Chapter 88
Chapter 88
After a long while, someone finally launched the attack. The man’s name was unimportant. What mattered was that he was a Scholar. In Xuanwu City, a Scholar was a member of the upper class, a rare status indeed, but at tonight’s engagement banquet, it was a common rank, worth little more than an admission ticket.
“A remarkable book was published recently. Have you all heard of it?”
Shen Lang, who had been engrossed in his book of spring paintings, snapped to attention at the sound of that voice.
An attack was coming!
“You must know which book I speak of. It sold like wildfire in Yangwu and Lujiang commanderies, and its fame has spread throughout the entire Tiannan province.”
“It was quite well-written. A book that pierces through human society with exceedingly sharp prose.”
Wasn’t this strange? They were unexpectedly praising the book Shen Lang had written. Why? Was this the classic tactic of lifting someone to the heavens only to strike them down in one fell swoop? The fact that they could endlessly discuss Shen Lang’s book at the engagement banquet was only possible because not a single one of them would dare say, “The woman on the cover is Xu Qianqian.” The conversation at the banquet unfolded like a scene from a dictatorship where the media was state-controlled. If this discussion had taken place on the street, countless men would have spewed words so vile they would have left Xu Qianqian’s face drenched in spittle.
“Did you all know? The author of that book, the Scoffing Scholar of Langling, is seated among us.”
“Is that truly so?”
“My goodness! What wonderful news.”
“Quickly, quickly, tell us. Who is it?”
Their acting was so over the top it was hard to watch. One of the Scholars pointed at Shen Lang.
“The Scoffing Scholar of Langling is none other than Young Master Shen Lang, the son-in-law of the Count of Xuanwu’s Estate.”
In that instant, all eyes turned to Shen Lang, and nearly everyone began to praise how magnificent and transcendent his book was.
“I am most fond of the poetry in this book. The insight into worldly matters is so brilliant that I am moved every time I read it.”
“Indeed, indeed! Which poem is your favorite?”
“The one from the first chapter. ‘Good deeds are rewarded, and evil deeds are punished. Heaven’s net may seem wide, yet it lets no sinner escape.’”
“A fine poem. It could not be better.”
“Short, yet powerful. It is like a sharp sword.”
Then, Tang Yun, Nangong Ping, and even Li Wenzheng, the Advanced Scholar of the second rank, began to discuss the poem, and soon all the guests present had joined the debate. The banquet hall transformed into a literary salon, lionizing Shen Lang. Nearly everyone praised the brilliance of the poetry in his book. Just then, Wang Lian, the Prefectural Administrator of Xuanwu City and a Scholar, slammed his hand on the table.
*Bang!*
At the loud noise, everyone fell silent and looked at him. The entire process was so precise it was as if they had rehearsed it beforehand. Wang Lian shot to his feet, pointed at Shen Lang, and said in a furious voice,
“You shameless man! Was it not enough to steal my woman? Must you steal my poetry as well? Shen Lang, why did you plagiarize my prose and copy my poem?”
***
The second attack on Shen Lang tonight was finally revealed! Zhang Jin had asked his father, Zhang Chong, if they should observe certain lines when attacking Shen Lang at the engagement banquet.
“Does Shen Lang observe any lines? It is not polite to fail to reciprocate what one has received!”
“But will we not lower our family’s dignity if we cross the line?”
“There is no such thing as dignity in political battles. There is only dirty, and dirtier.”
Zhang Jin had faithfully executed his father’s words. Moreover, he was taking it step by step, with the intensity of the attacks escalating each time. The third attack, which was likely to follow, would be the truly fatal blow. Zhang Jin wondered how Shen Lang would escape this second assault.
***
When Wang Lian uttered those words, a stir went through the crowd.
“That’s absurd. Young Master Shen Lang would never do something so shameless, would he?”
“He plagiarized a poem? That is a shameless act for a man of letters!”
“Young Master Shen Lang, come forward and explain yourself at once.”
“Lord Wang Lian, do you have proof? You cannot make such baseless accusations without evidence.”
At that moment, an elderly man stood up abruptly. He was seated quite far back, so Shen Lang only now saw his face. It was the Headmaster of Hanshujin Academy—roughly the equivalent of a modern middle school principal. He was seventy years old this year.
He held the low rank of a Cultivated Talent, which meant he normally wouldn’t have been qualified to attend tonight’s banquet, but he was present for the sole purpose of attacking Shen Lang. About half a year ago, he had personally expelled Shen Lang from the academy, earning Shen Lang the moniker, ‘the shame of all scholars.’
“Lord Wang Lian, Shen Lang was my student. Though he was no prodigy, he is not the kind of person to bear the crime of plagiarism. Do not slander him without proof.”
“I have proof, of course.”
Wang Lian took a piece of paper from his robes.
“Everyone, look. This is the essay I wrote when I took the county exam eight years ago. You cannot claim this is a fake, can you?”
The county exam was the first hurdle to becoming a Cultivated Talent. Only those who passed the county exam could take the prefectural exam, and only those who passed the prefectural exam could earn the title of Cultivated Talent. A Cultivated Talent was then qualified to take the provincial exam, and passing that would make one a Scholar. Thus, while the county exam was a lower-level imperial examination, it still carried the authority of the state.
Wang Lian passed the exam paper to the person next to him, and it eventually made its way into the hands of Tang Yun, Li Wenzheng, and Nangong Ping. City Lord Liu Chengyan stepped forward, pointed at the exam paper, and said,
“Yes. This is indeed an exam paper from the county exam held in Lujiang Commandery eight years ago. It bears the seals of the Prefect’s office and the Tiannan Provincial Education Commissioner of that time. Furthermore, judging by this paper and the calligraphy, this exam paper is by no means a forgery.
“Young masters, come and see for yourselves. The poem is written at the very beginning of Wang Lian’s exam paper. ‘Good deeds are rewarded, and evil deeds are punished. Heaven’s net may seem wide, yet it lets no sinner escape.’
“What Wang Lian wrote in the county exam eight years ago has appeared verbatim in the book Young Master Shen Lang recently published. This is, without a doubt, plagiarism. The evidence is irrefutable!”
Everyone present began to clamor.
“I never imagined that book was plagiarized.”
“I was so fond of the prose and poetry in that book, but to think it was stolen from another.”
“This is a disgrace to all men of letters!”
Because Shen Lang’s book had become a sensation, Zhang Jin could neither suppress its popularity nor block its sale. Therefore, they chose to praise Shen Lang’s book to the heavens before accusing him of plagiarism. Once he was branded a plagiarist, his reputation would hit rock bottom, regardless of the book’s popularity, and his momentum would be decisively crushed.
Previously, people might have talked about the scandal between Xu Guangyun and Xu Qianqian depicted in the book, but from now on, the talk would shift to the scandal of Shen Lang’s plagiarism. As the saying goes, good news never travels far, while bad news travels a thousand miles.
If Shen Lang failed to prove his innocence tonight, he would be branded a plagiarist by tomorrow. Even if the truth of the matter was later revealed, no one would care to know it. The public craves sensational, negative news, but has little interest in the truth, the context, or the facts. It is like a man who, after a brief but passionate affair with a woman he met while drunk, finds his feelings for her gone the next day.
The old headmaster asked, “Lord Wang Lian, Shen Lang has no connection to you. How could he have copied your poem?”
“Master Lao, when Shen Lang was injured some time ago, I took pity on him and went to his home to help him with his studies. I taught him for a fortnight. But this ingrate repaid my kindness by stealing the poem I had written.”
“So that’s what happened.”
Shen Lang ignored him and held out his hand.
“Let me see Wang Lian’s exam paper.”
Wang Lian and Liu Chengyan merely unfolded the paper from a couple of feet away, not handing it over to him. But as soon as Shen Lang saw it, he recognized it as an exam paper from the county exam eight years ago. One could see the marks of time on the paper and the writing. At the beginning of the paper was indeed the verse: “Good deeds are rewarded, and evil deeds are punished. Heaven’s net may seem wide, yet it lets no sinner escape.” The most crucial part was that every character in the poem was in Wang Lian’s hand, in the style he used eight years ago. Each character was steeped in the traces of time.
Shen Lang used his X-ray vision and his brain’s computational power to examine the paper. The writing on the paper was clearly Wang Lian’s, and it had not been tampered with. The paper was real, and the writing on it was real. Incredible! It was truly admirable! At a glance, it looked like irrefutable evidence, but Wang Lian could not possibly have written this poem. So how had he done it? Shen Lang pondered for a moment before he found the answer.
Wang Lian had never written that poem, but he had written the characters that composed it. The poem used common characters that any literate person would use daily.
Shen Lang understood the nature of the exam paper. Wang Lian had found his old writings, cut out each character one by one, and then hired a master calligrapher and mounter to paste them all onto his eight-year-old exam paper. Afterward, an extremely transparent layer of paper was applied to the surface. The most brilliant part was that, to create the appearance of age, this final transparent layer was also peeled from an eight-year-old piece of calligraphy or painting.
On Earth, too, the skills of those who forged and sold calligraphy and paintings had reached the highest level. They could split a single famous painting into three and sell them, creating three fakes from one original. Not only that, but they could also seamlessly join a real half with a fake half. In other words, they were so well-made that only an expert could spot the flaw.
And the eight-year-old exam paper before him had reached that level. It was so well-made that even Shen Lang couldn't easily spot the flaw. Every character of the poem was one he had written eight years ago, the paper bore the patina of eight years, and even the official seals stamped upon it were all real. The authenticity of the official seals lent authority to the exam paper, making the evidence all the more credible.
Shen Lang couldn't help but marvel; it was truly impressive. The commandery-level government office had helped Wang Lian create a fake exam paper to frame him for plagiarism. Wang Lian pointed at Shen Lang and said in a cold voice,
“The evidence that you plagiarized my poem is this conclusive. Shen Lang, do you have anything more to say?”
The old headmaster from the academy Shen Lang had attended looked terribly angry upon seeing the exam paper. He trembled as he pointed at Shen Lang.
“You wretched boy! Back when you studied at Hanshujin Academy for nine years and couldn’t even complete the introductory class, I was forced to expel you. Yet, knowing your simple nature at the time, I felt truly sorry for you. To think that you would now stoop to stealing and plagiarizing another’s work. You are not only a disgrace to all scholars, but a disgrace to me as well.”
*Incredible,* Shen Lang thought. *To come out of his house at such an old age just to slander someone.*
Respecting the elderly and loving the young was a traditional virtue, but there was no respecting a malicious old man. Wang Lian pointed at Shen Lang and said coldly,
“Shen Lang, do you have anything more to say? Speak!”
Then, a woman suddenly spoke up.
“Young Master Shen, I can’t believe you plagiarized. The poem in your book being identical to Prefectural Administrator Wang’s must be pure coincidence, right? Please compose a few better poems to prove your talent to everyone.”
“Yes, that’s right!”
“Shen Lang, compose a poem and prove your talent.”
“Indeed. Shen Lang, if you can write a better poem, it will prove you did not plagiarize.”
Just then, Li Wenzheng, the Advanced Scholar of the second rank, spoke.
“Many men of letters are present here today. Even the lowest-ranking among us holds the title of Scholar. If Young Master Shen Lang is willing, please compete with them in poetic skill. I shall set the theme. If the poem you write is superior to theirs, it will prove your excellent talent, and we shall consider it not plagiarism, but a timely coincidence that you wrote the same poem.”
“That’s right. We ask Lord Li to set a theme, and we Scholars will compete in poetry with Young Master Shen Lang.”
Xu Qianqian was inwardly delighted beyond measure. She was suddenly reminded of the time back at the Xu estate when she had framed Shen Lang for stealing the formula for the imperial yellow dye. To prove his innocence, Shen Lang had produced superior formulas for both imperial yellow and purple dyes. And now, the same situation was unfolding in a different field.
However, back then, Wang Lian had been there to obstruct the Xu family’s plans. Today, there was no one like Wang Lian to interfere on his behalf; everyone present was Shen Lang’s enemy. Forcing Shen Lang to compose a poem was no different from telling him to play the fool. No matter what poem Shen Lang composed, no matter how brilliant it was, as long as they refused to acknowledge it, he was bound to lose the contest.