Chapter 1730: Ai Lian, Appreciating Lian
After driving away Wang Lantian and his servant, Su Mingzhe was about to turn around and leave, but was stopped by several people in the pavilion:
"Benefactor!"

"Brother, please stay——"

The mother and daughter who sold lotus knew that if it were not for Su Mingzhe, they would be in danger of their family being broken up. And seeing that Su Mingzhe did not expect anything in return for his kindness, they were even more grateful.

The woman pulled her daughter and was about to pay her respects to Su Mingzhe.

"Madam, and Miss, I am only following the teachings of the saints. I help those who are in trouble when I see them. If you are grateful, and you also lend a little help to those who need help in the future, it will be a reward to me."

Su Mingzhe helped the mother and daughter selling lotus to their feet and comforted them. Then he looked at Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai and said with a smile:

"My two friends, you called me, but what can I do for you?"

"I'm not worthy of your advice. I'm Liang Shanbo, and this is my friend Zhu Yingtai. We saw that you generously helped this mother and daughter, and we admire you. We want to get to know you and make friends with you. Do you mind?"

Liang Shanbo was tall, but somewhat shy. When he bowed to Su Mingzhe, his face turned red.

Su Mingzhe looked at Liang Shanbo, then at Zhu Yingtai, whose legs and feet were unharmed, and a hint of curiosity arose in his heart.

That night, in order to vent his anger, Su Mingzhe picked up a stone and hit Zhu Yingtai.

According to Su Mingzhe's estimation, even if Zhu Yingtai's foot had a broken bone, she would have to rest at home for one or two months.

Now, Zhu Yingtai appeared in front of him safe and sound, which was very puzzling.

……

Suppressing the doubts in his heart, Su Mingzhe returned the gift to the two people, then smiled as usual and said:

"Confucius said: When three people walk together, there must be one who can be my teacher! If the two brothers are willing to be friends with me, I would be more than happy. How could I mind?"

After listening to Su Mingzhe's words, Liang Shanbo thought that Su Mingzhe was humble and studious, and was a good teacher and friend, and he was immediately delighted.

Zhu Yingtai, who was standing next to her, responded in her heart, and a feeling of disgust rose from deep in her heart.

It turns out that the next sentence of "Confucius said: 'When three people walk together, there must be one who can be my teacher! '" is "Choose the good ones and follow them, and change the bad ones!"

Although Su Mingzhe did not use the next sentence, in Zhu Yingtai's view, Su Mingzhe was communicating with the two people with a superior psychological attitude.

If Zhu Yingtai hadn't seen Liang Shanbo and Su Mingzhe talking to each other happily, she would have turned around and left.

Even so, Zhu Yingtai was still sulking in her heart. When Su Mingzhe and Liang Shanbo were talking, she couldn't help but sneer:
"Brother Su, I saw a few lotus flowers on your servant boy's body. It seems that you are a lotus lover! No wonder you spent hundreds of gold to save this mother and daughter!"

Zhu Yingtai's undisguised attitude in accusing Su Mingzhe of having ulterior motives in saving people immediately chilled the atmosphere in the pavilion.

Especially the mother and daughter selling lotus flowers seemed at a loss.

Su Mingzhe raised his eyebrows when he saw this.

After thinking of something, the corners of his mouth curved again and he smiled:

"Brother Zhu is really my soulmate. When we first met, Brother Zhu saw my true feelings and discovered that I like lotus! To be honest with you two, I have three hobbies in my life: reading, practicing martial arts, and appreciating lotus (appreciating my face)!"

Liang Shanbo was a simple-minded man and did not understand the meaning of Su Mingzhe's words, so he quickly praised him a few words.

Zhu Yingtai could hear that Su Mingzhe was mocking her for not showing her respect, and her pretty face turned red:
"This evil villain actually teased me!"

Not enough words to speculate.

Seeing that Zhu Yingtai had a bad impression of him, Su Mingzhe was too lazy to waste time talking to her. After making a sarcastic remark, he bowed and said goodbye.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Yingtai was not only a woman, but also a petty woman.

Being mocked by Su Mingzhe in person, Zhu Yingtai was silent for a moment, then immediately retaliated:
"Brother Su loves lotus so much, I believe he must have written many poems about it. I wonder if I would be lucky enough to read one or two of them?"

"A poem about Ai Lian?" Su Mingzhe's eyes rolled around. He was naturally not afraid of being asked to recite a poem.

However, he is not good at it and most of the time he has to be a plagiarist.

Therefore, Su Mingzhe would definitely not be willing to "lose" a classic masterpiece for no reason.

After pondering for a moment, Su Mingzhe looked at the mother and daughter selling lotus again, his eyes turned, and a plan came to his mind:
"I have indeed written many poems about lotus, but what I am most proud of in my life is not poetry, but an unwritten narrative. If you two want to appreciate it, I will write it out now!"

"please--"

Liang Shanbo was not a mean person, so he naturally would not laugh at Su Mingzhe.

Zhu Yingtai had a hint of sneer on her face:
"Brother Su is most proud of his notes. We really need to read them!"

Although "parallel prose" was popular during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the theme of "storytelling" was also quite popular.

In recent decades, the most famous one is Tao Yuanming's "Peach Blossom Spring".

"Master, I'll grind it for you!"

The servant Mingyan had a blind admiration for his young master, and was about to take out the pens, ink, paper and inkstone that he had just packed away.

“No need for pen and ink!”

Su Mingzhe shook his head slightly, and suddenly smiled at the mother and daughter selling lotus flowers:
"Madam, and Miss, as the saying goes, good people should be good to the end. I will give you another fortune, I hope you can accept it! If you encounter trouble in the future, you can go to Sanqiao Lane in the city and find a girl named Yu Wuxia for help. Just tell her my name!"

As Su Mingzhe spoke, he came to stand behind the stone tablet next to Caoqiao Pavilion.

Just when everyone was curious about what Su Mingzhe was going to do.

Su Mingzhe combined his two fingers into a sword finger and began to write on the back of the stone tablet.

As his sword finger swung, one-inch-sized characters appeared on the originally extremely hard stone tablet.

"Love of Lotus: There are many lovely flowers on land and water..."

Zhu Yingtai stayed at home all year round and had little experience, so she didn't notice anything unusual. She just recited the words written by Su Mingzhe:

"…I only love the lotus that grows out of the mud but remains unstained…The love for the peony is shared by many. Su Mingzhe of Yuyao, left this note on August 18, Dingsi year!"

Except for Zhu Yingtai, no one present was reading "On the Love of Lotus" at all. Instead, they were staring at the "stone powder" that had fallen to the ground, in shock.

The stone tablet was made of the hardest marble, and if the stonemason wanted to carve something on it, he had to use a chisel and hammer it hard.

Su Mingzhe's fingers were actually three times harder than the chisel. He used the marble stele as if it were a piece of tofu and quickly wrote down more than a hundred words.

"Could it be that the young master is the reincarnation of an immortal or Buddha?"

The lotus-selling woman was so panicked that she pulled her daughter to her knees and kowtow to Su Mingzhe.

During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, people were particularly fond of immortal and Buddhist culture.

Corresponding to this is the popularity of cultures such as Wu Shi San (Han Shi San), cultivating immortals, hermits, Taoists, and Buddhists.

Faced with the blind worship of the mother and daughter, Su Mingzhe simply waved his hand lightly, and an invisible air lifted the two up.

This also made the two people convinced that Su Mingzhe was the reincarnation of an immortal or Buddha.

After all, in their perception, Su Mingzhe's methods are really no different from those of immortals and Buddhas.

Liang Shanbo was well-informed. After being amazed, he praised:
"I didn't expect that Brother Su is not only talented in writing, but also has reached the pinnacle of martial arts. Even compared with the Immortal Elder and the True Lord, he is not far behind!"