Ch 40: Plagiarizing Ancient Poetry Requires Skill!

At first glance at Governor Yao, Sun Jian knew this man was no ordinary person.

Governor Yao and Magistrate Wang were both square-faced with thick eyebrows and big eyes, but Governor Yao looked much older than Magistrate Wang, about sixty years old.

Most of Governor Yao’s hair was white, even his eyebrows and beard were white, but strangely enough, under such an appearance, he was tall and straight, especially his bright eyes, which looked full of spirit.

He was very much like an old Hong Kong star from Sun Jian’s later life movies: Kao Hsiung.

The three men chatted happily in the study, like old friends meeting, talking about their hometown customs and poetry, Yao Tianzheng’s words were full of praise and admiration for Sun Jian, but he didn’t mention potatoes, compound bows, grenades, or even medical skills, and he didn’t mean for Sun Jian to become an official, which made Sun Jian even more puzzled.

Since they didn’t bring up those topics, Sun Jian naturally wouldn’t be foolish enough to look for trouble.

Sir Yao was very humble in front of Sun Jian, calling himself Yao Mou or Xia, while addressing Sun Jian as Sir and You, his words were very humble and full of praise, which made Sun Jian feel very pleased but also more confused.

One was a commoner, with nothing, wearing rags, and starving.

The other was a high-ranking official of the second rank, an Imperial Lecturer, the Governor of Yongzhou, and the Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince.

In this era that valued status and hierarchy, the gap between Sun Jian and Governor Yao was too great, a completely insurmountable chasm.

Magistrate Wang being polite to him, Sun Jian could understand, but Governor Yao being so as well left Sun Jian baffled.

They chatted like this for two hours, and when Magistrate Wang saw that it was time for dinner, he suggested that they go together to eat, saying that he had already reserved a meal at the Gathering of Talents Pavilion in Hongnong County, and wanted Sun Jian and Sir Yao to go with him.

“Alright.”

Sun Jian reluctantly agreed, after all, they had waited for him for several hours today, he had to give them this much face.

When they arrived at the Gathering of Talents Pavilion, it was afternoon, and Sun Jian, having been hungry all day, ate heartily.

The three of them began to drink together at the dinner table. After three rounds of drinks, it was getting dark.

Governor Yao drank very happily today. Looking at the full moon outside the window, he raised his cup of wine and suddenly felt inspired to write poetry.

“Moon splashes star river, willow shadows linger, / Cold wind caresses face, winter’s quiet comes.”

“Lonely lamp thinks not of jade’s radiant gleam, / Surely Chang’e leans against her mirror, gazing.”

After speaking, Magistrate Wang suddenly gulped down a cup of wine and exclaimed, “Good poem! What a good poem!”

“What a great ‘Surely Chang’e leans against her mirror, gazing!'”

“Teacher’s literary talent is as good as ever! This poem is magnificent and full of meaning.”

Seeing Magistrate Wang’s exaggerated praise of Yao Tianzheng, Sun Jian rolled his eyes and awkwardly covered his forehead, turning his face away.

That’s it? A good poem?

It’s just average, right? Have they never seen what a real poem is?

It’s not surprising that Governor Yao is like this, after all, he’s just a general, so having this level of poetic talent is considered pretty good.

Magistrate Wang is really something else. Why is he like those old men in the village?

If Sun Jian hadn’t known beforehand that he was a clean official, with his current servile appearance, he would have thought that he got his position through flattery.

But it’s also strange that Magistrate Wang’s teacher is a high-ranking official of the second rank, yet he’s almost fifty and only a seventh-rank County Magistrate?

Could there be some trickery involved?

“Sir, Sir?”

Magistrate Wang called Sun Jian twice, and seeing that he didn’t respond, gently nudged him with his arm.

“Ah! Yes, yes, what is it?”

Sun Jian suddenly came to his senses and quickly responded.

“What were you thinking about, Sir?”

“Oh, I was just thinking… about Sir Yao’s… poetry.”

“Then Sir, what do you think of Teacher’s poem?”

What the heck!

He really is an old man!

Magistrate Wang looked at Sun Jian expectantly, his eagerness to get Sun Jian’s approval made Sun Jian’s scalp tingle.

“Very good, very good,” Sun Jian nodded and casually replied.

This answer wasn’t wrong, but the perfunctory attitude was obvious even to a fool, instantly making the atmosphere very awkward.

“Uh… Yao’s poem does have much room for improvement, please, Mr. Sun, give me some pointers.”

Yao Tianzheng didn’t get angry but instead asked Sun Jian to give him some advice.

Sun Jian glanced at Magistrate Wang helplessly, smiled slightly, and said, “Sir Yao is joking, actually your poem is quite good, if I were to comment, well… I think…”

Before he finished his sentence, Magistrate Wang, based on past experience, thought Sun Jian was being humble and immediately interrupted him.

“Teacher! Sir has achieved merit, he must have unique insights into poetry. In my opinion, forget about the comments, why not, on this Mid-Autumn Moonlit night, have Sir Sun also compose a poem?”

“Hiss.”

Sun Jian immediately gasped, his eyes widened as he stared at Magistrate Wang.

You sly dog!

Can’t you tell the difference between flattery and sincerity?

When did I ever have unique insights into poetry?

“Alright, let’s have Mr. Sun compose a poem as well, to make our meeting today worthwhile.” Before Sun Jian could refuse, Yao Tianzheng spoke.

Now Sun Jian was stuck in the middle, with no way to escape.

Sun Jian was stunned.

He couldn’t compose a poem, he could recite poems, but composing one wasn’t his forte.

Wait! Recite a poem?

Yes, why not copy some poems from the great poets of his past life to get by?

In this world, no one knew Li Bai, Du Fu, or Su Shi, and their poems had never appeared, so he could copy them freely.

The Great Qian Dynasty has always been strong in military but weak in literature. There are very few famous literary figures in history, so the people of Great Qian are called Northern Barbarians by Great Zhou and Great Xia.

This has been a long-standing problem for Great Qian, and Emperor Qianwu always worried about this, but it’s not something that can be solved overnight.

“Alright, then I’ll boldly make a fool of myself.”

Sun Jian helplessly held his wine cup, stood up, paced to the window, and looked at the full moon, beginning to cultivate his emotions.

Reciting a poem can’t be done directly, it must be accompanied by acting, otherwise, it’s obvious it’s fake.

After about half a stick of incense, Sun Jian closed his eyes, drank the wine in his cup, and began to sway his head.

Seeing that he had done enough, Sun Jian didn’t hesitate and directly copied Su Shi’s 《Ode to the Moon》.

Sun Jian raised his wine cup towards the moon.

“Ask the blue heavens, when will the bright moon appear?”