Top Scholar

Chapter 195 The Academic Superstar's PDA

"The peach tree is young and tender, its blossoms are bright and beautiful. This maiden is going to her husband's home; may she bring harmony to her family."

Since ancient times, peach blossoms have been closely associated with love.

Eight hundred years ago, also during the Qingming Festival, Cui Hu went for a spring outing in the southern suburbs of Chang'an and encountered a beautiful young woman who captivated him. However, when he returned the following year, the woman had vanished. Thus, he penned his timeless masterpiece—

"On this day last year, in this very doorway, faces and peach blossoms reflected each other's rosy hue."

The face is gone, I know not where; the peach blossoms still smile in the spring breeze.

It completely tied romantic relationships to peach blossoms.

So when Zhu Zijing said, "It turns out that peach blossoms were planted in the front seat," he was basically implying that the two people in front were openly flirting and showing off their affection...

So why did he say that?
Generally speaking, this kind of word chain game does not require the content of the context to be related.

But surprisingly, the two poems by Huang E and Su Lu can be perfectly combined into a linked poem in the ancient style.

Looking west, the clouds over Fangshan Mountain resemble a sea, while the moon above Haiguan Tower shines like a jade tablet.

Jade gleams and shattered stones float on the boat, the oars stir ripples that scatter brocade-like scales.

Moreover, the two top students thought the question was too easy, so they made it more difficult on their own. Not only did the first and last characters of the two lines be the same, but the first and last characters of the two lines within the line were also the same, forming a "serious repetition".

The repetition of words, also known as the continuous repetition or the chain repetition, is a unique literary style with a strong sense of rhythm and semantic coherence, which greatly helps to create a vivid artistic conception!

The two used repetition instead of strict rhyme to make the verses more rhythmic, and also used flexible rhyme changes to adapt to the imagery shifts from 'mountain to sea, from moon to fish'.

With the combined efforts of these two masters, the painting "Spring River Moon Scene" came to life before everyone's eyes.

On a moonlit night, I rowed a boat on the river and looked west towards Fangshan Mountain, where clouds surged like the sea.

Looking back at the Sea View Tower, the bright moon shines like jade.

The moonlight shines down, and the river water is as smooth as jade.

The poet rowed the boat, and ripples like shattered jade spread out, startling the fish to leap and break the tranquility of the moonlit spring river, bringing the whole scene to life...

Such a perfect artistic conception, how could a third party be allowed to interfere? How is Zhu Sanshao supposed to respond?
Furthermore, there is clear evidence that Huang E directly pushed the cup of wine in front of Su Lu, without any intention of letting anyone else accept it.

Su Lu understood the meaning and not only perfectly took over in form, but also captured the atmosphere and scene created by Huang E, cleverly continuing and moving from stillness to movement, making the picture rich in layers and transitioning naturally, and perfectly formed.

In that instant, both of them felt immense satisfaction. This was essentially a word game between two academic geniuses; such high-level romance was something those with less education couldn't even dream of...

But since everyone here is cultured, you will certainly be able to enjoy a hot meal.

~~
It was a warm spring day, with petals falling in profusion. Young men and women sat by the water, singing and reciting poems, playing the zither and dancing, enjoying themselves immensely.

Then, unsurprisingly, flies started buzzing around...

This time, it wasn't just the Li brothers who came; it was all six families together, a large group of men and women.

Today is the Qingming Festival holiday, and Baoshan is a popular place for spring outings, so the young masters and ladies of various families naturally gather here.

Just now, Su Lu and the others were playing the game of floating wine cups on a winding stream, and a large crowd gathered around to watch. Some were watching them compose poems with their first and last lines connected, but others were watching Huang E's young master, and still others were watching Su Lu's young lady...

Seeing that Su Lu had openly launched an attack on everyone's dream girl, and seemed to have made quite a few gains! How could the gentlemen sit still now?
So some busybodies took the lead, and each family nominated their most talented and skilled poets to form the "Youth Version of the Seven Talents of Luzhou," preparing to join forces to curb Su Lu's arrogance and keep him away from Miss Huang!
On the other side, the daughters of officials in Luzhou City were also unhappy with Huang E. So what if you are a little prettier than us, a little more talented, and your father has a higher official position?

Why is it that the moment you appear, you attract all eyes, even the extraordinary and talented Young Master Su is not immune to this?

Hmph, the young ladies weren't having it, so they decided to put Huang E's arrogance to the test! Thus, they also selected seven beautiful women to show Young Master Su that Huang E wasn't the only one adorned with flowers in Luzhou City!
Seeing the crowd surrounding him menacingly, Zhu Zigeng laughed and said, "What, you want to fight?"

“That’s right, we’ve disliked him for a long time. He’s stolen the limelight in Luzhou City, we have to teach him a lesson!” said Li Zongbao, the eldest son of the Li family, in a deep voice.

But he didn't have many supporters...

"I don't dislike Brother Hongzhi at all," Bai Yunshan, the third young master of the Bai family, immediately clarified. "I just want to have a match with him."

“That’s right.” Deng Dengying’s second brother, Deng Dengdeng, nodded and said, “My brother really likes Hongzhi. He talks about him all the time, which makes people very curious about Young Master Su’s abilities. This is a good opportunity to see for ourselves!”

“My grandfather always tells us to get close to him, so we should at least acknowledge his importance first,” said Wang Jingze, the eldest son of the Wang family, with a smile.

"Anyway," Li Zongbao said in a humiliating voice, "we're going to fight Su Lubai!"

"At that time, I ordered you to obey: no one is allowed to carry an inch in open battle." Wang Jing then smiled at Su Lu and said, "Brother Su, seven of us are challenging one of you. If you lose, it's not shameful; if you win, you've made a huge profit. It's not like we're bullying you, is it?"

"Brother Wang, you really are a silver-tongued man. Seven against one, isn't that bullying?" Zhu Zijing sneered.

“You can help him too, there are seven of us, so do whatever you want,” Li Zongbao snorted.

"No need," Su Lu said with a smile. "I'm fine on my own."

Even the usually composed and steady Young Master Su couldn't help but put on an act in front of the girl he liked...

"We also want to challenge Miss Huang!" The 'Seven Golden Flowers' stepped forward, saying sweetly, "Let's experience the charm of the number one talented woman in Sichuan." Everyone was a decent person and wouldn't directly say, "If you lose, you have to give up Young Master Su to us..." but everyone understood the meaning.

"I wouldn't dare accept such a challenge, let's have a friendly spar instead," Huang E said with a slight smile. Since no elders were present today, she wasn't holding back. Did they really think she had no desire to perform?
~~
The peach grove was bustling with people.

In the center of the crowd, Su Lu and Huang E sat across the stream with the Seven Sons and Seven Flowers.

In the first round, Su Lu faced off against Qi Zi. After drawing lots, it was decided that Qi Zi would set the rules, and Su Lu would compose the first line.

“We’ll stick to your rules, but we’ll make it a little more difficult.” After discussing it, Li Zongbao said, “Let’s double it – instead of single-character repetition, we’ll change it to double-character repetition. Instead of single rhymes, we’ll change it to double-character ending rhymes!”

“We won’t use the winding stream drinking game anymore; let’s just set a time limit of twenty breaths,” Wang Jing added.

"You call this adding a little difficulty?" The Zhu brothers immediately objected. "You have more people and more ideas, so some of you can try to match the words, and others can try to rhyme, and then combine them. Isn't this just bullying Hongzhi alone?"

“Brother Hongzhi, your talent is unparalleled in Luzhou. This is nothing to you, is it?” Wang Jingze said with a smile as he looked at Su Lu.

"I dare not claim the title of 'most talented in Luzhou,' and winning a word game doesn't prove anything," Su Lu said with a faint smile.

"Hahaha!" Li Zongbao laughed loudly, "Did you hear that? Don't worry about Young Master Su, he's very confident."

"But what is the prize?" Su Lu asked quietly.

"You can decide," Deng Dengdeng said with a smile.

"Like this," Su Lu thought for a moment, then suddenly remembered a beautiful moment and had an idea: "The loser calls the winner 'Grandpa' and says, 'Grandpa, you're amazing!'"

He has too many adopted sons now, so he's no longer interested; he has higher aspirations...

"Hahaha!" The onlookers burst into laughter. It turns out that the mature and composed Young Master Su is also someone not to be trifled with.

“You don’t have to call out, but whoever doesn’t has to pay out one hundred taels of silver,” Su Lu added.

“Okay!” After a discussion, the seven of them said, “But with such a big bet, we have to go for best two out of three.”

“Sure,” Su Lu said with a nonchalant smile.

Li Zongbao nodded and said, "Okay, then you can give me the question."

"Alright." After saying that, Su Lu adapted Huang E's line, "Looking west, the clouds over Fangshan resemble the sea; the moon above Haiguan Tower shines like a jade tablet," and set the question as follows:
"Looking west, clouds surround Fangshan Tower; above Haiguan Tower, the moon hangs like a hook!"

Huang E's face flushed red. Why does this person seem like a completely different person today?
The Zhu brothers chuckled lightly, thinking, "He's a quick learner! With this kind of effort from Brother Hongzhi, how could he possibly fail to win over Sister Huang?"
The seven scholars, however, were caught up in a tense discussion. According to the rules, their first two characters had to be "如钩" (ru gou), and the last two characters had to rhyme with "如钩" in every character.

Fortunately, there were many people with many skills, and in just a dozen breaths, Young Master Bai shouted, "I've got it! I've got it!"

Clearing his throat, he said loudly:

"Like a hook reflecting the tide, the orchid boat sways gently; the oars churn the silver waves, startling the roosting gulls!"

"Excellent!" The crowd erupted in cheers. Not only were the two characters rhymed, but the double rhyme of "like a hook" and "nesting gull" was also perfect!
Furthermore, the parallelism and imagery of these two lines are perfect. The scene of the crescent moon reflected in the evening tide, oars churning silver waves and startling roosting gulls, is full of dynamism... truly a masterpiece.

The pressure now fell on Su Lu. He closed his eyes and pondered for a moment, then smiled and said, "I've got it!"

Then he continued, "Gulls scatter and circle the riverbank, a traveler leans on the railing and gazes at the ancient city!"

"Excellent! Excellent!" Everyone cheered in unison, not refusing to applaud Su Lu just because their own brother was among the Seven Sons...

Firstly, most of the people present were girls, so how could any brother compare to Su Langxiang?

Secondly, Su Lu's classmates could be found in various households, but how could his brothers have a godfather?

Of course, Su Lu's response was indeed brilliant, not only using double-character parallelism, but also perfectly rhyming "宿鸥" and "古州"!
In addition, the parallelism and artistic conception of his two lines of poetry are also perfect: "The roosting gulls fly away, the guest leans on the railing, and the ancient city is seen around the riverbank." These are also excellent lines!

Now the pressure was back on the seven men. They scratched their heads, racking their brains, and only when time was almost up did Deng Dengdeng finally breathe a sigh of relief and say:

"The clouds over the ancient city have parted, and the water flows gently; a flute guides a returning boat to the ferry crossing!"

"Excellent! Excellent!" Everyone cheered. Although 'ferry crossing' wasn't very elegant, this kind of difficult word game was truly a case of making the most of limited space. Anyone who could come up with a matching word was a hero!

Moreover, starting with 'ferry crossing' is quite difficult... Everyone's attention returned to Su Lu, and they were all worried for him.

Su Lu was indeed stumped, his brows furrowing slightly. Everyone silently counted their breaths, and as twenty breaths approached, he suddenly opened his eyes, a smile spreading across his face:

"Clouds darken the ferry crossing as travelers return by boat; the moon sets over the river and sky, casting a solitary, solitary shadow."

"Great, great, fantastic!" The crowd erupted in thunderous cheers, never expecting that Su Lu could actually respond and deliver a decisive blow!

"Young Master Su, you are truly amazing!"

"Su Lu, Su Lu, invincible under heaven..." The screams of the young ladies caused the peach blossoms to fall in a flurry.

P.S. I just finished writing the time setting again, it was 11:30 PM. I haven't checked the last two chapters yet...

(End of this chapter)