Ghost Gate

Si Ming and Wan Ziling climbed the steps together. When they reached the fourth floor, there were many more riddles that had not yet been solved, so the two began to work on them.

Si Ming randomly turned a lantern and saw a riddle written on it, "The King of Hell's Notice" (guess a Chinese idiom).

"Ha, that's too easy, of course it's 'full of lies'."

I randomly flipped to another one, and the riddle was. "Being scared by a ghost on Ghost Festival" (guess a Chinese idiom).

"It's like Lord Ye's love of dragons."

He then looked at a few more lanterns, most of which were easily recognizable and posed no challenge whatsoever. He couldn't help but shake his head, thinking to himself that this was indeed an entertainment-oriented activity.

Si Ming didn't realize that as a School of Fiction, his literary skills were already quite good. More importantly, he came from the internet age and had access to a large amount of information. Most of the books and materials could be found online for free. Compared to the current era where people can only borrow or copy books if they want to read them, his knowledge reserves alone already surpassed those of most people.

Those self-proclaimed literary scholars and literati, who have read fewer books in their entire lives than they have completed in elementary school, certainly cannot compare to the true great writers. They cannot surpass those who have spent years buried in the imperial examinations in writing eight-legged essays or interpreting classics. However, in games like guessing riddles, which test knowledge reserves and associative thinking abilities, they are more than capable of surpassing 99% of the scholars in this world.

"Too weak, too weak. There isn't even one person who can fight."

Si Ming never expected that he would be at a loss when faced with such a literary project. Would he have to add the title of "all-rounder" to his resume?

A young novice monk hurried over and said to Si Ming, "Benefactor, the higher you go, the harder the riddles become. You're using a sledgehammer to crack a nut here. Why don't you continue upwards?" If Si Ming were to remove all the lantern tassels by himself, they wouldn't be able to do business.

Si Ming turned to Wan Ziling and asked, "Want to try something even harder?"

"I have no objection."

"Then let's set off and climb to a high place to gaze at the moon."

As the two ascended, they discovered that the difficulty of the puzzle indeed began to increase, but it still did not stump them. It should be noted that Wan Ziling had also studied since childhood. Even if her knowledge reserves were not as good as Si Ming's, her depth of knowledge was still superior, especially her level of understanding of classical Chinese texts. She had even written several poems during her lifetime.

Riddle: Tell a ghost story (guess a single character).

"It is said that 'the ancients said,' and 'cloud' means to speak or talk about. Talking about ghosts is 'cloud ghost,' so the character is 'soul.'"

Riddle: Even as a ghost, one can be romantic (Guess the Chinese idiom).

"A ghost is a deceased person, hence the phrase 'feigning affection.'"

The two overcame numerous obstacles and ascended to the top of the pagoda, the ninth floor. Here, the riddles were no longer related to ghosts. After all, coming up with riddles wasn't easy. If one could easily devise a large number of logically sound riddles that were relevant to the Ghost Festival and of high difficulty, why be a monk? Wouldn't it be better to take the imperial examinations and become a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations)?

Riddle: A wise and insightful solution (Guess a title).

This time Siming stared at the puzzle for a long time before he solved it. "The heart of the character 'Hui' is '', and the character 'Miao' was disintegrated and combined with '' to form 'young woman'."

Once you have a clue, things become much simpler. Turn over another lantern; the riddle is: An oil painting hangs in front of a curtain (guess a Chinese character).

This question was more complicated than the previous ones, but there are only a few tricks to solving riddles, especially single-character riddles. For Si Ming, who had already mastered the test-taking skills, he found the answer after a few tries.

"'Before the curtain' refers to 'cave,' which, combined with the preceding 'oil' and 'one,' forms the character 'performance.' This question is a bit tricky; you have to disassemble and recombine the parts you've obtained, rather than simply piecing them together."

After Si Ming, he looked at a monk next to him, who was responsible for confirming whether the answer was correct.

Sure enough, the monk nodded and praised, "You are indeed quick-witted, benefactor. Now there is only one lamp left."

Although I feel a little sorry for my own business, I still admire most of the people who are truly capable.

Si Ming was determined to eliminate all the riddles on the ninth floor in one go, so he went to the last lantern and looked closely. This time the riddle was even simpler, with only two characters "seven nine", but the answer was an idiom, and the answer had more characters than the riddle itself.

"Seven times nine equals sixty-three? It's missing an eight! You shameless bastard!"

Si Ming stood there for a long time, still completely baffled. Finally, he shook his head and admitted defeat, saying, "I'm at my wit's end now."

"I understand," Wan Ziling suddenly said.

Chapter 602 Ghost Gate

"That's just empty talk," Wan Ziling said.

"Oh, how do you solve it?" Si Ming asked curiously.

Wan Ziling explained, "It's the Nine-Nine Song: 'In the first and second nine-day periods, don't take your hands out of your pockets; in the third and fourth nine-day periods, walk on the ice; in the fifth and sixth nine-day periods, watch the willows by the river; in the seventh nine-day period, the river thaws; in the eighth nine-day period, the geese return; in the ninth nine-day period plus one nine-day period, oxen plow the fields everywhere.' The riddle is the seventh nine-day period, the seventh nine-day period, the river thaws, so it's 'talking off the cuff.'"

Si Ming nodded. It wasn't a fault of him not to answer the question. He hadn't heard of the "Counting the Nines Song." No matter how quick-witted he was, it was useless. It was like doing a math problem without knowing what the mathematical symbols in the question meant. Even if he was a genius, he could only hand in a blank paper.

Regardless, having finally solved all the riddles on the ninth floor, Si Ming received a handful of lantern tassels from the monk under the admiring gazes of the other tourists.

"Now for the most anticipated part: redeeming gifts! Come on, what would you like?"

Si Ming led Wan Ziling to the counter where gifts were displayed. Various small items could be exchanged for a corresponding number of lantern tassels. The most valuable item was a gold ingot the size of a thumb, which could be exchanged for the most lantern tassels. Even if Si Ming used all the lantern tassels in his hand, he would still be two short.

Of course, if Si Ming wanted to exchange for them, he could easily find two simple riddles to make up the difference, but such things didn't hold much appeal for him; he had already moved beyond basic needs.

Wan Ziling didn't even glance at it, shaking her head. "I don't care, you can pick whatever you like."

Despite being a woman, she had never been interested in jewelry; however, she might have taken a second look at various weapons.

"That won't do. Redeeming the gifts is like an awards ceremony after the competition; it's an affirmation of your hard work and participation. Without this part, the fun would be greatly diminished."

Si Ming believed that every effort should be rewarded, and he couldn't leave empty-handed. Since Wan Ziling showed no interest, he turned his attention to Liu Qingqing and communicated with her through spiritual sense, quickly receiving a reply.

"Then I'll take this hairpin."

Si Ming pointed to a carved wooden hairpin among the many gifts. The material of this hairpin was very ordinary, definitely not sandalwood, and it had no fragrance, but the design was very exquisite. Considering that Barbarian Continent had not yet developed industrialized technology, the craftsman's skills were obviously superb. For Si Ming, who was used to seeing mass-produced industrial goods, it had considerable artistic value.

The novice monk overseeing the gifts took out the hairpin, wrapped it in a small box, and handed it to Si Ming, saying, "This item only requires five tassels. Does the benefactor wish to exchange it for any other gifts?"

"No need, this is enough."

After taking the box, Si Ming handed all the lantern tassels to the novice monk. The novice was both surprised and delighted, thinking that if every guest were as generous as this one, it would both liven up the atmosphere and prevent financial loss.