In just a quarter of an hour, most of the scholars attending the literary gathering had entered the venue. There were only a few people at the entrance, but soon there was a crowd of onlookers. Before these people arrived, Song Chi also walked into the venue.
There are yamen runners guarding the entrance. As long as you are under 30 years old, you can enter freely. The conditions are quite relaxed, but how far you can go depends on your ability.
Song Chi was alone and no one knew him, so he felt at ease.
The venue for the literary gathering was carefully decorated, with octagonal lanterns hanging on the branches of the green trees on both sides. The literary gathering adopted a level-passing mode, and the first level was to guess the lantern riddles. There were eight lantern riddles on each octagonal lantern, and you only needed to guess one to pass.
Each level is divided into several sections with different levels of difficulty. For example, the riddles at the entrance are simple, and the ground is covered with scraps of paper, which obviously have been guessed.
The rule is that if a riddle has been guessed, the side of the lantern paper with the riddle will be torn off and it will be considered invalid.
When Song Chi came over, there were not many people here. Apparently, they had already passed to the front.
A young man dressed in a long gown, who looked like a scholar, asked, "Hey, the lantern fans here are all gone. How can we guess?"
"If you've guessed it, just go ahead." The scholar standing by the lantern responded casually.
"No need to guess?"
The scholar then asked: "Isn't this unfair to the person in front?"
"The further you go, the more difficult the questions become. Even if you guess the first ones but not the second ones, it will be useless. Similarly, if you can guess the second ones, you will naturally be able to guess the first ones as well." The scholar explained with a smile.
"I see."
The scholars nodded and walked forward together.
For the vast majority of people who just participate in the literary competition, there is no hope of winning the championship, and it is impossible to get into the top ten. Therefore, the focus is more on participation, and the previous test questions are not important at all.
Song Chi also followed and walked forward. There were yamen runners guarding each section. This was still the first level, and they were still guessing riddles. Unlike the first section, there were already people staying here, and it was obvious that the difficulty of the riddles was beginning to increase.
But not much.
The Great Zhou Dynasty valued culture over military power, and among the numerous scholars, such junior scholars were nothing special.
Forget it, don’t waste time.
Song Chi walked straight to an octagonal lantern, and only one of the eight sides had a question.
"This question is very difficult, and no one has guessed it correctly so far." The scholar guarding the lamp kindly reminded him, "You can try another one."
The title has only four words: "Spring is in full bloom", which is indeed difficult compared to the others.
Song Chi answered without hesitation: "The answer is the word 'quiet'."
"Sir, you are right. The answer is the word 'quiet'. You have passed. Please."
Song Chi nodded and continued walking forward.
Before a colorful lantern, the riddle read "Jiu Ji" (death). Song Chi directly gave the answer, "The answer is to sit and wait for death."
"You are right, sir. Please."
"The title is: A girl with flowery feathers on her head and wearing a colorful cheongsam. She travels around all day long, only knowing how to enjoy herself. The answer is butterfly." Song Chi gave the answer again.
"Young Master is talented, please."
After guessing four riddles in a row, Song Chi finally passed the first level. In his opinion, at least one-third of the people were stuck here. There were many participants, and there were definitely quite a few who were just filling in the numbers.
An octagonal colored lantern was hung on the tree trunk, and scholars were streaming below, their faces flushed, discussing the puzzles on the lantern.
If you don't guess correctly, you can't move forward. You can stay here or go to the river and take a boat to the other side.
This article is quite interesting.
Song Chi also became interested. Originally, he wanted to drag Gu Ronghua over. With his help, there should be no problem in passing the first three levels. However, Gu Ronghua said that he would not let this person go, so he did not come.
However, as the young master of the Gu family, even if he did not attend the literary gathering, as an invited guest, he should be sitting in Fan Tower now.
Entering the next level, there were indeed fewer people. This level was about writing couplets, and the style used was a circle around the stage, which was common in brothels. The beauties in the brothel sat in the middle, and the guests sat around the stage. The beauties wrote the upper couplet, and the guests wrote the lower couplet.
The same is true for the second level. There are several square tables placed along the river bank, and there is a beautiful lady at each table. Looking around, you can feel the atmosphere of a beautiful woman.
These beauties are carefully selected from the four buildings.
Just like the first level, it is divided into several sections, each with different difficulty levels, thus achieving the goal of eliminating people.
Scholars who participate in the literary gathering can find an empty seat and sit down until they can come up with a couplet. Due to the large number of participants, a stay time limit is set. Each table has eight to ten people. If a person still cannot answer the question after everyone at the table has taken a turn, he or she will be considered failed.
Song Chi looked around and saw that there were quite a few people at each table in front. They didn't look like literary people, but rather people who came to a brothel and chatted with beautiful women on some irrelevant topics from time to time.
After all, they are all ladies carefully selected from the four major buildings. If you usually order them, it will cost you a lot of money. Now you can get them for free, so why not do it?
Song Chi didn't want to waste time, so he walked straight to the end and saw an empty table with only a beautiful woman sitting there alone. He walked over and sat down.
This beauty has outstanding looks, long eyelashes and fluffy-looking eyes. She is dressed boldly, revealing her snow-white shoulders, with pink tulle casually wrapped around her chest, revealing her bottomless cleavage.
Logically speaking, someone with such a figure and appearance would be able to attract many people, but unfortunately, there are the fewest people here.
Seeing Song Chi sitting down, the woman said calmly, "My name is Hongzhu, and I'm a prostitute in Fanlou. Have you ever heard of me?"
Song Chi shook his head.
"Do you know why there are so few people sitting here?"
Song Chi said, "Don't waste time. You should hurry up and come up with the first couplet."
"You..." Hong Zhu was furious. "You look like a handsome young man, but you are so unromantic. Originally, I had the most people here, but because the first couplet I came up with is very difficult, no one has passed my test yet, so there is no one left."
"I'm different from those people. They answer questions based on the given topic, but I make up my own questions. I told you, I'm a prostitute." Hong Zhu said with a hint of pride in her tone.
A Qingguanren is a cultured and compassionate man who generally does not sleep with others easily and has certain autonomy rights.
"Are you still giving me questions? If not, I'll go somewhere else."
Song Chi was a little impatient. I came here to participate in the literary competition, not to listen to you bragging.
"you......"
Hong Zhu took a deep breath and then said in a cold voice, "Listen carefully, you only have one chance to answer the couplet. If you can't answer it, you will be eliminated."
"Go ahead, sister."
Song Chi shook his head helplessly. This woman talked too much nonsense.
Although she was somewhat pretty, it was nothing in Song Chi's eyes. Could she compare to Liang Qingwu? Could she compare to her cousin? Could she compare to Luo Yurou?
"Who are you calling Big Sister?"
"You are the eldest sister, your whole family is the eldest sister."
Hong Zhu slammed the table and stood up, "I'm going to give you the most difficult couplet ever and eliminate you immediately!"
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