My wife has a secret

Chapter 118 Pairs
So everyone hopes that this talented lady Lu can live a good life and not be blinded by a villain like Xu Qing and taken home to be abused.

"That's right! Go back to where you came from!"

"That's right. That courtesan is not as good as Miss Lu. You are such an ungrateful man that you have betrayed the friendship of that girl."

Everyone was so excited that they really treated Xu Qing as a rat crossing the street.

The butler stood on the steps, looking down at him, with a look of deep disdain on his face and expression.

"Master Xu, the test question at the Nie Mansion in seven days will be how many is one plus one? If you don't want to make things difficult for yourself... wait six days and come back. I, Yao, will never stop you."

In fact, everyone in the Nie family understood Miss Lu's intentions, but this husband was really too unkind. How could he leave his beautiful wife at home and go and have fun in a brothel with a concubine who came from a worldly family?
Moreover, in the past two days, the whole city has been filled with rumors about this Young Master Xu.

From the topic set by the courtesan to a one-night stand, the poem "Secretly making your bones dry" from Xu Fu in Suzhou has become popular again.

Therefore, everyone in the Nie Mansion wanted to stand up for Miss Lu, who had a gentle attitude, a calm personality and was not pretentious, and to dampen Xu Qing's arrogance so that he would not bully Miss Lu as if she were an orphan with no one to rely on.

Xu Qing also understood what the butler meant. He just wanted to show him a warning so that he would take Lu Wanhe away in a few days.

Xu Qing felt relieved by the Nie family's support for Lu Wanhe. If the famous teacher and scholar in the rumors did not care about Lu Wanhe, he would definitely not allow the servants in the mansion to offend him.

Now it seems that the other party treats Lu Wanhe as his own.

"Your Nie Mansion has its own rules. I won't say anything. Just come on."

Xu Qing was not really afraid of the other party. Anyway, he had a bad reputation and was shameless. If he encountered a question he couldn't answer, he would just turn around and get into the carriage.

But if he didn't even listen to the questions, it would definitely seem that he was really afraid of the Nie Mansion.

Although the title of literary great scholar is a bit intimidating.

"Well, since Master Xu is so interested, how about coming up with some interesting couplets? It's the Spring Festival right now, so it can add some joy to the capital."

Seeing that Xu Qing insisted on entering the room, the housekeeper Yao Cheng put his hands behind his back and recited the first half of the couplet he had prepared long ago.

"Master Xu, listen carefully. Li Dali has returned to the chariot, and Li Chenli has come out again."

Standing around the Nie Mansion and watching, there were also many scholars and students who came here because of its reputation. After all, the Nie Mansion is now famous not only for Master Nie.

After they pondered the couplet for a moment, they discovered the extraordinary nature of the question.

"Li" and "Li" are very clever homophones. The housekeeper used this to paint an interesting picture of fishing.

The second couplet written by the young master of the Xu family not only had to have neat words and sentences, but also had to cater to the pun and write another picture.

If this were not the case, it would appear that Mr. Xu's cultural level was low and he was inferior.

"The Nie Mansion is indeed worthy of its reputation. Before, everyone said that the threshold of the Nie Mansion was like a carp leaping over the dragon gate. Now it seems... this unprepossessing steward is the real dragon gate."

"Yes, a servant in the Nie Mansion has such culture, which really makes scholars like me feel ashamed."

Those who had read the books of sages began to discuss below, causing a lot of noise.

Several students tried to match a few lines, but they all found that there were various problems with the second line they came up with, and ultimately it was not as good as the one proposed by Butler Yao.

"Master Xu, if you are not sure, you don't have to stand here. Your carriage back to the palace is right behind."

Although when he went out this morning, Master Nie had told Yao Cheng not to underestimate Xu Qing.

But Yao Cheng did not take his master's words to heart. He thought Xu Qing was just a playboy. The two famous poems of this man that were widely circulated must have been the hard work of the third wife, Mrs. Lu.

But it was different with the couplets he carefully designed. Even if Mr. Xu copied more poems, he would not be able to react to the changing circumstances.

Xu Qing stroked his chin and thought for a while before he had an idea. At first, just like the housekeeper thought, he felt he had no idea where to start with this couplet.

But when he understood the concepts of homophony and narrative, he suddenly felt that this couple did not require too much cultural knowledge and he could handle it himself.

"When the wind blows, the bees fall to the ground. When the wind stops, the bees fly again."

Xu Qing's answer silenced the whole audience.

The less educated residents of the capital looked eagerly at the scholars and literati, hoping to tell the quality of the couplet from their expressions.

These students and scholars were stunned, their mouths opened wide enough to fit an apple.

None of them expected that not only was the words and sentences of the second couplet that Xu Qing came up with neat, but even the homophony and narrative techniques were right.

"Feng Tongfeng, Feng Xifeng, Master Xu is really talented in writing."

Although this question was designed by Yao Cheng himself, he had also worked on the second line of the couplet in private.

But even the second line he came up with was not as exquisite and fitting as the one Xu Qing came up with.

It seems that I really underestimated Xu Qing.

"What's the next question?"

According to the usual rules of the Nie Mansion, one can enter the mansion by answering one question, but Xu Qing, who was here for the first time, was obviously unaware of this.

When Yao Cheng saw Xu Qing's stress-free expression, his competitive spirit was aroused and he put the rules he had set behind him.

"The second question is: A tree with deep roots cannot shelter nameless little birds."

The second couplet has the meaning of making a veiled criticism of a foreign country.

Although Yao Cheng's opinion of Xu Qing has changed, he still wants to make a move and win half a chip over his opponent in the pair.

How could Xu Qing not see what he was thinking? However, after all, he was not a Chinese language major and did not have much real talent, so he really fell silent on this matter.

"The beach is dry and the water is shallow, so it is difficult for a horned dragon to hide."

At the moment when Xu Qing was speechless, a clear voice sounded deep in his heart.

This sentence was like his inner voice, helping him solve his current dilemma.

Xu Qing realized that someone was helping him, and he could also analyze the other party's identity from the female voice and recent experiences.

It should be Qin Shuying.

"The beach is dry and the water is shallow, so it is difficult for a horned dragon to hide."

Xu Qing read out the answer in his mind, using the mythological allusion of a dragon hiding in water to imply that the butler was blind and that it would be difficult for a family like the Nie family to achieve anything.

Although Butler Yao was "slapped" by Xu Qing's answer, the disrespect in his heart gradually faded away in the confrontation between the two pairs.

And from the perspective of word choice, the second couplet given by Xu Qing is also more exquisite.

"The third question, wind and rain, hot and cold, turbulent and gurgling, free and unrestrained."

Butler Yao looked serious as he read out the couplet he had heard in Jiangnan before.

At first, this couplet was hung in the restaurant but no one was interested in it, because it was too difficult to make a perfect match and there were hidden secrets everywhere.

(End of this chapter)