Poet Immortal, Poet Sage, Duke of the State!

Han Boyuan, the envoy from Northern Liang, composed himself, suppressed his shock, walked into the hall, and announced loudly: "The first round of the civil service examination ends in a draw!"

The atmosphere that had been frozen for the entire duration of an incense stick's burning finally began to loosen at this moment.

The shoulders of all the civil and military officials of Da Ning slumped down almost simultaneously.

Meanwhile, several gazes from the Yan delegation simultaneously turned somber.

Murong Gu's smile had vanished without him noticing. He glanced back at Grand Scholar Chang, who was still resting with his eyes closed, but his brows were slightly furrowed.

This couplet with the radical "宀" (roof) was selected as an absolute couplet from 30,000 extant couplets by the Yan State Academy of Literature. It remained unmatched within the Yan State for three whole months, and no one could provide a matching one.

Their original plan was that the Da Ning alliance would surely perish.

But Da Ning not only matched them, he matched three of them.

The Yan Kingdom's deputy envoys, who had been whispering amongst themselves just moments before, now had stiff faces, as if they had been slapped in the face.

At this moment, an official from Da Ning spoke up, saying, "We have provided three matching lines, while Yan has only provided one. Doesn't Da Ning win?"

Murong Gu sneered, "The rule is that you win by providing a matching couplet. So what if you provide a hundred?"

Han Boyuan nodded and said, "Lord Murong is right. The two sides did not agree beforehand that the one who can come up with more matching lines would win. This game should be a draw."

As the referee, Han Boyuan's words were indeed reasonable, and the Daning side did not say much more.

Murong Gu took a deep breath, his gaze falling on Qing Shuang, then sweeping over Princess Zhao Yue behind the curtain, and finally turning to Emperor Da Ning, the corners of his lips curving back into a smile.

"Congratulations, Da Ning, for coming up with this perfect couplet." He cupped his hands in greeting, looked ahead, and said calmly, "It's just a draw. There are still two more rounds to go, and the outcome is still uncertain."

Han Boyuan walked back to the bronze incense burner, took out the second incense coil, and lit it.

Smoke rose again.

Then, Han Boyuan spoke again: "The second round of the competition begins. Please have both countries form a joint team."

Murong Gu stood up unhurriedly, took out the second roll of brocade from his sleeve, unfolded it, and read aloud: "The first line of the second round of the Yan Kingdom: A cup of clear tea to quench the thirst of the top scholar."

The hall fell silent.

Grand Scholar Zhou's brows furrowed instantly. The excitement and elation he felt upon seeing the matching of radicals cooled down in an instant. He stared intently at the brocade in Murong Gu's hand, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

The scholars beside him seemed to have been doused with cold water. One of them muttered twice, his face growing paler, and said, "A cup of clear tea to quench the thirst of the top scholar. This is a couplet with multiple pronunciations for one character."

The three characters “解” have different meanings: the first means to quench thirst; the second is a surname; and the third specifically refers to the top scorer in the provincial examination. They are pronounced differently in each case.

The seven characters, with the same character "解" appearing three times, each with a different pronunciation and meaning, are naturally embedded in the sentence, forming a seamless whole.

Among all variations of couplets, the use of a single character with multiple pronunciations has always been unique.

The difficulty lies in the fact that the second line must embed a character with multiple pronunciations and meanings in the same position, and it must be natural and fluent, not forced or contrived, and the artistic conception must be consistent.

Finding a Chinese character with three pronunciations and three meanings within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, embedding it in the corresponding position in the second line, and connecting it with the overall meaning of the sentence is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Fortunately, the couplets in Daning are not easy to come by either.

If the Yan state also cannot come up with a solution, this game will at worst end in a draw.

Grand Secretary Zhou walked slowly to the long table, dipped his brush in ink, and began to write.

After he finished writing, he picked up the paper and handed it to Han Boyuan by hand.

Han Boyuan unfolded the paper, his eyes flickered slightly, and then he read aloud: "The first line of the second round of the Great Ning: Gazing at the lake, I see the ancient moon by the water again."

The hall was silent for a moment, then a low gasp of surprise rang out.

The first two characters of the first line, "观湖" (Guanhu), can be broken down into "又" (you) and "见" (jian), and "湖" (hu) can be broken down into "水" (shui) and "古月" (guyue). The breakdown is neat and the characters are perfectly integrated.

When I went to the lakeside to enjoy the view, I saw the same eternal moon over the water again. The meaning was clear and the artistic conception was profound, without any artificiality or forced composition.

To create a suitable second line, two characters that can be separated must be embedded in the same position, and the separated characters must be able to form a coherent sentence, while also echoing the meaning of the first line.

This is more than twice as difficult as a typical word-splitting couplet.

Several scholars looked excited.

This couplet by Grand Secretary Zhou is a masterpiece from the Hanlin Academy, originally prepared for this year's imperial examination. However, in order to prepare for the competition with the State of Yan, they brought it out ahead of schedule today.

Even if all the scholars of the Hanlin Academy were to work together to come up with a decent second line, it would take them three to five hours to produce one.

Even if the Grand Scholar of Yan State were incredibly capable, it wouldn't be possible to achieve this within the time it takes for an incense stick to burn...

However, before he could be happy for long, an old figure from the Yan Kingdom delegation stood up.

He was indeed Grand Secretary Chang.

He slowly opened his eyes and walked unhurriedly toward the long table, without even pausing to think.

He picks up the brush, dips it in ink, writes, puts it down, turns around and returns to his original position. The whole process takes no more than ten breaths.

Han Boyuan stepped forward, picked up the paper, glanced back at Grand Scholar Chang, a hint of amazement flashing in his eyes, and then said: "Viewing the lake, I see the ancient moon by the water again. The Yan Kingdom's response is: Recognizing the lotus, one only speaks of the lovely person beneath the flowers."

A sudden, deathly silence fell over the hall.

Grand Secretary Zhou's pupils suddenly contracted.

Several scholars huddled together and quickly dissected the second line of the couplet, their faces growing paler with each step.

The character “识” can be broken down into “言” on the left and “只” on the right. The character “荷” can be broken down into “草” on top and “何” on the bottom. The character “何” can also be broken down into “可” and “人”.

"Under the flowers" is paired with "by the water," and "charming" is paired with "ancient moon." The word-splitting technique, placement, and rhythm are exactly the same as the first line.

The first line describes viewing the lake and seeing the moon, while the second line describes recognizing lotus flowers and knowing people.

One couplet depicts gazing at the moon by the water, with a serene and expansive atmosphere; the other depicts meeting people under the flowers, with a delicate and refined sentiment. Putting the two couplets together creates a complete picture of appreciating the lake and lotus flowers, and meeting people under the moon, as if they were the first and second halves of the same poem.

But Scholar Chang completed this second line in just ten breaths.

Grand Secretary Zhou stood in the center of the hall, staring at the note, speechless for a long time.

The couplet that the Hanlin Academy had meticulously prepared for three years, their most treasured skill, was effortlessly countered by the other party in just ten breaths, and in such a perfect way.

A deeper sense of powerlessness than before suddenly welled up in my heart.

The State of Yan has already provided their matching couplet. If they cannot provide a matching couplet, they will lose this round.

Several scholars gathered together, frantically searching through all the polyphonic characters in their minds, and listed seven or eight candidates. After verifying them, they crossed them out one by one by hand.

The incense coil burned slowly, the blue smoke rising straight up, and the grayish-white ash silently fell into the bronze incense burner...

Among the Yan delegation, apart from Grand Scholar Chang who kept his eyes closed, Murong Gu and the other two envoys all wore mocking smiles.

Behind the curtain, Princess Zhaoyue's brows, which had just relaxed, furrowed slightly again.

The Emperor of Da Ning sat upright on the dragon throne, his face expressionless, but his hand gripping the armrests tightened slightly.

Seeing the Grand Secretaries struggling so hard, the civil and military officials, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, were filled with anxiety again.

They instinctively looked towards Qing Shuang, who had just successfully extricated herself from the predicament by providing three matching couplets, only to find that Qing Shuang was nowhere to be seen...