“What kind of poem is this?”

“It’s not well-structured…”

“The reasoning is simple enough, is it a Buddhist verse?”

“But Buddhist verses aren’t usually like this…”

Great expectations often lead to great disappointment. After Ning Yi wrote the eight lines of poetry on the paper, whispers broke out uncontrollably from behind. Some who were further back and couldn't see asked those in front what it said. In fact, the sentences and the reasoning were simple. In this era, there were no obscure allusions, no unnecessary mystification, and anyone could understand them. The tragedy was that it didn't even rhyme. The crowd's expressions changed, and for a moment, they didn't know how to define these eight lines.

For a moment, no one voiced any doubts. After all, this was something Ning Yi had written. It wasn't as comical as doggerel and indeed resembled a Buddhist verse, expounding on a seemingly good principle. But it certainly wasn't a Buddhist verse either. After a moment, Liu Qingdi looked at Ning Yi, frowned, and asked, "This is… what Brother Ning wrote…?”

Ning Yi looked down at the eight lines of poetry, nodded to himself, and then looked at Liu Qingdi, laughing, "Brother Liu seems to think… this doesn't count as poetry?"

"It seems, admittedly, easy to understand, but Brother Ning, you didn't even rhyme these lines, so naturally, it can't be considered poetry. Today's literary gathering is…"

"Tsk." Ning Yi shrugged and smiled before Liu Qingdi could finish, "If it doesn't count, then it doesn't count."

"Then… what does it count as?"

"Poem or lyrics, whatever, it's just these forty characters written on paper. I'm teaching in a private school now, and those students, no matter how they write, whether it rhymes or not, they've at least written something, right? Brother Liu, just think of it as a poorly rhymed, terrible poem, ha ha…"

Ning Yi's words were somewhat cheeky, but for a moment, the crowd couldn't find a good reason to criticize him. This wasn't the imperial examination, nor was it a competition, so they couldn't judge him. If he could write a timeless masterpiece, they would mostly be amazed, but since he had casually written this passage here and spoken so casually, they couldn't say he was disgracing their literary circle. After all, even the greatest writers wouldn't casually carry around beautiful lines. Making a joke and writing a couple of doggerel verses among friends wasn't an excessive thing.

Earlier, the atmosphere was relaxed, and Liu Qingdi hadn't really set up a trap. Now, he frowned and didn't know how to say it. Cao Guan and the others breathed a small sigh of relief, then thought of something: "Brother Ning, how should this poem be interpreted?"

Ning Yi laughed: "I wrote it casually, everyone can interpret it casually."

Li Shishi stood aside, looking at the lines of poetry, also frowning as she thought about it. Her face occasionally flushed red, but what she showed wasn't shyness. She glanced at Ning Yi, with a slightly suspicious look, then lowered her head, so others couldn't see what she was thinking. Beside Zhou Bangyan, Fang Wenyang and Tang Weiyan were whispering, with strange expressions on their faces, sometimes frowning, sometimes revealing a hint of sarcasm.

Li Shishi and the others had come from the capital and weren't very familiar with Ning Yi. They were treating this as their first time understanding this person, since it wasn't possible to see him write a timeless masterpiece all the time. Their emotions were actually quite calm. Cao Guan, Liu Qingdi, and the others knew him a little better, but they were concerned about winning or losing, so they mostly regarded Ning Yi's actions as a joke. On the other hand, Qi Lan, mixed in the crowd, liked Ning Yi's poetry and had inquired about Ning Yi's situation many times. At this time, she was slightly disappointed. Pu Yangyi had also arrived nearby, and he looked at the poem, thought for a moment, and then laughed. Qi Lan turned to look at him.

“What are you laughing at, Young Master?”

“What do you think of that poem?”

“Uh… It was dashed off, easy to understand, it’s not exactly doggerel, but if you call it a poem, it doesn't rhyme, but after reading it, it makes you feel like it makes sense… Young Master Ning is unconstrained by trivial matters, he probably just felt like having fun, maybe only with this kind of romantic and unrestrained personality can he write such amazingly beautiful lyrics as ‘Qing Yu An’.”

Pu Yangyi looked at her, waited for her to finish, and then laughed again, whispering, "Ten steps ahead, the name is well-deserved. He's so down-to-earth, if he were my opponent, I'd really be a little afraid of him."

“Hmm? Why are you thinking about business, Young Master?”

“There are millions of people in the world, don't seek the fleeting clouds, this person is like a rainbow, you only know when you meet… A few days ago, I asked him to write lyrics for you, but unfortunately, he has some connection with that Li Shishi, and this favor isn't easy to ask him to help with, so I had to give up. Of course, it's not good for him to help Li Shishi at this time, but just now everyone spoke, and it wouldn't be good to refuse too much. He wrote this kind of poem, which is not helping either side, and the sentences he dashes off don't really affect his reputation. And most importantly, Qi Lan, how do you think this poem should be interpreted?”

“How should it be interpreted, uh…” Qi Lan thought for a while, “Just now everyone asked him to write a poem for Miss Li, this poem…”

“It can’t be interpreted, but it can be interpreted any way you want,” Pu Yangyi continued softly, “These people are all surrounding Miss Li, if you’re on Miss Li’s side, you can interpret it favorably, it’s very simple, the last sentence is ‘This person is like a rainbow, you only know when you meet’, you can say that this refers to knowing that there are actually people in the world like a rainbow until you meet Miss Shishi. But if it falls in other people's hearts, look at Zhou Bangyan and the others, a few people are surrounding Miss Shishi, chasing her all the way from the capital, but there are millions of people in the world, so don't seek the fleeting clouds… Just now someone said that he has a good relationship with Miss Li, and these close people, more or less, don't like it, this poem is both magnanimous and admonishing, if they have jealousy in their hearts, then those two sentences are written right into their hearts, they won't have no thoughts."

“So, Young Master Ning, he…”

“Responsive, appropriate for the scene, everyone has thoughts when they see it, it doesn’t make him famous, but it’s just right, even the Yuan girl beside him won’t be jealous because of this. In just a short while, he can think of this kind of response and write this kind of bland poem, which is worthy of admiration.”

Qi Lan thought for a long time: "Young Master Pu Yang, you've been in the business world for a long time, and you think about everything in that way. I still think that Young Master Ning is just a gentle and refined scholar who is unconstrained by trivial matters."

Pu Yangyi laughed and didn't mind.

This poem is like a skillful Tai Chi fist, which seems a bit chaotic, but for a while, it makes it impossible for people to attack. Everyone smiled and said a few words about this poem, and then began to pay attention to other people's works, and any other ideas were temporarily put in their hearts.

After that, everyone talked and laughed. When someone suggested writing poems on the theme of Jinling, Chen Luoyuan took out a genuine painting scroll by Wu Daozi of the Tang Dynasty as a prize, and the atmosphere among the crowd rose. There were also several performances in between. When Qi Lan and the others remembered to pay attention to Ning Yi, Ning Yi and the two girls, Nie and Yuan, were already gone…

**********************

“Wow, there really is a hot spring.”

Some surprised voices rang out in the woods, followed by the sound of splashing water. A stream extended upward through the gaps in the woods, and in a clearing, there was a hot spring that didn’t seem too big. The water still flowed down from above, and the temperature wasn’t very hot here. Further down, because the water flow wasn’t fast and it intersected with another stream, there wasn’t much temperature left. If Kang Xian hadn't reminded them, everyone probably wouldn't have known that there was such a place above.

Ning Yi, Yunzhu, and Jin'er were washing their hands by the spring water. The mountain wind blew over the treetops, and the sun was almost overhead, warm and comfortable.

"This person is like a rainbow, you only know when you meet," Jin'er recited the sentence, and scooped up the spring water with both hands and splashed it towards Yunzhu. Because she was a little far away, Yunzhu dodged with a smile: "Don't mess around, what if your clothes get wet now?" Jin'er stuck out her tongue.

“This place is really nice,” Ning Yi said with a sigh, and then said, “I’ll go take a look around.” Jin’er had already sat down by the spring: “I’m not going, I want to rest.” Her intention was to have Sister Yunzhu rest here with her, but among the three, Yunzhu didn't express her opinion, but smiled and accompanied Ning Yi to walk aside. Jin'er reached into the water and splashed around, watching the two figures disappear, and then pouted, "Dog men and women! Adulterers!"

Then she looked around suspiciously. Seeing that there was no one around, she carefully took off her shoes and socks, and lifted her trouser legs. In the sunlight, her bare feet and calves were fair and slender, and then she put them into the hot spring. After a moment, she squinted her eyes and showed an expression of enjoyment, like a little dog.

“Does Liheng really like this place?”

On the other side, Ning Yi and Yunzhu walked through the woods for a while. The sunlight dappled through the shadows of the trees, and the forest was quiet, and the words also seemed light.

"I feel like it's pretty good, there's a hot spring, there's a forest, what do you think?"

"I… think it's too high, the wind is very strong in winter."

“It’s the same by the river, right?”

"Yeah, not to mention winter, I don't dare to write anything outside in autumn either, the paper is all blown away. Last time on the terrace, I was in a mess."

She was talking about what happened last autumn. Ning Yi was also there that day. The wind was strong by the river, and she had put some papers outside, but they were blown all over the place, quite embarrassingly. When she said it at this time, the two couldn't help but laugh. After walking around the surrounding area a bit, Yunzhu looked at Ning Yi's clothes as they were walking back according to their memory, and said, "Liheng, you should sit there for a while."

"Hmm?"

“Your clothes are ripped.”

That was where it was hooked when he was sliding on the grass earlier. At that time, it was a small opening, but it had become larger without him realizing it. Ning Yi laughed and sat down on a stone by a tree in front. The light was good here, and the sunlight spilled down into a warm yellow space. Yunzhu also sat down cross-legged on the grass beside him, took out a small bag from her arms, and the bag contained needles and thread. Ning Yi glanced at it: "When you dress up as a man, you actually carry needles and thread with you, that's not professional at all."

"No," Yunzhu said, "I didn't bring it originally, but I saw that your clothes were a little torn earlier, so I asked the Chen family's servants for it."

As she spoke, she licked the thread on the tip of her tongue, and then faced the eye of the needle, threading the thread. There were only two of them in the forest, quiet and peaceful, and in the warm yellow sunlight, they melted into a beautiful painting.

******************

It was a little boring to wash in the hot spring alone, especially since she couldn't really take off her clothes and go in. By the spring water, Yuan Jin'er looked back and retracted her slender feet from the water. There was a bit of a sense of being abandoned. In the distance, it seemed that Li Shishi's singing was coming over with the mountain wind, melodious and beautiful. She put on her shoes and socks and walked into the woods… (To be continued. Vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)