Zhou Ziyu was anxious, but actually, Li Changlin was even more so. Yet, the current situation was simply as such, your anxiety was futile since there were no more Points in the System, and Li Changlin couldn’t just conjure them up, could he?
Even though the System did have a rewarded Points accumulation over time, it was only one Point per hour, which was obviously useless.
Moreover, the event wouldn’t possibly give him so much time.
Now, with only three Points left, he needed to accumulate for two more hours just to gather five Points.
Only with five Points could he exchange for a lower couplet.
But even so, after hastily answering once, he still wouldn’t be able to continue competing.
And under these circumstances, who would give him the time?
He really felt tragically dismayed. Li Changlin was really frustrated. Now without the golden finger, he was even less capable than an ordinary contestant.
"Host, five judges, I’ve got it." Just then, contestant number one picked up the microphone again.
"Contestant number one, please speak." Hearing that contestant number one had thought of a response, the male host quickly called out.
"Alright, my response goes : ’Tailor Lao Xu, plays chess with his wife, unaware of the passing time, until his wife stands to forsake the game.’" Contestant number one lifted the microphone and immediately stated his answer.
This time, his response still had something to do with chess, especially the words "his wife stands to forsake the game," which also followed a four-character homophonic pattern containing all four tones, matching the upper couplet’s "soup pours scorchingly from the pot"—absolutely brilliant!
"Impressive, my man, so quickly again, you’ve come up with a lower couplet, that’s divine."
"It’s related to chess again; contestant number one must be a chess master!"
"Chess, like couplets, is a cultural essence. Looks like I should also study chess more from now on."
"Strange, contestant number ten seems to be struggling, failing to answer both questions."
"What’s so strange about that? He’s simply run out of talent!"
The audience below was abuzz with conversation; many lavished praise on contestant number one and just as many mocked and ridiculed Li Changlin.
Li Changlin heard every word, but was helpless to respond.
He felt bitterly disappointed indeed.
"Good, the response is very clever." At this moment, the female judge nodded in approval, affirming contestant number one’s answer.
"Alright, our contestant number one has answered two questions correctly, add one more point." Following the female judge’s comment, the male host immediately added a point to contestant number one’s scorecard.
The other contestants watched with envy.
As for Li Changlin, he appeared very helpless.
He had no deep knowledge of couplets, and now that the golden finger had lost its effect, he felt exceedingly frustrated!
"Okay, we will now begin the answer rush for the third question." After dealing with the scoring, the female host smiled and announced, while also stealing a glance at Li Changlin.
Li Changlin, being a Martial Artist, instantly sensed the female host’s gaze.
But he did not lift his head. At this moment, he really couldn’t show off.
"Alright, I’ll present the third upper couplet; I hope everyone will participate enthusiastically. Comrade Xiao Li, you are falling behind, and this doesn’t resemble your style at all!" Sitting beside Elder Gu was an elder around sixty years old. His name was Ying Kangbai, and he had high hopes for Li Changlin.
However, seeing Li Changlin fail to answer twice, he felt slightly disappointed.
"I’m sorry for letting Elder Ying down." Since his name was explicitly mentioned, Li Changlin, of course, couldn’t pretend not to hear.
Feeling resigned, he stood up and greeted the judges’ direction with a cupped-fist salute.
"Little Li, please sit down. Everyone, listen carefully, my upper couplet is: ’The green water has no worries, but wrinkles on its face when the wind blows.’" Quickly, Ying Kangbai presented his upper couplet.
Immediately, the six contestants began to ponder deeply.
With Ying Kangbai’s statement, both the stage and the audience fell silent.
After all, distractions could greatly inhibit the contestants’ performance in matching couplets.
Huacheng’s couplet selection event had been held many times before, so everyone was clear about the rules and was willing to comply.
Li Changlin grimaced, feeling enormous pressure.
If Ying Kangbai hadn’t called him out, Li Changlin wouldn’t have cared and would have just let things slide.
Since there were no more Points in the System anyway, he was helpless; it seemed he was doomed to stop at the semi-finals.
But now, Li Changlin thought differently.
Ying Kangbai’s prompting made Li Changlin suddenly remember that he was still live streaming.
About that matter, with over a hundred thousand brothers watching in the live stream, if he couldn’t answer even one question, wouldn’t he lose face completely?
Plus, Zhou Ziyu was also present at the venue.
If he showed no effort, wouldn’t the kid think he was deliberately throwing the match?
After all, he had answered those previous brilliant couplets, and if he tripped up on these, it just wouldn’t make sense!
So at this moment, the pressure in Li Changlin’s heart only grew heavier.
"Ling’er." After some thought, Li Changlin still felt he had to seek Ling’er decisively; he really couldn’t reconcile himself to giving up without a fight.
He wondered if the System had a function for debt.
If that were possible, it would be truly awesome.
"I’m here, Host." Quickly, Ling’er’s sweet voice appeared.
Hearing this, Li Changlin felt as if he had encountered a family member, and hurriedly asked about his idea.
"That won’t work, Host. The System doesn’t have such a feature!" Li Changlin clung to a glimmer of hope, but Ling’er immediately shattered his disappointment.
He felt tragically disappointed. Damn it, the System had screwed him over!
Li Changlin was very frustrated. If he had known how tricky that previous couplet was, he wouldn’t have let Ling’er exchange it directly.
That was so annoying; Elder Gu had clearly stated that as long as he answered two variations correctly, he would have passed!
Every time Li Changlin thought of this, his heart ached even more.
Tens of Points wasted just like that, he truly was a squanderer.
"Isn’t there any other way?" Still not giving up hope, Li Changlin sullenly asked once more.
"Host, don’t you still have seventeen unsealing tools? Unsealing the entire couplet category would only require sixteen of them." But who knew, Ling’er quickly gave Li Changlin a response.
That answer was just, just so delightful, wasn’t it?