The young masters were more than impressed with the poem.
And the deeper they thought about it, the more details about it there were that made it great.
It reflected on the passage of time, fading beauty and lost youth, themes that resonated with them and were always lingering in the back of their minds.
The poem also made use of nature like flowers, moonlight, rivers and the east wind to create symbolic imageries from nature with human emotions.
And after that it made use of physical things like carved railings and jade steps to compare their permanence against the transience of youth.
Last but not least, and the sentence that hit hardest for them, the eastward-flowing river symbolizes both the endless continuity of time and the inevitability of separation, deepening the melancholy mood.
It was a poem they could never come up with in their lifetime.
Heck, even their teachers couldn't come up with a better one.
And to think that Lin Xuan Qi came up with this poem in such a short time, they were thoroughly impressed.
"That was a great poem. It's an honor to be here to witness it first-hand."
One of the young masters stood up and proposed a toast to Lin Xuan Qi.
"Yes, I concur."
"It's my luck to wake up early today and be here for this."
"Let's have a toast to young Master Lin."
"To young Master Lin."
They shouted and drank the wine from their cups.
Some were so excited that they drank straight from the wine bottle.
Others had their servants write down the poem on paper and keep it.
It would come in handy when the opportunity arose for them to showcase the poem.
Making it seem like they knew Lin Xuan Qi.
Lin Xuan Qi nodded at them and all he could think of was to get down from the stage.
It was after all, the hard work of Li Yu and not him.
Liu Shi Shi was the culprit. He thought.
"Master Lin, that was just magnificent!"
Sima Long came up to Lin Xuan Qi, giving him an admiring look with his eyes wide open.
"I apologize for what happened, nearly had things go out of hand.
"I would like to pay a visit to your house and make up for it."
Sima Long said, and he bowed to Lin Xuan Qi.
This caught Lin Xuan Qi by surprise as he didn't think much about what happened earlier.
He glanced over at Lee He Song, to see if he knew more about this Sima Long.
Lee He Song gave him a grin and nodded furiously.
"Well, if you insist, I'm living in the Lin Mansion.
"I've just moved into Hong Feng City recently so you might not have seen me before." Lin Xuan Qi replied.
His reply got Sima Long excited.
Sima Long bowed to Lin Xuan Qi again and said, "Then, it's a deal. I'll be visiting tomorrow soon."
Lin Xuan Qi nodded, got down the stage and sat back at his seat.
"I'm impressed. You surprised me." The culprit of it all, Liu Shi Shi said as she scanned Lin Xuan Qi from head to toe.
"It's nothing. There's more from where that came from." Lin Xuan Qi said.
Liu Shi Shi picked up her cup of wine, bottoms up and said, "Guess I lost the bet.
"I'm ready to join the mansion at any time."
Lin Xuan Qi was glad with her response.
That meant that there would be more rice per day to sell.
Lee He Song interjected and said, "Great, that means there's someone else to take care of security other than me.
"The education for the servant girls would also be taken care of."
He glanced over at Sima Long in the distance and said, "That young master, if I'm not wrong, is from the Sima Family.
"They are a reputable and wealthy family making Artifacts for the cultivators in Qing Feng Sect.
"It wouldn't hurt to get close to him."
Lin Xuan Qi was pleasantly surprised at the information.
He had never expected such an unassuming young master to come from such a family background.
Seems like the adage of not being an arrogant young master if you want to live longer is true.
You'll never know who you are messing with.
Lin Xuan Qi thought silently to himself.
He took out a tael of silver next and placed it onto the table.
"Here is the money for your employment, lasting for a year."
"Thanks, Master Lin."
Liu Shi Shi wasn't in need of money, but she appreciated Lin Xuan Qi's straightforwardness.
It would be a fun time for her in the mansion to try and discover Lin Xuan Qi's talent in poetry.
She thought silently to herself as she kept the tael of silver.
"Let's be on our way." Lin Xuan Qi said and they left the building shortly after Liu Shi Shi got her baggage.
As they walked along the way, Lin Xuan Qi thought about the seven taels of silver he had left.
He had to work harder now that there were five other people he had to take care of in the mansion.
Lin Xuan Qi frowned when he saw the young masters lingering in the streets filled with lust and nihilism.
No two young masters were the same.
...
Xue Cong was trying to clear the pond in the garden when Lin Xuan Qi and the others came back to the mansion.
As Lin Xuan Qi stepped into the mansion.
A familiar sound erupted in his mind.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations to host for recruiting the fifth person to the mansion.]
[5KG of rice will be delivered to the mansion daily.]
[Bonus: The total amount of rice delivered daily would be doubled as a bonus for getting the fifth person to the mansion.]
[Extra Bonus: Able to see a summary of any person in the mansion daily at the end of the day.]
When Lin Xuan Qi saw the system's information panel in his mind, he was all smiles.
Fifty kilograms of rice daily meant that he would be able to negotiate for twice the price with Hun Xiong Kun.
As for the summary, he didn't know what it meant, and he would have to wait until the end of the day to try it out.