Meeting Xiao Lou's smiling eyes, Yu Hanjiang had no choice but to step forward, take the lantern from his hand, and continue walking towards the stone bridge.
Yu Hanjiang moved like the wind. Although there were many tourists in the lantern market, he was agile and handled the crowds with ease. He held the lantern high and shouted "Excuse me" as he quickly ran out of the lantern market.
On the street, many pedestrians recognized him and began to discuss him with puzzlement.
"What is Lord Yu doing?" "It looks like he's helping Madam hang lanterns?" "I just saw him hang two lanterns on the tree; perhaps Madam wants to pray for blessings!" "Lord Yu and Madam have such a good relationship!"
Everyone sighed with admiration, saying that Yu Hanjiang, the dignified prime minister, did not delegate such errand-running tasks to his servants, but instead personally helped his wife hang lanterns. They were truly a model couple in the Great Qi State, and people envied them.
***
At the same time, Ye Qi also made progress.
The riddle he received wasn't difficult—it's round when drawn, square when written, short in winter, and long in summer, which is exactly the character "日" (sun).
Ye Qi quickly came up with the answer, but unlike Xiao Lou, he couldn't give the answer immediately after reading the question. He thought for about 10 seconds before guessing the riddle.
The second riddle was also a word puzzle: "Water on the left, mountain on the right." This riddle was very simple. Ye Qi thought for only 3 seconds and figured it out, excitedly saying, "It's the character [汕]!"
The shopkeeper smiled and said, "You guessed right, young lady. Here, the lantern is yours."
Shao Qingge smiled and waved his fan, saying, " Miss Ye is quite clever."
Ye Qi ignored his teasing, handed the two lanterns to Shao Qingge, and said, "Run quickly, hurry up!"
Although Shao Qingge loved to joke, he was reliable when it came to important matters. He immediately put away his fan and took the lanterns with both hands. With the help of the teleportation card, running errands wasn't tiring at all, and in the blink of an eye, Shao Qingge arrived near the lantern tree carrying two lanterns.
Passersby, witnessing his teleportation, exclaimed in amazement, "This young master possesses incredible lightness skills!"
Shao Qingge: "..."
Shao Qingge, pretending to have the Lightness Skill, teleported to the tree by the stone bridge, where Yu Hanjiang happened to be.
Shao Qingge thought Yu Hanjiang had just finished hanging the lanterns, but to her surprise, Yu Hanjiang stretched out his long arm and hung two more lanterns up. Shao Qingge couldn't help but ask in astonishment, "This is the second round already?"
Yu Hanjiang nodded calmly: "Yes, Xiao Lou guessed four correctly."
Shao Qingge sighed and rubbed his forehead: "He is indeed ridiculously fast. It seems that Lord Yu will have a hard time today."
Yu Hanjiang: "...It's not hard work."
He was happy to run errands for Xiao Lou.
Once the Speed Boots are fully upgraded, the speed boost lasts for 30 minutes. During this time, Xiao Lou can continue solving riddles while Yu Hanjiang hangs lanterns for him. Once the Speed Boots skill cools down, he can ask his teammates for help.
Having made up his mind, Yu Hanjiang didn't chat with Shao Qingge any longer and said calmly, "I'm going back. I can't keep him waiting."
Shao Qingge smiled and said, "Go ahead."
Yu Hanjiang rushed back to the lantern market, while Shao Qingge looked up at the riddles on the tree. Captain Yu had hung up all the riddles in the shape of pictures. He carefully observed a few and then realized... he couldn't guess any of them correctly!
Luckily, Shao Qingge teamed up with Xiao Lou; otherwise, he would have definitely died a horrible death in the Diamond Secret Room.
***
When Yu Hanjiang returned to West Street, Xiao Lou was standing in the crowd, holding two lanterns in his hands.
Yu Hanjiang had already guessed this outcome.
Seeing Yu Hanjiang running over quickly, Xiao Lou felt a little embarrassed and asked softly, "Aren't you tired from running back and forth like this?"
Yu Hanjiang remained calm: "Not tired, I have speed-up shoes."
Xiao Lou then handed him the lantern, saying, "Thank you for your hard work."
Yu Hanjiang nodded: "It's okay, keep guessing, I'll go hang up the lanterns."
When the passersby saw Yu Hanjiang running around with a lantern again, they all made way for him, wondering how many lanterns Lord Yu was going to hang for his wife. And, this Lady Yu is too good at solving lantern riddles, is she going to win all the lanterns on the street?
***
At this moment, in a corner of the lantern market.
Liu Qiao thought for half a minute before realizing that the answer to the riddle "a flock of geese chasing a boat" was actually a pictograph, the character "巡" (xún), which looks like a flock of swallows chasing a small boat.
Liu Qiao looked at the boss: "Is it 'Patrol'?"
The shopkeeper smiled and handed her the lantern: "You guessed right, young lady."
Old Mo couldn't help but sigh, "If you ask me to guess, I really can't come up with this word even if I rack my brains."
Liu Qiao said, "If Professor Xiao were to guess, he might have guessed it after reading the question. Let's hurry up and guess the next one."
The street she lived on was full of similar word puzzles.
The second riddle stumped Liu Qiao once again. This time, the riddle was " Second Miss." Liu Qiao and Lao Mo looked at each other, and Lao Mo scratched his head and said, " What could'Second Miss' be?!"
Liu Qiao pondered, " The Second Miss of the Prince's Mansion, isn't her name Qi Yi'an? Shu'an Junzhu? Could it be the character 'An'?"
Old Mo shook his head: "This is Kyoto, not Jiangzhou. The riddles shouldn't have anything to do with the Second Miss of the Prince's Mansion, right?"
After a moment of hesitation, Mo Xuemin made a decision: "Xiao Liu, you wait here for me, I'll go ask for help."
square
It's an escape room, and there's no rule against asking teammates for help. Instead of wasting time here, it's much faster to just go find Xiao Lou!
The street where the two were located was at the northernmost end. Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang were guessing riddles from far to near. Mo Xuemin met Xiao Lou, who was waiting in the crowd, after walking around a corner.
At this moment, Yu Hanjiang was not by his side, and Xiao Lou was holding two lanterns in his hands.
A notification popped up above everyone's heads: 8 riddles have been collected.
Old Mo strode up to Xiao Lou and teased, "Your riddle-solving speed is much faster than Lord Yu's running speed. He's almost run his legs off, and he still hasn't had time to hang the lantern for you!"
Xiao Lou smiled and said, "The riddles on this street are all about guessing idioms and people through pictures. They're too easy. I can't carry all those lanterns, so I'll have to wait for him to come and get them."
Old Mo said, "How about this, since Little Liu is slow to guess, I'll help you hang the lantern too."
Xiao Lou paused for a moment: "Won't this affect your progress?"
Old Mo laughed and said, "Of course not! You've already guessed four correctly, and Little Liu is still guessing the second one!"
Xiao Lou coughed lightly and explained, "Actually, this is the sixth one."
Mo Xuemin: "..."
Xiao Lou handed the lantern to Lao Mo, saying, "Thank you for your help, Lao Mo."
Mo Xuemin: "No trouble at all. By the way, Xiao Liu is stuck on a riddle. The riddle is ' Second Miss,' what should he guess?"
Without hesitation, Xiao Lou replied, "Zi, Second Miss, it means'second daughter,' right?"
Mo Xuemin: "......"
It's a shame they spent so much time arguing about what the Second Miss of the Prince's Mansion should be called!
Second Miss =Second Girl=Zi!
Professor Xiao's mind worked quickly; he gave the answer immediately after hearing the question. Mo Xuemin was incredibly impressed, took the lantern from Xiao Lou, and said, "After I hang these two lanterns, I'll help Liu Qiao hang them, and then I'll come back to help you!"
In that case, Mo Xuemin's route would be an inverted "U" shape. Fortunately, Mo Xuemin has a strong sense of direction and won't get lost in the crowd. He first went to the northernmost street to find Liu Qiao and told her the answer to the riddle. Liu Qiao successfully won the lantern for the " Second Miss " riddle. Mo Xuemin hung up the lantern in Xiao Lou's hand and then came back to help Liu Qiao hang it up.
At this point, Yu Hanjiang had already reached the fourth round.
Xiao Lou solves riddles too quickly; even if Yu Hanjiang runs non-stop, he can't keep up with Xiao Lou's speed. After all, Xiao Lou can solve two riddles in about 30 seconds, and even if Yu Hanjiang wears speed shoes, he can't possibly run back and forth in a crowd in 30 seconds.
To save time, Yu Hanjiang suggested, "I'll call a few more people for you, and have Shao Qingge, Long Sen, and Lao Mo help you hang the lanterns. They're too slow. You've already guessed eight riddles on the lantern tree, while the others have only gotten two lanterns each."
Xiao Lou; "..."
It seems that Xiao Ye, Xiao Liu, and Teacher Qu aren't very good at this kind of lantern riddle game. Xiao Lou thought for a moment and said, "Okay, if you run into them, tell them to come find me when they have some free time and help me deliver some lanterns."
Yu Hanjiang nodded, took the lantern from Xiao Lou, and turned to leave the lantern market again.
***
Qu Wanyue didn't understand what she was supposed to guess at first.
—The mountains and rivers seem to block the way, but then a village appears amidst the willows and flowers.
She remembered that the poem was written by Lu You, so she guessed "Lu You," but the answer was wrong. After thinking about it carefully, Qu Wanyue's eyes suddenly lit up: "Is it an idiom? 'Turning adversity into opportunity'?"
When there is no way out, and suddenly hope appears, isn't that the meaning of "finding a way out of a desperate situation"?
The shopkeeper smiled and said, "Young master, you guessed right. The lantern is yours for the taking!"
Qu Wanyue was dressed in a dashing men's outfit, and the shopkeeper mistook her for a handsome young man. Long Sen, with mixed feelings, took the lantern from Qu Wanyue's hand and said, "Guess the next one quickly."
The two moved on to the next riddle.
The street was filled with riddles and poems. After guessing the first one correctly, Qu Wanyue gained experience and was able to apply it to the following riddles. This time, the riddle was "Why must we have known each other before we met?" Qu Wanyue smiled and said, "It's like we've known each other forever!"
The shopkeeper obediently handed her the lanterns, and Long Sen immediately picked up two lanterns and ran quickly to hang them under the tree.
At this point, there were 16 lanterns on the lantern tree—8 of which were palace lanterns with various patterns painted on them, all of which Xiao Lou had obtained; 4 riddles, which Ye Qi had guessed correctly; 2 riddles related to poems and idioms, which Qu Wanyue had obtained; and 2 pictographic riddles, which Liu Qiao had guessed correctly.
The four people who were delivering lanterns happened to meet together.
Everyone stared at the lanterns on the tree, speechless.
Yu Hanjiang said calmly, "You guys are too slow."
Everyone: "..."
What are you so smug about? Just because you have a powerful wife doesn't mean you're so great, right?
...That's truly remarkable.
I have to admire that! He's already got 8 lanterns in just a few minutes?
Shao Qingge chuckled and touched his nose, saying, "Xiao Ye is quite quick at guessing, but he only guessed four correctly. If it were me, I probably wouldn't have guessed any at all in that time. Madam Yu is really impressive. It wasn't even five minutes, right? If you take away the time spent looking for riddles at the lantern market, and she managed to get eight lanterns, did she give the answer almost immediately after finding the riddle and reading the question?"
Lao Mo said, "That's right! His mind works too fast. For the question about Second Miss, Xiao Liu and I struggled for a long time, but as soon as we told him the question, he said it was Zi."
Long Sen bluntly stated, "Compared to Professor Xiao, I seem to have no brains."
!
Yu Hanjiang: "..."
He understood everyone's feelings. Xiao Lou could always answer the question as soon as he saw it, his mind working faster than a supercomputer's CPU. Clearly, Xiao Lou was not only smart, but also loved and excelled at these kinds of puzzle games.
What can anyone say when they're completely outclassed by a top student?
For a normal person to solve a riddle in 10 seconds, like Ye Qi, is already considered quite impressive, right?
Xiao Lou answered instantly! Before others had even finished reading the questions, he had already given the answers, as if he had a built-in question bank cheat code!
Seeing the complicated expressions on his teammates' faces, Yu Hanjiang felt very proud. It felt good to win without lifting a finger, and he wanted his teammates to experience it too. So, Yu Hanjiang said decisively, "You guys go and help Xiao Lou deliver the lanterns."
Shao Qingge asked, "What about the lanterns that the others got?"
Yu Hanjiang thought for a moment and then arranged, "Here's how it works: everyone delivers the lanterns to their partner once, then to Xiao Lou once, alternating. It should take about the same amount of time. Xiao Lou is actually faster at solving riddles than we think. He can't hold the lanterns all at once, so every time he guesses two correctly, he has to wait for me to get them, which wastes a lot of time. If the four of us deliver them together, it will be much more efficient."
Everyone: "..."
Yu Hanjiang raised an eyebrow and looked at everyone: "What, you don't believe in Xiao Lou's abilities?"
Shao Qingge laughed and said, "Of course I believe you. I'll deliver it for Xiao Ye once, then get the lantern from Madam. After that, I'll continue looking for Xiao Ye. That way, Xiao Ye should be able to solve the mystery smoothly as well."
Old Mo laughed heartily, "The four of us deliverymen delivering packages together should be able to keep up with Professor Xiao's speed!"
Long Sen said, "Let's do it this way!"
******