The early summer sun was as scorching as fire, baking the bluestone slabs in front of the General's Mansion so hot they could be used to fry eggs. Leaning on a thickly patinated jujube wood cane, the doorman, Old Zhou, squinted at the throng of people before him. In the long line stretching from Zhuque Street to the old locust tree at the alley entrance, scholars in lake blue brocade clutched their thread-bound book bags, whispering among themselves. Old Wang, selling candied haws, took the opportunity to bang his bamboo sticks with a deafening clatter. Even the patrolling Jinwu Guards couldn't help but rein in their horses, their armor clashing as they edged toward the periphery of the crowd, their eyes darting wildly beneath their helmets, trying to see what the daughter of the General's Mansion was up to.
"Make way! Everyone, make way! My young lady is going to ask a new riddle!" Chun Tao, holding a delicate round silk fan, pushed her way into the crowd. Her moon-white skirt swept across the scattered melon seed shells, and the newly replaced red agate hairpin on her temples flickered with her movements. "Everyone, be quiet and listen! My young lady has said that today's riddle is 'Which came first, men or women?' The reward for solving it is ten taels of silver!"
These words were like a stone dropped into boiling oil, and the crowd erupted in a clamor. Wang, the editor of the Hanlin Academy, leaped to his feet, his goatee quivering like dry grass in the autumn wind. "Naturally, men came first! The Book of Changes says, 'Qian represents heaven, Kun represents earth.' Qian represents yang, male, Kun represents yin, female. Yang comes first, Yin comes last. This is the natural cycle of nature!"
"Shut up your sour, pedantic fart!" Zhang, the butcher selling pork, banged his greasy shoulder pole on the ground, startling the old hens on the roadside and causing them to flutter and run around. "Without women, where would men come from? When my mother gave birth to me, my father was still drinking yellow soup under the old locust tree at the entrance of the village!"
"You know nothing!" Editor Wang fumed, his beard puffing and his eyes glaring, his ivory ring creaking in his palm. "Pangu created the world, Fuxi came first and Nuwa came later. This is ancient mythology! Nuwa kneaded clay to create humans, and she created men first!"
Inside Xiefang Courtyard, the bronze mirror on the pearwood dressing table shattered into eight pieces. Liu's jade armor shattered a mutton-fat jade hairpin with a "crack," sending the debris splattering across the hem of her moon-white skirt. "This is outrageous! This is truly outrageous!" She pried open the window lattice to peek out. The crowd of heads swarming in front of the door was as dense as a honeycomb. Her temples throbbed with anger. "That little bitch, Chen Weiwan, isn't staying married properly, but is setting up a husband-selection arena right at the door! She's truly shameless!"
Shen Ruorou huddled behind a gilded screen, the old scratches on the back of her neck turning red. Her voice was as soft as a mosquito's: "Mother, the whole capital is saying...that the eldest lady's marriage is 'destined'. Even His Highness the Seventh Prince sends gifts to her every day..."
"The Seventh Prince?" Liu turned abruptly, her scarlet headband tilted to her temples, her pearl pendant dazzling. "He's not here to solve that stupid riddle, is he?"
"That's right!" the maid's voice trembled with fear. "Yesterday, His Highness sent a box of iced lychees with the words 'Jie Yu' engraved on the jade box, saying it was to help the young lady relieve her boredom..."
"I'm so pissed!" Liu grabbed the blue and white porcelain teacup on the table and smashed it hard on the ground, sending shards of porcelain flying onto the hem of Shen Ruorou's skirt. "Go! Bring Liu the matchmaker to me immediately! I want to know why she didn't force Wang the Butcher from the east city and Li the Cripple from the west city into the general's mansion after she took my money!"
Half an hour later, matchmaker Liu came running in under the blazing midday sun. The velvet flowers in her hair were wilted by sweat. As soon as she entered the room, she knelt down on the blue bricks and said, "Madam, please spare me! It's not that I haven't done my best, it's really Miss Shen..."
"What do you mean by 'she'?" Liu kicked, sending the pearls on her embroidered shoes swaying. "I gave you fifty taels of silver and told you to find an old, ugly widower, but now the general's mansion is full of jealous scholars!"
Matchmaker Liu had a mournful look on her face, wiping sweat from her sleeves. "My dear madam! You don't know!" She kowtowed to the ground. "Miss Shen has picked up some shady trick from somewhere. She's created a 'marriage predestined' puzzle and announced that only the one who solves it can propose marriage! Now all the candidates in the capital are flocking there like crazy, even the Seventh Prince..."
"You think you can mention the Seventh Prince?" Liu grabbed her neck, the jade armor almost digging into her flesh. "I don't care! Even if you have to tie him up today, you have to get that lame Li Xiu into the General's Mansion!"
Just as they were arguing, a little maid stumbled in, her skirt still stained with mud. "Madam! Oh no! The young lady has come up with a new question, this time it's... 'Which came first, the chicken or the egg?'"
Liu's vision went dark, and she held onto the dressing table to avoid fainting. Her voice was shaking: "The chicken and the egg? Why didn't she ask which came first, the ancestors or the parents?"
Under the wisteria trellis in Tinglan Courtyard, Chen Weiwan sat with her legs crossed, cracking melon seeds. Listening to Chuntao's parody of Liu's embarrassing stories, she laughed so hard that the melon seed shells scattered all over the floor: "Hahaha, Liu must be as mad as a puffer fish right now, right? Who knows how many things she's probably thrown in Xiefang Courtyard!"
Xiao Yu put down the corn jar and looked at her with a smile in his eyes. "I think Miss Shen's riddle is brilliant." He sat forward and tapped the stone table with his folding fan. "Especially the question 'Which came first, men or women?' Do you like my answer?"
Shen Weiwan remembered what he said yesterday, "You came first." Her cheeks flushed, and she deliberately put on a stern face: "Your Highness's answer... can barely be considered a heresy."
"Oh?" Xiao Yu chuckled and leaned forward. "Then I'd like to hear Miss Shen's correct answer."
Shen Weiwan's eyes rolled, a plan came to mind, and she cleared her throat: "My correct answer... I have to answer the next question correctly first." She waved her round fan, "Listen carefully - which comes first, wealth or talent?"
Xiao Yu looked at her sparkling eyes with great interest: "Oh? Miss Shen, are you testing me with this question?"
"If Your Highness can't answer," Shen Weiwan pretended to be serious and pursed her lips, "don't come to Tinglan Courtyard to deliver snacks in the future."
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
