At this moment, the bald waiter came out.
"Is anyone else going to guess? If not, then let's prepare for the Lantern Festival Poetry Gathering!"
"I! I'll guess!"
The speaker was a man in his thirties, dressed in coarse cotton clothes, looking like a servant.
Upon seeing this, everyone burst into laughter.
It seems the lure of fifty taels of silver is still huge, as even a servant came over to guess the riddles. I just don't know if he can read them.
"You want to guess?"
"Guess."
The man in the cotton-padded coat spoke in a muffled voice.
"Alright, then hand over the silver first."
The bald waiter continued with the procedure, but he seemed to realize that the waiter couldn't guess the answer and was just wasting his time, so he called over another waiter.
The man in the cotton-padded coat paid one tael of silver and then took down the riddle that Chen Jiannan and Jing Zhe had both tried to guess but failed to solve.
Then, the man in the cotton coat whispered something to the waiter, who was taken aback and immediately went to call the bald waiter.
"What's wrong?"
"He figured it out!"
"Um?"
The bald waiter was also stunned.
However, after hearing the man in the cotton-padded coat's answer, I was convinced.
Give him fifty taels of silver!
After giving his instructions, the bald waiter announced, "You really can't judge a book by its cover!"
Because this riddle was solved, it was announced according to the rules for everyone to see. The riddle is "After a long rain, the sun shines again," and the answer is a Chinese character.
Previously, apart from Jing Zhe and Chen Jiannan, no one else had tried to guess the riddle, because they thought that if the two of them couldn't figure it out, the others would have a hard time either. But they never expected that such an inconspicuous man in a cotton-padded coat would guess it.
But what is the clearing of the sky after a long rain?
Because time was short and everyone was still thinking, the bald waiter announced, "The answer is the character '昨' (zuó), meaning 'yesterday'. He guessed it right! Congratulations!"
The bald waiter wore a forced smile, clearly very unhappy about losing fifty taels of silver.
After hearing his answer, everyone was immediately relieved.
The character “昨” can be broken down into “乍日”, which can be interpreted as “suddenly seeing the sunrise”, which corresponds to the meaning of “after a long rain, the sun shines”, so this answer is perfectly correct.
"It was just the character 'yesterday'! That was way too easy!"
"Yes, I guessed it the moment he read it out!"
"What a pity! I should have guessed this one!"
"You bet you were too trusting of them. Turns out they're such useless guys!"
"..."
With the answer revealed in advance, everyone immediately felt that the riddle was too easy, and then began to look down on Jing Zhe and Chen Jiannan, thinking that the two were really bad at the game.
But the man in the cotton-padded coat wasn't idle; he continued guessing.
The second riddle was also a word puzzle. The riddle was "giving birth to twins, a boy and a girl, which together mean "good". The man in the cotton coat guessed it correctly.
Everyone was shocked.
Meanwhile, the man in the cotton-padded coat had already started the third riddle. This time it was a guessing game. The riddle was "Five on the left hand, five on the left hand, take away ten, and ten are left." The man in the cotton-padded coat wrote down "gloves" without even thinking.
Without a doubt, it was right again!
At this point, no one dared to underestimate the man in the cotton-padded coat.
If the first one was a guess, and the second one was also a guess, then guessing all three in a row couldn't possibly have been a guess, right?
In particular, the man in the cotton-padded coat guessed these three questions almost without thinking and guessed them correctly. That's real skill!
At this moment, Zhou Ziqiong's face turned somewhat pale.
Although seventy-five taels for three riddles is not much for Zhou's cloth shop, judging from his posture, he's not just going to guess three!
Sure enough, the man in the cotton-padded coat had already solved the fourth riddle.
This time, the man in the cotton-padded coat performed rather poorly compared to before. After solving the riddle, he remained silent for a long time, his eyes somewhat vacant, not as if he were thinking, but rather as if he were reminiscing.
As time went on, he was sweating more and more. Strangely enough, the bald waiter seemed to have forgotten this time and didn't even think to start the countdown!
"Countdown!"
Everyone reminded them.
The bald waiter's face darkened. He glared at the man in the cotton coat and said, "Ten...nine...eight..."
Although the pace was slow, the man in the cotton-padded coat became even more nervous.
Finally, he reached into his clothes, pulled out a piece of paper, glanced at it, put it back, and said, "We'll share the joys and sorrows!"
"That's right!"
The bald waiter, whose countdown had stopped, shouted excitedly.
It turns out that this riddle was a riddle about guessing idioms. The riddle was "candied bitter melon," and the answer was "sharing joys and sorrows."
"..."
Everyone was stunned for a moment, then they understood.
Their first impression was that the man in the cotton coat didn't look like a scholar, but rather like a servant. He guessed the first few riddles, but when it came to guessing idioms, he couldn't—or rather, he forgot!
Because the way he took out the paper, glanced at it, and then immediately gave the answer, it looked exactly like cheating!
They seem to have caught a whiff of a conspiracy!
Those who had just seen the man in the cotton coat guess several riddles in a row, thought it was too easy, and were even eager to try it themselves, all gave up the idea now.
He sneered inwardly: How shameless! This man in the cotton coat is obviously a shill! He got the answers beforehand, and then deliberately guessed a few wrong, just to trick them into continuing to guess!
Ha, those unscrupulous merchants, they're utterly shameless!
...
Zhou Ziqiong's face turned even paler.
She had thought of everything everyone else had thought of, except that she knew the man in the cotton coat was sent by Juxianlou!
So she stormed upstairs in a huff, and this time she didn't even knock before barging in.
"Manager Hu, what do you mean?"
As soon as Zhou Ziqiong entered the room, she began to interrogate him.
"What's wrong, Miss Zhou?"
"Don't tell me that the person downstairs has nothing to do with your Juxianlou!"
"Yes, that person is my second son."
"..."
Faced with Manager Hu's frankness, Zhou Ziqiong was speechless for a moment, not knowing what to say.
After calming down, he said, "Manager Hu, isn't what you're doing a bit too unfair? Giving him the riddle and then making him guess it is just a way to make us lose money?"
"No, no!"
Manager Hu smiled and waved his hand: "First of all, how are we breaking the rules? Everything downstairs is done according to the rules! Besides, that waiter quit last night. As for the mystery, I suspect he peeked, but without evidence, I can only suffer in silence!"
Furthermore, as long as he can guess the answer, Juxianlou will still pay him money. So, Miss Zhou's claim that you should lose money is utter nonsense! Do you think Juxianlou would cheat itself?
After saying that, Manager Hu burst into laughter.
————
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