“It’s already nine points!” Qiao Jiajin exclaimed. “Two characters, nine points!”
“Just a bit of luck,” Qi Xia replied.
“If that’s the case, each character is worth 4.5 points. To reach 28 points, we only need…” Qiao Jiajin counted on his fingers for a while. “About six more ‘characters’… and we’ll win for sure…”
Qi Xia paused slightly. “That’s not how it works…”
“I believe in you, Liar!” Qiao Jiajin said. “If you could think of a character like ‘rice’… then there are tons of possible combinations.”
“That’s true…” Qi Xia nodded. “But right now, we still need to test one possibility…”
“What possibility?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“Whether three ‘parts’ can form a single ‘character.'”
“We’ve already got nine points!” Qiao Jiajin exclaimed. “Two characters, nine points!”
“Just a bit of luck,” Qi Xia replied.
“If that’s the case, each character is worth 4.5 points. To reach 28 points, we only need…” Qiao Jiajin counted on his fingers for a while, “…about six more ‘characters’… and we’ll definitely win…”
Qi Xia was taken aback. “That’s not how it works…”
“I believe in you, Trickster!” Qiao Jiajin said. “If you even thought of using ‘rice’ as a ‘character’… then there are so many combinations possible.”
“You’re not wrong…” Qi Xia nodded. “But now we need to test another possibility…”
“What possibility?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“Whether three ‘components’ can form a single ‘character.'”
Qi Xia looked at the “丷” and “木” on the screen but didn’t remove these radicals. Instead, he cautiously picked up an “目” and placed it on the left side.
*Click.*
The metallic character was magnetically attached.
“Hey…? This… this is…”
A few seconds later, the screen flickered again—
“Received character prototype ‘眯.’ Please write a homophone.”
“I… damn it!”
Qiao Jiajin stared wide-eyed as the black metal plate engraved with “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform” absorbed three metallic characters. He felt like he’d been blind to the obvious—how had he not noticed such a straightforward “character”?
But then again, he hadn’t even noticed “rice.”
With just two “characters,” they’d already earned ten points. Would adding another “character” double their score?
Qi Xia nodded. “Just as I thought… Not only can radicals be rotated, but multiple radicals can also be combined to form a character… This opens up even more possibilities…”
“This is so much fun…” Qiao Jiajin stared at the display. “Trickster, if I’d had a toy like this as a kid, I could’ve played with it all day.”
“Right now, it’s a matter of life and death,” Qi Xia said. “Fist, later, take your own ‘相’ and wait in a room near Han Yimo.”
“Writer Guy?” Qiao Jiajin paused. “Isn’t he the spy?”
“Whether he’s a spy or not doesn’t matter,” Qi Xia replied. “If Wen Qiaoyun tries to take his ‘character,’ seize both her ‘character’ and his.”
“Alright… but do you know what ‘character’ that pretty lady has?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“No,” Qi Xia shook his head. “But as I said earlier… the only ‘characters’ that can ‘cross the river’ are ‘chariot,’ ‘horse,’ ‘cannon,’ and ‘soldier.’ She can’t be ‘soldier,’ so I hope she’s ‘cannon.'”
“Got it! I understand!”
Qiao Jiajin nodded, taking back his “相” from Qi Xia. As he was about to thread the “木” and “目” back onto the chain, he suddenly thought of something.
Qi Xia looked at him curiously. “What’s wrong?”
Qiao Jiajin examined the “木” and “目” for a moment, muttering to himself, “Trickster, if ‘目’ and ‘米’ can form ‘眯,’ what can ‘目’ and ‘木’ form?”
“…?”
Qi Xia was momentarily stunned, not quite understanding the question.
Qiao Jiajin scratched his head. “Can they form a ‘character’?”
Qi Xia cleared his throat slightly. “Is it possible that the character is ‘相’?”
“Uh…”
An awkward silence hung between them for a moment before Qiao Jiajin spoke again. “What if ‘目’ is on the left… would that work?”
“This…”
Qi Xia wasn’t sure. Would an “eye radical” plus “wood” form a “character”?
Then again, it wasn’t really a question—whether it was a “character” or not could be tested directly on the Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform.
He took the “characters” back from Qiao Jiajin, placed “目” on the left and “木” on the right, and waited for the screen to light up.
A few seconds later, the screen lit up with a red light—
“No character prototype received. Please recreate.”
“So it’s really not a ‘character,'” Qi Xia said.
But Qiao Jiajin didn’t seem ready to give up. He stepped forward and placed a finger beneath the “目.”
Like moving a chess piece, he used his finger to pivot the “目,” rotating it halfway so it lay horizontally above the “木.”
Qi Xia paused, reexamining the layout on the Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform. Originally, there was an “目” on the left and a “木” on the right.
Now, there was an “罒” on top and a “木” below.
“Trickster, what about this?” Qiao Jiajin asked. “Would this be a ‘character’?”
Qi Xia naturally had no idea whether this counted as a “character” and silently waited for the screen to light up.
Whether it was luck or not, the screen flickered for a moment before slowly displaying text—
“Received character prototype ‘䍒.’ Please write a homophone.”
The atmosphere between them grew even more silent than before.
What kind of character was this…?
Qi Xia almost wished the screen hadn’t recognized this “character.” He knew he had never seen this character in any book or material. Its structure made it impossible to even guess.
“I really don’t like this feeling…” Qi Xia said. “Having to guess at every step…”
“Hey!” Qiao Jiajin said nonchalantly. “Cheer up, Trickster! You’re so quick-witted—think about how this ‘character’ should be pronounced!”
“Is this really a matter of thinking…?” Qi Xia frowned. “How could anyone possibly deduce the pronunciation of this ‘character’ through reasoning?”
“Just give it a try!” Qiao Jiajin urged. “Let’s each take a guess—it can’t hurt! I’ll go first!”
Imitating Qi Xia, Qiao Jiajin stroked his chin and slowly said, “Could it be pronounced ‘lín’?”
“‘Lín’…?” Qi Xia paused. “Why?”
“Because there’s a ‘four’ and a ‘wood,'” Qiao Jiajin said confidently. “Four woods, meaning a lot of trees, so it’s pronounced ‘lín.'”
Qi Xia remained frowning. Something felt off, but Qiao Jiajin had a special talent—his words were always hard to refute.
“Trickster… if it were you… how would you guess?”
Qi Xia thought for a long time before saying, “In Yantai, Shandong, there’s a district called ‘Zhīfú Qū.’ The second character is pronounced ‘fú.’ Its structure is very similar to this character, except one has ‘不’ below and the other has ‘木.’ Based on that… I feel it might be pronounced ‘mú.'”
Qiao Jiajin pondered this. “Like the ‘mú’ in ‘carved from the same mold’?”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia said. “But I’m not confident at all. The chance of guessing correctly is probably only ten or twenty percent.”
*Click.*
The metal character snapped into place.
“Wait…? This… this is…”
A few seconds later, the screen flashed again—
“We’re already at nine points!” Qiao Jiajin exclaimed. “Two characters, nine points!”
“Just partly luck,” Qi Xia replied.
“If that’s the case, each character is worth 4.5 points. To reach twenty-eight points, we just need…” Qiao Jiajin counted on his fingers for a while, “…about six ‘characters’… then we’re definitely winning…”
Qi Xia was slightly taken aback. “That’s not how it works…”
“I believe in you, Trickster!” Qiao Jiajin said. “If you even thought of using ‘rice’ as a ‘character’… then there are way too many combinations possible.”
“That’s true…” Qi Xia nodded. “But now we still need to test one possibility…”
“What possibility?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“Whether three ‘components’ can form one ‘character.'”
Qi Xia looked at the “丷” and “木” on the screen but did not remove these radicals. Instead, he cautiously picked up an “目” and placed it on the left side.
*Click.*
The metal character was吸了上去 (sucked into place).
“Hey…? This… this is…”
A few seconds later, the screen flickered again—
“Received character prototype ‘眯.’ Please write a homophone.”
“I… damn it!”
Qiao Jiajin stared wide-eyed as the black metal plate engraved with “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform”吸了 (sucked in) three metal characters. He felt like he’d been “in the dark despite being right under the light”—such an obvious “character” had escaped his notice.
But then again, he hadn’t even noticed “rice.”
With just two “characters,” they’d already scored ten points. If they added another “character,” wouldn’t their points double again?
Qi Xia nodded. “Just as I thought… Not only can radicals be rotated, but multiple radicals can also be combined to form a character… This opens up even more options…”
“This is way too fun…” Qiao Jiajin stared at the display for a long time. “Trickster, if I’d had a toy like this when I was a kid, I could’ve played with it all day.”
“Now is a matter of life and death,” Qi Xia said. “Fists, later, take your own ‘xiang’ and wait in a room near Han Yimo.”
“Writer Guy?” Qiao Jiajin paused. “Isn’t he the spy?”
“Whether he’s a spy or not doesn’t matter,” Qi Xia said. “If Wen Qiaoyun tries to take his ‘character,’ seize both her ‘character’ and his.”
“Alright… but do you know what ‘character’ that pretty lady has?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“No,” Qi Xia shook his head. “But as I said… the only ‘characters’ that can ‘cross the river’ are ‘chariot,’ ‘horse,’ ‘cannon,’ and ‘soldier.’ She can’t be a ‘soldier,’ so I hope she’s a ‘cannon.'”
“Got it! I understand!”
Qiao Jiajin nodded, taking back his “xiang” from Qi Xia. As he was about to thread the “木” and “目” back onto the chain, he suddenly thought of something.
Qi Xia looked at him curiously. “What’s wrong?”
Qiao Jiajin stared at the “木” and “目” for a while, muttering to himself, “Trickster, if ‘目’ and ‘米’ can form ‘眯,’ what can ‘目’ and ‘木’ form?”
“…?”
Qi Xia was slightly stunned, as if he didn’t quite understand the question.
Qiao Jiajin scratched his head. “Can they form a ‘character’?”
Qi Xia cleared his throat slightly. “Is it possible that the character is ‘相’?”
“Uh…”
An awkward atmosphere lingered between the two for a moment before Qiao Jiajin spoke again. “What if ‘目’ is on the left… would that work?”
“This…”
Qi Xia wasn’t sure about this. Would an “eye radical” plus “wood” form a “character”?
Then again, this wasn’t really a problem—whether it was a “character” or not, they could just try it on the “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform” and find out.
He took the “characters” back from Qiao Jiajin, placed “目” on the left and “木” on the right, and waited for the display to light up.
After a few seconds, the display lit up with a red light—
“No character prototype received. Please recreate.”
“This really isn’t a ‘character,'” Qi Xia said.
But Qiao Jiajin didn’t seem ready to give up. He stepped forward and placed a finger under the “目.”
Like moving a chess piece, Qiao Jiajin used his finger to push the “目,” rotating it halfway so it lay horizontally above the “木.”
Qi Xia paused, taking another look at the layout on the “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform.” Originally, there was an “目” on the left and a “木” on the right.
But now, there was an “罒” on top and a “木” below.
“Trickster, what about this?” Qiao Jiajin asked. “Would this be a ‘character’?”
Qi Xia naturally had no idea whether this counted as a “character,” so he quietly waited for the screen to light up.
Whether it was luck or not, the screen flickered for a moment before slowly displaying text—
“Received character prototype ‘䍒.’ Please write a homophone.”
The atmosphere between the two grew even more silent than before.
What kind of character was this…?
Qi Xia would’ve preferred if the display hadn’t recognized this “character,” because he knew he had never seen this character in any book or any material. Its structure made it impossible to even guess.
“I really don’t like this feeling…” Qi Xia said. “Having to guess at every step…”
“Hey!” Qiao Jiajin said nonchalantly. “Trickster, cheer up! Your brain works so well—quick, think about how this ‘character’ should be pronounced!”
“Is this really a matter of thinking…?” Qi Xia frowned. “How could anyone possibly figure out the pronunciation of this ‘character’ through thinking?”
“Just give it a try!” Qiao Jiajin said. “Let’s each take a guess—it’s not like we’re losing anything! I’ll go first!”
Qiao Jiajin模仿着 (imitated) Qi Xia by stroking his chin, then slowly said, “Could it be pronounced ‘lín’?”
“‘Lín’…?” Qi Xia paused. “Why?”
“Because there’s a ‘four’ and a ‘wood,'” Qiao Jiajin said confidently. “Four woods, describing a lot of trees, so it’s pronounced ‘lín.'”
Qi Xia kept frowning. He felt something was off, but Qiao Jiajin had a special talent—anything he said was hard to反驳 (refute).
“Trickster… if it were you… how would you guess?”
Qi Xia thought for a long time before saying, “In Yantai, Shandong, there’s a district called ‘Zhīfú Qū.’ The second character is pronounced ‘fú.’ Its structure is very similar to this character, except one has ‘不’ below and the other has ‘木.’ Based on that… I feel like it might be pronounced ‘mú.'”
Qiao Jiajin also thought for a moment. “Like the ‘mú’ in ‘carved from the same mold’?”
“Right,” Qi Xia said. “But I’m not confident at all. The chance of guessing correctly is probably only ten or twenty percent.”
“Dang it!”
Qiao Jiajin widened his eyes as he watched the black metal plate inscribed with “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform” absorb three metal characters. He felt like he’d been blind to the obvious—how had he missed such a straightforward “character”?
But then again, he hadn’t even noticed “rice.”
Now, with just two “characters,” they’d already scored ten points. If they added another, wouldn’t the points multiply again?
Qi Xia nodded. “Exactly… Not only can radicals be rotated, but multiple radicals can also combine to form a character. That opens up even more possibilities…”
“This is way too fun…” Qiao Jiajin stared at the display. “Liar, if I’d had a toy like this when I was a kid, I could’ve played with it all day.”
“We’re already at nine points!” Qiao Jiajin exclaimed. “Two characters, nine points!”
“Just partly luck,” Qixia replied.
“That means each character is worth four and a half points. To get twenty-eight points, we just need…” Qiao Jiajin counted on his fingers for a while. “About six more ‘characters’… then we’re definitely winning…”
Qixia paused, slightly taken aback. “That’s not how the calculation works…”
“I believe in you, Trickster!” Qiao Jiajin said. “If you even thought of using ‘mi’ as a ‘character’… then there are way too many possible combinations now.”
“That’s true…” Qixia nodded. “But we still need to test one possibility…”
“What possibility?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“Whether three ‘components’ can form one ‘character’.”
Qixia looked at the “丷” and “木” on the screen but didn’t remove these radicals. Instead, he carefully picked up an “目” and placed it on the left side.
*Click.*
The metallic character was吸了上去 (sucked into place).
“Hey…? This… this is…”
A few seconds later, the screen flickered again—
“Received character prototype ‘mi.’ Please write a homophone.”
“I… damn it!”
Qiao Jiajin stared wide-eyed as the black metal plate engraved with “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform”吸住了 (sucked in) three metallic characters. He felt like he’d been blind to the obvious—how had he not noticed such a clear “character”?
But then again, he hadn’t even noticed “mi.”
With just two “characters,” they already had ten points. Would adding one more double their score?
Qixia nodded. “Just as I thought… Not only can radicals be rotated, but multiple radicals can also combine to form a character… This opens up even more options…”
“This is way too fun…” Qiao Jiajin stared at the display. “Trickster, if I’d had a toy like this as a kid, I could’ve played with it all day.”
“Right now, it’s a matter of life and death,” Qixia said. “Fist, later, take your own ‘xiang’ and wait in a room near Han Yimo.”
“Writer Guy?” Qiao Jiajin hesitated. “Isn’t he the spy?”
“Whether he’s a spy or not doesn’t matter,” Qixia replied. “If Wen Qiaoyun tries to take his ‘character,’ seize both her ‘character’ and his.”
“Alright… but do you know what ‘character’ that pretty lady has?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“No,” Qixia shook his head. “But as I said earlier… the only ‘characters’ that can ‘cross the river’ are ‘chariot,’ ‘horse,’ ‘cannon,’ and ‘soldier.’ She can’t be ‘soldier,’ so I hope she’s ‘cannon.'”
“Got it! I understand!”
Qiao Jiajin nodded, taking back his “xiang” from Qixia. As he was about to thread “木” and “目” back onto the chain, he suddenly thought of something.
Qixia looked at him curiously. “What’s wrong?”
Qiao Jiajin stared at “木” and “目” for a moment, muttering to himself, “Trickster, if ‘目’ and ‘米’ can form ‘mi,’ what can ‘目’ and ‘木’ form?”
“……?”
Qixia paused, not quite understanding the question.
Qiao Jiajin scratched his head. “Can they form a ‘character’?”
Qixia cleared his throat slightly. “Is it possible that the character is ‘xiang’?”
“Uh…”
An awkward silence hung between them for a moment before Qiao Jiajin spoke again. “What if ‘目’ is on the left… would that work?”
“This…”
Qixia wasn’t sure. Would a “目 radical” plus a “木” form a “character”?
Then again, it wasn’t really a question—whether it was a “character” or not, they could just try it on the “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform” and find out.
He took the “characters” back from Qiao Jiajin, placed “目” on the left and “木” on the right, then waited for the display to light up.
A few seconds later, the screen lit up with a red light—
“No character prototype received. Please recreate.”
“This really isn’t a ‘character,'” Qixia said.
But Qiao Jiajin didn’t seem ready to give up. He stepped forward and placed a finger beneath “目.”
Like moving a chess piece, he used his finger to push “目,” rotating it halfway so it lay horizontally above “木.”
Qixia paused,重新看了看 (looked again at) the layout on the “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform.” Originally, it was “目” on the left and “木” on the right.
Now, it was “罒” on top and “木” below.
“Trickster, what about this?” Qiao Jiajin asked. “Would this be a ‘character’?”
Qixia naturally had no idea whether this counted as a “character,” so he waited silently for the screen to light up.
Whether it was luck or not, the screen flickered for a moment before slowly displaying text—
“Received character prototype ‘䍒.’ Please write a homophone.”
The atmosphere between them grew even more silent than before.
What kind of character was this…?
Qixia almost wished the display hadn’t recognized this “character.” He knew he had never seen this character in any book or resource. Its structure made it nearly impossible to even guess.
“I really don’t like this feeling…” Qixia said. “Having to guess at every step…”
“Hey!” Qiao Jiajin said nonchalantly. “Trickster, cheer up! Your brain works so well—quick, think about how this ‘character’ should be pronounced!”
“Is this really something you can figure out by thinking…?” Qixia frowned. “How could anyone possibly determine the pronunciation of this ‘character’ through reasoning?”
“Just give it a try!” Qiao Jiajin urged. “Let’s each take a guess—it can’t hurt! I’ll go first!”
Imitating Qixia, Qiao Jiajin stroked his chin and slowly said, “Could it be ‘lin’?”
“‘Lin’…?” Qixia paused. “Why?”
“Because there’s a ‘four’ and a ‘tree,'” Qiao Jiajin said confidently. “Four trees, meaning a lot of trees, so it’s pronounced ‘lin.'”
Qixia kept frowning. Something felt off, but Qiao Jiajin had a special talent—anything he said was hard to refute.
“Trickster… if it were you… how would you guess?”
After thinking for a while, Qixia said, “In Yantai, Shandong, there’s a district called ‘Zhifu District.’ The second character is pronounced ‘fú.’ Its structure is very similar to this character, except one has ‘不’ below and the other has ‘木.’ Based on that… I feel like it might be pronounced ‘mú.'”
Qiao Jiajin thought for a moment too. “Like the ‘mu’ in ‘cast from the same mold’?”
“Yes,” Qixia said. “But I’m not confident at all. The chance of guessing correctly is probably only ten or twenty percent.”
“Writer Guy?” Qiao Jiajin hesitated. “Isn’t he the traitor?”
“Whether he’s a traitor or not doesn’t matter,” Qi Xia said. “If Wen Qiaoyun steals his ‘character,’ then take both her ‘character’ and his.”
“Got it… But do you know what ‘character’ that pretty lady has?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“No,” Qi Xia shook his head. “But like I said… the only ‘characters’ that can ‘cross the river’ are ‘chariot,’ ‘horse,’ ‘cannon,’ and ‘pawn.’ She can’t be a ‘pawn,’ so I hope she’s a ‘cannon.'”
“Alright! I got it!”
“We’re already at nine points!” Qiao Jiajin exclaimed. “Two characters, nine points!”
“Just partly luck,” Qi Xia replied.
“If that’s the case, each character is worth 4.5 points. To reach twenty-eight points, we just need…” Qiao Jiajin counted on his fingers for a while, “…about six ‘characters’… then we’re definitely winning…”
Qi Xia was slightly taken aback. “That’s not how it works…”
“I believe in you, Trickster!” Qiao Jiajin said. “If you even thought of using ‘rice’ as a ‘character’… then there are way too many combinations possible.”
“That’s true…” Qi Xia nodded. “But now we still need to test one possibility…”
“What possibility?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“Whether three ‘components’ can form one ‘character.'”
Qi Xia looked at the “丷” and “木” on the screen but didn’t remove these radicals. Instead, he carefully picked up an “目” and placed it on the left side.
*Click.*
The metal character was吸了上去 (sucked into place).
“Hey…? This… this is…”
A few seconds later, the screen flickered again—
“Received character prototype ‘眯.’ Please write a homophone.”
“I… damn it!”
Qiao Jiajin stared wide-eyed as the black metal plate engraved with “Phoenix Holding Book Platform” absorbed three metal characters. He felt like he’d been blind to the obvious—how had he not noticed such a clear “character”?
But then again, he hadn’t even noticed “rice.”
With just two “characters,” they’d already scored ten points. Would adding another “character” double their score?
Qi Xia nodded. “Just as I thought… Not only can radicals be rotated, but multiple radicals can also be combined to form a character… This opens up even more options…”
“This is way too fun…” Qiao Jiajin stared at the display for a long time. “Trickster, if I’d had a toy like this when I was a kid, I could’ve played with it all day.”
“Right now, it’s a matter of life and death,” Qi Xia said. “Fists, later, take your own ‘相’ and wait in a room near Han Yimo.”
“Writer Guy?” Qiao Jiajin paused. “Isn’t he the spy?”
“Whether he’s a spy or not doesn’t matter,” Qi Xia said. “If Wen Qiaoyun tries to take his ‘character,’ seize both her ‘character’ and his.”
“Alright… but do you know what ‘character’ that pretty lady has?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“No,” Qi Xia shook his head. “But as I said before… the only ‘characters’ that can ‘cross the river’ are ‘chariot,’ ‘horse,’ ‘cannon,’ and ‘soldier.’ She can’t be a ‘soldier,’ so I hope she’s a ‘cannon.'”
“Got it! I understand!”
Qiao Jiajin nodded, taking back his “相” from Qi Xia. As he was about to thread “木” and “目” back onto the chain, he suddenly thought of something.
Qi Xia looked at him curiously. “What’s wrong?”
Qiao Jiajin stared at “木” and “目” for a while, muttering to himself, “Trickster, if ‘目’ and ‘米’ can form ‘眯,’ what can ‘目’ and ‘木’ form?”
“…?”
Qi Xia was slightly stunned, as if he didn’t quite understand the question.
Qiao Jiajin scratched his head. “Can they form a ‘character’?”
Qi Xia cleared his throat slightly. “Is it possible that the character is ‘相’?”
“Uh…”
An awkward atmosphere hung between the two for a moment before Qiao Jiajin spoke again. “What if ‘目’ is on the left… would that work?”
“This…”
Qi Xia wasn’t sure about this. Would an “eye radical” plus “wood” form a “character”?
Then again, it wasn’t really a problem—whether it was a “character” or not, they could just try it on the “Phoenix Holding Book Platform.”
He took the “characters” back from Qiao Jiajin, placed “目” on the left and “木” on the right, then waited for the display to light up.
A few seconds later, the display lit up with a red light—
“No character prototype received. Please recreate.”
“This time, it’s really not a ‘character,'” Qi Xia said.
But Qiao Jiajin didn’t seem ready to give up. He stepped forward and placed a finger under “目.”
Then, like moving a chess piece, he used his finger to push “目,” rotating it halfway so it lay horizontally above “木.”
Qi Xia paused, taking another look at the layout on the “Phoenix Holding Book Platform.” Originally, it was “目” on the left and “木” on the right.
But now it was “罒” on top and “木” below.
“Trickster, what about this?” Qiao Jiajin asked. “Would this be a ‘character’?”
Qi Xia naturally had no idea whether this counted as a “character,” so he quietly waited for the screen to light up.
Whether it was luck or not, the screen flickered for a while before slowly displaying text—
“Received character prototype ‘䍒.’ Please write a homophone.”
The atmosphere between the two grew even more silent than before.
What kind of character was this…?
Qi Xia would’ve preferred if the display hadn’t recognized this “character,” because he knew he had never seen this character in any book or any material. Its structure made it impossible to even guess.
“I really don’t like this feeling…” Qi Xia said. “Every step relies on guessing…”
“Hey!” Qiao Jiajin said with a carefree expression. “Trickster, cheer up! Your brain works so well—quick, think about how this ‘character’ should be pronounced!”
“Is this really a problem that can be solved by thinking…?” Qi Xia frowned. “How could anyone possibly figure out the pronunciation of this ‘character’ through reasoning?”
“Just give it a try!” Qiao Jiajin said. “Let’s each take a guess—it can’t hurt! I’ll go first!”
Qiao Jiajin模仿ed Qi Xia’s habit of stroking his chin, then slowly said, “Could it be pronounced ‘lín’?”
“‘Lín’…?” Qi Xia paused. “Why?”
“Because there’s a ‘four’ and a ‘wood,'” Qiao Jiajin said with confidence. “Four woods, meaning there are a lot of trees, so it’s pronounced ‘lín.'”
Qi Xia kept frowning, feeling that something was off. But Qiao Jiajin had a special talent—everything he said was hard to反驳.
“Trickster… if it were you… how would you guess?”
Qi Xia thought for a long time before saying, “In Yantai, Shandong, there’s a district called ‘Zhifú District.’ The second character is pronounced ‘fú.’ Its structure is very similar to this character, except one has ‘不’ below and the other has ‘木.’ Based on that… I feel like it might be pronounced ‘mú.'”
Qiao Jiajin thought about it too. “Like the ‘mú’ in ‘cast from the same mold’?”
“Right,” Qi Xia said. “But I’m not confident at all. The chance of guessing correctly is probably only ten or twenty percent.”
Qi Xia looked at him curiously. “What’s wrong?”
“This is already nine points!” Qiao Jiajin exclaimed. “Two characters, nine points!”
“Just a bit of luck,” Qi Xia replied.
“If that’s the case, each character is worth 4.5 points. To reach twenty-eight points, we only need…” Qiao Jiajin counted on his fingers for a while, “…about six ‘characters’… then we’re definitely winning…”
Qi Xia was taken aback. “That’s not how it works…”
“I believe in you, Trickster!” Qiao Jiajin said. “If you even thought of using ‘mi’ as a ‘character’… then there are way too many combinations possible.”
“You’re not wrong…” Qi Xia nodded. “But now we need to test another possibility…”
“What possibility?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“Whether three ‘components’ can form a single ‘character.'”
Qi Xia looked at the “丷” and “木” on the screen but didn’t remove these radicals. Instead, he cautiously picked up an “目” and placed it on the left side.
*Click.*
The metallic character was吸了上去 (sucked into place).
“Hey…? This… this is…”
A few seconds later, the screen flickered again—
“Received character雏形 ‘mī’ (眯). Please write a homophone.”
“I… damn it!”
Qiao Jiajin stared wide-eyed as the black metal plate engraved with “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform”吸了 (sucked in) three metallic characters. He felt like he’d been blind to the obvious—how had he not noticed such a clear “character”?
But then again, he hadn’t even noticed “mi.”
With just two “characters,” they already had ten points. If they added another, wouldn’t their score double?
Qi Xia nodded. “As expected… Not only can radicals be rotated, but multiple radicals can also be combined to form a character… This opens up even more possibilities…”
“This is way too fun…” Qiao Jiajin stared at the display. “Trickster, if I’d had a toy like this as a kid, I could’ve played with it all day.”
“Right now, it’s a matter of life and death,” Qi Xia said. “Fists, later, take your own ‘xiàng’ and wait in a room near Han Yimo.”
“Writer Guy?” Qiao Jiajin paused. “Isn’t he the spy?”
“Whether he’s a spy or not doesn’t matter,” Qi Xia replied. “If Wen Qiaoyun tries to take his ‘character,’ seize both her ‘character’ and his.”
“Alright… but do you know what ‘character’ that pretty lady has?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“No,” Qi Xia shook his head. “But as I said earlier… the only ‘characters’ that can ‘cross the river’ are ‘chariot,’ ‘horse,’ ‘cannon,’ and ‘soldier.’ She can’t be a ‘soldier,’ so I hope she’s a ‘cannon.'”
“Got it! I understand!”
Qiao Jiajin nodded, taking back his “xiàng” from Qi Xia. As he was about to thread “木” and “目” back onto their chains, he suddenly thought of something.
Qi Xia looked at him curiously. “What’s wrong?”
Qiao Jiajin held “木” and “目” in his hand, muttering to himself, “Trickster, if ‘目’ and ‘米’ can form ‘mī’ (眯), what can ‘目’ and ‘木’ form?”
“…?”
Qi Xia was slightly stunned, not quite understanding the question.
Qiao Jiajin scratched his head. “Can they form a ‘character’?”
Qi Xia cleared his throat slightly. “Is it possible that the character is ‘xiàng’ (相)?”
“Uh…”
An awkward silence hung between them for a moment before Qiao Jiajin spoke again. “What if ‘目’ is on the left… would that work?”
“This…”
Qi Xia wasn’t sure about this. Would a “目 radical” plus a “木” form a “character”?
Then again, it wasn’t really a question—whether it was a “character” or not could be tested directly on the Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform.
He took the “characters” back from Qiao Jiajin, placed “目” on the left and “木” on the right, then waited for the display to light up.
A few seconds later, the display lit up with a red light—
“No character雏形 received. Please recreate.”
“This really isn’t a ‘character,'” Qi Xia said.
But Qiao Jiajin didn’t seem ready to give up. He stepped forward and placed a finger beneath “目.”
Like moving a chess piece, he used his finger to push “目,” rotating it halfway so it lay horizontally above “木.”
Qi Xia paused,重新看了看 (looked again at) the layout on the Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform. Originally, “目” was on the left and “木” on the right.
Now, “罒” was on top and “木” below.
“Trickster, what about this?” Qiao Jiajin asked. “Would this be a ‘character’?”
Qi Xia naturally had no idea whether this counted as a “character” and quietly waited for the screen to light up.
Whether it was luck or not, the screen flickered for a moment before slowly displaying text—
“Received character雏形 ‘䍒’. Please write a homophone.”
The atmosphere between them grew even more silent than before.
What kind of character was this…?
Qi Xia almost wished the display hadn’t recognized this “character.” He knew he had never seen this character in any book or material. Its structure made it impossible to even guess.
“I really don’t like this feeling…” Qi Xia said. “Having to guess at every step…”
“Hey!” Qiao Jiajin said nonchalantly. “Trickster, cheer up! Your brain works so well—quick, think about how this ‘character’ should be pronounced!”
“Is this really something you can figure out by thinking…?” Qi Xia frowned. “How could anyone possibly deduce the pronunciation of this ‘character’ through reasoning?”
“Just give it a try!” Qiao Jiajin urged. “Let’s each take a guess—it can’t hurt! I’ll go first!”
Qiao Jiajin模仿着 (imitated) Qi Xia by stroking his chin, then slowly said, “Could it be pronounced ‘lín’?”
“‘Lín’…?” Qi Xia paused. “Why?”
“Because there’s a ‘四’ and a ‘木,'” Qiao Jiajin said confidently. “Four trees, meaning there are a lot of trees, so it’s pronounced ‘lín.'”
Qi Xia kept frowning. He felt something was off, but Qiao Jiajin had a special talent—anything he said was hard to refute.
“Trickster… if it were you… how would you guess?”
Qi Xia thought for a long time before saying, “In Yantai, Shandong, there’s a district called ‘Zhīfú Qū.’ The second character is pronounced ‘fú.’ Its structure is very similar to this character, except one has ‘不’ below and the other has ‘木.’ Based on that… I feel it might be pronounced ‘mú.'”
Qiao Jiajin thought about it too. “Like the ‘mú’ in ‘carved from the same mold’?”
“Right,” Qi Xia said. “But I’m not confident at all. The chance of guessing correctly is probably only ten or twenty percent.”
“……?”
Qi Xia was momentarily stunned, as if he didn’t quite understand the question.
Qiao Jiajin scratched his head. “Can they form a ‘character’?”
“We’re already at nine points!” Qiao Jiajin exclaimed. “Two characters, nine points!”
“Some of it was just luck,” Qi Xia replied.
“If that’s the case, each character is worth 4.5 points. To reach 28 points, we only need…” Qiao Jiajin counted on his fingers for a moment. “About six more ‘characters’… and we’re set for victory.”
Qi Xia paused, slightly taken aback. “That’s not really how the math works…”
“I believe in you, Trickster!” Qiao Jiajin said. “If you even thought of using ‘mi’ (rice) as a ‘character’… then there are tons of combinations possible.”
“That’s true,” Qi Xia nodded. “But now we need to test another possibility.”
“What possibility?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“Whether three ‘components’ can form a single ‘character.'”
Qi Xia looked at the “丷” and “木” on the screen but didn’t remove these radicals. Instead, he carefully picked up an “目” and placed it on the left side.
*Click.*
The metallic character was drawn into place.
“Hey…? This… this is…”
A few seconds later, the screen flickered again—
“Received character prototype ‘眯’ (mī). Please write a homophone.”
“Holy… crap!”
Qiao Jiajin stared wide-eyed as the black metal plate inscribed with “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform” absorbed three metallic characters. He felt like he’d been blind to the obvious—how had he not noticed such a straightforward “character”?
Then again, he hadn’t even thought of “mi.”
With just two “characters,” they’d already earned ten points. Would adding another one double their score?
Qi Xia nodded. “Just as I thought… Not only can radicals be rotated, but multiple components can combine to form a character. This opens up even more possibilities.”
“This is way too fun,” Qiao Jiajin said, staring at the display. “Trickster, if I’d had a toy like this as a kid, I could’ve played with it all day.”
“Right now, it’s a matter of life and death,” Qi Xia reminded him. “Fists, later, take your ‘xiàng’ and wait in a room near Han Yimo.”
“Writer Guy?” Qiao Jiajin hesitated. “Isn’t he the spy?”
“Whether he’s a spy or not doesn’t matter,” Qi Xia said. “If Wen Qiaoyun tries to take his ‘character,’ seize both her ‘character’ and his.”
“Alright… but do you know what ‘character’ that pretty lady has?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“No,” Qi Xia shook his head. “But as I said, the only ‘characters’ that can ‘cross the river’ are ‘chariot,’ ‘horse,’ ‘cannon,’ and ‘soldier.’ She can’t be a ‘soldier,’ so I’m hoping she’s a ‘cannon.'”
“Got it! I understand!”
Qiao Jiajin nodded, taking back his “xiàng” from Qi Xia. As he was about to reattach the “木” and “目” to their chains, he suddenly paused.
Qi Xia looked at him curiously. “What’s wrong?”
Qiao Jiajin stared at the “木” and “目” for a moment, muttering to himself, “Trickster, if ‘目’ and ‘米’ can form ‘眯,’ what can ‘目’ and ‘木’ form?”
“……?”
Qi Xia was momentarily speechless, not quite understanding the question.
Qiao Jiajin scratched his head. “Can they form a ‘character’?”
Qi Xia cleared his throat slightly. “Is it possible that the character is ‘相’ (xiàng)?”
“Uh…”
An awkward silence hung between them for a moment before Qiao Jiajin spoke again. “What if ‘目’ is on the left… would that work?”
“This…”
Qi Xia wasn’t sure. Would an “eye radical” plus “wood” form a character?
Then again, it wasn’t really a question—whether it was a character or not, they could just test it on the Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform.
He took the “characters” back from Qiao Jiajin, placed “目” on the left and “木” on the right, then waited for the screen to light up.
A few seconds later, a red light appeared on the display—
“No character prototype received. Please recreate.”
“So it’s really not a character,” Qi Xia said.
But Qiao Jiajin didn’t seem ready to give up. He stepped forward and placed a finger beneath the “目.”
Then, as if moving a chess piece, he used his finger to pivot the “目” halfway, turning it horizontally and placing it above the “木.”
Qi Xia paused, studying the new arrangement on the Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform. Originally, it was “目” on the left and “木” on the right.
Now, it was “罒” on top and “木” below.
“Trickster, what about this?” Qiao Jiajin asked. “Would this be a character?”
Qi Xia had no idea if this counted as a character, so he waited silently for the screen to light up.
Whether it was luck or not, after flickering for a moment, text slowly appeared on the screen—
“Received character prototype ‘䍒’. Please write a homophone.”
The silence between them grew even heavier than before.
What kind of character was this…?
Qi Xia almost wished the screen hadn’t recognized it. He knew he’d never seen this character in any book or resource. Its structure made it nearly impossible to even guess.
“I really don’t like this feeling,” Qi Xia said. “Having to guess at every step…”
“Hey!” Qiao Jiajin said, unfazed. “Trickster, cheer up! You’re so quick-witted—think hard about how this ‘character’ should be pronounced!”
“Is this really something you can reason out…?” Qi Xia frowned. “How could anyone possibly deduce the pronunciation of this ‘character’ through logic?”
“Just give it a try!” Qiao Jiajin urged. “We’ll each take a guess—it can’t hurt! I’ll go first!”
He mimicked Qi Xia by stroking his chin thoughtfully, then slowly said, “Could it be ‘lín’?”
“‘Lín’…?” Qi Xia paused. “Why?”
“Because there’s a ‘four’ and a ‘wood,'” Qiao Jiajin said confidently. “Four woods—meaning lots of trees—so it should be ‘lín’ (forest).”
Qi Xia kept frowning, feeling that something was off. But Qiao Jiajin had a special talent—everything he said sounded strangely convincing.
“Trickster… what would you guess?”
After thinking for a while, Qi Xia said, “In Yantai, Shandong, there’s a district called ‘Zhīfú Qū.’ The second character is pronounced ‘fú.’ Its structure is very similar to this one, except the bottom part is ‘bù’ instead of ‘mù.’ Based on that… I feel like it might be pronounced ‘mú.'”
Qiao Jiajin pondered this. “Like the ‘mú’ in ‘molded from the same cast’?”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia said. “But I’m not confident at all. The chance of guessing correctly is probably only ten or twenty percent.”
“Uh…”
“This is already nine points!” Qiao Jiajin exclaimed. “Two characters, nine points!”
“Just partly luck,” Qi Xia replied.
“That means each character is worth four and a half points. To get twenty-eight points, we just need…” Qiao Jiajin counted on his fingers for a while. “About six ‘characters’… then we’re definitely winning…”
Qi Xia was slightly taken aback. “That’s not how it works…”
“I believe in you, liar!” Qiao Jiajin said. “If you even thought of a character like ‘mi’ (rice)… then there are way too many combinations possible.”
“That’s true…” Qi Xia nodded. “But now we still need to test one possibility…”
“What possibility?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“That is… whether three ‘components’ can form one ‘character’.”
Qi Xia looked at the “丷” and “木” on the screen but didn’t remove these radicals. Instead, he carefully picked up an “目” and placed it on the left side.
*Click.*
The metallic character was吸了上去 (sucked into place).
“Hey…? This… this is…”
A few seconds later, the screen flickered again—
“Received character prototype ‘眯’ (mī), please write a homophone.”
“I… damn it!”
Qiao Jiajin stared wide-eyed as the black metal plate engraved with “Phoenix Holding Book Platform”吸了 (sucked in) three metallic characters. He felt like he had been “in the dark under the light”—such an obvious “character” had escaped his notice.
But then he thought about it—he hadn’t even noticed “米” (rice).
Now, with just two “characters,” they already had ten points. If they added one more “character,” wouldn’t their score double again?
Qi Xia nodded. “As expected… not only can radicals be rotated, but multiple radicals and components can also be combined to form a character… This opens up even more options…”
“This is way too fun…” Qiao Jiajin stared at the display for a long time. “Liar, if I had this kind of toy when I was a kid, I could’ve played with it all day.”
“Right now, it’s a matter of life and death,” Qi Xia said. “Fist, later, take your own ‘xiang’ and wait in a room near Han Yimo.”
“Writer guy?” Qiao Jiajin paused. “Isn’t he a spy?”
“Whether he’s a spy or not doesn’t matter,” Qi Xia said. “If Wen Qiaoyun snatches his ‘character,’ then snatch both Wen Qiaoyun’s ‘character’ and his ‘character’ back.”
“Okay… but do you know what ‘character’ that pretty lady has?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“No,” Qi Xia shook his head. “But as I said… the only ‘characters’ that can ‘cross the river’ are ‘chariot,’ ‘horse,’ ‘cannon,’ and ‘soldier.’ She can’t be ‘soldier,’ so I hope she’s ‘cannon.'”
“Alright! Got it!”
Qiao Jiajin nodded, taking back his “xiang” from Qi Xia. As he was about to thread “木” and “目” back onto the chain, he suddenly thought of something.
Qi Xia looked at him curiously. “What’s wrong?”
Qiao Jiajin held “木” and “目” and stared at them for a while, muttering to himself, “Liar, you said ‘目’ and ‘米’ can form ‘眯’ (mī). So what can ‘目’ and ‘木’ form?”
“…?”
Qi Xia was slightly stunned, as if he didn’t quite understand the question.
Qiao Jiajin scratched his head. “Can it form a ‘character’?”
Qi Xia cleared his throat slightly and said, “Is it possible that the character is ‘相’ (xiāng)?”
“Uh…”
An awkward atmosphere lingered between the two for a moment before Qiao Jiajin spoke again: “What if ‘目’ is on the left… would that work?”
“This…”
Qi Xia wasn’t sure about this question. Would a “目 radical” plus a “木” form a “character”?
Thinking about it, it wasn’t really a problem—whether it was a “character” or not, they could just try it out on the “Phoenix Holding Book Platform.”
He could only take the “character” from Qiao Jiajin again, place “目” on the left and “木” on the right, then wait for the display to light up.
After a few seconds, the display lit up with a red light—
“No character prototype received. Please create again.”
“This time, it’s really not a ‘character,'” Qi Xia said.
But Qiao Jiajin didn’t seem ready to give up. He stepped forward and placed a finger below “目.”
Then, as if moving a chess piece, Qiao Jiajin used his finger to push “目,” rotating it halfway so that it lay horizontally above “木.”
Qi Xia paused and重新看了看 (looked again at) the layout on the “Phoenix Holding Book Platform.” Originally, there was an “目” on the left and a “木” on the right.
But now, there was an “罒” on top and a “木” below.
“Liar, how about this?” Qiao Jiajin asked. “Will it be a ‘character’?”
Qi Xia naturally didn’t know if this counted as a “character,” so he quietly waited for the screen to light up.
Whether it was luck or not, the screen flickered for a while before slowly displaying text—
“Received character prototype ‘䍒’, please write a homophone.”
The atmosphere between the two was even more silent than before.
What kind of character was this…?
Qi Xia would have preferred if the display hadn’t received this “character,” because he knew he had never seen this character in any book or any material. Its structure made it hard to even guess.
“I really don’t like this feeling…” Qi Xia said. “Every step relies on guessing…”
“Hey!” Qiao Jiajin said with a carefree expression. “Liar, cheer up! Your brain works so well—quick, think about how this ‘character’ should be pronounced!”
“Is this really a matter of thinking…?” Qi Xia frowned. “How could anyone possibly know the pronunciation of this ‘character’ through thinking?”
“Just give it a try!” Qiao Jiajin said. “Let’s each take a guess—it’s not like we’re losing anything! I’ll go first!”
Qiao Jiajin模仿着 (imitated) Qi Xia by stroking his chin, then slowly said, “Is it possible it’s pronounced ‘lín’?”
“‘Lín’…?” Qi Xia paused. “Why?”
“Because there’s a ‘四’ (four) and a ‘木’ (wood),” Qiao Jiajin said with confidence. “Four woods, describing a lot of trees, so it’s pronounced ‘lín’ (forest).”
After hearing this, Qi Xia kept frowning. He felt something was off, but Qiao Jiajin had a special talent—whatever he said always left people unable to refute him.
“Liar… if it were you… how would you guess?”
Qi Xia thought for a long time before saying, “In Yantai, Shandong, there’s a district called ‘Zhīfú Qū’ (芝罘区). The second character is pronounced ‘fú.’ Its structure is very similar to this character, except one has ‘不’ (bù) below and the other has ‘木’ (mù) below. Based on that… I feel it might be pronounced ‘mú.'”
Qiao Jiajin also thought for a moment. “Like the ‘mú’ in ‘molded from the same cast’ (模)?”
“Right,” Qi Xia said. “But I’m completely unsure. The chance of guessing correctly is probably only ten or twenty percent.”
“This…”
“We’re already at nine points!” Qiao Jiejin exclaimed. “Two characters, nine points!”
“Just a bit of luck,” Qi Xia replied.
“If that’s the case, each character is worth 4.5 points. To reach 28 points, we just need…” Qiao Jiejin counted on his fingers for a while, “…about six ‘characters’… then we’re definitely winning…”
Qi Xia was taken aback. “That’s not how it works…”
“I believe in you, Trickster!” Qiao Jiejin said. “If you even thought of using ‘mi’ (rice) as a ‘character’… then there are way too many combinations possible.”
“That’s true…” Qi Xia nodded. “But now we need to test another possibility…”
“What possibility?” Qiao Jiejin asked.
“Whether three ‘components’ can form a single ‘character.'”
Qi Xia looked at the “丷” and “木” on the screen but didn’t remove these radicals. Instead, he cautiously picked up an “目” and placed it on the left side.
*Click.*
The metal character was吸了上去 (sucked into place).
“Hey…? This… this is…”
A few seconds later, the screen flickered again—
“Received character prototype ‘mi’ (眯), please write a homophone.”
“I… damn it!”
Qiao Jiejin stared wide-eyed as the black metal plate engraved with “Phoenix Holding Book Platform”吸了 (sucked in) three metal characters. He felt he had been “in the dark”—such an obvious “character” had escaped his notice.
But then again, he hadn’t even noticed “mi” (米).
Now, with just two “characters,” they already had ten points. Would adding another “character” double their score?
Qi Xia nodded. “Just as I thought… not only can radicals be rotated, but multiple radicals can also be combined to form a character… This opens up even more options…”
“This is way too fun…” Qiao Jiejin stared at the display for a long time. “Trickster, if I had this kind of toy when I was a kid, I could’ve played with it all day.”
“Now is a matter of life and death,” Qi Xia said. “Fists, later, take your own ‘xiang’ (相) and wait in a room near Han Yimo.”
“Writer Guy?” Qiao Jiejin paused. “Isn’t he the spy?”
“Whether he’s a spy or not doesn’t matter,” Qi Xia said. “If Wen Qiaoyun tries to take his ‘character,’ seize both her ‘character’ and his.”
“Okay… but do you know what ‘character’ that pretty lady has?” Qiao Jiejin asked.
“No,” Qi Xia shook his head. “But as I said… the only ‘characters’ that can ‘cross the river’ are ‘chariot,’ ‘horse,’ ‘cannon,’ and ‘soldier.’ She can’t be a ‘soldier,’ so I hope she’s a ‘cannon.'”
“Got it! I understand!”
Qiao Jiejin nodded, taking back his “xiang” (相) from Qi Xia. As he was about to thread “木” and “目” back onto the chain, he suddenly thought of something.
Qi Xia looked at him curiously. “What’s wrong?”
Qiao Jiejin stared at “木” and “目” for a while, muttering to himself, “Trickster, if ‘目’ and ‘米’ can form ‘mi’ (眯), what can ‘目’ and ‘木’ form?”
“…?”
Qi Xia was slightly stunned, as if he didn’t quite understand the question.
Qiao Jiejin scratched his head. “Can they form a ‘character’?”
Qi Xia cleared his throat slightly and said, “Is it possible that the character is ‘xiang’ (相)?”
“Uh…”
An awkward atmosphere lingered between the two for a moment before Qiao Jiejin spoke again: “What if ‘目’ is on the left… would that work?”
“This…”
Qi Xia wasn’t sure about this. Would an “eye radical” (目字旁) plus “木” form a “character”?
Thinking about it, it wasn’t really a problem—whether it was a “character” or not, they could just try it on the “Phoenix Holding Book Platform” to find out.
He took the “characters” back from Qiao Jiejin, placed “目” on the left and “木” on the right, then waited for the display to light up.
A few seconds later, the display lit up with a red light—
“No character prototype received. Please create again.”
“This time it’s really not a ‘character,'” Qi Xia said.
But Qiao Jiejin didn’t seem ready to give up. He stepped forward and placed a finger below “目.”
Like moving a chess piece, Qiao Jiejin used his finger to push “目,” rotating it halfway so it lay horizontally above “木.”
Qi Xia paused and重新看了看 (looked again at) the layout on the “Phoenix Holding Book Platform.” Originally, there was an “目” on the left and a “木” on the right.
Now, there was an “罒” on top and a “木” below.
“Trickster, how about this?” Qiao Jiejin asked. “Will it be a ‘character’?”
Qi Xia naturally didn’t know if this counted as a “character,” so he waited silently for the screen to light up.
Whether it was luck or not, the screen flickered for a while before slowly displaying text—
“Received character prototype ‘䍒’, please write a homophone.”
The atmosphere between the two grew even more silent than before.
What kind of character was this…?
Qi Xia would have preferred if the display hadn’t received this “character,” because he knew he had never seen this character in any book or material. Its structure made it impossible to even guess.
“I really don’t like this feeling…” Qi Xia said. “Having to guess at every step…”
“Hey!” Qiao Jiejin said with a carefree expression. “Trickster, cheer up! Your brain works so well—quick, think about how this ‘character’ should be pronounced!”
“Is this something you can figure out by thinking…?” Qi Xia frowned. “How could anyone possibly determine the pronunciation of this ‘character’ through reasoning?”
“Just give it a try!” Qiao Jiejin said. “Let’s each take a guess—it can’t hurt! I’ll go first!”
Qiao Jiejin模仿着 (imitated) Qi Xia by stroking his chin, then slowly said, “Could it be pronounced ‘lín’?”
“‘Lín’…?” Qi Xia paused. “Why?”
“Because there’s a ‘four’ (四) and a ‘wood’ (木),” Qiao Jiejin said confidently. “Four woods, meaning lots of trees, so it’s pronounced ‘lín’ (林).”
Qi Xia kept frowning. He felt something was off, but Qiao Jiejin had a special talent—anything he said was hard to反驳 (refute).
“Trickster… if it were you… how would you guess?”
Qi Xia thought for a long time before saying, “In Yantai, Shandong, there’s a district called ‘Zhifu District’ (芝罘区). The second character is pronounced ‘fú.’ Its structure is very similar to this character, except one has ‘不’ below and the other has ‘木.’ Based on that… I feel it might be pronounced ‘mú.'”
Qiao Jiejin also thought for a moment. “Like the ‘mú’ in ‘carved from the same mold’ (模)?”
“Yes,” Qi Xia said. “But I’m completely unsure. The chance of guessing correctly is probably only ten or twenty percent.”
But that wasn’t the real issue. Whether it was a “character” or not, they could just test it on the “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform.”
“We’re already at nine points!” Qiao Jiajin exclaimed. “Two characters, nine points!”
“Just partly luck,” Qi Xia replied.
“If that’s the case, each character is worth 4.5 points. To reach twenty-eight points, we just need…” Qiao Jiajin counted on his fingers for a while, “…about six ‘characters’… then we’re definitely winning…”
Qi Xia was taken aback. “That’s not how it works…”
“I believe in you, Trickster!” Qiao Jiajin said. “If you even thought of using ‘rice’ as a ‘character’… then there are way too many combinations possible.”
“That’s true…” Qi Xia nodded. “But now we need to test another possibility…”
“What possibility?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“Whether three ‘components’ can form one ‘character.'”
Qi Xia looked at the “丷” and “木” on the screen but didn’t remove these radicals. Instead, he cautiously picked up an “目” and placed it on the left side.
*Click.*
The metallic character was吸了上去 (sucked into place).
“Hey…? This… this is…”
A few seconds later, the screen flickered again—
“Received character雏形 ‘眯’ (mī). Please write a homophone.”
“I… damn it!”
Qiao Jiajin stared wide-eyed as the black metal plate engraved with “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform”吸了 (sucked in) three metallic characters. He felt he had been “in the dark under the light”—such an obvious “character” had escaped his notice.
But then again, he hadn’t even thought of “rice.”
Now, with just two “characters,” they had already scored ten points. Would adding another “character” double their score?
Qi Xia nodded. “Just as I thought… Not only can radicals be rotated, but multiple radicals can also be combined to form a character… This opens up even more options…”
“This is way too fun…” Qiao Jiajin stared at the display for a long time. “Trickster, if I had this kind of toy when I was a kid, I could’ve played with it all day.”
“Now is a matter of life and death,” Qi Xia said. “Fists, later, take your own ‘相’ (xiàng) and wait in a room near Han Yimo.”
“Writer Guy?” Qiao Jiajin paused. “Isn’t he the spy?”
“Whether he’s a spy or not doesn’t matter,” Qi Xia said. “If Wen Qiaoyun tries to snatch his ‘character,’ seize both her ‘character’ and his.”
“Alright… but do you know what ‘character’ that pretty lady has?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“No,” Qi Xia shook his head. “But as I said… the only ‘characters’ that can ‘cross the river’ are ‘chariot,’ ‘horse,’ ‘cannon,’ and ‘soldier.’ She can’t be ‘soldier,’ so I hope she’s ‘cannon.'”
“Got it! I understand!”
Qiao Jiajin nodded, taking back his “相” from Qi Xia. As he was about to thread “木” and “目” back onto the chain, he suddenly thought of something.
Qi Xia looked at him curiously. “What’s wrong?”
Qiao Jiajin stared at “木” and “目” for a while, muttering to himself, “Trickster, if ‘目’ and ‘米’ can form ‘眯,’ then what can ‘目’ and ‘木’ form?”
“…?”
Qi Xia was slightly stunned, as if he didn’t quite understand the question.
Qiao Jiajin scratched his head. “Can they form a ‘character’?”
Qi Xia cleared his throat slightly. “Is it possible that the character is ‘相’?”
“Uh…”
An awkward atmosphere lingered between the two for a moment before Qiao Jiajin spoke again. “What if ‘目’ is on the left… would that work?”
“This…”
Qi Xia wasn’t sure about this. Would an “eye radical” plus “wood” form a “character”?
Thinking it over, it wasn’t really a problem—whether it was a “character” or not, they could just try it on the “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform” to find out.
He took the “characters” back from Qiao Jiajin, placed “目” on the left and “木” on the right, then waited for the display to light up.
After a few seconds, the display lit up with a red light—
“No character雏形 received. Please create again.”
“This time it’s really not a ‘character,'” Qi Xia said.
But Qiao Jiajin didn’t seem ready to give up. He stepped forward and placed a finger under “目.”
Like moving a chess piece, Qiao Jiajin used his finger to push “目,” rotating it halfway so it lay horizontally above “木.”
Qi Xia paused, taking another look at the layout on the “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform.” Originally, “目” was on the left and “木” on the right.
But now, “罒” was on top and “木” below.
“Trickster, how about this?” Qiao Jiajin asked. “Would this be a ‘character’?”
Qi Xia naturally had no idea whether this counted as a “character,” so he quietly waited for the screen to light up.
Whether it was luck or not, after flickering for a moment, the screen slowly displayed text—
“Received character雏形 ‘䍒’. Please write a homophone.”
The atmosphere between the two grew even more silent than before.
What kind of character was this…?
Qi Xia would have preferred if the display hadn’t recognized this “character,” because he knew he had never seen this character in any book or material. Its structure made it impossible to even guess.
“I really don’t like this feeling…” Qi Xia said. “Having to guess at every step…”
“Hey!” Qiao Jiajin said nonchalantly. “Trickster, cheer up! Your brain works so well—quick, think about how this ‘character’ should be pronounced!”
“Is this something you can figure out by thinking…?” Qi Xia frowned. “How could anyone possibly determine the pronunciation of this ‘character’ through reasoning?”
“Just give it a try!” Qiao Jiajin said. “Let’s each take a guess—it can’t hurt! I’ll go first!”
Qiao Jiajin模仿ed Qi Xia, stroking his chin before slowly saying, “Could it be pronounced ‘lín’?”
“‘Lín’…?” Qi Xia paused. “Why?”
“Because there’s a ‘four’ and a ‘wood,'” Qiao Jiajin said confidently. “Four woods, meaning a lot of trees, so it’s pronounced ‘lín.'”
Qi Xia kept frowning, feeling that something was off. But Qiao Jiajin had a special talent—anything he said was hard to反驳.
“Trickster… if it were you… how would you guess?”
Qi Xia thought for a long time before saying, “In Yantai, Shandong, there’s a district called ‘Zhīfú Qū.’ The second character is pronounced ‘fú.’ Its structure is very similar to this character, except one has ‘不’ below and the other has ‘木.’ Based on that… I feel it might be pronounced ‘mú.'”
Qiao Jiajin thought about it too. “Like the ‘mú’ in ‘carved from the same mold’?”
“Right,” Qi Xia said. “But I’m not at all confident. The chance of guessing correctly is probably only ten or twenty percent.”
A few seconds later, the display flashed red—
*”No character prototype received. Please recreate.”*
“Guess it’s not a ‘character’ after all,” Qi Xia said.
“We’ve already got nine points!” Qiao Jiajin exclaimed. “Two characters, nine points!”
“Just partly luck,” Qi Xia replied.
“If that’s the case, each character is worth 4.5 points. To reach 28 points, we only need…” Qiao Jiajin counted on his fingers for a while, “…about six ‘characters’… then we’re definitely winning…”
Qi Xia was taken aback. “That’s not how it works…”
“I believe in you, Trickster!” Qiao Jiajin said. “If you even thought of using ‘rice’ as a ‘character’… then there are way too many combinations possible.”
“True enough…” Qi Xia nodded. “But now we still need to test one possibility…”
“What possibility?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“Whether three ‘components’ can form a single ‘character.'”
Qi Xia looked at the “丷” and “木” on the screen but didn’t remove these radicals. Instead, he cautiously picked up an “目” and placed it on the left side.
*Click.*
The metallic character was吸了上去 (sucked into place).
“Hey…? This… this is…”
A few seconds later, the screen flickered again—
“Received character prototype ‘眯.’ Please write a homophone.”
“I… damn it!”
Qiao Jiajin stared wide-eyed as the black metal plate engraved with “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform” absorbed three metallic characters. He felt like he’d been blind to the obvious—how had he not noticed such a straightforward “character”?
But then again, he hadn’t even noticed “rice.”
With just two “characters,” they’d already scored ten points. Would adding another “character” double their score?
Qi Xia nodded. “Just as I thought… Not only can radicals be rotated, but multiple radicals can also be combined to form a character… This opens up even more options…”
“This is way too fun…” Qiao Jiajin stared at the display. “Trickster, if I’d had a toy like this as a kid, I could’ve played with it all day.”
“Right now, it’s a matter of life and death,” Qi Xia said. “Fists, later, take your own ‘xiang’ and wait in a room near Han Yimo.”
“Writer Guy?” Qiao Jiajin paused. “Isn’t he the spy?”
“Whether he’s a spy or not doesn’t matter,” Qi Xia replied. “If Wen Qiaoyun tries to take his ‘character,’ seize both her ‘character’ and his.”
“Alright… but do you know what ‘character’ that pretty lady has?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“No,” Qi Xia shook his head. “But as I said earlier… the only ‘characters’ that can ‘cross the river’ are ‘chariot,’ ‘horse,’ ‘cannon,’ and ‘soldier.’ She can’t be ‘soldier,’ so I’m hoping she’s ‘cannon.'”
“Got it! I understand!”
Qiao Jiajin nodded, taking back his “xiang” from Qi Xia. As he was about to thread “木” and “目” back onto the chain, he suddenly thought of something.
Qi Xia looked at him curiously. “What’s wrong?”
Qiao Jiajin stared at “木” and “目” for a moment, muttering to himself, “Trickster, if ‘目’ and ‘米’ can form ‘眯,’ what can ‘目’ and ‘木’ form?”
“……?”
Qi Xia was slightly stunned, not quite understanding the question.
Qiao Jiajin scratched his head. “Can they form a ‘character’?”
Qi Xia cleared his throat slightly. “Is it possible that the character is ‘相’?”
“Uh…”
An awkward silence hung between them for a moment before Qiao Jiajin spoke again. “What if ‘目’ is on the left… would that work?”
“This…”
Qi Xia wasn’t sure about this. Would an “eye radical” plus “wood” form a “character”?
Then again, it wasn’t really a problem—whether it was a “character” or not, they could just try it on the “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform” to find out.
He took the “characters” back from Qiao Jiajin, placed “目” on the left and “木” on the right, then waited for the display to light up.
A few seconds later, the display lit up with a red light—
“No character prototype received. Please recreate.”
“Now it’s definitely not a ‘character,'” Qi Xia said.
But Qiao Jiajin didn’t seem ready to give up. He stepped forward and placed a finger below “目.”
Like moving a chess piece, Qiao Jiajin used his finger to push “目,” rotating it halfway so it lay horizontally above “木.”
Qi Xia paused,重新看了看 (looked again at) the layout on the “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform.” Originally, “目” was on the left and “木” on the right.
Now, “罒” was on top and “木” below.
“Trickster, what about this?” Qiao Jiajin asked. “Would this be a ‘character’?”
Qi Xia naturally had no idea whether this counted as a “character,” so he quietly waited for the screen to light up.
Whether it was luck or not, the screen flickered for a moment before slowly displaying text—
“Received character prototype ‘䍒.’ Please write a homophone.”
The atmosphere between them grew even more silent than before.
What kind of character was this…?
Qi Xia would’ve preferred if the display hadn’t recognized this “character.” He knew he’d never seen this character in any book or resource. Its structure made it nearly impossible to even guess.
“I really don’t like this feeling…” Qi Xia said. “Having to guess at every step…”
“Hey!” Qiao Jiajin said nonchalantly. “Trickster, cheer up! Your brain works so well—quick, think about how this ‘character’ should be pronounced!”
“Is this really something you can figure out through thinking…?” Qi Xia frowned. “How could anyone possibly determine the pronunciation of this ‘character’ through reasoning?”
“Just give it a try!” Qiao Jiajin urged. “Let’s each take a guess—it can’t hurt! I’ll go first!”
Qiao Jiajin模仿着 (imitated) Qi Xia by stroking his chin, then slowly said, “Could it be pronounced ‘lín’?”
“‘Lín’…?” Qi Xia paused. “Why?”
“Because there’s a ‘four’ and a ‘wood,'” Qiao Jiajin said confidently. “Four woods, meaning lots of trees, so it’s pronounced ‘lín.'”
Qi Xia kept frowning. He felt something was off, but Qiao Jiajin had a special talent—anything he said was hard to反驳 (refute).
“Trickster… if it were you… how would you guess?”
Qi Xia thought for a long time before saying, “In Yantai, Shandong, there’s a district called ‘Zhīfú Qū.’ The second character is pronounced ‘fú.’ Its structure is very similar to this character, except one has ‘不’ below and the other has ‘木.’ Based on that… I feel it might be pronounced ‘mú.'”
Qiao Jiajin also pondered for a moment. “Like the ‘mú’ in ‘cast from the same mold’?”
“Right,” Qi Xia said. “But I’m not confident at all. The chance of guessing correctly is probably only ten or twenty percent.”
“We’re already at nine points!” Qiao Jiejin exclaimed. “Two characters, nine points!”
“Just partly luck,” Qi Xia replied.
“If that’s the case, each character is worth 4.5 points. To reach 28 points, we only need…” Qiao Jiejin counted on his fingers for a while, “…about six ‘characters’… then we’re definitely winning…”
Qi Xia was slightly taken aback. “That’s not how it works…”
“I believe in you, Trickster!” Qiao Jiejin said. “If you even thought of using ‘米’ (rice) as a ‘character’… then there are way more combinations possible.”
“True enough…” Qi Xia nodded. “But now we still need to test one possibility…”
“What possibility?” Qiao Jiejin asked.
“That is… whether three ‘components’ can form one ‘character’.”
Qi Xia looked at the “丷” and “木” on the screen but didn’t remove these radicals. Instead, he cautiously picked up an “目” and placed it on the left side.
*Click.*
The metallic character was吸了上去 (sucked into place).
“Hey…? This… this is…”
A few seconds later, the screen flickered again—
“Received character雏形 ‘眯’ (mī), please write a homophone.”
“I… damn it!”
Qiao Jiejin stared wide-eyed as the black metal plate engraved with “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform”吸了三个金属字 (sucked in three metallic characters). He felt like he’d been blind to the obvious—how had he not noticed such an evident “character”?
But then again, he hadn’t even noticed “米.”
With just two “characters,” they’d already earned ten points. Would adding another one double their score?
Qi Xia nodded. “Just as I thought… not only can radicals be rotated, but multiple radicals can also be combined to form a character… This opens up even more options…”
“This is way too fun…” Qiao Jiejin stared at the display for a long time. “Trickster, if I’d had a toy like this when I was a kid, I could’ve played with it all day.”
“Right now, it’s a matter of life and death,” Qi Xia said. “Fists, later, take your own ‘相’ (xiàng) and wait in a room near Han Yimo.”
“Writer Guy?” Qiao Jiejin paused. “Isn’t he the spy?”
“Whether he’s a spy or not doesn’t matter,” Qi Xia replied. “If Wen Qiaoyun tries to take his ‘character,’ seize both her ‘character’ and his.”
“Alright… but do you know what ‘character’ that pretty lady has?” Qiao Jiejin asked.
“No,” Qi Xia shook his head. “But as I said… the only ‘characters’ that can ‘cross the river’ are ‘车’ (chē), ‘马’ (mǎ), ‘砲’ (pào), and ‘卒’ (zú). She can’t be ‘卒,’ so I hope she’s ‘砲.'”
“Got it! I understand!”
Qiao Jiejin nodded, taking back his “相” from Qi Xia. As he was about to thread “木” and “目” back onto the chain, he suddenly thought of something.
Qi Xia looked at him curiously. “What’s wrong?”
Qiao Jiejin held “木” and “目” for a long time, muttering to himself, “Trickster, if ‘目’ and ‘米’ can form ‘眯,’ what can ‘目’ and ‘木’ form?”
“…?”
Qi Xia was slightly stunned, as if he didn’t quite understand the question.
Qiao Jiejin scratched his head. “Can they form a ‘character’?”
Qi Xia cleared his throat slightly. “Is it possible that the character is ‘相’?”
“Uh…”
An awkward atmosphere lingered between them for a moment before Qiao Jiejin spoke again. “What if ‘目’ is on the left… would that work?”
“This…”
Qi Xia wasn’t sure about this. Would an “目 radical” plus a “木” form a “character”?
Then again, it wasn’t really a problem—whether it was a “character” or not, they could just try it on the “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform” to find out.
He took the “characters” back from Qiao Jiejin, placed “目” on the left and “木” on the right, then waited for the display to light up.
After a few seconds, the display lit up with a red light—
“No character雏形 received. Please recreate.”
“This really isn’t a ‘character,'” Qi Xia said.
But Qiao Jiejin didn’t seem ready to give up. He stepped forward and placed a finger below “目.”
Like moving a chess piece, Qiao Jiejin used his finger to push “目,” rotating it halfway so it lay horizontally above “木.”
Qi Xia paused,重新看了看 (looked again at) the layout on the “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform.” Originally, there was an “目” on the left and a “木” on the right.
Now, there was an “罒” on top and a “木” below.
“Trickster, what about this?” Qiao Jiejin asked. “Would this be a ‘character’?”
Qi Xia naturally had no idea whether this counted as a “character” and quietly waited for the screen to light up.
Whether it was luck or not, the screen flickered for a while before slowly displaying text—
“Received character雏形 ‘䍒’, please write a homophone.”
The atmosphere between them grew even more silent than before.
What kind of character was this…?
Qi Xia would have preferred if the display hadn’t recognized this “character,” because he knew he had never seen it in any book or any material. Its structure made it impossible to even guess.
“I really don’t like this feeling…” Qi Xia said. “Having to guess at every step…”
“Hey!” Qiao Jiejin said with a carefree expression. “Trickster, cheer up! Your brain works so well—quick, think about how this ‘character’ should be pronounced!”
“Is this really something you can figure out by thinking…?” Qi Xia frowned. “There’s no way to determine the pronunciation of this ‘character’ through reasoning, right?”
“Just give it a try!” Qiao Jiejin urged. “Let’s each take a guess—it can’t hurt! I’ll go first!”
Qiao Jiejin模仿着齐夏的样子 (imitated Qi Xia’s mannerism), stroking his chin before slowly saying, “Could it be pronounced ‘林’ (lín)?”
“‘林’…?” Qi Xia paused. “Why?”
“Because there’s a ‘四’ (sì) and a ‘木’ (mù),” Qiao Jiejin said confidently. “Four trees, describing a lot of trees, so it’s pronounced ‘林.'”
Qi Xia kept frowning as he listened. He felt something was off, but Qiao Jiejin had a special talent—anything he said always seemed hard to refute.
“Trickster… if it were you… how would you guess?”
Qi Xia thought for a long time before saying, “In Yantai, Shandong, there’s a district called ‘芝罘区’ (Zhīfú Qū). The second character is pronounced ‘fú.’ Its structure is very similar to this character, except one has ‘不’ (bù) below and the other has ‘木’ (mù). Based on that… I feel it might be pronounced ‘mú.'”
Qiao Jiejin also pondered for a moment. “Like the ‘模’ (mú) in ‘一个模子刻出来’ (cast from the same mold)?”
“Yes,” Qi Xia said. “But I’m completely unsure. The chance of guessing correctly is probably only ten or twenty percent.”
“We’re already at nine points!” Qiao Jiajin exclaimed. “Two characters, nine points!”
“Just partly luck,” Qi Xia replied.
“If that’s the case, each character is worth 4.5 points. To reach twenty-eight points, we just need…” Qiao Jiajin counted on his fingers for a while, “…about six ‘characters’… then we’re definitely winning…”
Qi Xia was taken aback. “That’s not how it works…”
“I believe in you, Trickster!” Qiao Jiajin said. “If you even thought of a character like ‘mi’ (rice)… then there are way too many combinations possible.”
“That’s true…” Qi Xia nodded. “But now we still need to test one possibility…”
“What possibility?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“Whether three ‘components’ can form one ‘character.'”
Qi Xia looked at the “丷” and “木” on the screen but didn’t remove these radicals. Instead, he cautiously picked up an “目” and placed it on the left side.
*Click.*
The metal character was吸了上去 (sucked into place).
“Hey…? This… this is…”
A few seconds later, the screen flickered again—
“Received character prototype ‘眯’ (mī), please write a homophone.”
“I… damn it!”
Qiao Jiajin stared wide-eyed as the black metal plate engraved with “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform” absorbed three metal characters. He felt like he’d been blind to the obvious—how had he not noticed such a straightforward character?
But then again, he hadn’t even noticed “mi” (rice).
Now, with just two “characters,” they’d already scored ten points. If they added another “character,” wouldn’t their points double again?
Qi Xia nodded. “Just as I thought… not only can radicals be rotated, but multiple radicals can also be combined to form a character… This opens up even more options…”
“This is way too fun…” Qiao Jiajin stared at the display for a long time. “Trickster, if I’d had a toy like this when I was a kid, I could’ve played with it all day.”
“Right now, it’s a matter of life and death,” Qi Xia said. “Fists, later, take your own ‘xiang’ (相) and wait in a room near Han Yimo.”
“Writer Guy?” Qiao Jiajin paused. “Isn’t he the spy?”
“Whether he’s a spy or not doesn’t matter,” Qi Xia said. “If Wen Qiaoyun tries to snatch his ‘character,’ you seize both her ‘character’ and his.”
“Alright… but do you know what ‘character’ that pretty lady has?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“No,” Qi Xia shook his head. “But as I said before… the only ‘characters’ that can ‘cross the river’ are ‘chariot,’ ‘horse,’ ‘cannon,’ and ‘soldier.’ She can’t be a ‘soldier,’ so I hope she’s a ‘cannon.'”
“Got it! I understand!”
Qiao Jiajin nodded, taking back his “xiang” from Qi Xia. As he was about to thread the “木” and “目” back onto the chain, he suddenly thought of something.
Qi Xia looked at him curiously. “What’s wrong?”
Qiao Jiajin held the “木” and “目” for a while, muttering to himself, “Trickster, you said ‘目’ and ‘米’ can form ‘眯’ (mī). So what can ‘目’ and ‘木’ form?”
“…?”
Qi Xia was slightly stunned, not quite understanding the question.
Qiao Jiajin scratched his head. “Can they form a ‘character’?”
Qi Xia cleared his throat slightly. “Is it possible that the character is ‘相’ (xiāng)?”
“Uh…”
An awkward atmosphere hung between them for a moment before Qiao Jiajin spoke again. “What if ‘目’ is on the left… would that work?”
“This…”
Qi Xia wasn’t sure about this. Would an “eye radical” (目) plus “wood” (木) form a character?
Then again, it wasn’t really a problem—whether it was a character or not, they could just try it on the “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform” to find out.
He took the “characters” back from Qiao Jiajin, placed “目” on the left and “木” on the right, then waited for the display to light up.
After a few seconds, the display lit up with a red light—
“No character prototype received. Please recreate.”
“This time, it’s really not a character,” Qi Xia said.
But Qiao Jiajin didn’t seem ready to give up. He stepped forward and placed a finger below the “目.”
Then, as if moving a chess piece, Qiao Jiajin used his finger to push the “目,” rotating it halfway so it lay horizontally above the “木.”
Qi Xia paused, taking another look at the layout on the “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform.” Originally, there was an “目” on the left and a “木” on the right.
But now, there was an “罒” (net radical) on top and a “木” below.
“Trickster, how about this?” Qiao Jiajin asked. “Will it be a character?”
Qi Xia naturally had no idea whether this counted as a character, so he quietly waited for the screen to light up.
Whether it was luck or not, the screen flickered for a moment before slowly displaying text—
“Received character prototype ‘䍒’, please write a homophone.”
The atmosphere between them grew even more silent than before.
What kind of character was this…?
Qi Xia would’ve preferred if the display hadn’t recognized this “character.” He knew he’d never seen this character in any book or material. Its structure made it impossible to even guess.
“I really don’t like this feeling…” Qi Xia said. “Having to guess at every step…”
“Hey!” Qiao Jiajin said nonchalantly. “Trickster, cheer up! Your brain works so well—quick, think about how this ‘character’ should be pronounced!”
“Is this really something you can figure out by thinking…?” Qi Xia frowned. “How could anyone possibly determine the pronunciation of this ‘character’ through reasoning?”
“Just give it a try!” Qiao Jiajin said. “Let’s each take a guess—it can’t hurt! I’ll go first!”
Qiao Jiajin模仿着齐夏的样子摸了摸下巴，然后缓缓说道：”Could it be pronounced ‘lín’?”
“‘Lín’…?” Qi Xia paused. “Why?”
“Because there’s a ‘四’ (four) and a ‘木’ (wood),” Qiao Jiajin said confidently. “Four trees, meaning there are a lot of trees, so it’s pronounced ‘lín’ (forest).”
Qi Xia kept frowning. He felt something was off, but Qiao Jiajin had a special talent—anything he said was hard to refute.
“Trickster… if it were you… how would you guess?”
After thinking for a while, Qi Xia said, “In Yantai, Shandong, there’s a district called ‘Zhīfú Qū’ (芝罘区). The second character is pronounced ‘fú.’ Its structure is very similar to this character, except one has ‘不’ (bù) below and the other has ‘木’ (mù) below. Based on that… I feel it might be pronounced ‘mú.'”
Qiao Jiajin thought for a moment too. “Like the ‘mú’ in ‘carved from the same mold’ (模)?”
“Yes,” Qi Xia said. “But I’m not confident at all. The chance of guessing correctly is probably only ten or twenty percent.”
“We’re already at nine points!” Qiao Jiajin exclaimed. “Two characters, nine points!”
“Just partly luck,” Qi Xia replied.
“If that’s the case, each character is worth 4.5 points. To reach 28 points, we only need…” Qiao Jiajin counted on his fingers for a while, “…about six ‘characters’… then we’re definitely winning…”
Qi Xia was slightly taken aback. “That’s not how it works…”
“I believe in you, Trickster!” Qiao Jiajin said. “If you even thought of using ‘mi’ (rice) as a ‘character’… then there are way too many possible combinations now.”
“True enough…” Qi Xia nodded. “But now we still need to test one possibility…”
“What possibility?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“That is… whether three ‘components’ can form one ‘character’.”
Qi Xia looked at the “丷” and “木” on the screen but didn’t remove these radicals. Instead, he carefully picked up a “目” and placed it on the left side.
*Click.*
The metallic character was吸了上去 (sucked into place).
“Hey…? This… this is…”
A few seconds later, the screen flickered again—
“Received character prototype ‘mi’ (眯), please write a homophone.”
“I… damn it!”
Qiao Jiajin stared wide-eyed as the black metal plate engraved with “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform” absorbed three metallic characters. He felt he had been “in the dark”—such an obvious “character” had escaped his notice.
But then again, he hadn’t even noticed “mi” (米).
Now, with just two “characters,” they had already scored ten points. Would adding another “character” double their score?
Qi Xia nodded. “As expected… Not only can radicals be rotated, but multiple radicals can also be combined to form a character… This opens up even more options…”
“This is way too fun…” Qiao Jiajin stared at the display for a long time. “Trickster, if I had this kind of toy when I was a kid, I could’ve played with it all day.”
“Now is a matter of life and death,” Qi Xia said. “Fist, later, take your own ‘xiang’ (相) and wait in a room near Han Yimo.”
“Writer Guy?” Qiao Jiajin paused. “Isn’t he the spy?”
“Whether he’s a spy or not doesn’t matter,” Qi Xia said. “If Wen Qiaoyun snatches his ‘character,’ then snatch both her ‘character’ and his ‘character’ back.”
“Alright… but do you know what ‘character’ that pretty lady has?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“No,” Qi Xia shook his head. “But as I said… the only ‘characters’ that can ‘cross the river’ are ‘chariot,’ ‘horse,’ ‘cannon,’ and ‘soldier.’ She can’t be a ‘soldier,’ so I hope she’s a ‘cannon.'”
“Got it! I understand!”
Qiao Jiajin nodded, taking back his “xiang” (相) from Qi Xia. As he was about to thread “木” and “目” back onto the chain, he suddenly thought of something.
Qi Xia looked at him curiously. “What’s wrong?”
Qiao Jiajin stared at “木” and “目” for a while, muttering to himself, “Trickster, you said ‘目’ and ‘米’ can form ‘眯’ (mi). So what can ‘目’ and ‘木’ form?”
“…?”
Qi Xia was slightly stunned, as if he didn’t quite understand the question.
Qiao Jiajin scratched his head. “Can they form a ‘character’?”
Qi Xia cleared his throat slightly. “Is it possible that the character is ‘相’ (xiang)?”
“Uh…”
An awkward atmosphere lingered between the two for a moment before Qiao Jiajin spoke again. “What if ‘目’ is on the left… would that work?”
“This…”
Qi Xia wasn’t sure about this. Would a “目 radical” plus a “木” form a “character”?
Thinking about it, it wasn’t really a problem—whether it was a “character” or not, they could just try it out on the “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform.”
He could only take the “character” back from Qiao Jiajin, place “目” on the left and “木” on the right, then wait for the display to light up.
After a few seconds, the display lit up with a red light—
“No character prototype received. Please recreate.”
“This really isn’t a ‘character,'” Qi Xia said.
But Qiao Jiajin didn’t seem ready to give up. He stepped forward and placed a finger below “目.”
Then, as if moving a chess piece, Qiao Jiajin used his finger to push “目,” rotating it halfway so it lay horizontally above “木.”
Qi Xia paused, taking another look at the layout on the “Phoenix Holding Scroll Platform.” Originally, “目” was on the left and “木” on the right.
But now, “罒” was on top and “木” below.
“Trickster, how about this?” Qiao Jiajin asked. “Would this be a ‘character’?”
Qi Xia naturally had no idea whether this counted as a “character,” so he quietly waited for the screen to light up.
Whether it was luck or not, the screen flickered for a while before slowly displaying text—
“Received character prototype ‘䍒’, please write a homophone.”
The atmosphere between the two grew even more silent than before.
What kind of character was this…?
Qi Xia would have preferred if the display hadn’t recognized this “character,” because he knew he had never seen this character in any book or material. Its structure made it impossible to even guess.
“I really don’t like this feeling…” Qi Xia said. “Every step relies on guessing…”
“Hey!” Qiao Jiajin said nonchalantly. “Trickster, cheer up! Your brain works so well—quick, think about how this ‘character’ should be pronounced!”
“Is this really a matter of thinking…?” Qi Xia frowned. “How could anyone possibly figure out the pronunciation of this ‘character’ through thinking?”
“Just give it a try!” Qiao Jiajin said. “Let’s each guess one—it’s not like we’re losing anything! I’ll go first!”
Qiao Jiajin模仿着齐夏的样子，摸了摸下巴，然后缓缓说道：”Could it be pronounced ‘lín’?”
“‘Lín’…?” Qi Xia paused. “Why?”
“Because there’s a ‘四’ and a ‘木’,” Qiao Jiajin said with confidence. “Four trees, describing a lot of trees, so it’s pronounced ‘lín’.”
Qi Xia kept frowning. He felt something was off, but Qiao Jiajin had a special talent—anything he said was hard to refute.
“Trickster… if it were you… how would you guess?”
Qi Xia thought for a long time before saying, “In Yantai, Shandong, there’s a district called ‘Zhīfú Qū.’ The second character is pronounced ‘fú.’ Its structure is very similar to this character, except one has ‘不’ below and the other has ‘木.’ Based on that… I feel it might be pronounced ‘mú’.”
Qiao Jiajin also thought for a moment. “Like the ‘mú’ in ‘carved from the same mold’ (一个模子刻出来)?”
“Right,” Qi Xia said. “But I’m completely unsure. The chance of guessing correctly is probably only ten or twenty percent.”
“Liar, how about this?” Qiao Jiajin asked. “Will it be a ‘character’ now?”
Qi Xia had no idea if this counted as a “character,” so he silently waited for the screen to respond.
Whether by luck or misfortune, after flickering briefly, the screen slowly displayed text—
*”Received character prototype ‘䍒.’ Please write a homophone.”*
This time, the silence between them was even heavier than before.
What kind of character was this…?
Qi Xia almost wished the screen *hadn’t* recognized it, because he’d never seen this character in any book or document. Its structure made it nearly impossible to guess its pronunciation.
“I really don’t like this feeling…” Qi Xia muttered. “Every step is just a gamble…”
“Hey!” Qiao Jiajin said cheerfully. “Liar, perk up! You’re so sharp—quick, think about how this ‘character’ should be pronounced!”
“Is this even something you can *think* through…?” Qi Xia frowned. “There’s no way to deduce the pronunciation of this ‘character’ just by looking at it, right?”
“Just try!” Qiao Jiajin urged. “We’ll each take a guess—no harm done! I’ll go first!”
He mimicked Qi Xia by stroking his chin, then said slowly, “Could it be ‘lín’?”
“‘Lín’…?” Qi Xia paused. “Why?”
“Because there’s a ‘four’ and a ‘tree,'” Qiao Jiajin said confidently. “Four trees—meaning lots of trees—so it’s ‘lín.'”
Qi Xia kept frowning. Something about this logic felt off, but Qiao Jiajin had a special talent—his reasoning was always hard to refute.
“Liar… if it were you… how would you guess?”
After thinking for a while, Qi Xia said, “In Shandong’s Yantai, there’s a district called ‘Zhifú District.’ The second character is pronounced ‘fú.’ Its structure is similar to this one, except the bottom part is ‘not’ instead of ‘tree.’ Based on that… I think it might be ‘mú.'”
Qiao Jiajin pondered this. “Like the ‘mú’ in ‘cast from the same mold’?”
“Right,” Qi Xia said. “But I’m not confident at all. The odds of guessing correctly are maybe 10 to 20%.”
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