Zhao Rong smiled and turned around to look at the two people who were staring at him in surprise.

Zhao Rong shrugged, winked at Lin Wenruo, and raised the corner of his mouth, "Wenruo, I'm worried about you guys for such an important position, so I'd better come in person."

Lin Wenruo opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but when he saw the young scholar in front of him shaking his head with a smile, he had to give up and nodded helplessly with a smile.

In fact, in Lin Wenruo's plan, the inferior horse on the opposite side was Qingjingzi. No matter whether Zhao Rong or Chen Muzhi was the middle-grade horse, they could almost defeat him. The reason why he chose Zhao Rong was that they had a closer relationship and he felt he was more reliable. However, since Zhao Rong didn't want to be the one, he had no way to force him.

Lin Wenruo thought for a moment, then turned to Chen Muzhi who was staring at him and said, "Then I'll trouble Brother Muzhi to be the middle horse. I hope Brother Muzhi will forgive me."

Chen Muzhi nodded quickly, waving the feather fan in his hand a little faster, "It's okay, it's okay."

Chen Muzhi turned his head to glance at Zhao Rong, his expression awkward and a little embarrassed.

The latter noticed his gaze, tilted his head, nodded and smiled at him, and Chen Muzhi quickly smiled back.

Zhao Rong turned around, restrained his expression, and cast his eyes on Lin Wenruo, saying seriously: "Wenruo, we have divided the positions, but how can we make these three talks go according to our plan? After all, we only have the right to choose the first one, and the right to choose the second one is in the hands of Chongxu Temple."

This is also what Zhao Rong is curious about. Although he used Tian Ji's horse racing method, the other side is not a fool. They will never choose people from his perspective, but will choose in accordance with their interests.

Lin Wenruo was very wise and spoke clearly, "In the first round, we will use our medium horses against their inferior horses, that is, Brother Muzhi against Qingjingzi; in the second round, we will let them use their medium horses against our superior horses, that is, Qingyuanzi against me; the third round will be between you, Ziyu, and the mysterious old man. Ziyu, don't feel too much pressure, the outcome of the third round is not too important, our goal is to win the first two rounds."

Zhao Rong frowned. "How do you make them use their medium horses to fight you, instead of using their medium horses to fight me and letting their superior horses fight you?"

Lin Wenruo nodded. "It's very simple. We just need to make them think that you are our top horse and I am just a medium horse. Since they lost the first game, they dare not take risks. They can only use top horses against horses they mistakenly think are top horses, and medium horses against horses they mistakenly think are medium horses."

Zhao Rong tapped the railing lightly, frowned and thought, and did not immediately ask Lin Wenruo how he made Chongxu Temple misjudge his side's lineup, but instead thought about another question.

Zhao Rong was trying his best to help Lin Wenruo sort out the plan and fill in the gaps. He volunteered to be the inferior horse because he had to plan the Thundering Purple Gold Furnace for a while and had no time to prepare for the Confucian-Taoist debate.

After all, if he did not reject the medium horse, then his opponent would be Qing Jingzi, and he would have to spend energy studying Qing Jingzi's Qing Tan manuscripts, looking for loopholes in his opponent, and ensuring that there were no mistakes. This was extremely time-consuming.

But he was now an inferior horse, his opponent was an old man of unknown origin, and there was nothing for him to study and guess. All his hopes for the Confucian-Taoist debate were pinned on the first two games, so he was quite relaxed. So he helped Lin Wenruo check the plan carefully at this time, just in case.

Zhao Rong pondered for a moment, then looked up at Lin Wenruo, "Why don't we use the best horses against their medium horses in the first game? In other words, you should choose the opponent's Qing Yuanzi in the first game. In this way, after winning, the opponent's Qing Jingzi will have to face me and Brother Mu Zhi no matter what. We are prepared, and he will definitely lose. In this way, we don't have to go to great lengths to mislead the opponent's choice. Isn't this the best solution?"

Lin Wenruo nodded in agreement. "That's a good question. We've talked about the rules of the three rounds of discussions before. In the first round, we choose the people and in the last round, the remaining two people are paired. The host of these two rounds is Chongxu Temple. Only in the second round, they choose the people, and we are the host. The reason why I don't use the 'optimal solution' you mentioned is for the right of the host to set the questions."

"If I choose Qing Yuanzi directly in the first round, then Qing Yuanzi will set the questions. Although I am confident that I can beat him after studying him thoroughly, his strength should not be underestimated. If he comes up with some carefully prepared topics that go beyond the ordinary, I will be very passive. Therefore, in the second round, let him actively choose me. This way, I will be the main party and have the initiative to set questions. He will definitely lose!"

Lin Wenruo chuckled, "As for the first round, Qing Jingzi got the right to set questions, but that's nothing to worry about. It's not a big threat. I believe Brother Mu Zhi can handle it."

After speaking, Lin Wenruo looked at Chen Muzhi.

The latter nodded leisurely and smiled, "I am confident that even if it is the most famous scholar in Zhongnan Country, I can at least match him 50-50, not to mention that he is a Taoist priest who is not even in the middle. What's the harm in asking him to set questions? It's just so-so. Ziyu, Wenruo, please don't worry too much."

Zhao Rong nodded slightly, thought for a while, and exhaled lightly, "Wen Ruo, your plan is feasible. Now there is only one last question, how can I mislead them into thinking that I am a top-notch horse?"

Lin Wenruo smiled brightly, "It's very simple, just tell them directly."

…

"So, the scholar named Zhao Ziyu is really the student of the headmaster of Linlu Academy?"

A white jade hand was playing with a jade ruyi with its five fingers flying.

The owner of the hand had a cold and clear voice.

A handsome but now pale-faced man in brocade clothes was kneeling on the ground, his body trembling, his head hitting the marble floor of the pavilion heavily. Feeling the terrifying woman's gaze on him, the man in brocade clothes was so scared that he quickly kowtowed to the ground, saying in horror:

"Please spare me, Fairy! Please spare me, Fairy! I didn't lie... At noon that day, Mr. Qingxi and I came to the Drunken Pavilion to avoid the sun. At that time, the scholar and his two companions were already in the pavilion. I overheard that scholar saying, 'I have to return to the academy early, otherwise the teacher will punish me to copy books again.' Then another handsome companion next to him said with a smile, 'The headmaster loves Zhao Lang so much, how could he bear to punish him? Ziyu, don't complain hypocritically. As for me, I followed you out to play secretly, and I will probably be scolded when I go back.' Later, the scholar who seemed to be called Zhao Ziyu fell asleep on the chair, and the handsome companion fanned him intimately. I don't know what their relationship is. Later, the thief Lin Wenruo came to the pavilion with a zither. At that time, we didn't know it was him..."

Lan Yuqing curled his lips, stopped moving his hands, and said impatiently: "Alright, alright, I got it, don't repeat it, how many times do you need to say it? I will know whether you are lying or not in a moment."

The man in brocade clothes immediately shut up, not daring to make a sound. He lowered his head, his expression invisible, but his body was shaking all the time, and his forehead pressed hard against the cold floor tiles.

Lan Yuqing looked around inside and outside the Drunken Old Man Pavilion. At this time, a group of Taoist priests in blue clothes were guarding outside the pavilion. There was only her and the man in brocade clothes kneeling on the ground inside the pavilion.

According to the man in brocade clothes, the position where she is sitting now is the place where Lin Wenruo used to play the piano.

Lan Yuqing sneered.

Suddenly, five Taoist priests in blue came walking quickly on the distant mountain road. Four of them stood in a square, sandwiching a fat Taoist priest in the middle.

Lan Yuqing stood up, walked past the man in brocade clothes who was kneeling on the ground with his head rubbed against the ground, and walked out of the pavilion.

Lan Yuqing met up with the five Taoists who had just arrived. She glanced at the fat Taoist who was sweating profusely. The latter hurriedly bowed his head in kowtow. Lan Yuqing ignored him and turned around to lead the five people to an open space far away from Zuiweng Pavilion. On the way, a Taoist followed Lan Yuqing and whispered something.

About a quarter of an hour later, Lan Yuqing returned to the Drunken Pavilion alone and leisurely.

Lan Yuqing glanced at the man in brocade clothes who seemed to have not moved since she left, and said leisurely: "Li Shiqian, is this your name?"

"It is the mean name of a villain."

"Well, your family is one of the owners of the Bai Yongyi Company in the city. There are a total of 162 people in your family, including servants. You also have two concubines outside, one of whom is pregnant with an illegitimate child. Well, including you, there are a total of 166 people... I will advise you one last time. It's not too late for you to be honest now."

Li Shiqian shuddered suddenly, raised his head, his face was full of tears, his forehead was red and swollen, and he said in a miserable voice: "Fairy, I really didn't lie to you, everything I said is true, you can check it out, if there is any discrepancy, I will be struck by lightning!"

Lan Yuqing smiled, "Don't pretend. The people we sent to investigate have returned. Although you acted very well and arranged the logic perfectly, there is no such thing as a wall that is impenetrable. What's fake is fake. My people still found something strange. Guess who betrayed you? Don't pretend. I know everything."

Lan Yuqing tilted her head and suddenly asked curiously, "What benefits did Lin Wenruo promise you? Could it be that he wanted to give all his eighteen concubines to you?"

Li Shiqian was so frightened that he peed his pants and cried out to the sky that he was innocent.

Lan Yuqing slowly walked to him, bent down and whispered in his ear with a smile: "By the way, you should know the consequences of offending me, right? It's not as simple as all 166 members of your family going down together. The process of going down might be a little uncomfortable. Oh, you'd better tell me quickly. I'm just curious about what he promised you. You are so devoted to him. Is this really..."

The smiling woman, whose childhood sweetheart she had waited for ten years, broke off the engagement in public and kicked her out of the house on the wedding day, smiled colder and colder, and slowly squeezed out two words from her mouth, "Is it worth it?"

Li Shiqian knelt on the ground and begged for mercy, shouting that he was innocent until his voice became hoarse. He kowtowed desperately, and the muffled sounds echoed in the hall.

"I have been idle recently, so I studied an interesting method in an ancient book. Have you heard of hot pot mice? Well, it's quite interesting and very simple. Just put an iron pot upside down on a person's stomach, put a few cute mice in the pot, and light charcoal on the bottom of the pot. I heard that when the pot is burned red, they will desperately dig a way to escape. Alas, these little guys are really pitiful."

"Also, and, I know of another fun thing. I was going to give it to Lin Wenruo to try, but it's okay to let you guys experience it in advance. This thing is called a head crusher. It's like an iron hat worn on your head with a crank on it to control the tightness. As the crank turns, your chin rest will gradually tighten. When it's tight enough, your teeth will be crushed, your jaw will shatter, and finally your skull will explode with a click. If I'm happy to see it, I might knock on your iron hat with a small hammer and play a song for you to cheer you up..."

"There are many more of these interesting ancient methods. Don't worry, there are 166 people in your family, enough for me to try them one by one. Hey, are you going to tell me or not?"

"How about this, if you confess, I promise to release your family. As for you, you must die, but I can give you a quick death."

Suddenly, Li Shiqian, who had been kowtowing vigorously, stopped moving. He remained kneeling on the ground with his head on the ground. A streak of blood flowed from the contact surface between his slightly warm forehead and the cold floor tiles. The blood was still hot.

Lan Yuqing squatted down and stared at the man under his feet. "Speak."

“Little…little…little man, I didn’t lie…” the man’s voice was hoarse.

Lan Yuqing's expression was icy. "My patience is limited. If you don't explain after the count of three, I will leave."

"one."

The man didn't move.

"two."

The man raised his head, his eyes dull, looking at the woman in front of him, his lips moving slightly.

The woman stopped counting and listened with one ear.

It seems...unjust...

The woman lost her patience.

"three."

It was extremely quiet in the Drunken Old Man Pavilion, with only the muffled breathing of a man.

The woman narrowed her eyes.

It seemed like a long time had passed, yet it seemed like only a moment.

Lan Yuqing suddenly stood up and said, "Congratulations, you passed."

She curled her lips, feeling bored.

"This is a reward for you." She casually threw the small jade ruyi in her hand in front of the man, and it rolled into the still warm blood.

Li Shiqian threw his upper body forward, supporting himself on the ground with his elbows, and lowered his head with no expression visible. He was breathing heavily, and his eyes caught a glimpse of the lush green jade ruyi. A tear escaped from the man's eyes.

"Tell me in detail what Zhao Ziyu, the one who dared to call me a stinking nun that no one wants, looks like. I must remember him well and not pass him by on the street one day."

Li Shiqian reached out and wiped away the tear.

He was extremely grateful for the birth of that green color and his Zhongnan Kingdom, and he hated the 480 Taoist temples that were sucking blood from Zhongnan Kingdom.

"I obey your order. I am extremely honored to work for Chongxu Temple!"

Li Shiqian said excitedly.