Chapter 124: Blank Paper?

Everyone was speechless. It was true; there was nothing wrong with his name, and no rule dictated he couldn't be called that.

However, the name was just so damn insufferable—it was practically taking advantage of others!

"Hmph, Brother Shu, is it? Since you are so confident, why don't you tell us the answer to this riddle?" Young Master Wang snorted, deciding not to dwell on the name issue, and pointed to a piece of paper on the table.

The crowd’s expressions shifted, and they were all taken aback.

This literary gathering was hosted by the Dongliu Academy, and the grand finale featured three riddles posed by the most learned scholar of the academy.

The first riddle had been solved through the collective effort of everyone present. However, the second had stumped them all, and it was only after long deliberation that Young Master Wang managed to provide the answer.

As for the third riddle, they had been pondering it for nearly an hour without success, which spoke volumes about its difficulty.

Now, Young Master Wang asking this man to solve it was clearly an attempt to humiliate him.

"Chu... Young Master Shu, don't..." Miss Xiao, having finally realized what was happening, quickly spoke up to stop him.

After all, if so many people had failed to find the answer, Chen Xiang would certainly not fare any better. If he were to fail and be humiliated, her family would surely forbid her from associating with him ever again, or might even ground her for a while if they found out about this incident.

"Don't worry, Miss Xiao. You must trust me!" Chen Xiang turned back and flashed a smile at her.

Young Master Wang’s eyes narrowed. He had been so focused on the riddle earlier that he hadn't realized Chen Xiang was with Miss Xiao. Now that he noticed, he felt quite displeased, as he was one of her many suitors.

With a confident smile, Chen Xiang stepped forward and activated his system, ready to cheat at a moment's notice.

It’s just literature, isn't it? I refuse to believe that a bunch of losers like you can compare to five thousand years of Chinese history!

Young Master Wang watched Chen Xiang with icy eyes and made room for him. Young Master Zhang also stepped aside with a sneer, ready to watch him make a fool of himself.

They hadn't found the answer after so long; they didn't believe for a second that this person could. Even if he did guess correctly, so what? They could still find other ways to humiliate him.

Young Master Wang and Young Master Zhang exchanged a look of mutual understanding and smirked.

Chen Xiang stepped forward and looked at the riddle. However, the moment he saw it, he froze.

What the hell? This is a riddle? Isn't this just a blank piece of paper?

"Hmph, Brother Shu, what's wrong? Why don't you guess the answer to this riddle?" Seeing Chen Xiang stunned, Young Master Zhang immediately spoke with sarcasm, seemingly seeking revenge for being played earlier.

"Hahaha, stumped, aren't you? Let's see how arrogant you are now!"

"Hmph, I think he's just grandstanding! He doesn't have a shred of real learning!"

"We’ve all been thinking about this for so long and couldn't guess it, and he wants to try? It’s laughable!"

...

The crowd immediately erupted into loud mockery.

"How can you all be like this? Young Master Chu has only just looked at it; how could he possibly guess such a difficult riddle in an instant?" Miss Xiao, hearing their comments, became somewhat angry and stood up to speak loudly.

Seeing Miss Xiao angry, the crowd dared not continue; they only wanted to humiliate Chen Xiang, not leave a bad impression on her.

However, someone noticed a detail.

"So your surname is actually Chu?" Young Master Wang said, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Chen Xiang.

He was jealous that Miss Xiao had stood up for Chen Xiang, but he hadn't missed the mention of "Young Master Chu." It turned out he had indeed been lying to them earlier.

"What the hell, you were playing us?"

"How can you be so shameless!"

"I have never seen someone so thick-skinned!"

...

The crowd grew rowdy again.

Miss Xiao blushed, regretting that her outburst had exposed Chen Xiang's "real surname." Now, she didn't dare to defend him further.

"Haha, don't sweat the details. Actually, my name is Chu Shu, and my courtesy name is Shuhao. So, thinking of it as surname Chu is fine, and surname Shu is also fine. There's nothing wrong with that!" Chen Xiang laughed shamelessly.

"Hmph, you'd better solve the riddle. If you can't, get down here quickly and stop wasting our time!" Young Master Wang dismissed the banter, deciding to investigate this man thoroughly later. He would not let him off easily for making such a fool of them!

The crowd sneered repeatedly. If it were solvable, they would have solved it long ago; none of them believed Chen Xiang had the ability to solve it.

However, Chen Xiang would not let them have their way. He opened a folding fan—from goodness knows where—waved it gently, and said with a faint smile, "Oh, this riddle? I've already solved it."

As soon as these words were spoken, the scene went quiet for a moment, before erupting into a burst of laughter.

"Hahahaha, did you hear what I just heard? He said he solved it?"

"Me too. I think his brain must be fried."

"I believe he might have solved it, but how long has it been? Not even a quarter of an hour! I think he’s just throwing caution to the wind."

"Exactly. It's impossible to solve in such a short time. Even if he has an answer, it's bound to be wrong."

...

The crowd expressed their disbelief.

Young Master Wang sneered, "Oh? Brother Chu has solved it? Then show us your answer so we may all witness it!"

"Heh, that's right, Young Master Chu. I believe you; your answer must be correct!" Young Master Zhang said with sarcasm, clearly not believing it.

Chen Xiang looked at them with a faint smile. Although the blank paper had shocked him at first, he had cleverly spent 100 prestige points to redeem a "Complete Collection of Riddles," and this very riddle happened to be in it!

Chen Xiang picked up the brush from the table and wrote a character on the paper.

Young Master Wang and the others didn't stop him, as they were convinced he had guessed wrong. When Chen Xiang put down the brush, Young Master Wang and Young Master Zhang stepped forward to look.

"Heh, Brother Chu, I know this is a riddle, but writing the word 'riddle' on this blank paper is still useless!" Young Master Wang sneered at Chen Xiang. He then picked up the paper and held it up for everyone present to see.

"He thinks he's right just by writing a character? Haha, I've never seen such an idiot!"

"I think he's at the end of his rope and just wrote something to try and bluff his way through."

"True, since none of us know the answer, whatever he writes could theoretically be called correct."

...

Those who saw the character on the paper speculated that Chen Xiang was trying to bluff.

"Brother Chu? Do you have anything else to say?" Young Master Wang looked at him with a faint smile.

However, at that moment, a deep, resonant voice echoed throughout the hall.

"This young master has guessed correctly!"

A man walked in through the main entrance. He was a middle-aged man in a blue robe, with a kind face, an aura of scholarly refinement, and hair that was slightly gray.

The crowd was stunned upon seeing him.

Young Master Wang and Young Master Zhang hurriedly stepped down from the platform, approached the middle-aged man, and bowed deeply.

"Student pays respects to the Master!"