Although the sun was shining brightly at the moment, Qin Chun Pond was already crowded with people joining in the fun, and it could be described as overwhelming. The next competition was between 'zi' and 'qin'. I heard that there would be other more intense competitions, so the onlookers became even more interested.
Seeing that everyone had taken their seats, Zhi Tang walked to the center and said with a smile: "After evaluation by several masters, the winner in this painting competition is this painting "Beauty in the Mirror"——"
As soon as he finished speaking, Xiao Yuan, who was following Zhitang, unfolded the scroll in his hand, and a painting of a woman applying pink and white to the mirror appeared in front of everyone. This painting is so lifelike that the woman's expression and appearance are so lifelike that everyone can't help but nod and praise her.
"Congratulations! Mr. Su -" Zhitang said to Mr. Su.
There was a commotion in the crowd. People not only admired the artist of this painting, but also marveled at Mr. Su's victory again - but only in the competition of "chess" and "painting", Mr. Su won the first prize. Look. Mr. Su is determined to win the reputation of "the most talented man in Chang'an".
Xiaoyuan walked to Mr. Su's seat and carefully handed the painting to him.
Mr. Su stood up and took the painting with a smile. But he did not put the scroll away, but walked to Zhitang with the "Beauty in the Mirror", and then handed the scroll to Zhitang with both hands.
When Zhidang saw Mr. Su handing the painting back again, he asked in confusion: "What does Mr. Su mean by this?"
"I would like to give this painting to the girl, and I hope that the girl will show my favor to him--"
"How can a little girl be so virtuous and capable that she dare to accept this painting?"
"Girl, please look -"
I saw Mr. Su holding the scroll high and placing it next to Zhitang, and then said loudly——
"The person painting this is none other than the girl's beauty. That day I happened to see the girl putting on makeup in the mirror and I was shocked. Since then, the girl's appearance has always appeared in my mind and will be unforgettable for a long time. Today, I will use this conference to express what is in my heart. Draw it, I hope the girl won’t blame me for being rude——"
"Wow--"
"So infatuated -"
"I'm so touched! How can there be such an infatuated man in the world——"
For a moment, the crowd around them became more restless, and whispers could be heard endlessly.
Facing Mr. Su's almost confession of good intentions, Zhi Tang still looked unfazed. She seemed to be so cold by nature. Even if the opposite side was a ball of hot fire, she could always keep a certain distance from him.
"Zhi Tang has thanked the young master for his kindness, but he knows that Tang is a man in the world of mortals and cannot bear the young master's love. I also ask the young master to take back this painting." Zhi Tang said calmly, as if there was no emotion at all.
"Take it, Miss Zhitang——"
"Just accept Mr. Su——"
"The talent and the beauty of the man are a match made in heaven——"
Although Zhi Tang coldly refused, the people around him were still unyielding. Mr. Su was also quite proud of this situation. It seemed that he liked to show off his charm in front of everyone.
Just when Mr. Su was about to follow the crowd's words and continue to say something, an old man's voice suddenly came out, interrupting the originally ambiguous atmosphere -
"Is this the 'Qinyuan Yahui'? Could it be that I've come to the wrong place? Why are there people talking about love here?"
Hearing this man's voice, everyone turned around and saw an old man with white hair appearing in the corridor. Seeing this person appear, Zhi Tang's eyes lit up as if she had found a savior. She left Young Master Su and walked straight towards the person.
Faced with the old man's "relying on the old and selling the old", Mr. Su was originally very angry. He wanted to get angry, but when he saw the man's appearance clearly, he was slightly startled and swallowed down the anger.
"Dr. Zhang is here to visit us. I'm sorry for the little girl's disappointment. Please forgive me, Dr. Zhang!"
It turned out that the person who came was none other than Dr. Zhang Zhengru from Taiyuan University. Now Zhang Zhengru has retired and is no longer a doctor at Taiyuan University. He originally scorned this conference with great disdain, but the headmaster of Lanqiufang directly presented him with a plate of money, and with a burst of flattering compliments from the headmaster, Zhang Zhengru nodded and agreed to come as a judge.
Facing a master with such seniority, Su Gongzi naturally had to behave respectfully. Most of the talented people participating in the competition knew Zhang Zhengru. For a while, everyone stood up and saluted Zhang Zhengru.
Zhang Zhengru didn't have much time to meet the crowd. He walked to the center of the pavilion with his head held high and his hands behind his back. He looked around, and then walked straight to the main seat that had been arranged.
Zhang Zhengru was the last judge to arrive. At this time, all six main seats were full.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Mr. Su and the other talented people returned to their seats and sat down.
Zhi Tang also returned to the center of the crowd. She first saluted the six judges, then turned to face the crowd and said loudly——
"At this conference, Lan Qiufang is honored to invite Dr. Zhang from Taiyuan Academy, Master Wang and Master Yan from Fenghao Academy, and three musicians from Taichang Temple, Yu, Zeng, and Zhong, a total of six people to come as judges. We will be here soon. The competition between 'zi' and 'qin' was held and the first place was selected by these people."
It seems that Lan Qiufang really put a lot of effort into organizing this conference. Not only did they invite Dr. Zhang, but they also invited the music officer of Taichang Temple.
Mr. Su smiled with satisfaction when he heard the names of these people. These judges were chosen just as he wanted. These six people are all people with some prestige in these two aspects in Chang'an City. In this way, the title of the 'Number One Talent' is also more convincing.
"Let's get started!"
Dr. Zhang lazily shouted, hum! Since you agreed to the big boss, let's come over and go through the motions.
Zhang Zhengru has never appreciated Wang Yanqing's calligraphy. The reason is very simple, because he is Shi Ziyou's favorite disciple. In his mind, since Wen Junchen left, there is no one in the world whose handwriting is worthy of his appreciation. Not to mention these young people in front of me.
Seeing Dr. Zhang speak, Zhi Tang no longer hesitated. She said to everyone: "You talented men, please pick up your pen. You can write poems and articles. Please show your talents to the fullest——"
The calligraphy competition has begun, and the talented people have spread out their papers and started writing. Although Zhi Tang emphasized the ability to compose poems and articles, the competition at this conference was ultimately about 'calligraphy' rather than 'literary talent', so the talents focused on the 'characters' of writing.
Seeing everyone's serious expressions, Mr. Su shook his head disdainfully. He didn't rush to pick up his pen like everyone else. He first raised his head and stared at Zhitang, and then smiled freely, as if he didn't care at all about the unhappiness of being rejected just now. He slowly picked up the pen and wrote four lines of words on the paper, then casually threw the pen on the table with a 'click' sound. Finally, he pursed his lips behind him, and then presented his masterpiece to the judges.
...
After a cup of tea, the talented people put down their pens one after another. They picked up their works and read them several times. After confirming that this was their most satisfactory result, they signed their names and sent it to the three judges. before.
Seeing that the collection of works was almost complete, Zhi Tang asked Xiaoyuan to count the works.
Xiaoyuan picked up a stack of rice paper and took stock of it carefully——
"One, two, three, four, five, six...nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, well...a total of twenty-one."
After counting the papers in his hand, Xiao Yuan raised his head and stretched out his fingers to count to the talents participating in the competition around him——
"One, two, three, four, five, six...twenty, twenty-one...twenty-two?"
Xiao Yuan couldn't believe the number he said. Why was it that there were twenty-two people in the pavilion but he only had twenty-one pieces of paper in his hand? Did he take less? Xiao Yuan was greatly puzzled and hurriedly counted down a few times. However, no matter how she counted, the final number remained unchanged.
"Miss, it seems that a talented man didn't hand in his handwriting." Xiao Yuan said with a dizzy head.
Zhitang frowned slightly. She looked around, and finally fixed her gaze on the tightly covered seat - why are the people here so strange? He was in the center of the conference but felt like an outsider.
Although he had some doubts in his heart, Zhidang still followed the principle of fairness and justice. He walked to the mysterious position, bowed slightly and asked, "May I ask the name of the young master inside."
Facing Zhitang's question, the bamboo curtain seemed to hesitate for a moment, but finally responded to Zhitang's question - an invitation was thrust out from the lower edge of the bamboo curtain, with a big word "Zheng" on it. Appears on the bamboo slips.
Zheng? Suddenly, a figure flashed through Zhi Tang's mind, but it was so far away that he couldn't remember who it was for a while. This time it was the Qinyuan Reunion hosted by Zhi Tang herself. At this moment, she couldn't help but think too much about it. The most important thing now was to let the competition proceed smoothly.
Zhidang continued: "May I ask where Mr. Zheng's masterpiece is?"
One of the figures inside the bamboo curtain seemed stunned for a moment, then shook his head.
Seeing that the three people in the bamboo curtain still refused to speak, Zhi Tang felt even more strange. She continued to ask: "May I ask what Mr. Zheng means... is the masterpiece unfinished... or do you not intend to participate?"
The man still didn't respond and kept shaking his head.
Is it possible that these three are all mute? Zhi Tang was puzzled. Just when he was about to continue questioning, he heard Mr. Huang's impatient voice coming from beside him——
"Miss Tang, don't pay attention to those weirdos. These few haven't spoken a word since we came here. I guess they must be ashamed to see so many talented people!"
It turned out that Mr. Huang next to Mr. Su said impatiently that he had long been unhappy with the people in the bamboo curtain. Whether these people were afraid of dealing with them or disdainful of dealing with them, in short, the people inside People were not of their kind to him. Since they are not the same kind of people, Mr. Huang naturally doesn't like them in any way.
"Miss Zhitang, please continue——"
"If you don't want to participate, why bother to spend so much money to come?"
"Leave them alone."
After hearing Young Master Huang stand up and speak, others also expressed their agreement.
