There is a plaque hanging on a tall mansion in the north of Suzhou City, with the two characters "Zhu Mansion" written on it. If someone who knows calligraphy sees this plaque, they will definitely put their hands together and say "Good calligraphy!".

Today, the door of Zhu Mansion is crowded with guests. Scholars wearing Confucian scarves and 襕shirts come from all over Suzhou on foot or by car. When they meet a familiar friend, they will immediately come forward.

Say hello, and then enter Zhu's Mansion.

The identity of the owner of this Zhu Mansion is not simple. He is Xu Shenzhong’s teacher Zhu Zhishan, and he is one of the four talented men of the Wu clan along with Tang Bohu. In addition, Zhu Zhishan’s origin is not simple either. His grandfather’s name is Xu Youzhen, because he supported the restoration of Ming Yingzong.

For meritorious service, he was awarded the title of Master of Martial Arts and Grand Scholar of Huagaidian Palace. For a time, he had great power in both the government and the public. Unfortunately, he later had a bad relationship with two other powerful figures, and was exiled as a civilian. He has been living in Suzhou ever since.

Xu Youzhen was extremely talented. He studied astronomy, geography, art of war, water conservancy, yin and yang, and alchemy books. He was also one of the most famous calligraphers at the time. Zhu Zhishan had been studying calligraphy with Xu Youzhen since he was a child. Later, Zhu Zhishan became the most famous calligrapher in Wumen.

The representative figure is inseparable from Xu Youzhen’s teachings.

In addition to Xu Youzhen, Zhu Zhishan's grandfather Zhu Hao is also very famous. He is also famous for his calligraphy in Suzhou, and he also served as the chief envoy to participate in politics. It can be said that the Zhu family is also an official family. Coupled with the strong calligraphy atmosphere in the family, Zhu Zhishan

He was nurtured since he was a child. He could write Chinese characters one foot square when he was five years old, and he could compose poems when he was nine years old. He became a well-known child prodigy.

At the age of thirty-three, Zhu Zhishan passed the Juren examination again, and by this time he had become a leader among young scholars in Suzhou. However, after passing the Juren examination, Zhu Zhishan's good luck seemed to have been used up all of a sudden, and he took the Etiquette Examination three times in a row.

None of them succeeded, and now he is in his forties. According to the original history, Zhu Zhishan tried the Ministry of Etiquette seven times in his life, and finally got a minor official position as a county magistrate. In other words, Zhu Zhishan had to wait at home for more than ten years.

Only then can he realize his dream of becoming an official.

Today is Zhu Zhishan’s forty-fourth birthday. Although he suffered several setbacks in the imperial examination, this does not hinder Zhu Zhishan’s reputation in the local area, especially since the Zhu family is also a local rich man. Zhu Zhishan is fun-loving and free-spirited, and loves to travel.

Shui is informal and informal, so he is very popular among local scholars. Suzhou celebrities such as Tang Bohu, Shen Zhou, Liu Jue, and Du Ling are all his close friends. Therefore, almost all local scholars in Suzhou came to wish Zhishan a birthday.

Zhu Zhishan stood in front of the door with a few students to greet the guests, including Xu Shenzhong. Zhu Zhishan, who is just forty-four today, has a fat body, which is very conspicuous among the generally short southerners. He has big ears, a lion nose, and a wide mouth.

He seemed to have a heroic aura, with a half-foot-long shiny beard under his chin, and he stroked his beard with his right hand from time to time. Maybe it was because of his birthday celebrations. Zhu Zhishan always had a smile on his face, and he would bow to acquaintances from time to time.

After all the guests arrived, the birthday banquet started immediately. Zhu Zhishan and his students toasted to each table one by one, and finally came to the inner hall. There was only one banquet table, and all the people sitting there were Zhu Zhishan's close friends, such as

Tang Bohu, Wen Zhengming, Yang Xunji and others were all present.

Zhu Zhishan was also very happy today. He drank and chatted with these close friends, and the atmosphere was very lively. However, just when he was getting excited about drinking, several students from Zhu Zhishan came in and gave them their own congratulatory gifts.

Originally, when guests arrived, birthday gifts would be given immediately. However, in this age of respecting teachers, the relationship between students and teachers is actually similar to that of father and son. Therefore, students like Xie Shenzhong did not immediately give the birthday gifts they prepared.

I want to send them together in front of my teacher and friends to show my filial piety.

"Teacher, this is a calligraphy that the disciple found from Nanjing. It is Mi Fu's "Fangyuan An Ji". It is specially dedicated to the teacher!" The first disciple said as he presented the birthday gift he had prepared, although he tried his best to make a

He looked calm, but there was still a hint of pride in his tone.

Zhu Zhishan, Tang Bohu and others were also surprised when they heard that it was Mi Fu's calligraphy. They hurriedly opened the calligraphy and looked at it. As a result, they were amazed while looking at it. Mi Fu was one of the four calligraphers of the Song Dynasty and had high achievements in calligraphy.

, especially the literati in the Ming Dynasty highly praised Mi Fu. Zhu Zhishan's calligraphy was deeply influenced by Mi Fu, and he had always wanted to collect a copy of Mi Fu's calligraphy, but unfortunately he had never been able to do so. This shows that Mi Fu's

The word "" is so rare, so the students who presented the gift naturally have reasons to be proud.

"Okay~Okay! Liangkuan, you have a good taste. This is indeed Mi Fu's authentic work. It must have cost a lot of money, right?" Zhu Zhishan waited until all his friends had read Mi Fu's handwriting, and then said to him with a look of relief.

The student standing below said.

"Students should not be careless when preparing birthday gifts for their teachers, and no matter how much money they spend, if they can buy an authentic copy of Mi Fu, it is still worth it!" Hearing the teacher's praise, the student named Liang Kuan was stunned.

He said with an excited face. His family is a well-known wealthy businessman in Suzhou City. As long as it can make the teacher happy, he doesn't care how much money he spends.

Zhu Zhishan also knew the situation at Liangkuan's family, and since the other party was his student, he asked someone to put the words away and take them out to appreciate them when he was free in the future. Next, other students came forward to offer birthday gifts.

Zhu Zhishan is famous for his calligraphy in Suzhou, so many young students want to become his disciples. However, although Zhu Zhishan has an easy-going personality and often points out the shortcomings of others in calligraphy, he is still very strict about accepting disciples. In addition, some disciples have already become officials.

, so there are only seven students who gave birthday gifts in person today.

These students were rich and poor, and the birthday gifts they gave were also different. Rich students such as Liangkuan gave them expensive calligraphy, paintings, antiques, etc., but the birthday gifts given by poor students were very ordinary, and some even just gave them

Zhu Zhishan didn't dislike it at all when he sent a birthday message he had written. He still accepted it with a few compliments with a smile. For him, no matter what these birthday gifts are, they are all the students' thoughts, as long as they come true.

, as for the quality of the gift, it doesn’t matter at all.

Soon it was Xu Shenzhong's turn to present the birthday gift he had prepared. He took a few steps forward, bowed to Zhu Zhishan and said, "I wish my teacher a long life. The gift I prepared for my teacher is a book."

Due to the rush of time, the manuscript was copied separately by the disciple and two friends, so it can be regarded as a birthday gift for the three of us. It is a pity that they are far away in Songjiang and cannot come to Suzhou, so I specially asked the disciple to wish the teacher a birthday on their behalf!"

"Oh? Manuscript?" Zhu Zhishan was a little surprised when he heard this. He took the box containing the manuscript from Ji Shenzhong and placed it on the table. Then he opened it gently and saw three big characters - "Journey to the West".

"Is this...could this be the manuscript of Journey to the West that countless people have been rushing to copy during this period?" Tang Bohu, who was next to Zhu Zhishan, was very surprised when he saw the name of the manuscript. Tang Bohu was a middle-aged man of more than thirty years.

He looks elegant and handsome, but his spirit doesn't look very good.

Tang Bohu is ten years younger than Zhu Zhishan and is only thirty-four years old this year. It can be said that he is in the golden age of a man. However, due to the examination fraud case four years ago, his path to the imperial examination has been completely blocked, and his wife at home has also left.

When he left, Tang Bohu was hit hard, and his mood and personality also changed. He usually played life, lost his passion in landscapes, poetry and paintings, and relied on selling paintings to get all his daily necessities. It can be said that he was very unhappy.

Therefore, there is always a sense of depression between his eyebrows, and he is not very restrained in drinking and sex, so his spirit is naturally not much better.

"Yes, this is the manuscript of Journey to the West!" Zhu Zhishan picked up the manuscript in the box and looked at it a few times, and suddenly realized something was wrong, "Hey, why are there so many manuscripts? Isn't there only the first ten chapters of Journey to the West?

?”

With the spread of storytellers and the release of the manuscripts of the first ten chapters by Zhou Zhong, Journey to the West is no longer limited to Songjiang, but has spread to Nanjing, Suzhou and other places, and has aroused great interest among the people and scholars.

There was a huge response, especially among the scholars, who all rushed to copy the first ten chapters of Journey to the West. Unfortunately, because the time was too short, not many manuscripts were circulated, so many scholars had no place to copy them if they wanted to.

Zhu Zhishan and Tang Bohu only read the manuscript from a friend. Both of them loved the book so much that they even stayed at the friend's house for several days and read ten chapters before returning. Now they have obtained Journey to the West.

The manuscript of Journey to the West made them all very happy. Everyone else at the table had also heard of the title Journey to the West, so they gathered around to watch it.

Seeing several elders showing their love for the manuscript, Xu Shenzhong smiled and explained: "Teacher Qichen, some time ago the student went to Songjiang to visit his father, and happened to meet the author of Journey to the West. His surname was Zhou and his given name was Wenda.

He was a talented young man. The student hit it off with Wenda, so he copied the manuscript of Journey to the West to him..."

Xu Shenzhong told Zhu Zhishan how he met Zhou Zhong and how he copied Journey to the West with Zheng Jing and Zhou Zhong. Especially when everyone present heard that these manuscripts actually had thirty chapters, which was more than what was available on the market.

It has been circulated for more than half a century, and has aroused the envy of countless people. Among them, Tang Bohu directly made a reservation with Zhu Zhishan, making sure that he was the first to copy it. He was willing to exchange one of his paintings, which made Zhu Zhishan laugh.

laughing out loud.

Just when Xu Shenzhong was making a big splash at the birthday banquet with Journey to the West, an ordinary-looking carriage was parked in front of Zhou Mansion in Songjiang City. Zhou Zhong was holding a baggage in his hand and waved to the man standing on the steps.

Butler Xu said goodbye, and then walked quickly onto the carriage. With the crack of the coachman's whip, the carriage slowly left the Zhou Mansion.
Chapter completed!