Farmhouse Green Plum

Chapter 315: Wonderful Words

Song Ying smiled and said, "I happened to see it when I was reading the book 'Su Nu Qi Fang'. I didn't recognize it, so I asked Master."

So that's how it is. Everyone suddenly realized and looked at the riddle below again. This riddle was obviously very difficult. The youngest round-faced scholar did not bend down to write the answer immediately for the first time.

He frowned, thinking hard.

Seeing this, not only the students from Qingshui County on the left, but also Song Ying and other onlookers breathed a sigh of relief. He had finally been stumped.

Just as she breathed a sigh of relief, Song Ying remembered that this man was only the youngest of the five scholars, and there were four more powerful ones behind him. She immediately went to look at the other four scholars, and seeing that they were also thinking, she relaxed.

The round-faced scholar at the desk thought hard for a long time, but could not find the answer. He turned to his companions and asked, "Brothers, do you have the answer?"

The four of them shook their heads one after another, and the oldest scholar said, "This riddle is a bit difficult. Let me think about it for a while."

After hearing this, the round-faced scholar's expression showed a mixture of disappointment and a little relief, and he continued to ponder.

Song Ying withdrew his gaze and looked at Yuan Qing and the students from Qingshui County on his left. He saw that everyone was deep in thought, talking to each other in a low voice from time to time, or looking across at the opposite side.

Time passed slowly, and the people watching from the audience could not wait any longer. Someone asked, "We still can't guess, what should we do now?"

"It's a draw, of course."

There are also sour scholars who say: "You are really young and ignorant. You think you can guess all the riddles in the world after only a few years of study. Little do you know that there are mountains beyond mountains and people beyond people. There are many extremely difficult riddles in this world, some of which no one has been able to guess from ancient times to the present."

"That's right, it's a draw, it's over, let's all go!" someone responded and turned to leave.

Because this riddle has remained the same for several years and no one has been able to guess it, after hearing what this man said, many people turned around and prepared to leave to watch the fun elsewhere.

These people were standing under the stage and their voices were very loud, so everyone on the stage could hear it clearly, especially the five scholars from Min, who were so angry that their faces turned green.

They traveled all the way to study, competing with scholars from all over the place in knowledge. They only suffered a slight defeat in Suzhou Prefecture. The students from other places were not as knowledgeable as them. They were feeling very proud of themselves, but they did not expect to be ridiculed by a sour Confucian scholar in Shunqing Prefecture, where the literary style was not well-known. Wouldn't it be a joke if this got out?

Seeing the onlookers preparing to leave, the scholars in Min became even angrier. Perhaps it was because of their anger that their minds became sharper. The round-faced scholar suddenly said loudly, "Who said we can't guess it? I already have the answer!"

Hearing this, the people who were about to leave stopped and gathered around to watch again. Some people did not believe it and looked at the round-faced scholar on the stage with suspicion, "A scholar should not speak nonsense!"

The round-faced scholar smiled slightly, leaned over to write down the answer on the table, and when the waiter ran over to take it, he held it down with his hand and said, "The boss doesn't know the answer to this riddle either, so there's no need to give it to him."

After saying that, he looked at the students from Qingshui County across from him and said, "I'll give you one stick of incense. If you can't guess it, I'll tell everyone the answer and explain why it's this way. How about that?"

The students of Qingshui County had no way of raising any objections. Jin Manlou’s boss didn’t know the answer, so it would be of no use to him.

Everyone turned their eyes to Yuan Qing, extremely nervous, fearing that he might not be able to guess the answer.

Unexpectedly, Yuan Qing also smiled and said, "It just so happens that I also have the answer."

After saying that, he picked up the brush, dipped it in ink, and quickly finished writing. He waved to the waiter who was waiting not far away: "Please, little brother, help me deliver it to your young master."

The clerk looked at his young master, and when he saw him nod, he quickly took the paper and handed it to him.

The young master took it and looked at it carefully, somewhat puzzled. He looked at Yuan Qing, "Brother, why is the answer to the riddle this?"

Yuan Qing did not answer, but said: "Young Master, you haven't seen the answer of the brother opposite you."

The young master then remembered it and quickly put aside his curiosity and signaled the waiter to get it.

This time, the round-faced scholar couldn't stop the waiter and let him take the answer.

After reading it, the young master of Jin Man Lou was even more surprised: "You two have the same answer, both are wonderful words!"

As he spoke, he held a piece of paper in one hand and showed the two people's answers to everyone. On both pieces of paper, the four words "exquisite words" were written in official script.

It turned out that the answer to the riddle was the four words "wonderful words". When Song Ying first heard it, he thought that the young master of Jin Manlou was praising the two of them.

After she suddenly realized it, she also became curious, why was the answer these four words?

The round-faced scholar looked at Yuan Qing from head to toe in disbelief, raised his hand and saluted: "I am Lin Wencai from Quanzhou, may I ask your name, brother?"

Taifu is a courtesy name. When scholars meet for the first time, they cannot directly ask the person's name but have to ask the courtesy name. This is why Lin Wencai began to admire Yuan Qing.

By now, many people have realized that among the five scholars from Min, the best at guessing riddles is the round-faced Lin Wencai. Although the others are older than him, they are not as quick-witted as him.

Although these five people were arrogant, they were very cunning. They clearly sent out the people who were best at guessing riddles, but they deliberately pretended to be young so that everyone would think that Lin Wen was the worst among them at guessing riddles.

Yuan Qing returned the greeting and said, "I am still young and don't have a courtesy name yet. My surname is Yuan and my given name is Qing. You can just call me Yuan Qing."

Lin Wencai nodded, "We have traveled all the way and met scholars from all over the world. I never thought that there is such a quick-witted person like Brother Yuan in Jinchuan. I admire him!"

"Brother Lin's talent makes us admire him even more."

Seeing the two of them being polite to each other, Shen Yonghui and Wu Mingzhi were the first to interrupt and asked, "Tell me, why are the answers to the riddle these four words?"

Lin Wencai looked at Yuan Qing, "Brother Yuan, would you please go first?"

This time, Yuan Qing did not give in: "Huangjuan means colored silk, so it is the word for absolute; young woman means young girl, so it is the word for wonderful; grandson is the son of a daughter, so it is a good word, as for mortar."

At this point, Yuan Qing paused and looked at Lin Wencai with a smile, "Brother Lin, would you mind explaining this?"

"Jiu" is the most difficult word to guess in the whole riddle. I believe some people can guess part of the first few words, but the difficult part is the last word "Ci".

Lin Wencai was very satisfied that Yuan Qing could give him this most brilliant one. He smiled and nodded: "The common point of ginger, garlic and chives is that they are spicy. Putting these spices in a bowl can be called spicy.

There is a variant of the word "ci" written as "辤", and suddenly "轑臼" is the word "ci"! "

As he spoke, Lin Wencai was worried that some people might not be able to react, so he bent down and wrote the word "辤" on the paper.

Seeing him writing, Wu Mingzhi and others quickly stretched their heads to look. Although the students from Qingshui County also wanted to see it earlier, they had to suppress their impatience.