The core principle of poetry lies in the use of tonal patterns.
As long as this remains unchanged, even in another world, the poetry Xu Qi An had retained from his nine years of compulsory education could still be put to use.
Xu Xinnian glanced at him and lifted his chin: “A bird in the sky, a worm on the ground. The bird swoops down, and the worm reincarnates.”
“Pfft…” Xu Yue Yue covered her mouth and chuckled softly. But after receiving a stern glare from Xu Qi An, she lowered her head with slightly reddened cheeks.
…This is too sharp-tongued, I want to hit him. Xu Qi An’s mouth twitched. This was a poem written by the original owner when he was ten years old, used to enlighten the three Xu siblings (Xu Ling Yin was still a tadpole then) by their maternal grandfather, the xiucai.
Once, when their xiucai maternal grandfather was testing their poetry skills, this masterpiece of a poem was born.
Aunt mocked, “Ning Yan, it’s not that your aunt looks down on you, but the old Xu family has only produced Nian’er as a scholar. The handwriting of your uncle and nephew is like a worm crawling.”
“If you can’t even write well, how can you compose poetry?” Aunt pursed her lips, her eye-rolling gesture full of charm.
Second Uncle felt a bit embarrassed and coughed, “Ning Yan, let’s not meddle in scholars’ affairs. It’s a day off today, shall we work together in the courtyard?”
The implication was clear: don’t butt in where you don’t belong, kid. You don’t understand scholars’ business. You’re not only embarrassing yourself but also causing me to be mocked by my wife.
“Yellow clouds stretch a thousand li, and the setting sun dims,” Xu Qi An said calmly.
Aunt rolled her eyes and lowered her head to drink her porridge.
Second Uncle Xu wiped the oil stains from the corner of his young daughter’s mouth.
Xu Xinnian, however, frowned slightly. A single line didn’t reveal much, but the fact that Xu Qi An could write such a well-structured seven-character quatrain was already quite surprising.
“North wind blows geese, snow flutters down.”
Xu Xinnian was stunned for a moment, a vivid image forming in his mind.
Xu Yue Yue raised her head, her bright beautiful eyes looking at her cousin in surprise.
Xu Qi An lowered his head to drink porridge, saying no more.
“What’s next? What’s next?” Xu Xinnian asked urgently. It felt like listening to a storyteller in a teahouse, who suddenly struck his block at the most exciting part: To know what happens next, please tune in to the next episode.
It made one want to hit someone out of frustration.
“I can’t write poetry,” Xu Qi An said casually, glancing at his aunt. He just thought his aunt looked particularly dignified and beautiful today, with absolutely no hint of wanting her to apologize.
Aunt widened her Maybelline big eyes and turned to ask her son, “Is this poem really good?”
Xu Yue Yue said softly, “It’s very artistic!”
Her education was limited, but she could tell that the first two lines were excellent seven-character verses.
Seeing his daughter and son’s attitudes, Xu Pingzhi was shocked, staring at Xu Qi An without blinking, his eyes filled with both surprise and expectation.
“Don’t worry about finding a confidant on the road ahead, who in the world doesn’t know your name!” Xu Qi An chewed on his youtiao as he threw out the last two lines.
Clatter… Second Young Master Xu’s chopsticks fell on the table.
“Don’t worry about finding a confidant on the road ahead, who in the world doesn’t know your name…” he muttered, completely immersed in the imagery.
Xu Yue Yue’s delicate body shivered, goosebumps rising on the back of her hand.
Xu Pingzhi grinned, “Damn, why does it give me chills?”
Aunt felt unwilling to accept it in her heart, but she agreed with her husband’s words.
This is the power of poetry, a spiritual shock. Even those who can’t write poetry or don’t understand tonal patterns will still involuntarily get goosebumps when reading timeless masterpieces.
Xu Qi An had often experienced this feeling when studying in his previous life, being moved by one classic after another in his language textbooks.
“Yellow clouds stretch a thousand li, the setting sun dims, the North wind blows geese, snow flutters down, Don’t worry about finding a confidant on the road ahead, who in the world doesn’t know your name.”
Xu Xinnian couldn’t help but stand up, two excited blushes rising on his face, making his already extraordinarily handsome features look even more… delicate.
Such a masterpiece!
Although he wasn’t skilled in poetry, as a scholar, who doesn’t aspire to compose a hundred poems over wine? Hearing good poetry and prose, one can’t help but applaud and feel their blood boiling.
“You… when did you learn to write poetry?” Xu Xinnian stared intently at Xu Qi An, his eyes bright, shocked, and puzzled.
“When did I ever say I couldn’t write poetry?” Xu Qi An laughed, “Can the poems I wrote during my enlightenment represent me now? I’ve always had poetic talent, I just didn’t show it.”
“So Ning Yan is the scholarly seed of our Xu family,” Second Uncle Xu was overjoyed, beaming, “If I had known earlier, I would have let you study and had Ci Jiu practice martial arts.”
Aunt was unconvinced, she opened her mouth but couldn’t come up with a strong rebuttal.
No, if that were the case, I wouldn’t succeed in academics, and Second Brother wouldn’t succeed in martial arts… Xu Qi An knew well that the original owner was a poor student, studying would be a pure waste of time, not as good as dropping out to work construction.
Xu Xinnian wasn’t cut out for martial arts either. How could you expect a delicate pretty boy to lift weights and temper his body?
“However, this is a poem written by Ning Yan. Just hearing it is enough, Ci Jiu, you can’t claim it as your own. That’s not what a scholar would do,” Second Uncle Xu said.
Xu Xinnian scoffed, disdaining to respond to his father. Was he that kind of person? He turned to Xu Qi An and said, “Let me borrow this poem. I’ll make it clear that you’re the author.”
The one courting death is me… Xu Qi An nodded slightly, “Go ahead, take it and… show off in front of others.”
For scholars, showing off in front of others is par for the course.
This poem was originally intended for Xu Xinnian to use for networking, so Xu Qi An didn’t care much about whose name was on it.
He wasn’t trying to make his way in the scholarly world anyway, so poetry didn’t have much use for him. This was also why he hadn’t used poetry to show off in the past month.
The environment didn’t allow it.
Spending all day with a group of saber-rattling constables, reciting poetry to them would be less effective than teaching them to sing “The Man Who Ropes Horses.”
“What’s the title of the poem?” Xu Xinnian asked.
…I forgot. Xu Qi An’s face stiffened, “This poem was inspired by my feelings, it doesn’t have a title. You’ll have to make do.”
…
After breakfast, Xu Xinnian led away his father’s beloved horse from the backyard and hurried off. Uncle and nephew sparred in the courtyard, stopping short of full contact.
“Not bad, your skills have improved again. To progress further, you need to enter the Cultivating Qi realm, but qi requires resonance with heaven and earth to be born,” Second Uncle Xu took the sweat towel handed by a servant and wiped his face. “Besides medicinal baths, you also need a master at the Cultivating Spirit realm to open your heavenly gate. Otherwise, you’ll never be able to enter the Cultivating Qi realm in your lifetime.”
The Cultivating Spirit realm was the seventh rank in the martial artist’s path.
“What are you trying to say, Second Uncle?” Xu Qi An wiped his sweat.
“I risked my life in the Mountain and Sea Campaign, accumulating military merits in exchange for a high-ranking officer to open my heavenly gate, allowing me to enter the Cultivating Qi realm,” Second Uncle Xu sighed. “The second year after returning home, Xinnian was born.”
“Now the world is relatively peaceful, you don’t even have the chance to accumulate military merits. How can you cultivate qi? If you can’t cultivate qi, does that mean you can’t start a family?”
“Ning Yan, your Second Uncle is getting old. My only wish is to see you marry and have children. Only then can I face your deceased father.”
“We’ll take it one step at a time,” Xu Qi An said perfunctorily.
Besides accumulating merits, there were other ways to advance, and that was to spend money.
Both medicinal formulas and masters could be obtained with silver.
The righteous used martial arts to break the law, so the imperial court strictly controlled the number of martial artists. There were explicit regulations that masters at the Cultivating Spirit realm were not allowed to privately open the heavenly gate for anyone. If they wanted to open the heavenly gate for their family members, they needed to report to the authorities.
However, the current bureaucratic atmosphere in Great Feng was extremely poor, with corrupt officials running rampant and imperial authority gradually weakening. Even if they didn’t dare to openly defy the law, there were still many Cultivating Spirit realm masters seeking trading partners in the black market.
Xu Qi An’s efforts to earn money were based on the idea of using silver to replace merits.
Otherwise, always stuck in the Refining Essence realm, what use would this iron rod have?
Aunt led her two daughters over, standing under the eaves of the corridor, and called out, “My lord, it’s a warm sunny day. Why don’t you take Ling Yin and Yue Yue out for a stroll?”
Second Uncle Xu frowned, “I have matters to attend to.”
“Isn’t it your day off today?”
“I have an appointment to drink with colleagues, I’ll be leaving soon. Why don’t you let Ning Yan take them out to play?”
Young ladies from scholarly families were usually kept in seclusion and not allowed to go out shopping casually.
The Xu family was military and didn’t have such strict family teachings.
Xu Qi An turned back to look, just meeting the clear bright gaze of the sixteen-year-old girl. The girl, whose beauty surpassed her mother’s, pursed her lips, somewhat shy and introverted, lowering her head slightly.
“I happen to have nothing to do,” Xu Qi An nodded.
Thinking back, in my previous life, taking a sixteen-year-old sister out shopping was during the “Golden Years” when I was eighteen. Of course, the sister then couldn’t be compared to Xu Yue Yue at all.