Chapter 601 - 601 Collaborating with Huang Tingshu on the Plum Blossom Ink Painting, Leaving Its Fragrance in the World
601 Collaborating with Huang Tingshu on the Plum Blossom Ink Painting, Leaving Its Fragrance in the World
Along with the origins of this literary conference, the identities of the people who participated in it were exposed.
A few hundred years ago, Grandmaster Lu Yuzhou, who had yet to become the assistant head of the Imperial City Academy, obtained a Jade Epiphyllum.
He comprehended the Dao from this epiphyllum and felt that the beauty of youth was fleeting and that time was fleeting.
The enlightened Lu Yuzhou began to be unrestrained.
This Jade Epiphyllum could be said to be an opportunity for Lu Yuzhou to comprehend the Dao.
After the other Confucian cultivators received the news, they invited Lu Yuzhou to hold a literary conference when the Jade Epiphyllum bloomed to see if others could obtain the opportunity to comprehend the Dao.
The Jade Epiphyllum Literary Conference came about.
However, after Lu Yuzhou disappeared for a hundred years, the literary conference stopped.
This was the first time Lu Yuzhou had held a literary conference since he returned to the Heavenly Mystic.
There were fewer than 100 people invited to this literary conference, and every one of them was a great cultivator at the peak of Confucianism.
Some of the less powerful Confucian Grandmasters were not even qualified to participate in the conference.
Such a matter was originally only circulated within the circle of Confucian Grandmasters.
However, for some reason, this matter spread throughout the Imperial City overnight.
Along with this news came an invitation letter from Lu Yuzhou.
Lu Yuzhou’s personal handwriting was on the jade-colored invitation.
Even if this invitation was a replica, it still had value.
The key was that holding this invitation card would give one the opportunity to observe the literary conference!
How many people in the world were qualified to watch the gathering of the top Confucianists?
It only cost 3,000 spiritual rocks.
Buying an invitation for 3,000 spiritual rocks and obtaining the right to observe might allow one to soar into the sky!
Some people did not believe it. Looking at the Yongding River outside the city, the Cloud Brocade Immortal Ship that was hosting the literary conference was already surrounded by hundreds of pleasure boats of various sizes.
Every pleasure boat had a banner that said, ‘Pleasure boat specially dedicated to observing the Jade Epiphyllum Literary Conference.’
On another banner was written, ‘The Han Family Trading Company’s exclusive sponsorship of the Jade Epiphyllum Literary Conference.’
Some people bought the invitation cards that cost 3,000 spiritual rocks each and boarded the pleasure boats.
As for whether or not they could observe the literary conference and how to observe it, they did not say.
That was because they did not get off the boats after getting on the pleasure boats.
Was 3,000 spiritual rocks pricey?
Pricey.
For most mortals in the Imperial City, 3,000 spiritual rocks was something that they would never be able to earn in their entire lives.
Those Confucian scholars in the city could easily come up with 3,000 spiritual rocks.
Of course, there were millions of people in the Imperial City.
No one knew how many copies of the invitation had been made.
However, someone calculated that based on the location of the flower boats, they could accommodate 100,000 people.
In other words, there were at most 100,000 invitations.
There were too many people in the city who did not lack spiritual rocks and were willing to fork out 3,000 spiritual rocks in exchange for an invitation.
Perhaps this was an opportunity?
Some people bought the invitations early on, while others gritted their teeth and borrowed spiritual rocks from their classmates to buy one. There were also groups of three to five people who pooled their spiritual rocks to buy one.
Those who were slow realized that the price of the invitation card, which originally cost 3,000 spiritual rocks, had risen to 10,000.
Just as they were hesitating if they should grit their teeth and buy it, they saw that it was already 30,000 spiritual rocks per piece. It was up to them.
More people who had received invitations went to the flower boats early to reserve seats.
It was said that the Han Family Trading Company was providing all the supplies on the flower boats for the past few days, from food and drinks to overnight expenses.
It was said that the girls on the flower boats were willing to throw themselves at the Confucian scholars who participated in the literary conference. They used all kinds of tricks to make the scholars feel as if they were in an immortal cloud.
It was said that a poor scholar borrowed 3,000 spiritual rocks to buy an invitation. After boarding the flower boat for a day, he was valued by a courtesan who gave him 100,000 spiritual rocks.
Now they were an item.
…
No one pursued whether these rumors were true or not. It did not matter if they were true or not.
The important thing was that up until now, not a single Confucian had come forward to clarify the news.
No news was good news.
Right now, in the city, groups of attendants wearing the uniform of the Han Family Trading Company were carrying the Ma Family Workshop’s inkstone, Hu Family’s paper, Sun Family’s ink brush, and Yunzhou ink, the number one tribute of the Imperial Family, to the Cloud Brocade immortal Ship.
Then baskets of all kinds of fresh spiritual fruits were carried to the pleasure boats.
The Han Family Trading Company had purchased too many things, and many shops were emptied immediately.
Many smart merchants had already gone to the Han Family Trading Company to discuss business.
There were many bookstores and literary clubs that sold literary treasures. They also sent people to contact the Han Family Trading Company.
Firstly, they had all kinds of literary treasures in their hands, as well as good pens, ink, paper, and inkstones that could be traded.
Also, according to the information they obtained, all the authentic paintings on the ship and pleasure boats would be bought by the Han Family Trading Company.
If even a thousandth of them became a literary treasure, it would be an incredible matter!
This was something that Chen Ru had not expected.
As a result, many libraries were willing to provide pens, ink, paper, and inkstones for free.
Many ready-to-wear shops, spiritual fruit shops, and merchants selling good wine were willing to provide their goods for free or at a low price as long as they could help promote their families during the literary conference.
Hu Dieyi, the shopkeeper of Dieyi Pavilion, the largest ready-to-wear shop in the city, personally visited Chen Ru and said that she would provide the clothes for all the Great Confucian scholars attending the conference. As long as they stayed till the end of the literary conference, they could exchange their old clothes for new ones.
Chen Ru estimated that the robes worn by these Confucian scholars during the literary conference would be worth 10 times more when sold.
If they were worn by martial grandmasters or Half-Sages, they would be worth a hundred times more if they were stained with ink, water, or alcohol.
Some people were willing to spend a lot of money to collect these items.
As for the dresses of the women on the flower boats and the Cloud Brocade Immortal Ship, Hu Dieyi was willing to take them by paying 10 fold.