Freelance Artist

A hungry chicken steals rice and a boy beats it up.

This first couplet briefly and vividly describes a life scene:

The hungry chicken stole the rice and was chased and beaten by a child with a bamboo tube.

Four nouns are used: chicken, rice, boy, and tube.

There is another adjective: hungry.

And two verbs: steal and beat.

In addition, there are three pairs of homophones in these seven words: "hunger" and "chicken", "robber" and "rice", and "child" and "tube".

Be reasonable.

It is quite difficult just to deal with the preconditions of verbs, nouns and adjectives.

Not to mention that the second couplet must also meet the homophonic standards of the first couplet, which really gives people a headache just looking at it.

Lin Zhibai knew everything about the system and didn't know where to click, so he was naturally calm and unhurried. However, the expressions of Li Bai and others changed drastically in an instant.

This is not an answer they can come up with in a short while.

Even if there is ten minutes of creative space, it is still too short.

But the host didn't care about this. He started the countdown for this question after Xu Haiyun asked the question.

In the live broadcast room.

The commentators couldn’t help but sigh:

"The difficulty of this first couplet is not easy."

"The main reason is that there are too many prerequisites."

Audiences from all continents were even more excited. They had no clue about this question, and they didn't even understand it clearly. They only suddenly understood it after listening to the explanation.

"too difficult!"

"Various nouns, verbs and adjectives!"

"The most exaggerated thing is that there must be corresponding homophones!"

"The homophonic meme is actually not advanced, but it is just right when used in this couplet."

"Can these guys think of the second line?"

"Hard to say."

"Isn't the whole army annihilated?"

"Probably not!"

"It's moving, Lin Zhibai is moving!"

In the midst of the barrage, Lin Zhibai picked up his pen, and everyone saw through the camera that he was slowly writing on the paper:

Summer rat...

Some viewers couldn't help but laugh, fearing that what Lin Zhibai was going to write was "I can't be sorry for the summer rat."

Fortunately, this "summer rat" is not that "summer rat".

The second line written by Lin Zhibai is: The summer rat comes to Liang and the guest coughs and is startled!

Before the audience fully understood the meaning, the commentator's eyes suddenly lit up and he subconsciously shouted:

"Wonderful!"

"This couplet also has three pairs of homophones!"

"The heat matches the rat, the cool matches the beam, the guest matches the cough, and the foot matches the first couplet!"

"Summer is an adjective to describe the hot weather, and the following nouns and verbs are completely suitable!"

"The translation roughly means that the mouse felt too hot and went to the beam to cool down, but the guest scared it away with a cough."

"The second couplet of Teacher Lin Zhibai and the first couplet of Teacher Xu Haiyun are so harmonious when put together, and together they form a folk custom picture full of rural life!"

Audiences from all continents think about it.

Indeed it is!

This second line and the first line seem to be a perfect match. It’s so wonderful!

"It has to be Lin Zhibai!"

"I see Lin Zhibai looking more and more like the favorite to win the championship!"

"Lin Zhibai can win the championship in Go. Who knew he could do this before, let alone his famous couplets!"

"Cow!"

"How come you have such a brain?"

"The reaction is too fast!"

"It feels like he can fight within five minutes every time!"

"Oh, Li Bai is also right."

"This second line doesn't feel as appropriate as Lin Zhibai's."

Lin Zhibai's second line is so perfect, but Li Bai's one is a little less interesting in comparison.

But Li Bai is already very good.

Because ten minutes had passed, except for him, the other people were also very reluctant to respond.

Either the position adjective is misplaced, or the three sets of homophony are not achieved.

In this case, the judges will give points as appropriate and will not directly give zero points. After all, if the couplets are really 100% strict, then the "entertainment" significance of this literary and artistic project handed down by ancient literati will be lost.

finally.

Lin Zhibai scored 10 points in this round.

Li Bai scored 8 points in this round.

Makino Kaze scored 5 points in this round.

Chen Ling scored 5 points in this round.

Big Bear scored 3 points in this round.

After all, no matter how strict the judges are, they can't find fault with Lin Zhibai, unlike the others who are more or less reluctant.

"Everyone!"

When Xu Haiyun's question ended, it was Lin Zhibai's turn.

However, the host did not ask Lin Zhibai to give the question immediately. Instead, he smiled and said:

"I believe the attentive audience will have discovered that after these questions, Teacher Lin Zhibai has accumulated fifty points, which means that he will definitely enter the third round with first place..."

Each person can only answer five questions.

Because when it is someone's turn to ask a question, he cannot score.

Lin Zhibai had already answered all five questions and got full marks every time. Unlike the others, who more or less failed to score.

Even Xu Haiyun's current score is only 39. After all, he lost one point on the Makino Feng question.

That's right.

It was this one-point difference that prevented Xu Haiyun from taking first place this round!

Even if Lin Zhibai could get ten points by asking questions in a while, the final total score would only be 49 points.

This is a showdown between masters.

There can't be any mistakes.

If you make a mistake, you will have to pay the price.

The price of Xu Haiyun's mistake is that Lin Zhibai will be sent to the finals, and he will most likely have to compete with Li Bai!

In response, Lin Zhibai also smiled slightly, "Next, it's my turn to pose the question."

Said.

Lin Zhibai began to think about which first couplet to use.

Smoke lock pond willow?

Okay, this has been used before.

Today's rules did not seem to say that it was not allowed to be used. After all, he was the absolute "original" through the ages, but Lin Zhibai was worried that others would protest on the spot if he really used it.

Just keep it simple.

Anyway, he has already been sent to the finals.

Whether you can stump this group of people will not affect you.

Think of this.

Lin Zhibai took up his pen and wrote down a few words:

Sit south and face north to eat watermelon, with the peel facing east.

The commentator burst out laughing when he saw this first couplet, and audiences from all over the world were instantly delighted.

"Ha ha."

"He's still skinny!"

"This first couplet is the least literary!"

“It also feels like the least difficult.”

"Brother, are you serious? Isn't this difficult?"

"It's really not difficult...hiss...fuck you!"

“Everything from east to west, north to south is included!”

"Do you still think it's easy now?"

"..."

At first I thought it was simple and I stopped talking.

The commentator laughed and said: "Although Teacher Lin Zhibai's first couplet looks vulgar, we all know that he did it on purpose. It is a very interesting first couplet, including the four directions of east, west, south and north. It also vividly outlines the artistic conception of a person eating watermelon with relish. It feels very simple to say what the second couplet is appropriate, but it is really not easy to think about it for a while."

on site.

Li Bai smiled.

Xu Haiyun also smiled.

Even Makino Feng and the others laughed.

Swish, swish, swish.

Arrive in ten minutes.

Everyone wrote a second line.

Li Bai wrote: Plant in spring, harvest in autumn and watch the winter snow, and flowers bloom in summer.

What Xu Haiyun wrote is: read the left biography from top to bottom, and turn the book to the right.

Makino Kaze: Looking to the left, people go to the right...

Good guy.

All these people came out.

At the same time, the rankings for the second round also came out.

Lin Zhibai was first, Xu Haiyun was second, and Li Bai was third.

This result was not surprising to the audience. Everyone had already guessed that these three people would advance, while Makino Kaze and others were eliminated.

Host: "Then according to the rules of the third round we agreed, the next step will be a one-on-one competition between Xu Haiyun and Teacher Li Bai. The winner of the duel between the two will compete with Teacher Lin Zhibai for the championship, and the loser will compete with Teacher Lin Zhibai for the championship. The latter is the runner-up in the couplet project."

The third round officially begins!

…

The program team moved a small chair for Lin Zhibai so that he could watch the show. This was the preferential treatment for being sent to the finals.

Xu Haiyun and Li Bai were on the left and right.

There is a table in front of each of them, with pens, ink, paper and inkstones placed on it.

This kind of competition requires writing calligraphy with a brush. Of course, the calligraphy mentioned by literati is also written with a brush. This is one of the reasons why literati attach great importance to calligraphy.

With a "start".

Li Bai and Xu Haiyun officially duel!

It's said to be a duel, but it's actually the judges setting the questions and the two of them answering.

There are a total of twenty questions. Whoever answers more questions will win the game and compete with Lin Zhibai in the final battle.

The judges began to ask questions.

Lin Zhibai felt that the difficulty of these questions was not particularly exaggerated, but at the same time it was not too easy. He was considered to be quite competent.

Xu Haiyun and Li Bai are both masters of it.

Although Xu Haiyun performed better than Li Bai in the first two rounds, the two were evenly matched in the early stages.

Seven or eight questions in a row, each with a score.

The commentator called the whole process "wonderful". This kind of answering competition is indeed easy to stimulate the audience's emotions:

"Both of them are top experts!"

"But I feel that Lin Zhibai is best at this type of quick-answer duel."

"Who do you think will win?"

"Xu Haiyun, in the first two rounds, he was actually just a little worse than Lin Zhibai."

"Especially in the second round, Xu Haiyun only made a slight mistake, otherwise he would have scored 50 points."

"In comparison, Li Bai is indeed a little weaker."

"Ha ha ha ha!"

"Li Bai is so funny!"

"His mentality feels good!"

The audience burst into laughter. It turned out that the judges had come up with a very simple first couplet called "A Painting of Flowers and Birds by Chen Wang".

Li Bai rushed to answer immediately, and the answer turned out to be "half a volume of poems written by Bai Di".

This response immediately stunned the judges. Lin Zhibai was even more confused for a while before he realized that Li Bai had cue him.

I thought the jury would dislike the reluctance of this second line.

Unexpectedly, several judges unanimously chose to give points.

Xu Haiyun's eyelids twitched and he couldn't help but said: "Isn't this inappropriate?"

The first couplet is "a painting of flowers and birds by King Chen". Before writing the second couplet, you must first know who this "King Chen" is!

King Chen!

My real name is "Chen Wang"!

He was the "King of Literature" hundreds of years ago, so some people took the homophony and called him "King Chen".

This great figure in the ancient literary world can be said to be proficient in all aspects of music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, poetry, and poetry. He has many works handed down from generation to generation, including some flower-and-bird paintings.

As for its status in the literary world in history?

Probably a bit close to our Chinese Su Dongpo.

As a result, Li Bai was lucky and responded directly with "half a volume of poems written by Bai Di"!

The White Emperor is Lin Zhibai.

Many people know this.

Xu Haiyun also knew that what he was dissatisfied with was why "White Emperor" could deal with "King Chen"!

Li Bai said calmly: "I think it's very appropriate. Bai Di refers to Teacher Lin Zhibai. Everyone knows this. At the same time, everyone should also know that Teacher Bai Di has very high attainments in poetry."

"But you use Bai Di against King Chen..."

"Of course Emperor Bai can fight King Chen. Firstly, it's a king versus an emperor. Secondly, both of them are celebrities. Thirdly, I don't need to say more..."

The audience smiled knowingly.

Of course I understand. The third one is Lin Zhibai, who is qualified to be put together with the name "Chen Wang"!

"Li Bai is very good at playing!"

"This wave is so lickable!"

"The licking is so fresh and refined, it belongs to me."

"But this is also a fact. King Chen was a master in ancient times. He was proficient in all kinds of music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, and song. Lin Zhibai is a modern evildoer. He was also proficient in all kinds of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting!"

"I think it's still inappropriate."

"You guys think about it, King Chen's paintings are unparalleled in the world, but Lin Zhibai's poetry shouldn't be as high as King Chen's ink paintings, right?"

"I don't know Lin Zhibai's poetry level, but his paintings can be compared with King Chen."

"It is said that Lin Zhibai's poetry level is quite good. He is known as the most talented person in Qinzhou."

"Why is he number one in everything?"

"Doesn't this just mean that Emperor Bai and Prince Chen are on the same level?"

It was obviously a couplet competition, but for some reason, the topic of whether Bai Di could be compared with Chen Wang came up.

On Earth, this is equivalent to everyone having a serious discussion:

Can a modern celebrity be compared with Su Dongpo?

The key point was discussed very seriously, and no one felt that the latter was not worthy of comparison with the former——

After realizing what the emergence of this discussion meant, the audience's mood was a little overwhelming. Even if it can cause everyone to argue, it is enough to show what weight Lin Zhibai has achieved in the hearts of the world now!

"Give it a five."

Because of the controversy and Xu Haiyun's small protest, the judges decided to give Li Bai points but not more points after whispering among themselves.

What I mean is that this second line is a bit forced.

Li Bai curled his lips and said: "I think this is the world's serious underestimate of our President Lin's poetry level!"

He knew what the judges meant.

I just feel that although Lin Zhibai is versatile, in terms of poetry, he has not yet reached the height of Chen Wang's flowers and birds.

"Teacher Li Bai, please concentrate on the game."

The host couldn't help but remind him that Li Bai was a bit poor.

Li Bai curled his lips again, looking unhappy, but said nothing more and continued the game.

Xu Haiyun was actually not happy either. In his opinion, the judges should not have given points to Li Bai. Comparing Lin Zhibai to King Chen, this guy really dared to mess around!

Well, King Chen is Xu Haiyun’s idol!

Why should Lin Zhibai...

"beep!"

Xu Haiyun was slightly distracted, and another first couplet was answered by Li Bai.

Although the answer was average and the judges only gave it seven points, Xu Haiyun didn't get a single point because he didn't get the chance to answer.

Obviously he can answer this question, and he must get perfect marks!

Xu Haiyun was extremely distressed and his eyes were fixed. He could not lose again, otherwise he would be overturned today...

that's all.

Question 15.

Question 16.

Twenty questions passed in the blink of an eye.

The judges began to calculate their respective scores.

After calculating the results, the host said with a subtle expression: "The results of the showdown between Xu Haiyun and Teacher Li Bai are out. The one who finally has the chance to compete with Teacher Lin Zhibai for the championship is..."

"Li Bai!"

Li Bai actually defeated Xu Haiyun!