Amid the laughter, someone sneered coldly, “Tsk tsk… no words left to answer? Can laughing produce reasons?”

Qin Chang Ge ignored him. After three laughs, her smile disappeared, and she unhurriedly asked the troubled steward, “Has my son passed?”

Another round of mocking laughter erupted. The steward stammered, “This…”

“Oh—” Qin Chang Ge said in surprise, “My son’s pairing could be called a perfect match. Could it be that Master Steward has also been deceived by those ignorant scholars, thinking my son answered incorrectly?”

“What do you mean! Who’s ignorant!” Someone immediately jumped out and cursed angrily.

That Brother Dongfang was apparently the leader among them. He vaguely stretched out his hand to stop them, then smiled sinisterly, “Oh? A perfect match? What makes it perfect? The perfection of pairing a person with a beast? If Prince Consort Yincheng is a horse, then what is the princess?”

“A horse is better than a rabbit, isn’t it?” Qin Chang Ge’s single sentence left him purple-faced with anger. No longer paying him attention, she only smiled at the steward, “But how could my son wantonly mock the current Prince Consort? And how could the steward’s couplet be so shallow? My son deeply appreciates the steward’s great talent, knowing that the couplet you posed actually comes from the classic ‘Records of Pacifying Huai’ – ‘father horse.'”

Without waiting for the steward’s response, she smiled and looked at Xiao Baozi with approving eyes, “And my son was quick enough to immediately respond with ‘mother cow,’ from the classic ‘Book of Changes: Commentary on Trigrams.'”

“The books you gentlemen have read might be somewhat few, or perhaps you’ve swallowed them whole without proper digestion,” Qin Chang Ge smiled gracefully yet mockingly, pointing at the bookshelf in the room. “If you don’t believe me, both books are here – please feel free to look them up yourselves.”

The “renowned scholars” once again looked at each other speechlessly.

“No need to look,” someone said in a clear voice. It was the scholar with backbone from earlier. He had been studying the couplet all along, and now raised his head, his gaze burning as he stared at Qin Chang Ge. “‘Father horse’ is on page 431 of the Records, ‘mother cow’ is on page 256 of the Book of Changes – I remember.”

As soon as he raised his head, Qin Chang Ge was immediately stunned. Wasn’t this Wen Zhengting, the famous talent who had been startled away by her couplet at the Spring Contest in her previous life? Had he also come to seek patronage with Xiao Chen?

Suddenly remembering something, she inwardly cried out in alarm.

Wen Zhengting’s gaze burned brightly as he stared at her, but he said nothing more. Instead, he stepped back into the shadows of the corner, only silently watching her without speaking.

Meanwhile, Xiao Baozi shamelessly and delightedly said, “So I do have a talent for matching couplets!”

That evening, the Qin Chang Ge “father and son” received courteous treatment from the manor. The steward in charge of examinations, called Liu Yihe, specially arranged a small courtyard for her in the “Scholarly Garden” where house guests were accommodated. It had two sets of rooms – though not luxurious, they were clean and refreshing. He also sent a pair of servants, instructing that at meal times the servants would be responsible for fetching food from the main kitchen. He mentioned that His Highness had gone to the palace and would surely request an audience upon his return.

Qin Chang Ge nodded in agreement. As soon as she closed the door and turned around, she saw Xiao Baozi had already climbed onto the bed and was struggling mightily with the cotton quilt.

“What are you sleeping for when you haven’t even eaten dinner?” Qin Chang Ge dragged Baozi up. “Be careful you won’t be able to sleep tonight.”

“It’s fine,” a chubby little hand emerged from the covers and waved lazily. “I’ve never had insomnia in my life.”

“In your life?” Qin Chang Ge sneered. “May I ask your distinguished age?”

“This humble one’s doglike years number four,” Xiao Baozi answered righteously.

Qin Chang Ge smiled, “Even ‘doglike years’ came out… who did you learn that from? Do you know what it means?”

Xiao Baozi said, “Grandfather Sun, the medicine shop owner across from the coffin shop, always says this to people – ‘doglike years sixty-three’…”

“Oh,” Qin Chang Ge laughed, “don’t understand, you don’t understand, do you…”

Just then a maid knocked at the door, bringing dinner. Qin Chang Ge received it, and before she could even set it on the table, Xiao Baozi had already cheered and jumped up, darting to the stool like a wildcat to wait for the meal.

Qin Chang Ge ignored him, methodically serving herself a bowl of rice and beginning to eat.

Xiao Baozi watched his mother eating with great appetite, swallowed his saliva, thought for a moment, then went to serve himself rice.

Qin Chang Ge reached out and immediately took away the bowls and chopsticks.

Baozi grasped at empty air, blinked his eyes, looked at his hand somewhat incredulously, then at the empty table, then at his mother who was eating on her own. His eyelashes blinked faster and faster. After thinking for a long time, he stammered, “I haven’t eaten dinner yet.”

“I know you haven’t eaten dinner.” Qin Chang Ge didn’t look at him.

“You’re starving me!” Xiao Baozi finally belatedly realized his mother’s intention. Furious, he jumped up and accused, “You’re starving me for no reason!”

Qin Chang Ge looked up at him strangely.

“No reason? I’m the innocent one here. Weren’t you the one who said ‘doglike years’? ‘Doglike years’ means so old that your teeth have all fallen out. If your teeth have fallen out, what are you eating for?”

Baozi stood there stunned, finally making the painful discovery that being illiterate was truly disadvantageous!

“I was wrong…” Xiao Baozi never hesitated to quickly admit mistakes for practical benefits. What did admitting a mistake matter? Having a full stomach was most important. He fawned sickeningly over his mother, “I lost baby teeth, they grew back. It has nothing to do with dog teeth…”

Outside the room, someone suddenly laughed softly.

The laughter was extremely pleasant to hear.