九月九日都督大宴滕王閣，宿命其婿作序以誇客，因出紙筆遍請客，莫敢當，至勃，泛然不辭。都督怒，起更衣，遣吏伺其文輒報。一再報，語益奇，乃矍然曰：“天才也!”請遂成文，極歡罷。勃屬文，初不精思，先磨墨數升，則酣飲，引被覆面臥，及寤，援筆成篇，不易一字，時人謂勃爲腹稿。

On the ninth day of September, the governor hosted a square banquet at the King Teng Pavilion. Beforehand, he had ordered his son-in-law to write a preface about the pavilion and boasted of it among the guests. He also prepared brushes and papers, seeking other contributions from the guests, but, knowingly, no one took the job except Wang Bao. Exasperated, the governor excused himself for a natural call but sent his men to peek at what Wang Bao was writing and report back to him. After hearing a couple of reports, the governor was more and more awed by the marvelous words and sentences springing out of Wang. Excitingly, the governor hailed, "He is a genius!" and then asked Wang to finish the work.