When it came to scumbags, they thought of Chen Shimei. They thought of how he abandoned his wife and son in order to curry favor with the rich and powerful. He could be said to be the representative of scumbags since ancient times.
How many people knew that not only did Chen Shimei not abandon his wife and son, but he was also an honest, upright, and outspoken official?
This was the power of scholars. With a pen, they could poke a person on the pillar of shame in history and be spurned by people for generations to come.
As for the truth?
Haha, haven't you heard of this saying — open your mouth to start a rumor, but run your legs to refute it?
The people loved melodramatic gossip and preferred stories with ups and downs. As for the truth, few people cared.
"That Liu Xi … is really a shrew. Does she want to shed all pretense of cordiality and hold it against us?"
"She's a woman. How can she not hold a grudge?"
Someone snorted disdainfully, but there was a flash of guilt in his eyes.
However, this trace of guilt was quickly buried.
Jinlin Pavilion was open to the public for free. They had also obtained the right to enter the pavilion. Of course, they were qualified to enjoy all the benefits inside.
They did not owe Wanzhou anything. Whether it was borrowing books, copying books, or other benefits, they were all voluntarily provided by Wanzhou.
Since it was voluntary, they could not be considered to have received Wanzhou's favor.
In this way, how could it be considered to be "returning good for evil"?
Did Wanzhou still want to act like a hooligan and demand repayment?
They verbally despised Jiang Pengji's gender, but they were not too stupid. After all, Jiang Pengji had power and influence, but they did not.
When they saw the topic on the notice board, they panicked for a while, then immediately comforted themselves.
Two days passed, and nothing happened.
"As expected — it's just a bluff!"
They had been quiet for two days, but now they jumped out again. Not only did they slander Jiang Pengji, but they even criticized Jinlin Pavilion.
No matter how they became famous, at least their reputation was better than many unknown people.
Black and red were still red!
However —
The atmosphere was not right.
Soon, they could not laugh anymore.
The scholars who had been chatting with them were all gone. Every time they approached them to discuss something, they would always be rejected with all sorts of reasons.
When many familiar faces saw their faces, they covered their noses with their sleeves and quickly walked around them.
Occasionally, they could even hear people whispering and glancing at them from time to time. Their eyes were filled with disdain.
"My dear brothers —"
In the courtyard of the poetry meet, he saw a few friends sitting on the ground in the distance. Everyone had a satisfied smile on their faces, as though they were discussing something.
One of them came forward, but before he could bow, the others scattered like birds and beasts.
"This, this …"
That person stood rooted to the ground like a block of wood. His face turned red and then green. He was both embarrassed and angry.
With great difficulty, he managed to stop a young, thin, and weak scholar and interrogate him.
No matter what, he was still a fighter who dared to fight against power. Why did others treat him like this?
The scholar said, "You still don't know what happened?"
"I've been focused on studying the ancient books these days. How could I have the time to care about what's going on outside?"
There were too many good books in the Golden Scale Pavilion, and he always felt that he didn't have enough time to study.
When the scholar from a poor family heard this, the disdain in the depths of his eyes deepened.
Before he could react, the scholar said, "If you don't know, you can go to the Golden Scale Market for a while and you'll know."
After saying this, the scholar from a poor family was afraid that others would see him mingling with him, so he hurriedly left.
The Golden Scale Market was a commercial market not far from the Golden Scale Pavilion. It was also specially built by Jiang Pengji.
The Golden Scale Pavilion brought a large flow of people, which was an excellent business opportunity.
The flow of people was huge, and the business was prosperous. Many people embarked on the road to becoming rich.
The Golden Scale Market was full of shops.
This was an era where entertainment was lacking. Only Wanzhou had some variety. Many scholars liked to listen to storytellers there.
Under Wei Ci's leadership, the storytelling industry in Wanzhou was under the unified jurisdiction of the government. The industry rules were strict.
He even found a few talented novelists who specialized in collecting current affairs and gossip. He asked them to compile them into novels and use the storytellers' mouths to tell them to the people. He also set a rule — absolutely no one could say anything unfavorable to Jiang Pengji, not even half a word!
Of course, they could not be overly exaggerated. They tried their best to let the people understand a real lord.
Wei Ci used entertainment to control public opinion, and now it was beginning to show results. The people loved their Wanzhou magistrate very much.
There were even unmarried women who cried and shouted that they wanted to marry her, even if she was a woman!
This meme was even adapted into a script by the novelist. It became the most popular novel in Wanzhou for a time.
Probably because the novelist's literary talent was too good, many people were moved to tears.
Say, why can't lovers be together in the end?
So what if they are both women? Infatuated people should be treated gently!
Stories like this made the bystanders dumbfounded.
However, the dumbfounded protagonist today was someone else.
That person heard the words of the scholar and hurried to the Golden Scale Market. When he passed by a teahouse, he suddenly heard his name.
He looked in the direction of the voice and saw many people surrounding the teahouse. A storyteller in a scholarly robe was telling a story with great emotion.
He stood still and listened for a while. His expression became darker and darker.
After a long time, the storyteller patted the ruler and said, "… If you want to know more, listen to the next chapter."
After saying that, he returned to his seat and drank a mouthful of tea to moisten his lips. The people nearby wailed.
"You old man, aren't you a little too disloyal? Why are you deliberately blocking here and making people unable to go up or down?"
"That's right, that's right — finish it in one go. If you don't finish, I feel like there's a cat scratching at my heart."
"Sigh, I can't sleep today!"
"Even storytellers can't be so broken. You're obviously deliberately leaving people hanging."
One day, with a knife in hand, I'll kill all the sequence-breaking dogs in the world!
The storyteller raised his eyelids and said, "How is it that I'm unwilling to speak? It's clearly that I haven't gotten the manuscript for the next chapter. "
The people fell silent, but after a moment, they were filled with righteous indignation again.
"That Zhao Kuang is really shameless. He holds his bowl to eat and then puts it down to curse!"
"Even the women in the brothel wouldn't be so shameless!"
"Hey! I'm not happy when you say that. What's wrong with the women in the brothel? They give money in one hand and take off their pants in the other. It's a proper transaction. They're not like those people, each more shameless than the other. It's just like the book said. More than ten years of sage books have been learned by the dog! "
When Zhao Kuang, who was outside the teahouse, heard this, his chest tightened and he almost vomited blood.
He hurriedly grabbed someone to ask about the contents of the book. That person was also enthusiastic and opened his mouth.
A young man named Zhao Kuang heard that a free academy had opened in another country. He and five like-minded friends went there to study.
Unexpectedly, they encountered bandits and the six of them got separated. Zhao Kuang was also lucky. He was saved by a simple tree demon in the mountains.
Zhao Kuang was surprised by the beauty of the tree demon. He used flowery words to trick the tree demon into liking him and coaxed the simple tree demon to follow him.
Little did he know that Zhao Kuang already had a wife in his hometown.
A few days later, Zhao Kuang continued on his journey with the money provided by the tree demon.
When he arrived at the academy, Zhao Kuang squandered without restraint. He pretended to be a noble son of an aristocratic family and gained the favor of a great scholar surnamed Liu.
The great scholar felt that Zhao Kuang's temperament wasn't firm. After testing him, he didn't intend to put him in an important position.
Coincidentally, Zhao Kuang heard that the great scholar had countless books and went to borrow some from the great scholar.
The great scholar borrowed them and Zhao Kuang benefited greatly from the books. Using this opportunity, he received help from a noble and was promoted all the way.
After he became famous, the tree demon came to Zhao Kuang to repay his debt. However, Zhao Kuang said that the tree demon had bewitched him and burned him to death.
When the great scholar heard this, he felt indignant for the tree demon.
Everyone knew that the great scholar had lent books to Zhao Kuang, but Zhao Kuang said that his success was all due to his talent and that it had nothing to do with the great scholar borrowing books.
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