After leaving the Welcome Pavilion, Shi Cheng suddenly said to Sheng Degong beside him: "Your Highness, it seems that the host who held this poetry meeting is not very kind to us. ”

Han Wei smiled and said, "The immortal master has lived in the Western Continent for a long time, and he may not know the temper of our scribes here. In the eyes of the scribes on our side, the scholars who studied the books of the sages were the true seekers, and the monks were just a special kind of martial artists. ”

Shi Cheng's face did not show an offended look, he naturally said: "To a certain extent, this is not bad, a person who only focuses on being brave and ruthless, even if he can cultivate his true qi, he will always be just a martial artist." ”

Shi Cheng's words made Sheng Degong stunned for a moment, as if he didn't expect Shi Cheng to make such an answer.

"But then again." Shi Cheng said another sentence that seemed quite contradictory, "Isn't it a manifestation of thirst for martial arts?" It's just that the pure pursuit of martial arts and the courage to fight are two different things after all. ”

Sheng Degong thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "What the Immortal Master said is reasonable. ”

"By the way, when it comes to the attitude of the scholars of your country towards the monks, it won't bring any trouble to His Highness, right?"

"That's not all, it's just a private poetry meeting,

After passing through a small secluded jungle, there was some fog faintly on the road ahead.

Wu Neng looked at the distance for a moment, and then said with some surprise: "This Qinghe Pond turned out to be a hot spring!" ”

Sheng Degong said with a smile: "Qinghe Pond is actually a beautiful scenery composed of multiple pools of large and small. It can be roughly divided into the east pond and the west pond, and the ponds in front of us are the west ponds, which are mainly composed of hot spring pools. Although the east pond and the west pond are not far away, they are both ordinary ponds, but there are many rare mountain lotus flowers in the south wilderness in the east pond, which can make up for a lot, and it is also the origin of the name of the clear lotus pond. The venue of this poetry meeting was arranged between the east and west ponds. ”

Wu Neng sighed: "I knew that this Qing Lotus Pond was so wonderful, I should have come here to see it when I first arrived in the Western Desert Country." ”

The group walked forward for a few more moments, and the trees around them began to shrink, and scattered pools began to appear along the mountain road. Soon, there were more and more pools of white gas, and the thin mist made the cold wind lose its strength, and the plants and trees shrouded in the mist were obviously more energetic than their counterparts outside.

Under the guidance of Cao's subordinates, everyone soon came to the center of the Qinghe Pond - in front of a large pavilion located between the East Pond and the West Pond.

After Shi Cheng walked into the pavilion, he found that there were already several officials sitting in the pavilion. Most of the male officials sat on the east side of the pavilion, while a few female officials and two or three male officials close to them sat near the west side.

However, judging from the accessories on the clothes of these officials, they are not particularly high-ranked. After he met with Sheng Degong and Wu Neng with the officials in the pavilion, he sat down with the doubts and speculations of the officials.

After Shi Cheng sat down on a stone chair, the subordinates of the Cao Mansion hurriedly brought hot tea, Shi Cheng nodded and smiled at the subordinate to express his gratitude. The Cao Mansion was a little flattered and respectfully retreated.

Shi Cheng turned his head to look at the outside of the pavilion, and the things between the east and west pools were clearly distinguished, which could be seen intuitively in this pavilion. The mist on one side and the clear sky on the other, made Shi Cheng look at it for a while.

"This kind of scenery is indeed rare in the world, and I am afraid that it can only be found in some secret realms." Shi Cheng thought to himself, "I don't know what kind of structure this mountain range is, and it can actually give birth to such a wonder." ”

Since entering the pavilion, Wu Neng has always looked quite nervous and cramped, after all, it is the first time in his life that he has sat face-to-face with so many officials. He wanted to talk to Shi Cheng, but Shi Cheng's gaze stayed on the scenery outside, and in the end Wu Neng had to sit honestly in his seat, like a wood sculpture with his head down.

"Brother Ge, is Sheng Degong old and confused? Why did you bring a Cheta over at this juncture? A green-robed official sitting far away from Shi and Wu whispered to an official beside him in a surprised tone.

"Nothing strange, do you know the granddaughter of the Duke of Shengde and His Highness the city?" The official surnamed Ge asked rhetorically.

"His Highness Hecheng?" Speaking of this, the green-robed official looked at Sheng Degong, and then replied in a low voice, "Isn't His Highness Hecheng seriously ill during this time, I heard some people say that he may die soon." ”

"If that's the case, do you think Sheng Degong will have the leisure to come to the poetry meeting today?"

"Wait, could it be ......" The green-robed official thought for a moment and asked with some surprise, "Could it be that this Xilu man was invited by the Duke of Shengde to treat his granddaughter?" ”

"Needless to say, although the Xilu man didn't introduce himself in detail, don't forget, three days ago, a pharmacist from the Xilu arrived in Wangcheng and unveiled the medical list posted by Sheng Degong at the gate of the city."

"And such a thing?! Why didn't the younger brother and his colleagues know about this? ”

"Not many people in the city know about this matter, maybe a few of the big people on the side of the East and West Second Mansion know the complete ins and outs, but the foolish brother happened to have some friendship with the third son of He Xianggong's family, so he learned about it from him."

"Could it be that the Western Continent man named Shi Cheng is the pharmacist?" The green-robed official was taken aback, "When did Sheng Degong make friends with such a person?" ”

The official surnamed Ge sneered: "This foolish brother doesn't know, but today's poetry meeting has people from Wutai to participate." Sheng Degong may think that bringing his precious granddaughter's savior here to enjoy the scenery is not something to make a fuss about, but right...... The imperial historians may not think so, especially at this juncture. ”

The green-robed official asked with some concern: "The situation has become a little tense in the past few days, I heard that the Western Barbarians have sent new airships to Dongdan, there won't really be trouble on the border, right?" ”

"It's hard to say, anyway, during this time, Cao Shumi's visits to the Governor's Mansion and Ying'an Palace have become more and more frequent. But the virtuous brother can rest assured, with Da Wei to support us, we will be safe and sound after all. ”

After speaking, the official surnamed Ge glanced at Han Wei again and said, "Sheng Degong has been away from political affairs for a long time, and now it seems that he is not as shrewd as he was before he ascended the throne. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to bring that Western Continent man here today. ”

The officials who were whispering were not the only two of them, and all the officials in the pavilion had intentionally or unintentionally swept their eyes to such a strange-looking Xilu man after Shi Cheng came in. At this time, Sheng Degong also noticed some discordant atmosphere from the eyes of the officials, and he couldn't help but secretly complain in his heart, he had been immersed in the joy of his granddaughter's salvation before, which made Han Wei not seriously think about whether it was really a suitable thing to bring Shi Cheng to the poetry meeting, but now it was too late to regret it.

Just as Han Wei was about to find some topics to divert the attention of the officials, the officials who were whispering quieted down suddenly, and Han Wei looked towards the entrance of the pavilion, only to see three officials with wide robes and big sleeves walking in. Standing on the left side was the owner of the room, Cao Jingcheng, and one of the other two officials was wearing a red robe, which was quite conspicuous in a group of green clothes.

Shi Cheng also raised his head and saw the three people who had just come in, but his eyes did not look at the official in the red robe, but at the green-robed official next to the red-robed official, and he knew very well that the official in the green robe should be the supervising imperial Shi Yu Yuan he wanted to meet.

Han Wei and the officials in the pavilion all stood up and greeted the new guests one by one, Yu Yuan and the vermilion-robed officials beside him looked quite easy-going, and while walking slowly into the pavilion, they smiled and greeted the officials who greeted them. When they approached, Shi Cheng also stood up, he arched his hand, and just wanted to salute, but the two officials brought in by Cao Jingcheng directly skipped him, and Shi Cheng stood in place, looking like he wanted to say something but was blocked in his throat, looking quite embarrassed.

Han Wei sighed in his heart, knowing that today's poetry meeting had been completely messed up. Wu Neng pinched a sweat for Shi Cheng in his heart, he quietly pulled Shi Cheng and asked him what to do now with an inquiring eye, but Shi Cheng's face was not embarrassed, he smiled at Wu Neng and Han Weiwei, and then sat back in his place.

After everyone sat down, a young official with a somewhat square face said to Cao Jingcheng with a smile: "Six years ago, Brother Jing Cheng was a blockbuster in the general examination and the palace examination. ”

"Qinghu is overrated." Cao Jingcheng said with a smile.

"Jing Cheng should not be humble." A middle-aged official who looked much older than Cao Jingcheng said with a smile, "After being given the birth of a jinshi, Jingcheng still studied the scriptures hard, and often came to the door to ask Sun Shi for teaching and asking questions when he was resting. The fish leaps over the dragon gate but is still tireless, this is the real reason for Jing Cheng's success, and it is also a model for our saint disciples. ”

"Yes, yes, Sun Wangzhi has a good student."

The guests complimented each other, and although Cao Jingcheng's face was calm and humble, his heart was already happy.

After a period of polite remarks, the officials attending the poetry meeting began to discuss the new poems that had become famous. Shi Cheng listened to the high-minded talk of everyone in front of him, and felt quite bored in his heart, sitting next to these people, he suddenly had a feeling that he didn't belong to this world.

But now that you're here, it's naturally impossible to be an outsider.

"The poetry of Zhushan is wonderful, but the scenery described is the same, and it is difficult to be unique in concept. If you want to write new and write well, you still have to enjoy the famous mountains and rivers and travel all over the world. Yu Yuan's remarks attracted the approval of many officials.

Yu Yuan said again: "It's just that we are all officials of the imperial court, and we need to share our worries for the king, so naturally we can't be as comfortable as Wen Yuanbo." But fortunately, this clear lotus pond is a rare scenic spot in the southern wilderness, a good banquet must have good wine, and the scenery in front of it is very suitable to accompany this poetry meeting. ”