Chapter 5

（As usual, three requests! Votes, recommendations, and favorites!!)

In the classroom, there was a moment of silence.

The class monitor, Lu Qin, who sat two rows behind Yang Tang, stared with her bright, large eyes without blinking for a long time. Her delicate long lashes trembled slightly, and her pretty face showed a hint of disbelief.

Yang Tang didn't pay attention to the expressions of the students below; he just sneakily glanced at Old Wang. Seeing that he was also dumbfounded, Yang Tang lightly coughed, "Teacher Wang, I've finished reading."

"Huh? You're done? What did you read...?"

"Just the love poem on my test paper!" Yang Tang interjected.

Old Wang realized he had lost his composure, snatched the test paper from Yang Tang's hand, and glanced at the doggerel again. His face turned black, and he was almost ready to explode with anger: "So you used the test paper as a draft?"

Yang Tang naturally understood what Old Wang was talking about and what he was angry about. Writing a doggerel instead of a good poem was simply a way to敷衍 (应付) the teacher: "Teacher Wang, it's not what you think. I just hadn't thought of the line '心有灵犀一点通' (A single point of connection in the heart) during the quiz, so I had to copy a more catchy doggerel from my draft..."

Old Wang, upon hearing this, thought it made sense. After all, good poetry doesn't come easily, so he accepted Yang Tang's explanation and waved him back to his seat.

After Yang Tang sat down, Old Wang changed his critical tone to a praising one: "Everyone heard the poem Yang Tang just read, right? What do you think? Is it worthy of full marks?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the class erupted in discussion.

"Wow, the music building and the small auditorium, when described by Old Yang, suddenly seem so highbrow!"

"True, but the area between the music building and the small auditorium on the west side is only as big as a palm, and there's nothing there!"

"Brilliant, you're just jealous! The most important thing in poetry is the atmosphere and the imagery!"

"Exactly, without the imagery, the poem becomes cliché..."

"But shouldn't there be some concrete content?"

"Isn't the music building and the small auditorium concrete enough?"

Amid the various comments, some appreciated it, some criticized it, and Lu Qin frowned slightly.

At this moment, a round-faced girl from the neighboring desk quietly nudged Lu Qin: "Hey, Qin Qin, didn't Yang Tang write you a note last semester? What was it about? Was it as good as the poem he just read?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Qin glared at the round-faced girl but didn't respond. In fact, what surprised Lu Qin was exactly this. Yang Tang had indeed written her a note, but the doggerel on it was far from impressive.

......

When the discussion died down a bit, Old Wang raised his hand and gestured: "Alright, that's enough for the poetry appreciation. Let's move on to the couplets!"

Couplets?!

Yang Tang, sitting below, was taken aback for a moment, then realized that in this world, the Chinese exam also included couplets. Each test paper had four couplets to fill in, each worth five points, totaling twenty points. In other words, couplets (20 points), poetry (25 points), and the essay (45 points) together accounted for sixty percent of the total Chinese exam score.

"If that's the case, as long as I have a bit of luck, the Chinese exam doesn't seem too difficult!"

On the podium, Old Wang began to speak fluently.

"Everyone, look at your test papers. I'll explain it to you first, and then we'll expand on it..."

It must be said that couplets, a word game that has been passed down for over a thousand years, do have some depth. Some high-level couplets are rich in meaning, with carefully chosen words, making them worth studying. However, it's not easy for seventeen- or eighteen-year-old boys and girls to use them flexibly and correctly. This involves a "literary foundation," which requires spending extra time reading classics, something that college entrance exam candidates lack the most.

Because of this, while Old Wang was speaking with enthusiasm, only about thirty percent of the students below were really listening. The majority were either lost in thought or doing something else.

But Old Wang didn't care. After he finished his explanation, he wrote four couplets on the blackboard, similar to those on past college entrance exam papers, and then called students up to answer.

The results were惨不忍睹 (unbearable to see). One after another, several students went up, and their answers were terrible. Old Wang was so angry that he almost fainted.

At this moment, Yang Tang was secretly flipping through his English textbook. Unexpectedly, he was called by Old Wang again: "Yang Tang!"

"Ah? Here!"

"Daydreaming again? Come up quickly!"

"Me? What for?"

"Couplets!" Old Wang said with a glare.

"Why me again?" Yang Tang was a bit dissatisfied.

Old Wang gave a forced smile and continued to call names: "Bai Keqing!"

A gentle and weak girl stood up from the fourth row by the window and walked confidently to the podium.

Yang Tang recognized her face and, after a moment of hesitation, recalled that Bai Keqing was the study committee member, one of the few students in the class who had been admitted to the capital in the previous life. In terms of appearance, she was no less beautiful than the class monitor, Lu Qin, but her personality was not as outgoing, so she didn't become the class monitor during the election.

"Also, Jia Li, come up!"

"Ah?!" A fat boy with round, black-rimmed glasses, who looked a bit like a gangster, stood up with a wail, "Teacher Wang, can I not go up?"

Old Wang glared at him and said, "Then I'll tell Director Jia later."

Hearing "Director Jia," Jia Li immediately gave up on bargaining: "Ah? No, no, I'll go up!" As he walked to the podium, he muttered under his breath, "Always using my dad to pressure me," which made the students on both sides of the aisle chuckle.

It's worth noting that Jia Chengshi, the history teacher, was not only Jia Li's father but also the head of the senior year, so it was normal for subject teachers to report on Jia Li to him.

"Lastly, Xie Yihan!"

A boy with an ordinary appearance, height, and build went up to the podium and stood next to Yang Tang, whispering, "Oh no, oh no, Senior Brother Three, help me if you can!"

Yang Tang wanted to tell him, "I don't know you well," but before he could say it, Old Wang's instructions came: "Each of you will do one question. Write your answers below the old ones, and hurry up!"

The four positions were numbered one to four. Yang Tang was in position two, Jia Li in position three, and Bai Keqing in position four. Upon hearing Old Wang's urging, Bai Keqing immediately turned around, picked up the chalk, and started writing the answer to the fourth couplet, clearly having thought it through.

Seeing this, Jia Li tugged at Yang Tang and whispered, "Senior Brother Three, let's switch."

Yang Tang hadn't had a chance to look at the couplet yet, so he didn't object and switched positions with Jia Li, which made Xie Yihan, in position one, glare at him.

Great, I've offended him too!

Yang Tang knew this but didn't show it. He glanced at the third couplet on the blackboard, which read, "True scholars are few in the world."

Pretty ordinary!

Yang Tang thought to himself and was about to casually write the answer, but seeing that Jia Li and Xie Yihan hadn't started writing, he pretended to be deep in thought.

At this moment, Bai Keqing had finished writing her answer and returned to her seat.

Old Wang took the opportunity to mock: "The girl has finished, but are you three boys capable?"

A man can't say no!

Yang Tang, hearing Old Wang's taunt, decided not to wait for Jia Li and Xie Yihan and picked up the chalk to write: "Unsatisfactory..."

"Huh?"

Who knew that just a few words would make Old Wang exclaim in surprise.

Yang Tang immediately paused, looked at the words he had written on the blackboard, and his expression changed slightly. The reason was that his chalk writing was full of the style of the Slender Gold Script.

After all, "Uncle" Yang Tang could be considered a half-literary youth. Although he had been a househusband for many years, he would practice calligraphy at home, especially the Slender Gold Script of Emperor Huizong of Song, which he had mastered to a high degree. However, in this world, the Zhao family had been exterminated by Zhao Dezhu, so there was no Emperor Huizong, and thus no Slender Gold Script.

Therefore, it was no wonder Old Wang was surprised.

Yang Tang, seeing that the deed was done, had no choice but to continue writing: "Unsatisfactory things..." At this point, he glanced at Jia Li and Xie Yihan, who hadn't started writing, and decided to hide his skills. Instead of writing "many in ancient and modern times," he wrote: "many on the ground," then put down the chalk, turned around, went down from the podium, and returned to his seat.

"Unsatisfactory things are many on the ground!" Old Wang stared at the Slender Gold Script-styled chalk writing and shook his head, then said with displeasure, "Yang Tang, what kind of nonsense is this?"

"Is there anything wrong, Teacher?" Yang Tang asked knowingly.

Old Wang was angry: "True scholars are few in the world, unsatisfactory things are many on the ground... Read it yourself, is the antithesis balanced?"

"How is it not balanced, Teacher Wang?"

"Your 'world' and 'ground' are too rigid!" Old Wang said, frustrated.

Yang Tang continued to feign ignorance: "Heaven and earth, up and down, isn't that correct?"

"Here, 'world' is a single word, so it should be paired with 'ancient and modern,' understand?" Old Wang taught, "True scholars are few in the world, unsatisfactory things are many in ancient and modern times... This way, it brings out the ancient-to-modern flavor of the couplet."

Yang Tang quickly pretended to understand.

Perhaps because Yang Tang's expression was very cooperative, Old Wang was in a good mood after teaching him, but when he saw that Jia Li and Xie Yihan still hadn't written a single word, his face turned from cloudy to gloomy: "What are you two still standing there for? Go down, go down... Look at how well Bai Keqing did, 'Pine leaves and bamboo leaves, all green; autumn sounds and goose sounds, all cold.' At this level, the examiners won't be able to deduct points from her during the college entrance exam! Are you two listening?"

Xie Yihan, who had just sat down, nodded quickly: "Yes, yes, Teacher!"

Jia Li, in another seat, also chimed in: "Teacher Wang, you're right, I need to learn more from Bai Keqing!" Upon hearing this, Bai Keqing, sitting by the window, subtly frowned.

"Jia Li, having ambition is good, but I don't expect you to reach Bai Keqing's level. If you can reach Yang Tang's level, getting three points out of five for a couplet is enough."

Jia Li, hearing this, raised his thick eyebrows and said sarcastically, "Teacher Wang, I can match Yang Tang in couplets, but not in other subjects!" The class burst into laughter.

Yang Tang naturally knew what everyone was laughing about but ignored it, acting as if nothing was wrong.

.

.

Page flip AD starts

Page flip AD ends