Red Dust Daqian

After two rounds of competition, the Qixi Poetry Competition finally came to the third round and the ultimate competition officially began.

After two rounds of warm-up, the audience was in high spirits for the final competition, especially Zhou Sen, who wrote two masterpieces in one day. They were even more enthusiastic about him and hoped that he would write another masterpiece in the third round and win the championship. Of course, if the poetry competition was not divided into rounds, Zhou Sen's poems would have already been the champion, and no one would have raised any doubts. Zhou Sen stood out as a dark horse.

However, the 20 new contestants in the third round should not be underestimated. After all, it is not easy to get a place in the national imperial examination and become a juren. They are all well-read and good at poetry.

Many people came to watch the poetry competition today, and they came to meet this group of people at first. After all, the poetry competition is not as fun as the lantern street market, boat tour and entertainment.

It is said that among the new contestants in the last round, there is also a new champion of Jiangxia Prefecture, Ouyang Zongren. Ouyang Zongren's literary talent is the best among all the champions in Daqian. He is expected to take the first place in the next year's joint examination and win the championship. Ouyang Zongren himself is also ambitious. His goal is to win three consecutive championships, and he hopes to be recognized by the saint in the palace examination.

Ouyang Zongren was originally disdainful of participating in this Qixi Poetry Contest, because his current reputation did not need to rely on poetry contests to become famous. However, the organizer of this Qixi Poetry Contest was the King of Chu. The King of Chu was organizing a poetry contest in public for the first time and hoped that Ouyang Zongren would come to support the appearance. Ouyang Zongren did not dare to not give face to the King of Chu, so he could only reluctantly come to participate in the poetry contest.

Hearing that all the players were discussing Ouyang Zongren, Zhou Sen felt that the name sounded very familiar. It was only one letter different from Ouyang Zongxin's name. Could it be that he and Ouyang Zongxin were from the same family? We had to be on guard, so Zhou Sen called Qiao Wenjin to ask about Ouyang Zongren's situation in detail.

Qiao Wenjin is a know-it-all. He knows Ouyang Zongren well. He tells Zhou Sen in detail: Ouyang Zongren is the son of Ouyang Zongxin's uncle, that is, Ouyang Zongxin's cousin. However, Ouyang Zongxin is the legitimate grandson, while Ouyang Zongren's father is a concubine's son. Therefore, Ouyang Zongxin has a higher status in the Ouyang family. But in terms of learning, Ouyang Zongren is the best, and the family also has certain expectations for him. Ouyang Zongren has always been obsessed with his studies and rarely appears in such social occasions.

If they were really a family, Zhou Sen could only hope that Ouyang Zongren's moral character would not be the same as Ouyang Zongxin's. How could he have such a conflict with the Ouyang family? However, it seemed that the strength of the Ouyang family could not be underestimated. Judging from the literary talent of Ouyang Zongxin and Zongren, the Ouyang family paid more attention to the cultivation of their descendants. Such families generally had deep roots, especially those who did not pay attention to the cultivation of moral character, and they could not be offended.

The atmosphere in the Hundred Flowers Garden was obviously much more enthusiastic than the first two rounds. Some people even set up a gambling table in the garden. The dealer called for a bet to see who would win the championship. Judging from the current bet ratio, Zhou Sen and Ouyang Zongren were the ones who were highly expected. I didn't expect that the odds of betting on Zhou Sen were higher than Ouyang Zongren. Could it be that everyone at the scene was more optimistic about Ouyang Zongren? Were they not scared by Zhou Sen in the first two rounds?

Ouyang Zongxin, who had just been humiliated by Zhou Sen, found Ouyang Zongren and said in a bossy manner: "Ouyang Zongren, no matter what means you use in this round, you must defeat that Taoist priest with a big nose. He is so pissed off that young master. You must let that Taoist priest know how powerful our Ouyang family is."

In fact, Ouyang Zongren didn't want to pay attention to this bossy brother-in-law, but due to family ties, he perfunctorily agreed: "This Taoist Zhang has a good attainment in poetry. Zongren has heard his poems in the first two rounds and feels inferior to him. If he can create such a masterpiece in the third round, it will be unbeatable."

Ouyang Zongxin cursed disdainfully: "Ouyang Zongren, don't boost others' ambitions and destroy your own prestige. You can't win! If you can't even beat a Taoist priest, what kind of Jieyuan are you? Why are you still bragging about winning the top three prizes? No matter what you do, you must beat that Taoist priest. Otherwise, I will have the family stop paying you for your education."

Ouyang Zongren was used to Ouyang Zongxin's arrogance and knew that he could do it. After all, he was the legitimate son, and the family funds were in the hands of the legitimate family. He had lived a carefree life all these years relying on the support of the legitimate family. Wasn't it for the purpose of turning the tables and becoming a master one day? He had already thought about how to ravage Ouyang Zongxin if he came to power in the future.

Of course, Ouyang Zongren would not directly contradict Ouyang Zongxin at this moment. He could only swallow his anger and say, "Brother, I will do my best." In fact, how could Ouyang Zongren not want to defeat Zhou Sen? As the champion of this year's exam, it would not be good for his reputation if he lost to a Taoist priest of unknown origin in the poetry competition. After all, he was the one who boasted to everyone that he would win the top three prizes in a row. In the end, he couldn't beat a Taoist priest. How could he talk about winning the top three prizes in a row?

But Zhou Sen's performance was too strong. If he can maintain the level of the first two rounds in the third round, then he is almost hopeless. But think about it, there has never been a master who can create three masterpieces in one day. It is almost impossible. After all, human creativity is limited. It takes time to accumulate. The Taoist priest is still so young, how much can he accumulate? I hope this Taoist priest will be very poor in the third round.

The King of Chu was also very interested at this time, and took the initiative to say to Princess Wanning: "Niece Wanning, how about I bet with you on this round? Do you believe that this Taoist priest can win three rounds in a row?" Wanning replied without hesitation: "Of course I do. But there is no point in betting with Uncle Wang. Uncle Wang is not even willing to agree to the bet. How can we talk about betting?" The King of Chu replied awkwardly: "Niece Wanning, how about we change the bet? I recently got a handsome glazed horse. It is of excellent quality and transparent color. I like it very much. If you win the bet, how about I give this glazed horse to you?" Wanning refused: "Uncle Wang is really a big gambler, but my niece is not interested." The King of Chu was frustrated and speechless, and he did not talk about the bet anymore.

At this time, Shen Qianrou and Shen Yueer in the audience area were also worried about Zhou Sen. He had won two rounds in a row, and both of them were masterpieces. It would be difficult for the third round to be different from the previous two rounds and create another masterpiece. Moreover, the third round was full of strong opponents. They were talented scholars, while Zhou Sen was a Taoist priest who had never attended a private school. There was no comparison!