Red Dust Daqian

The fight was about to break out. Zhou Sen was the focus of the entire Baihua Garden. Everyone was paying attention to any movement on his side. The popular candidate for the champion of this year's Qixi Poetry Competition and the champion of last month's poetry competition were fighting openly, which instantly attracted everyone's attention. They all gathered around to avoid missing this wonderful show.

Although it was lively, as the organizer of the poetry conference, a fight still occurred when the King of Chu himself was present at the conference. If this were to get out, it would be disastrous. How could the King of Chu save his face? How dare someone not give him face? Did he want to die?

Before the King of Chu could lose his temper, the sharp-eyed Steward Liu had already hurried over and whispered a few words to Ouyang Zongxin. Ouyang Zongxin seemed to realize that his behavior had displeased the King of Chu, so he quickly apologized and stuffed a lot of silver into Steward Liu, asking him to say a few good words to avoid further blame from the King of Chu. Ouyang Zongxin glared at Zhou Sen angrily, and left Zhou Sen with Steward Liu in a huff.

The fight did not happen in the end, and the onlookers quickly dispersed. Zhou Sen expressed his gratitude to Li Qinwei for his righteousness. After Li Qinwei's politeness, he did not forget the purpose of his visit, and then he praised Zhou Sen's poem "A Cut Plum".

When Qiao Wenjin saw Ouyang Zongxin and others walking away, he walked silently to Zhou Sen and lamented for Zhou Sen: "Master Zhang, tell me, why did you provoke Ouyang Zongxin. You are finished, you can't survive in Jiangxia Prefecture." Zhou Sen was confused. It was me who provoked them, and it was clearly this guy who asked for trouble!

Seeing Zhou Sen's indifference, Qiao Wenjin continued, "Do you know who Ouyang Zongxin's father is?" Zhou Sen shook his head to indicate that he didn't know. Qiao Wenjin said, "Ouyang Changzong, the Chief Clerk of Jiangxia Prefecture, is good at dancing with long sleeves and is a favorite of the King of Chu. He doesn't even take the Governor of Jiangxia Prefecture seriously. Ouyang Zongxin is the eldest son of Ouyang Changzong. He is narrow-minded and vindictive. He will definitely cause trouble for you again in the future."

Zhou Sen sighed, "Damn, I met a local tyrant." So what? They have bullied me right at my doorstep, can I still be a coward? I will not offend others if they do not offend me, but if they do offend me, I will be punished by heaven and earth. He is just a chief historian. According to my goal, I may face greater difficulties in the future. If I am afraid of even a chief historian, how can I move forward?

Qiao Wenjin didn't notice Zhou Sen's disdainful expression, and said to himself: "Master Zhang, it seems that you will have a hard time in Jiangxia Prefecture in the future. Do you know why I gave up this round of competition? One is because you are good at poetry, and the most important thing is that I don't want to win against Ouyang Zongxin. This person is too narrow-minded. Today at the Chu King Poetry Conference, he may still have some reservations and it is not convenient for him to do anything to you. But after the poetry conference is over and we leave this Hundred Flowers Garden, it is not certain."

Zhou Sen expressed his gratitude to Qiao Wenjin for his kind reminder.

Zhou Sen himself is a person who doesn't like to cause trouble, but he will not avoid trouble when it comes. It's just that he felt a little sorry for implicated Li Qinwei for no reason. Zhou Sen apologized to Li Qinwei, "Brother Li, it seems that I have caused you a lot of trouble. I feel a little sorry. Brother Li, if you need to leave Jiangxia Prefecture for development, I am willing to do my best. Although talking about money is a bit vulgar and hurtful, I am a straightforward person and don't like to beat around the bush. Brother Li, I am willing to bear all the financial problems incurred by going to other prefectures and counties. After all, it was because of me that Brother Li provoked the Chief of Jiangxia Prefecture."

Li Qinwei said disdainfully: "I don't even take you seriously as a mere chief secretary. Is Taoist Zhang afraid? Does he want to leave Jiangxia Prefecture?" Zhou Sen sighed, thinking that Li Qinwei was quite arrogant, like a newborn calf that is not afraid of a tiger.

Zhou Sen also said disdainfully: "Although the people should not fight against the officials, I am upright and honest. How can I be afraid? Since Brother Li is not afraid and will not leave Jiangxia Prefecture, if you encounter any trouble in Jiangxia Prefecture in the future, you can tell me at any time, and I will definitely help you."

Li Qinwei replied proudly: "Okay, next time when I ask for help from Taoist Zhang, you must not refuse." Then Li Qinwei joked: "I heard your tone just now. Taoist, you have strong financial strength?" Zhou Sen replied somewhat embarrassedly: "No, no, it's just that people who practice Taoism usually don't have much money, so I am willing to help Brother Li with my limited money." The two looked at each other and laughed, and they were considered to be good friends.

After one stick of incense, almost all contestants finished their poems, and the second round of competition officially ended. As expected, Zhou Sen successfully got the ticket to the third round. Unexpectedly, Li Qinwei also won the second round of competition and successfully advanced. Zhou Sen felt that he had underestimated Li Qinwei again. This person is definitely not simple. The two congratulated each other and advanced to the third round of finals together.

Since the second round lasted an extra time of one stick of incense, it was lunch time after the competition. The organizers prepared snacks and cakes for all the contestants. As an accompanying person, Xiangcao was previously arranged to stay with the book boys. When she heard about the conflict between Zhou Sen and Ouyang Zongxin, she was extremely anxious, fearing that Zhou Sen was hurt. During the lunch break, she finally had the opportunity to come to Zhou Sen. Without saying a word, she hurriedly checked Zhou Sen's whole body, and confirmed that there was no injury, and then she relaxed her anxious mood.

Vanilla said with concern: "I was so anxious just now. When I heard that someone was going to bully you, I was almost ready to kill you. But the person who delivered the message told me that the incident had happened a while ago and there was no fight, so I didn't come over before. Mumu, you won't blame me, will you?" Hearing Vanilla's sweet concern, Zhou Sen smiled foolishly and shook his head. How could he blame her, his kind-hearted senior sister!

Xiangcao gritted her teeth and said, "Mumu, tell me, who is that person? Senior sister will help you deal with her later. Senior sister wants to..." Before Xiangcao could finish her words, Zhou Sen hurriedly interrupted her outspoken senior sister. There were still many people from Ouyang Zongxin watching them, and the final game was not over yet, so there was no need to cause a conflict.

Zhou Sen introduced Li Qinwei to Xiangcao. Maybe it was because heroes appreciate heroes, or maybe Xiangcao was grateful to Li Qinwei for helping Zhou Sen out of trouble, so she had a good impression of Li Qinwei.

During the lunch break, Shen Qianrou sent a message saying that the glass prize, a glass wolf, was ready.

After lunch, the third round of the finals began soon. There were 70 contestants in the third round, consisting of 50 winners of the second round and 20 contestants with the status of Juren or above from all over Daqian. The final competition was not divided into groups, and the top three winners of the same theme among the 70 contestants were selected as rewards.

The third round of poetry competition will be led by the great writer Yuwen Zhonglan of Daqian. The 11 judges from the first and second rounds will jointly select three winners. In the third round, the organizers directly gave the contestants two incense sticks of time to come up with the idea, hoping that the contestants would do their best.