Having a fox in the room caused a lot of inconvenience.
After being busy all morning, Zhu Ping'an finally had some time. While he was writing a policy essay at the desk by the window to prepare for the exam, the witch who had taken medicine sat beside him, holding her chin with her slender hands and reading the policy essay written by Zhu Ping'an. When she was bored, she stirred the inkstone with her slender hands and ground ink randomly.
Suddenly, the witch laughed.
The writing train of thought was suddenly interrupted by the laughter of the witch. Zhu Ping'an really had the urge to sell this witch to a laughter place and let her laugh to her heart's content.
"Let's keep to ourselves. You heal your wound and I'll write my calligraphy." Zhu Ping'an glanced at the witch indifferently. Since her life was not in danger, he no longer cared.
"You are such an ungrateful person. People are trying to help you correct the mistakes in your article with good intentions, but you are so heartless." The witch rolled her eyes and said coquettishly.
"Big sister, please let me go, I'm still young."
Ungrateful, heartless and disloyal... Zhu Ping'an's mouth twitched. Why did this sound so awkward? In ancient times, women were very particular about sex separation. Why did you say it so ambiguously, as if I was having an affair with you? Besides, how could you find the mistakes in my article? I spent a long time on this policy paper.
Upon hearing this, the witch's face darkened, and she seemed to be very disgusted with the word "elder sister". It seemed that it was a common problem among women, that they were very averse to others saying that they were older, even though she was only about seventeen or eighteen years old.
"You really don't know what's good for you. What you said is so funny." The witch stretched out her slender jade hand, pointed at a sentence in Zhu Ping's essay, and said with a smile.
The sentence the girl pointed to was exactly the one from the "Starting Lecture" in Zhu Ping'an's policy essay: There is a quarrel between the snipe and the clam, but the fisherman benefits from it. This is exactly the case that if they work together, both benefit, but if they fight, both suffer.
Seeing that the witch was serious about what she said, Zhu Ping'an read the sentence again and found nothing wrong with it. He mixed the topic with scattered lines to cover the whole situation, and his own speech was also like this. There was nothing wrong with it. The writing and wording were also in line with the rules and conformed to the eight-part format.
So Zhu Ping'an ignored the teasing of the evil woman next to him and continued writing his policy paper.
"You are such a boring person. Look at this 'snipe and clam quarrel', this phrase is very funny." Seeing that Zhu Ping'an ignored her, the witch snatched the brush from Zhu Ping'an's hand.
The girl in green holds the inkstone to urge students to finish their papers, while the girl in red sleeves adds fragrance to accompany them in their studies.
Damn, it's all bullshit.
Zhu Ping'an didn't have any similar thoughts at all. Instead, he felt that the beautiful woman next to him was really annoying and he wanted to kick her out.
"Give me back my pen!" Zhu Ping'an said lightly.
"No, unless you admit that the quarrel between the snipe and the clam is funny." The witch looked at Zhu Ping'an with a smile, holding the brush and shaking it gently.
"There's nothing funny about the quarrel between the snipe and the clam!" Zhu Ping'an had no idea how many times he had wanted to sell this smiling witch to a place of entertainment.
"Then tell me about the dispute between the snipe and the clam." The witch had no idea what Zhu Ping'an was thinking, and she smiled and urged him to tell her the story of the dispute between the snipe and the clam.
After the clam clamped the snipe's mouth, it said, "If I don't loosen my mouth today or tomorrow, the sun will burn you to death!"
When Zhu Ping'an said this, he saw the witch holding her stomach and laughing.
What's so funny about this
"Don't clams use their mouths to talk? How can they talk without their mouths? Then wouldn't their mouths be loose when they talk? Hehe, so funny... How dare you use such a word? Aren't you afraid that the examiner will burst out laughing..."
The witch held her belly and laughed, seeming to be very happy that she could tease Zhu Ping'an. These scholars have read so much that their brains have gone stupid, it's really funny.
"Is it fun to play word games?" Zhu Ping'an said lightly, with some disdain for the witch's specious arguments.
The girl suppressed her laughter and nodded.
Zhu Pingan turned his head to look out the window. The sun was setting outside. Before he knew it, most of the day had passed. The county exam was much easier than the prefectural exam. The candidates who took the prefectural exam were much more capable than those who took the county exam, but the pass rate was much lower than that of the county exam. Compared with these old friends who were immersed in eight-part essays all day long, he was still relatively naive. He had to make full use of his time. Therefore, this annoying witch had to be sent aside.
"Since you like playing word games so much, why don't I play a word game with you. If you can't answer it, return the brush to me and go wherever you want and don't bother me." Zhu Ping'an looked at the witch with a provocative smile on his face.
"My little benefactor, what if I figured out the answer?" the enchantress asked with a smile. She had just teased Zhu Ping'an and didn't think Zhu Ping'an could come up with any difficult word games.
"Then it's up to you." Zhu Ping'an was not worried at all.
"Then don't regret it." The girl looked at Zhu Ping'an with a smile, "You scholars are always so self-righteous."
"There are 6 steamed buns in the basin. There are 6 children. Each of them gets 1 steamed bun, but there is still 1 steamed bun left in the basin. Why?"
Zhu Ping'an then told a brain teaser that is popular in modern times. Brain teasers originated in ancient India. Ancient China, at least in the Ming Dynasty, had not yet been exposed to this kind of thinking method. It is very difficult for the ancients to think of the answer with this way of thinking, and I believe the witch is no exception.
After Zhu Ping'an finished asking the question, the witch kept frowning and thinking. She couldn't understand why, there were six steamed buns in total, and six children each took one, so all six buns should have been taken, so why was there still one in the basin
The witch frowned and looked worried.
"Give me back the pen, go wherever you want and don't bother me anymore!" Zhu Ping'an stretched out his hand and spoke lightly.
"No, this is simply impossible, you are cheating!" The girl held the brush tightly, expressing her dissatisfaction with Zhu Ping'an's topic.
"If you can't think of it, it's impossible, right?" Zhu Ping'an curled his lips and sneered.
"Unless you can tell the answer, you are cheating!" The girl firmly believed that Zhu Ping'an could not tell the answer. In her eyes, this question was simply nonsense and there was no possible answer because it would be making something fictitious and impossible.
"What if I tell it?" Zhu Ping'an asked calmly.
"If you tell me, I will return the brush to you." The girl blinked.
Zhu Pingan glanced at the girl and said calmly:
"Because the last child took the basin away with him."
The last child took the basin away, and there must be a steamed bun in the basin.
The witch stared at Zhu Ping'an for a long time before returning the brush to him reluctantly. However, she did not leave and still held her chin high.
In her words, she just agreed to return the brush, and did not agree to leave.
"Then I'll ask another question, and you stay over there." Zhu Ping'an took the brush, dipped it in ink, looked at his essay, and spoke slowly without even looking at the witch next to him.
The girl was unwilling to give in, so naturally she would not refuse.
"Who does Xiao Ming look most like at home?" Zhu Ping'an said and then lowered his head to continue his policy discussion.
"It must be his father." The witch sitting on the bed gave the answer immediately.
Zhu Ping'an said no without even raising his head.
"His mother?"
Zhu Pingan still shook his head
"Uh, you are such a dirty person. Could it be that Xiao Ming looks like someone else?"
The witch sat on the bed and said with disgust.
Zhu Ping'an still shook his head.
The witch felt that Zhu Ping'an was really cheating this time. She didn't believe that the father and mother she mentioned were not the correct answer, so she urged Zhu Ping'an to tell her the answer again.
"Xiao Ming in the mirror."
Zhu Pingan spoke calmly while writing a policy paper, and added at the end, "Okay, people of Jianghu are as good as their word, so don't bother me anymore!"
The girl leaned against the bed and forcefully tore at Zhu Ping'an's robe hanging on the head of the bed, venting her dissatisfaction.