Heavenly Fragment Collection

"He really is a crude fellow. Even the poems I wrote at eight were better than this..."

"Never mind the poetry—look at his handwriting. Crooked and twisted, without sinew or bone, it looks like the work of a child just learning his letters. Unfit for the eyes."

"Brothers, since we have nothing else to do, why don't we tack an ending onto Shopkeeper Lin's little doggerel?"

"Excellent! I'll go first. Before my bed, bright moonlight gleams; I wonder if it's frost upon the ground. I lift my head to gaze upon the moon, then lower it to look upon your mom! Ahahaha..."

The scholars roared with laughter, and the common folk around them joined in. Apart from a handful of educated men, most of those present were ordinary people. What did they know of poetry? If it was funny, they laughed.

"Then lower it to look upon your mom" rolled right off the tongue. Once they went home, they could use poetry to insult people.

"No, no. 'Then lower it to look upon your mom' is far too vulgar. Why not change it to 'then lower it to yearn for my sweet lass'? It echoes the bed at the beginning and sets the imagination wandering. Isn't that delightful?"

"Brother Gu, what literary talent! With a single 'yearn for my sweet lass,' you've turned a piece of doggerel into a masterpiece..."

"I lift my head to gaze upon the moon, then lower it to look upon your mom!"

"I lift my head to gaze upon the moon, then lower it to curse your mom!"

The children thought the scholars' new endings were fun. One after another, they ran back to the restaurant entrance, laughing and chanting. They even stopped singing "You love me, I love you."

"Master, your idea is good, but your poetry really isn't. Let me do it!" [Deng Libuduo] suppressed his laughter. "Writing poetry out here is already hurting the restaurant's business."

Lin Bai glanced at him and wrote a second poem:

"If life were only as when first we met, why would autumn winds mourn a painted fan?

So lightly does an old beloved's heart change, yet he claims old hearts are quick to change.

At Mount Li, our words ended halfway through the clear night; tears rained with bells, yet no resentment remained.

How could he match that faithless lord in silken robes, who once vowed to be paired wings and intertwining boughs?"

This was a complete poem.

Even [Deng Libuduo], who knew little of poetry and did not understand its allusions, was shaken by it.

He carefully compared it with the poems he had studied. In an instant, a fine sheen of sweat appeared on his forehead. He could not find a single one that could rival it.

Had the NPCs in this game already become this intelligent?

In a daze, [Deng Libuduo] hung up the poem. Only at the last moment did he remember it had no title. He turned to ask Lin Bai, "Master, what's the title?"

"There isn't one."

Lin Bai did not even raise his head. He had already started writing the third poem.

Classical poetry was no ordinary thing. Sometimes, removing a line or two diminished the entire poem's elegance. But if only a character or two were missing, an expert could easily fill them in based on the parallel structure, defeating the purpose of leaving it incomplete.

So.

Some poems still needed to be written out in full.

When a poetry collection was filled with exquisite poems, and readers were enjoying them with hearts refreshed and spirits uplifted, suddenly encountering one or two incomplete works would have the greatest effect.

If every poem in the collection was a masterpiece, and the lines you supplied fell short of similar poems, sending their prestige plunging, would you still have the nerve to fill them in?

Would you complete them just to get roasted?

Among the crowd.

The scholars who had been laughing moments ago stared at the newly posted poem, unable to utter a word. This was what they studied. Even if they could not write something like it, they possessed the basic ability to appreciate it.

They read the new poem over and over several times, yet could not find a single fault. They could not even change one character.

Was this still the crude fellow they had mocked?

If Lin Bai was a crude fellow.

Then what were they?

Only after a long while did one scholar say indignantly, "The handwriting is too ugly. It doesn't deserve this poem."

Another scholar's eyes were bloodshot. "There's no way he could have composed such exquisite verse. Who knows where he copied it from?"

His words immediately drew a chorus of agreement. "Exactly, exactly. He must have copied it..."

But before their voices had faded.

Another poem was posted:

"On the Willow

Jade green adorns a towering tree, ten thousand strands of emerald silk hang down;

Who cut these slender leaves, I wonder? The second..."

Looking at the abruptly halted brushstrokes, [Deng Libuduo] began to tremble as he ground the ink. "Master, the second what?"

"That's all!" Lin Bai smiled. "Go put it up."

"Immortal of the Magpie Bridge: Fine Clouds Weave Their Art

Fine clouds weave their art, flying stars convey longing; across the distant Silver River, they pass unseen. One meeting amid golden winds and jade dew surpasses countless earthly encounters.

Tenderness flows like water, their tryst seems like a dream; how can they bear to look back along the magpie bridge? If two hearts..."

"Hard it is to meet, and hard to part; the east wind has no strength, a hundred flowers wither.

Only in death does the spring silkworm's thread run out..."

"Fine grape wine fills a luminous cup; as we are about to drink, a pipa urges us on from horseback.

Drunk upon the battlefield..."

"When did the bright moon first appear? Cup in hand, I ask the azure sky. I wonder, in the palaces of heaven, what year it is tonight... the heights are too cold to bear... people have sorrow and joy, partings and reunions; the moon has shadow and light, fullness..."

In a short span of time.

More than a dozen classical masterpieces emerged from Lin Bai's hands to make their incomplete debut in another world.

The scholars' sour remarks had long since vanished.

Dead silence hung over their corner of the crowd. Every one of them stared so hard that their eyes seemed lodged in the poems, unable to pull free...

Yet whenever they reached a missing line or character, their talents could not supply even a single word. They grew so frantic that they scratched their ears and clawed at their cheeks.

Now.

To casually utter something like "then lower it to yearn for my sweet lass" would be an insult to these masterpieces. They could not afford that humiliation!

"What a sinful waste, what a sinful waste! Such exquisite verse, used by a merchant reeking of money to drum up business. An affront to literary refinement..."

"Any one of these would be enough to make us famous throughout the world!"

"I want to kill someone."

[Resentment from Deng Libuduo; +1]

[Anger from Song Shiqing, Zhao Mengzu, Qian Chong; +1+1+1...]

Notifications of incoming negative emotions sounded in Lin Bai's mind. He glanced toward the scholars, smiled faintly, and set down his brush, writing no more.

Seeing that he had stopped writing, a group of scholars stepped out from the crowd.

Song Shiqing stepped forward first. His face livid, he stood opposite Lin Bai and cupped his hands. "Shopkeeper, please complete these poems."

"And you are, young master?" Lin Bai asked.

"Song Shiqing of the Song family in the north of the city." Song Shiqing looked at Lin Bai with disgust and said coldly, "Poetry is the essence of the written word, a jewel of literature. Wherever Shopkeeper Lin obtained these masterpieces, you should not be using them here. Please complete them. I guarantee that they will make your name known throughout the world, Brother Lin. Wouldn't becoming a distinguished scholar celebrated in literary circles place you a cut above a mere merchant?"

So men of letters were a cut above merchants?

Lin Bai sighed inwardly, but his expression remained unchanged. He cupped his hands in return. "Young Master Song, you truly have a discerning eye. You could tell at a glance that I didn't compose these poems."

"Since you didn't compose them, all the more reason to complete them," Song Shiqing said.

"If I could complete them, how could I not wish to do so, and let these masterpieces endure through the ages? Though I am merely a merchant, I have always admired scholars and poets." Lin Bai sighed. "Young Master Song, it isn't that I refuse to complete them. It is beyond my power! An elderly man entrusted me with publishing this volume of poetry, called the Heavenly Fragment Collection..."

"The Heavenly Fragment Collection?" Song Shiqing froze.

"To be frank with you, Young Master Song, this volume was already incomplete when it first came to light. I made it public precisely to seek wise minds throughout the world who could complete it, so these pearls would not remain buried in dust," Lin Bai said. "I am a man of little standing, whose words carry little weight. If I rashly published a poetry collection, I feared it would not stir so much as a ripple. Left with no alternative, I resorted to this inferior plan. Opening the Chef God Restaurant, writing an incomplete couplet at its entrance, drawing people in with fragments at every turn—all of it was to build momentum for the collection's publication. Young masters, if I have caused any offense, please forgive me."

As he spoke.

Lin Bai cupped his hands and bowed to everyone around him.

After Lin Bai's explanation, the anger of Song Shiqing and the others vanished like smoke and scattered clouds.

Their gazes immediately turned admiring. Together, they cupped their hands and bowed to Lin Bai. "Shopkeeper Lin, your integrity is admirable."

[Admiration from Song Shiqing; +1+1+1...]

[Admiration from Zhao Mengzu; +1+1+1...]

Looking at the incomplete poems posted outside the restaurant, Song Shiqing's eyes showed a trace of regret. He sighed. "Shopkeeper Lin, my family happens to run a publishing house. I must do my humble part in publishing the Heavenly Fragment Collection. Please do not refuse!"

Ah! [Deng Libuduo] let out a long sigh. The shopkeeper was fooling people again!

But what was he trying to achieve with this Heavenly Fragment Poetry Collection? Was this another story quest?

Were players supposed to finish the poems to improve their reputation?

But was it really appropriate to throw out so many masterpieces for a game storyline?

Wouldn't the Game Company be better off publishing these poems directly?