Ger, So Proud

Chapter 78

The nine-story lighthouse had riddles for the first five levels, couplets for the next three, and it was said that one of the couplets was written by the county magistrate. As for the final level, Shopkeeper Song deliberately kept it a secret. However, He Ze guessed it was probably poetry or something similar. The difficulty of the riddles was quite intentional, making the competition for the lantern prize truly challenging.

In such a small town, even being literate was rare.

“Brother, are you confident?” He An asked.

“No,” He Ze admitted honestly. Even if he remembered all the characters the original owner had learned, he was still barely literate. The only thing he could rely on was his distant and often fuzzy memories.

Fortunately, the first three riddles were not difficult, more like basic questions that had appeared in previous years’ lantern festivals. Only one person was eliminated among the thirty-plus contestants. He Ze found the answers easily by recalling the original owner’s memories.

A servant used a long pole to tap the fourth red lantern, causing a folded white paper to fall down. With a glance at the confident contestants below, Shopkeeper Song unfolded the paper and smiled, “This fourth riddle, please listen carefully: ‘Drawn round, written square, warm with it, cold without it.’ It’s a character riddle. Once this half-stick of incense burns out, time’s up.”

Shopkeeper Song waved the already lit incense stick, which was actually about a third of a full stick. As the incense smoke curled up, many contestants showed troubled expressions.

“Do you know it?” He Ze asked the two beside him. He An and Lin Yu both shook their heads.

“Coincidentally, neither do I. If we can’t answer this one, we’re out. What do we do?”

What to do? There was nothing they could do.

“‘Drawn round, written square, warm with it, cold without it’…” He Ze murmured the riddle to himself, concentrating for a while. He picked up the brush on the table and drew a circle, then a square, intermittently poking the paper with the brush tip, leaving a series of black ink spots.

When most of the paper was covered with ink spots, he wrote the character “暖” (warm) in the circle and “凉” (cold) in the square. A round, warm thing, written as a square…

“I’ve got it.”

“What is it?” He An asked excitedly.

“The sun,” He Ze pointed to the sky, “which is the character ‘日’.”

Indeed, in this world, the character “日” is square. He Ze wrote it neatly on the back of the paper and showed them, “Look.”

“Brother, your handwriting is beautiful.”

Even though he didn’t understand, Lin Yu was full of admiration and reverence, captivated by the charm of the characters.

He Ze frowned. He had bought two sets of brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, as well as children’s primer books, intending to teach the two of them to read. However, it had not been scheduled yet. Tonight, he thought, he needed to plan it properly.

As for whether they would still praise his dog-like handwriting after they learned to read… cough, perhaps, maybe, possibly.

While he was thinking about this, the incense burned out. When Shopkeeper Song announced the correct answer, He An jumped with joy.

This round eliminated five people, increasing the tension.

“Now, for the final character riddle. The difficulty… well, I don’t know. Please listen carefully: ‘From afar, the mountain has color; up close, the water has no sound. When spring departs, flowers remain; when people come, birds are undisturbed.’ This is a simple five-character quatrain, and it requires you to guess a single character. Half a stick of incense, hurry up! Haha!”

Shopkeeper Song laughed warmly, but the contestants all frowned in unison. If the fourth riddle had stumped many because it was “new,” the fifth riddle added “strangeness” to the mix. This combination made it far more challenging.

Winning the lantern prize was not going to be easy!

He Ze and the others tapped the table, bit their fingers, and daydreamed. In the end, they looked at each other, all unable to come up with an answer.

“Brother, this is only the fifth round!” He An said despondently, as if already seeing them leave in defeat.

“Don’t worry, the time isn’t up yet. The incense is only half-burned!”

“Right, have confidence! Maybe right after I say this, you’ll come up with the answer?”

“Brother!”

He An looked annoyed, while He Ze shook his head, smiling.

“Don’t stress if we can’t figure it out. By the way, He Ze, what was the third line of the riddle again?” Lin Yu suddenly asked.

“Huh?”

“Repeat it for me. Is the quatrain a poem? I think Uncle Xu mentioned it. Mountain, water, flowers, birds—it resembles the painting on the revolving lantern!”

“‘From afar, the mountain has color; up close, the water has no sound. When spring departs, flowers remain; when people come, birds are undisturbed.’ Hmm, it does resemble the painting, but it lacks beauty…”

“Wait a minute, hold on!” He An suddenly raised his hand, excitement in his voice. “Brother, it’s not just similar—it is!”

“What do you mean?”

“Painting! The answer to the riddle is ‘painting,’ right? Only in a painting can mountains have color, water be silent, flowers remain in spring, and birds be undisturbed by people, right?”

The word “painting” circled in He Ze’s mind. He patted He An’s shoulder. “See, I told you! You’re much smarter than me!”

“Did we get it right?” Lin Yu’s brows relaxed.

“Yeah, pretty much.”

Sure enough, when time was up, they successfully passed the fifth round. This round eliminated sixteen contestants, which was quite ruthless.

When it came to the couplet round on the next three levels, Shopkeeper Song personally invited two renowned scholars of the town to the stage: one in his forties and the other an elder in his sixties who had even taught at the academy He Ze attended.

When Shopkeeper Song announced the upper couplet of the sixth level, “Lanterns emit splendor from heaven and earth,” He Ze casually paired it with, “Splendid night, people reunite,” and they smoothly advanced.

He An was overjoyed.

The difficulty increased again in the seventh level with a palindrome couplet, “Everywhere red flowers bloom red everywhere.” Perhaps because “red flowers, green trees” sounded so natural, He Ze wrote down, “Layer upon layer green trees grow green layer upon layer,” which was neat and successful, leading them to the next round.

As the competition heated up, by the end of this round, fewer than a dozen contestants remained seated on the stage, and the tension among the crowd grew.

“After seven rounds, I now hold the final question for the eighth level. This question was personally written by our county magistrate, Lord Zhou, who is a highly accomplished scholar. You must give it your best! Please listen to the upper couplet: ‘Mountain goat climbs the mountain, mountain hits the goat’s feet, baa baa baa,’ please give the matching lower couplet!”

After Shopkeeper Song finished speaking, the crowd fell silent, and he leisurely lit the incense.

“A goat…” He An bit his finger. “Brother, if he wrote about a goat, can we write about a pig?”

“And how does a pig sound?”

“Snort snort snort…” He An seriously imitated the sound.

“Ahem, that was a pretty good impression,” He Ze couldn’t help but laugh.

“Fool! Your brother is teasing you again!” Lin Yu poked He An’s head, frustrated. Then he turned to “scold” He Ze. “Is that how you should behave as a brother?”

“Yes, yes, my bad… But seriously, a pig won’t work. The last three characters of the upper couplet, ‘baa baa baa,’ are not just onomatopoeia. The most crucial part is that they can be broken down to form the character ‘goat.’ To ensure a good match, we have to cover all bases.”

Not only did they need to find an animal with an onomatopoeic sound, but this onomatopoeia also had to form the character of the animal in their script. Only then could they successfully match the couplet.

“A goat is in the upper couplet, so a pig won’t work. A dog? No, a dog won’t work either. A chicken…” In their world, the character for “cheep” could be broken down to form the character for “chicken,” but only chicks cheeped. When they grew up, they clucked, which wasn’t as fitting.

Having made it this far, He Ze’s competitive spirit was ignited, and he put in his utmost effort.

Time ticked by, and the incense in the burner grew shorter.

This was the penultimate round. Passing it would bring them one step closer to the lantern prize, but that was secondary. For most contestants, this round was more crucial than winning the lantern.

They were scholars, striving for academic success and official positions all their lives. Shopkeeper Song had mentioned that this question was personally written by the county magistrate. If they could come up with an excellent answer, it would make a good impression on Magistrate Zhou, possibly earning them guidance during county or provincial exams—something far more valuable than a lantern.

Therefore, not only He Ze but the remaining few contestants racked their brains, thinking deeply.

As the incense neared its end, He Ze still hadn’t written anything. He An looked at him. “Brother?”

He Ze was lost in thought for a long time before turning to look at him.

“Brother Lin, my brother…”

“Shh… let him think,” Lin Yu gestured for silence, placing a finger on his lips.

“Xiao An, how does a cat sound?” After a while, He Ze suddenly smiled.

“Meow?”

He Ze’s smile widened. “You asked me before if I had any confidence. Now I can tell you, I’m halfway there. As for the other half, it depends on our luck in the final round.”

Without waiting for He An to respond, He Ze slowly picked up his brush. Just as he placed it down, the last segment of incense in the burner burned out, leaving only a tiny ember about to extinguish.

Time was up.

This round turned out to be a battleground. The two “judges” either furrowed their brows in concentration or gently stroked their beards in contemplation. After a long half-hour, Shopkeeper Song finally announced the results.

Only three people passed.

He Ze, a middle-aged man, and Qian Sun sitting opposite He Ze. He Ze wasn’t surprised that Qian Sun advanced. After all, Guan Duo, as the academy’s most promising student, naturally possessed real talent and learning.

He Ze’s couplet for the cat was: “Flower cat plays with flowers, flowers confuse flower cat’s eyes, meow meow meow.” The middle-aged man used the chicken that He Ze had considered earlier. As for Qian Sun, his couplet was the most refined: “Water buffalo enters the water, water floods water buffalo’s horns, moo moo moo.” One upper couplet with a goat, one lower couplet with a buffalo, an “upper” and a “lower,” it was a perfect match.

As the three remaining contestants prepared to vie for the lantern prize, the crowd was in an uproar, with some even setting up gambling bets outside.

“Brother, why don’t we place a bet on ourselves to win?” He An’s tone was excited, practically ready to pull silver from He Ze’s purse.

“You’ve got guts. Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell Father and Dad when we get home?”

“Brother!” He An stamped his foot.

“Alright, here you go! But just this once, don’t make it a habit!” He Ze tossed a small pouch of silver fragments. “Remember, bet on number nine to win.”

“Okay, okay, thank you, Brother!” He An caught the silver, joyfully ran a few steps, then stopped abruptly. “Brother, we aren’t number nine. Did you remember wrong?”

“Just bet on number nine, the person opposite us.”

“Ah…” He An was clearly unhappy. “Why?”

“There are three people in the final round, so each has a one-third chance of winning. If we win, you can take the lantern home. But even if we don’t, there’s still a fifty percent chance of making money.”

He An was baffled for a moment, then his eyes lit up. “Then why don’t we bet on both of the others? That way, if you don’t win, we’ll have a one hundred percent chance of making money!”

“…You’re a clever one, aren’t you? Just do as I say and trust me. Now go!” He Ze’s bet on Qian Sun was based on his knowledge of Guan Duo. As for the other contestant, he knew nothing about him.

He An pouted and carefully squeezed through the crowd.

At that moment, the final test question floated down from the exquisite lantern at the top of the tower, and Shopkeeper Song’s words confirmed He Ze’s earlier guess.

The final test was to compose a poem on the theme of the Lantern Festival.

“Damn, what if the remaining five points aren’t enough?” He Ze sighed upon hearing the topic.