I just wrote a love poem, how did that make me so powerful?

Mr. Zhang was lost in thought for a moment, then suddenly turned around.

He looked at everyone in the hall, cupped his hands in greeting, and his smile had returned to its usual composure, as if the brief moment of embarrassment had never happened.

"Your Highness, please wait. I have benefited greatly from the exchange of poems at the poetry gathering just now. However... there is still some unfinished business in making friends through poetry."

I have a suggestion: I would like to invite the talented gentlemen of Hengyang to grace us with their presence once more and to try a different kind of entertainment.

Prince Zhao glanced at Mr. Zhang and picked up his teacup.

Upon hearing this, the Crown Prince of Jin's expression turned amused, a half-smile playing on his lips: "Mr. Zhang, what kind of game would you like to play instead?"

Mr. Zhang stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze slowly sweeping across the faces of everyone present.

"Couplets. They are impromptu, with a time limit of half a cup of tea, and if you can't come up with a matching couplet, you lose. Poems and songs can be prepared in advance, but couplets rely entirely on quick wit on the spot. I am not very talented, but I would like to ask the talented scholars of Hengyang for some tips."

He spoke politely, but the sharpness in his tone was unmistakable.

The meaning is crystal clear...

You tried to fool me with those prepared poems earlier, but now I'm going to get serious.

The atmosphere in the hall became tense again.

In some ways, composing this couplet is even more difficult than writing a poem...

Those with a natural talent for poetry can achieve it with just a little effort.

But to master couplets, one not only needs talent, but also needs to immerse oneself in the content for many years.

Su Man glanced at Xiao Mingyuan.

Xiao Mingyuan picked up another pastry and put it in his mouth. His face remained expressionless, but his hand paused slightly.

His heart was already pounding...

couplet?

He and Xu Qing had never practiced this before.

But he didn't turn around to look at Xu Qing.

After all, Xu Qing had said...

When you panic, don't look back, and don't show weakness.

Seeing that no one answered, Mr. Zhang's smile deepened. He walked to the desk, picked up his pen, and began to write.

After finishing the first couplet, he held up the paper and read aloud: "A spring breeze fills my sleeves with fragrance."

This is a descriptive couplet with an elegant and refined artistic conception. The parallelism is not tricky, and it seems to be meant to warm up the atmosphere.

A local student mustered his courage, stood up, thought for a moment, and replied, "The moonlight at midnight casts a shadow across the window."

It was neat and tidy, not particularly outstanding, but there were no mistakes either.

The student's face showed a hint of anticipation.

Mr. Zhang glanced at it, smiled slightly, and spoke casually:

"It is neat, but it's a pity. It's obvious that they've memorized a lot, but it has no originality and is not presentable."

The student's face flushed red, and he lowered his head and sat back down.

No one can refute it, because experienced people can naturally see it too.

This second line is indeed quite lacking.

The atmosphere in the hall grew even colder.

Mr. Zhang then picked up his brush and wrote the second couplet: "The fine rain wets the clothes but cannot be seen."

This time, another local student stood up and added, "Idle flowers fall to the ground without a sound."

This response was quite clever and the sentiment was fitting, prompting many in the audience to nod in approval.

The student himself felt good about it and straightened his back a bit.

Mr. Zhang laughed.

The smile held undisguised contempt: "Isn't this an old saying from before? I've read it too. Using other people's work to fill space... Is this all the students from Hengyang are capable of?"

The student's face instantly turned bright red, as if he wanted to swallow the paper he had just written on.

Zhou Kang muttered under his breath, "Mr. Zhang is right. What kind of skill is it to copy others?"

Sun Decai echoed him, their voices not loud, but they were particularly jarring in the quiet hall.

With two people being belittled to the point of being worthless, the morale of the local students visibly plummeted.

Even the headmaster, Zou Linchuan, frowned slightly, picked up his teacup, and then put it down again.

Li Yan stood up.

He put down the folding fan in his hand, walked to the table, cupped his hands in greeting to Mr. Zhang, and said in a tone that was neither humble nor arrogant, "This junior will give it a try."

Mr. Zhang glanced at him, his gaze carrying a hint of scrutiny...

Without saying much, he picked up his brush and wrote the third couplet: "The autumn breeze is refreshing, blowing across thousands of mountains and rivers."

Li Yan barely paused before picking up his pen and continuing: "Spring rain nourishes all things, calling back the four seas and nine provinces."

Mr. Zhang paused for a moment.

He then wrote a fourth couplet: "Green waters, without strings, a timeless painting."

Li Yan replied without hesitation: "Green mountains need no ink for a poem that lasts ten thousand years."

Mr. Zhang's brows finally furrowed slightly.

He took a deep breath and wrote the fifth couplet, which had many more characters than before: "Water and mountains, everywhere bright and beautiful."

After pondering for a moment, Li Yan picked up his pen and wrote: "Sunny days and rainy days, always full of wonder."

Each of the three couplets is more elaborate and elegant than the last, and they are all written in one go without a single pause.

Li Yan put down his pen, took a half step back, and looked calm.

The atmosphere in the hall finally showed signs of warming up.

The two classmates couldn't help but whisper a cheer, and Zou Linchuan's hand holding the teacup loosened slightly, a barely perceptible smile finally appearing on his lips.

Mr. Zhang remained silent for a while, read through Li Yan's three couplets from beginning to end, and slowly nodded: "Young Master Li, they are indeed excellent. I cannot find any fault with these three couplets."

He spoke with a forced reluctance, as if he had no choice but to admit it.

But then he changed the subject: "However... I have another couplet, please try to match it, Young Master Li."

He picked up his brush, dipped it in ink, and wrote slowly. After finishing, he turned the paper around to face everyone in the hall.

The first line is...

"In one village and two neighborhoods, there are three teachers who do not know the Four Books, Five Classics and Six Principles, yet they dare to teach seven, eight or nine children. This is extremely audacious."

The hall fell silent for a moment.

After a moment, someone read the first line of the couplet aloud in a low voice, and then fell silent.

The first line of the couplet is filled with the numbers one through ten, and it also subtly mocks the local teachers in Hengyang for not even understanding the classics, yet daring to teach students.

It requires neatly embedding ten numbers while maintaining semantic coherence and imposing presence; the difficulty is indeed several levels higher than the previous ones.

Li Yan stared at the first line of the couplet, his fingers tapping lightly on the table.

He didn't move for a while.

A moment later, his pen remained suspended in mid-air, never falling.

After a short while, he slowly put down his pen, shook his head, and said, "I cannot come up with a matching couplet. This junior concedes defeat."

After he said that, his face tensed up.

He returned to his seat, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and said nothing more.

But the impact of Li Yan's surrender has already spread.

The hall fell silent once again.

Even Zou Linchuan put down his teacup, his gaze fixed on the first line of the couplet, his brows furrowed.

That was clearly an insult directed at him, but he was powerless to do anything about it.

This couplet is indeed too difficult!

The Prince of Jin leaned back in his chair, picked up his teacup, took a sip, slowly swallowed the tea, and then began to speak.

He couldn't suppress the smile on his face.

"It seems the talented scholars of Hengyang are only so skilled at couplets. I'm afraid no one can match Mr. Zhang's couplet."

He deliberately glanced at Xiao Mingyuan's chubby face and added, "Why is that young master who went into battle so quiet now?"

Xiao Mingyuan sat there, his smile remaining perfectly unchanged on his face.

Actually, I was incredibly panicked.