Ye Xiande

Ye Xiande is the vice president of the Huaxia Poetry Association. He also holds another position as a researcher at the Ministry of Education's Language Application Research Institute.

He had been agonizing over the compilation of elementary school Chinese language textbooks recently. The current textbooks had been in use for many years.

Some of the textbooks were no longer suitable for current teaching methods, or had simply been used for too long. The Ministry of Education had issued directives for a complete revision of the textbooks.

As the person in charge of compiling the ancient poetry and lyrics textbook for Chinese language, he was feeling quite overwhelmed. There were many ancient poems and lyrics, but those that were too obscure would be difficult for students to understand and would only add to their burden.

However, if the poems were too straightforward, they wouldn't spark students' interest in ancient poetry and lyrics, which would be detrimental to the development of the poetry and lyrics industry.

This world placed great importance on cultural literacy training, emphasizing the parallel development of cultural interest and knowledge skills.

For this matter, the man in his sixties was poring over ancient texts day and night, hoping to find a few poems suitable for elementary school curriculum from these ancient books.

"Grandpa, Grandpa, what are you doing?"

A lively, mischievous girl of about eighteen years old ran into Ye Xiande's study.

"Be good, Susu. Grandpa is looking for materials. Don't disturb Grandpa. Come back later..."

But the girl wouldn't have it. Her lips puffed out slightly as she said unhappily, "No, Grandpa, come play chess with me..."

Ye Xiande's head ached at the mention of chess. His granddaughter's talent for chess was extraordinary. When she was ten, he could still teach her.

By the time she was twelve or thirteen, she could already play on par with him. Now, he lost more often than he won when playing against her.

He had played chess for half his life, yet he couldn't beat an eighteen-year-old girl. Where would he put his old face?

But she was his granddaughter, and he couldn't let her fuss. If he could win a single game against her now, it would make him happy for a long time.

"Be good, Susu. Grandpa is looking through ancient texts for poetry textbooks. This is a top priority for the Ministry of Education, and we can't be careless. Next time, next time for sure."

Ye Susu was not only a chess prodigy but also a fan of anime and manga. She didn't believe the phrase "next time for sure."

"No, Grandpa, it's just poetry, isn't it? I'll give you one poem, and you'll play chess with me today, okay..."

Ye Susu pouted coquettishly.

"Hey! Stop fooling around, Susu. Grandpa is really busy!"

Ye Xiande felt a headache coming on. His granddaughter was truly stubborn. He was already annoyed, and if Ye Susu kept chattering in his ear, he feared his efforts today would be in vain.

"Grandpa, I really have a poem here. You don't believe me? I'll recite it for you!"

Ye Susu ignored Ye Xiande's expression and blurted out a poem:

"Red beans grow in the southern land, In spring, how many branches sprout? May you pick them often, This thing most evokes longing."

"How about it, Grandpa? Isn't this poem better than the ones you've been flipping through for ages?"

Ye Xiande had initially indulged Ye Susu's antics, but after hearing her recite this poem, he quickly looked up and asked, "Where did you hear this poem? I've never heard of it before."

"Oh, Grandpa, this poem is very popular online now. This morning, the official media of the Guangfu Poetry Association released the top ten poems of the year, and it's already trending..."

"I told you to go online more, Grandpa. You're always holed up in your study with your ancient books, out of touch..."

The girl chattered on, but Ye Xiande no longer paid attention to her rambling.

He murmured the poem "Lovesickness" to himself, and immediately felt that this poem was exactly the type of textbook material he was looking for!

Although the theme of the poem was lovesickness, which could easily lead to thoughts of romance, Ye Xiande, as the vice president of the Poetry Association, knew that.

This poem "Lovesickness" wasn't just for describing romantic love. It could be the longing between lovers, or the longing between friends. How brilliant!

This was a Five-Character Quatrain. The language was simple and clear, yet it didn't lack artistic conception. It was most suitable as an elementary school poetry textbook.

"Susu, you said this poem was one of the top ten best poems of this year's Guangfu Poetry Competition?"

"Yes..."

"This was actually written by a modern person? But this poem clearly has the spirit of the ancients..."

Ye Xiande was a little puzzled. He couldn't believe that people nowadays could still write such poetry. He had initially thought the poem was from some ancient text, but the reality surprised him.

"I heard this poem was written by a webnovel author. That webnovel author named Li Xiaoyao is so annoying, his novels make people cry their eyes out!"

Ye Susu said indignantly, clearly one of the victims of Legend of Sword and Fairy, but she admired his talent.

"There's such a thing..."

Ye Xiande burst into laughter. This poem was definitely a good thing, and it was not impossible for it to be passed down through the ages. Most importantly, the problem that had been bothering him was solved.

"No, I have to find that kid Li Xuexin. This junior is really clueless. He knew I was compiling textbooks recently, and he didn't recommend such a great textbook to me..."

The poetry industry was a moderately sized circle. As the vice president of the Huaxia Poetry Association, Ye Xiande knew Li Xuexin, the president of the Guangfu Poetry Association.

They knew each other, and in fact, Ye Xiande could be considered Li Xuexin's teacher.

"Hello, Teacher? What's wrong?"

Li Xuexin was a little puzzled. Ye Xiande rarely contacted him proactively throughout the year, unless he had some occasional doubts about his poetry and would contact Ye Xiande for help.

"You brat, you encountered a work like 'Lovesickness' and didn't tell me? Don't you know I'm compiling textbooks recently?"

Ye Xiande said to Li Xuexin with a hint of annoyance.

"Ah, this, Teacher, you can't blame me for this. I only saw this poem yesterday, and I'm still in shock today..."

"This poem was given to me by that fellow Weimin. He also said it was written by a young man with whom he had some connection. What, didn't Weimin tell you about this, Teacher? I thought you already knew."

Li Xuexin skillfully passed the buck to Wang Weimin. The two had been classmates since college, and their friendship had lasted for over twenty years. They were no strangers to passing the blame.

"What? You're saying this poem was written by a young man in his early twenties?"

Ye Xiande had already stopped paying attention to Li Xuexin's buck-passing. Upon learning that the poem was the work of a young man, he fell into deep thought.

"Teacher, Teacher?"

Li Xuexin inwardly smirked. It seemed his teacher was much like himself. However, his teacher had lived over twenty years longer, so this blow must be much greater than what he experienced. He hoped his teacher could take it in stride...

"It's alright. Give me that young man's contact information. I'll go see him later."

Although Ye Xiande was a bit dazed, the important matter at hand took precedence.

"I don't know who that young man is either, but Weimin should know. Why don't you ask Weimin, Teacher?"

Second update. I've seen many readers dislike the poem copying. Honestly, I don't like it much either, but there's no helping it. The original outline was written this way, and now that so much has been written, it's hard to change.

Also, a spoiler from the author: this is just a side plot and won't take up too much space, so don't worry. This storyline will definitely have a satisfying conclusion. As for how it will conclude, you can all guess. I'll try my best not to make it awkward.

In reality, this book is mainly about entertainment and daily slice-of-life romance. I try to avoid things like showing off and face-slapping, as I'm not very good at writing them.

Finally, please vote with Monthly Tickets, recommend, and collect. Thank you~