Royal Gold Medal County Magistrate

Cen Wense felt something was strange.

Arthur? Are you calling me? That's a novel way to address me. Could it be that Lord Fang is from the South?

But his accent doesn't sound like it?

Maybe it's just a personal habit! But it seems kind of endearing when he calls me that!

Cen Wense didn't overthink it and slowly sat down.

"Ahem... ahem...!" Fang Zhengqing cleared his throat and continued, "Thank you all for your kind words, but how could I, Fang Zhengqing, possibly deserve the title of 'Master of Imperfect Lyrics'? It truly fills me with shame."

"To be honest... I have no interest in poetry! I simply can't write poems!"

The expressions on the faces of the crowd as they looked at Fang Zhengqing began to subtly change.

Showing off! Is he showing off?

Pretending to be humble is fine! But there's no need to be this humble. If you can't write poetry, does that mean none of us can write?

After secretly despising him in their hearts, many people said, "Lord Fang is too modest! Your 'Yu Lin Ling' has already spread throughout the North and South of our Great Jing!"

"That's right, who in the capital doesn't know of Lord Fang's poetic talent? We must have your guidance today!"

"Since ancient times, sentimentality has been the bane of parting..."

Seeing that someone was about to start singing, tapping the edge of their bowl with chopsticks, Fang Zhengqing quickly said, "Alright! Alright!"

"Since everyone wants me to speak, then I'll just say a few simple words!"

After speaking, Fang Zhengqing fell silent again. Everyone else stared at Fang Zhengqing expectantly, hoping to hear some profound insights.

After pondering for a moment, Fang Zhengqing gathered his thoughts and said, "The name of the poem from earlier is 'Pity the Farmers,' and it was inspired by my feelings when I saw the disaster victims during the Jianjiang disaster!"

"Writing poetry... there aren't any special techniques. The main thing is to be good at discovering the beauty in life. Beauty is everywhere in life. When you accumulate enough of these materials, and then combine them, poetic verses will naturally arise from your feelings!"

"For example... uh... hey! Look at this dish!" Fang Zhengqing looked around and then pointed to the minced pork with green beans on the table. Everyone's eyes followed and focused on the dish.

"This dish of minced pork with green beans, the green beans are just ordinary green beans."

"A little bit of minced pork isn't much either, but when they are combined together, you can see that they are a delicious delicacy!"

A group of examiners nodded in agreement.

What he said makes sense. Writing poetry and prose is originally the accumulation of material, literary embellishment, plus a flash of inspiration.

But this isn't anything profound...

Seeing that everyone was still looking at him, Fang Zhengqing helplessly continued, "Look! There's also a plate of sesame balls here!"

"Do you know how these sesame balls are made?"

Everyone shook their heads. Everyone was a scholar, who would study the affairs of the kitchen?

A gentleman keeps his distance from the kitchen!

"These sesame balls look big, but originally they were just a small piece of dough." Fang Zhengqing held out his finger to compare: "Why is it that something so small can burst into such a big ball?!"

Everyone shook their heads again, indicating they didn't understand.

Fang Zhengqing's thoughts gradually became clearer: "It's deep-fried! After being deep-fried in hot oil, it begins to expand. It can be seen that the dough contains enormous power."

"This hot oil is like inspiration in poetic creation. If it is not deep-fried, it will always be an ordinary piece of dough."

"Daily accumulation is certainly important, but it is difficult to create poetry without an opportunity!"

"Writing poetry is like frying sesame balls. To make good poetry, it is ninety-nine percent accumulation, plus one percent inspiration!"

"As long as you observe carefully and accumulate diligently, when the opportunity comes and inspiration strikes, good poetry will naturally be created!"

"I'm done!"

Fang Zhengqing wiped away a cold sweat, wondering if he had managed to fool them....

Obviously, Fang Zhengqing's remarks did not fool the others.

Although the examples he gave were quite novel, this is just common knowledge!

It doesn't improve everyone's poetry level at all! It's just nonsense!

Who doesn't know that writing poetry requires accumulation and inspiration!?

Accumulation is no problem, but how do I find inspiration? What about practical application? What about examples?

Seeing that Fang Zhengqing was about to sit down, Cen Wense became anxious.

He was a lover of good poetry and thought he would hear some profound insights, but Fang Zhengqing spouted a bunch of bland things.

How could he be satisfied with this?

Before Fang Zhengqing could sit down, Cen Wense said loudly, "Since we're already on this topic, why doesn't Lord Fang write another poem for us to learn from?"

Write your mom!

Fang Zhengqing forcefully suppressed his disgust and angrily said, "I've already said that writing poetry requires inspiration!"

"A good article is born of nature, and obtained by chance. I have no inspiration! I can't write it!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a burst of applause rang out!

The examiners looked at Fang Zhengqing with surprise in their eyes.

Cen Wense stood up excitedly and said, "What a wonderful line! Lord Fang's inspiration truly comes as he speaks! It's truly admirable!"

Fang Zhengqing was dumbfounded, watching everyone else applaud him, and was completely speechless....

Zhang Dongxiang next to him looked up at him and couldn't help but nod repeatedly.

Wonderful! Wonderful! As expected of a child prodigy!

Although he is not serious, this cultural foundation is solid and profound, and is by no means comparable to ordinary people!

Truly extraordinary!

"........" Fang Zhengqing's toes began to continue their construction, wishing he could slap himself in the face!

Now he couldn't stand or sit. Were these people going to keep asking questions?

Sure enough, after the applause stopped, someone immediately asked, "A good article is born of nature, and obtained by chance, what's next?"

What's next?

"There's nothing next!" Fang Zhengqing said expressionlessly, "Inspiration struck suddenly, I could only write this much. I've truly embarrassed myself today! Moreover, I can only write incomplete poems and lyrics! I've spoiled everyone's fun, please forgive me!"

After speaking, Fang Zhengqing immediately sat down and quickly drank two glasses of wine.

This is not something a human should do! If I ever recite another poem, I'm a dog!

Seeing that Fang Zhengqing had already sat down and his attitude was firm, everyone didn't say anything more, and could only shake their heads and study on their seats.

However, Cen Wense had been pushed to the height of excitement and asked unwillingly, "Lord Fang, this line of poetry...."

Before he could finish speaking, Fang Zhengqing quickly stuffed chopsticks into Cen Wense's hand, pointed to the roasted chicken on the table and said, "Arthur, use your chopsticks to pick up a piece of meat and eat!"

"This dish is delicious, don't let it get cold!"

Will eating shut your mouth? Shut up!

Cen Wense awkwardly took the chopsticks, picked up a piece of meat, put it in his mouth and chewed it carefully.

While he was chewing, Fang Zhengqing quickly filled him with a large bowl of vegetables.

Since his superior was personally serving him vegetables, Cen Wense could only eat in silence to show his politeness.

The atmosphere at the dinner table returned to its previous warmth.

Three or five people were chatting with each other, and while chatting, someone suddenly said, "An interesting thing happened today!"

"Lord Fang asked me to borrow my seal, but he also asked three other people to borrow theirs. When we went to ask for the seals, we all ran into each other. Among so many examiners in the examination hall, it just so happened that the four of us bumped into each other, don't you think that's a coincidence?!"

"What! Lord Fang also asked you to borrow your seal?" An examiner immediately exclaimed.

"That's not right! Lord Fang should have asked me to borrow it first!"

"Hey! He also asked me to borrow it!"

"Me too........."

Everyone began to talk about this matter in a hubbub.

Finally, they suddenly realized that Fang Zhengqing had borrowed all of everyone's seals!

All eyes instantly focused on Fang Zhengqing.

The original lively and relaxed atmosphere suddenly became tense! Solemnity... unease... surged in the air!

Zhang Dongxiang's face suddenly turned dark, as if he had realized something, and he stared unkindly at Fang Zhengqing, who was eating as if no one was around.

He said in a deep voice: "Lord Fang, what do you mean by this? You borrowed all the examiners' seals, what did you do with them? Give me an explanation!"

Fang Zhengqing stopped the movements of his hands, put down his chopsticks and wiped his mouth.

He said casually: "Seals? What seals?"

.......