Nathan Foster is a master at riddles, though not particularly skilled at couplets. However, he has thousands of famous couplets from ancient and modern times memorized in his mind, so he’s not at all afraid of this Second Place in the Exam.

Nathan Foster thought for a moment and then smiled, “Will Eric Lee go first, or shall I?”

Brian Lee snorted, “I’ll answer with the lower line: ‘Thick fog shrouds the moon in the sky!’”

“Good!” Instantly, cheers erupted from the crowd.

The host nodded, “That lower line is quite good. Does this young gentleman have a lower line as well?”

Nathan Foster immediately called out loudly, “My lower line is: ‘Layer upon layer of mountains, peaks within the painting!’”

But the surroundings fell silent, with no applause. Although Nathan Foster’s lower line was grander and more evocative, it was well known that Eric Lee’s father was the Vice Minister of Rites, and none of the scholars dared to offend him lightly.

The host forced a smile and said, “Both lower lines are good. Let’s call the first round a draw!”

“Nonsense!”

The little girl immediately jumped up and said angrily, “Clearly the second couplet is better—how can you lie with your eyes wide open!”

Seeing that they were all children, the host ignored the little girl’s protest and announced loudly, “The second round begins, please look at the upper line!”

At this moment, Nathan Foster turned to glance at the little girl.

The little girl just snorted, rolled her eyes upward, and gave him a look—if you don’t fight for your own interests, you deserve to lose!

The upper line for the second round had already been chosen: “Three stars, sun and moon shine.”

Nathan Foster nodded. This couplet was recorded in Yue Ke’s “Ting Shi” from the Southern Song dynasty, considered a famous historical couplet. Legend has it that the best matching lower line in history was composed by Su Dongpo.

Brian Lee rushed to answer, “I’ll match it with: ‘A burst of wind, thunder, and rain.’”

The crowd fell completely silent. “A burst of wind, thunder, and rain” had long been known and was a widely accepted match—this Brian Lee was clearly being a bit shameless, as that was someone else’s lower line.

The little girl sneered, “What a ‘burst of wind, thunder, and rain’—truly worthy of being Second Place in the Exam!”

The host was quite embarrassed and explained after a moment, “I never said you had to come up with your own, so Eric Lee’s lower line is acceptable.”

Brian Lee looked at Nathan Foster smugly, “What will you do now, brat?”

But Nathan Foster just smiled calmly, raised his head and said, “I also have a lower line. Would the host like to hear it?”

The host quickly smiled, “Of course! We’re all ears!”

Nathan Foster said unhurriedly, “My lower line is: ‘Four poems: Feng, Ya, Song.’ How about that?”

At first, the surroundings were silent, then suddenly erupted in enthusiastic applause. “Good! What a ‘Four poems: Feng, Ya, Song!’”

The “poems” in the couplet refer to the “Book of Songs,” which is divided into three parts: “Feng,” “Ya,” and “Song.” But “Ya” is further divided into “Daya” and “Xiaoya,” making four parts in total.

All the scholars around had studied the classics diligently, so how could they not appreciate the brilliance of this answer? At this point, even if the Minister of Rites himself were present, it wouldn’t matter—applause grew louder and louder, and everyone cheered for this matchless couplet.

Even the little girl pouted and said, “He does have some skill!”

At this point, Brian Lee was blushing with embarrassment. How could he have the face to continue competing? Everyone knew he had copied his answer, while the other had composed his own, and it was a truly exquisite couplet.

He pushed through the crowd and slunk away. There was no need for the literary contest to continue any further.

……

Nathan Foster hummed a little tune as he walked back, feeling triumphant, tossing a silver ingot in his hand that weighed a full five taels—the highest prize of the day, even higher than the “Nine Golden Flowers” five-classics crossword.

The owner of the festival tent awarded him this special prize in gratitude for his brilliant couplet. Five taels of silver was worth five thousand coins, and Nathan Foster was overjoyed—this trip to the capital had truly been worthwhile.

Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his ear—someone had grabbed it. “Where did you run off to? Sister has been looking for you everywhere!”

It turned out to be Claire Owen. He quickly broke free from Claire Owen’s hand, only to see her holding a bag in the other, steaming with the delicious aroma of meat, making his mouth water.

Nathan Foster grinned and held the silver up to her, “Sister Claire, take a look—what’s this?”

“That’s silver! Where… where did you get so much silver?”

“It’s a long story. A young lady from a wealthy family got lost and was crying her heart out. I helped her find her parents, and they gave me five taels of silver to thank me.”

“And you actually had the nerve to accept their money?”

“I didn’t want to, but they insisted! What could I do? Sister Claire, I’ll buy you some rouge.”

“Really? That’s great! Let’s go to Zhang’s Old Shop—their rouge is the best.”

……

Chapter 9: Giving the Stubborn Young Master a Lesson

For the next two days, John Foster continued to busy himself with his own affairs, while Nathan Foster stayed at William Owen’s residence practicing calligraphy. John Foster, worried for his safety and unable to answer to his parents otherwise, forbade him from going out again.

Although Nathan Foster still wanted to wander around the entertainment districts, John Foster had given strict orders not to let him out, and Claire Owen refused to take him anywhere.

Fortunately, he had already bought gifts to honor his parents: several colors of rouge from Zhang’s Old Shop and two bottles of rose perfume for his mother, and two bottles of “Thousand-Day Spring” fine wine from Zhongshan Garden Shop for his father.

Nathan Foster thus gave up on the idea of going out to play and focused on practicing calligraphy at the residence.