The Grand Canal of Kong City connected the Yuejiang River and the East Ocean. It was personally opened by Kong Sheng and was parallel to the Yangtze River. Hence, it was known as the Little Yangtze River.
The sun set in the west and night fell. If one were to look down from the top of the mountain, the jade-like Grand Canal seemed to have gathered all the light in Kong City at night. It was like a river of lights that traversed the city.
There were many pavilions on both sides of the Grand Canal that were brightly lit. Pleasure boats and cruises were weaving in and out of the canal and laughter could be heard everywhere.
Linjiang Pavilion was located on the bank of the Grand Canal and was a famous restaurant in Kong City. Due to the fact that the son of the owner of the restaurant had once been the top scholar of Kong City, it was known as the Top Scholar's Pavilion. It was a place where scholars and poets gathered and there were literary gatherings every day.
After decades of operation by the owner, Linjiang Pavilion had been continuously expanded and it had already become a restaurant that could accommodate 2,000 people. That was the limit of the restaurant, and larger literary gatherings could only be held in the Confucius Academy.
The distribution of invitations to the Ten Nations Literary Meet had always been strict and only famous scholars of the Ten Nations were invited. Although the scale was small, it was the top literary meet of the Ten Nations every year.
The carriage stopped and Fang Yun and the others alighted one after another.
At this moment, the lanterns were lit and the three-story Linjiang Pavilion was exceptionally grand. Bright red lanterns were hung all over the eaves, making it seem like a grand festival.
Everyone arrived at the main door and Qiao Juze took out the invitation. Ordinary invitations were just a piece of red paper, but the invitations for the students of the Eleventh Academy were made of gilded hard paper that was twice the size of ordinary invitations.
Before Qiao Juze could hand it out, the receptionist at the door quickly walked towards them and looked at their clothes. He then cupped his fists and said with a smile, "Brothers, I'm here to welcome you. Please follow me to the third floor."
Everyone looked at the receptionist to see that he was dressed in a scholar's uniform, which was rare in Jingguo. However, it was common in a place like Kong City where there were many scholars and scholars. The receptionist addressed them as "brothers", which made them feel more comfortable than addressing them as "Master". They naturally treated it as an elegant place for literary gatherings and not an ordinary restaurant.
Fang Yun and the others immediately cupped their fists and followed the receptionist into the main door.
Fang Yun had just stepped over the threshold. Inside, there were many scholars dressed in white blademaster robes. Many of them were discussing books, essays, playing the zither, and admiring paintings. It was obviously a big restaurant, but there was a scholarly atmosphere.
This hall was extremely spacious. Tables and chairs were neatly arranged, and there were flowers and plants everywhere. The place was overflowing with greenery, and there were many famous calligraphies and paintings hanging on the walls.
The innermost part of the hall was an open window, and outside was the Little Yangtze River. The boats were like shuttles, and the lights were dazzling. Half of the river was illuminated red.
Looking up, he could see hundreds of luminous pearls hanging from the roof of the central hall, illuminating the hall as if it were daytime. There were people looking down from the corridor on the second and third floors. Unlike the Jinshi on the first floor, the people on the second and third floors were more calm and composed. No matter how hard they tried to hide it, there was a hint of arrogance in their eyes. He was unreachable.
However, when these arrogant people saw Fang Yun and the others enter, their expressions immediately changed.
"Fang Zhenguo is here." As soon as the person nearby said this, the news spread like ripples in the water.
Fang Yun and the others had only taken a few steps when they felt that something was wrong. When they turned their heads, they saw that the thousands of students in the hall were looking at them.
Fang Yun smiled and cupped his fists. "Good day, everyone."
Then the thousands of students saluted back.
"Greetings Fang Zhenguo!"
"Greetings Fang Wenhou!"
… …
The Elementary Scholar led the group to the side door and walked up the VIP stairs. As they walked, he said, "As usual, the Jinshi of the Eleven Kingdoms are on the third floor. The Notre-Dame Jinshi or the Noble Jinshi are on the second or third floor. The rest of the Jinshi are on the first floor. Don't worry everyone, it may take a long time, but at the end of the day, you can see further. "
"This Elementary Scholar really knows how to talk." Chen Liyue took out a gold leaf from his pouch and threw it to the Elementary Scholar.
"Thank you brother! You are so generous, I can tell that you are Fang Yun! "The Elementary Scholar joked. After all, Fang Yun had already spoken.
Everyone laughed. Chen Liyue laughed and scolded, "Are you praising me or belittling Fang Yun? This one is. "As he spoke, he pointed at Fang Yun.
The scholar smiled mysteriously and said, "Fang Wenhou, if you're interested in any of the courtesans in Kong City, I can help you get in touch with them. You have no idea how many courtesans in Kong City are looking forward to meeting you!"
Everyone laughed again. Qiao Juze said solemnly, "Fang Yun is not 18 years old yet and he is the champion of the Ten Nations Grand Tournament. How can he stay in the brothels? But … it's fine with me accompanying him. "
Everyone laughed.
The Elementary Scholar was just trying to liven up the atmosphere. What he said was what scholars often said. When they reached the third floor, he immediately shut up and respectfully sent everyone to a room.
Before they could sit down, the ten Jinshi of Yue Nation came together with a wine pot in one hand and a wine glass in the other.
The leader, Hu Shang, smiled and said, "We've been waiting for you for a long time! Let's not talk about anything else. The ten of us will first toast Fang Zhenguo, and then to Jing Country's students. Benefactors! "
Fang Yun smiled and picked up the glass on the table. Hu Shang personally poured him some wine, after which they downed it in one gulp.
The third floor was like two different worlds. People from the second and third floors came to the Jingguo rooms to toast, but those on the first floor did not even have the right to go upstairs. They had to be led upstairs by people from the second or third floor.
"I'm Jia Tingan. Greetings, Fang Zhenguo …"
"I'm Kong Deming. Greetings, Brother Fang. I even talked to De Lun about you that day …"
"Haha, greetings, Fang Wenba. Greetings, Sun Bingning …"
The famous Jinshi of the Ten Nations came one after another.
Today, the eight Jinshi of Jingguo were unusually excited. Many of them had participated in the Ten Nations Grand Tournament last year, but when they came here last year, almost no Jinshi came to toast. However, there was an endless stream of guests today, and their attitudes were excellent. They completely treated these Jinshi as Notre-Dame Jinshi.
Qiao Juze and the others knew that these people respected them because of Fang Yun.
It wouldn't be long before Fang Yun entered the Notre-Dame and became the most outstanding member of the Notre-Dame.
However, the truly outstanding Jinshi of the Ten Nations did not come because they were all accumulating strength for the Dragon Platform.
Every time before the Dragon Platform, there would be undercurrents between the human race and the demon world for the sake of fighting for the Dragon Platform and also to guard against each other.
Fang Yun and the others welcomed and sent them off. They would first form good karma with the people who came to make preparations for the future. There was nothing major, but Kong Deming's words before he left were a little special.
"The Ten Nations Cultural Meet takes turns to be held. This time, it's Gu Nation."
After Kong Deming left, Fang Yun understood after thinking about it for a while.
Gu Nation had already been controlled by various officials, even more so than in Jingguo. In fact, it could even be said that Gu Nation had become the experimental field for the Zong Sage to verify the Divine Dao.
This time, Gu Nation was ranked last and Gyeongo suffered a crushing defeat and stopped at ninth place. It could be said that the entire nation was sad. The Zong Family and Xun Family definitely hated Fang Yun to the core, and Gu Nation was very likely to play tricks during this cultural meet.
Fang Yun sneered in his heart. The human race's cultural meets were prosperous and thousands of cultural meets were held every day. During the festival, there were even hundreds of thousands of cultural meets. There were endless tricks in the cultural meets, such as praising and trampling on others, secretly competing with each other, framing others, and so on.
The smaller the cultural meet, the more tricks there were. For example, although the Ten Nations Cultural Meet was a large-scale cultural meet, it was easy for problems to arise because there were no seniors of higher status supervising.
On that day, when Fang Yun participated in the cultural meet in the Great Source Mansion, he encountered the matter of the cultural meet being decided internally. Liu Zicheng originally wanted to use the cultural meet to suppress Fang Yun, but in the end, Fang Yun shocked everyone with his words.
Fang Yun thought about it. After all, this was the Ten Nations Cultural Meet. Gu Nation would probably use some tricks to disgust others, but they probably wouldn't go to extremes. After all, they were at the foot of the Notre-Dame.
Fang Yun didn't value the cultural meet too much. To put it bluntly, it was just a place for the Ten Nations Scholars to interact and get to know each other. The most important thing was to get to know each other. As for the Scholars with real status, they didn't care about the prize at all.
Fang Yun thought about it. He had already made a name for himself in the Ten Nations Grand Tournament and there was no need to suppress the other Scholars at such a cultural meet.
After that thought popped up in his mind. Fang Yun sighed in his heart. Unknowingly, his mentality had changed. He actually had the idea of helping others.
"Those below the Scholars will compete for the Literary Name. After that, they will compete for the merits of the human race. After becoming a Great Confucian, they will probably compete for the Sage Dao. Only by recognizing your own position can you know the direction. "
Fang Yun smiled calmly and felt relaxed while the Wen Dan also made a soft sound that was almost undetectable.
With the Wen Dan, everything would go smoothly.
Fang Yun looked out of the window to see that the autumn wind was blowing and the stars were twinkling in the night sky. The next step would be to face a new world.
Fang Yun heaved a sigh of relief. The most terrifying thing in life was not danger, but confusion. Once one lost their direction, it would be more fatal than any hardship. If one went in the wrong direction, the future path would be particularly difficult.
One often had to experience many wrong paths in life before finding the right direction.
Soon, the sound of thunder came from below and everyone knew that the cultural meet was about to begin. Hence, they walked out of the room and stood by the railing of the corridor on the third floor.
Fang Yun looked around and saw that many Scholars on the third and second floors had come to the railing one after another. Many Scholars on the first floor looked at the second and third floors with envy in their eyes.
At the small table on the first floor, the Scholar of Gu Nation presided over the cultural meet. After the opening speech, he explained the rules of the meet.
There was a black box in front of him, from which the representatives of each nation had to draw a piece of paper and then write a poem according to the topic on the paper. Besides, it had to be suitable for the current situation.
Everyone couldn't help but frown when they heard it. It was not that there were no cultural meets where poems were written according to the current situation, but it was rare to even draw a topic. It was autumn now and there was a canal outside the building, surrounded by pavilions and boats. There was nothing to write home about.
However, that was how cultural meets were. There would always be all kinds of accidents. After complaining softly, everyone fell silent.
Afterwards, the Ten Nations Scholars sent representatives to the table to draw a topic. Qiao Juze represented Jingguo.
Fang Yun stood behind the railing and watched the representatives of the Ten Nations line up from the box to draw a piece of paper. At last, the host read it out.
"Gyeongo, with 'trees' as the topic."
After hearing it, Fang Yun immediately thought of various poems about trees. Besides, many of the names of the poems were also related to trees and could be used in this cultural meet. For example, "Everlasting Spring" and "Falling Willow" were all names of trees and were also names of poems.
Afterwards, the host read the note from the Shu Nation. "Shu Nation, with 'flowers' as the topic."
The people of Shu Nation chuckled softly. The topic was too broad. Not to mention ancient poems, there were also many names of poems such as "Chrysanthemum Sky", "Rivers of Red", "A Cut Plum", and so on.
The host continued to read, and finally, Qiao Juze handed his note over with a sullen expression.
"Jingguo, with 'Chinese Medicine' as the topic."
Everyone was stunned. Afterwards, the Scholars of Gyeongo, Jia Nation, and some other countries who lost to Jingguo laughed softly. Chinese Medicine poems or names of poems were not rare, but it was too difficult to write them well.
The Jingguo people present hurriedly thought about it, and many of them even used up their talents. However, the more they thought about it, the more they frowned. Floating astronomy.
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