Chapter 307: Lake Tour and Poetry
As soon as this couplet came out, the people on the second floor made a slight "hissing" sound and started to discuss it in a low voice with their friends.
Zhu Lan also lowered his eyes in thought.
The first couplet is indeed clever, using the method of splitting characters. Although the bow is strong, the stone is harder. The logical meanings between each three characters are still very smooth. It is not easy to come up with the second couplet.
The acquaintance who had greeted He Fang earlier stood up first, bowed to He Fang, and said with a smile:
"I am not talented, but today I am lucky enough to meet Mr. He Fang from Tongyun Bank. He is accompanied by several beautiful ladies, which is a perfect match. I will use this as a topic to start a discussion."
After that, he cleared his throat and said, "The bow is strong but the stone is harder. My second line is - the girl is good and the young girl is wonderful."
It would have been fine if he had read out the second line seriously, but he did so in a teasing tone. The frivolity hidden in his tone made many people smile knowingly and look in He Fang's direction.
He Fang seemed to enjoy such gaze and a smile appeared on his face.
Zhu Lan's eyes were slightly cold, and even Wenren Yuebai looked up at the man with some displeasure.
Chu Xin covered his nose and said, "It's strange. Why do these nice words become disgusting when spoken by this person..."
Qiao Youyou, who always had a hot temper, did not move. She did not hear what the man said at all. She was thinking about the rules that the young man had just announced.
If the winner can only bring three friends to the top floor, that means a maximum of four people can go up, and there are five people on his side. If He Fang also goes up, then only one person can stay.
As soon as the person in front finished speaking, someone laughed mockingly, "What's that, '少女妙', that's too ugly, the rhythm doesn't match, why not change it to '少女妙且人衣依', how about that?"
"Very good, very good! The girl's singing is wonderful and her clothes are very nice. Not only is her singing rhythmic, but it also reminds us of a beautiful girl in our arms. Very clever!" Everyone laughed, and some people couldn't help but look towards Zhu Lan and the others.
He Fang pondered for a moment, and suddenly thought of a brilliant couplet. Just as he was about to speak, his eyes caught sight of Wenren Yuebai beside him, and a sly smile appeared in his eyes.
"This... uh, this young master, I believe he already has the answer in his mind, right?"
Wenren Yuebai looked at him quietly, his tone humble and distant, and said that he had not yet fully thought it through.
"It's okay. The purpose of reciting poems while boating on the lake is to have fun. If you have any ideas, feel free to speak them out. Even if they are not good, we won't laugh at you."
After He Fang finished speaking, many people nearby started to make a noise. Most of them had seen that Wenren Yuebai had a disease in his legs and wanted to make fun of him.
Qiao Youyou clenched her fists and stood behind Wenren Yuebai, "Xiaobai, that's right, are you still afraid of them?"
Wenren Yuebai was somewhat helpless. He was telling the truth. He had not yet thought of a second line that was completely well-balanced and coherent. But when he heard the trust in Qiao Youyou's tone, he could only sigh softly.
“I can only think of one that is not quite appropriate.”
He Fang's eyes were filled with more excitement, and he asked him to speak out quickly. A cripple was able to get to the second-floor cabin because of his help, and he had to make him look bad in front of everyone, so that everyone would know that he was the core character, and the others were just foils.
Qiao Youyou tugged at his sleeve, "Xiaobai, hurry up and speak."
Wenren Yuebai hesitated, "...if people's words are trustworthy, the sun and the moon will shine brightly."
Everyone was silent for a moment.
The split characters and the rhythm of the second couplet correspond to the title one by one, and the intention is to compare the gentleman's trustworthiness to the sun and the moon, which is dignified and generous. I wonder how many times more advanced it is than the "women are good and young girls are wonderful" said by the man before.
Zhu Lan nodded secretly, but then shook his head slightly, frowning and thinking.
He Fang was obviously stunned for a moment. He didn't expect that this lame pretty boy was so talented. He hesitated for a moment, wondering whether he should tell out the "wonderful couplet" he had just thought of.
At this time, Ren Yuebai spoke again, his voice still flat, "Although I can barely match the characters, it's still not neat."
"Although the bow is strong, the stone is harder. This couplet not only describes the "bow is strong" and "the stone is hard", but also contains the transitional connection between the two words "although" and "but".
Although the imagery of "people's words" and "sun and moon" corresponds to "bow" and "stone" in the second couplet, and the words "faith" and "clear" are contrasted with "strong" and "hard", it lacks the logical connection between the first and second halves, so it is not a well-balanced work. "
After Wenren Yuebai finished speaking, he stopped talking.
After hearing this, everyone looked at each other, then at the answers they had drafted in front of them, all with embarrassed expressions.
According to what Wenren Yuebai said, if the logical words like "although" and "but" in the first couplet were to match, then... wouldn't it become an absolute?
After listening to Wenren Yuebai's words, He Fang also lowered his head to look at the "wonderful couplet" he had written - the female Qiao Jiao sighed for the spear and the wooden beast was soft.
It seems more like something that was forcibly pieced together just to break down the characters, and even the meaning of the text cannot be explained.
He silently crumpled the note in his hand into a ball, raised his head and smiled:
"I have a tacit understanding with this young master, and our thoughts are similar, so I won't read it anymore."
Everyone scratched their heads for a while, and no one spoke again, so the young man stepped forward and announced, "Since no one challenges this young man's second couplet, then the winner is--"
"Wait!" someone shouted, "Although this gentleman's couplet is good, he himself admitted that it is not a well-balanced work. We are silent only because the first line of the couplet is an absolute, and he can't match it, and neither can we. It's not that we are inferior to him."
As soon as the words fell, some people immediately echoed them. No one wanted to lose in public to someone who couldn't even stand up.
After weighing the pros and cons, He Fang decided that even if he couldn't get to the top, he couldn't let a disabled pretty boy steal the show, so he simply said to the young man: "Everyone here has a point. Our second couplet is indeed not a good one. It would be unfair for us to win like this."
"Mr. He is so righteous!"
"Mr. He is a true gentleman!"
Even He Fang said so, and the young man was at a loss for a moment. He asked everyone to continue thinking, but no one could come up with a better second line.
The scene froze for a moment.
"——A woman is particularly worried about her marriage."
Zhu Lan sat by the window and spoke after some hesitation, which immediately attracted everyone's attention.
Zhu Lan didn't think this was the perfect answer. When it came to the artistic conception and structure, she still preferred Wen Ren Yuebai's words "If people's words are trustworthy, the sun and the moon will be bright."
It's just that in order to make the parallelism neat, and to match the sentence structure of "although" and "but" in the previous couplet, I came up with this sentence.
Everyone pondered for a moment, some nodded secretly, while others pointed out the mistakes and said, "Miss, although your sentence is well-formed, the meaning is very far-fetched. Women are worried about marriage. What woman doesn't look forward to getting married? How can she be worried about marriage?"
Zhu Lan gently supported his head with one hand, curled his lips and asked: "You are not a fish, how do you know the joy of fish? You are not a woman, how do you know that all women in the world want to get married?"
The men were stunned at first, and then they all started laughing.
"Looking at this girl's age, she's still unmarried. You don't know the benefits of having a man at home. We've all been there, hahaha..."
Zhu Lan's smile remained unchanged as he played with a white porcelain teacup and said coolly:
"Yes, it is a delight to marry a man, and then wait for him to leave his wife and children at home while you go out and say to a strange girl, 'Girls are good, and young girls are even better.'"
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