books44 Chapter 192: Once you start writing, it's tantamount to exposing yourself.
Chapter 192: Once you start writing, it's tantamount to exposing yourself.
The banquet was held in a garden, with men on the left and women on the right.
Among the men—
Brother Xia and Brother Xia's second brother sat at the same table, whispering to each other listlessly.
Xia Erge sighed and said softly, "I wonder how my little sister is doing. We can't see through the screen from our position, and we can't peek through the gaps in the screen either. Sigh..."
Brother Xia responded softly, "I thought a literary banquet was a gathering of scholars discussing the past and present, and sharing knowledge from books. Who would have thought... look at those sentences that they say will become poems in the future... they're just like those common folk."
Xia Erge nodded and whispered, "I'm also very disappointed with Wen Yan. Let's call our little sister and leave when the banquet is almost over?"
That is, at this moment—
"His-"
"Oh my god—"
"it is good!"
"Wonderful!"
"..."
Suddenly, a commotion arose on the man's side, startling Brother Xia and Brother Xia's second brother.
The two looked up and around.
"How could this possibly be written by a woman? It must be a fake!"
Among the men, some have already raised questions.
Brother Xia and Brother Xia Er suddenly remembered that Madam Lü had said she wanted to display the calligraphy of the top female calligrapher. So the two of them looked up at a piece of calligraphy hanging on a shelf higher than a screen behind a simple frame.
"There is a path to the mountain of books, and diligence is the way; the sea of learning is boundless, and hard work is the boat..."
Brother Xia and Brother Xia looked at each other, then looked at the calligraphy on display.
Xia Erge's eyes were still on the calligraphy on display when he whispered to Xia Dage, "Brother, those characters look so familiar."
Brother Xia nodded and said, "Look at the signature in the right corner."
"The words 'distant mountains' sound very familiar," Xia Erge whispered again.
"See the little footprint on the bottom right?" Brother Xia finally understood, his eyes widening in surprise. His hands trembled slightly as he grabbed Brother Xia's arm, his voice barely able to contain himself as he exclaimed, "It's my little sister! It's my little sister!"
Xia Erge was incredulous yet overjoyed: "Big brother, I can't believe I didn't recognize my little sister's handwriting right away, I really..."
The four people sitting next to Brother Xia and Brother Xia turned their heads and looked at them with disdain, their eyes seeming to say, "Where did these shameless people come from? How can they casually claim kinship?"
"it is good!"
Prefect Lü stood up in delight and walked towards the calligraphy displayed above the screen. He exclaimed sincerely, "The calligraphy exudes a powerful aura, and the strokes reveal its integrity. The calligraphy is excellent! The sentences are even more superb!"
When Prefect Lü heard the scholars' discussion, they all felt that the writing did not seem to be done by a woman. He also felt that the writing did not seem to be done by a woman, and the two sentences on it did not seem to be something a woman could have thought of.
Prefect Lü hesitated. The women's affairs were handled by the ladies, and the husband and wife shared the same fate. If the truth were exposed...
"These characters are certainly not lacking in women!"
One scholar had already stood up and shouted, and soon after, more scholars stood up and started shouting.
"A woman could never write characters with such vigorous strokes and lofty spirit!"
The scholar emphasized the eight characters "vigorous in writing, with a lofty and unyielding spirit" to further prove his point.
Prefect Lü had no choice but to send his servant to the women's quarters to inquire about the situation of his wife.
After only a short distance, the servant quickly spoke with the old woman on the women's side and then relayed the message back.
When Prefect Lü heard his wife say that this was written by a woman, he frowned.
"May I ask which lady possesses such great talent?! Why don't you step forward and let us see her?!"
Among the scholars, Chen Kai shouted out loud.
Chen Kai is the son of Madam Chen, who tried to touch Xia Mo's clothes earlier.
"Yes, let us see who is so talented!"
On the man's side, the scholar and his relatives numbered about 1,500. When they started shouting, the sound was so loud that it seemed to lift the sky above the village.
Seeing this situation, Prefect Lü knew that preventing the woman who wrote the letter from showing herself was no longer an option, so he sent his servant to speak with the old woman on the women's side.
A short while later, the long row of screens separating the men and women was removed.
The men could see the women sitting in the right garden, and the women could naturally see the men sitting in the right garden.
After the screen in the middle was removed, a group of servants immediately rearranged the seats on both sides, setting up a banquet display area between the men and women.
The women who were originally sitting in the lower row were now sitting in the back row.
Those sitting in the middle row could crane their necks to look at the row in front of the men's seats, but the women in the last row couldn't see the men's seats in front of them even if they craned their necks.
"Who wrote this? Please stand up, young lady." Madam Lü, the prefect's wife, didn't actually know who wrote it. She just had a little thought: she wanted the men to know that when women are capable, they are no less than men.
As Xia Mo was getting up, she noticed that others had already gotten up as well.
“It was written by me,” said the woman who stood up. Her name was Su Ming’er. She was one of the family members of the candidates taking the imperial examination and the only one with a relative who was a fifth-rank official.
The reason Su Ming'er dared to stand up against her neighbors was because none of the scholars' families present were of higher status than her, and no one dared to offend her.
Su Ming'er raised her head slightly, as if she were the one being proud, and said, "My uncle is a fifth-rank official in the capital."
Everyone present fell silent for a moment, and when they looked at Su Ming'er, their eyes lit up.
They have relatives who are high-ranking officials in the capital; their future prospects will be much easier! If I could establish a connection with Su Ming'er, wouldn't that be...?
Regardless of whether Su Ming'er wrote the words or not, those who had designs on the matter chose to pretend not to see them.
"No wonder you can write such magnificent characters; it turns out your knowledge is far more profound than ours," Chen Kai said, already fawning over him.
Xia Mo raised an eyebrow, his divine sense taking in the expressions of everyone present, including the anger of Xia's eldest and second eldest brothers.
"Hu……"
Brother Xia was about to stand up angrily; he absolutely could not allow anyone to impersonate his little sister!
Xia Erge suddenly grabbed Xia Dage and covered his mouth.
Brother Xia glared at Brother Xia, his eyes seeming to ask, "Do you also want to use this opportunity to curry favor with that young lady?"
Brother Xia Er smiled reassuringly at Brother Xia Dage, then smiled at the scholars who were looking around, stood up, and said, "Since this young lady wrote it, why don't you write another one?"
Su Ming'er knew very well that she hadn't written it, so naturally she couldn't put pen to paper anymore; once she did, it would be an exposure.
"Why should I write just because you tell me to? What do you take me for?!" Su Ming'er decided to respond when she saw that Xia Erge, who had stood up, was quite handsome.
Brother Xia glanced at everyone present and said bluntly, "What is most important to a scholar? Besides, if one's character is already flawed before even embarking on an official career, how will the examiners react when they see him? One should prioritize earning the examiners' approval before pursuing an official career."