Sure enough, He Yulian's face turned from red to white, and finally she snorted in anger and became speechless.
Yu Rou smiled instead, her eyes bright, like a deep lake rippling in the sunlight, shining brightly and movingly.
After a faint smile, she stopped looking at He Yulian and gently said to Yu Ting, "The so-called 'biting the cup' doesn't just mean that the tea foam bites the edge of the cup. As long as there is tea foam floating in the cup, no matter where it is, the rabbit-hair pattern or oil-drip pattern at the bottom of the cup at the corresponding part will look like it is bitten. If the tea foam floats in the cup, the rabbit-hair pattern and oil-drip pattern at the bottom of the cup will seem to be pulled, which is very vivid and interesting. This is why people like to use rabbit-hair and oil-drip cups for tea competitions. If the tea foam rises, it cannot bite the cup and will quickly disperse. Once the tea foam disperses, a 'water mark' will appear at the junction of the tea and the cup. But to bite the cup, you must grind the tea very finely, and add the tea, add the tea foam, and whisk it just right. This requires superb skills in brewing and infusing the tea."
Her voice was soft and pleasant. She answered all the questions she had asked He Yulian one by one, and gave a deeper explanation of He Yulian's answer about biting the lamp.
This blatant slap in the face not only reveals He Yulian's self-conceited character and her complacency when she knows a little bit, but also tells He Yulian not to look down on others, so as not to embarrass herself and make a fool of herself in front of others.
After Yu Rou asked those questions just now, He Yulian was furious and angry. Now He Yulian was furious and hated Yu Rou to the core.
Although Yu Rou's voice was not loud, due to He Yulian's publicity just now, many people heard their conversation. This means that He Yulian not only embarrassed herself in public, but also got a bad reputation. You have to know that those present were not unknown people.
But He Yulian couldn't do anything to Yu Rou. She was not stupid. If she provoked Yu Rou again, it would only make others watch the fun, which would not benefit her reputation at all.
She glared at Yu Rou hatefully.
I will repay today's humiliation tenfold.
Soon, the results of the first round came out.
All thirteen contestants actually have their own ideas, but it is impossible for all of them to advance in the first round, so there must be a winner.
The appearance of the water mark early or late determines the quality of the tea. In a tea competition, the winner is the one who appears the water mark later, while the loser is the one who appears the water mark earlier. This results in the elimination of three contestants.
The remaining ten people continue to the second round.
The tea soup with the last water marks to appear was made by two masked men.
Yu Rou had not observed them carefully before, but now that she looked carefully, she suddenly felt that their figures seemed familiar.
Before Yu Rou could think about it, she heard the servant in blue announce the start of the second round of tea-fighting.
"The rules of the tea-fighting competition are that five people compete against each other, divided into two groups."
"Play the tea-circling game. Compose a poem about tea. Any poem with two related first and last words or repeated words is acceptable. Those who make two mistakes or cannot answer the question are eliminated. Duke Wen and Master Puji will serve as the order officials. They will instruct the ten people present to act accordingly. Those who make a mistake or cannot continue the poem will lose."
When these words were spoken, everyone was shocked.
The rules of this tea game appear simple, but they're actually quite challenging. Coming up with a tea-themed poem in a short time, with the first character of the poem being a strict requirement, is truly a stretch. It's far more challenging than the drinking game Yu Rou played at the flower viewing banquet. Furthermore, with five players in a group, the game can be played very quickly.
If it was a different theme, Yu Rou might not be able to write such a difficult looping poem, but this time the theme was tea. She was so fond of tea that she gathered many talented people, wrote countless tea poems, and often played tea-order games with others.
As soon as the rules were announced, the results of the group draw came out. The fifth prince, Yu Rou, Yan Wanyun, Mr. Zi Lian and a masked man were in one group, and the other five were in another group.
The second round began immediately. Master Puji and Duke Wen, who were sitting in the hall, discussed with each other and said the first line of the tea poem respectively.
Master Puji, dressed in a monk's robe and holding Buddhist beads, had a clear and tranquil gaze. His voice was steady, and he spoke word by word: "The autumn waves in the stone tripod are quiet, and the Zen returns with Yue tea."
Ending with the word "tea", it seems that Master Puji wants to give them a slightly easier start.
The fifth prince stood up first and bowed, looking elegant and graceful. He quickly followed up with the next line, "Tea brews, green milk flowers reflect on the curtains, while bitter bamboo shoots stand on the sand, slender and silver."
This poem has a wonderful artistic conception and excellent wording. The use of green milk to refer to the juice brewed from green tea is really wonderful.
Ms. Zi Lian was still very young. She became a widow two years after her marriage, but her reputation was known to everyone. She was treated as a guest of honor by all the great ancestors, and many noble ladies wanted to invite her to their homes to teach.
In the original plot, Yan Wanyun was appreciated by her, accepted as her disciple, and became famous in the capital.
She immediately added the next sentence: "With delicate hands, she plays with the clouds and plants tea in the forest."
The next one is Yu Rou. In everyone's eyes, Yu Rou has nothing to do with the word "talented woman" at all.
Many noble ladies kept staring at Yu Rou, and couldn't help but recall the jaw-dropping performances she had made at the flower viewing banquet that day. No one had expected her to win first place that day, but the fact that she could advance to the first round was surprising enough, so everyone was curious about how far she could go.
In particular, He Yulian didn't dare to believe that she would win in the first round. She just thought she must have been lucky, so even if it also started with the word "tea", she didn't think Yu Rou could say it.
Unexpectedly, her expression was calm, and she recited a line with a serious face: "Tea is brewed with dripping spring water, firewood is picked up with scattered leaves."
Those who were originally disdainful now widened their eyes.
Yan Wanyun also looked at Yu Rou in surprise, revealing a bit of doubt, but she quickly continued: "Leaves grow after spring, and tea is fragrant after the rain."
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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