Chapter 840: Cheating People

The Xu family is a big family in Tianfu County, and naturally there is no shortage of flatterers. Liu Sheng from Liujia Buzhuang in the county is the person who flatters Xu Zhaoming the most. After hearing Xu Zhaoming's words, he immediately said: "You don't have to guess, you can take the test." The one who went to the county case was naturally Brother Xu. Who in our Tianfu County doesn’t know that Brother Xu could recite a thousand-character essay at the age of five, went to Jinling to study at the age of ten, and was admitted to Jinling Honghu Academy at the age of thirteen, becoming the most famous person in Tianfu County? A promising young man.”

After flattering Xu Zhaoming, he looked at Gu Jinan and smiled disdainfully: "Only a beggar from out of town would not know Brother Xu's talent."

These words were scolding Gu Jinan and the others as beggars fleeing from famine.

Xu Zhaoming frowned slightly, a little displeased with Liu Sheng's direct attack on the Gu family's shortcomings, but he did not correct Liu Sheng. He just pretended not to hear and allowed the other party to charge for him.

Master Qu was not very happy. He had met Gu Jinan several times and admired Gu Jinan's talents and character. He said to Liu Sheng, "Fat Liu, we are all candidates in the same subject. We should support each other. You said such insinuations. It’s really not what a gentleman does!”

Liu Sheng was very fat, and people in the county called him Fatty Liu. Scholars in Dachu like to pay attention to beautiful words. Fatty Liu would be ridiculed by the scholars for his appearance and figure, because they deeply hated others calling him this nickname.

He pointed at Young Master Qu and said angrily: "Qu, don't bully me just because your uncle is a scholar. Brother Xu is the most loyal. How can he let you go if you speak like this and poke people's shortcomings?"

Master Qu smiled and did not answer, but looked at Xu Zhaoming.

Xu Zhaoming's face was gloomy and he really wanted the boy to throw Liu Sheng out. This Liu Sheng is too stupid. He previously said that Gu Jinan was a beggar from out of town just to poke at the Gu family's shortcomings. Now that someone has poked at his shortcomings and accused Master Qu, he really slapped himself in the face.

Xu Liang, who was on the side, hurriedly came out to smooth things over: "Brothers, Brother Liu has always been outspoken, and everyone has become accustomed to it. Now we are talking about who can be admitted to the county chief and sit at the head of the banquet."

He smiled and said: "I am a branch of the Xu family, so I naturally support my brothers. Where are the brothers?"

Master Qu said: "My uncle is one of Brother Gu's guarantors, so I naturally support Brother Gu."

Qi Kangming and the others also chose Gu Jinan.

But this banquet was organized by Xu Zhaoming, and everyone invited was afraid of the Xu family, so eighty people chose Xu Zhaoming.

Brother Cheng admired his eldest brother the most. He raised his little hand and said: "I choose the eldest brother. My eldest brother is the smartest and will definitely be admitted to the county police chief!"

He had a loud voice and a proud look on his face, which made Liu Sheng angry and said angrily: "What are you smart about? Your eldest brother, a mud-legged guy who has only studied for four years, can compete with a proud man like Brother Xu who has studied hard at Honghu Academy for many years. Comparing? You really overestimate your capabilities!"

Brother Cheng was angry and puffed out his cheeks and said, "You don't believe that my eldest brother is very smart?"

Then he asked Xu Zhaoming: "Don't you believe it either?"

Xu Zhaoming looked at Brother Cheng and smiled lightly: "Little brother, whether you are smart or not is not judged by belief, but by comparison. We still wait..."

What are you waiting for? What Brother Cheng wanted was his words, and he immediately said: "Since it was a competition, how about we compare now?"

Then he said: "Let's compare it to word puzzles. What do you think, Master Xu?"

Liu Sheng smiled: "Competing to guess charades? It turns out that he is just a fool, and the competition is all about inferior things."

The competition among literati is naturally a competition of poetry, poetry, or debate, or else it is a competition of fencing, riding, archery, or guessing word puzzles, which are things only children play.

Brother Cheng frowned and asked, "Brother Fatty, do you look down on crossword puzzles? But every Lantern Festival, many scholars, candidates, and even Jinshi guess crossword puzzles."

Liu Sheng choked up and said angrily: "Don't take it out of context. Isn't that what I meant?"

When Xu Zhaoming saw that Liu Sheng couldn't even compete with a child, he looked down on him very much. He simply said to Brother Cheng: "Little brother, what kind of competition do you want?"

Brother Cheng: "It's very simple. I will give you a word puzzle and you will guess it. If you can guess it within half an hour, you win."

Then he smiled at Xu Zhaoming and said, "My eldest brother guessed it within a quarter of an hour."

Xu Zhaoming was very proud. He claimed to be the number one among the young students in Tianfu County. How could he bear it when he heard such provocative words? He also thought that it was not difficult to guess the crossword puzzle made by a peasant child. He nodded and said: "Okay. You come up with the questions.”

Liu Sheng was looking for death, and immediately said: "It turns out to be a crossword puzzle, so there must be something lucky. Let's do this, if Brother Xu guesses the answer to the riddle, you brothers will kowtow to Brother Xu on the spot and shout three times, feeling ashamed of yourself!"

Brother Cheng agreed readily: "Okay."

Then he asked, "What if Master Xu can't guess it?"

Gu Jinan smiled and said: "The punishments in competitions have always been equal. If we lose, we kowtow to Master Xu. If Master Xu loses, naturally we will kowtow to your brothers."

Brother Cheng narrowed his eyes when he heard this and nodded: "Brother is right."

When it comes to cheating people, their brothers have never lost before.

Gu Jinan spoke so quickly that Xu Zhaoming had no time to interrupt, so he could only say with a sullen face: "Ask the question!"

Xu Zhaoming is still very confident in his knowledge. After all, he is the only person in Tianfu County who can go to Jinling to study.

Hearing this, Brother Cheng stepped forward and said as he walked: "Master Xu, listen carefully. There are four imps on the right hand, eight kings on the left, ten suns and moons above the head, and a river of stars under the feet."

He opened his hands in a mediating manner, kicked his feet forward, and said to Xu Zhaoming in a playful manner: "That's it, Master Xu, please guess."

However, Xu Zhaoming was stunned. What kind of crossword puzzle was this? Why hasn't he even heard of it?

It was an anagram that Xu Zhaoming had never heard of, and the other students at his table had never heard of it.

Liu Sheng didn't even understand the riddle, so he pointed at Brother Cheng and said, "Little brat, we have never heard of any crossword puzzle you came up with. Could it be that you came up with a false question to fool us, thinking that we wouldn't be able to guess it? Can you win?"

Brother Cheng tilted his head and looked at Liu Sheng, and said to Gu Jinan: "Brother, he is so stupid."

Gu Jinan smiled when he heard this and looked at Xu Zhaoming: "Today is the day when the results are released. People in the whole county are staring at us candidates. No matter how bold we brothers are, we will not dare to make false questions to fool you."

He added: "This is a cross puzzle. There are ten words in the puzzle. If Brother Xu suspects that we have made a false question to trick you, you can spread this question and ask other people. We have outstanding people in Tianfu County, and there will definitely be someone there. Guess the answer to the riddle.”

Xu Zhaoming's face looked ugly, knowing that Gu Jinan was not telling lies and that this crossword puzzle was true. But just because it was true, he was afraid. He couldn't solve the problem at all and guess the ten words in it.

Xu Zhaoming regretted it very much. If he had known this, he should not have made things difficult for Gu Jinan and wanted to slap him in the face to make himself famous. But now it's too late to say anything. If he can't figure out the answer to the riddle, he will be the one who kneels down and kowtows and gets slapped in the face!

Brother Cheng cleverly asked the waiter for a stick of incense to light, and placed it on the table, reminding Xu Zhaoming: "Master Xu, please guess, this stick of incense does not need to be burned."

It took exactly half an hour for the thick soybean incense stick to burn out.

Xu Zhaoming's face turned darker.