Step by step, a gentle breeze leads to a smooth path

Chapter 221 4 Little Ghosts

"I couldn't understand it, it was all gibberish, it must be some other language," Ning Xueyan recalled.

"Sister Ning, I meet a lot of people while I'm doing business, and I can speak a few words of English. Would you like to listen to me?"

"Okay, Xiao Gao, go ahead." Ting Nan was dressed as a woman in her twenties or thirties this time.

After Tingnan spoke a few words of commonly used English, Ning Xueyan shook her head. He then spoke a few words of Russian, and Ning Xueyan still shook her head. Song Tingnan thought for a moment, then spoke a few words of Japanese, including twice saying "Dai ni pp. ponte ikku" (Great Japanese Empire). Sure enough, Ning Xueyan nodded vigorously, "Xiao Gao, that's the tone!"

"Really? You're not mistaken, are you?"

“That’s right, that’s right. He sometimes mumbles that at home, and he looks very serious about it.” Ning Xueyan was certain.

Song Tingnan confirmed his guess, comforted Ning Xueyan for a few words, gave her two apples, and left.

Back home, Nan and Song Yanchu analyzed: "Uncle, Tian Song must be Japanese! No wonder he looks so ugly whenever someone says 'Japanese devil'."

Song Yanchu scoffed: "Ting Nan, do you know why we Chinese call them 'Japanese devils'?"

"I wonder, are they as scary as ghosts?"

“Hehehe, listen to Nan, let me tell you a story!” Song Yanchu began to tell the story: “Actually, they were not originally called Japan. During the Han Dynasty, they were still in the tribal period. Their tribal chief traveled across the ocean to China and asked Emperor Guangwu to protect him and support him to become king. Emperor Guangwu bestowed upon them the name ‘Wa Nu Guo’ (倭奴国).

During the Tang Dynasty, they felt that "Wonu" sounded unpleasant, so they asked Empress Wu Zetian to give them a new name. The enlightened empress then named them "Japan".

Then, in 1894, at a press conference held by Chinese and Japanese journalists after the First Sino-Japanese War, a Japanese minister, wanting to embarrass us, presented a couplet, saying they hadn't been able to match it for centuries and wished to ask the Chinese, with their five-thousand-year-old civilization, for a solution. The first line was: "Riding a strange horse, drawing a longbow. Playing the zither, the pipa, and eight kings. Side by side atop their heads, fighting alone with a single spear." Few words, but not simple; it contains many hidden meanings. Listen, can you match it?

Song Tingnan took out paper and pen and wrote it down. After thinking for a long time, she still had no clue. She became anxious and said, "Uncle, how should we Chinese answer? Please tell me quickly!"

"It's really not easy to come up with a perfect matching second line, especially at a press conference where there's simply no time to think. Besides, the meaning of the first line is malicious—Japan rides swift horses, draws longbows, has a strong army, numerous generals, and eight kings alone; they can start a war anytime, anywhere—pretty arrogant, right? The Chinese representatives were furious, but… the Japanese representatives all looked smug. The Japanese minister who uttered the first line seized the opportunity to mock, 'Such a great nation, surely they can't even come up with a matching couplet?'"

"Huh? You really didn't answer?"

"Hahaha, how could that be? No sooner had he finished speaking than a Chinese representative stepped forward, thought for a moment, and wrote the second line of a couplet on a piece of paper: 'Japanese officials, clad in dragon robes. Demons and monsters, four little devils. Kneeling beside him, hands clasped in capture.'"

"Yay, that's great, Uncle, please finish it in one go, I'm so impatient!"

"Hahaha... You have to believe in our ancestors. This second line is perfectly matched, isn't it? It completely matches the demanding first line: 'Your zithers and pipa have eight kings inside, while my demons and monsters have four little devils inside.' The meaning is—have you Japanese slaves forgotten your history of groveling before China as a vassal state? Even if you steal the imperial robes, you're nothing but demons and monsters, destined to be captured by the Chinese and kneel before us again. Satisfying, isn't it? It dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese arrogance. They wanted to embarrass us, but they've shot themselves in the foot."

Later, this incident was widely reported by reporters, and the phrase "魑魅魍魉" in the second line refers to ghosts, hence the term "鬼子" (guizi, meaning devils) originated from that time.