Chapter 11: Literary and Martial Arts (Part 1)

  Chong De's face turned bright red with rage, but he knew the Cloud family was too powerful. Even the Crown Prince wouldn't dare to completely fall out with them now. Moreover, it was uncertain whether the Crown Prince would be willing to thoroughly cut ties with the Cloud family for his own sake. In the end, Chong De could only suppress his anger, which seemed about to explode, and said in a low voice: "The poem bestowed by Young Master Cloud today, Chong De will not dare to forget even if he dies."

  Yun Cong saw the ferocity in his eyes, although he was not afraid, but rather disliked it, and also restrained his smile, coldly said: "Whether to remember or not is up to you, this young master doesn't care." Apparently, his meaning was: You can bear a grudge if you want, I don't put you in my heart at all.

  Yun Cong finished speaking and ignored Zhong De, turning his head to face Lin Sheng, smiling calmly: "I don't know if the Fourth Prince still has the interest to continue? If the Prince is still interested, Yun San won't be stingy about accompanying him."

  Lin Sheng was somewhat skeptical, this Yun Zheng kid used to be nothing but a roughneck with a strong fist, completely lacking in other areas such as literary talent. Even last year, he didn't seem to have any exceptional abilities, so how did he suddenly change into an extraordinary genius in just one year?

  He turned his head to look at Heng Xuzi, who hastily lowered his eyelids, with a pretentious expression of "eyes observing the nose and nose observing the heart". It was clear that he had already been intimidated by Yun Zheng's words and did not dare to look again. Lin Sheng felt slightly angry in his heart and cast his gaze at the middle-aged scholar once more.

  The middle-aged scholar did not evade Lin Sheng's inquiring gaze, but neither did he nod, his expression was as usual. Lin Sheng took a deep breath and said slowly: "Since Young Master Yun has such confidence, then let's have some more fun - Mr. Guo, why don't you accompany Young Master Yun to exchange a few couplets?"

  Mr. Guo cupped his hands: "Guo Yu obeys orders. Cloud Gongzi, I don't know if it's like before, with me coming up with the upper couplet and you responding with the lower one?"

  Yun Teng raised an eyebrow: "Same, you have three chances to come up with a upper verse. If I can't match it, I lose; if I do match it, I'll only come up with one verse, and if you can match it too, I still lose." He saw that Gu Yu's eyebrow was raised, clearly somewhat dissatisfied, but he didn't mind, continuing on his own: "However, there is a restriction - no matter who comes up with the lower verse, the time must be limited to within half an incense stick, and cannot exceed it, otherwise it also counts as a loss."

  Guo Yu's anger flashed for a moment, then disappeared, and he calmly nodded: "Since Yun San Gongzi is so confident, Guo Mou will not be rude." He saw that Yun Zheng had nothing else to say, and continued: "In front of the mountain rock, the ancient tree withered, this wood is used as firewood."

  Yun Cong listened and immediately turned his head, smiling at the 13th Princess and Qin Muliang, leaving the two girls bewildered. Just as they were wondering what was going on, Yun Cong burst out laughing and said: "The women in the long skirt tent are good, but the young girls are even better!"

  Everyone heard this and smiled kindly on their faces, Qin Mulian's face turned a bit red, biting her lips, but didn't say anything. The 13th princess whispered: "I knew you'd say something bad, I don't know where you learned it from - Mulian sister, let's ignore him later."

  Qin Mulian glanced at her and smiled: "I don't mind, I'm just afraid someone can't do it."

  "Mulian sister teased me again." The thirteenth princess said, "But I'm not afraid... Hmph, just wait until sister has a crush, and see if I won't laugh back." The two girls suddenly burst into laughter.

  Kuo Yu also smiled and said: "Yun San Gongzi is indeed a wonderful person."

  Yun Cong smiled and said, "A wonderful person? I've always thought that only beautiful girls can be called wonderful people. People like us men, no matter how we look, our talents or even our status, are not worthy of being called wonderful. Hehe, just my personal opinion, for your reference."

  Guo Yu smiled freely: "The benevolent see benevolence, the wise see wisdom, this doesn't matter. Hmm, Guo's second couplet is: Red maple leaves, black geese in a blue sky, why is the upright color missing?"

  Yun Ce frowned, then suddenly said with a smile: "This is a clever play on words. Maple, chrysanthemum, wild goose, and sky are all symbols of autumn, but the element corresponding to autumn in the Five Elements is metal, which corresponds to white in color; wood corresponds to green, water to black, fire to red, and earth to yellow. So it's no wonder that this riddle lacks a true color - it's indeed very clever."

  Guo Yu smiled: "Yun San Gongzi saw through the mechanism at a glance. It seems that Guo's couplet is going to lose again."

  Yun Cong smiled and thought for a moment, then said: "Zhuque Xuanwu, Canglong Bailong, why are they only missing the middle palace?"

  Kuo Yu's eyes narrowed, and he exclaimed: "Cloud Three's thoughts are swift and decisive, I truly admire him. These four sacred beasts guard the south, north, east, and west, with Zhu Que representing fire in the south, Xuan Wu representing water in the north, Qing Long (actually Cyan Dragon) representing wood in the east, and Bai Hu representing metal in the west. Only the central earth represented by Hou Chen is missing, indeed it's just lacking the middle palace."

  Yun Cong smiled and said, "Mr. Guo doesn't have to be in a hurry to feel sentimental, it's better to bring out the third couplet first."

  Guo Yu burst out laughing and said, "Young Master Yun is right, it's my fault. Hmm, the final couplet is: Take two rivers, arrange eight arrays, six come out seven capture, five zhang yuanming lanterns forty-nine lamps, one heart only for repaying three wishes."

  When this couplet came out, everyone was shocked. The numbers one to ten were all embedded in the upper line of the couplet. Although it's difficult to create such a couplet, the main problem is that it has to be done within the limited space of a half-column incense stick. No wonder Guo was able to come up with two couplets in a row without being anxious at all - he had an ace up his sleeve!

  As expected, Yun Zheng's eyebrows furrowed immediately, his left hand placed horizontally on his chest, his right elbow resting on his left hand, and his thumb and index finger pinched his chin. He lowered his head and paced back and forth. The others were also mentally drafting their speeches, and the scene suddenly became quiet. Gu Yu just smiled as usual, looking at Yun Zheng, neither surprised nor complacent.

  "It's done!" Half a stick of incense had not yet passed, and Yun Zhong suddenly raised his head, laughing: "Pacify the Western Shu, subdue the Southern Barbarians, defend against the East and North, change the central army's earth-wood-gold-water-fire tactics, use fire to attack from the water's surface."

  Guo Yu's expression changed slightly, and he immediately calmed down, nodding his head: "Inserting 'east, south, west, north, center; metal, wood, water, fire, earth' is not difficult. What's difficult is that I mentioned Zhuge in the upper verse, and amazingly, you still managed to mention Zhuge in the lower verse. Guo is deeply impressed."

  Everyone was still thinking, but Yun Zhēng had already come up with a brilliant couplet, making people involuntarily admire him in their hearts. They all looked at Yun Zhēng with anticipation, wanting to see what kind of couplet this master would come up with and whether it would be difficult for Guō Yǔ to match.

  Yun Cong smiled and said: "Just now Mr. Guo's clever trick was quite interesting, why don't I also come up with one - 'Throw away the golden hook to catch the curved moon'."

  "He murmured to himself: 'Fling away the golden hook, curved moon...' The last stroke of the character 'fling' is a pictorial hook, corresponding to 'golden hook'. After removing 'golden hook', it becomes 'moon'. And 'curved moon', from the perspective of form and meaning, is actually the last stroke of the character 'fling', also corresponding to 'golden hook'. So it can also be understood that the character 'fling' is split into two characters: 'curved' and 'moon'. The characters 'golden hook' and 'hook', combined with the previous character 'go', 'hook' minus '厶' becomes a 'hook' character. The three characters 'golden hook', 'hook', and 'hook' share the same radical. Moreover, 'gold' perfectly adorns 'hook', 'hook' perfectly combines with 'hook', and 'hook' perfectly combines with 'curved moon', thus becoming 'hook' again... This sentence, 'Fling away the golden hook, curved moon', has a majestic and unrestrained atmosphere, carefree and self-satisfied, truly a masterpiece."

  Yun Cong was stunned by his words, thinking to himself: "Damn, I didn't think it was so complicated when I saw this couplet back then. Basically, I just noticed three things: first, the word 'hook' shouldn't be hooked like a crescent moon; second, the hook-like stroke appears at the end with the two characters for 'gold hook'; third, all three characters in 'Jin Gou Diao' have the radical for 'gold'. How did this guy surnamed Guo manage to come up with so many twists and turns just by listening?"

  Guo Yu pondered for a moment, then said dejectedly: "I, Guo, am at a loss. Please, Third Master Yun, grant me a couplet."

  The people around him were also eagerly watching Yun Zhēng, looking at how he would deal with his own absolute.

  Yun Cong burst out laughing: "Bring me a silk thread to wrap around the long bow."