Chapter 64: Who Do You Think You Are? (Part Two)

Regaining his composure, Wang Zhideng raised his head abruptly and asked, "Aren't your musical lyrics and story selected from *A Dream of Greatness*? Where are the life philosophy, inner meaning, and moral?"

Lu Baiyi replied, "That's right, it is indeed *A Dream of Greatness*, except that we only selected the segment about rising to high office, accumulating great wealth, and acting tyrannically in a dream. Due to time constraints, the other parts were not chosen for performance."

Wang Zhideng said with great dissatisfaction, "You are taking shortcuts! This is clearly a story meant to encourage virtue, yet you deliberately take it out of context, using career advancement and sudden wealth to bewitch people's minds. Is this right?"

Lu Baiyi immediately parroted what she had just learned, "This is called ironic art, understand?"

Wang Zhideng categorically rejected this, saying, "It shouldn't be like this! Such thorough vulgarity lacks any literary style or refinement whatsoever!"

Lu Baiyi retorted with disdain, "The common people love watching it anyway, who do you think you are?"

She then turned to face Feng Bangning and spoke again, "I can't reason with this bookworm! But let me ask you, did I win today or not?"

Suddenly, Feng Bangning fell into an extremely difficult predicament. Having put so much effort into the preparation, how could he possibly be willing to admit defeat?

Even more fatal was the fact that his side had invited Wang Zhideng, hailed as the foremost romantic genius of Jiangnan, to bolster their ranks, while the opposing family had only hired some unknown nobody called Bai Yujing.

If they still lost under such circumstances, wouldn't it be even more humiliating, turning them into the laughingstock of the entire capital?

Seeing that Feng Bangning did not respond, Lu Baiyi pressed on aggressively, "What? You still refuse to admit it? Are you waiting until the time limit expires and the copper coins are counted up before you finally give up all hope?"

Feng Bangning looked at Wang Zhideng with a troubled expression. When it came to the art of sophistry and wriggly excuses, one still had to rely on you cultural elites.

Understanding the meaning in Feng Bangning's gaze, Wang Zhideng pondered for a moment before having no choice but to bite the bullet and step forward.

There was no help for it; as the primary contestant, he bore responsibility for the failure of the competition.

Having thought of a retort, Wang Zhideng said to Lu Baiyi, "I must ask that friend Bai Yujing to come out and meet me! I want to ask him face-to-face: after producing musical lyrics of such quality, how can he have the nerve to consider himself the winner?"

As for whether he was convinced, Wang Zhideng was definitely not convinced.

The only way now was to first summon the true opponent, and then confront him face-to-face to strike him down. Perhaps that could turn the tables.

Lu Baiyi sighed and said, "Take my advice, you'd better not think about meeting him."

"Why?" Wang Zhideng asked with puzzlement.

Lu Baiyi replied, "Trust me, he will disgust you to death."

Wang Zhideng: "......"

Whose side are you actually on? How could you say such belittling things about your own person?

Feng Bangning chimed in, "What? Knowing his own work is inferior, he doesn't dare to come out and face people?"

Lu Baiyi answered formally, "Before the competition, he stated that he would not meet any outsiders."

As if he had found a handle to use against them, Feng Bangning opened his mouth and accused, "Wang Baigu is a genius renowned throughout Jiangnan, a gifted individual taken in as a closed-door disciple by Master Wen Hengshan! Now that Wang Baigu has condescended to personally request an audience, if this friend Bai still refuses to let him in, wouldn't that be far too rude and arrogant? Besides, a competition is a competition; are you telling me he's unwilling even to engage in mutual exchange?"

Lu Baiyi looked at Wang Zhideng with deep sympathy and asked once more, "Are you certain you insist on an audience and an exchange?"

Wang Zhideng was speechless. This young master disguised as a woman—why did that gaze of yours look as if you were viewing a lamb led to slaughter?

What harm could a meeting and an exchange do? Could it be that the foremost romantic genius of Jiangnan was afraid of such a setup?

Seeing that Wang Zhideng's attitude was resolute, Lu Baiyi had no choice but to pull out a slip of paper. "Bai Yujing said that whoever wants to see him, the words on this note will be his reply."

She then showed the note to Wang Zhideng. It read: "Being a genius is merely the threshold to request an audience with me."

After showing it, even Lu Baiyi herself felt that this sentence was utterly punch-worthy!

She had no idea how that dog-brained Bai Yu could have come up with such a line!

Due to extreme shock, Wang Baigu lapsed directly into speechlessness and silence.

He had seen arrogant people, but never anyone this arrogant. It was arrogant to the point of being unreasonable, completely disregarding the scholars of the world.

When he recovered his senses, he felt as though he had suffered a massive humiliation, and that he, a genius, was actually being looked down upon by such a blockhead!

Wang Zhideng said with indignation, "How dare that friend Bai utter such wild words? Does he have any masterpieces that I might read and study?"

He swore that once he found out Bai Yujing's identity and got his hands on Bai Yujing's works, he would use the harshest language to criticize and disparage them!

At the same time, he would mobilize all his interpersonal networks to thoroughly tear down and ruin this Bai Yujing's works!

For no other reason than to teach a lesson to someone arrogant and ignorant!

Acting superior was fine, but he shouldn't put on airs right in front of Wang Baigu!

Lu Baiyi let out a deep sigh and once again advised Wang Zhideng, "Forget it, forget it. Let's end it here."

Then she said to Feng Bangning, "What was agreed beforehand was to judge victory and defeat based on the number of people, with no other auxiliary conditions."

Feng Bangning spoke up, "The time limit hasn't been reached yet, so it's too early to talk about victory and defeat. Besides, isn't Friend Bai's unwillingness to show his face and communicate a sign of a guilty conscience?"

Lu Baiyi replied, "Friend Bai said that he is merely a nameless nobody, and showing his face will only bring him unfairness and literary bullying. If one is unwilling to concede defeat even in a stage opera performance competition, what fairness can be expected? Even if he brought out his works, they wouldn't receive fair treatment and would surely be maliciously belittled."

Wang Zhideng was laughed out of his anger. Pointing at the stage, he said, "As for today's opera competition, I admit defeat! Furthermore, I ask all literary friends present to gather around and serve as public witnesses! Can we now please invite Friend Bai to show his face and have a little exchange with us?"

To Wang Zhideng, today's opera competition was already a negative asset; he might as well shake it off completely and enter a new contest unburdened!

As long as he could overwhelm Bai Yujing, the face he had lost earlier today would be won back.

As for where his confidence came from—the title of "Foremost Romantic Genius of Jiangnan" was his confidence!

Jiangnan was the most culturally developed place under heaven, and since he had earned the title of "number one" even in Jiangnan, did he need to fear people from anywhere else?

On the stage, the music ended and the crowd dispersed, but the scholars gathered below the stage congregated once more, witnessing yet another good show.

Remembering something, Lu Baiyi asked, "By the way, Friend Bai also asked: since this is a friendly exchange, are there any stakes or wagers?"

Wang Zhideng countered, "What stakes do you have?"

Lu Baiyi said, "Friend Bai's meaning is that since we won the earlier stage competition, let's take that victory as the stake."

The crowd: "......"

What a calculating mind! How is this any different from getting something for nothing?

Wang Zhideng replied, "I won't mince words with you either. I have a seal here, passed down from the Master of Liuwu, Tang Bohu! Engraved upon it are the words 'Foremost Romantic Genius of Jiangnan' and others. I shall take this as the stake!"