Chapter 198: Meeting the King, You're Blessed

The brightly dressed king began his self-introduction: "I am Wei Taiping. I guard this first gate today. My family has raised a sister for sixteen years—how could you possibly take her home so easily?"

Zhou Jing thought none of this was easy—the Wei clan were the masters of Chang Prefecture, and after the wedding date was set they had changed things back and forth twice, exhausting his mother and sister-in-law, who complained all day.

The king asked solemnly, "I heard the Zhou family's young master is still studying—you must be quite learned. Let me test you!" in a pompous manner.

Zhou Jing bowed and said, "Young master, please speak." Though the procedure was a bit early, it would do.

He wondered whose child this was, maybe a branch relative? He had never heard of anyone named Wei Taiping...

The king said, "At the stringed-song wine feast, raise your cup. What is the next line?"

Not only Zhou Jing, but his classmates and clansmen who had come to escort the bride also breathed a sigh of relief. Good, good, good—after all, it's just a child; what difficult question could he ask? This isn't the Thousand Character Classic!

Zhou Jing replied politely, "Raise hands, stamp feet, joyful and healthy."

The king nodded solemnly and quickly asked, "Which is heavier, a catty of autumn leaves or a catty of iron?"

"'Ah?' What an improper question!"

Zhou Jing instinctively said, "Iron?"

His classmate behind him nodded in agreement—autumn's dry leaves are so light—Zhou Jing surely answered, "Iron!"

The king said, "Tsk, a catty of leaves and a catty of iron are obviously the same weight."

Classmate A hadn't caught on yet: "Aren't leaves dry? Aren't they light?"

The king scoffed, "Whether autumn or winter leaves, green or yellow, I said one catty, one catty! They're both one catty!"

Having realized this, Zhou Jing began to blush.

The king continued smugly, "Where do you study? Your teaching doesn't seem great—why not come to our academy?"

"'Cough, cough, cough, cough, cough, cough...' Wei Shen behind the door coughed wildly, and the king had to give up."

The king said, "Give you another chance—listen to the problem. One hundred fruits, one hundred people. An adult eats three, three children eat one. How many adults and how many children exactly finish them?"

A group of pale-green youths opposite them were almost chewing their fingers—this problem was too hard!

"'Are you sure it's exact?'"

"'What kind of fruit do three children share one? That's too little to eat...'"

"'Can't each person just eat one?'"

"'That's not right—there's no such thing as half a person!'"

The opposite side whispered among themselves, and finally a clueless youth stepped forward to ask the king, "Is it really exact? I can't figure it out!"

"'Exactly! Can we skip it?' As they said this, they handed the king a red envelope to bribe him—these were the red envelopes they had prepared to scatter among children on the street."

The king accepted the gifts, but the way was not to be yielded.

He continued, hands on hips, "There's no such easy thing! Skipping is impossible; if you really can't work it out, you must accept the penalty!"

The big man behind him raised his lowered arms again—looking like they couldn't win in a fight. Indeed, the Wei family's daughter is not easy to marry.

Zhou Jing asked the king, "If we can't work it out, just announce the answer and then say what the penalty is."

"'Twenty-five adults, seventy-five children. What a simple equation! Your Chang Prefecture education is hopeless!' He returned to complaining about the school."

With the answer, everyone could work it backward easily—sure enough, it was correct, and they fell silent as if chickens.

The king, full of pride, lifted his chin: "Hold your nose, spin ten times on the spot, then immediately bow to me; if you face the right direction it's a success, otherwise the next person tries." A big man behind him stepped forward to demonstrate.

They glanced at each other and pushed forward a few brothers from the same clan.

These people didn't practice martial arts, each weaker than the last; spinning ten circles gave them no chance to react, they stumbled and bowed, ending up facing Zhou Jing. Well, that was wasted—next.

The king watched from the side, highly amused, laughing "ha ha".

Zhou Jing thought it was good he had come early, having heard that Wei Shen, who had gone out to study, had returned, and he had already steeled himself. Now it was fine—exchanging for this child was no better than Wei Shen, and he felt embarrassed to quibble with a youngster. Yet he thought again, "Whose child is this, so clever and spry!"

Finally, the fifth challenger succeeded, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Then they heard the king say, "The final question of this Dao Gate..."

Zhou Jing said, "Wait a moment, please excuse us, young master—our math isn't great; could we switch to an easier question?" and he dropped to his knees in a kowtow.

"'Exactly, exactly!' His close friend began stuffing more red envelopes; the king took them and found them light, suspecting they were banknotes."

Fine, looking at the silver, let's just ask an easy question.

"'Ask, you have a classmate named Xiao Qiu—how does he walk?'"

This question left the Great Jin people baffled; Zhou Jing instinctively repeated, "How does he walk? Step by step?"

Opposite them sat a crowd of frail scholars and pampered aristocratic youths; the king thought each looked foolish, their reading dull and stiff.

Zhou Jing's classmates thought for a moment, all finding the question strange, and none of their guesses qualified as an answer.

All right, we give up! "Fine, shall we spin again this time?" You brat, you're just surnamed Wei—otherwise...

He was gritting his teeth when Wei Ke squeezed out from the pile of big men blocking the door, "Why is this gate still not passed? Don't delay the auspicious time!"

Upon hearing this, everyone exclaimed, "Honorable Heavenly Judge, you've finally come—we are saved!"

The king decided to give face to his elder cousin: "All right, the elder sister's matter is important."

He looked at Zhou Jing: "Being able to marry my sister is a blessing from your past life; you must cherish it. If I learn you treat my sister badly, I have one hundred and eighty ways to entertain your Zhou clan."

Report—someone delivered harsh words in a light, cute tone!

The Wei brothers felt warm and moved hearing this; the Zhou clan's younger generation didn't know what to think—such audacity! Zhou Jing bowed again, declaring the Zhou clan would certainly treat the new bride well, thus passing this stage.

Unable to resist, someone still wanted to know how Xiao Qiu walked, hearing that they could now pass, they finally could ask the king directly.

The king scoffed, "Of course he walks with a ping-pong-ping-pong-ping-pong step!"

The crowd fell silent for an instant, not knowing who first burst out laughing, then the scene became uncontrollable.

Those who couldn't read didn't get the joke, but the Wei manor's servants saw the new son-in-law leading a crowd there, laughing until they bent over. Does the king also tell jokes? Isn't he supposed to be testing them with questions?

The king felt a little pity for the Great Jin people who hadn't seen the world—what's funny about that? I haven't even used up a hundred thousand cold jokes; I just came up with a brain-teaser.

Wei Ke laughed his fill, then made way for Zhou Jing to pass.

Behind Zhou Jing, a twelve- or thirteen-year-old boy leapt up, casually clapped a hand on the king's shoulder, and said, "I've started to like you—you're such an interesting kid! I'm Zhou Huang; let's get to know each other!"

The Great King shook him off in an instant, saying proudly, "Lots of people like me—who are you calling a kid?"

After a moment's thought, oh oh, I can get the laugh point—this is recognizing characters.

The Great King switched in an instant, asking amiably, "Where do you study?"

Zhou Huang: "Haha, don't look down on me just because I'm a few years younger—I can read too; nowadays I study together with my second brother."

The Great King thought that would do; he just liked playing with those who could read.