Seeing how many people were enthusiastically participating, the shop owner quickly banged a gong. "Thank you all for your active participation, but this shop also needs to do business. Couples who wish to enter the competition must first pay ten taels of silver!"
Upon hearing that they had to pay money, many people lost their interest.
Li Yue Shu and Qin Mo Yuan stood among the crowd, one leisurely eating pastries and watching the excitement, while the other thoughtfully appraised the first prize.
Qin Mo Yuan turned his gaze to the hair of the person beside him.
Li Yue Shu's head was still wrapped in bandages, her coiled hair simply secured with a hairband, adorned with no jewelry.
She originally had a hairpin, a birthday gift from Qin Mo Yuan.
But she had worn it only a few times before it was lost in the vortex.
Qin Mo Yuan looked again at the hairpin and crown, which were clearly a set, and his thoughts stirred.
Seeing that most of the crowd's enthusiasm had waned, the shop owner quickly said, "Today, all couples participating in the competition will receive a pair of mandarin duck jade pendants from our shop."
As he finished speaking, the shop assistants immediately brought out the jade pendants to show the crowd.
Compared to the pair of white jade hairpin and crown, the quality of these jade pendants was clearly inferior, but they were still worth some silver.
Moreover, if they won the competition, the prize would be jewelry worth no less than a hundred taels!
Such rewards sparked the interest of many, but the number of actual registrants was small.
The shop owner calmly continued, "The content of our competition is very simple. It tests the tacit understanding between couples and their knowledge of each other. Any couple who feels confident can come and try."
"Today is the Lianli Festival, which is meant to be a day for couples. Participating in the competition means you can get prizes, increase your marital affection, and if you're lucky, you might even take home this set of jewelry. You certainly won't lose anything!"
Hearing this, more couples were enticed and rushed to register.
Li Yue Shu finished the last piece of mandarin duck pastry and was quite impressed with the shop owner.
With more than ten couples participating, he could recoup his costs. This shop owner was so adept at doing business; she could learn from him!
As she was thinking, her hand was suddenly pulled.
Li Yue Shu turned around and heard Qin Mo Yuan say, "A Shu, let's participate too!"
Li Yue Shu glanced at him and asked, "Do you have money?"
Qin Mo Yuan: "...Can A Shu lend me some?"
Li Yue Shu's mouth twitched. She looked at the bustling scene on the stage and couldn't quite understand why he wanted to participate.
Qin Mo Yuan suddenly swayed her hand, as if acting spoiled, "A Shu, lend me ten taels, and I'll return ten taels of... gold to you when we get back."
Li Yue Shu's eyes lit up. She grabbed his hand back. "It's a deal! Let's write an IOU right now!"
She wasn't a person who loved money before, but now that she was in charge of the household, she knew very well how quickly a family spent money, so she cherished every opportunity to earn.
Since Qin Mo Yuan was offering money for free, it didn't matter why he wanted to participate in the competition!
Seeing her excitedly writing the IOU, Qin Mo Yuan's mouth twitched.
After signing the IOU, the two of them went to register for the competition.
As the shop owner had said, the competition was simple. There were three rounds, each with questions. Ten points were awarded for each correct answer. The winner would be the one with the shortest time and the highest score.
In the first round, the shop owner asked fifteen questions about each other's favorite food, color, clothing, and so on.
After living together for a long time, these questions were not difficult, so many people scored points.
But to everyone's shock, one couple answered all fifteen questions correctly.
These two were Li Yue Shu and Qin Mo Yuan.
Li Yue Shu looked at the place where the scores were recorded and raised her eyebrows slightly.
She had always treated Qin Mo Yuan like a child and naturally knew his preferences. She just didn't expect him to know her preferences.
Li Yue Shu couldn't help but glance at the first prize displayed not far away, her eyes flashing with a sharp glint.
This set of jewelry, sold as a set, would definitely be more expensive than selling them individually!
While the shop owner was explaining the rules for the second round, Li Yue Shu secretly leaned in and whispered to Qin Mo Yuan, "Let's cooperate to get first place. I'll give you sixty taels, and the first prize will be all mine. How about it?"
She had contributed as well, and this prize was half her merit. Giving him sixty taels wouldn't be a loss for Qin Mo Yuan.
Seeing her excited expression, Qin Mo Yuan had already guessed her intentions. He couldn't help but feel a pang in his heart.
He gritted his teeth and said, "If we win first place, I'll give you yours!"
Li Yue Shu found his words a bit strange. Just as she was about to speak, the shop owner announced the start of the competition.
Li Yue Shu was stunned and instinctively asked the person next to her, "What was the second round about?"
The woman beside her was slightly older than her. Although they were now competitors, she still explained kindly, "Later, the boss will randomly draw two items. The couple will choose one of them. If you choose the same, you'll score points."
Li Yue Shu looked at the large box the shop owner had brought and roughly understood the rules of the second round. She quickly gathered her energy and prepared herself.
But when she saw the items the shop owner drew, Li Yue Shu almost choked on her breath.
This was supposed to test their tacit understanding?
This was testing their luck!
Paper and pen were understandable, but what were wooden sticks and hammers doing there?
And a whole pancake!
There was no pattern to discern!
Li Yue Shu was speechless.
As expected, after the second round, the scores were uneven, which indeed narrowed the gap between some couples.
This bizarre second round stirred up everyone's nervous energy.
The shop owner wasted no time and quickly began the third round.
Li Yue Shu listened to him explain for a long time. It felt like a modern game of "Pictionary."
The only difference, perhaps, was that the content of the questions were all poems.
This was difficult for her.
This world was fictional. Even if the ancient poems here were the same as those in her world, she only knew the well-known ones.
Let alone guessing by drawing, she might not even understand the meaning of some poems even if she saw the characters.
Qin Mo Yuan saw her difficulty at a glance and offered, "I'll guess. A Shu just needs to let me know a few characters."
He was very confident in this regard.
Li Yue Shu, however, was skeptical. But this was the only way.
The competition began. As soon as Li Yue Shu saw the first question, her head started to hurt.
These were such unfamiliar poems. They probably weren't from her world, right?
Forget it, she'd leave it to fate!
Li Yue Shu calmed her mind. She first indicated the number of characters in the poem and then started choosing characters that were easy to depict.
To her surprise, she had only depicted three characters when Qin Mo Yuan accurately gave the answer.
After that, almost every time, Li Yue Shu had only depicted a few characters before he could guess the answer, with a success rate of over ninety percent.
Li Yue Shu was shocked.
These were all poems! How many books had he read to be so familiar with them?
In this way, while other couples were still halfway through guessing, these two had finished everything, winning first place without any suspense.
It wasn't until the shop owner had someone bring the first prize that Li Yue Shu slowly came back to her senses.
Everyone applauded, congratulating the two winners on stage.
The commotion instantly drew the attention of someone in the crowd who had been searching for something. They noticed the two figures on stage who were the center of everyone's attention.