Chapter 155: Smoke Locks the Willows in the Pond

Chapter 155: Smoke Locks the Willows in the Pond

Chapter 155: Smoke Locks the Willows in the Pond

The wine on the table was in a strange bottle and clear, two grades higher than the official reception wine Wang Zixu usually saw. The two grades higher expressed the importance of Teacher Shi, and the two grades higher expressed the character of the literati.

Shi Tonghe saw the wine and estimated its value in a few seconds, and his expression became much more relaxed. Wang Zixu caught this and realized that he was a person who loved drinking.

And you can drink it.

The key to success is to know how much alcohol the host and guest can drink. If you still can't figure it out after three rounds of drinking with the other party, it means you are about to get drunk.

In the past, when Wang Zixu was still participating in unit activities, every time there was a social event, the leader would always ask how much the people brought by the other unit could drink, and then make arrangements based on the level of the other unit's people.

Some people can chat, some can drink, if the amount of drinking is enough to make the other party drunk, you can bring one more person who can chat. This is the advantage of playing at home.

This is within the system, everyone knows each other, has been fighting for a long time, knows each other's drinking capacity, and is the way acquaintances drink.

What I’m afraid of is meeting strangers.

Wang Zixu remembered that once when they were trying to attract investment, the other party was a joint venture and brought two strong Russian men. Their company was completely wiped out by the two men drinking. No matter how much they drank, they could not find out the bottom of the other party. The more they drank, the more desperate they became, and they lost in terms of momentum.

Therefore, it is very important to find out the alcohol tolerance of the host and the guest, so as to make the other party drink well but not to make them drunk. If you can drink well, you should play the main attack and drink more. If you can't drink well, you should coordinate the attack under the cover of the big brother.

These were all the tricks Zhang Cangnian taught him.

Thinking of Zhang Cangnian, Wang Zixu smiled slightly, and then began to feel bitter: Today it is a three-way fight, and our side can only take the main attack ourselves.

This table is Nanjing University's home court, with the most people from Nanjing University at the table. Wang Zixu hopes that Nanjing University can focus its main attacking force on Shi Tonghe and his son, so that he and Ning Chunyan can share less firepower.

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. This time, Nan Da seemed to have made up his mind to take care of everyone at the table. He attacked from both ends, toasting Shi Tonghe on one hand and urging Ning Chunyan to drink on the other. Before he had eaten a few chopsticks of food, Ning Chunyan had already added wine to his glass twice.

There was a young man at the table. Ning Chunyan had just finished half a cup with Shi Tonghe when Shi Shuqiu strode over with his cup raised and said to her:

"Sister Xiaochun, I'll toast you a glass."

Ning Chunyan put down his chopsticks before eating a single bite and asked, "Who taught you to call me that?"

"Ah? Shouldn't we call her Sister Xiaochun?"

"Okay, okay, whatever you want," Ning Chunyan frowned and looked at him, "Eat more food, why are you toasting me, aren't you afraid of getting drunk?"

Shi Shuqiu smiled and said, "Sister Xiaochun cares about me. Once I sit at the table, I am not afraid of getting drunk, I am afraid of not getting drunk."

Ning Chunyan was angry and amused: "Who cares about you? I care about myself. I can't drink anymore."

Shi Shuqiu laughed: "What are you afraid of? This place is close to Nanjing University, and we are all family. Are you afraid that no one will take care of us?"

Ning Chunyan smiled bitterly: "Who will take care of me?"

"Sister Xiaochun doesn't have a boyfriend yet?"

"This is a secret, I won't reveal it," Ning Chunyan raised his glass, "I'm fine with it."

"Don't." Shi Shuqiu stopped her, "Sister Xiaochun, look, this is our first meeting and we feel like old friends. This is a great opportunity. You should enjoy it to the fullest. Don't let the golden cup face the moon in vain. Sister Xiaochun, you should also let down your guard a little."

Ning Chunyan said: "I really can't drink it! I can only drink three cups."

Shi Shuqiu didn't listen to her: "How about this, I drink two cups and you drink one cup? Look, I brought the wine dispenser with me."

He raised the wine dispenser in his hand, and there was at least half a pound of wine in it.

Ning Chunyan was speechless. Shi Shuqiu was determined to force her to drink, so someone needed to hold her back.

Wang Zixu stood up and said, "Master Shi, Editor-in-Chief Ning only has this much. How about this, I drink a glass for her and we both finish it, how do you say?"

Shi Shuqiu was not happy: "I had two cups and she had one cup."

"No, no, no, I'll do it if you do it."

Ning Chunyan said, "How about you two have a drink? I've drunk so much. It's a good deal for you to toast two people, isn't it?"

Shi Shuqiu became stubborn: "Then I have to drink two cups."

Without saying anything, he raised his head and drank the cup in his hand, saying, "One cup."

After saying that, he poured another glass of wine and was about to drink it when Wang Zixu grabbed his hand and said, "No, drink slowly."

Shi Shuqiu said, "Let go."

Wang Zixu said: "Well, I'll drink two cups too."

After saying that, he raised his glass and drank two cups.

After two glasses of wine, the world suddenly became bizarre.

He didn't see Shi Shuqiu's expression clearly, he just noticed that he went back to his seat and ate his food. Ning Chunyan came over and asked in a low voice: "Are you okay?"

Wang Zixu shook his head and ate his food in big mouthfuls. After he finished eating, he asked in a low voice: "Am I blushing?"

Ning Chunyan stared at him for a few seconds and shook his head: "No. You can drink quite a lot."

"I don't get angry easily when I drink. But I can't drink much. Now I feel like I can't drink any more."

"You don't feel anything? Are you pretending to be a pig and eating the tiger?"

Wang Zixu was not pretending to be a pig to eat the tiger. In fact, he couldn't even stare at the turntable on the round table. He felt dizzy when the turntable started spinning.

The hot air on the table rose up and merged with the cold air from the air conditioner at mid-high altitude, increasing the humidity in the room. He felt as if he was in a rain forest. The soft seat was like being trapped in the seat of a Huey helicopter. The propeller made the seat vibrate. He passed through one tree after another, drum beats, electric guitar... Some people are born to wave flags, red, blue and white...

"You are planning to take Professor Zhong's postgraduate entrance exam, right?"

The big tree next to me spoke.

Wang Zixu looked carefully and found that it was not the Vietcong, but Huang Xinghuo.

Wang Zixu nodded: "Yes."

“Are you interested in ancient literature?”

"Well, I feel like I don't understand this enough, so I want to make up for it."

Huang Xinghuo smiled and said, "Your train of thought is wrong. You mean that you know more about modern and contemporary literature than ancient literature?"

Wang Zixu was stunned: "Well, it should be more complete."

"Then you should choose modern literature," Huang Xinghuo said. "Graduate education is not general education. You should not study to make up for your shortcomings, but go deep into the subject."

Wang Zixu said, a little drunk, "I think that modern and contemporary literature..."

"Not interested?"

"No, there's nothing to delve into." Wang Zixu said, "The main reason is that I'm also a writer. When I delve into modern and contemporary times, I always feel a sense of... inbreeding."

Huang Xinghuo laughed out loud.

Wang Zixu added: "Professor Huang, I think your interpretation of the Little Prince is very good."

After a pause, he continued, "It coincides with my idea, and even surpasses it."

His evaluation can be regarded as the highest evaluation for the critics, but unfortunately, no one knows that he is the little prince. Ning Chunyan said:

"Isn't that natural? Professor Huang has been studying the Little Prince for a long time. He started studying it since the Little Prince became popular. Isn't it normal that it exceeds your understanding? Don't be so arrogant just because you are an editor and think you are an authority on the study of the Little Prince. You still need to learn more about this."

Wang Zixu was speechless for a moment, then said: "I'm sorry, I didn't recognize the great man."

Professor Huang looked at him and smiled: "Which part do you think is good?"

"I think the stream-of-consciousness technique you mentioned at the end mentioned something I had never heard of before. I went back to check the book and it was indeed as you said..."

Wang Zixu and Huang Xinghuo were very engaged in their conversation. Huang Xinghuo was knowledgeable, and his insights always opened Wang Zixu's eyes and gave him more ways to interpret things. Wang Zixu's questions just hit the spot, so Huang Xinghuo could expand on his ideas and come up with more fresh and interesting ideas. When Wang Zixu came to his senses, he suddenly realized that Ning Chunyan had gone to Shi Tonghe's side without him noticing, holding a wine glass in his hand, as if he was going to toast.

He thought to himself that something was wrong and quickly ran over to listen closely to what they were talking about.

It turned out that after drinking two glasses of wine, Wang Zixu was already a little confused, but Ning Chunyan still remembered the purpose of coming here. He wanted to find Shi Tonghe to help Wang Zixu get one or two connections. He ran to toast Shi Tonghe alone, but was pestered by Shi Shuqiu again.

Shi Tonghe said: "Ji Xiaolan once said that there is nothing in the books that cannot be matched. It means that as long as you work hard and find a pair, you can definitely match it. But there are many pairs in the world that cannot be matched. Shuqiu, you claim to be invincible in talent and learning, and I admire you for being able to match all the pairs in the world."

Shi Shuqiu smiled but did not answer. Shi Tonghe asked again, and he smiled and said, "If Ji Xiaolan is so confident, how can I not be confident to agree?"

Dean Li next to him said, "Master Shi, do you mean that your talent and knowledge are comparable to Ji Xiaolan's?"

Shi Shuqiu said: "It's not comparable, it's surpassing."

Everyone was shocked, and then they were impressed.

Shi Shuqiu said: "Ji Xiaolan's words don't match the couplet because he hasn't read enough books. If you read enough books, you will definitely match it. In the past, scholars were bored and could only play word games. Now is the information age, what books can't be found? I think it's nothing to be an ancient scholar who surpasses Ji Xiaolan."

Ning Chunyan couldn't help but say, "Information in the information age is indeed advanced, but that is also based on the premise of being able to properly use the information advantage. If you just wander around in the fragmented information, your knowledge will be broad, but your skills may not be as deep as those of ancient scholars, let alone someone as smart as Ji Xiaolan."

Shi Shuqiu played with the cup in his hand and snapped his fingers: "It just so happened that I wanted to toast Sister Xiaochun, but someone interrupted me. How about we make a bet now? Sister Xiaochun, you just give me an 'absolute'. If I can match it, you drink a glass. If I can't match it, I will punish myself with three glasses. How about it?"

Ning Chunyan immediately regretted having said so much, but at this moment the people around him burst into applause when they heard it.

Shi Tonghe also smiled and said, "This is interesting, but Editor-in-Chief Ning is a little girl, we can't let her drink straight. If you are right, you should also have a drink with her."

Shi Shuqiu said, "Okay, Sister Xiaochun, just assume that I have the right to toast you only if I answer the question, okay?"

Even though he was being held back, Ning Chunyan hurriedly said, "Not really, not really. It's not that I don't want to drink with you, it's just that I can't drink much. Let's just treat it as a game."

Shi Shuqiu put his hands on his hips and said, "Okay, go ahead and take the test."

Ning Chunyan took a step back on the surface, but she had actually made up her mind. She was going to do something really absolute to kill him and make him drink three cups. After that, he would definitely not dare to persuade her to drink again.

So she pretended to ponder for a moment, then looked up and said, "Then I'll give the first line, 'Smoke locks the willows in the pond.'"

Upon hearing this couplet, Wang Zixu's heart sank. As expected, Shi Shuqiu smiled happily.

The people below were all shouting that it was unfair:
"Editor-in-Chief Ning was too ruthless. He spoke a word that would last forever. How can Master Shi respond now?"

"Smoke locks the willows in the pond" is said to be a famous couplet written by Emperor Qianlong, which is known as the best couplet of all time. Because these five simple characters include the five elements of "fire, gold, water, earth, and wood", and at the same time they outline a beautiful and hazy scene, which is natural.

In order to match the upper couplet, the lower couplet must also contain the five elements of the radical, or other five things that can be arranged in parallel and form a radical, such as "Wuyin". At the same time, it must also rhyme and have the same character. It is extremely difficult, so it is called the eternal absolute, and no one can match the upper and lower couplets.

However, in reality, this pair is not absolute, nor was it created by Qianlong.

This couplet comes from "Zhongzhou Caotang Yiji", written by Chen Zisheng from the Ming Dynasty. In that book alone, the author himself wrote three couplets.

This couplet has been passed down for many years, and countless scholars have challenged it, and many couplets have been found. Now, many netizens have come up with couplets, such as:

Smoke locks the pond willows, Ke Jie blows up the earth, Shenzhen teppanyaki, hot pot bacon, fried golden Ke La, Bancheng pot wine, Seoul wood stove, pot-cooked wild vegetable soup...

However, although this couplet is famous, its origin is not very well-known, and the event that matched the second line is even less well-known. Therefore, Ning Chunyan only knew that this was "absolute", but he didn't know that this "absolute" was actually not absolute.

Shi Shuqiu smiled and said, "Hey, Sister Xiaochun, we just agreed that if we meet, you have to have a drink with me."

After Ning Chunyan heard him say this and saw how confident he was, he suddenly became unconfident.

Shi Shuqiu said again: "This is such a difficult couplet. It's not worth it for me to just drink with you like this. How about we drink together?"

The people around him started to make noises: "Drink from the wedding cup! Drink from the wedding cup!"

Dean Li was extremely embarrassed. Shi Tonghe said nothing. Huang Xinghuo, who was sitting below him, turned his head away, obviously not taking this kind of nonsense seriously.

Ning Chunyan was embarrassed: "Just confront him first!"

Shi Shuqiu said calmly, "This couplet, 'Smoke locks the willows in the pond', has the five elements 'gold, wood, water, fire, and earth' in the radicals of the first couplet, so the radicals of the second couplet should also contain the five elements.

“So, for the second line, my answer to ‘炮镇海城楼’ also contains the five-star radical and has the same part of speech, which is perfect.

"But that's not all. I can also match it with 'Lights Sprinkle over the Splendid City'. Each word also contains 'gold, wood, water, fire, and earth'."

Shi Shuqiu held the wine glass and looked at Ning Chunyan with interest: "How about it? Come on?"

Ning Chunyan bit her lip, feeling extremely regretful. Wang Zixu came up and helped her, saying, "Editor-in-Chief Ning really can't drink much. If you ask her to drink, she will definitely get drunk."

Shi Shuqiu was a little drunk and said excitedly: "No, no, we just agreed on it!"

Wang Zixu said: "How about this, I will drink it for her."

Shi Shuqiu raised his chin: "Who are you? Why do you represent her? What qualifications do you have?"

After he finished speaking, the atmosphere became a little cold. He thought that what he said was a bit out of line, so he added: "This is a bet between me and Sister Xiaochun. I don't want to get involved in other people's business. Go away."

Dean Li said: "Don't say that, he is also eager to protect his girlfriend."

Shi Shuqiu said, "Oh, then I'm being cruel. Sister Xiaochun, it's okay. If you get drunk, I'll make sure you get home safely. Everyone can testify to this."

Wang Zixu was about to say something else, but Ning Chunyan snatched the wine dispenser from his hand and said, "It's just two glasses of wine, right? Let's drink it. Who's afraid of who?"

After saying that, she tilted her head back and drank it all in one gulp. Her face immediately turned red and her throat rolled several times before she filled another glass for herself and tilted her head back to drink it all in one gulp.

Suddenly everyone cheered and the table was filled with steam.

Shi Shuqiu originally wanted to drink with her, but Ning Chunyan drank quickly, so he was too embarrassed to force her. After Ning Chunyan finished drinking, her face became worse and worse, she said she was drunk, and ran to the bathroom.

Wang Zixu looked quite unhappy.

Everyone discussed the two couplets for a while and were about to return to their seats when Wang Zixu picked up the wine glass left by Ning Chunyan, walked behind Shi Shuqiu's seat, and whispered:
"Mr. Shi."

Shi Shuqiu thought he was going to toast him, so he turned around and said, "Let me eat something first."

He just had a drink and felt a little dizzy.

Wang Zixu said, "Master Shi, I am not convinced by the two couplets you just wrote to Editor-in-Chief Ning."

"What's wrong?" Shi Shuqiu put down his chopsticks, and Shi Tonghe also turned to look at him.

"Cannons guard the sea tower, lights shine on the splendid city. These two couplets have been around for a long time. You didn't get it right, did you?"

Shi Shuqiu pursed her lips and said, "If it's right, it's right."

"Then let me take over," Wang Zixu said, "I'll continue playing with you on behalf of Editor-in-Chief Ning. I wonder if Master Shi dares to agree?"

Shi Shuqiu put his hands on the back of the chair: "What do you want to do?"

"Editor-in-Chief Ning was here just now, so I can't say it. You just said that I'm not qualified to drink with you, and it seems that we really haven't drunk together. Now that she is not here, of course I have to get back the place myself."

The prince smiled falsely and said, "Let's go with this couplet again. The one you just got right doesn't count. If I get the next one right, you'll have a drink. How about that?"

Shi Shuqiu wiped his mouth and said, "Why should I play with you?"

"Then let me fight two of you and you have a drink," said Wang Zixu.

Shi Shuqiu curled his lips.

"You still don't dare?" Wang Zixu said, "If I can match three, you drink one cup. If I can't match two, I drink three cups."

Dean Li waved his hand and said, "Forget it, forget it. Don't drink the fighting wine. It's harmful to your health."

Wang Zixu was still laughing: "There is no fighting spirit, it's just a normal sparring. Master Shi is so talented and his skills are better than Ji Xiaolan's, why would he be afraid of this?"

Shi Shuqiu was also drunk and put his glass on the table: "Okay, then you are right, this couplet has less than three lines, can you come up with three?"

(End of this chapter)