Contestant #1 gave his question, “Shuǐ shuǐ shān shān chù chù míng míng xiù xiù! (Lakes, mountains, bright and gorgeous everywhere)!”
This sort of couplet was in a conversational style called couplets with reiterative locution. The difficulty was quite average, and was considered quite low.
Big Thunder’s eyes lit up. He could match this couplet. After giving some thought to smooth the word flow before beginning to open his mouth, that second of thought had allowed Zhang Ye to beat him to it.
Zhang Ye smiled, “Qíng qíng yǔ yǔ shí shí hǎo hǎo qí qí (Sunny days, rainy days, wonderful and miraculous all the time).”
The three judges gave his answer some thought. They did not pass him immediately.
Many of the contestants could see that there was a twist to it. This couplet was not that simple!
Big Thunder saw this, too. After Zhang Ye spoke, he had thought of another second half, but after some further thought, that second half was not appropriate. It did not match!
There was a trap!