Chapter 43 Utterly Humiliated Beyond All Measure
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“Listen well, Fourth Uncle. Later, do not say your nephew bullied you...!”
The little fellow grinned and declared in a ringing voice, “Place death above, and it becomes forgetfulness; place death below, and it becomes a sharp edge. Forget the sharp edge, and even the sharp edge is forgotten!”
The moment this couplet was spoken, Zhu Di’s expression tightened.
Was this little nephew of his truly only seven years old?
Why did the meaning of the couplet sound as though it were telling him to conceal his talents?
Could the boy actually know what he was thinking?
He immediately shook his head.
Impossible!
He was merely a child who had been weaned not long ago. How could he possibly know what was on Zhu Di’s mind?
Zhu Di put the thought aside and began studying the couplet carefully.
It was an extraordinarily ingenious character-splitting couplet. Finding a matching line with equal structure was no easy task.
As he pondered, Kong An and all the princes and princesses present also began racking their brains.
They had studied for so many years. Surely they could not be outdone by a child of six or seven!
Zhu Di came up with several possible answers, but none quite hit the mark.
The difficulty was so great that cold sweat sprang from the tip of his nose.
Zhu Xiongying ran over to inspect one prince’s lessons, then hopped over to another princess to chat.
After waiting for quite some time without seeing any result, he grew impatient.
“Fourth Uncle, are you going to come up with an answer or not? If you truly cannot, just admit defeat!”
“Admit defeat? How could I? I am merely choosing the best answer!”
Zhu Di wore an expression of lofty pride.
The princes seated below were filled with admiration.
“Fourth Brother is truly impressive! None of us has thought of even one answer, yet he already has several and is choosing the best!”
“Exactly! Fourth Brother really is amazing!”
“Of course! Our Fourth Brother is a master of matching couplets. How could he fail to match one against a little imperial nephew...?”
The princes’ enthusiastic praise only made the sweat on Zhu Di’s face come faster and thicker.
Everyone had such high expectations of him. He absolutely could not make a fool of himself.
“Fourth Uncle, if you truly cannot match it, stop forcing yourself! Just tell me, and I will give you an easier one. After all, we are brothers-in-law. I cannot bully you!”
Zhu Xiongying leaped up and patted Zhu Di on the shoulder, imitating an adult.
The princes and princesses erupted once again.
“What did I just hear? Our little imperial nephew and Fourth Brother are brothers-in-law?”
“You must be joking! Did Fourth Brother not marry the eldest legitimate daughter of the Duke of Wei’s household? How did he become brothers-in-law with the little imperial nephew?”
“That relationship is terribly tangled. Did Fourth Brother actually agree to it?”
“The little imperial nephew must be joking! Such a reversal of seniority is something neither Fourth Brother nor His Majesty could possibly permit!”
“Exactly...!”
The princes could hardly believe their ears.
Zhu Di’s face turned green in an instant.
He nearly rushed over and slapped the boy twice.
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Had they not agreed that each person would address the others according to his own perspective?
“Since my eldest nephew is in such a hurry, your Fourth Uncle will stop deliberating and simply give you an answer...!”
Zhu Di forced himself to maintain his composure and said, “When wood stands upright, it becomes a root; when wood falls, it becomes a branch. If the root is firm, the branch is slight; and even its slightness rests upon that firmness!”
“Wow...”
The moment he finished speaking, thunderous applause filled the hall.
“As expected of Fourth Brother! Truly impressive! He matched the couplet in so short a time!”
“Indeed! I nearly tore my hair out and still could not think of a single answer!”
“The parallelism is flawless. It is an unsurpassable couplet!”
The princes applauded and cheered, and Zhu Di finally recovered a little of his dignity.
“You call that worthy of praise?”
The little fellow curled his lip. “At best, it barely passes.”
He then turned to Kong An.
“Master, is this what you taught him?”
Kong An was instantly speechless.
That answer was already excellent.
He himself still had not thought of a suitable response.
With an awkward smile, he said, “The Fourth Prince’s parallelism is precise. It is already very good.”
“That is considered good? Your standards for your students are far too low, Master. No wonder Fourth Uncle’s answer was so barely acceptable!”
The little fellow looked thoroughly disdainful.
Zhu Di’s temper flared at once.
“Eldest Nephew, if you think my answer was poor, why not let your Fourth Uncle set the question? Give us an answer and open our eyes!”
“Gladly!”
The little fellow agreed without the slightest hesitation.
“Eldest Nephew, listen carefully...!”
Zhu Di brought out a brilliant opening line he had devised in his spare time:
“Painted lotuses on the scroll, the monk paints!”
He had originally intended to present it at the next literary gathering.
Today, however, he would let this boy see what he was capable of!
Otherwise, the boy might think he had no learning at all.
He recited the line slowly, one word at a time.
The entire hall fell silent for several full seconds.
Then the applause began again.
This time, it was even more enthusiastic than before!
Prince Zhu Qi clapped until his hands hurt.
“An absolute masterpiece! Fourth Brother’s line is unparalleled through the ages!”
“That is right! The words for painting and flower sound alike, and whether read forward or backward, the sounds remain the same!”
“It is impossibly difficult. There is no way I could think of an answer!”
“Not only could you not think of one. I doubt anyone beneath Heaven could!”
At that moment, the princes looked at Zhu Di with even greater admiration.
“Eldest Nephew, do not say your Fourth Uncle is bullying you. I will give you two days to think. If you truly cannot answer, simply admit defeat. There is no shame in it.”
With that, Zhu Di smiled smugly.
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“Why would I need two days for that? Even two quarters of an hour would be excessive!”
The little fellow ran over to Princess Ruyang’s desk, picked up a brush and ink, and began writing with abandon.
When he finished one sheet, he flung it straight at Zhu Di’s face.
“In the book, herbs; Zhongshu writes the book!”
After reading it, Zhu Di was utterly astonished.
Zhongshu had been a famous physician of the pre-imperial age.
In the medical texts he compiled, he recorded the properties of numerous medicinal herbs.
Using that as the matching line was nothing short of ingenious!
Yet the little fellow did not stop there.
His brush flew across the paper.
“Wait a moment! I will write one for every one of you!”
“Before the lamp, disciples; before the flute, they ascend!”
“By the bridge, woodcutters; moving house, the bridge!”
“Before the corridor, ink scholars; do not dive beneath the corridor...!”
One sheet, then two, then three...
Zhu Xiongying wrote more than twenty in a single breath.
Every one was perfectly matched, fitting both the circumstances and the occasion!
Even Kong An was holding one in his hands.
For a time, everyone stood there dumbfounded.
It would have been understandable if the boy had managed to answer such a difficult couplet.
But how in the world had he matched more than twenty of them at once?
A monster!
A complete and utter prodigy!
[Ding! Congratulations, host. You have gained three months of life, two months...]
Zhu Di stood frozen on the spot, unable to react for a long while.
It was one thing for the boy to produce so many excellent couplets.
But how had he managed to write so beautifully as well?
Zhu Xiongying looked at the stupefied faces around him and flashed his teeth in a grin.
“Heh-heh! Is that enough? If not, I can come up with a few more!”
“No, no, no! It is enough, it is enough!”
Zhu Di waved his hands repeatedly.
More?
If the boy continued, Zhu Di would lose even the last shred of his dignity.
...
No one knew who had carried word of what happened at the Grand Hall of Learning to Zhu Yuanzhang.
The emperor had been worrying over memorials when he heard the news and immediately became interested.
Taking Yunqi with him, he hurried toward the Grand Hall of Learning.
He was afraid that if he arrived too late, the contest would already be over.
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