Mysteries of the Great Zhou Dynasty

Chapter 32 Eaten by a Dog
Yan Mingzhang took a quick glance and immediately recognized him: "He's one of the four scholars who drank here last time. His name is... Xu Lizhun... Look, aren't the other three right next to him?"

Su Zhan clicked his tongue twice and shook his head, saying, "Cheng Xuan, your memory is still so good. I'm so envious!"

The noise downstairs was getting louder and louder. Xiuniang's face was livid, and she wanted to slap the scholar. A crowd of people gathered around, watching the fun, not minding the fuss. The fat scholar Qian Yu and a few scoundrels joined in the commotion, saying, "Xiuniang, just agree! Look how infatuated this Lizhun is!"

Xiuniang's wrist was held, unable to break free or hide. She said angrily, "Stop talking nonsense here. We are not suitable! Go back quickly! If you keep talking nonsense, I will report you to the police!"

Xu Lizhun was very proud to see someone helping him, and he became even more aggressive. He used more force on his hands and raised his voice: "What's inappropriate? You are just a merchant's daughter, and I am lucky I didn't look down on you! Don't I say that when I become famous, if you want to enter our Xu family, you can only be a concubine! ... Look at me, I am expressing my love to you in public for you. There are not many men as affectionate as me. What are you afraid of? If you don't marry me, who else can you marry? Who would want you?"

Xiuniang wanted to pull her hand out, but the scholar held it too tightly, leaving deep red handmarks on her wrist.

People around were pointing and talking, and she was so angry that she wanted to slap him, but she was afraid that he would go crazy because of the drunkenness: "You think too much. I have no interest in you at all! Let go, let go!"

The guy was shameless and moved closer, his face almost touching Xiuniang's. His hot breath with the smell of alcohol sprayed on Xiuniang's face, making her want to vomit. But the guy was still immersed in his affectionate persona: "It's okay, we will take it slowly! Wait until you marry me, then we can talk about it. In fact, I know that you have me in your heart, otherwise why would you ask your waiter to bring me food? Xiuniang, don't be shy."

Xiuniang raised her leg to kick Xu Lizhun, but she was too slow and her foot was caught. The man stroked the red-soled peony-embroidered shoes on Xiuniang's feet and almost put his face close to hers, with a lewd and vulgar look on his face: "Good kick, good kick, give me a few more kicks, my lady!"

The scoundrels in the crowd burst into laughter.

Xiuniang's face flushed red, and she was almost crying. If she tried to pull her foot back, the shoe would definitely fall off. If she didn't, not only would the guy not let go, he would lift it higher and higher! Xiuniang couldn't argue. She had felt sorry for him before and had asked the waiter to bring him food once, but...

Suddenly a tray hit Xu Lizhun's face, forcing him to step back a few steps. The tray separated Xu Lizhun's face from Xiuniang's.

"Who!" Xu Lizhun was furious and let go of Xiuniang.

Who else could be holding the tray but Su Zhan? "Get out of here! If I see you again, I'll beat you to a pulp!"

Xu Lizhun was so angry when he saw Su Zhan, who looked like a noble young man. He gritted his teeth and roared, "I hate you playboys the most in my life. Aren't you just relying on your family's wealth and power to show off your power? If you didn't have the blessing of your ancestors, you would be nothing! I am not afraid of power, don't think you can scare me! Xiuniang, I was wondering why you were so cold to me! It turns out that you are hooking up with this pretty boy. Don't you think I'm poor? If I were rich, you would have pounced on me a long time ago, right? You are attracted to this pretty boy, right? Why are you women so snobbish? What's so great about being rich and powerful? What's so great about being good-looking? Don't be so superficial when judging people! You have to look at their inner cultivation too!" After hearing this, everyone felt that there was some truth in it and started pointing fingers, as if Xiuniang and Su Zhan were a pair of adulterers who were caught in an affair!
Xiuniang was so angry that she almost fainted. For the sake of Mr. Xu's face, she didn't want to argue with him, but he became even more excessive.

"Hahahaha, I'm dying of laughter!" Wanyin threw a stool onto the table and somersaulted onto it. She covered her stomach and laughed so hard that she could hardly breathe. Her laughter was like a silver bell. "Everyone, listen to what he said. This is too funny!"

Everyone was drawn to Rong Wanyin's laughter. She sat so high up, yet she looked so charming and charming. Everyone's attention was immediately drawn to her, and they couldn't help but stare at her a few times. Rong Wanyin spat out the melon seed shells in her mouth, somersaulted over, clapped her hands, and calmly walked over.

Rong Wanyin looked at the poem on the wall, which hadn't yet dried. There was a black fingerprint around it. Then she looked at the black ink on the scholar's fingertips, thinking there might be a mistake. She tried to wipe it with her finger, but it didn't come clean. She frowned and said, "Sir, I presume this calligraphy on the wall is yours, right?"

"So what?" Xu Lizhun looked proud.

"Sir, your name is Xu Zhadui? I've heard of you for a long time!" Rong Wanyin pretended to be a little surprised. "What a strange name!"

"I'm Xu Lizhun! Lizhun! What do you mean by gathering together?" Xu Lizhun was furious.

Everyone burst into laughter, Xu Lizhun's face flushed red, and he wanted to tear Rong Wanyin's mouth apart.

"Oh oh oh, please forgive my poor eyesight, these two words are too similar!" Rong Wanyin blinked and said innocently.

Everyone burst into laughter again. The two words were not written very well. The more they looked at them, the more they looked like "扎团". The scholar's face turned pale. Seeing that the situation was not right, he took a few steps back and wanted to leave, but was blocked by Yan Mingzhang and Su Zhan on the left and right, and was forced to stay.

"Fellow villagers, let's appreciate this 'calligraphy treasure' together. The strokes of this character are light and empty at the beginning, weak and dragging at the end. Judging from the shape of the characters, they must have been copied from the cursive script of Taoist Huai Zhen. It has a sense of form, but lacks the meaning. This character...ah, it's hard to describe in a few words! It's hard to describe in a few words...I am not very talented, but I happened to have copied a few characters." Rong Wanyin picked up the brush on the table and wrote the two characters "扎凑", with both the strokes and the strength of the brush being superb.

Although everyone did not know much about calligraphy, they could tell at a glance who wrote better between the two. Everyone applauded and cheered for Rong Wanyin's calligraphy.

"Fellow villagers, we are all discerning and righteous people. Why don't we judge today? Let's take a look at this poem first. The parallelism is not neat, the rhyme is not right, and the rhythm is… forget it, it's unbearable to read… The sentences are incoherent and the meaning is empty. Hey, brother, who was your mentor? Tell everyone, don't send your children to school! lest you ruin their future!" Rong Wanyin laughed, "The calligraphy and poetry are so poor, it shows that you have no talent! Of course, lack of talent is only one of the reasons."

"Didn't he pass the imperial examination this year?"

"You don't know..."

(End of this chapter)