[You got it, host! I'll be ready in a moment. I'm looking now!]
Guagua answered at once.
Before long, Guagua had seen almost everything and said cheerfully:
*[Host, these people from Goryeo have come to hand us their heads on a platter!*
They have a child prodigy this time, named Hou Hongjun. He claims to be the Star of Literary Eminence descended to earth, but his grounding really is excellent. Back in Goryeo, even the great scholars lost to him.
This time, he pledged to the King of Silla that he would win several cities from Great Xia. That old pedant leading them is his teacher, Wu Cu, one of Goryeo's five great scholars.
*They prepared three challenges. The first is to solve the Nine-Link Puzzle.]*
[Hmm? The Nine-Link Puzzle? Is it the one I'm thinking of? Isn't that a free point? Just smash it to pieces. How simple is that?]
Jiang Nuan exclaimed in surprise when she heard about the Nine-Link Puzzle.
*[Yes, exactly, that Nine-Link Puzzle. For us, it couldn't be easier. That's one point handed to us for free.*
*The second challenge is matching poetic couplets, things like "South Tongzhou, North Tongzhou; south and north Tongzhou connect south and north." You already know the matching lines for these, host, so that's another free point.]*
Guagua continued.
*[I'm not that good at matching couplets, but I have five thousand years of Chinese knowledge in my head. I do know a few of those famous couplets. This is far too easy. Another free point.*
*They really have come to hand us their heads—oh, no, their cities! So what's the last challenge?]*
After hearing the second challenge, Jiang Nuan knew victory was secure. According to their rules, it was best of three, and winning the first two rounds would be