Happy Little Scholar

Li Yi suddenly stopped, and the little maid just wanted to catch up with him quickly and bumped into him unprepared. 』

He rubbed his chest in pain, and when he looked up, he saw that his uncle had turned his head and looked in the direction of the crowd.

"One hundred taels?"

The number that Li Yi muttered in his mouth, if he heard correctly just now, the two people who were talking on the periphery of the crowd had just said these three words.

For the current Li Yi, anything related to money is a sensitive word, and it is impossible to escape his ears even from a few feet away.

Originally not intending to watch the excitement, he immediately walked quickly towards the crowd.

"I dare to ask you two brothers, I wonder what happened here, why are you all gathered here?" Li Yi first saluted the two people who just spoke as peers, and then asked with a smile.

The two of them were chatting happily and were interrupted by others. They were naturally unhappy. However, when they turned around and saw that the person standing in front of them seemed to be a scholar, the unhappy look on their faces immediately disappeared. One of them smiled and replied: " Brother, I don’t know. Today, several poetry clubs in Qing’an Prefecture are competing with each other in poetry and essays in the Zuixiang Building. The winner will be able to participate in the Mid-Autumn Poetry Competition held tomorrow... I’m afraid it won’t be long before... Then there will be good works spread.”

No matter how you look at Li Yi's clothes, he looks like a scholar. Perhaps for this reason, the two men in Confucian shirts also have a warm attitude towards him.

Li Yi had no interest at all in poetry clubs and poetry associations. This dear friend talked for a long time, but still didn't get to the point. Li Yi decided to remind him a little.

With a smile on his face, he pretended to be casual and asked: "The one hundred taels of silver the two brothers just mentioned..."

"Oh, that one hundred taels of silver is the prize for this competition, and will be given to the winning poetry club in the end." The other person was stunned for a moment, and then explained.

For scholars like them, the focus should be on this poetry competition. Money is something external to the body, and this one hundred taels of silver is not the focus of their attention.

Scholars should regard money as dung.

However, as a pseudo-scholar, this is Li Yi's focus.

One hundred taels of silver, you can take it away if you win. In this way, will the rent of the shop be settled soon?

This one hundred taels of silver was clearly tailor-made for me.

"Thank you two brothers!" Li Yi smiled and bowed his hands to the two of them, then glanced at the little maid standing behind him: "Xiaohuan, let's go in!"

Xiaohuan nodded and followed Li Yi, as if I would be wherever my uncle is.

"Brother, stay!"

Li Yigang took two steps when a voice suddenly came from behind him.

He turned back and looked at the young scholar just now with confusion, "Brother, is there anything else you can do?"

"I wonder if my brother has an invitation?"

"Invitation?"

The expression on Li Yi's face froze, "What invitation?"

The young scholar explained: "The Zuixiang Building has been booked today, and you can only enter with an invitation, so we will be turned away."

"So, we can't go in?" Li Yi said with a disappointed look on his face.

He seemed to see the one hundred taels of silver he had received fly out of his arms again.

"That's not necessarily the case." The scholar pointed to the front and said, "You can go in without an invitation, but you just need to guess the lantern riddles they asked correctly."

Seeing the way this man spoke slowly, Li Yi felt a little depressed. Mother-in-law is not like a man. She finishes her words quickly and only speaks half a sentence at a time. It is easy for others to misunderstand...

"In that case, let's guess the lantern riddles before going in."

Li Yi has been doing riddles since he was a child. He has much more experience than these ancients, and there is no need to cheat at all.

The two people looked at each other, smiled bitterly and said: "These lantern riddles are all unsolved puzzles during the Lantern Festival last year. If it were so easy to guess, we wouldn't have to wait outside the door."

"Whether you can guess it or not, you'll know in one try." Li Yi smiled, holding Xiaohuan's hand and walking to the front.

At the front of the crowd, everyone was arguing around a few big red lanterns. There were white cloth strips hanging from the bottom of the lanterns with riddles written on them.

"The white snake crosses the river, with a red sun above its head."

Li Yi looked at the cloth strip under the lantern, the expression on his face remained unchanged, but he was already scolding in his heart.

What kind of puzzle is this? There are no hints, and it doesn't say whether it's a crossword puzzle or a guess. How can anyone guess it?

Isn't this deliberately making things difficult for others?

Some people guessed the answer to the riddle was "boat", while others guessed "dan", but the boys standing nearby didn't respond. Obviously, their guesses were not correct.

Li Yi originally wanted to rely on his intelligence to guess riddles, but now he couldn't count on it. Cheating honestly was the right way.

As soon as I thought about it, a thick collection of ancient and modern lantern riddles appeared in my mind.

Li Yi still didn't believe that this riddle was missing from a collection of lantern riddles that was as thick as an encyclopedia.

Search by word, "white", "snake"..., "white snake crossing the river, with a red sun above its head", found it!

In just ten seconds, a smile appeared on Li Yi's face.

I waved to the boy, and when he came over, I smiled and said, "The white snake is crossing the river, with a red sun above its head. The answer to this lantern riddle is 'oil lamp.'"

The crowd around him was stunned for a moment, and then immediately became uproar.

"What oil lamp? Even if I guess blindly, I have to guess something that looks like it."

"That's right. What's the relationship between the white snake, the red sun and the oil lamp!"

"If you guessed it wrong, get out of the way quickly. Don't block the road!"

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Some people were very rude. They racked their brains for so long and still couldn't guess it right. Why are you, a newcomer, joining in the fun?

"Young master, you are so talented. The answer to this lantern riddle is the oil lamp." The servant was stunned for a moment, then a surprised expression appeared on his face, and he immediately bowed and said.

"What!"

"You actually guessed it right!"

"Why is it an oil lamp?"

"I know!"

"The wick is the white snake, and the flame...isn't it the red sun!"

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The riddle is actually very ordinary, but because there is no hint, the range of guesses is too wide. If there is no flash of inspiration, it is difficult to think of the oil lamp.

When Li Yi said the answer, someone figured it out soon. It turned out that the answer was so simple. Many people beat their chests and stamped their feet. They sighed that the scholar was lucky, and they also regretted why they didn't think of this link just now.

The two scholars who had just talked to Li Yi looked at this scene in amazement. It was hard to imagine that he actually guessed it!

"Can I go in now?" Li Yi asked the servant.

"Sir, please!"

The servant hurriedly stretched out his hand to make an invitation gesture.

Li Yi waved to the girl behind him: "Xiao Huan, let's go in."

The little maid nodded immediately. The son-in-law was really amazing. He even guessed the lantern riddle that so many people couldn't guess. Xiao Huan saw the oil lamp every night, but she didn't think of it!

A lovely smile spread on her face. When she was about to follow Li Yi in, the servant quickly caught up and stopped in front of the two of them, saying with difficulty: "Sir, you can only go in alone."

"Why?" Li Yi looked at him and frowned.

Upon hearing this, Xiaohuan immediately tightened her grip on Li Yi's clothes with some worry... Xiaohuan didn't want to be separated from her son-in-law.

"Because the young master only solved one riddle, according to our rules, only you can go in." The servant patiently explained.