Chapter 73: Where’s the Promise of Simplicity?

Ye Fangfei and Zhang Chen moved to the center of the study, standing face-to-face. The staff, in full view of everyone, tore open the five large cards drawn by their group and stacked them together behind Zhang Chen.

“Are you ready?” the staff asked.

Ye Fangfei looked at Zhang Chen, who gave her an OK gesture, signaling he was set.

“We’re ready, let’s go!” Ye Fangfei said.

As soon as she finished speaking, the staff behind Zhang Chen raised the first topic card high, revealing its content—

“Looking up at the bright moon.”

The moment Ye Fangfei saw the topic, her delicate brow arched slightly; this seemed a little different from the games she usually played.

But she didn’t dwell on it, blurting out, “It’s from Li Bai’s ‘Quiet Night Thought.’ What comes before ‘longing for home’? What’s the previous line?”

“Huh?” Zhang Chen was stunned for a second, then realized they were playing with classical poetry. He answered immediately, “Looking up at the bright moon!”

“Correct,” said the staff.

Zhang Chen smirked, “Is it really this easy?”

The staff flipped to the next topic card.

Ye Fangfei frowned deeply as she read it.

Zhang Chen noticed her expression and instantly became more cautious.

Ye Fangfei scratched her head, unable to recall where this line came from.

Time ticked by.

“It’s from poetry, six characters!” she prompted.

Zhang Chen nodded, “Alright, go ahead.”

“The first three words, two of them are the antonyms of southeast.”

“Northwest!”

“Yes, after northwest comes a verb. Watch my gesture!” Ye Fangfei quickly raised her hand to her forehead, mimicking a lookout. “What’s this?”

“Northwest lookout!”

“Correct! What’s the next line?”

“The line after northwest lookout??” Zhang Chen was momentarily confused. “What is it?”

“Watch my gesture!” Ye Fangfei mimed drawing a bow.

“Shooting arrows!”

“One word! A verb!”

“Shoot!”

“Yes!” Ye Fangfei then howled like a wolf. “What’s this?”

“Wolf! Shoot wolf!”

Ye Fangfei rolled her eyes, “Poetry! Poetry! It needs to be symmetrical!”

A light went off in Zhang Chen’s mind. He suddenly understood, “Oh! I got it! Northwest lookout, shoot at the sky—”

“Time’s up! Overtime!” the timer staff interrupted him.

Zhang Chen: “……”

Just one second late…

“No worries, next one,” Ye Fangfei moved on, flipping to the next card.

The moment she saw the content, she couldn’t help but laugh, “Zhang Chen, what kind of topics did you draw?”

Zhang Chen immediately felt a sense of foreboding.

The other guests laughed as well, though secretly worried about their own upcoming turn.

“Oh my, are they all classical poetry?” Wen Yiming whispered, “That’s so unfair. My Chinese isn’t very good.”

Lu Zhou smiled, “Even if you’re good at it, after so many years since graduation, you’d have forgotten most of it anyway.”

Chu Yao laughed, “Feels like the production team is forcing us into a Chinese language review session.”

At that moment, inspiration struck Ye Fangfei; she remembered the poem.

“Still poetry. What’s the next line after ‘The boy rides a bamboo horse’?”

“Huh?” Zhang Chen was confused again.

“What pairs with bamboo horse? Think about it, it’s easy!” Ye Fangfei prompted.

“Green plums!”

“Five characters in total! ‘The boy rides a bamboo horse,’ next line!”

Zhang Chen clenched his fist nervously, then, excited, swung his arm and shouted, “Circling the bed, playing with green plums!”

“Correct,” said the staff.

At that moment, the live stream’s chat—

[You answered that one pretty smoothly]
[Wait, did I just see the color change? Is it my dirty mind?]
…

The fourth topic—

“The wind blows all night across the mountain passes.”

Ye Fangfei let out a heavy sigh. Which poem was this from? She really couldn’t remember; everything had been returned to her Chinese teachers.

She had no memory of the preceding line.

“Seven characters! But I can’t recall which poem it’s from. Watch my gesture.” Ye Fangfei exaggeratedly blew air into the sky.

“Blow!”

“Yes, but there’s another word before it. What blow?” In her excitement, Ye Fangfei said it out loud.

The staff pressed the bell, “You can’t give hints that include words from the answer. This one is counted as incorrect.”

Ye Fangfei: “…Ah, I forgot…”

Zhang Chen frowned, “So what’s the answer?”

“The wind blows all night across the mountain passes,” Ye Fangfei replied.

Zhang Chen was still baffled, thinking that even if Ye Fangfei hadn’t slipped up, he wouldn’t have guessed it.

Li Jiayan, who was watching, leaned over and asked Lu Zhou, “Which poem is that from?”

“From ‘Listening to the Flute on the Frontier’: ‘May I ask where the plum blossoms fall? The wind blows all night across the mountain passes,’” Lu Zhou replied quietly.

Li Jiayan let out a low “ah,” still unfamiliar with the poem. She patted Lu Zhou’s arm with a smile, “You’re amazing, I’ll rely on you later.”

Lu Zhou smiled, “I’m not that good. I just happen to remember this one.”

The live broadcast cut to Lu Zhou and Li Jiayan, and the fans went wild:

[Lock this pair up and throw away the key]
[She’s praising her husband, so sweet]
[How can a man say he’s not good? Lu Zhou, step up!]
…

Back to Ye Fangfei and Zhang Chen, only the last question remained.

They had expected something simple, but seeing its length, Ye Fangfei fell silent.

She couldn’t help but lament inwardly: Is this a vacation or an exam? I give up…

Fortunately, she remembered this poem!

“Listen carefully! Last question! If you miss it, there’s no more chances.” She reminded Zhang Chen.

Zhang Chen perked up, looking serious.

“This line is from Li Bai’s ‘Song of Drinking.’ There are three words I can’t mention.”

“After those three words comes the phrase: ‘The waters of the Yellow River come from heaven.’ What’s the corresponding line that follows? Do you remember?”

Zhang Chen: “The waters of the Yellow River come from heaven? Next line?”

“Not the next line; the next line is ‘rush to the sea.’” Ye Fangfei realized another forbidden word and stopped herself. “The waters of the Yellow River come from heaven—there are three words before this line, starting the next line. Do you know?”

Zhang Chen: “……”

After so many mistakes, Zhang Chen was rattled. In his nervousness, his mind went blank.

“I can’t remember…”

Staff: “Time’s up!”

Ye Fangfei: “……”

The viewers in the live chat were in hysterics—

[Ye Fangfei is just short of rolling her eyes]
[It’s so obvious, how can he not get it? Even I, a technical school student, know it]
[Ha, the pride of Jinghua University]
[Who said it was easy at the start? Hahaha]
…

Deflated, Zhang Chen turned to check the answer and read it out loud: “Have you not seen the high hall’s bright mirror, grieving at white hair…”

He looked at Director Lin Jiale with a face full of existential doubt, as if to say: Did you deliberately set this up to trip me?

Lin Jiale pursed his lips innocently, thinking: Goodness, this game round was tailor-made for you. Logically, you should have an edge and are likely to win. In the end… you can’t blame me for this, can you?