The atmosphere turned quiet.
Everyone was looking at the couplet.
Zhang Ye was afraid people in the distance could not see it, so he recited it once, "寂寞寒窗空守寡 (jì mò hán chuāng kōng shǒu guǎ, in this lonely and tiny unit as a widow)."
Father Su was filled with despair! He had came forward full of confidence, thinking he was bound to win. Who knew the couplet awaiting him would forcefully smothered him. Master Zhou and a few truly knowledgeable people were also stunned the moment Zhang Ye put down his brush!
This...
This first half...
Zhang Ye's couplet's first half had a very simple meaning and was even straightforward. It was how a lonely widow stayed alone. It was not like other couplets which were quite a mouthful or textually intricate. There was no need to even explain the couplet. Everyone could understand it, but this first half's only trick was that one of its radicals were the same. On the surface, it looked like an ordinary miraculous couplet. There were plenty of such couplets in this world, so it was nothing surprising. Of course, this was a layman's point of view. True experts, who had deeply researched couplets, would feel like vomiting blood the moment they saw it!
How could it be matched?
There was no way of matching it!
However, there were a few calligraphers who did not realize this. They began suggesting ideas.
"Teacher Su, why aren't you writing anything?"
"I think trying with 'disconsolate sorrow'...Eh, it won't work."
"Try using 'a beautiful fair'...Oh it won't do too. The correspondence doesn't match."
The more they ruminated, the more of a headache they experienced. The more they thought, the more alarmed they became. The first half of the couplet seemed like anyone could match it as long as enough time was given. However, the more they thought through it carefully and researched it thoroughly, they felt even more powerless. Their hearts slowly turned cold!
It could not be matched!
This couplet could not be matched!