Top Scholar

Chapter 169 Coming out on top
Su Lu and the others arrived at the Li family's riddle tower, and the crowd of onlookers followed suit.

Although it was a temporary wooden frame, it was anything but cheap. The overall framework was made of nanmu wood for beams and purlins, and the pillars were covered with Shu brocade curtains. The lantern beams were wrapped with silk ribbons, and hung with hundreds of different gauze lanterns and colorful glass cups. The riddle signs were lined with satin, and the silk ribbons were strung with colorful beads. Under the bright lights, it resembled a real glass tower, fully displaying the unique grandeur of the Li family in Luzhou!

The Li family was more than just salt merchants; otherwise, no matter how wealthy they were, they wouldn't have achieved such prominence. The Li brothers' grandfather, Li Fuzhen, was a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) in the eighth year of the Chenghua reign (1448) and rose to the position of Councilor of the Huguang Provincial Administration Commission. He had just retired two years prior and was still in good health; at this moment, he was drinking in the Drum Tower, and even sitting in the head seat.

He ranked above Huang Bingxian, Han En, the commander of Luzhou Guard, and Jia Xuan, the prefect of Luzhou, who were the three local military and political leaders of Luzhou!

The Li family is truly both rich and noble, as perfect as the bright moon in the sky tonight, and as magnificent as this dazzling glass lantern riddle tower!

All the people saw was a round revolving lantern made of thin mica sheets, with nine butter lamps lit inside, hanging at the top of the tower, like a huge, slowly rotating jewel.

The inscription on it was in large seal script characters, which appeared one by one as the precious pearl spun. These were the Tiger Kings of the Li family this time...

If the pearl at the top of the tower were removed, this luxurious glazed tower would be imperfect. So you can imagine that the Tiger King of the Li family must be extremely cunning, hanging it up so that no one could take it down!
Anyway, by this point, everyone had tried, and the giant pearl was still spinning perfectly at the top of the tower.

Su Lu stared intently at the words on the revolving lantern, and after a short while, he deciphered the riddle—

A single line of the crescent moon, clearly visible on the third day, gradually sinks in the west, its shadow like a hook. (This is a line from a poem, possibly a parable.)

Everyone racked their brains, but none of them had any ideas. Even the Zhu brothers gave up one after another.

"What is this thing?" Even the riddle-obsessed eldest brother, Zhu Zigeng, couldn't help but blurt out in his Sichuan accent.

"I don't understand." Zhu Zigeng and the others shook their heads and said, "The Tiger King that the Li family went to such lengths to create is just for show."

"Oh dear, what should we do?!" She Yunluo had no interest in guessing riddles and even wanted to doze off, but her enthusiasm for the competition was extremely high. She patted Su Tai on the shoulder and said, "Quickly help your brother!"

"Me?" Su Tai was so surprised that he forgot to say "I"...

“You’re his brother, of course you’re better than him,” She Yunluo said matter-of-factly.

"Then you might as well ask my grandfather." Su Tai was utterly speechless.

"Sister E, please help him!" She Yunlu shook Huang E again.

"It's falling apart, it's falling apart." Huang E said with a wry smile, "I taught this riddle to Brother Hongzhi, so I can't say it."

"Don't worry, sister, Qiji will create a miracle!" Zhu Ziming wasn't worried at all, looking at Su Lu, who was deep in thought with his eyes closed, with admiration. "He's the man who defeated me..."

Then, she said in a dejected whisper, "Well, there's nothing to be proud of."

~~
Beneath the Glass Lantern Riddle Tower.

"Haha, can't answer, kid?" Li Zongsheng smugly stretched out his hand to Su Lu: "Give me back the jade pendant, and then get as far away from me as possible."

"Who said that?" Su Lu slowly opened his slightly closed eyes. "Bring me pen and ink!"

“Pretentious.” Li Zongsheng snorted, but still beckoned, and a servant of the Li family brought over a tray. Su Lu picked up a brush and wrote four large characters on the gold-flecked red paper.

Li Zongsheng observed this and thought, "Those who are hungry should not eat..."

"Excellent!" Su Lu threw down his pen and laughed loudly, "The answer is 'Do not eat what is hungry,' a saying from Mencius!"

"What do you mean?" everyone asked.

"'Do not eat what is hungry' means to remove the 'eat' radical from the character for 'hunger,' leaving only the character '几,' and the riddle's meaning becomes clear!" Su Lu explained loudly.

"Ah..." Most people still don't understand.

"A faint line appears on the third day of the lunar month, gradually sinking in the west like a hook. This riddle actually consists of three strokes." Su Lu then picked up his pen and wrote on another piece of red paper:

"A line is a horizontal line."

"The third month is the new moon, thin and slender like a stroke."

“‘The moon’s shadow gradually sinks in the west, like a hook’, corresponds to the final vertical hook. Its downward curving stroke is just like the hook-shaped shadow of the moon setting in the west.” After Su Lu finished speaking, he picked up the paper and showed it to everyone. It formed the character ‘几’ (ji)!

"I see!" Everyone finally understood.

"This is way too tricky! Who came up with this?!"

"Amazing! This young master is truly a genius!" Su Lu was even more impressed with him for guessing the answer.

"Quickly tell me if it's right or not!" the Zhu brothers urged Li Zongsheng repeatedly.

"I don't know either. This is a riddle my grandfather came up with." Li Zongsheng waved his hand and told someone to quickly send Su Lu's answer to the riddle to the Drum Tower.

A moment later, the servant came running down from the drum tower and called out loudly, "My master invites this young master upstairs to receive his reward!"

"Haha, what did I tell you!" Zhu Ziming jumped three feet high. "Qiji, Qiji, creating miracles!"

"Go up quickly." Zhu Zigeng urged Su Lu with a smile, "Go up quickly, don't worry, my father and my third uncle are here." Su Lu looked at his second brother and Huang E and the others, and seeing that they all nodded to him, he followed the Li family servant up the Drum Tower with steady steps.

~~
The Luzhou Drum Tower is mainly a four-story brick and stone structure, with a double-eaved hip roof on the top floor covered with gray barrel tiles. The tower has windows on all four sides, and the interior is very spacious, making it suitable for banquets and sightseeing, hence its other name, Grand View Terrace.

Every year during the Lantern Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, the prefect would host a banquet here for his superiors and prominent families of Luzhou.

At this moment, the Grand View Terrace was brightly lit, and ram's horn lanterns hung throughout the vermilion-lacquered corridors. All three layers of carved lattice doors were wide open so that dignitaries could enjoy the city's lights and fireworks.

Inside the building were nine square tables, laden with seafood and other delicacies, and fragrant wines. Officials and gentry gathered in high spirits, enjoying the peaceful and prosperous era...

The servant led Su Lu into the building and went straight to the main table, where he respectfully reported to the old man sitting at the head of the table: "Master, the young master has been brought here."

"Hurry up and pay your respects," the servant whispered to Su Lu.

Su Lu then bowed deeply to the officials at the main table and said, "This junior, Su Lu, pays his respects to the Grand Ancestor, Lord Li, the Military Commissioner, and the Commander."

Before he entered, the servant had already told him who was at the table and the order of greetings… The Prefect was the father of the deceased's parents, so he should be placed first. Lord Li was the senior of the Military Commissioner. Although the Commander was a third-rank official, the highest-ranking, he was the Military Commissioner's subordinate, so he had to be arranged in this order.

Old Master Li was already over seventy years old, but he was still in good spirits. Upon hearing this, he looked at the newcomer and saw that he was an extremely handsome and refreshing young man. Although he was dressed in plain white clothes, he still had a calm expression and a peaceful gaze, showing no signs of stage fright.

"Excellent! A promising young man indeed!" Old Master Li praised with a smile. "I thought the one who could shoot this tiger must be a member of a wealthy family, but I never expected him to be such a talented young man from a humble background!"

He then smiled at Prefect Jia and said, "This shows that our prefecture has been very effective in educating the people."

"You flatter me, sir." Prefect Jia was naturally pleased and asked Su Lu with a smile, "Are you a student of Heshan Academy?"

“He is my stubborn disciple.” At this moment, an old man at the next table who had his back to Su Lu turned around. It was none other than Mr. Gangshan, Zhu Zhang.

Su Lu quickly bowed again and said, "The master is here too."

Then he saw Zhu Jie sitting next to Zhu Zhang and quickly continued to greet him, saying, "Uncle is here too."

"Haha, Hongzhi, it's you!" Zhu Jie was no longer as serious as he was at home, and greeted him with a kind face, "Come here, come here."

"Yes." Su Lu quickly went over obediently. The eldest master of the Zhu family was old and sick, so now it was the second master of the Zhu family who represented the family when they were out.

Zhu Jie, holding Su Lu's hand, introduced him to the four adults at the main table: "Su Lu is a child prodigy discovered by my ninth brother at Taiping Academy. Before he went to the capital to take the imperial examination, he entrusted this child to my third brother for tutoring. Everyone knows what kind of person my third brother is, and they all speak highly of him in private."

Su Lu glanced at Zhu Zhang in surprise. Didn't he say that whether or not to accept me was still uncertain?

Zhu Zhang blushed deeply and muttered, "Second brother is exaggerating. I've hardly ever praised him."

Upon hearing this, Huang Ke teased him, saying, "Brother Gangshan, haven't you always upheld the principle of 'a gentleman values ​​sincerity'? On the way here, you were bragging to me that you had taken on a disciple who was like a bottomless pit, the kind who could absorb any amount of knowledge you taught him."

"Oh dear, don't expose me," Zhu Zhang said helplessly. "I'm afraid he'll become arrogant."

"Hahaha..." Everyone burst into laughter, they had never seen Master Zhu like this before.

"I knew it! So you're a student of a great teacher. Come, let me toast you." Old Master Li smiled and had someone pour Su Lu a cup of wine.

"I'm sorry, sir, he must prioritize his studies," Zhu Zhang quickly interjected.

"Don't worry, it's vegetarian wine. Are you the only one who cherishes talent?" Old Master Li laughed, "It seems you really care about his precious student."

"Haha..." Everyone laughed again, and Zhu Zhang finally fell silent.

"Vegetarian wine" is a low-alcohol beverage that even monks and nuns can drink. Su Lu could tell from the color of the wine that it was wine, so he thanked the old man, picked it up, and drank it all in one gulp.

"Good, good, good." Old Master Li nodded with a smile.

At this moment, Prefect Jia also had a cup of plain wine poured for him, and said to Su Lu with a smile, "I must also toast you."

He then addressed the crowd, saying, "I also remember now. When Magistrate Lu of Hejiang came to the prefecture, he talked about this child all the time... saying that he created a phonetic symbol that was so magical that people could learn to pronounce words in just half a month."

"Really? That's amazing!" Although the gentlemen had little interest in 'phonetic symbols', they had to show their support for the prefect.

"It's unbelievable that we've only heard about such a child prodigy today!"

"Yes, all the community schools in Hejiang have already started the trial. If it works well, we will also promote it in Luzhou." Prefect Jia laughed, "Our Luzhou might really become the 'Zoulu of the South'!"

"If this really works out, our ancestor will have done immeasurable good deeds!" the gentlemen exclaimed solemnly. "We must build a shrine for our ancestor!"

"Hahaha..." Although nothing was certain yet, Prefect Jia still felt very pleased. He raised his wine cup to Su Lu and said, "Come, let me toast you for your benevolence! If you succeed in the future, you will be richly rewarded! I will also report this to the imperial court!"

"Thank you, Grandfather." Su Lu quickly took the wine glass with both hands and drank it all in one gulp.

(End of this chapter)