Chapter 1014: One Pronunciation
Qiao Jiajing stared at the door in silence for a moment, then turned and walked back to the "Preparation Zone."
He felt he needed to report the situation to Qi Xia as soon as possible. Han Yimo had not only ended up in a one-on-one with Wen Qiaoyun, but the "path" on their far right was also blocked—after all, the doors on all four sides had been shut and wouldn't open until a winner was decided.
Qi Xia was writing on the wall, having already deduced more than a dozen possible combinations.
"Swindler boy," Qiao Jiajing called out.
Qi Xia turned around, saw Qiao Jiajing alone, then turned back as if he hadn't noticed, continuing to write on the wall. He asked softly, "Did you meet Yan Zhichun or Wen Qiaoyun?"
"Wen Qiaoyun," Qiao Jiajing replied. "How did you know again?"
Qi Xia nodded. "Fist, earlier when I came to the game venue with Chu Tianqiu and Dilong, you were all standing in twos and threes talking. Do you remember who was talking to Han Yimo at the time?"
"Huh...?" Qiao Jiajing thought for a moment. "Now that you mention it... it seems like it was Dr. Zhao."
"Then that's right," Qi Xia said, one hand bracing the wall while the other gently touched his chin. "Han Yimo isn't one of us. It doesn't matter whether he wins or loses."
"Not one of us...?"
"Han Yimo was fine before we came in," Qi Xia said. "But once the game started, he suddenly got nervous. I suspect he accepted some secret hidden task during that time—something like 'kill Qi Xia' or something."
"So that's how it is..." Qiao Jiajing nodded after hearing that. "No wonder his expression felt so strange to me. That's the kind of look you only see on a henchman who's about to sell out his boss."
"Every army has its spies," Qi Xia said with a smile. "I just forgot who Chen Junnan was talking to at the time."
"He..." Qiao Jiajing paused. "Junnan seemed to be talking to..."
"Forget it, let it be a surprise," Qi Xia said. "As it stands now, Han Yimo is on their side, yet he's fighting Wen Qiaoyun. That means neither Chu Tianqiu nor Wen Qiaoyun knows about it. We're not at a loss."
"Are we really not at a loss...?" Qiao Jiajing asked, somewhat puzzled. "I feel like that writer kid is definitely going to lose to that pretty girl. Even though he's a spy for the other side, he's still carrying our 'characters'."
"So I gave him 'horse,'" Qi Xia said. "Han Yimo carrying 'horse' is the best option for now. I calculated it—'horse' can only form very few characters. Maybe just some obscure ones I can't even read. Losing those wouldn't be too regrettable."
"Is that so...?" Qiao Jiajing looked at the wall. "Swindler boy... are you almost done forming all the characters?"
"That's right... but I feel something's strange," Qi Xia said, frowning. "If my calculations are correct... it should be somewhat difficult to form twenty-eight characters. But there are too many possibilities. I still need some time."
"Oh..."
"Give me yours first."
Qiao Jiajing nodded and pulled out his character piece—it was "xiang" (相).
Qi Xia took the "xiang" from his hand, split the pendant into two halves, and placed them on the "Phoenix Carrying the Writing Terrace" respectively.
He obtained "mu" (木) and "mu" (目) in succession, then combined the two radicals to form "xiang" (相).
So far, Qi Xia's team had assembled four characters: "bing" (兵), "mu" (木), "mu" (目), and "xiang" (相).
He thought for a moment, picked up two radicals again, and tried another combination: "mu" (木) and "bing" (兵).
"Damn..." Qiao Jiajing was startled. "Swindler boy... can these two form a character?"
"I'm not sure..."
Unfortunately, he had never flipped through a complete dictionary. He only vaguely felt that the "wood radical" and "bing" should be able to form a character, but the pronunciation was questionable.
Without any tools or internet access, if these two radicals really could form a character, he'd have to take a gamble.
The "Phoenix Carrying the Writing Terrace" absorbed the two radicals, and the screen beneath it flickered before displaying:
[Text prototype "梹" received. Please write a homophone.]
"There really is such a character..." Qiao Jiajing stared wide-eyed at the screen, then turned to Qi Xia. "This character looks really weird..."
Qi Xia rubbed his chin, carefully considering the situation.
If the rule of "write a homophone" was meant to prevent random guesses, then naturally you couldn't write the wrong homophone. Even if they had calculated the number of accidental errors, they definitely couldn't afford too many mistakes.
But for characters containing "bing," the pronunciation often changes.
For example, "浜" is read as "bāng," "宾" is read as "bīn," and some characters are directly read as "bīng."
In that case, how should "梹" be read?
Qi Xia recalled all the books he had ever read, but he couldn't remember seeing this character anywhere. He hesitated.
If he guessed the pronunciation correctly, he could create another character and score five points for his team. But if he guessed wrong... what would happen?
Would the character be confiscated?
Qi Xia grew more uncertain about the situation. He only regretted not taking the time to read through a dictionary.
"Swindler boy, are you okay?" Qiao Jiajing saw Qi Xia lost in thought and had to ask. "Doesn't this character only have one pronunciation?"
"One pronunciation...?" Qi Xia frowned. "Are you sure...?"
"Yeah." Qiao Jiajing nodded.
Qi Xia was about to speak, but then he suddenly realized something and sighed helplessly. "Fist, read out 'little soldier' and 'guest' for me to hear."
"Little bin, guest bin," Qiao Jiajing said. "Is there a problem?"
The air was silent for three seconds.
Qi Xia slowly raised his hand to his forehead, realizing why Qiao Jiajing thought the character only had one pronunciation.
He didn't know how to read "浜" in "Shajiabang," and he couldn't distinguish between front and back nasal sounds. Three different pronunciations all blurred into one in his mouth.
If Qiao Jiajing were the "commander" for this round, they might as well surrender now.
Wait... even though Qiao Jiajing's guess was blind, maybe luck was a factor?
"Fist..." Qi Xia turned around. "I've always felt that you have good luck—at least better than mine."
"I have good luck...?"
"Yeah, so I'm going to follow your line of thinking this time."
Qi Xia thought for a few seconds, then reached out and wrote the character "宾" on the screen.
He stared nervously at the screen, hoping he wouldn't fail right out of the gate. It didn't matter what word "梹" could form—what mattered was that it had to be read as "bin."
A few seconds later, the screen flickered, and four words appeared clearly:
[Creation Successful.]