Chapter 708: The date of the college entrance examination has come!
Chapter 708: The date of the college entrance examination has come!
Translator: Legge Editor:
Zhang Ye's poem was being fought for over by everyone. Other than the value of Zhang Ye's calligraphy, the other main reason was because this poem was such a classic that each person wanted it to adorn the walls of their home. However, it still ended up being given to Su Na as she was the first one lay her hands on the scroll of Xuan paper the poem was written on and had already gotten the best chance of keeping it. On top of that, everyone also knew that Su Na and Zhang Ye were colleagues at the Chinese Department in Peking University who enjoyed a good relationship together. As a result, no one really made any further attempts to get it from her after that.
"Hai."
"I was a step too late."
"I really like this poem a lot!"
"Who doesn't like it! That's obvious!"
"Let me suggest this: why don't we have another contest and let Zhang Ye compose a few more poems so that we can share them equally. Do you all agree?"
As it turned out, no one bothered with such a suggestion.
Another round? Who can compete with Zhang Ye? You?
Having seen this palindrome poem, no one here today dared challenge Zhang Ye anymore. If anyone still dared to boast and go up against him, then surely that person would only be brought down in shame.
By contrast, Liao Qi was looking clearly depressed away from the others.
Chief Yu saw this and went over to offer some comforting words. "Old Liao, don't take it to heart. Everyone has something that they are good at. When it comes to poetry, it's what Zhang Ye excels at. Almost no one in the entire country can stand on equal footing with him, so your loss is not something to be ashamed of."
Liao Qi did not say anything.
The other Tsinghua University teachers who were provoking Zhang Ye earlier now felt hot with embarrassment. Half of their group had left the place earlier.
An old professor from Renmin University beside them said, "The younger generation will surpass the older."
Today's celebratory feast has given many of these teachers the chance to widen their horizons. Having been able to witness such awesome poetry made it worth their time in attending.
Not long after, the celebratory feast ended.
Everyone was still talking about the poem excitedly as they proceeded back to their own dorms.
This poem was actually by Li Yu from the Song Dynasty in Zhang Ye's previous world. The poem was titled A Husband's and Wife's Mutual Saudade. This palindromic poem was very famous among all the ancient palindromic poems. Zhang Ye had come across it once in a book and remembered it. Since he brought it over to this world on this occasion, it was naturally able to shock everyone.
...
Later that afternoon.
In the dorms on the hillside.
After Zhang Ye came back, he immediately took a shower and did not place much importance of today's incident. After his shower, he went to the library and borrowed another dozen or so books and brought them back to his dorm room. He restarted his work from this morning and started flipping through the pages of content. Then he used a Memory Search Capsule to take in all the details of the information he had flipped through in the books earlier and memorized all of it. Now he could simply just retrieve any information he wanted from his mind.
One book.
Another book.
Zhang Ye did not mind the boredom or loneliness and just repeated the same thing over and over again, working hard to absorb the vast knowledge of this world to use them as a basis and prepare himself for the future. He was already planning to use the remaining days approaching the date of the college entrance examination in this way.
...
The next day.
Daytime.
No one knew who did it, but Zhang Ye's A Husband's and Wife's Mutual Saudade was suddenly posted online to Weibo along with a message: "This was composed by Zhang Ye at the private location where the college entrance examination question setting teams are held. Come and enjoy this piece of poetry, everyone. Let me give you all a hint: there's a mystery to it, heehee."
Judging from the tone, it seemed like it was a woman who posted it.
Some netizens started paying attention to this post.
"Composed at the college entrance examination question setting team location? Then how did you get your hands on it?"
"Yeah, isn't that a private place that’s closed off to the public? There shouldn't even be any form of communication allowed there. This must be fake then? Clickbait?"
"The OP might be a staff member of the Beijing Higher Education Entrance Examination Board?"
"That's possible."
"Let me take a look at this poem."
"Eh, it's quite well-written."
"Yes, it's written well with a suitable mood to it."
"Was this really written by Zhang Ye? It doesn't feel like it. I thought that Zhang Ye's poems were always earthshaking? This piece is good, but it doesn't carry any impact to it."
"It's definitely clickbait, it's confirmed!"
"A mystery? What mystery?"
Many of the netizens did not believe this was real as there were too many liars and rumors going around.
When the woman who posted on Weibo saw that everyone was doubting the veracity of her post, she replied with an update: "Whether you believe this was written by Zhang Ye or not, just try reading the poem backwards and you'll know. Other than him, no one else could compose a poem like it!"
"Ah?"
"Read it backwards?"
"Hur hur! This is the first time I've heard of a poem that can be read backwards!"
"Let me give it a try."
In the next moment, countless people were totally amazed!
"Holy f**k!"
"Holy f**k!"
"Your sister! This can really be read backwards!"
"This was really composed by Zhang Ye?"
"I know this! It's a palindrome poem! It was very rare even in the ancient times! Even among the palindrome poems that were passed down from antiquity, there aren't many that can be considered poetic and can rhyme as well as this one!"
"Why did Zhang Ye write this poem? A Husband's and Wife's Mutual Saudade? What does this mean?"
The woman who posted the Weibo post explained: "I heard that the teachers were having a celebratory feast and there was a contest. Someone had challenged Zhang Ye to use the theme of 'husband and wife' to compose a poem. Then, without even thinking, Zhang Ye composed this piece straightaway with a brush and won!"
"Heavens!"
"How informative!"
"This is too godly! The deep, ancient knowledge of literature of China is really broad and profound! If you didn't mention it, I wouldn't even have known that there was such a thing as palindrome poems! Too awesome!"
"Hearing this explanation from the OP, I would definitely believe that this was a work by Zhang Ye. Someone issued a challenge and Zhang Ye took it on with a palindrome poem? That's totally that guy's style!"
"Face-smacking Zhang has gone on to smack faces again!"
"Your sister, Teacher Zhang has been held in the mountains yet he can't stay idle for a moment and has gone on a face-smacking spree again!"
"Pfft, that's right! The name of Face-smacking Zhang is not for nothing! Even if Teacher Zhang were to be launched to the moon, I reckon he would still find the means to smack some faces! No would can stop the march of Face-smacking Zhang!"
"Hahaha, why is it that a poem that is so sorrowful can be twisted into something by you all that I'm crying from laughter!"
"Teacher Zhang is impressive!"
"Zhang Ye is indeed Zhang Ye! Fully deserving of his reputation!"
"Zhang Ye's poem is not only good in that setting, even the technique he used is a very high level one! It can be seen that this is just child's play to Zhang Ye. Composing a poem is mere child's play to him since he can do it so easily and elegantly."
When this Weibo post was forwarded and viewed multiple times, more and more people started paying attention to it and the number of comments also increasingly soared. Very soon, A Husband's and Wife's Mutual Saudade palindrome poem was broken down and analyzed. Word by word, the details were put under the microscope and picked apart. The more they researched, the deeper they got, and the more people saw its ingenuity. They were increasingly feeling more and more amazed at how incredulous it was!
However, there was a big group of people who did not care about this at all.
It was the Beijing college entrance examinees!
"What palindrome poem, so what!"
"All I care about right now is how difficult this year's Beijing college entrance exam will be!"
"Seeing this A Husband's and Wife's Mutual Saudade palindrome poem by Zhang Ye, I suddenly get a feeling of being screwed! If he can even compose such a difficult poem, then how can the questions he set be simple?"
"I'm giving up all hope!"
"It might not turn out to be that way. Everyone, let's not be so pessimistic!"
"Right, Zhang Ye's not the only question setter anyway, even if does set some questions, how many can questions can he write? As long as we can get the other questions correct, then the score wouldn't differ by much!"
"That sounds logical!"
"Hopefully. But I have an ominous feeling about this."
"F**k, me too, I better go and revise my algebraic geometry again. I'm going offline, bye."
"I'm going offline too."
...
One day.
Three days.
Five days.
In the blink of an eye, the annual college entrance examination was here again!
Translator’s note:
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