Chapter 7866
7866 Chapter 7864-
After all, both sides had the same needs for an Alliance. In fact, Sima Zhongxiao was even more urgent. The Liu family could come to Hongshang Commandery. No matter what they did, he had to entertain them well.
Lin Yi couldn’t help but rub his chin, thinking that he should go back and see if there were any peach trees at the dam. If there weren’t any … Would it be too late to plant them on the spot?
Bragging felt good, and bragging felt good … But he had gone off track!
He should be the one bragging, so he had to make it up no matter what.
Liu Ziyu looked at Lin Yi with admiration. As expected, there was nothing that Zhong DA’s cousin didn’t know!
He had been in Hongshang Commandery for so many years. He had heard of Jinjiang, but he didn’t know that it had such a beautiful place. Next spring, when the flowers bloomed, he must go and see it with his cousin!
The surrounding people were all discussing, not just about the dam of Jinjiang, but more about the second half of the couplet that Lin Yi had matched.
It could be said that when this second half was released, it instantly shocked everyone!
This couplet, no matter in rhythm, concept, or the mechanism in the couplet, was completely compatible. It could be said to be flawless!
They were all on the left side of the five elements, and none of them were in the same order as the first half of the Thunder couplet. The first half was fire, metal, water, earth, and wood, while the second half was wood, fire, metal, water, and earth, containing the meaning of the five elements!
The top and bottom of the couplet were neat and tidy, and the artistic conception was profound. Everyone could see the smoke locking up the pond and Willows. It was a beautiful painting of the morning and evening.
Although there was no specific painting of the Peach Blossom River bank, everyone could imagine the scene of spring in their minds. It was vivid and unobstructed!
One was gentle and graceful, while the other was passionate and unrestrained. The two images formed a sharp contrast and could be said to be a perfect match!
“Young master Zhong DA’s second half is excellent. It can be said to be perfect in terms of dueling, intent, and mechanisms! The only flaw is the name of Jinjiang!”
The palace maid in charge of judging smiled even more, but her serious energy was not at all lacking,”The pond in the first half is a general name. Any pond can be substituted into it.”
“And the Jin Jiang in the second half of young master Zhong DA’s couplet is a specific place and can not correspond to the general name of pond. It can be said to be a failure!”
Sima Zhongxiao heaved a sigh of relief when he heard this. It was good that he had failed!
Otherwise, if it was really that perfect, he would really lose all his face as the Big Brother of the Sima clan!
If Sima Zhong DA’s second half also got seven points or less, then it would be perfect!
Sima Zhongxiao thought that he was lucky, and even started thinking about how he could pretend to comfort Lin Yi.
For this kind of thing, he had to prepare a draft in advance!
Unfortunately, before he could finish his mental draft, the palace maid who commented had already announced with a smile,”Young master Zhong DA’s second half, other than the small flaw of Jinjiang, is perfect in all other aspects. Thus, this couplet can get nine points!”
Sima Zhongxiao’s face instantly stiffened. How many points did you say?
I didn’t hear you clearly. I’ll give you a chance to reorganize your words!
At this moment, Sima Zhongxiao really wanted to kill someone!
I was just about to go comfort Sima Zhongda, and you’re telling me he got nine points?
Wasn’t there a huge failure? Was it appropriate to only deduct one point for such a big mistake?
He was roaring madly in his heart, but he didn’t dare to say it out loud. He was afraid that if he did, the other party would casually answer that it was appropriate, and that would be embarrassing.
Furthermore, this was the palace of a conferred Kingdom in the Dragon state. No matter how dissatisfied Sima Zhongxiao was, he would not dare to be impudent!
The high score of nine points shocked the audience once again.
He knew that this second half was good, but he did not expect it to be good to this extent!
Previously, they had thought that Sima Zhongxiao’s cannon suppressing Sea city Tower was not bad. They had thought that seven points was a little high, but now it was nine points?
So the eternal standard answer of ‘smoke seals the Willows over the pond’, could it be considered to have come out?
In the world of scholars, even the slightest bit of regret was a form of beauty!
“Is there any other young master who wants to try matching the first half of the couplet?”
The palace maid in charge of judging seemed to want to end the game of “smoke locks the Willows over the pond,” but she still wanted to give the others a chance, so she asked.
In fact, with Sima Zhongxiao and Lin Yi’s continuous blows, even if the others had some ideas, they would be too embarrassed to show it now.
Everyone was conceited that they had some talent. When comparing their second half with the two Sima brothers, they more or less had a rough idea of who was better!
The palace maid waited for a while, and her eyes swept over the people who shook their heads slightly to show that they had given up. She was not surprised by this and immediately smiled and nodded,”Since no one wants to challenge him, then I will announce that young master Zhong da has won this time.”
“Because the score has reached nine points, on top of the ten points, there is an additional eight points as a reward. The total is eighteen points!”
Even Lin Yi himself was surprised-he didn’t think that the couplets would be worth eighteen points!
One had to know that the initial couplets only gave one point, and the maximum number of couplets per person was 20. If everyone went to match the basic version of the couplets, they might not even get 18 points even if they reached the maximum number.
After all, it was normal to fail once in a while.
Lin Yi was surprised, and so were his friends around him-but there was nothing they could do!
Sima Zhongxiao wanted to cry but had no tears. If he had known this would happen, he would have admitted defeat and stopped Sima Zhongda from getting involved even if he had to speak up personally!
I was too careless!
Compared to losing face, this kind of loss of benefits and even more face was obviously much worse!
The old eunuch reappeared and looked down at the crowd.””It’s time for the second round of couplets. Young masters, please move to the Imperial Academy for the third round of the competition.”
The Imperial Academy was not the Imperial study. The latter was the Prince’s private property and ordinary people were not allowed to enter.
The former was an Academy in the palace, dedicated to teaching princes and princesses.
With that, the old eunuch led the way, walking at a steady pace. Lin Yi and the others could only follow behind him in square steps.
After walking for a while, the group finally arrived at the Imperial Academy.
This place was actually similar to the Imperial garden. There were exotic flowers and plants everywhere, pavilions and terraces, carved railings and Jade tiles, and small bridges with nine bends.
The only thing that was next to the Academy was a classroom-like building, with more than a dozen neat writing tables.
However, the entire space was quite large, and it had no problem accommodating hundreds of people.
This was referring to the use of desks of the same standard. If it was the kind of desks and chairs found in the school classrooms in the secular world, it would not be a problem even if there were a few times more.
“Young masters, please take a look. Here is a rubbings of an ancient book’s incomplete text. There are a total of 1163 ancient characters!”
The old eunuch didn’t let Lin Yi and the others sit, pulling open a folding screen and showing them the ancient characters printed on it.