Chapter 88

This time, it only took about ten days for Shen Cui to receive a reply. The letter was much more concise, with the old headmaster expressing gratitude and giving a rough date, stating that their academy’s representative students had already set out when the letter was sent and would likely arrive around August. As for specific arrangements, he would send another letter for the students to carry with them.

After reading the letter, Shen Cui couldn’t help but wonder, “The letter was probably sent by the old headmaster through the courier service. They must have traveled day and night to deliver it, even reaching the student ahead. But the journey from Hongle Academy to our village shouldn’t take a month. I was thinking that the student should have arrived by July.”

Lao Buyu speculated, “Perhaps they need to visit other academies for study tours before coming to us?”

Since Cuiwei Academy was established later, and Lao Buyu had been studying with his teacher for decades, they weren’t very familiar with these procedures. Since the student was only arriving a month later than expected, they didn’t think too much about it.

There wasn’t much to arrange on Shen Cui’s side. The dormitory was a large bunk bed, and currently, only Wei Shu and Wei Xi lived there. There was plenty of room for one more person. Shen Cui only needed to prepare an extra bedsheet for the new student.

As for the classroom in the hall, Shen Cui’s usual desk had been moved to the outside corridor, and Wei Shu had bought a new one as a small gift for the new classmate.

The routine of the academy continued until the Mid-Autumn Festival arrived, and they still hadn’t seen the students from Hongle Academy.

This was somewhat worrying. Could something have happened on the way?

Last year’s Mid-Autumn Festival was overshadowed by the academy’s competition, so everyone’s minds weren’t focused on festivities. This year, they had planned to celebrate properly and even go to the city to see the lantern festival. But with the new student not arriving as scheduled, nobody was in the mood for celebration.

Shen Cui said, “Let’s not think too much about it. What if something delayed them? Let’s not assume the worst.”

The three young men were diligent, and even the hot summer couldn’t dampen their spirits. With the major holiday approaching, Shen Cui encouraged them to go out and enjoy themselves.

Lao Buyu added, “Yes, the lantern festival also has riddles. It’s a good opportunity to see how much you’ve learned recently!”

So, sticking to their original plan, they enjoyed a hearty meal with fish and meat on the Mid-Autumn Festival day. As evening approached and their day of study came to an end, they headed into the city together to participate in the lantern festival.

During ordinary times, there would be curfews in the city, and anyone found lingering outside without reason would be detained by patrolling officers. However, during festivals, it was a special occasion. Not only were there no curfews, but people were also encouraged to go out and participate in activities.

The city was adorned with lanterns and decorations, and stalls selling various goods and performances were everywhere. There was lively music and festivities all around.

Lao Buyu led the three young men ahead, while Zhou Shi held Shen Cui’s arm as they followed behind. They had agreed to meet at the city gate if they got separated and began strolling and enjoying the festivities.

Since they hadn’t eaten dinner before coming out, they headed straight for the stalls selling snacks.

Sweet and savory pastries, pea cakes, fried sugar cakes, and rice noodles… they bought a variety of snacks and shared them among themselves.

Shen Cui had brought her purse along, but Wei Shu, Zhou, and Lao Buyu all insisted on paying, leaving Shen Cui unable to contribute.

Then came the highlight for the young men—guessing lantern riddles.

The stalls set up for lantern riddles formed a whole street dedicated to this activity. For each riddle guessed correctly, the solver would pay a penny to the stall owner and receive a red cloth strip.

The red cloth strips were like tickets, and one could exchange them for prizes at the stalls collectively sponsored by various vendors at the end of the street. The person with the most red cloth strips could become the Lantern King or exchange them directly for ten taels of silver.

This entertainment activity had no fixed number of participants; one could participate alone or in teams. Many literati and friends gathered here, eager to try their hand.

The lantern riddles of that time were much more sophisticated than those of later generations, based on the six types of characters: pictograms, ideograms, phonetics, indicatives, borrowed characters, and loan characters.

At first, Shen Cui didn’t know about this, but considering she had been reading a lot of books recently, she decided to join the young men.

The first lantern riddle presented was “Our fates are entwined, side by side.”

Lao Buyu didn’t participate; being of his age, it felt like adults bullying children, so he let them figure it out themselves.

Shen Cui pondered over the riddle and tentatively asked, “The characters for ‘fate’ and ‘relationship’ both contain the character (sound) or (member), so the answer is a word related to ‘rhyme’?”

The stall owner smiled and handed her a red cloth strip. “Madam is clever!”

Shen Cui was pleased with herself, but when she looked at Mu Er Pang and the others… the young men didn’t show any surprise on their faces, indicating that they had already figured it out.

She waved her hand and laughed, “Let’s continue with your guesses, don’t let me dominate.”

With that, she moved on to guess the second lantern riddle, which read, “In the world, there is a lone boat, shoot a line from the ‘Book of Songs’.”

This type of riddle left Shen Cui at a loss. Seeing her struggle, Mu Er Pang spoke up, “In the world, there is only one lone boat between heaven and earth, carrying both heaven and earth. Therefore, the answer is (carrying the black and yellow).”

With that, they easily won the second red cloth strip.

As the lantern riddles became increasingly difficult, Shen Cui couldn’t guess another one. So, Mu Er Pang and Wei Shu stepped forward, taking turns to guess and also explaining to Shen Cui along the way, as they continued to guess.

Meanwhile, in another part of the lantern riddle street, another young man was swiftly guessing riddles.

“Chu Shu. Shoot a line from the Book of Songs.’ The answer is ‘Chronicles of the Southern Kingdom.'”

“‘When will the moon be full in the west tower?’ The answer is ‘Three and five are in the east.'”

“‘Having a small drink, after drunkenness, one wakes in the afternoon.’ The answer is ‘Not yet drunk.'”

Soon, Shen Cui and the others knew that on the other side of the street, there was a skilled riddle solver who appeared swiftly.

His literary talent was outstanding, so many people crowded around him, following him to watch his performance. Shen Cui and the others could only hear his voice vaguely amidst the crowd, unable to see his appearance.

“Do we still want to guess?” Compared to others, their speed was obviously inferior. Competing for the title of Lantern King or ten taels of silver reward seemed impossible.

Shen Cui, who usually couldn’t even spare a penny, said, “It’s just for fun. Besides, we can exchange the cloth strips for other things. We can exchange them for some food or necessities!”

Mu Er Pang smiled and nodded. But then they heard Wei Xi already guessing the next riddle—

“‘Lu Su handles matters meticulously.’ The answer is ‘A gentleman is respectful and without loss.'”

“‘After the rain, the mountains are as if sleeping.’ The answer is ‘Snow.'”

Almost as soon as he saw the riddle, Wei Xi guessed the answer.

He hadn’t spoken before, and Shen Cui and the others thought he wasn’t good at this, but unexpectedly, it was Wei Xi, like Mu Er Pang and Wei Shu in front, deliberately letting Shen Cui and the others take the lead.

Now that he knew there was a strong opponent, he began to show his true ability without holding back.

“This cheeky brat!” Wei Shu turned around and hooked Wei Xi’s neck. “He’s quite good at hiding his skills.”

Wei Xi blushed at his words but didn’t slow down in guessing the lantern riddles.

Gradually, more people crowded around them to watch the excitement.

When the two groups met at the end of the street, the crowd was too large, and it directly pushed the booth for exchanging prizes into disarray.

Wei Shu, the most physically fit, stepped forward, squeezed to the front, handed over the red cloth strip, and then exerted great effort to return.

And on the other side, there were also people helping to pass over their cloth strips.

In the final count, it turned out that both sides had exactly fifty red cloth strips!

There were fewer than two hundred lantern riddles in total on the whole lantern riddle street. While the two sides were competing, other people on the street were also guessing riddles, and now there were no more riddles left to guess.

The two sides ended up in a tie, but there could only be one Lantern King.

Shen Cui thought that they could actually split the ten taels of silver evenly between both sides, but since she hadn’t guessed any of the riddles herself, she couldn’t easily make that decision.

Moreover, being a literate person, suggesting such a thing might make others think poorly of their literary circle. So she didn’t say anything, just waiting to see how the stall owner would decide.

The stall owner in charge of the prizes was busy, but eventually, he found a piece of paper from somewhere, wiped his sweaty forehead, and said, “Fortunately, fortunately, there’s one more, used as a tiebreaker!”

After making everyone nearby quiet down and not allow any random assistance, the stall owner quickly read out the riddle: “Why won’t you turn your face back? Shoot an idiom. This one’s easy, so it depends on who answers faster.”

Although the stall owner said it was easy, the young man who guessed riddles quickly earlier and Wei Xi, who no longer hid his abilities, were both silent and didn’t immediately give the answer.

Shen Cui found this riddle familiar and thought of a passage from “The Romance of the Western Chamber” she had recently read: “I loosen your buttons, I untie your ribbons; the fragrance of orchids fills the quiet chamber. But why won’t you turn your face back?”

So it’s no wonder Wei Xi couldn’t guess it, as he usually didn’t read such romantic books. The young man on the other side probably was the same.

She spoke up, “The answer is ‘Baring one’s chest and back’!”

“Correct answer, this side wins!” The stall owner breathed a sigh of relief and asked loudly across the crowd, “What prize would you like on this side?”

Shen Cui still wanted cash, but with so many eyes on her, she felt a bit embarrassed to say it out loud. So she just shouted from afar, “Let’s discuss it. We’ll come and choose after everyone disperses!”

There wasn’t much to see at the end of the street where prizes were exchanged, so after the excitement ended, everyone gradually dispersed.

Once the crowd had dispersed, Shen Cui and her friends could go forward and speak to the stall owner.

But someone who was quicker than them was a tall and thin young man who finally managed to squeeze to the front.

He looked extremely disheveled, his clothes ragged, his hair askew, his face dirty, and someone had stepped on one of his shoes, leaving him with one bare foot. He pitifully asked the stall owner, “Could all these cloth strips be exchanged for ink, paper, and inkstone? I don’t have any money left, could you lend me some red paper and help me wrap them into gifts? I want to give them as presents.”