Water Margin people

"How did you do it? Did you just slide and rip the beast apart?"

Sun Lei looked at Lu Zhishen and asked.

"What are you thinking? Even though the tiger looks big, it's not slow. How can it be so simple..."

Lu Zhishen began to recount the details of his fight with the beast.

Lu Zhishen is an honest man who neither lies nor exaggerates, so Sun Lei listened with great interest.

As we drank and chatted, it was soon noon.

"Your Majesty! The results of the Spring Examination are out."

Wen Huanzhang walked into the small temple and reported to Sun Lei.

"How is the result?"

Sun Lei nodded and asked.

"This... more than 90% of the admitted candidates are from schools, and the students from those academies have largely failed the exam."

Wen Huanzhang replied.

"As expected, a bunch of people who talk about everything all the time have their heads frozen. But it's still good that 10% of them are admitted."

Sun Lei said that the questions this time were relatively broad and combined with current affairs. There were many directions for answering and the results depended entirely on the ability of the candidates.

Sun Lei took the list, looked at it, then closed it and handed it to Wen Huanzhang.

"Keep the papers sealed until I personally take a look at them and then announce the results!"

Sun Lei looked at Wen Huanzhang and said.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Wen Huanzhang took the list and saluted.

"By the way, Your Majesty, someone definitely has a match for the one you put out!"

Wen Huanzhang spoke again.

"Oh! Someone has met? Who is it?"

Sun Lei was interested now. That was an unprecedented match and there were very few people who could match him. He didn't expect to meet him again today.

"It's a candidate named Yu Yunwen, from Renshou County, Xianjingjian, Chengdu Prefecture Road. He studied in a college in his early years, and later our Qi State School opened there, so he entered the school to study. He is also one of the candidates admitted this time."

Wen Huanzhang said.

"Oh, there are such talents? I'd like to go and see them!"

Sun Lei became interested and wanted to see who this Yu Yunwen was.

"Come on, let's go and take a look!"

Although Lu Zhishen is a rough man, he likes to join in the fun.

"I want to go see it, too!"

Wu Song also became interested.

"Then let's go and see it together!"

Sun Lei stood up and said.

After disguising themselves, everyone went down Liangshan and arrived at Liangshan City.

Sun Lei went straight to the restaurant where he had performed the duet last time. After the Spring Examination, the place became even more lively, with people coming in an endless stream to drink and have fun. Most of them went to watch the duets, and people with some money liked to show off their literary talent.

"Smoke locks the willows in the pond!"

"The gun carriages suppress Jiang City!"

The couplet is hung in the most conspicuous position, and it has become the restaurant's signboard.

"Absolutely! Absolutely!"

"awesome!"

"I admire you!"

The scholars and writers who were watching the scene all shook their heads and commented. Ever since the first line of the couplet "Smoke locks the willows in the pond" came out, countless people racked their brains but couldn't come up with the second line.

“Although it’s still neat, the rhythm seems to be off!”

Some people have also put forward different opinions. The five elements and artistic conception are easy to compare, but the prosody is a little different.

"It's rare that this is a perfect match! I can understand that the tone is a little off."

Someone said with a smile.

"interesting!"

Sun Lei looked at the second couplet and laughed. Although it was a little off, it was indeed correct.

"Brother, is this the pair you made?"

Lu Zhishen tugged at Sun Lei's sleeve and asked in a low voice.

"Yes, it was me who paid for it!" Sun Lei nodded with a smile.

"Then you're in the limelight!"

Lu Zhishen asked in a low voice.

"What do you say?"

Sun Lei smiled proudly.

"The great talent Yu is here!"

Just as Sun Lei and Lu Zhishen were chatting, the people upstairs suddenly shouted, and they were all looking at a young man who was going upstairs.

The young man looked to be about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, dressed in green, holding a paper fan, and looked quite elegant.

"Everyone, I don't deserve the title of a talented man!"

Yu Yunwen clasped his fists and bowed to everyone.

"Hey, Master Yu can come up with such an absolute answer, he deserves the title of a talented man!"

"Yeah yeah!"

"Master Yu has vented our anger for us!"

"That guy didn't even dare to leave his name. He looks like a scoundrel!"

"Mr. Yu will definitely be on the list of candidates for this spring exam. That guy named Shi doesn't dare to show up, so he will definitely fail."

"I guess he ran away in disgrace!"

……

As time went by, things changed. Those people themselves had no ability, so they promoted Yu Yunwen and suppressed Sun Lei who had stolen the limelight last time.

"Please don't say that. Brother Shi must be a man of extraordinary talent to come up with such a couplet."

Yu Yunwen said quickly, how could someone who could come up with such a couplet not have talent? Moreover, that person came up with it after matching several couplets.

"Mr. Yu, come have a drink and let's discuss this couplet."

Someone invited Yu Yunwen.

"Thank you for your kindness. I came here this time to take down the second couplet. Although this second couplet is forced to be neat, it is really clumsy and not worthy of being compared with the first couplet."

Yu Yunwen spoke.

"Master Yu, this couplet is so fair, why not just hang it up!"

The restaurant owner hurriedly advised that because of this couplet, his business had improved a lot, and many people came here just to see it. What would happen to his business if he took it down?

"I was drunk and rebellious that day, so I wrote this couplet. It is really clumsy and I dare not let it be laughed at!"

Yu Yunwen still insisted.

But no one wanted Yu Yunwen to take down the second couplet, and they all advised him to keep it hanging and change it when there was a better second couplet.

"This guy has some literary qualities!"

Lu Zhishen and Wu Song admired Yu Yunwen very much.

"How about you come up with a couplet?"

Sun Lei looked at Lu Zhishen and said that he saw Yu Yunwen's concerns. Not only was the second couplet not artistic conception enough, but he was also afraid of offending people.

The Yu family was a family of officials in the previous dynasty and had lost their influence in the current dynasty. This was Liangshan City, and it would be easy for Yu Yunwen to be targeted if he was so prominent.

"How can I get it right... Do you have a second line?"

Lu Zhishen originally thought that Sun Lei was teasing him, but then he thought of a possibility.

Sun Lei smiled and whispered something in Lu Zhishen's ear. Lu Zhishen's eyes lit up and he was ecstatic.

"Haha, I got it right! I got it right!"

Lu Zhishen shouted with laughter, his loud voice like a bell instantly spread throughout the restaurant, and everyone looked at Lu Zhishen.

Sun Lei deliberately put on a mustache today, so no one recognized him.

"A monk?"

"You don't look like a talented person!"

There are many talented monks, but Lu Zhishen's appearance destined him to have only wine in his stomach and not much ink.

"What are you looking at me for? Watch me make a couplet for you!"

Lu Zhishen walked upstairs proudly.

The shop owner immediately asked someone to prepare pens and ink.

"The bell of the Dengshen Village Temple!"

Lu Zhishen picked up the pen and wrote down five words. His calligraphy was average, but the vigorous and powerful characters had a unique beauty.

The crowd that was ready to laugh at the joke opened their mouths wide. They couldn't believe that a fat monk could come up with this couplet. (End of this chapter)