Looking at Ye Qingzhou's handsome face, the director still found it a little unreal. He asked tentatively, "Teacher Ye, shall I begin?"
Ye Qingzhou nodded.
"First question: what do the three teachings and nine schools refer to?"
Almost the instant the director finished asking, Ye Qingzhou blurted out his answer. "The three teachings are Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. The nine schools refer to the Confucianists, Taoists, School of Yin and Yang, Legalists, School of Names, School of Diplomacy, Mohists, Syncretists, and Agriculturalists."
Ye Qingzhou did not even pause as he answered.
[He's so good.]
[He's already finished answering? I haven't even caught the question.]
[Huh? Huh?? Huh??? He's finished?]
[Knowing the "three teachings" isn't surprising. The point is that the "nine schools" are a pretty jumbled list, and Ye Qingzhou answered without even needing to think.]
[If Ye Qingzhou weren't a last-minute guest, I'd suspect he'd gotten the answers beforehand. [shocked][shocked][shocked]]
"Second question: what are the four famous embroideries?"
Ye Qingzhou still answered without a pause. "Su embroidery from Suzhou, Xiang embroidery from Hunan, Shu embroidery from Sichuan, and Guang embroidery from Guangdong."
"Third question: what are the four famous fans?"
"Sandalwood fans from Jiangsu, fire-painted fans from Guangdong, bamboo-thread fans from Sichuan, and silk fans from Zhejiang."
"Fourth question: what are the four famous flowers?"
"Peonies from Luoyang, Henan; daffodils from Zhangzhou, Fujian; chrysanthemums from Hangzhou, Zhejiang; and camellias from Kunming, Yunnan."
Silence.
The filming location gradually quieted down.
The director flipped through the question bank, searching for the final question.
Meanwhile.
The show's livestream surpassed ten million on the popularity meter and one million viewers, taking first place on the short-video platform's popularity rankings.
[Holy crap, who can even tell Ye Qingzhou and a genius apart now? [dumbstruck.jpg]]
[Ye Qingzhou can even name exactly which cities the four famous embroideries, fans, and flowers come from...]
[Isn't the government encouraging people to have three kids? I'll have them with him.]
[Is there any point continuing this game? Chu Ci is just some nobody who loves grabbing screen time. The production team should stop putting him on camera and let Ye Qingzhou choose today's partner already.]
[I only just entered the stream, and I'm not a fan of anyone, but Chu Ci is clearly really good-looking. He also answered what the "three commentaries on the Spring and Autumn Annals" were. Why is everyone so hostile toward him?]
[...Keep watching and you'll understand. Making a spectacle of himself is Chu Ci's favorite thing to do, after all.]
"Final question: what exactly are the eight sections of an eight-legged essay?"
There was a high school history lesson specifically devoted to "selecting scholars through eight-legged essays." This was the imperial examination system used to select officials during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Examination questions could only draw from the Four Books and Five Classics, and Ming rulers used this system to shackle intellectuals' thinking.
Most netizens knew what "selecting scholars through eight-legged essays" meant, but few knew what the "eight legs" specifically referred to.
Ye Qingzhou raised his eyebrows slightly and answered gently, "Opening the topic, developing the topic, preliminary exposition, entering the topic, opening argument, middle argument, subsequent argument, and concluding argument."
He still spoke without a single pause.
[! So good! That's Ye Qingzhou for you!]
[So Ye Qingzhou really does have a photographic memory.]
[Did you notice that smile at the corner of Ye Qingzhou's mouth? It's charmed me absolutely senseless. [finger heart][finger heart][finger heart]]
"Congratulations, Teacher Ye. That's correct. You've successfully taken first place."
The director led the applause.
The other guests joined the director in clapping. The applause grew increasingly enthusiastic, but Ye Qingzhou frowned. "...Wait."
The director was puzzled. "Is there another problem?"
"I'm not in first place yet."
Seeing the director's increasingly bewildered expression, Ye Qingzhou explained, "You haven't asked Teacher Chu any questions yet."
He still addressed him as "Teacher Chu."
The first time could have been described as an "accident," but Ye Qingzhou had called him "Teacher Chu" twice in a row. That meant he was doing it deliberately.
Silence.
Their surroundings fell quiet again.
This silence lasted even longer than the last.
Although the director did not know why Ye Qingzhou was looking out for Chu Ci so much, he still forced a smile. "My wording wasn't precise enough."
Despite saying that, the director did not think Chu Ci could take first place.
The question bank the production team had prepared was so thick, and Chu Ci had skimmed it so carelessly. If Chu Ci really managed to answer all these questions, the sun would truly be rising in the west.
The viewers commenting on the stream did not believe in Chu Ci either.
[If Chu Ci wins, I'll livestream myself washing my hair upside down.]
[Does Ye Qingzhou have some kind of misconception about Chu Ci? He's an ignorant good-for-nothing. Don't get your hopes up about him.]
[If Chu Ci wins, everyone here is my daddy.]
[If Chu Ci wins, I'll give everyone a hundred yuan.]
The livestream chat had gone completely off track.
Clearly, none of them believed Chu Ci could take first place.
"Chu Ci, listen to the question."
The director idly flipped through the question bank and picked a question at random. "First question: what are the six principles of Chinese characters?"
Chu Ci answered without thinking. "Pictographs, simple ideograms, compound ideograms, phonetic-semantic compounds, derivative cognates, and phonetic loans."
[Even a blind cat stumbles upon a dead mouse.]
[Tsk, looks like Chu Ci's pretty lucky.]
[This question isn't hard. It's normal for Chu Ci to answer it.]
[...You really think that's normal? Chu Ci can't even figure out addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, yet he actually knows the six principles of Chinese characters.]
[Why do I have this illusion that Chu Ci might win?]
The director was a little surprised too, but he had weathered plenty of storms. He did his best to control his emotions. "Second question: what are the four great dramas of the Yuan dynasty?"
Chu Ci's tone remained calm throughout. "Guan Hanqing's The Injustice to Dou E, Wang Shifu's The Story of the Western Wing, Tang Xianzu's The Peony Pavilion, and Hong Sheng's The Palace of Eternal Life."
Reading ten lines at a glance and remembering everything they saw were required skills for interstellar residents.
Every day, they needed to read vast numbers of books to enrich their thoughts, knowledge, and understanding. The question bank the production team had prepared looked thick, but Chu Ci only needed ten minutes.
[Just good luck...]
[Did Chu Ci get the questions and answers in advance?]
[? He even got that right? Is he really that lucky?]
The livestream commenters still did not believe in Chu Ci, but their confidence was dwindling.
The director flipped a few more pages and lowered his eyes to the book in his hands. "Third question: what are the Thirteen Classics?"
He had thought this question would make Chu Ci pause for a few seconds, but the answer still came straight out of his mouth. "The Thirteen Classics refer to the thirteen Confucian classics established as a collection during the Southern Song dynasty: The Book of Changes, The Book of Documents, The Book of Songs, The Rites of Zhou, The Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial, The Book of Rites, Zuo Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals, Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals, Guliang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals, The Classic of Filial Piety, The Analects, The Mencius, and The Erya."