Manager Hu had previously stipulated that the time allotted for guessing twenty riddles should not exceed fifteen minutes.
Actually, Manager Hu deliberately set such a short time because he was afraid that Jing Zhe would take too long to guess. Even so, according to this rule, it would take an hour to guess all five hundred riddles!
Jing Zhe pointed to a table full of riddles and laughed, "If we don't guess them this way, it'll be too slow. Everyone's waiting for me, and the Lantern Festival Poetry Gathering might not even start!"
So he patted his chest and said confidently, "It's just five hundred riddles. Watch me guess them all in a quarter of an hour!"
"Whoosh!"
The scene erupted in uproar. Everyone hadn't expected Jing Zhe to be able to guess all five hundred riddles—let alone guess them, even if he couldn't, it would still be a historic moment for Anguo!
Let alone five hundred riddles, they've never even heard of anyone being able to guess more than one hundred riddles at once!
Meanwhile, Chen Jiannan and the other members from the newspaper office were quite excited: it had been a long time since they had seen President Jing show off, and today he was going to do something big! Quickly, get your stools ready!
At this point, Jing Zhe had already entered his pretentious mode.
"The most expensive manuscript fee, what's the idiom? A word worth a thousand pieces of gold. The most desolate place, what's the idiom? Barren land! Flying over grass, what's the Chinese character? Early. A mute person gesturing, what's the idiom? It must be gesturing wildly..."
As long as he answered the riddle correctly, Jing Zhe would casually throw away the slip of paper. He answered and threw away the paper at the same time. Before long, the table, which was originally covered with paper, was empty in one corner. The waiter who was answering the riddles couldn't even keep up with Jing Zhe's speed of guessing.
Jing Zhe maintained a pace of answering immediately after reading, giving the impression that he already knew the answer. So he went to look at the bald waiter, since the man in the cotton coat had mentioned that there was an improper deal between them!
They didn't believe it before, but now they have no choice but to!
As for why Jing Zhe is so amazing, it's all thanks to his major in his previous life. As a Chinese literature major, he is not only well-versed in poetry and prose, but also quite fond of Spring Festival couplets and riddles. There are only so many riddles and Spring Festival couplets, and they are all memorized in the "Complete Collection of Riddles". After browsing through them twice, he can remember them almost.
He had also read a lot of historical time-travel novels, and the protagonists would often use all sorts of strange riddles or couplets when they were showing off and getting their faces slapped, so he had memorized quite a few of them.
Therefore, the riddles here are child's play for him; he can answer them with just a glance.
Jing Zhe was too fast; in no time, Zhou Ziqiong's two hundred riddles were almost exhausted.
With such speed and accuracy, everyone was completely convinced that Jing Zhe had conspired with the bald waiter and knew the answer in advance!
Manager Hu thought so too, and had already glared at the bald waiter several times. The bald waiter felt wronged and said he had to explain things to Manager Hu properly later!
At this moment, Jing Zhe also correctly guessed the two hundredth riddle. Everyone held their breath, because Zhou Ziqiong had prepared these two hundred riddles and obtained them from Juxianlou in advance, which gave the bald waiter the opportunity to tell Jing Zhe the answer.
However, Jing Zhe certainly didn't know the answers to the three hundred riddles that Manager Hu had personally prepared. Otherwise, Manager Hu would be too foolish to give away tens of thousands of taels of silver for nothing!
Shopkeeper Hu was quite confident. He had prepared these three hundred riddles himself to prevent such unexpected situations from happening, and he hadn't told anyone beforehand!
Now, let's see what other tricks you have up your sleeve!
...
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Jing Zhe began the 201st riddle, which was also the first riddle provided by Manager Hu.
"Southern Island scenery, guess a single character?"
"The south side of the island is mountainous, which is called 'Lan'!"
"Tomorrow is a total solar eclipse, what character does it represent?"
"If the sun in the character '明' is removed, then what's left is the character '月'?"
"A black and a white piece battling wits and courage—what is it? It must be Go!"
"..."
Jing Zhe answered dozens of riddles correctly in one go, and Manager Hu's face turned green.
At this point, he could guess that Jing Zhe was not colluding with the bald waiter, or that they had colluded before, but this time it was definitely not!
Because he created all these riddles!
If he guesses these three hundred riddles correctly, bringing the total to five hundred, then he'll have to pay…
Thinking of this, Manager Hu felt dizzy. The total amount of silver in Juxianlou was only a little over ten thousand taels!
What a terrible thing!
"Wait!"
At this moment, the man in the cotton-padded coat who had just left returned.
"Hey, why are you back again?"
Jing Zhe asked curiously.
"How can you get all the credit for something this lucrative? I want to guess too!"
Just now, the waiter went to the back to pass a message to the man in the cotton coat, saying that when Jing Zhe can't guess these three hundred riddles, he should come out and guess the remaining three hundred riddles to help Manager Hu out of the predicament.
However, judging from Jing Zhe's current posture, if we don't step in to stop him, he's afraid he'll have to guess everything by himself!
"But I've already paid for the lights, so all these riddles are mine now. Only you can guess the ones I can't!"
Jing Zhe said in a deep voice.
"Hehe, you say it's yours, so it's yours. I could say this riddle belongs to everyone, wouldn't you all agree?"
"..."
The hall was completely silent. Everyone stared at the man in the cotton coat as if he were an idiot. Although they hadn't thought much of Jing Zhe at first, they were utterly impressed that someone could guess so many of Manager Hu's riddles in one go.
Most importantly, since the money had already been paid, he was supposed to be the one to guess; that was the rule. The man in the cotton coat didn't follow the rules, so naturally no one paid him any attention.
"Look, nobody agrees, so you can't guess."
"If you won't let me guess, then nobody should guess!"
The man in the cotton-padded coat originally wanted to incite everyone to give him the chance to guess the riddles, but he never expected that he had already lost the support of the people and no one would listen to him.
Then he had no choice but to resort to unconventional methods, so he rushed to the table and said: If I can't guess, then nobody should guess!
If he tears up all the riddles, Jing Zhe won't be able to guess the next riddle, and Manager Hu's losses will be less!
Thinking this, he reached out to tear it.
Shopkeeper Hu raised an eyebrow: This guy is clever enough. This is completely his own idea. But he's done it too well. Tearing up the riddles is a desperate measure!
Shopkeeper Hu clenched his fists, looking at the man in the cotton-padded coat with great tension.
However, he was ultimately a step too late.
Ever since the man in the cotton-padded coat reappeared, Chen Jiannan had been keeping an eye on him. He strode forward, blocking the man's path, and then kicked him in the stomach: "Get lost! Still trying to cheat? You're asking for it!"
"Beat him up!"
In an instant, a dozen or so people surrounded the man in the cotton-padded coat.
————
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