’t stump Lin Qing’er, Li Yu had to use his best trick, “With water, it’s a stream; without water, it’s a surname. Remove the water from the stream, add a bird, and it becomes a chicken. A cat in power is as fierce as a tiger, but a phoenix without feathers is worse than a chicken!” This was clearly mocking Wang Xian for being a bully in the county, but now his true colors were showing.

Lin Qing’er, upon hearing this, her face turned cold, and she said, “With wood, it’s a chess piece; without wood, it’s a surname. Remove the wood from the chess piece, add a debt, and it becomes a cheat. A fish in shallow water is played with by shrimp, a tiger on the plain is bullied by dogs!” She directly called Li Yu and the others shrimp and dogs.

This rebuttal left Li Yu speechless, squinting at Lin Qing’er and smacking his lips, “What a pity, what a pity...”

“Mr. Li, please be respectful.” Lin Qing’er supported Wang Xian and said, “My husband is drunk. Please help call a small boat, we don’t want to disturb your refined gathering.”

“Uh,” Li Yu was pondering whether to let Wang Xian off, when Li Qi stood up and said, “I’ll go get the boat.”

He ignored Miss Diao’s murderous glare, lifted the curtain, and went out, then quickly returned, saying, “Everyone, Senior Brother Chen is here.”

“Oh, what wind brought Brother Shuzhen here?” Li Yu immediately forgot about Wang Xian and stood up to welcome him with the others.

The newcomer was a man in his mid-twenties, wearing a black robe and a black casual hat. He laughed, “Brother Li, you came to Hangzhou and didn’t look for me, that’s not very nice.”

“Brother Shuzhen now socializes with high officials, a small scholar like me doesn’t dare to disturb,” Li Yu said, though he looked very proud.

“Ha, that’s your mistake, almost making you miss a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Brother Shuzhen laughed heartily, “From your looks, you don’t know that Grand Secretary Hu is going to evaluate the scholars of Zhejiang tonight?”

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