Chapter 864: Wasting Life

Editor: Henyee Translations

Seeing the delicious dishes being served to other tables, the young prince, who had been watching eagerly, became anxious, “Sister Chu, I also want to eat fish.”

Chu Qingzhi patted the young prince’s back, “Then let’s answer the question.”

The young prince didn’t understand, but he believed whatever Sister Chu said was right, so he just agreed, “Mhm mhm mhm.”

Chu Qingzhi asked Chu Xuyuan to give the answer.

Chu Xuyuan stood up, gave a bow to everyone, and answered, “‘Three mouths stacked on top of each other, don’t guess it as the character for ‘pin” is the character ‘mu’.”

After revealing the answer, everyone thought about it carefully; ‘mu’ indeed also consisted of three mouths stacked.

Applause followed, “Good!”

A servant announced loudly, “Serving the dish, steamed Wuchang fish.”

The young prince, seeing the fish being placed on their table, happily clapped his little hands. He knew it, following Sister Chu was never wrong.

Wuchang fish is known for having few bones, safe for children to eat, especially with Chu Qingzhi around. She skillfully deboned a large piece of fish flesh cleanly off the fish.

Chu Qingzhi placed the fish flesh in the young prince’s bowl.

The young prince looked up at Chu Qingzhi with bright eyes, “Sister Chu, you are so nice.”

Chu Qingzhi smiled gently, “Eat up.”

Fang Mingyi’s voice came from the side, “Let’s not fight over it, as the hosts, we should give more opportunities to our guests.”

This drew everyone’s attention to the table of students from the Imperial College.

“It’s only fair to give the chance to our guests. What’s your question?”

“If you can’t answer, we can help.”

“There are plenty of good dishes in the kitchen, don’t be shy. We’ll send one over to you, and it’s no big deal if we eat one less.”

The students from the Imperial College looked extremely displeased because they couldn’t answer their question, or else they would have taken the spotlight earlier.

Their question was: Please pronounce the character “Die” correctly.

Who knew what this character was? They had never encountered it before, and while they were clueless about how to proceed, Fang Mingyi specifically targeted them.

Their table was silent; in fact, not many people knew this character, but the students from the Imperial College were just unlucky to get this question.

“Hurry up, if you answer, then we can too, or the dish will get cold.”

“If you don’t answer, we’ll do it for you.”

“Come on, what’s with the silent treatment!”

Wei Maokai slammed the table, “Stop rushing us. If we can’t answer, whoever can, just do it!”

“Ha, so you can’t answer!”

“I thought students from the Imperial College were impressive. Turns out, not so much!”

“Ah, what a disappointment.”

Amidst the snide remarks, the students from the Imperial College were almost fuming with rage.

Then, Chu Xuyao stood up, speaking clearly, “This character is pronounced ‘léi’, the same as the ‘léi’ for thunder in the sky.”

Applause followed, “Good!”

The servant’s voice rang out again, “Serving a dish of crab meat lion’s head.”

Chu Xuyao stood up to answer primarily to compete for the dish. He didn’t know this character, but he had a powerful sister, so the crab meat lion’s head was theirs.

The young prince whispered in excitement, “Wow, more delicious food.”

Chu Qingzhi served him a lion’s head, “Eat up, and if there’s anything else you want, we’ll compete for it later.”

Zeng Yuanshi eyed Chu Xuyao, narrowing his eyes. That table didn’t have any scholars, just a few ordinary guests. How could they know such a difficult word? “Are you cheating?”

This accusation was a direct affront to everyone at Yunfei School.

Pan Yuheng, who was quick-tempered, stood up in indignation, “Baseless accusations! It’s just a question at a banquet, meant for fun. Who would cheat over it?”

Zeng Shiyuan angrily retorted, “You don’t need to lie. To embarrass us, what wouldn’t you do?”

Pan Yuheng glanced at all the scrolls in the room, countering, “These scrolls were randomly hung up three days ago and you chose a seat at random when you came into the banquet hall. How could we cheat? Do you think we can predict the future?”

Zeng Shiyuan argued back, “Or maybe you know all the questions on these scrolls, no matter where we sit, you’ve planned it.”

Pan Yuheng scoffed, “So, you mean to say, no matter the question, you can’t answer it?”

Zeng Shiyuan, red-faced with anger, “You…”

Pan Yuheng offered a way out, “How about this, pick any question from those present. If you answer correctly, we’ll also give you a dish. How about it?”

“Okay!” This wasn’t the time to be concerned about pride. After exchanging glances, they dispersed to select a question, determined to answer at least one correctly; otherwise, how would they face others upon their return?

Everyone quietly watched them choose a question to answer…

Chu Qingshuang tugged at Chu Qingzhi’s sleeve, “Sister, can they answer it?”

Chu Qingzhi realistically stated, “As students from the Imperial College, they can’t be that weak, or why would they be sent to a rival School? They wouldn’t deliberately come to lose face.”

Chu Qingshuang nodded in agreement, “That makes sense.”

Just as she finished speaking, Ning Jingzun from the Imperial College spoke up, “I will answer this question…”

The question he chose was: In a cage there are chickens and rabbits, with thirty-five heads in total and ninety-four feet. How many chickens and rabbits are there, respectively?

Ning Jingzun explained, “Assuming there are thirty-five chickens, that would make seventy feet. But in reality, there are ninety-four feet, meaning the twenty-four feet unaccounted for belong to rabbits mistaken for chickens. Therefore, from the supposed thirty-five chickens, twelve are actually rabbits, meaning there are twenty-three chickens and twelve rabbits in total.”

The students from the Imperial College applauded, “Good!”

The dean nodded, “Exactly right!”

The servant announced, “Serving a dish of Tai Bai Duck.”

The students from the Imperial College returned to their seats, looking smug. They believed only they could answer such a difficult question correctly, ready to make Yunfei School lose face.

The banquet continued…

More and more people stood up to answer questions until only one question remained unanswered, stumping all the scholars.

This last question was: There is an unknown number of items; counted by threes, two remain; counted by fives, three remain; counted by sevens, two remain. How many items are there?

Everyone calculated with their fingers, but all were left frowning and shaking their heads, including Xu Guannan.

Arithmetic wasn’t tested in the imperial examinations, so this area was relatively unexplored, and truly, they couldn’t figure it out.

The students from the Imperial College whispered among themselves.

“This Yunfei School is really twisted, making us scholars answer such difficult questions. Isn’t this deliberately making things hard for everyone?”

“Who knows what they think? If it were up to Imperial Dean, he definitely wouldn’t pose such bizarre questions.”

“Of course, Imperial Dean aims to cultivate all students into officials who can govern and bring peace to the people.”

“Lucky we’re at the Imperial College. If we were at Yunfei School, our lives would definitely be wasted.”