Chapter Twelve: Persuasion

  Thanks to Da Fei Yu and Wu Wang Ge for the reward! Seeking recommendations, collections and rewards!

  The self-proclaimed boss of Xu Zhu was very pleased with the surprise in the room, and after a pause, he continued: "To thank all the guests for their support, Zui Xian Lou will hold a special event every day, giving away a pot of wine to customers who come to the store! Today, Xu wants to give this wine to one of the guests present and exempt them from today's consumption!" As he spoke, he made a gesture to Hu Ji, who was holding the wine behind him. The beautiful Hu Ji immediately held the wine to her chest, gestured to the people in the room, opened the stopper, and a very fragrant aroma wafted through the room.

  Immediately, connoisseurs of wine spoke out in praise of the good wine. Some people were quietly discussing it, and the scene was filled with a buzzing noise. Some people immediately stood up to ask how they could get a reward. Chen Yi and Ning Qing, who had been stirred up by curiosity, were also discussing in low voices what kind of good wine would have such an astonishing price!

  Five guan for one hu, this price is not generally high. You know the current price level, a dou of rice is only fifteen wen, which is 150 wen per shi. Look at that small bottle, it can hold at most one jin of wine. The price of this one hu of wine is equivalent to the price of thirty or forty shi of rice, which is almost enough for a family of five to eat for two years!

  A small cup of wine has this price, it's really astonishing!

  Xu Zhu pressed his hands together, signaling to the crowd to quiet down for a moment, and a hint of a proud smile appeared on his face. "However, such fine wine cannot be casually given to just anyone, there must be conditions!" Xu Zhu bowed again to the guests present, "Today, I, Xu, also dare to propose an idea, please have each of the gentlemen present leave behind a poem as a gift, and whoever has the best poem will receive this wine! And, today's dancer, Su Mi, can accompany whichever gentleman who obtains this wine to drink together, and even grant him a private dance!" As he spoke, he pointed to the Hu girl beside him.

  The beautiful woman's name was Su Mi. Being able to have a beauty accompany you, watch her dance, and possibly even more, is very tempting for men! The scene was filled with cheers and applause. Beautiful wine and beautiful women are irresistible temptations for men at any time!

  "Xu Zhanggui's proposal is excellent!" Someone in the audience stood up and loudly echoed! Chen Yi looked over and saw that the person who had stood up to echo was a young nobleman sitting in the left wing of the private room. Because it was a bit far away, and the lighting inside the building wasn't very good, he couldn't see the man's face clearly.

  Just as Chen Yi turned his head to look, a young nobleman with a decent appearance sitting not far from him also stood up and saluted the stage, saying: "Mr. Xu's proposal is very reasonable, but I have some doubts, what are the requirements for this rhyme, meter, and theme?"

  "Master Xu, will Su Mi really accompany the winner and drink with him?"

  "Mr. Xu... is this wine for sale?"

  Sounds of praise and curious inquiry filled the air!

  Everything that happened in the wine house was a great surprise to Chen Yi, he knew that during the Tang Dynasty most people loved poetry and literature, except for well-educated upper-class people and those who had read a lot of poetry books, ordinary people would also recite a few lines of poetry, the whole social atmosphere was like this, which made the Tang Dynasty produce many famous poets, a string of great Tang poems left later generations in awe, achieving the legend of Tang poetry, excellent works can't even be counted with numbers, and the number of masterpieces that have been passed down to future generations is also an astonishing figure, it's an unattainable peak in classical Chinese literature.

  He just didn't expect that the owner of a wine house would have such a hobby, and even openly use fine wine as a reward to attract good poems. And these young masters who looked like they were from a good family background actually had no dissatisfaction, but instead looked eager to try.

  This seems a bit unreasonable, an innkeeper shouldn't be doing this kind of thing!

  Even if he did, it would be looked down upon by the literati! Because he is a merchant, and in the Tang Dynasty, merchants were extremely lowly. If someone with status were to convene a poetry gathering and propose such an idea, that would be reasonable!

  Actually, Chen Yi didn't know the background of this wine house and thought so. The regular customers here all knew that the owner behind Jiu Xian Lou was not ordinary, even if Xu Zhu, the low-ranking shopkeeper, proposed this, no one would laugh at him, and many people were looking forward to leaving a poem in Jiu Xian Lou. When they heard that guests were going to compose poems, everyone was eager to try. Jiu Xian Lou was the most famous wine house in Chang'an, with countless customers coming and going every day, and it also had the most famous brothel "Feng Xiang Lou" under the same owner in Chang'an City. If someone's excellent work could get recognized here and spread from here, then that person's name would likely become famous throughout Chang'an within a few days.

  Chen Yimanchan was looking at Xu Zhu with a puzzled expression, who was standing calmly in the middle of the room, carefully observing the movements of the guests. A person's gaze can give another person a feeling, and Xu Zhu immediately felt Chen Yi's gaze, turning his eyes towards him, lingering on Chen Yi's face for a moment, but not showing too much surprise, slightly nodding to greet him before turning his head away.

  Xu Zhu has been staying in the wine tower all these days, but he rarely appeared in the store before. Today and the following days will play a similar role, he is doing this on purpose, it is his master's request! What is the true intention of the master, Xu Zhu also has no way of knowing, he just acts according to orders, and when the time comes, he will present those excellent works and inform the poet's name and other circumstances.

  After glancing around a few times, Xu Zhu had roughly estimated which people in the wine house needed to be specially noted today. As several regular customers he knew stood up and made a fuss, pushing the atmosphere inside to a higher level, the smile that had been floating on his face grew even more brilliant. He bowed again and said loudly: "Since the proposal I put forward has received the support of all the young masters, then next, please ask each of you to offer a poem. The private rooms are equipped with paper, ink, brush, and inkstone, and other locations will also have brushes and ink presented. Please present your best poems, without limiting the meter, theme, or rhyme! Gentlemen, please!"

  Zui Xian Lou has long been famous, and the consumption inside is not low. Those who can come to Zui Xian Lou for consumption are not ordinary guests, mostly young masters with a certain status in Chang'an City, of course, there are also some wealthy but low-status customers, and occasional passing guests are extremely rare. People like Chen Yi, who brought his little girl Ning Qing to watch Hu Jie's performance, are not many! Because most of the people inside the wine house are young masters from Chang'an City, the shopkeeper Xu Zhucan will call the guests in the store "all the young masters".

  As soon as Xu Zhu finished speaking, the people below had already taken action. Many were frowning and thinking deeply, or shouting to their attendants to grind ink and prepare for writing. The noise was not too loud, so it did not affect others. Soon, someone picked up a pen and started writing, and handed over what they had written to the attendant beside them.

  The young gentleman who first stood up to echo Chen Yi was a little far away, but he quickly picked up his pen and wrote it down. However, he didn't hand the poem over to others, instead, he walked out and stood outside the private room, looking at the people outside with pride, saying: "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm not talented, but I just thought of a poem, and I think its rhythm and tone are excellent. Today, I'll be bold enough to recite it in front of all you gentlemen, please evaluate it!"

  Chen Yi finally saw clearly that this young man who was not low-key at all had a pretty good face.

  Under the astonished gaze of the crowd, the young noble walked a few more steps and stopped at a distance from Xu Zhu. He looked very proud and glanced at Xu Zhu with an expression that was not unusual. He raised his head and recited loudly:

  The sun shines on the emerald lake, and the cloud's color gathers at the clear stream.

  The frozen fish is thawed, and the birds are about to chirp in the warm breeze.

  Wild cranes dance in the rocky spring, mountain chickens dance in front of the stone mirror.

  Willows send out dragon scales, pines have new squirrel tails.

  Jiǔ shuò cóng cǐ yàn, sān yuè dìng yīng mí.

  Translation:

  Nine calculations from this test, three months will definitely be confused.

  "Haha, I've written this poem to describe the current scene, and I think it's not bad at all. If anyone can come up with a better poem than mine today, I'll reward them with five gold coins!" The young nobleman's words left everyone in the room speechless, even Xǔ Zhū, who had been keeping a low profile, looked surprised.

  This poem depicts the scenery of early spring, and after careful appreciation, it still has a lot of flavor. Many people in the field applauded, and the loudest praise came from several companions of this young gentleman!

  "What a great poem! What a wonderful poem! It's truly an excellent poem, the spring scenery of March is vividly depicted on paper!" Someone stood up loudly and applauded in praise.

  "Brother Zhong's talent is like this, we are far from comparable, how dare we come up to show our ugliness? Today Brother Zhong's work is something that no one can surpass!" Someone's flattery is extremely loud and annoying!

  Looking at the young master on stage who was complacent and didn't put the shopkeeper Xu Zhu in his eyes, Chen Yi felt that this person's identity was not simple. However, he also had a feeling of disgust rising up, disliking those few young people who were cheering and flattering him, and having the idea of using some means to suppress their "arrogance".

  "Ziying, can you compose a poem?" The soft call from Bian Shangning brought Chen Yi back from his reverie.

  "I won't... oh, I can barely manage," Looking at Ning Qing's excited face, Chen Yi suddenly had a strong desire to perform!

  "Why don't you quickly compose a poem and present it, who knows if you can win that jug of wine? Today's consumption will also be free, and you might even get the young master's wager of five gold coins!" Ning Qing's words were filled with excitement she couldn't hide. This was the first time she had seen such a scene, and her curiosity got the better of her as she urged Chen Yi to give it a try. She believed in Chen Yi's talent, which was evident from her own master's evaluation of him.

  She was extremely confident in her master's vision!

  Ning Qing's words made Chen Yi's desire for performance even stronger. He saw the owner of the wine house, Xu Zhu, looking at him, and then looked at the young master standing proudly in the hall, with a disdainful gaze at the scene, as well as Ning Qing's eager eyes beside him. A surge of excitement rose up in his heart, and his eyes fell on the newly placed writing materials and ink beside him. He very much wanted to pick up his pen and write a famous piece that he could recall, to make people marvel.

  However, this impulse was suppressed. Chen Yi was afraid of being exposed and losing face. After all, he could only plagiarize others' work and couldn't write his own. Even if he did, it would be pathetic!

  Chen Yi's face showed a hesitant expression, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with her words. Ning Qing, on the other hand, was getting impatient, "Ziying, why aren't you thinking of poetry? This is an opportunity to make a name for yourself... And didn't you say you were going to Chang'an to find someone, but now you can't remember who it was? If you compose a poem and become famous in Chang'an, you won't need to exert yourself to find them. The person you're looking for and those lost followers of yours might even come knocking on your door..."

  Ning Qing's words made Chen Yi's desire to show off in front of the beauty uncontrollable, he immediately nodded and smiled at Ning Qing: "Good, I'll make a poem right away, let you see what kind of poem this young master writes..."

  The beauty on the side is persuading and advising, how can she not give her face, and it's possible that it really has the effect she said...