In Chenjiazhuang, on the east bank of the Ba River in Huangzhou Prefecture, except for two families with the surname Wen, the remaining 237 households are all surnamed Chen. According to the genealogy of the Chen family, as early as the Tianbao period of the Tang Dynasty, the ancestor of the Chen family, Yuan Huigong, fled from Luoyang, the eastern capital at that time, to avoid the disaster of war (Anshi Rebellion), and saw that this place is close to the high mountains in the north and the river in the south, and the feng shui is good, so he took root and no longer fled south of the river. For more than 700 years, the number of descendants has multiplied to more than 1,000.

Today is the day when Chen Wenqi returns with great clothes, and it is a great joy for the whole Chen family. Before the sky was dark, the clansmen rushed to the head of the village with the old and the young, looking to the west, waiting for Chen Wenqi's return.

At noon, the figures of Chen Wenqi and Jingxing appeared on the road outside the village, and the brothers in the clan who were originally standing at the head of the village had already run forward and walked towards the village with Chen Wenqi in their arms.

Firecrackers rang out at the head of the village, and gongs and drums shook the sky.

Chen Wenqi walked quickly to the crowd, and saw that his uncle Chen Nansong was also in the crowd of greetings, so he hurriedly put down the book, bent down and knelt down in front of his uncle, and said, "Junior, Wenqi knocks on my uncle." ”

Chen Nansong smiled "hehe": "Oh, now that you are a lifter, you don't have to kneel down when you see the county master, how dare you take it? Get up, get up." ”

"How can the county lord be compared with the elders in the clan? It is a common etiquette for the younger generations to knock on the elders, how dare they be wasted?" Chen Wenqi said, bowing to all the elders present one by one, and then giving gifts to the peers and others respectively. Finally, he came to the father and mother and fifth uncle who were standing on the side, and was about to kneel, but was pulled by Chen Ruishan and Chen Xiangshan. Chen Ruishan said happily: "Let's go home and offer incense to the ancestors first." After speaking, he walked up to Chen Nansong and whispered a few words, and shouted to the gong and drummer: "Stop for a moment, I will say two words." After the sound of gongs and drums stopped, he said to everyone: "The elders of the clan, the brothers and sisters-in-law, and the younger generations, Xiao Wenqi lives up to the expectations of the clan, and is lucky to win the laurels, thanks to the shadow of the ancestors and ancestors, and it is also the honor of the whole clan." At noon today, in the square in front of the ancestral hall, Ruishan prepared a thin wine, thanked the clansmen for their love, and implored the clansmen to appreciate the light. ”

"Well, this cup of wine must be a nuisance. ”

"Happy events in the clan, if you don't get drunk, you won't return. ”

“......”

Everyone responded violently, and the impatient had already pulled out their legs and ran towards the Chen ancestral hall.

Chen Wenqi instructed Jingxing to take the luggage home, and he came to the ancestral hall with his father and fifth uncle, and offered incense to the ancestors of the Chen family, kowtowed, and together with his father and fifth uncle, arranged for the clansmen to sit down one by one in the order of the eldest and youngest, and waited until the firecrackers rang off, and then the banquet could be opened.

"Brother Chen was honored as the new branch Xie Yuan, my brother came uninvited, bothered to drink a cup of wine, I don't know if Xie Yuan Gong rewarded my brother's face?"

Chen Wenqi saw it and recognized it as the "Qishan Shuangjie" Fang Junjie brothers, and the glamorous woman next to him was Zhong Lilan, the shopkeeper of the "Kung Fu Teahouse" that day. I couldn't help but be surprised and delighted, and walked forward quickly, clasped my fists with both hands and said: "'Qishan Shuangjie' and Miss Zhongli are really distinguished guests when they come to our village, Wen Qi welcomes you, please take a seat." ”

After speaking, the three of them were introduced to their fathers and mothers, and then they chose the empty table at the top and arranged for the three of them to sit at the table.

After Zhong Lilan stopped being the shopkeeper of the teahouse, she returned to her usual woman's dress and became more and more coquettish. After everyone greeted each other, he walked up to Chen Wenqi and bowed, and said in a coquettish voice: "Thanks to the help of the son, the little woman began to get rid of the fetters. Hearing that the son was a high Kui Tiger list, the little woman asked the two eldest brothers of the Fang family to accompany her, one to congratulate, the other to thank her, and return the silver paid by the son that day. After speaking, he took the package in Fang Yanjie's hand, held it in front of Chen Wenqi with both hands, and said: "This is fifty taels of silver, in addition to the silver taels returned to the son, the remaining silver taels are the congratulatory gifts from the little woman and the two elder brothers Fang to the son, please accept the son with a smile." ”

"I can't do it, I can't do it. Chen Wenqi did not take the package, and said: "Miss Zhongli's life experience, I deeply sympathize, because it was inconvenient to come forward at that time, so I had to ask the two Fang brothers to help." I didn't help Miss Zhongli to do my best, so why should I worry about this little money? Speaking of which, the girl should be grateful to the two Fang Gongzi. ”

Fang Junjie interjected with a smile: "How can our family be grateful?"

Chen Wenqi was stunned for a moment, saw Zhong Lilan and Fang Yanjie both red-faced, lowered his head, and asked suspiciously: "Could it be that Miss Zhongli and Fang Ergongzi ......?"

"They're engaged. Fang Junjie said.

"I see, good, good, a pair of beautiful people made in heaven, congratulations to the two. ”

Fang Yanjie saw that Zhong Lilan was infinitely shy, so he hurriedly changed his conversation, took the package in Zhong Lilan's hand, and said to Chen Wenqi: "There were many suspicions and collisions with Chen Gongzi that day, please forgive Chen Gongzi." What does this mean, please ask Chen Gongzi to wait for me a little thin noodles. ”

Chen Wenqi thought that if he didn't accept it, he would embarrass them, so he might as well accept it, and it would not be too late to find an opportunity to return the gift in the future. After a slight excuse, he generously took the silver two and said, "Miss Zhongli and the two Fang brothers are very affectionate, but they are disrespectful, so they have to accept it. However, Miss Zhongli and Brother Yanjie's wedding wine is a must-drink. One sentence said Zhong Lilan, who had just faded from his blush, and his face suddenly turned red to the root of his ears.

At this time, Chen Xiangshan jumped on an empty table and said loudly: "Elders, clansmen, and a few distinguished guests who just came, thank you for coming to participate in the high school banquet of your little nephew Chen Wenqi, please drink heartily, and don't get drunk or return." Shoot!"

"Wait. Hearing a loud shout, the hands of the firecrackers shook in fright, and the fire medium fell to the ground.

"Today, Chen's Mansion is setting up wine, such a big pomp, why don't you invite us? Isn't it afraid to meet people?" With the sound of words, I saw more than a dozen people rushing over, the first one was fat and round, his eyebrows were slanted down, and his eyes were looking at the sky, who was not Situ Jiao? There were several people behind him, one by one, roe deer and rats, extremely obscene.

"Who are you, what are you going to do?" Chen Xiangshan shouted.

"Don't do anything, your family has wine, can't my young master come to ask for a glass of wine?"

When Fang Yanjie saw Situ Jiao, his eyes were red. Thinking that his fiancée Zhong Lilan was bullied by him in the past, it was difficult to return home, and he was already angry, so he rushed forward in a few steps, pointed at Situ Jiao and scolded: "Situ Jiao, why are you buzzing around like a fly, especially to make people disgusting? ”

"The surname Fang, you brothers and sons are treacherous, and they snatched Zhong Lilan's little slut from Young Master Ben's hands, Young Master Ben didn't go to look for your bad luck, but you found Young Master Ben? After speaking, he took his unique blade moon covering knife from his hand, and wanted to fight with Fang Yanjie.

Although Chen Xiangshan is middle-aged, his temperament is still hot. Someone is making trouble at their own banquet, where can they tolerate it? So he jumped off the table and came to Situ Jiao. Just as he was about to start, Chen Wenqi arrived in time, stretched out his hand to stop the fifth uncle, and said to Situ Jiao: "Since you have come to Chenjiazhuang, you are a guest today, please Situ Gongzi put away his blade and sit down to drink here." ”

Situ Jiao came here for another purpose, as soon as Chen Wenqi said, he just borrowed the donkey from the slope and threw the moon-covering knife to the family who carried the knife, and did not talk to Chen Wenqi, walked to an empty table, and sat down with a golden knife. Fang Yanjie didn't want to disturb Chen Wenqi's interest, so he suppressed his anger and walked back to his table and sat down.

Although Chen Xiangshan was unhappy in his heart, he didn't want to make more trouble at the festive banquet, and when he saw that everyone was seated, he shouted again: "Fire." ”

In the thunderous sound of firecrackers, the banquet officially began. As the host, Chen Wenqi followed his father and fifth uncle to toast the guests from table to table, and the guests also congratulated one after another.

But when Chen Wenqi's father and son, uncle and nephew came to Situ Jiao's table to toast, everyone at the table neither spoke nor raised their glasses, and sat silently like clay sculptures and wood sculptures. Chen Wenqi knew that they were looking for trouble, so he quietly pulled the fifth uncle who was about to have a seizure, and prepared to go to the adjacent table to toast. At this time, a man dressed as a scholar and with a sharp beak and monkey cheeks on the table stood up and clenched his fists, and said in a strange manner: "Chen Jieyuan, please stay." In this Huguang Township test, Chen Jieyuan overwhelmed the heroes and won the championship in one fell swoop, and he was deeply admired. In the past, it was very difficult to meet a couplet, and I couldn't solve it in the next year, and I wanted to give it up, which made me restless in the next few years. I heard that Chen Jieyuan is a master of joint pairs, can you give me one or two advice, so that I can make a long-cherished wish?"

When Chen Wenqi heard this, he said in his heart, "Here it is", if the discussion is on the same side, there is no difference between right and wrong, only right and far-fetched. But now that he was about to entertain a full house, how could he have time to confront them in poetry? For example, on weekdays, Chen is willing to ask for advice from the driver. But today, Chen is entertaining guests and is entangled in mundane affairs, how can he do such an elegant thing? You and I will find another day to come back to talk, what do you think?"

The man only thought that Chen Wenqi did not dare to fight, and became more and more energetic, and said: "Chen Gongzi is Xie Yuan, and he will fly Huang Tengda in the near future. ”

Chen Wenqi secretly thought that this group of people came prepared, and if they didn't promise to guarantee that there might be other moths, they should admit: "In this case, after I finish toasting the guests' wine, I will come to ask the honorable driver for advice." ”

The man thought, I just want you to connect at this time, if not, see how you continue to toast. He seemed to have seen Chen Wenqi's embarrassed appearance of thinking hard and waiting for the guests to toast. He was extremely happy in his heart, and said: "Why does Chen Xie Yuan want to push three obstacles and four times? A mere joint pair is not a piece of cake for Chen Xie Yuan? If Chen Xie Yuan has the talent of Cao Zijian, he can be connected in only seven steps, how can he delay a lot of time? Besides, if Chen Xie Yuan can see Chen Xie Yuan's literary brilliance in person, Chen Xie Yuan just doesn't toast, and everyone will be happy. As he spoke, he raised his voice and asked, "Everyone, yes or no?"

"Yes, it doesn't matter if you toast or not, please Xie Yuanlian, right. The crowd responded in unison.

The man thought that everyone had the same mind as him, and wanted to see Chen Wenqi sacrifice ugliness. He didn't know that everyone was Chen Wenqi's clansmen, and he had long been unhappy with his troubles, and he only hoped that Chen Wenqi would suppress his evil spirit and give them a bad breath.

Chen Wenqi looked at his father Chen Ruishan, and Chen Ruishan nodded slightly.

"It seems that Chen can't hide it. It's better to be respectful than to obey the fate, please say the upper link. Chen Wenqi was still holding a wine glass and said to the man.

"Chen Jieyuan listened, this link is: In the wind of the bird, the small insect is removed and turned into a phoenix. After the man finished speaking, he didn't look at Chen Wenqi, picked up the wine glass in front of him, and drank the wine by himself.

Among the people present, there were those who were good at couplets, and when they heard this couplet, they were secretly surprised. This is the increase and loss of the clutch and dismantling the word couplet, the "worm" in the middle of the word "wind" is removed and replaced with "bird", that is, it becomes a "phoenix" word, not only the word is cleverly split, but also the context is smooth and appropriate, and the difficulty of continuing the pair is quite large. In addition, there is also a metaphor that Chen Wenqi was originally a crow and how he could become a phoenix.

Everyone can't help but secretly worry about Chen Wenqi, if he is stumped by a little-known scholar and spreads it, it will not only damage his reputation, but also have an impact on his future career.

Chen Wenqi walked a few steps, turned around and said to the man: "Chen's next link is: horses graze on the side of the reeds, gnaw all the dry grass and become a donkey. ”

When the people heard this, they were stunned. Isn't the horse on the edge of the reed, and the reed removing the grass, exactly the "donkey"? Of course, there is also a metaphor for the person's "stupid donkey."

Before the man finished drinking a glass of wine, he couldn't help but be stunned when he heard Chen Wenqi say the next couplet, as if he didn't believe it, and asked: "Is it right?" I am a ...... of 'Birds Flying in the Wind'."

Chen Wenqi said: "I am interested in 'Ma Mu Lupan'. ”

"Pick up the insects and turn them into phoenix ......"

"Gnaw up the dead grass and become a donkey. Do you think it's right?"

"Also...... It's okay. The man didn't expect Chen Wenqi to come out so quickly, and he was not prepared for a while, so he had to nod his head and admit "OK".

"So, can Chen go?"

The man was at a loss.

Chen Wenqi smiled and walked towards his father and fifth uncle with a wine glass.

"Chen Jieyuan, please stay. Chen Wenqi looked back, and there was a middle-aged scholar who looked like a middle-aged scholar about fifty years a year standing on the table, and said to him: "There is also a couplet below, dare to ask Xie Yuangong to continue." ”

Chen Wenqi frowned and said, "Please speak." ”

"The black soil is ink, and the girl has its words. ”

It's still a ligature: the two words of black soil are synthesized into ink characters, and the two words of girl are synthesized into wonderful words.

Chen Wenqi opened his mouth and came: "White water is a spring, and ancient trees are not dry." ”

When the middle-aged scholar-like person heard it, he felt that Chen Wenqi implicitly scolded himself for being "shameless" and "old-fashioned" in the next couplet, but people were stable in the battle, and they didn't literally mean it, if they reasoned with him, it would be humiliating themselves, so they had to go to their in-laws' house - hold back their breath and sit back on the bench with a red face.

And all the people at the table looked at me, and I looked at him, and they said no more. Situ Jiao glared angrily, and wherever his eyes went, the man hurriedly lowered his head, for fear of hitting himself. He glanced around the crowd, and then poked his fingers at the bald scholar with a beard beside him.

The bald scholar had no choice but to pick up the wine glass in front of him, poured it all by himself, wiped the residual wine leaking from his cheeks with his hand, coughed dryly, turned his head and said to Chen Wenqi: "Chen Xie Yuan has poems and books in his belly, and his mouth is like a river, and he is deeply admired. Today's great opportunity is to present an ugly couplet in the next, and dare to ask Chen Jieyuan to make the next couplet. ”

"You don't have to be too humble, please say Shanglian. Chen Wenqi said neither humbly nor arrogantly.

The two of them sat on the ground. The bald scholar said lightly.

The guests at the next table waited with bated breath for him to speak, and when he said the couplet, they were stunned for a moment, and then burst into laughter.

It turns out that there is an allusion to this "two people sitting on the soil": in the Southern Song Dynasty, there was a small country called the Jin Dynasty in the north, and the sixth emperor of this country, Wan Yanjing, not only coveted the splendid rivers and mountains of the Celestial Empire, but also liked the Han culture very much. When this person was in power, he built a dresser on Qionghua Island for his favorite concubine Li Chen, and whenever there was nothing to do in the court, he took Concubine Li Chen to the stage to watch the scenery and enjoy the shade. One night, the moonlight was excellent, Wan Yanjing was full of interest, took Concubine Li Chen's hand and went to the dresser again, and sat on the lawn to watch the bright moon. Looking at it, Wan Yan Jing's interest increased, and he came up with a link for Concubine Li Chen to come to the right place: the two of them sat on the soil.

Literally, it is a ligature couplet, two people on the soil character synthesize a "sitting" word; from the scene in front of you: Qionghua Island was originally made of "soil", and now two people sit on the "soil" to enjoy the bright moon, and the artistic conception is very appropriate.

Concubine Li Chen's Han culture foundation is quite good, and her kung fu is not bad. After listening to Yan Jing's uplink, he looked up at the bright moon in the sky, and thought that he could have today because of the emperor's favor. And the sun is yang, the moon is yin, and the moonlight is also caused by the reflection of the sun, which is in line with the identity and mood of the two at this time, so they use the bright moon in the sky to the next couplet: January and the sun are bright.

Today's bald scholar kept it word for Chen Wenqi to continue, how could it not make everyone laugh?

"What are you laughing at?" said the bald scholar angrily, "yes, this is a ready-made couplet, and it is said that 'the sun is bright in January' is absolute. But I don't believe it in my heart, that woman is only favored by her appearance, and she can continue to make the next link, can't she continue the next link if she is more knowledgeable? Isn't that funny?"

"Since it is called 'absolute', there is naturally no better downlink than it. Isn't that difficult for a strong man?" said someone who raised the bar.

The bald scholar smiled "hehe" and said: "In the following sentence, Chinese culture is broad and profound, I don't believe that there is nothing else to be right except for 'January Sun Bianming'." ”

"Then you're going to try one?"

"Me?" The bald scholar glanced at Chen Wenqi and said, "If I am right, won't I also become the current science and technology solution?" Chen Jieyuan, are you right?"

Chen Wenqi said calmly: "If you say that the work is stable, it is naturally 'January and the sun is bright'." Besides, there is, but it's not as relevant as this. ”

The bald scholar said: "As long as it is right, you will be taught." ”

Chen Wenqi secretly thought, how can you come forward to make trouble if you are so easy to speak? I'm afraid there will be some "killer feature" behind, right? But there is really no better link for a while, so he thought about it and said: "Since the respected driver must be ugly in the next place, then I will follow the cat and draw the tiger, and be kind to a 'good child'." How?"

The bald scholar saw that his lower link was not a superior work, but it was also "acceptable", so he said with a smile: "Good is good, but the lower upper link has not finished speaking." ”

And so it was. Chen Wenqi said secretly in his heart, and asked with a pretended surprise on the surface: "Why, the Shanglian of the Venerable Driver didn't finish speaking?"

When everyone heard this, they thought that this person was really despicable and shameless, and he came up with such a trick to harm people. So some people were upset: "Why are you so vicious? How can there be a reason to ask someone to continue to be right if you don't finish speaking? No, or you will finish talking to Shanglian in one breath, and Xie Yuan will be right." Either the couplet is just like that. ”

The bald scholar smiled gloomily and said sarcastically, "This brother is lonely and unheard. This kind of word couplet is not uncommon since ancient times: the Jin Dynasty's 'book saint' Wang Xizhi is quite difficult to ask for his words, and the Spring Festival couplets pasted during the Spring Festival were taken away before the paste dried. The 'Shusheng' couldn't, so he wrote an unlucky couplet such as 'Blessing is unequaled, and disaster is not a single line', and then added a tail to the next day, making it become: 'Blessing is unequaled so far; Su Shi, a writer in the Song Dynasty, boasted of being talented and high, and wrote a book in front of the door: he knew all the words in the world, and read all the books in the world. Later, he was embarrassed by an old man's 'seeking advice', and he was too ashamed of himself, so he wrote two words on the original couplet: he was angry and knew all the words in the world, and he was determined to read all the books in the world. During the Hongwu period of this dynasty, Jiangxi Township tried to solve the Yuan Jiejin, and wrote a couplet for others: the door is against a thousand poles of bamboo, and the family has a collection of thousands of books. The owner of the bamboo forest wanted to embarrass him and cut down the bamboo. Xie Jin then added a word to the upper and lower couplets, becoming: the door is short for thousands of bamboos, and the family collection is long for thousands of books. The owner of the bamboo forest was even more annoyed when he saw this, and dug up the bamboo by the roots. Xie Jin added another word to the upper and lower couplets: the door is short for thousands of bamboos, and the family collection of thousands of books is long. Of course, if Chen Jieyuan thinks that this solution is not as good as the other solution, he will not talk about it in the future. ”

Chen Wenqi was too lazy to bother with him, and said lightly: "Compared with the famous talented scholar Xie University, Chen is ashamed of himself. But when it comes to adding words and continuing sentences, Chen is still reluctant to ask himself. You don't need to quote scriptures, so please say the last sentence?"

The bald scholar thought that the odds were in his hands, and said in a pinch tone: "Chen Jieyuan, listen well: the two of them sit on the soil, and the soil can build embankments. ”

The words "is" and "soil" together are the word "embankment".

Chen Wenqi had long been wary of his backhand, and as soon as he heard what he said, he opened his mouth to answer: "A child is good, because a woman is married." ”

"I'm not done yet, my upper link is: the two of them sit on the soil, the soil can build an embankment, and the soil of the willow berm is not bad. ”

The words "soil" and "no" together are one "bad" word.

When everyone heard this, they secretly scolded this person for being really "bad"! You can't say it completely and completely, but you have to divide it into several parts, and go out intermittently, don't you mean to embarrass people?

"A child is good, because the woman is married, and the makeup is even the daughter-in-law. Chen Wenqi said.

When the clansmen of Chenjiazhuang heard this, they immediately breathed a sigh of relief and immediately cheered loudly.

The bald scholar was exhausted, and there was no more to answer at the bottom, so he had to sit down dejectedly and drink all the wine in the cup.

Although Chen Wenqi was young and old, he was humble, but he couldn't be angry at this time, walked to their table, lifted a pot of wine, and said: "Thank you for your help today, Chen Mou is here to thank you." Chen also has a couplet, dare to invite you to a couple: the guest apartment is an official house, and the cold window is empty and lonely. Limited to this pot of wine, after this pot of wine is toasted, you have not yet come out, please forgive Chen for sending off. After speaking, he turned around and toasted with his father and fifth uncle.

There were several people at the table here, and after carefully tasting Chen Wenqi's couplet, they found that it was a couplet on the same side, and they couldn't help but look at each other. They were originally some children who had broken down and had not even earned their fame for showing off their talents, so where could they have real talent and real learning? This time, they were caught by Situ Jiao, and before coming to Chenjiazhuang, they searched their intestines and thought about a few Shanglian, trying to make Chen Wenqi ugly. However, Chen Wenqi only annoyed them to fight stubbornly, so that they made this joint retreat in the face of difficulties, and it didn't matter if they didn't come out or not. So let them meditate on him and leave him alone.

Chen Wenqi doesn't care, it doesn't mean that others don't care. At the adjacent table, there were several teenagers of the same generation as Chen Wenqi. These people are messing around, they have long been unpleasant, but they have endured it again and again because of the feelings of the master's family, and they have not had a seizure. Now that they have not been silent for a long time, they must not be able to think of the next link, how can the teenagers give up? A few people muttered a few words in a low voice, and a young man stood on the bench and shouted loudly to the audience: "Everyone be quiet, Brother Wen Qi just came out of the upper link, these guests have already come out, listen to them." After speaking, he said to a few people at the table over there, "Everyone, who of you will say?"

Now all the guests in the audience waited with bated breath for them to speak, eager to burrow under the table and hide. So you pushed me, I pushed you, and no one dared to stand up. Someone in the distance, knowing that they couldn't connect, deliberately shouted: "What is your lower link, say it loudly, we can't hear it here." When everyone heard this, they immediately laughed at the audience.

No matter how thick-skinned Situ Jiao was, he couldn't hang up at this time, he poked his fingers on the heads of those people, and roared angrily: "You stupid pigs, before you came, one was more capable than the other, what did you say to embarrass Chen Wenqi, but now it's good, who embarrasses whom? Get out, get out of here for Young Master Ben. ”

A few people rushed away with their heads in their arms, and the audience was full of laughter.