Chapter 50: The Tight-Lipped Disciple of the Hidden Sect

After taking his seat, Yuan Bin let out a sigh and said, "I made a trip to Yunyang County, and now I really don't feel like writing any more Ci poetry."

"Oh? What happened?" The other three looked at him with keen interest.

"You have no idea, Yunyang County has produced a genius! His standard of poetry and Ci is far above that of Li Qiushui and myself!" Yuan Bin said.

"Yunyang County is just a subordinate county, right? What kind of talented scholar could possibly come from there?" Yan Dongqing said with a smile.

Yuan Bin said solemnly, "I am not lying. A young man appeared out of nowhere in Yunyang County and casually penned six poems worthy of being remembered in history! Even Grand Scholar Zhongli showered him with praise."

The three people in the room were all taken aback.

Poems worthy of being remembered in history? Just how good does a poem have to be to achieve that? And six of them, all at once?

As for Grand Scholar Zhongli's lavish praise... That grand scholar had extraordinarily high standards, and the works capable of earning his approval were exceedingly rare.

After a few moments of silence, Yan Dongqing frowned and asked, "Really? What kind of poems are they?"

Yu Qian smiled and said, "Yuan Bin, are you joking with us? Six of them? It is no easy feat for a poem to be remembered through the ages, and for a single person to write six is nothing short of a fairy tale!"

Yuan Bin replied, "I knew you wouldn't believe me, so just listen."

Yuan Bin immediately chanted the three poems titled *Xiangsi* (Longing). These three pieces had defeated him, and he remembered them with absolute clarity. As he recited them, the three people present all fell into silence.

"Fine poetry! Truly fine poetry! These three pieces are all masterpieces and are fully qualified to be selected for this year's *Great Dayu Anthology*!"

"Although all three poems deal with the theme of longing, each approaches it differently. My absolute favorite is the line: *'Clouds and waters stretch afar to the edge of the sky; longing settles as autumn in the heart.'*"

Yu Qian widened her beautiful eyes and said, "The first poem alone would be enough to secure a place in history. What immense talent! If all three of his poems make it into the *Great Dayu Anthology*, the literary world is going to be shaken to its core."

Yuan Bin said, "Heh, there are three more. Listen to this!"

He immediately recited *The Swordsman*, *Drinking Wine in the Mountains*, and *Emptying the Goblet*. As for the three flower-themed poems Jiang Han had composed during the opening of the Dark Fragrance Dew shop, they were slightly inferior to these, so he left them unmentioned.

Upon hearing *Emptying the Goblet*, the three people in the room could no longer suppress their excitement.

Yan Dongqing slapped the table and exclaimed, "Magnificent poetry! Truly magnificent! Six poems by a single person, and every single one worthy of the *Great Dayu Anthology*! Who is this man?"

Wu Nuo also nodded approvingly and said, "What a magnificent *Emptying the Goblet*, truly exhilarating! This person is a genuine genius! He must be a late bloomer who has finally achieved greatness, right?"

Yuan Bin shook his head and said, "No, Senior Brother Wu, this person is even younger than I am, not even nineteen this year!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the three people in the room froze. Yu Qian's eyes widened, a brilliant light flickering within them.

Not even nineteen, yet capable of writing such poetry—this person was simply brimming with extraordinary talent!

Yu Qian's eyes flashed with brilliance as she smiled and said, "With such talent, and since our teacher went to Yunyang County, he must have taken him on as a disciple, right? We have gained a shockingly talented junior brother!"

Hearing this, Yuan Bin revealed an expression of grief and indignation, hesitating as if he had more to say.

"What is wrong?" Yu Qian noticed that Yuan Bin's expression was quite abnormal.

Yuan Bin thought to himself: *I promised Teacher that I wouldn't tell anyone about that matter, but my senior brothers and sister aren't outsiders; they are our own people. It should be fine to tell them, right?*

With that thought, Yuan Bin sighed and said, "Ah, what a pity. You don't know this, but on that day, Zhongli You and Teacher both took a fancy to this talented scholar and originally wanted to take him as a disciple. But as it turned out, when Teacher asked his father about him, his father was utterly blind and spouted absolute nonsense, claiming his son was good for nothing and couldn't possibly write such poems. Upon hearing that, Teacher immediately declared, 'I will not take this disciple! Whoever wants him can have him!'"

Yuan Bin let out a long sigh and said, "Didn't you notice? That poem *Emptying the Goblet* mentions Zhongli You and Ruan Ziqian, but it completely fails to mention Teacher. Teacher was blind... he just gave away the chance to leave his name in history. What a pity, how hateful!"

Yu Qian said angrily, "What? Teacher was truly blind! If this young man had entered Teacher's sect, he would be one of us in the Qingyun Society, and this year we would have had six poems selected for the *Great Dayu Anthology*! We could have finally held our heads high in front of the Ying Society... It is infuriating!"

Yan Dongqing frowned and said, "Junior Sister, Junior Brother, Teacher must have had profound reasons for doing what he did. How can we, as disciples, criticize Teacher's actions? How is this any different from rebelling against our master? Do not speak so recklessly in the future!"

"Senior Brother is right, it was my fault," Yuan Bin hurriedly said. He sighed again and added, "Ah, thinking about it now, it's still such a pity. If Jiang Han had become our junior brother, and one day when he was in a good mood he wrote a poem for us, something like *My Senior Brother Yan Dongqing* or *Dedicated to My Senior Sister*, wouldn't that have secured us a place in history?"

"Crack!"

Yan Dongqing slammed his hand onto the table so hard that everything on it bounced into the air.

Yuan Bin was startled, thinking the man was about to strike him.

They saw Yan Dongqing grinding his teeth in frustration as he muttered, "Blind! Utterly blind! That old thief Qingqiu has ruined me!"

"Exactly, exactly!"

"I felt fine at first, but the moment I realized we could have had a chance at leaving our names in history and now it's gone, I am so angry!"

The four of them angrily vented their grievances against their wayward master for a while. Then Yuan Bin said, "Senior Brother, Senior Sister, Teacher warned me not to tell anyone about this. You must not go spreading it around."

"Naturally."

"Your senior brother has always been tight-lipped and will not say half a word."

"Rest assured, we won't spread it."

Late that evening, after everyone had returned home:

"Junior Brother, I will tell you a secret in confidence, but you must not go blabbing about it."

"Rest assured, Senior Brother Yan, you know how good I am at keeping secrets."

"Ah, you have no idea, our teacher..."

...

"Junior Sister, let me tell you something, and you must make sure not to let it out."

"Heh, Senior Sister Yu, don't you know what kind of person Duan Hongying is? I've always been tight-lipped... Tell me, what is it?"

"We've been saddled with a wayward master."

...

"Ergouzi, I'll tell you a secret, you mustn't..."

"Ah? What secret?"

"Our Qingyun Society leader, Gu Qingqiu..."

...

Two days later, Gu Qingqiu was reading in the morning when his young attendant suddenly rushed in with a panicked expression and reported, "Sir, it's terrible! Something has happened."

"You have studied books for many years; you ought to maintain composure in your heart and remain unflustered in the face of danger. What are you panicking about?" Gu Qingqiu frowned and said.

The attendant took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

"Speak, what is it?"

"Sir, I don't know who has been spreading rumors outside, saying that a talented scholar emerged in Yunyang County, but because of your narrow-mindedness, Sir, you refused to take him as a disciple. In his anger, the talented scholar composed a poem titled *Emptying the Goblet* to slap you across the face."

Gu Qingqiu's heart skipped a beat as he stood up. "What? Is this rumor widespread?"

The attendant replied, "Sir, almost all members of the Qingyun Society know about it now, and everyone is discussing the matter."

The book in Gu Qingqiu's hand slipped from his grasp with a soft thud and dropped to the ground, his facial expression completely vacant.

*I was truly foolish, truly. I should never have trusted that scoundrel Yuan Bin...*

Very soon, he recovered his calm and breezy expression and said indifferently, "Go, summon Yuan Bin to me... And also, go fetch my whip—the one with the barbs."