Chapter Ten: Setting the Question
“No, I can’t!”
“That’s good then…” Fang Xuanling murmured quietly to himself.
“Hehe…” Li Lizhi was secretly amused.
She recalled last night, when Li Zhi had composed a poem.
He clearly knew how, so why claim ignorance? Was he trying to embarrass the teacher?
Li Zhi reached out and gave her a gentle pat: “Sister, pay attention. Don’t let your mind wander. Learning poetry is a serious matter—we must treat it earnestly!”
“Alright, alright…” she replied with a drawn-out tone.
“Teacher, please continue!” Li Zhi was fully prepared, determined to complete the system’s task within the day! The reward for this task was a mysterious martial arts manual; the system hadn’t specified its contents.
But judging from the difficulty, it must be a peerless martial arts scroll!
Li Zhi, powerless even to bind a chicken, urgently needed to learn martial arts for self-defense. He had long coveted that manual!
Fang Xuanling explained, “Composing poetry requires attention to parallelism, tonal patterns, and imagery. For beginners, mastering parallelism is already quite rare. Today, let’s discuss what parallelism means.”
He spoke with eloquence…
Li Zhi and Li Lizhi listened with great attentiveness.
This gave Fang Xuanling an immense sense of superiority.
He thought to himself, “His Majesty is truly wise—there will always be something Prince Jin cannot do. This is what teaching should be. If every time I ended up being taught instead, what would that look like?”
“Teacher, we’ve already memorized everything you’ve explained… Can we skip ahead and start composing poetry?” Li Zhi said impatiently.
Fang Xuanling was taken aback: “Your Highness, these are the essential lessons before writing poetry. Only after learning these techniques can you…”
“We’ll learn the techniques later. Let’s compose a poem first!” Li Zhi insisted.
“Huh?”
What kind of logic was this?
Unable to resist, Fang Xuanling said, “Since Your Highness is so eager, I will provide a line for parallelism, and you may try to respond with a matching line.”
“Alright!”
“My opening line is: ‘Boundless heaven and earth, yet man is finite!’”
…
Fang Xuanling’s gaze never left Li Zhi.
He refused to believe a beginner could respond correctly.
Li Lizhi was also full of anticipation: “Go for it, Brother Zhi!”
---
“Don’t worry, I’ve already learned the art of parallelism…” Li Zhi shot her a look, signaling her to be at ease.
“My matching line is: ‘Yin and yang divided, yet spirits leave no trace!’”
Fang Xuanling had just been thinking that Li Zhi, though clever, was impatient and lacked discipline—a child’s temperament, unsuitable for great accomplishments.
He never expected…
Within a few breaths, Li Zhi responded with a perfectly balanced line!
“Boundless heaven and earth, yet man is finite. Yin and yang divided, yet spirits leave no trace… Excellent parallel!” Fang Xuanling could scarcely believe it, yet the evidence was before him.
Li Zhi truly had answered.
“Thank you for your praise, teacher!”
“Zhi’er…” Li Shimin happened to overhear from outside the door and burst in, brimming with excitement.
He wanted nothing more than to embrace Li Zhi and shower him with affection!
What a gifted son!
“Father…” Li Zhi and Li Lizhi rose and bowed.
Li Shimin approached: “Zhi’er, where did you learn poetry? Your mother surely didn’t teach you?”
“Father, I just learned it last night. I’m still not very skilled. Thanks to the teacher’s guidance just now, I managed to grasp it!” Li Zhi spoke modestly.
But to Li Shimin and Fang Xuanling, it was hard to believe.
“Even if your mother taught you, could you achieve such mastery in one night?”
“Your Majesty, this humble minister truly cannot teach His Highness. This… parallelism is so flawless—even I pale in comparison. If I continue teaching, I fear I’ll only hinder His Highness!”
Fang Xuanling’s confidence suffered yet another blow; he was ready to give up once more.
Li Shimin glared at him, rebuking quietly: “It’s just a matched couplet—what does it prove? Test him further, have him compose a poem. I refuse to believe such a prodigy exists in the world!”
“Uh… Very well!” Fang Xuanling was bracing himself for humiliation.
“Your Highness, shall we compose a poem?”
“Certainly!”
Li Zhi quietly thought, “Now comes the main event… This time, I’ll win you over completely!”
Li Shimin seated himself above.
Fang Xuanling, hands clasped behind his back, said, “Since this is Your Highness’s first poem, I won’t set the bar too high. Please compose a simple poem on the theme of ‘learning.’ Please improvise.”
Li Zhi spoke without hesitation: “An inch of time is an inch of gold, but an inch of gold cannot buy an inch of time; spend all your wealth and it remains, but the past is lost and cannot be found.”
This verse was later recorded in a Ming dynasty tale of the West, conveying the value of time and the importance of treasuring every moment.
In later generations, nearly every student would know these lines—they became proverbial.
But in the Tang dynasty, they had yet to appear.
To Li Shimin and Fang Xuanling, the poem sounded immensely profound!
“Zhi’er… Wonderful, Zhi’er! ‘An inch of time is an inch of gold, but an inch of gold cannot buy an inch of time’—these words pierce straight through the hearts of scholars everywhere!”
Li Shimin was once again moved.
---
So many literary masters failed to express such depth. They spent their days writing about flowers and birds, always using plants and animals as subjects for their verses.
Though beautiful, their poems lacked the imagery found in Li Zhi’s lines.
And his carried a lesson!
“Dear Fang…” Li Shimin turned to see Fang Xuanling staring blankly at Li Zhi, utterly stunned. He barked, “Dear Fang!”
“Uh… I am here!”
“What do you think of Zhi’er’s poem?”
“It is superb. I… am ashamed!” Fang Xuanling had begun to admire Li Zhi.
“In my opinion, this poem should be copied countless times and sent throughout the empire, so that all scholars know the value of time and never waste it!”
“Well said!”
Li Shimin shared the same intention!
…
Li Zhi, eager to complete the system’s task, grew impatient when he saw Fang Xuanling had not been completely convinced. He spoke up: “Teacher, I have a bold request!”
“Please speak, Your Highness.”
“You have tested me twice… May I test you once, teacher?” Li Zhi asked.
“Uh!”
Fang Xuanling’s expression turned sour.
He knew Li Zhi would not be easy to handle; judging from earlier, he might truly be outmatched!
“Hehe…” Li Lizhi laughed shamelessly.
How amusing!
A student testing the teacher?
Fang Xuanling was about to refuse, but Li Shimin interjected: “Dear Fang, you should accept Zhi’er’s challenge!”
“Your Majesty, this…”
“You are learned and wise—surely you do not fear a child?”
“Very well!”
Fang Xuanling wiped sweat from his brow and bowed: “I am willing to try! Please, Your Highness, present your question.”
Li Zhi possessed a collection of three hundred Tang poems gifted by the system, and was familiar with verses from the Song, Ming, Qing, and even modern times, with varying degrees of difficulty.
Since he was to test Fang Xuanling, he would surely pick the hardest absolute verse!
To win him over completely, destroying his last trace of pride!
Li Zhi pondered for a few minutes, then lifted his head: “Teacher, are you ready? I’m about to present the question!”