Chapter 50: The Fight Against Lu (Middle)

  In the sweltering heat of June, the sun beat down like a furnace, and the two county magistrates had just emerged when they were already drenched in sweat. They retreated to the shade of the corridor to escape the heat. Looking at the increasing number of boats gathering around, Magistrate Lü said with displeasure: "This Shen Mo, why did he have to come out and show off? He could have just taken care of it inside."

  The county magistrate smiled and said: "I think you're afraid?"

  "Are you afraid?" Lu County Magistrate curled his lips and said, "I'm afraid you'll lose face." Although he said so, seeing Shen's calm and steady appearance, he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

  Miss Yin's sedan chair happened to arrive at the left side of the painting boat where Shen Mo was. She sat quietly in the green silk window, staring absent-mindedly at the painting boat, and thought distractedly: 'That young man is only thirteen or fourteen years old? Three years younger than herself, how can he be so clever?' Just as she was thinking, the curtain of the painting boat suddenly opened, and a boy wearing a moon-white long shirt appeared in her line of sight.

  That young man had fair skin, a slender figure, and under his two thick eyebrows, there was a pair of bright black eyes. Even through the green gauze window, she could still feel the spirit contained in those eyes, which was so touching.

  "This is silence..." Miss Yin's small hand gently stroked her crimson lips, and she softly exclaimed. Although she had never seen him before, she didn't use the questioning tone "ba", but instead used a declarative sentence.

  "Yes indeed, miss." The painter said with great satisfaction: "My eyesight isn't bad, is it?"

  Miss Yin didn't answer her question, she gazed at the white-clothed young man fluttering in the river wind, and it took a long time for her to come back to her senses. She murmured: "Very good." Looking at Miss Mei's happy smile, however, a faint worry arose in her heart...

  Jian saw Shen Mo and several men come up to the deck, Hua Ping shouted: "Stop the boat quickly, stop the boat, there's a good show to see!" The servants outside were eager to do so, and immediately dropped anchor to stop the boat, rushing to the right side of the ship to watch the excitement.

  But then Shen Gongzi placed a legendary transparent crystal bottle on a round table, and held another identical round bottle in his hand, standing under the sun, with the hand holding the bottle slightly moving, as if inviting the gods to assist him.

  "What's going on here?" The painter looked puzzled and asked: "Dancing?"

  Miss Yin slightly shook her head, gazing more intently at the bottle standing on the table. Although she didn't know what Shen Mo was going to do next, she could tell that the key lay with the bottle. To be precise, it was the copper coin inside the bottle... and the invisible but certainly existing silk thread.

  When she told this inference to Hua Ping, Hua Ping foolishly said: "It won't be that he wants to cut the line...". As he spoke, he chuckled and said: "Then he is a god."

  Before the words were finished, a wisp of black smoke seemed to rise from the bottle, and then there was a 'ting' sound. The coin disappeared, probably falling to the bottom of the bottle.

  The vast majority of people who saw this scene gaped in shock, while the rest never closed their mouths again.

  Miss Yin belonged to the former, and the painting screen belonged to the latter. But now it seems that the effect is the same. The two were shocked and couldn't close their mouths, looking at each other and saying in unison: "Is he human or ghost?"

  Those distant onlookers were still in shock, while those who were closer to the boat could only be described as stunned. They watched with their eyes wide open as the silk thread in the bottle suddenly self-ignited and burned out from the middle section, while Shen remained silent from start to finish without getting within three feet of the bottle, merely standing on one side holding the water-filled bottle.

  Everyone felt a chill on their back, it's really cooling down the heat.

  With a "ding", the coin fell to the bottom of the bottle and also pulled everyone back from their shock.

  Shen Jing was the first to come back to his senses and stuttered: "What's going on here?"

  "Then how did this trick change?" said Wang Lao Hu.

  Hou Xian Cheng said dully: "Please possess the Third Prince's body?"

  County Magistrate Lü slowly said: "A monster?"

  County Magistrate Li, who was older and more experienced, spoke calmly: "No, it's a celestial being!"

  Shen Mo had originally wanted to pretend to be mysterious, but seeing the strong reactions of these people, he could only give up on this idea. He let out a bitter laugh and said, "Don't think too much into it, this is just something students learned from books."

  Everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief. County Magistrate Li was delighted and said, "You kid, you've read too many books. Which book did you see this in?"

  "As Mr. Hui said, in the Western Han Dynasty's 'Huainanzi' it says 'Carve ice into a sphere, hold it up towards the sun, and use mugwort to receive its shadow, then fire will be born.' This is something that exists in this world's memory, and is answered with a very fluent silence."

  "What? Using ice to ignite fire?" The crowd exclaimed in surprise, they had only heard of "fire and ice being incompatible", but never "ice can produce fire". They couldn't help but look at the two scholars, hoping they could distinguish between truth and falsehood.

  County Magistrate Lü's face turned red, he had only heard of this book but never read it. In fact, this book was not some rare or incomplete edition, it could be bought in the bookstores of Shaoxing City. It's just that County Magistrate Lü had spent decades studying hard and reading diligently, his heart focused solely on the classics, all his energy devoted to the Four Books and Five Classics, devoted to the great cause of imperial examinations, where did he have the leisure to read those miscellaneous books?

  Actually, Magistrate Li was the same back then, he just hasn't been to work for years and has read a lot of books, so he still remembers this sentence, and asked with a slight frown: "Not bad, but there is such a sentence, however, the book says 'shave ice into circles', you don't even have ice."

  "Sir, I understand." Shen Mo smiled and explained: "What is meant by 'carving ice into a circle' is just to get a transparent arc. Now students use a transparent glass bottle filled with water, the effect is the same."

  "Are you going to use this bottle to start a fire?" County Magistrate Li was shocked and asked: "What kind of reasoning is this?"

  "The sunlight itself is extremely toxic at noon, and when it passes through this bottle, the light converges to a point, which is equivalent to increasing the heat by several times." Shen Mo explained in as plain language as possible: "Moving this point to the cotton thread, the thread can't withstand the heat and catches fire."

  People can't help but exclaim "oh" and although they basically don't understand, they still admire and applaud continuously.

  They thought everyone would rush to try the new trendy spot, but no one actually cared... In fact, they didn't really care about the reason either, as long as there was a lively atmosphere to look at, who cares if you can understand it or not, just having someone who gets it is enough.

  At this time, County Magistrate Li burst out laughing and said: "Brother Lü has lost again, hurry up and set the table to treat us to a meal!" After all, the other party was the lord of the county, and couldn't be easily humiliated.

  Lü County Magistrate smiled bitterly and said: "I'm willing to admit defeat," he said, turning to Hou County Censor: "Bring that Yao Changzi up here."