Poet Immortal, Poet Sage, Duke of the State!

Chen Chang'an was not familiar with the streets of the capital. After running out of the Chen residence, he could only instinctively seek out crowded places.

Those servants were all skilled in martial arts, and they got closer and closer as they chased.

After turning two corners, Chen Chang'an was already panting heavily.

Looking back, he saw that the servants were only twenty paces away from him.

It’s over.

With his frail body, if he were taken back to be punished according to family rules, he would either die or lose half his life.

Just then, a horse-drawn carriage slowly drove out from the alley next to it.

Chen Chang'an's eyes lit up. Without thinking twice, he rushed over, lifted the carriage curtain, and jumped inside.

"Who goes there!"

A low gasp was heard from inside the car.

As soon as Chen Chang'an climbed into the carriage, he felt a chill on his neck; a short knife was already pressed against his throat.

The one holding the knife was a girl dressed in a tight-fitting outfit, about sixteen or seventeen years old, with a cold and stern look in her eyes, staring at him warily.

Behind her sat a girl who looked about seventeen or eighteen years old.

The woman was dressed in a moon-white ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress), with an elegant and refined demeanor, exuding a heroic and spirited air. She had an oval face, willow-leaf eyebrows, and almond-shaped eyes as calm as a deep pool, silently observing him.

Her gaze wasn't sharp, but it possessed a natural penetrating power, as if she could see right through a person at a glance.

Outside the carriage curtain, the footsteps of the servants grew closer.

Chen Chang'an quickly put his hands together and lowered his voice, saying, "Miss, please have mercy. There are people outside trying to arrest me. I'll just hide for a little while. I'll go down immediately after they leave. I won't cause you any trouble."

The girl with the knife said coldly, "Get out."

The footsteps outside had reached the carriage.

Chen Chang'an looked at the woman with sincere eyes and clasped his hands together again: "Please, young lady, save my life."

The woman glanced at him.

That glance was brief, yet it inexplicably gave Chen Chang'an a feeling of being scrutinized.

Then she slightly raised her hand and pressed down on the wrist of the girl with the knife.

The girl with the knife frowned: "Miss...!"

The woman's gaze was calm as she softly said, "It's alright."

The girl with the knife bit her lip and sheathed the dagger, but her eyes remained warily fixed on Chen Chang'an.

Just then, Chen Fu's voice came from outside the car: "Did you see a young man in a blue long robe run past here?"

The driver said unhurriedly, "I didn't notice, but it looked like someone ran that way just now."

The footsteps outside the carriage gradually faded into the distance.

Chen Chang'an breathed a sigh of relief and slumped against the carriage wall, only then realizing that his back was soaked with cold sweat.

This body is really weak. Once it settles down, I need to train it properly.

He wiped the sweat from his brow, clasped his hands in thanks to the woman, and said, "Thank you so much for saving my life, young lady..."

The woman shook her head slightly and said softly, "It was nothing."

Chen Chang'an leaned against the carriage wall, his heart still pounding.

Although the servants' pursuit has been resolved, he has neither received any money nor his house. He still needs to consider how to survive in this world in the future.

At this moment, the girl with the knife stared coldly at him. Although she had put the short knife away, her hand remained on the hilt.

The woman, however, remained calm. Her gaze swept over him before returning to her hand. She looked down at a piece of paper in her hand, her brows slightly furrowed, lost in thought.

The carriage was awkwardly quiet.

Chen Chang'an rubbed his hands together, wanting to say something to ease the tension, but seeing the girl with the knife in her eyes, he swallowed his words.

At that moment, the girl with the knife suddenly spoke.

"Miss, please stop thinking about it. None of the officials in the court can come up with a matching answer. It's a waste of your time."

The woman put down the paper and shook her head, saying, "I just want to see what kind of unparalleled masterpiece could leave so many great scholars helpless."

Qing Shuang peeked over and exclaimed in surprise, "'Entering the ancient spring and drinking ten mouthfuls of plain water,' what kind of lousy couplet is that? Is it really that hard to match?"

The woman nodded slightly and said softly, "This is a word-splitting couplet. 'Ten mouths' plus 'white water' together form 'ancient spring.' The first line seems to describe the scenery—drinking from an ancient spring and tasting white water—but it actually contains a word-splitting mechanism. It is indeed not easy to come up with a second line that is coherent in meaning and cleverly uses word-splitting without being obvious."

Qing Shuang tried to analyze a few characters, then scoffed, "Couplets and poems are the most boring things..."

The girl was innocent and adorable, and Chen Chang'an, listening from the side, couldn't help but chuckle softly.

The sound wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the quiet carriage.

Qing Shuang's gaze immediately swept over, her eyes filled with hostility.

Chen Chang'an smiled awkwardly: "Sorry, I agree with you, young lady, that couplets and poems are the most boring things..."

Qing Shuang snorted coldly and said, "What's so boring about couplets and poems? Even the imperial examinations test these. You ignorant fool, if you can't come up with a matching couplet, just say you can't. You're just a sour grapes..."

Chen Chang'an was speechless for a moment. This little brat, he just went along with her, and she still wouldn't have it?

He smirked and said casually, "It's just a word-splitting couplet, what's so difficult about it? Who says I can't come up with a matching one?"

In his previous life, Chen Chang'an was a PhD in Chinese Language and Literature, specializing in Tang and Song Dynasty literature. He later switched to sales to make a living.

When I was pursuing my doctorate, my supervisor asked us to work on various variations of the rhyming couplets in "Li Weng Duiyun" (笠翁对韵), such as palindromic couplets, homophonic couplets, and alliterative and rhyming couplets. I worked on them for three whole years, even dreaming about analyzing the sounds of the characters.

This classic couplet, which involves splitting characters, has indeed been thoroughly studied in academic circles.

Qing Shuang snorted again and looked him up and down.

This man was wearing a wrinkled blue long robe, and his hair was also a bit disheveled. He had just been chased all over the street by the servants and was in a terrible state. In this state, how dare he say that the Huiwen Association is not difficult?

She crossed her arms and said disdainfully, "You've got quite the nerve. Those high-ranking scholars couldn't come up with a matching couplet even after thinking about it all day, and you, a poor, penniless scholar who's been chased all over the streets, think you can?"

Chen Chang'an shrugged: "Just because the Grand Scholar can't come up with a matching couplet, does that mean I definitely can't?"

"Okay."

Qing Shuang held the dagger in her hand in front of him and sneered, "If you can answer my question, I'll eat this dagger!"

Chen Chang'an glanced at the gleaming blade and shook his head, saying, "Whether you eat this knife or not is none of my business."

The girl raised an eyebrow, sized up Chen Chang'an, and then said, "If you can solve it, I'll give you another ten taels of silver!"

Chen Chang'an was penniless and desperately needed money. He raised an eyebrow and decisively said, "You said it yourself!"

"Stop talking nonsense."

Qing Shuang raised her chin and said disdainfully, "If you can't answer, just admit it. Don't talk big here."

Chen Chang'an sighed.

This girl is forcing him.

He leaned against the car wall, thought for a moment, and casually said, "To the line 'Drink ten mouthfuls of plain water from the ancient spring,' I would reply with 'Climb the towering mountain and survey a thousand miles of hills and mountains.'"

Qing Shuang stood there, her mouth opening and closing briefly before shutting it again.

She tried to break down the second line of Chen Chang'an's couplet—"a thousand miles" combined makes "heavy," and "hills and mountains" combined makes "mountain"...

Halfway through the dismantling, she felt a little uneasy, unsure whether Chen Chang'an was doing a good job, and looked to Princess Zhaoyue for help.

From the moment Chen Chang'an uttered the line "Ascending the towering peak, one can survey a thousand miles of hills and mountains," Princess Zhaoyue's gaze was fixed on him.

She lowered her head and looked at the piece of paper in her hand.

He entered the ancient spring and drank ten mouthfuls of plain water.

Climb the towering peak and survey the thousands of hills and mountains.

"Ten mouths" combined form "ancient", and "white water" combined form "spring".

"千里" (qiān lǐ) combined to form "重" (chóng), and "丘山" (qiū shān) combined to form "岳" (yuè).

Not only are the characters neatly separated, but the artistic conception also complements each other perfectly.

The first line describes the refreshing coolness of the spring, while the second line describes the grandeur of climbing the mountain. A spring and a mountain, a drink and a climb, it's as if the person who went into the mountain to taste the spring, after drinking the sweet water, climbed the towering mountain and looked down at the thousands of miles of hills and mountains.

Princess Zhaoyue slowly folded the paper in her hand, a slight smile on her face.

This first line of the couplet was presented by the envoy from the State of Yan during the morning court session yesterday.

The Yan Kingdom and Da Ning have always been enemies. In front of the entire court, the Yan envoy said that he had long heard of Da Ning's flourishing literary culture and had brought several couplets to ask for their advice.

They claimed to be asking for advice, but in reality, they were making things difficult for each other.

Everyone knows that Ningguo values ​​military prowess over literature. Its soldiers are invincible on the battlefield, but Ningguo's literary scene... well, let's not even mention it.

Those scholars have been thinking about this since noon yesterday, for a whole day and night, but they still haven't been able to come up with a matching couplet.

To avoid being ridiculed by the Yan envoy, the emperor was so angry that he didn't even attend the morning court session and smashed several teacups in the inner palace.

She left the palace today to get some fresh air.

Unexpectedly, this absolute question that stumped all the officials was easily solved by this down-on-his-luck scholar who inexplicably barged into her carriage...

Chen Chang'an pointed to the short knife in Qing Shuang's hand and said with a smile, "Miss, please..."