Chapter 45 Unexpected

  "I hope Old Zhang will agree, and from now on the two families of Zhang and Liu will be tied together in a Qin-Jin alliance." Liu Lao Shi said to Zhang Pu Liang.

  At this time, Liu Yitiao saw the door curtain of the inner room move slightly, and two bright and curious eyes appeared, secretly watching the living room. After touching Liu Yitiao's gaze, they shrank back in fear again.

  It was Zhang Chuchu. Liu Yitiao smiled to himself, and a little girl appeared in his mind, peeking through the gap of the door curtain to steal a glimpse of her future husband. It seemed that this Zhang Chuchu was also unwilling to marry someone she had never met before.

  About the engagement, Liu Yitiao didn't say a word, because it wasn't his turn to speak. In ancient times, marriage engagements were always decided by parents. Today, Liu Yitiao was just a prop, put on display for the Zhang family to see, including Zhang Chuchu who was behind the door curtain.

  Zhang Youliang took a sip of tea and said with some embarrassment: "Liu, the marriage between Zhang and Liu families has my full support, but whether we accept the betrothal gifts depends on Liu Xian's talent."

  Zhang Wu Liang sighed and said, "To be honest with you, Brother Liu, my daughter is a bit unruly. She followed her younger brother to learn some poetry and literature when she was young, and since then she has thought that she has some knowledge in her heart, so she doesn't take ordinary men seriously. When she was 14 years old, she made a grand vow: this life will not marry unless it is a talented person, and those who are inferior to her in talent will not be married. Otherwise, she would rather die than obey. I know that women are strong-willed, so I didn't dare force her, so her marriage has been delayed until today."

  Unexpectedly, how come I've never heard of such a thing before? No wonder San Gu said it wouldn't be easy to marry Zhang's daughter back then. It turns out there was this too. Old Liu stared for half a day before asking: "Zhang young brother, although San Yuan County is not big, the number of talented people is not small, and young talents are as numerous as cow hair, but in these two years, hasn't there been one person who can surpass your daughter in terms of talent?"

  Zhang Youliang shook his head and said, "In terms of talent, my son Chu Wen is not as good as his sister, let alone other young masters. To be honest with you, Brother Liu, before you came, thirty-two families had already sent betrothal gifts, but they all left in disappointment."

  "This, such a strange thing, why have I never heard of it before?" Old Liu looked at Liu Yitiao with one eye, he knew that Liu Yitiao had some talent, but compared to some talented scholars in San Yuan County, especially Zhang Chuwen who had already passed the imperial examination, could he hold his own?

  Those geniuses are very concerned about their reputation, and they naturally wouldn't dare to say such things themselves. And our Zhang family also needs to consider the reputation of our young daughter, so we haven't dared to reveal it to outsiders either." In fact, Zhang Boliang had another sentence that he didn't say, which is, if this matter were to be spread out, who would still dare to come and propose marriage? Would their daughters still be able to get married?

  He glanced at the eyes that had appeared again from behind the curtain, and Liu Yitiao had a plan in his mind. Isn't this just the clever segment of choosing a husband often performed on TV? He stood up from his chair, bowed to Zhang Boliang, and asked: "May I ask Uncle Zhang, how did Miss Zhang come to surpass others in learning?"

  "Please sit down, Mr. Liu." Zhang Youliang smiled and gestured for Liu to take a seat, saying: "My daughter has only come up with three questions, which will be shared among each of the talented scholars who have come to propose marriage. If anyone can answer all three correctly, they may become her husband. However, in these two years, no one has been able to answer even one question correctly. Mr. Liu, you must prepare well."

  Liu Yitiao smiled meaninglessly and said, "Thanks to Uncle Zhang's concern, I will definitely do my best." After finishing speaking, he turned around and loudly said towards the door curtain of the inner chamber, "In that case, please let Miss Chuchu come up with a topic!"

  The curtain fluttered slightly without any wind, and Liu Yitiao knew that Zhang Chuchu had entered.

  Before long, a small white hand handed over a piece of paper, Zhang Chu heard walked up to receive it, and then handed it to Liu Yitiao.

  Liu Yitiao took over the paper and saw a vertical line of elegant small characters written on it: "First question: Because of lotus, get lotus root?"

  "What's the password?" Liu furrowed his brow, recalling a couplet he had seen before: "The lotus seed is bitter in heart, the pear child has an empty belly." It was written by a father who was about to be executed to his son. It was also a homophone couplet, with 'lotus' sounding like 'pity', 'pear' sounding like 'separate', and 'belly' sounding like 'father'. When read together, it became "Pitied child's heart is bitter, separated father has an empty belly."

  Take another look at this, is it because of the lotus that you got lucky? Obviously, 'lotus' and 'what' are homophones, and 'lucky' and 'encounter' are homophones. This is someone questioning him: Liu Yitiao, what did you encounter to get so lucky? What a wonderful thought, what an overbearing tone. No wonder so many people were stumped.

  Liu Yitiao began to take a little interest in this Zhang Chuchu.

  In ancient times, under such a patriarchal environment, she had the courage to choose her own husband, and then proposed such a tricky problem, this woman is not ordinary.

  Liu Yitiao asked Zhang Chuheng to bring a pen and inkstone. After closing his eyes for a moment, he picked up the pen and wrote below the question: "You don't need plum blossoms when you have apricot blossoms!" He finished writing and handed it directly to Zhang Chuheng, indicating that he should pass it on.

  Zhang Chu had been thinking about it just now, what did his sister's strange question mean? If he was Liu Yitiao, how should he answer? Seeing Liu Yitiao hand over the paper, he was stunned at first, and answered so quickly?

  He took the paper, glanced at it, and read in a low voice: "Got lotus because of荷? No need for plum with apricot!" Zhang Chu heard this and suddenly realized, his footsteps stopped again, he turned around and bowed to Liu Yitiao with great respect, saying: "Mr. Liu is a great talent, please accept my bow!"

  "Ah~" Liu Yitiao hastily stepped aside and said: "Brother Chuwen, what's the meaning of this? I'm not worthy to receive such treatment."

  Zhang Chu heard straightened up, looked at Liu Yitiao with a face of admiration and said: "Mr. Liu can see the hidden article in this sentence in such a short time and make corresponding answers, Chu heard deeply admires Mr. Liu. Mr. deserves Chu's respect."

  "Big brother!" A clear and crisp voice came from the inner chamber, as melodious as a nightingale singing in the valley, like a clear spring dripping on jade. It sounded very pleasant.

  "Ah!" Zhang Chu heard the sound and patted his own forehead, only then remembering what he was supposed to do. He picked up Liu Yitiao's answer sheet and headed towards the inner chamber. He said with a smile: "Don't worry, little sister, big brother will bring it over for you right away!"

  The curtain fluttered as if blaming Zhang Chu for speaking so directly.

  Zhang Chuyu handed the paper in. After waiting for half a day, there was no response inside, and it was unknown whether it had been passed or not. Looking at Liu standing there calmly and leisurely, without any sign of impatience, Zhang Chuyu couldn't help but feel another wave of admiration.

  About half a moment later, there was movement behind the door curtain again, and that small white hand stretched out once more.

  A crisp and sweet voice came from behind the curtain again: "The second question, please take a look, Mr. Liu."