Chapter 256 Three Hairpin Flowers (First Update)
In the Zhao Kingdom, there has always been a tradition of the top scholar wearing flowers in his hair. Initially, only the top scholar wore flowers, but it gradually evolved into the three top scholars wearing flowers. These flowers were bestowed by the emperor and had extraordinary significance. Every daughter of the Zhao Kingdom considered it an honor to receive a flower from one of the three top scholars.
That's right, the top three scholars did not give hairpins to men.
However, it was not usually given to women casually. Firstly, it was a royal gift, which everyone cherished. Secondly, there was a concern that showing favoritism might offend someone.
Such an incident occurred in the previous dynasty—a top scholar gave his hairpin to a famous courtesan, which angered a noble lady who secretly harbored feelings for him. The lady's father was a powerful minister in the court, and as you can imagine, the top scholar's career was unsuccessful for many years. His fellow top scholars, the second and third place winners, all entered the cabinet, while he was sent to a small county town to serve as a county magistrate.
Of course, this is an isolated case.
Regardless, hairpins adorned with flowers are extremely rare.
There are two ways to obtain a hairpin: one is to have one of the top three scholars in the imperial examinations willingly give it to you, and the other is to challenge one of the top three scholars to a contest, and if you win, you can take the hairpin from them.
The former Crown Princess used this method to win two hairpin flowers from two Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations) – the second and third place winners – which became a popular story in the Zhao Kingdom.
If no one challenges Xiao Liulang, he can give the hairpin to anyone he wants. However, if someone challenges him, he must accept the challenge and win before he can give the hairpin to the person he wants.
If he doesn't want to accept the challenge, that's fine, but he can't give away any more hairpins; that's the rule.
He took out the hairpin, seemingly intending to give it as a gift.
That's something to be very envious of.
In the teahouse next to Gu Jiao's, also on the second floor, a veiled girl in purple stood by the open window.
Judging from her clothes and appearance, she must be from a wealthy and noble family. She also has a good temperament and is accompanied by maids. She must be the daughter of a prominent family.
She didn't even glance at Gu Jiao next door, but simply raised her chin and raised an eyebrow, her gaze falling on the handsome and refined new top scholar, and said, "This humble lady has a couplet she would like to ask the top scholar for advice. I wonder if the top scholar would do her the honor?"
This means they're challenging the top scorer.
Every year during the annual parade of the top scholar, daughters of the three best scholars would challenge them. However, few people actually accepted the challenge, and even fewer lost. To date, only the Crown Princess has successfully won two hairpins.
This girl is really brave. Who is she?
Everyone couldn't help but look over at the girl in purple.
The girl in purple seemed unconcerned about being stared at. She smiled and said arrogantly yet innocently, "What? Is the newly appointed top scholar afraid of not being able to match a couplet with a little girl like me? It's fine if you can't match it, but then you won't be able to give away your hairpin."
Everyone finally understood: this girl didn't want anyone else to have her, since she couldn't have her herself.
Okay, although it sounds awful, they're kind of happy. That's right, Scholar, you can only keep your hairpin and you're not allowed to give it to other women!
Xiao Liulang nodded slightly to Gu Jiao, then looked at the girl with a distant gaze, his eyes regaining their coldness: "Please enlighten me, young lady."
The girl in purple said smugly, "Looking at the river from Wangjiang Tower, looking at the river flowing beneath Wangjiang Tower, may the tower and the river be eternal!"
Everyone was surprised; this young lady has such a talent for writing!
Xiao Liulang said almost without thinking, "The Moon Reflection Well reflects the moon's image. The Moon Reflection Well reflects the moon's image for ten thousand years, and the moon's image for ten thousand years."
The crowd clapped and cheered: "Bravo!"
No wonder he's the top scorer in the imperial examination, this couplet is absolutely brilliant!
The girl in purple choked, not expecting the other party to come up with a matching couplet so quickly. Unconvinced, she threw out another couplet: "Mist locks the mountain top, the mountain locks the mist!"
Xiao Liulang: "The sky is connected to the water, and the tail water is connected to the sky."
The girl in purple: "The moon shines through the gauze window, and every one of them is as bright as a Kongming in the pavilion." Zhuge Liang, courtesy name Kongming.
Xiao Liulang: "Snow flies over Meiling, everywhere is Fragrant Mountain, Bai Letian." Bai Juyi, courtesy name Letian, pen name Fragrant Mountain.
The girl in purple scratched her head anxiously, wanting to ask more questions, but Xiao Liulang said calmly, "Miss, we've run out of questions."
She was the first to take on the challenge and could ask three questions, while subsequent challengers could only ask one question each—that was the rule.
She was furious and turned to another young Taoist nun in a robe inside the room, saying, "Sister! Come here!"
The young Taoist nun took a sip of tea and said leisurely, "Don't embarrass yourself. Come back. If the newly appointed top scholar can still be stumped by a few couplets, then he doesn't deserve to be the top scholar."
“But…” The girl in purple stamped her foot, snorted, and sat back down in her chair.
The girl in purple led the charge, followed by several other daring young ladies who challenged the newly appointed top scholar, but all of them were defeated.
Then came a tough challenge: instead of testing his writing skills with couplets or poetry, she made Xiao Liulang recite a passage from the Zuo Zhuan backwards.
She tested Xiao Liulang with a book in hand. The Zuo Zhuan has more than 90,000 characters. How well must one be familiar with it to be able to recite it from memory, even backwards?
That's so mean!
The crowd, who had initially been gloating, now felt sorry for the newly appointed top scholar.
The official from the Ministry of Rites broke out in a cold sweat. He said, "I knew it! Competitions should have rules, such as only allowing couplets or poems. We can't have these off-topic questions! Isn't this just deliberately embarrassing?"
Only those who have been to school understand how difficult this question is, but ordinary people don't. They just think, "Aren't you the newly appointed top scholar? How come you can't even recite a book?"
The young lady stood on the second floor, smiling, and said, "Can't answer, can you? Scholar, your hairpin is mine!"
Xiao Liulang spoke unhurriedly: "Yu Baishi, separated from Xu Shengzi Wang Shi Zichu, winter..."
The young lady was stunned. She stared intently at the book in her hands. He... he... he hadn't made a single mistake in reciting it!
"Thank you for your kind words." Xiao Liulang politely but distantly looked away.
Is there anything else?
He asked.
The scene was completely silent, everyone was stunned by his fluent recitation of the "Zuo Zhuan" (a historical text), and for a moment no one dared to step forward and embarrass themselves.
Xiao Liulang's gaze fell on Gu Jiao's face, and his eyes regained a temperature that made people envious: "Miss, please give me a question."
Ah, it's her turn?
Gu Jiao was stunned.
Everyone else is reciting poetry, but she can't.
Actually, she could, but she was so focused on looking at handsome men that she couldn't think straight.
Gu Jiao blinked, her eyes darting around: "Uh... the sun sets beyond the mountains?"
Everyone stumbled!
No, girl, what kind of question did you set? Even a three-year-old could answer that! The newly crowned top scorer is a genius who can recite the Zuo Zhuan backwards!
Xiao Liulang grunted, stared at her intently, and said in a serious tone, "I don't know, I lose."
Everyone: "…………"
Seriously? The newly crowned top scorer, you can't even do this?!
No one knew what to say. Just then, another young lady stepped forward and said something that most of the people present couldn't understand.
Xiao Liulang looked at her coldly and said something that most people couldn't understand.
The girl in purple was completely bewildered: "Sister? What were they talking about?"
The young Taoist nun raised an eyebrow and said, "That girl just now said to the new top scholar in Chen language, 'The sun sets beyond the mountains.'"
"Huh?" The girl in purple was startled.
The young Taoist nun slowly said, "Then the newly appointed top scholar used the languages of Chen, Liang, Zhao, Jin, and Yan to compose the next line, 'The Yellow River flows into the sea.'"
Did that girl really think the newly appointed top scholar couldn't match the sentence? She thought she could get away with it, that she was superior to that girl in blue, and that the newly appointed top scholar would treat her differently.
The result was that they were thoroughly humiliated.
He knows the answers to everyone else's questions, but he doesn't know the answers to yours.
I've won against everyone in the world, only to lose to you.
Most people didn't know what had happened; they just watched as the girl speaking gibberish suddenly turned a deep purplish-red.
The nun's words were spread by the maids, and then everyone knew what had happened.
They hadn't even eaten breakfast because they were so eager to see the top scholar parade through the streets. Now they were all so full that their teeth were practically falling out from the nausea!
In the end, Gu Jiao received the hairpin from the newly appointed top scholar.
She looked at the hairpin in her hand, reluctant to put it down.
So beautiful!
Xiao Liulang looked at her from afar, his eyes filled with a tenderness he himself was unaware of.
Suddenly, a small head popped out from under Gu Jiao's arm.
"Huh? Flower? Jiaojiao, I want to wear it!" Xiao Jingkong patted his little bald head with both hands and said.
The young ladies eagerly reached out their hands.
Little brother, you have no hair, so you should give it to the older sisters to wear!
The sisters have such thick hair!
Xiao Jingkong snorted and turned his face away, refusing to do it; he insisted on wearing it himself!
Gu Jiao made a headband for Xiao Jingkong with a gauze scarf, and put a flower inside the headband. Xiao Jingkong wore a big red flower and happily shook his little bald head.
Then the newly crowned champion's face darkened.
Gu Jiao's goal is three hairpins. She has already obtained the hairpin for the top scholar, and next she will get the hairpins for the second and third scholars.
Facing Prince An, she remained calm and collected, without any confusion. She immediately presented him with an arithmetic problem.
Prince An: "..."
In fact, Prince An had planned from the beginning to deliberately lose to her, just like Xiao Liulang had done, but he did not expect her to ask such a difficult question.
Who taught her? Xiao Liulang?
Why were they so lenient with Xiao Liulang, but they went all out against him?
Prince An took a deep breath: "I concede defeat."
Xiao Liulang narrowed his eyes, watching Prince An toss the hairpin to Gu Jiao, his gaze chillingly cold.
But soon, Gu Jiao set her sights on Ning Zhiyuan, the third-ranked scholar.
Because of Ning Zhiyuan's appearance, no one has challenged him yet, so he could choose to give the hairpin to Gu Jiao directly. However, Ning Zhiyuan didn't want to give it away. He was determined that if anyone challenged him, he would refuse them all and keep the hairpin for himself.
Seeing that Gu Jiao also wanted Ning Zhiyuan's hairpin, Xiao Liulang was no longer angry.
Ning Zhiyuan tightly covered his hairpin.
He won't send it.
He wanted to keep it as a family heirloom, to pass it down from generation to generation to his descendants.
"Give the hairpin to the recipient," the newly appointed top scholar threatened.
"No need to see me out," Ning Zhiyuan refused.
"The consequences of not delivering will be severe," the newly crowned top scorer continued his stern threat. "I'm the top scorer, and I'll make things difficult for you."
Ning Zhiyuan: "..."
The top three scholars in the imperial examinations were qualified to enter the Hanlin Academy directly. The official rank of the top scholar was higher than that of the second and third scholars, so it was possible for the top scholar to make things difficult for the third scholar.
Just as King Goujian of Yue endured hardship and humiliation in ancient times, Ning Zhiyuan today sends off a flower hairpin with tears in his eyes!
Ning Zhiyuan endured the humiliation and gave away the hairpin bestowed by the emperor.
Oh no, the family heirloom is gone.
Gu Jiao obtained three hairpin flowers, becoming the first woman in the history of Zhao Kingdom to collect all three. She was so popular that she even surpassed the Crown Princess.
Xiao Liulang is the newly appointed top scholar, and he is the most watched man today, while Gu Jiao has undoubtedly become the most watched woman today.
The heated discussions among the public need not be mentioned.
The procession on horseback lasted for nearly an hour. Afterwards, led by the newly appointed top scholar, they passed through Chang'an Street, arrived at the Jingzhao Prefecture, were enthroned, enjoyed a lunch banquet, and then were able to go home.
"Sixth Brother, I still feel like this isn't real." In the main hall of the Jingzhao Prefecture, Feng Lin said to Xiao Liulang with great emotion, "Looking back on the journey, seeing so many people watching me, I... I've never been so glamorous in my life."
His glory was nothing compared to that of the newly appointed top scholar, but he never thought of comparing himself to Xiao Liulang. The initial disappointment of becoming a fellow Jinshi had long since vanished during the procession on horseback. He was full of enthusiasm and only wanted to do his best to serve the court!
Note: The couplets in this article are from the internet.
(End of this chapter)
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