Poet Immortal, Poet Sage, Duke of the State!

Upon hearing Qing Shuang's words, Grand Scholar Zhou paused and turned to look at her.

The eyes of several high-ranking officials also fell on her.

In the past, they would have definitely told her to stop fooling around.

But she appeared twice at the most critical moments, turning the tide and saving the dignity of the court, forcing them to take this young girl seriously.

Qing Shuang picked up the pen on the table, wrote a few words on the paper, and said, "Lord Zhou, use this first line of the couplet!"

Her handwriting was crooked and ugly, but it was still barely legible.

"There are three pagodas in front of the Three Pagodas Temple: a white pagoda, a green pagoda, and a black pagoda."

Grand Secretary Zhou looked down, paused for a moment, and then frowned.

Several scholars beside him also came over, their eyes sweeping over the crooked handwriting, and their faces showed some confusion.

This first line is far too straightforward.

There are no word splitting, no palindromes, no polyphony, and not even a historical allusion.

There are three pagodas in front of the Three Pagodas Temple, one white, one green, and one black. This is just a casual remark.

But Grand Secretary Zhou did not speak immediately.

He believed that anyone who could answer the first two couplets would not be making baseless accusations.

He stared at the paper, his lips moving, repeating it to himself several times.

As he read it for the third time, his brow twitched suddenly.

"Three...three towers..." he murmured, his fingers flying across the table. "Three against three, followed by three towers...If the second line uses four to match, then it has to be followed by four names, but the first line only has three..."

His voice grew softer, but his eyes grew brighter.

The scholars behind him finally realized what was happening and gasped in shock.

A slightly overweight scholar slapped his thigh and exclaimed in a low voice, "Incredible! This couplet is absolutely brilliant!"

Several white-haired scholars gathered around the crooked note, their previous confusion gone, replaced by excitement and exhilaration.

This first line of the couplet seems plain and simple, but it actually hides a deadly intent, making it many times more cunning than the one they had originally prepared.

This is an absolute match that is simply impossible to match!

Grand Scholar Zhou turned around and looked at Qing Shuang, feeling deeply hurt.

A dignified Grand Secretary, repeatedly needing the help of a young girl—he's truly wasted these past decades…

Without saying a word, he personally spread out a new sheet of paper, dipped it in thick ink, and respectfully rewrote Qing Shuang's crooked words stroke by stroke.

"The first line of the third round of the Great Ning Dynasty couplet." He held up the paper with both hands and said in a loud voice: "Three pagodas in front of the Three Pagodas Temple: the White Pagoda, the Green Pagoda, and the Black Pagoda."

As soon as he finished speaking, all the civil and military officials in the hall were stunned for a moment.

Has Grand Secretary Zhou gone senile? How could he come up with such a couplet?

This couplet is so good that even a child learning elementary school could probably match it.

What's the difference between this and admitting defeat outright?

Has he already defected to the State of Yan?

At the Yan delegation's table, one of the deputy envoys was the first to laugh out loud.

"Three pagodas? White, blue, and black?" He shook his head, his face full of disdain. "Is this the third couplet in your country?"

Another deputy envoy chimed in with a laugh, "The literary scene in Da Ning is truly hopeless. How dare they bring such couplets to the Golden Hall?"

Murong Gu raised an eyebrow, wondering if Da Ning had given up because they couldn't think of a good couplet.

He subconsciously looked at Scholar Chang.

Grand Scholar Chang could probably come up with ten matching lines for this kind of couplet in no time, right?

At this moment, the usually calm eyes of Grand Secretary Chang finally showed some emotion. He stared intently at the seven characters on the paper, his expression more solemn than ever before.

Murong Gu seemed to notice his unusual behavior, lowered his voice, and murmured, "Master Chang, this couplet..."

Grand Secretary Chang did not answer him. His gaze remained fixed on those seven words. After a moment of silence, he slowly rose and walked to the long table.

He picked up his pen.

All eyes in the hall were on him; the hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Grand Secretary Chang held the pen, which hovered over the paper.

Wisps of smoke rose from the bronze incense burner.

Ten breaths passed, and he did not move.

Twenty breaths passed, and he still did not move.

His pen tip hovered above the paper, the ink already solidified into a full drop, about to fall.

Thirty breaths later, Grand Secretary Chang put down his pen.

The paper was blank.

Grand Secretary Chang slowly raised his head, looked at Emperor Da Ning, then at Grand Secretary Zhou who was holding a letter in the center of the hall, and finally his gaze fell on Qing Shuang.

He was silent for a moment, then spoke in a hoarse voice, as if he had aged ten years in an instant: "This couplet... I cannot come up with a matching one."

Murong Gu's composed smile froze instantly.

He turned his head abruptly, looking at Grand Secretary Chang in disbelief, and blurted out, "Master Chang, what are you saying?"

Murong Gu stepped forward and lowered his voice, saying, "What's so special about matching these? Three pagodas, white pagoda, green pagoda, black pagoda—just match them with five mountains and six bridges, right? How could you possibly not be able to come up with a matching pair?"

Grand Secretary Chang did not look at him; his gaze remained fixed on the piece of paper. His withered fingers slowly traced the seven characters "Three pagodas in front of the Three Pagodas Temple." After a long silence, he said in a hoarse voice, "The first line is 'three,' referring to three pagodas: the white pagoda, the green pagoda, and the black pagoda. If the second line is to describe the scenery, it must also begin with a number. The first line already mentions three pagodas; if the second line uses 'three,' it not only doesn't fit but also falls short..."

"If we use 'four,' then it must be followed by four mountains, four rivers, and four bridges—four names. But the first line only has three pagodas; too few and it doesn't match, too many and it doesn't match either. Using 'five,' 'six,' 'thousand,' or 'ten thousand' all lead to the same dead end..."

He slowly closed his eyes and sighed, "The trap in this first line of the couplet isn't in the literal meaning, but in the mathematical logic. The person who set the question has locked down the relationship between numbers and terms. The simpler it seems, the more unsolvable it is. Even a thousand years, ten thousand years from now, no one will be able to come up with a matching couplet. The person who came up with this couplet... is truly brilliant!"

Murong Gu's face turned ashen. After Grand Scholar Chang explained, he finally realized something was wrong.

In the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the officials of the Great Ning Dynasty finally snapped out of their daze after being silenced by Grand Secretary Chang.

Someone shouted first, and then the entire hall erupted in chaos.

"They can't come up with a matching line! The State of Yan can't come up with one!"

"With this little skill, you dare claim to have studied couplets for forty years?"

"I think it's nothing special!"

"What kind of high-ranking scholar are you? Go back to farming!"

……

The Da Ning officials, who had just been looking dejected, instantly straightened their backs.

They started talking all at once, as if they wanted to vent all the resentment they had just accumulated.

Emperor Da Ning sat upright on his dragon throne, and finally a smile appeared on his face.

Behind the curtain, Princess Zhaoyue let out a long sigh of relief.

The cheers of the officials of Da Ning surged up like a tidal wave, one wave higher than the next.

Meanwhile, the two deputy envoys of the Yan Kingdom delegation looked extremely embarrassed.

Murong Gu stood in the hall, took a deep breath, and his expression changed several times in a few short moments before he finally put on a calm smile again.

He stepped forward, cupped his hands in greeting, and said, "Congratulations, Da Ning. The Yan Kingdom truly cannot come up with a matching first line."

Then, he changed the subject and asked, "Has Da Ning forgotten that you also failed to come up with a matching couplet for my Yan Kingdom?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the commotion among the officials subsided somewhat.

The eight kings of the zither, lute, pipa, and lute, each king reigning supreme.

This is the Yan state blatantly flaunting its military power.

The upper part of the four characters "琴瑟琵琶" can be broken down into eight "王" characters. The phrase "王王在上" is both the result of character splitting and a boastful statement.

The eight tribes of Yan, each ruled by a king, considered themselves superior to Da Ning. They not only wanted to win, but also to win by trampling on Da Ning's face.

This first line of the couplet is not only clever, but also insidious.

The mechanism of splitting characters is already extremely difficult to deal with. The second line must also split four characters with the same radical. Not only must it form a structure with the same radical overlapping, but it must also suppress the arrogance of the Yan state.

The pressure of literary merit and national dignity weighed heavily on this second line of the couplet.

The Yan state could not match Da Ning's couplet, so Da Ning only avoided a defeat.

However, if Da Ning also cannot match Yan's response, the game will still end in a draw.

Just as the courtiers were in a state of utter confusion, a figure silently slipped out through the side door.

On the dragon throne, the Emperor of Da Ning's eyes flickered slightly.

He subtly tilted his head slightly and whispered two words to the guard beside him.

The guard clasped his hands in acceptance of the order, and in a flash disappeared outside the side door, silently following Qing Shuang away...