Han Xiao walked to the front of the stage. Since there had been quite a commotion just now, many of the scholars who were watching the excitement had already made room for the two of them.
The steward was also very enthusiastic as he watched Han Xiao and Han Mingxiu approach. He bowed and said, "I have heard about the two young masters' affairs. The prize remains unchanged, so you two can do as you please. I also dare to offer myself as a witness."
Han Xiao nodded to show that he didn't care. Han Mingxiu had a blank expression on his face, but he was becoming more and more uneasy. Han Xiao's calm demeanor was very different from before. Was he pretending before?
Han Mingxiu had no way out at this point, so he could only nod and agree to the steward, saying, "Thank you."
The manager suppressed his excitement. Qingping Town had never encountered such a big bet before.
The rules for guessing lantern riddles are very simple and free. All the riddles are arranged in a row, with difficulty ranging from low to high. Whoever guesses the most riddles within the time of one stick of incense wins.
After understanding the rules, the steward lit incense, and Han Xiao walked slowly to the first riddle: wearing a yellow feather shirt, often living among green trees, just because of singing well, won a lot of praise.
Han Xiao smiled after reading it. It seemed that the riddle here was similar to what he thought, so he immediately wrote down the word "yellow oriole".
These riddles were not difficult for Han Xiao. He caught a glimpse of Han Mingxiu and saw that he had also written down two words, looking very confident.
Han Xiao took a deep breath, handed the answer to the manager and moved on to the next one.
Han Xiao wrote down the answers to several riddles without hesitation. The young master who was watching from below nervously grasped Chuyi's arm and said, "Chuyi, you said Brother Han Xiao would definitely be able to do it, right?"
Chuyi gasped when the young master pinched him, and carefully pulled out his arm to put on Shiwu's. "Don't worry, Master. Look at how fearless Mr. Han is. There will be no problem. Just put your mind at ease."
The young master was stunned for a moment as he looked at the arm in his hand. "Oh, but I heard from my father that Brother Han Xiao has never been to school. What if he loses? My little treasury is not enough. Do you have any left on the first day of the new year?"
When Chu Yi heard that the young master was planning to take advantage of his own treasury, he immediately put on a gentle face: "Young master, you must have confidence in Mr. Han. Otherwise, if Mr. Han knows that you don't trust him, he will be so sad."
"Oh, really? Then I believe in Brother Han Xiao, he can do it." As he said this, the young master used all his strength to encourage himself.
Fifteen watched the two talking, tears in his eyes, and sobbed, his arm hurt so much, Chuyi was such a bad guy.
Han Xiao on the stage was solving puzzles faster and faster. The manager was also very surprised when he saw Han Xiao's answers. He knew from what Han Mingyuan said just now that Han Xiao had never been to school, but looking at Han Xiao's flowing handwriting, he didn't look like someone who had never been to school. Moreover, this handwriting was unique and he had never seen it before. What's more, Han Xiao's answers had never been wrong so far.
But it was different for Han Mingyuan. The simple ones at the beginning were fine and not difficult, but it became more and more difficult as he went on. In such cold weather, Han Mingxiu had a layer of sweat on his head.
Seeing Han Mingxiu's speed getting slower and slower, Chen Chengye's expression became more and more unpleasant. What's wrong with Han Mingxiu? Didn't they say that Han Xiao had never been educated? Why was he solving puzzles so quickly?
Seeing Han Mingxiu about to lose, Chen Jiabao couldn't help but complain, "Brother, it's all your fault. Why did you want to bet with Han Xiao? Look at Han Xiao, doesn't he look illiterate? Mingxiu even said he was eccentric."
Chen Chengye's face was already ugly, and now he was sober. After hearing what his own brother said, his whole face turned red and black, and he gritted his teeth and said, "It's all because of you. If I hadn't vented my anger on you, would I have gone to trouble him?"
"What do you mean by 'for me'? Isn't it because Mr. Ruan rejected your proposal to marry Ruan Zhu?" Chen Jiabao muttered softly with his head down.
Chen Chengye didn't know whether he heard what Chen Jiabao said. At this time, he had calmed down. It seemed that Han Mingxiu would lose. 5,000 taels was a small matter. He could grit his teeth and go back to beg his mother to get it back. But if he did that, the Chen family would lose all their face.
Han Xiao wrote down the last answer to the riddle and handed it to the steward: "Steward, I'm done now."
The steward's expression was extremely respectful. He took the riddle from Han Xiao's hand, looked at it, and then praised him, "Sir, you have great literary talent. This riddle was already there last year, and no one has solved it yet."
"You are too kind, sir. I, Han, just like to read some idle books, which are not presentable."
"Mr. Han is too modest. Please take a rest first." The steward took Han Xiao to an empty seat. This seat was undoubtedly prepared for the winner of today's first place.
The people watching the show immediately understood that Han Xiao had solved all the mysteries.
Han Ming was not far away from them. After knowing that Han Xiao had solved all the problems, his face looked grim, but he quickly adjusted his expression.
He walked to the steward's side and said, "I'm ashamed. I really couldn't solve the last one."
After he handed over his answer, the steward took a look at it and didn't care, but said softly: "Mr. Han, this is serious. This riddle is really tricky and it's normal that it can't be solved, but Mr. Han..."
The steward hesitated for a moment and looked at Han Mingxiu. After all, Han Mingxiu and Han Xiao were uncle and nephew. The key point of this fight between uncle and nephew was that the uncle, who was a juren, lost, which was really embarrassing.
"Don't worry about it, manager. It's just that I'm incompetent and can't match my nephew's intelligence. To be honest, this is the first time that my nephew has such experience." Han Mingxiu still had a gentle and elegant look, which made the manager look at him with respect.
Well, if you can afford to lose, you are a real character.
But what he didn't know was that Han Mingxiu's emotions were far from being as calm as he appeared.
The steward walked up to the podium and cleared his throat. "Ahem, good evening, everyone! The winner of today's lantern riddle guessing contest has been announced. I believe everyone has seen what just happened, and I, an old man, would also like to bear witness. This time, the winner is Young Master Han!"
The manager's speech was different from those of modern leaders. It was very brief and clear. Han Xiao thought he would have to wait and hear the manager express his feelings, but he didn't expect it to be announced like this.
There were bursts of applause from the audience. Han Xiao couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. He touched his nose and walked forward to take the King of Lanterns from the steward, then looked for the young master in the crowd.
Seeing the young master jumping up excitedly in the audience, the smile on Han Xiao's face became genuine.
He raised the lantern in his hand to signal the young master to look. For a moment, Han Xiao felt that the young master and himself were the only two people left in the world. There were stars in the young master's eyes, and the reflection of those stars was his own appearance.
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