"Since Great Xia is so confident, of course we agree."
Wu Cu hurried to speak, as though afraid Jiang Yunsheng might change his mind.
Great Xia had taken the initiative to lower the difficulty. Forget refusing—it was already admirable that they had not burst out laughing on the spot.
"Good. In that case, listen carefully. The opening line is: 'Smoke veils the willows by the pond!'"
A minister stepped forward and spoke.
Upon hearing that couplet, Jiang Nuan's eyes widened in shock.
Good heavens! It's actually this one! Now the people of Goryeo won't come up with an answer even if they rack their brains to pieces. But how did they learn this couplet?
Jiang Nuan was puzzled, but the Goryeo envoys soon drew her attention.
A potbellied Goryeo envoy standing beside Wu Cu laughed outright upon hearing the line and said:
"Hmph, what is so difficult about that? Even a three-year-old child in Goryeo could match it."
The words had barely left his mouth before Wu Cu snapped at him.
"Shut your mouth!"
This envoy was there purely through connections. The other envoys had at least some ink in their bellies, but he had come solely to scoop up credit.
At first, the Goryeo envoys had failed to notice the hidden intricacy of the line. They thought Great Xia was looking down on them by giving them something exceedingly simple.
But after pondering it carefully, they discovered what made it extraordinary.
The radicals of those five characters represented metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, and together they formed a beautifully harmonious scene. Matching it would be anything but easy.
After hearing that fat-headed, potbellied idiot speak, Wu Cu wanted to strangle him on the spot.
The man still felt indignant after being scolded, but when he saw the grim