Top Scholar

Chapter 196 A Clash of Masters!

As expected, upon hearing Su Lu utter the word "Du You," the seven young masters immediately broke out in a cold sweat...

"Duyou... what is it?" Deng Dengdeng scratched his head.

"This is too difficult to handle!" Even the usually composed Bai Sanshao looked worried.

"Du You, Du You, how can I answer such a tricky question?" Li Zongbao took out a handkerchief to wipe his sweat.

But even he couldn't say anything bad about Su Lu, since they were the ones who set up the 'ferry' first, and they couldn't blame others for doing the same thing.

As the seven sons racked their brains and discussed the matter intensely, they suddenly heard Miss Zhu, who was acting as the arbitrator, loudly proclaim:
"Twenty breaths have passed!"

With a bitter face, Bai Sanshao reluctantly recited, "On the lonely river, the moon hangs like a hook, fishing for the eternal sorrow of those separated from their loved ones..."

"Never mind, we lost this round." He chuckled at the end.

Leaving aside whether "独幽江上月似钩" (alone on the river, the moon hangs like a hook) is grammatically correct, the rhyme scheme of "古愁" (ancient sorrow) is the same as that of "古州" (ancient prefecture) in Su Lu's previous work...

~~
Su Lu is currently leading 1-0 in the men's group.

Next up is the women's group.

The rule was still decided by drawing lots, and the Seven Flowers got to draw lots.

After a flurry of chatter, Miss Wang said, "Then let's rhyme with three-character endings, and every line in the couplet must rhyme!"

"Wow!" The audience exclaimed in surprise, praising, "Women are just as capable as men!"

"Sister is so cool!" the young ladies screamed. "She's outshone us! She's outshone us!"

Miss Wang blushed and said, "However, we can't be that extreme, so we still use single-character parallelism, and the last character of each three-character phrase must rhyme with the eleventh rhyme of the lower level tone."

Miss Li added, "The first two characters must be reasonable modifications and cannot be just for the sake of having more characters."

The implication is that only the tone pattern of the first two characters needs to be considered; a third rhyme is unnecessary.

"Oh..." Everyone suddenly realized, they thought the female generals were going to take on a more difficult challenge.

But the young men study hard for years, making a living through literature; for the young ladies, reading is just a pastime, and no one can demand that they be treated the same way as the men.

Moreover, the difficulty lies in rhyming every three characters at the end of each line.

"Sister is still the best!" the young ladies continued to encourage.

Someone mischievously asked Huang E, "Miss Huang, why don't you place a bet?"

"No need." Huang E shook her head and smiled. "It's just a game between girls, winning or losing doesn't matter."

Upon hearing this, Qi Hua immediately felt a sense of goodwill towards Huang E. Actually, they had only acted on impulse and joined in on the idea of ​​the gathering.

But after watching the men's competition, they were all having second thoughts. With everyone watching, and their minds not even focused, how could they possibly compete in such a difficult event? Wouldn't that just be asking for embarrassment?

Of course, it would be more embarrassing to compete, so she had no choice but to bite the bullet and play a round. Now that Huang E had taken the initiative to cool down the competition, Qi Hua was naturally very grateful and said:
"Let's have a game. If you lose, we'll call you 'sister'."

They were quite open-minded; since Huang E was the youngest, she should naturally call them "older sister"...

"No need for that, I don't want to be called old," Huang E said with a smile. "We'll just get along well from now on."

"Okay, no matter what, let's get along well from now on." In this way, the competition turned into a friendly match, and Qihua became even happier, saying, "Hurry up and give me the questions."

"The rain in Jiangyang makes the willow branches soft and supple, and the warm breeze in Luzhou fills the towers with spring," Huang E said softly.

Both lines end with three characters: "春满楼" and "柳丝柔", which rhyme with the eleventh rhyme of the lower level tone, without any violation.

The seven girls were indeed quite something; after chattering for a while, Miss Lei clapped her hands and exclaimed, "I'm pregnant—"

He raised his voice and said, "The moon gazes upon the flowers before the building, and I drift alone on the quiet river in the still night."

"Not bad, not bad." Everyone couldn't help but nod. The top of the building is true, the three-character ending is "moon gazing" and "alone boating", the eleventh rhyme is not in violation of the rules.

"Great! Great!" the girls cheered enthusiastically.

"A boat lies across a wild ferry crossing as the water flows eastward, its vast expanse of waves carrying the sorrow of parting." This was naturally no challenge for Huang E, who even deliberately made things more difficult for himself.

"Great! Great!" The crowd cheered loudly, and the girls also shouted their approval.

Unfortunately, Su Lu wasn't there to continue this time, so many of Miss Huang's jokes couldn't be delivered... The Seven Golden Flowers muttered for a while before finally managing to squeeze out a sentence before the timer ended:
"Sorrowful dreams linger around the fragrant isle, the mist dissipates over the river and sky, the moon shines brightly on my fur coat..."

"Hahaha!" Everyone laughed upon hearing this, "What's the deal with 'Full Moon Fur'?"

"A fur coat is a fur coat. This detail of moonlight shining on the clothes emphasizes the traveler's loneliness and sleeplessness," Miss Bai explained forcefully.

"You can't even wear a fur coat in Luzhou in the spring," someone laughed.

"This is a traveler from Luzhou longing for spring in the cold north!" Miss Li stamped her foot and exclaimed, "What's wrong?!"

"Alright, alright, you're good at making things up." The others had no choice but to let them pass.

Huang E felt he had given them enough face, so he ended the low-level game by saying:

"The misty river night is as dark as a ghost town; I lean alone against the railing and gaze at the ancient hills."

"What a wonderful 'Qiu Ning Jiang Wu'! It brings the whole couplet to life!" Qi Hua was indeed speechless. Before the timeout was over, she raised her hands in surrender and said, "We lost. Sister is really amazing."

These two lines of poetry alone show that Huang E's skill level is far superior to theirs... "Thank you for your kind words, I'm almost out of words too." Huang E smiled and stood up, saying, "Let's leave now and let the real protagonist continue."

"Okay, okay." Qi Hua stood up, jumped over the stream, pulled Huang E aside, and they all expressed their admiration.

Isn't this just a strategy they used to befriend Huang E?
~~
The gazes of everyone in the forest returned to Su Lu and the Seven Sons.

This is the second game. If Su Lu wins, the match will be over. If he loses, there will be a third game.

In the previous round, it was the Seven Sons' turn to set the question. In this round, it was Su Lu's turn to set the question. He said in a deep voice, "Let's continue. Three-character top-three-character bottom-three rhyme!"

"You're courting death!" Li Zongbao snorted. The difficulty had increased significantly, which was naturally very advantageous to the side that went first.

"Is Young Master Su deliberately giving us a free win, just in case?" the crowd chuckled.

"Let's begin." Su Lu simply smiled.

After a brief discussion, the seven people, including Deng Dengdeng, smiled and said, "Since Young Master Su is so kind, we'll gladly accept it. Our first couplet is—"

As he spoke, he recited loudly: "In the warm spring of Lujiang, the willow branches are soft, the wind stirs the orchid boat, and the moon accompanies the tower."

“You can’t even handle a casual remark,” Li Zongbao laughed loudly at Su Lu.

Su Lu ignored him completely, his eyes slightly closed as his mind raced, rapidly combining words. He relied entirely on his sharp mind to play this game.

The specific method is to take out all the usable characters from the rhyme book, quickly arrange and combine them, find all the available combinations, and then select the most suitable one...

The method was simple and unpretentious, but his quick thinking was undeniable. However, it was indeed quite difficult; even he couldn't find a suitable combination right away.

"It's really too difficult." Everyone discussed among themselves, "The beginning has to use the three words 'Moonlit Pavilion,' and the end has to use the same three words again. Young Master Su has shot himself in the foot this time."

"Can't he keep up?" She Yunlu grabbed Su Tai's arm anxiously and shook it vigorously, saying, "You have to think of something!"

"Stop shaking!" Su Tai hissed. She Yunluo immediately became obedient.

"Oh," she replied, then asked tentatively, "Do you have a solution?"

“No.” Sutai shook his head.

"Then what makes you so great?" She Yunluo said speechlessly.

"Isn't it urgent for me?" Su Tai said in a muffled voice.

Everyone was worried for Su Lu, except for Zhu Ziming and Huang E.

The former was pure blind confidence, while the latter stemmed from his recognition of Su Lu… Huang E believed that since he dared to set such a question, he must have been confident. It was impossible for him to be stifled from the start.

Time ticked by, and Miss Zhu, who had acted as arbitrator, sighed and said softly, "Time's up. Hongzhi, do you have it yet?"

Su Lufang opened his eyes, nodded and smiled, "I'm pregnant."

"Oh? Tell us quickly!" the crowd urged loudly. "Let us see, can anyone actually match this thing?"

Then Su Lu said in a deep voice: "The moon accompanies the shadows of flowers on the tower, and the boat lies across the wild ferry where gulls leap on the beach!"

"..." The room fell silent for a moment, and everyone had to think it over before they could judge whether it was right or wrong.

First, it begins with "Moon Accompanying the Tower," perfectly matching the rhyme scheme. Then, "Moon" rhymes with "Leaping," "Full" with "Tidal Bore," and "Tower" with "Seagull"—the three characters rhyme perfectly!
"Wow, that's amazing!" After realizing what was happening, a deafening exclamation rang out in the forest, attracting tourists to come and watch. Unfortunately, it was already so crowded that they couldn't see anything.

Those who arrived later could only hear the boasts of those who came earlier, saying that Young Master Su, the tiger hunter, was fighting the Seven Sons inside...

I thought there was a group fight going on inside, now I'm even more eager to watch.

~~
Now all the pressure is back on the seven boys, and everyone thinks they're doomed...

Sure enough, they were all sweating profusely, scratching their heads and unable to come up with anything for a long time.

But just as Miss Zhu announced that the time was up, Bai Yunshan suddenly had a flash of inspiration and exclaimed, "I've got it!"

"Tell us quickly!" everyone urged.

"Gulls leap across the beach, their cries echoing through the waves; boats glide across the water and clouds at dusk!" Baiyun Mountain then raised his hands high and proclaimed:
“‘Leaping Gull’ is a perfect match, skimming against leaping, evening against beach, boat against gull!”

"Awooooo!" Liu Zi was overjoyed after hearing this, and actually lifted Baiyun Mountain up and threw it into the sky!

"Young Master Bai lives up to his reputation!" Everyone had also tasted the truth and gave him a thumbs up, saying, "As expected of the former number one talent, he's still got it."

Bai Yunshan smiled wryly upon hearing this: "I am clearly of the same rank as Brother Hongzhi, so how come I am old?"

"Is it correct?" Li Zongbao looked at Su Lu triumphantly, as if he were the one who had come up with the couplet.

"Let it go." Deng Dengdeng was Deng Dengying's older brother, so he couldn't bear to see Su Lu embarrassed. He laughed and said, "Let's call it a draw this time. Neither of us should call the other grandpa. We'll be good brothers from now on."

“How can that be?” Li Zongsheng and the other Li brothers objected, shouting, “A gentleman’s word is his bond. If you can’t afford to play, don’t play. If you do play, you have to follow the rules.”

“That’s right!” Li Zongbao nodded. Last time, Su Lu made them lose face, and this time they were determined to get revenge.

He sneered and questioned Su Lu, "Is it still right? If not, admit defeat, and we still have a decisive round."

"This is the decisive round." But Su Lu laughed nonchalantly and said, "I will defeat you in the next round."

(End of this chapter)