Tao Siqian saw Yuan Ziwen shaking his head and couldn't help but ask: "Brother Yuan, in your opinion, who of these two will win?"
Yuan Ziwen originally wanted to say it was Wei Yan, but when he remembered that Tao Ziqing was Tao Siqian's cousin after all, he swallowed his words, considered his words and said: "I think your brother is confident, maybe brother Ziqing has a better chance of winning."
."
Upon hearing this, Tao Siqian knew that Yuan Ziwen was speaking politely, and he simply said bluntly: "Brother Yuan, I regard you as one of my own, so don't use these words to frustrate me. Tell me the truth, Wei Yan can compose poems so quickly."
, have you ever worked hard?"
Yuan Ziwen didn't expect that Tao Siqian had guessed it. He smiled and said, "Brother Tao, I can't hide anything from you. Brother Wei, he has really worked hard on composing poems."
When Wei Yan first entered the academy, because of his poor family background, he had not read a few poetry collections, and his poetry was not very good.
Once, classmates privately suggested a poem couplet, but Wei Yan had never been involved in this. After an hour, he only wrote two lines of poetry.
The classmates present at that time did not say anything to ridicule, but how could a person like Wei Yan allow himself to have such a shortcoming?
What's more, writing poetry will be indispensable when taking the imperial examination in the future.
Therefore, Wei Yan worked hard to write poetry from then on until he could write a poem effortlessly.
This time Wei Yan compared poetry with Tao Ziqing. His speed was still the same as before, neither too fast nor too slow. He wrote as quickly as he could, and he finished a poem in less than half a stick of incense.
Over there, Tao Ziqing relied on his outstanding talent and learning to write two poems that had already been drafted in half a stick of incense.
When everyone saw that Tao Ziqing was one step ahead, they couldn't help but smile at each other, feeling that with Tao Ziqing's talent, he should definitely win this competition.
Only Yuan Ziwen knew Wei Yan's strength, and the old god was on the ground holding tea and drinking it.
Tao Ziqing wrote ten poems in one go before he stopped. At this time, only a quarter of an hour had passed.
As for Wei Yan, he only composed eight poems.
Tao Ziqing showed a proud smile. In terms of talent and quick thinking, how could Wei Yan be better than him?
It's just that Tao Ziqing was happy too early.
After half an hour, his poetry writing speed slowed down.
After all, by this time, he had already composed forty peony poems, and almost all the allusions he knew had been used.
As time goes by, he has to think about it for a long time every time he writes a poem. Sometimes the time for burning incense has passed, and he still hasn't figured out how to write the poem.
Wei Yan's poetry writing speed was consistent. Except for occasionally stopping to dip in ink, he almost never paused. Soon the number of poems in front of him surpassed that of Tao Ziqing.
An hour later, Wei Yan handed in more than seventy poems.
Tao Ziqing, on the other hand, only wrote sixty poems.
Tao Ziqing's face was extremely ugly.
He really didn't expect that he would lose to Wei Yan.
When Tao Siqian announced that Wei Yan had won, Tao Ziqing felt that he had lost all face and left the banquet early due to physical discomfort, regardless of Tao Siqian's plea to stay.
As soon as Tao Ziqing left, the atmosphere at the banquet became a little awkward.
Knowing that the banquet was going on, Tao Siqian felt reluctant and suggested going to the flower hall to have some snacks.
The Flower Hall is located near Chunyuxuan. As soon as you enter the hall, you will see an embroidered screen in front of you.
Wei Yan recognized the peony embroidered screen at a glance as being painted by Shen Xiu.
He paused in front of the embroidered screen and caught Tao Siqian's attention.
"Brother Wei, what do you think of this embroidery screen?" Tao Siqian asked this question before he remembered, "Oh, I forgot. This embroidery screen was sent to the embroidery workshop by your lady. Speaking of which, your lady is not only good at embroidery.
He is very good at painting even this painting."
Tao Siqian originally wanted to dispel Wei Yan's grudge against Tao Ziqing by praising the embroidered screen, but who knew that someone could not see Tao Siqian's special treatment of Wei Yan and insisted on standing up to cause trouble.
"Why do I think this embroidered screen is ordinary? It has no charm at all." The person who interrupted was Tao Siqian's cousin, Huang Tingyu.
This Huang Tingyu is Tao Siqian's maternal cousin, and he should be closer to Tao Siqian in terms of status. However, he doesn't like Tao Siqian's personality, but he gets along better with Tao Ziqing.
Now that Tao Ziqing left in anger, Huang Tingyu wanted to stand up for him.
"This screen is so gaudy, I can't help but praise you for it. My cousin is really embarrassed for you."
"Ting Yu, don't talk nonsense." Tao Siqian's face couldn't help but darken, "If you don't understand, don't talk nonsense."
"Why am I talking nonsense?" Huang Tingyu said unconvinced: "The peonies on this embroidered screen are not very good to begin with..."
"You said the peonies on this embroidered screen are not very good, then Mr. Huang's painting skills must be outstanding." Wei Yan's expression had already darkened slightly when Huang Tingyu slandered the embroidered screen.
Tao Siqian saw something was wrong and wanted to make a fuss.
Unexpectedly, Huang Tingyu wanted to die on his own, so he bit the bullet and said: "Brother Wei said this, does he want to compete with me in painting skills?"
Wei Yan said with a cold expression: "Today Wei came to the other courtyard as a guest. He didn't want to overshadow the guest. But this embroidered screen was made by my wife. Mr. Huang slandered it so much, so Wei wants to ask for advice."
"Okay, let's compete, I'm afraid of what you will do!" Huang Tingyu said, holding his neck.
Wei Yan said: "Since Mr. Huang wants to compete with me in painting skills, I have a proposal. If I lose, I will meet one of Mr. Huang's conditions. If Mr. Huang loses, I will also have to meet one of my conditions."
Huang Tingyu couldn't help but hesitate when he heard that there was even a prize in the competition.
Wei Yan saw his hesitation and chuckled: "It's okay if Master Huang gives up. All you need to do is apologize."
How could a young master like Huang Tingyu be willing to apologize, and this happened to be the trick of Wei Yan.
"Okay, if I lose, I will satisfy you a condition. But this condition cannot be too excessive."
Wei Yan said: "I won't make any excessive conditions. My wife still has seven or eight screens like this. If I win, the whereabouts of these screens will be handed over to Mr. Huang."
This condition is not too much. Tao Siqian originally wanted to stop this competition, but after hearing such conditions, he gave up his mind.
Since Wei Yan was so angry, it was better to follow his wishes and let him compete with Huang Tingyu. Firstly, it would teach Huang Tingyu a lesson. Secondly, it would also give Shen Xiu a favor.
As for Huang Tingyu winning, Tao Siqian never thought about it.
Tao Siqian also noticed the competition between Wei Yan and Tao Ziqing just now. Wei Yan would not fight without preparation, but whenever he wanted to compete with others, he must be fully prepared.
While he ordered his subordinates to prepare painting tools, he quietly pulled Yuan Ziwen aside and asked: "Compared with Wei Yan's painting skills and his ability to write poems, which one is better?"
Yuan Ziwen shook a paper fan in his hand and smiled slightly: "Well, I heard that before brother Wei entered the academy, he studied painting with a painter in the bookstore for two years. However, he always felt that this was not the right path, so he was very worried.
It is rare for him to paint with his brush. However, even Master Li from our academy praised his painting skills. He said that if he fails in the imperial examination in the future, he can become a famous painter all over the world."
Tao Siqian glanced at Huang Tingyu. Needless to say, the result of this round was just waiting for his cousin to spend money to buy those peony embroidered screens!