Chapter 4: Why Ask About Laozi?

  Everyone followed Yun Zhong's pointing direction and saw that the thirteenth princess had a phoenix-shaped silver hairpin on her bun, which slowly swayed with her nodding head, exactly like a "phoenix nod"!

  A group of sycophants suddenly fell silent, and the prince's smile also froze on his face for a moment. In his heart, he was extremely annoyed: Isn't this monk usually glib and boastful, claiming to be highly talented and learned? Look at the poor couplet he came up with, and it was actually matched by that Cloud family's martial artist offhand! How can I get down from here now?!

  The monk behind the prince obviously didn't expect Yun Zheng to be so quick-witted, and for a moment he was stunned, forgetting to think of a way to help the prince save face. Luckily, another old man with slightly white hair spoke up: "Why must a military general play with literature? I have a couplet, can you respond to it, Mr. Yun?"

  Yun Cong suddenly looked at this person, who was about 50 years old but looked much older. The gaze he gave Yun Cong was extremely unfriendly. Suddenly, Yun Cong remembered this person: Hong Chengjie. Five years ago, Hong Chengjie was the Langzhong of the Ministry of Revenue, responsible for military supplies in Hebei Province. His name was Chengjie, but in reality, he was a man without integrity, with a heart as black as ink, and had embezzled a large amount of grain and silver. He was finally exposed by Yun Lan's impeachment. Shen Lao Xiangye, who was close to the Yun family, took advantage of the situation to severely punish him, but unexpectedly, Hong Chengjie turned out to be one of the Crown Prince's secret pawns. In the end, he was spared his life thanks to the Crown Prince's intervention, but was stripped of his official position and fined 200,000 taels of silver. However, this incident had made him harbor a deep grudge against the Yun family, and now he was taking advantage of the situation to seek revenge - after all, "the son pays for the father's debts" is also a tradition in Chinese culture.

  Yun Cong didn't want to say anything more to this die-hard "opposition party", let alone the old man who kept muttering about "military generals don't need to bother with literature". The hell I don't, you're not happy? You're not happy, I'm happy. So he calmly said: "Please."

  Hong Chengjie lowered his head and took two steps back, a hint of gloominess at the corner of his mouth: "Poetry is for Confucians to write, you little yellow-bearded kid would do better to go home."

  Is this still a couplet? It's clearly a naked provocation, indeed birds of a feather flock together!

  As soon as this was said, the crown prince suddenly turned from anger to joy, as if he had been holding his breath for half a day and suddenly let it out. The Thirteen Princess and Yun Zheng were both furious at the same time, the Thirteen Princess's willow eyebrows stood upright, just about to scold, but heard Yun Zheng coldly hum a sound, the tone was cold like the nine nether Yin wind: "The road is for people to walk on, let the old man with white hair make way!"

  Hong Chengjie turned his head to glance at the Crown Prince's carriage, and indeed saw that it had blocked the main road. However, he didn't think much of it, after all, it was the Crown Prince's carriage, what business did it have with him? Instead, he suddenly had an idea, and with a cold face said: "The young ox is ignorant and thinks the road is narrow."

  Yun Cong didn't wait for the thirteenth princess to get angry, and instead put on a proud face, looking up at the sky: "The great roc has ambitions but hates the low sky."

  The thirteenth princess listened with great joy, and loudly praised: "Well said!" Then, with a smug face, she swept her eyes over the crown prince, Hong Chengjie, and their entourage: "Crown Prince brother, Father Emperor has appointed so many scholars for you, how is it that not even one of them can come up with a decent couplet? As everyone knows, Cloud Three is from a military family, and his strengths lie in martial arts and strategy. Poetry and literature are just his hobbies. Even if Cloud Three is naturally talented... but the 'scholars' by Second Brother's side have read books for half their lives, they can't really... Hehe, if that's really the case, then I'll have to tell Father Emperor about it, so he won't be deceived by those fake literary masters."

  The crown prince was angry in his heart, but unfortunately he had no great literary talent, so he could only glare at Hong Chengjie. Hong Chengjie's forehead was sweating, and after pacing back and forth a few times, his face suddenly lit up with joy: "A mantis trying to stop a chariot, a tiger leaning over a river, what can a common man say about bravery?"

  The thirteenth princess seemed to have already believed in Yun Zheng's literary talent and quick wit, but when she turned her gaze away, she didn't seem as anxious and flustered as before. Yun Zheng thought to himself, "Just based on this couplet, you think you can stump me? Have I not read all the books of my past life until they're worn out?" He didn't rush to answer, but instead said leisurely, "Ants climb locust trees, and aphids shake trees; fools recklessly claim to be heroes!" He felt quite pleased with himself, and with a self-satisfied smile, he reached back and pulled out a folding fan from his waist, snapped it open with a loud crack, fanned himself twice, and gazed at Hong Chengjie with a warm smile.

  Young masters love to play with a fan to show off their elegance and charm, it's a common phenomenon. However, when Hong Chengjie saw Yun Zheng take out a fan, his face lit up with joy, and he got an inspiration: "Little martial artist, wearing winter clothes, holding a summer fan, I'm afraid you've never read the spring and autumn annals!"

  Yun Cong was taken aback, "Young master, I'm fine, not afraid of the cold!" However, his anger still simmered, and his thoughts were racing like electricity. He glanced at the smiling prince and Hong Chengjie, noticing that Hong was dressed like a bear, looking like a big dumpling. Suddenly remembering that this old man was from the south, he couldn't help but curve his mouth into a smile: "Old Confucian scholar, born in the south, coming to the north, I wonder if you can handle the cold?" While speaking, Yun Cong also sneered and glanced at Hong Chengjie's crotch without any disguise.

  The princes were taken aback at first, then one by one they all looked strange, even the crown prince who didn't have much literary talent understood what was going on and his face twitched a few times, looking like he wanted to laugh but had to try hard to hold it in. Hong Chengjie was also taken aback at first, then suddenly changed color, with an unhealthy flush spreading across his pale face, his legs buckling beneath him as he fell straight down.

  The princes were shocked, and the monk next to Hong Chengjie was the closest, so he quickly helped him up. Hong Chengjie's eyes were tightly closed, and he had actually fainted from anger. The monk looked up and cast a questioning glance at the prince, who looked embarrassed and waved his hand, instructing: "Take him back, don't make a scene here." Then, of course, the monk handed him over to the attendants to carry away, which doesn't need to be mentioned again.

  It was a young scholar from the Prince's Party who came out and made a courteous bow to Chong Yun.

  Yun Cong was taken aback, because this bookish person actually knew the etiquette for meeting elders in the evening. The problem was, although this bookish person wasn't very old, he must be several years older than Yun San Gongzi, who was only fifteen years old.

  He was just feeling puzzled when he heard the young scholar say, "Mr. Yun is a learned and quick-witted gentleman, I admire him extremely. However, Mr. Hong is after all my teacher's senior fellow disciple, so I couldn't help but ask for his instruction on a couplet; please don't mind, Mr. Yun."

  Yun Cong felt a bit strange, how could reading books also produce some sort of sect? Was it like those Jianghu figures, with their own factions and whatnot? However, since the other party had already challenged him, he could only accept: "Go on."

  The scholar looked modest and inquiring: "These hybrids, which one is the master?"

  "Good!"

  "How strange and wonderful!"

  The Princes all burst into applause. The Crown Prince thought for a moment and couldn't help but laugh out loud: "This couplet is indeed very clever."

  The thirteenth princess turned her gaze and saw Yun Zheng furrowing his brow, and she couldn't help but be startled. This couplet was too difficult, and it might not be possible to come up with a response in just a short while. What should she do? If she spoke out of turn, although it wasn't impossible, she feared that it would only end up annoying Brother Zheng instead.

  Actually, Yun Zheng wasn't having trouble coming up with a response, but rather was thinking of a counter-curse to shoot back, so it was a bit difficult. However, he didn't struggle for long, and just as the 13th Princess was about to get frustrated, Yun Zheng suddenly smiled: "The poems, books,易经, rites of Zhou, and Spring and Autumn Annals - there are many classics, why ask Laozi?"

  Everyone was silent. If the previous sentence is wonderful, it must be wonderful to put several agricultural products together and ask which one "lives" the earliest and also hits the meaning of scolding people - who is Mr.? (Who are you?) This may also be the reason why the young scholar deliberately gave Yun Zheng a late junior ceremony earlier.

  Yun Zheng's response was even more clever. The Book of Poetry, the Book of History, the Book of Changes, and the Spring and Autumn Annals are all Confucian classics, but Confucius once asked Laozi about rituals, so Yun Zheng came up with the phrase "Why ask Laozi?" which not only referred to why Confucius had to ask Laozi, but also turned the question back on the young scholar, asking "Why come ask Laozi?" Not only did he gain an advantage, but he also established himself as a senior.

  The princes looked at each other, their faces all unsightly - today's face was truly lost! The prince was even more furious, with no place to vent his anger. He didn't blame his party members for being incompetent, after all, the last few couplets from behind were quite clever. It was just that Yun Zheng, a mere martial artist, was unexpectedly so good at couplets.

  The calmest was the young scholar, who just bowed his head and made another bow, saying "Thank you, Cloud Master, for your teachings." Then he silently retreated back into the crowd.

  This young man has such a demeanor, which is quite unexpected for Yun Zheng. However, he immediately understood: looking at him starting to design himself from the first move, this person must be a deep and calm person, and being able to endure so much is also acceptable.

  The thirteenth princess saw that the crown prince's face was extremely ugly, his chest heaving with rage, his eyes fixed fiercely on Yun Zheng. She knew she had to step in and mediate, after all, a direct confrontation here wouldn't be a joke. Besides, Yun Zheng had already made enough of a scene, and she didn't want the crown prince to lose his temper and start acting rashly just because of his status.

  The thirteenth princess smiled and said to the prince, "Prince brother, the test is over, it's getting late, let's not delay the poetry meeting, what do you think?"

  His Royal Highness was reluctant to step down, and could only use his gaze to kill Yun Zheng with his eyes. When he heard the 13th Princess's words, although he knew she wasn't intentionally helping him out of a tight spot, he had no choice but to go along with it: "Hmph... Young Master Yun indeed has remarkable talent. Well, let's meet again at the poetry gathering later. We're leaving!" With that, he turned around and left first, followed by his entourage who disappeared in an instant.

  After they finished, the thirteenth princess suddenly changed into a different person, cheered and grabbed Yun Ting's hand, laughing like a flower: "Brother Ting you're so awesome! Ah, hurry up and get on the carriage, Yan'er still had a question she didn't understand earlier!"