Ji Xiaolan, a talented scholar in the Qing Dynasty, was a Jinshi during the Qianlong period. He moved from editing and serving as a bachelor to being a minister of the Ministry of Rites and co-organizing a bachelor's degree. He served as the editor-in-chief of "Sikuquanshu" for more than ten years. In his later years, he wrote 24 volumes of "Yuewei Thatched Cottage Notes", which enjoys a high reputation at home and abroad along with "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio". He is a brilliant writer, clever and agile. He is a genius of couplets. He can match all things in the world and ancient and modern poems. He can pick them up at his fingertips, and his words are interesting and natural. His superb writing skills are astonishing. About the story of Ji Xiaolan's couplets, There are many records in notebooks and unofficial histories, and it is also widely circulated among the people. One winter, Ji Xiaolan followed Qianlong on his southern tour to Bailong Temple, and happened to see the temple monk ringing the bell. The majestic ancient temple has the leisurely ringing of bells. Qianlong flourished in poetry and wrote the seven characters "Golden Bell Strikes in Bailong Temple". Ji Xiaolan saw it and knew that Qianlong wanted to test him, so he calmly wrote the upper and lower couplets: "The jade flute is played in the Yellow Crane Tower". Qianlong immediately clapped his hands and praised: "What a match!". Ji Xiaolan is familiar with poetry and books and has a strong memory. His teacher once used the sentence "New ghosts annoy the old ghosts to cry" from Du Fu's "Army Chariots" to test him. He cleverly used the sentence "His life is uncertain" from Li Shangyin's "Mawei". In this life, "I have never done anything wrong", it is so perfect, so neat and appropriate that my teacher has to admire him for being better than his master. In the summer of the 16th year of Qianlong's reign, Emperor Qianlong saw the lotus flowers blooming in the pond. Qianlong once said: "Who are the lotus roots in the pond to beat with a red fist?". When Ji Xiaolan saw the castor on the left side of the pond, he responded with a question couplet: "What do you want from the castor on the bank, stretching out your green palm?". Qianlong was amazed by the way the questions were answered in the same way, so seamlessly. In the year when Ji Xiaolan was admitted as a Jinshi, he saw numerous pawnshops in the capital and casually recited the first couplet: "East pawnshop, west pawnshop, east-west pawnshop pawns east-west", but he couldn't think of the second couplet. Later, he was ordered to go to Tongzhou to be the examiner. Seeing that Tongzhou was divided into north and south, he thought hard for several months and came up with the second couplet: "Nantongzhou, north Tongzhou, north and south Tongzhou lead to north and south." It is extremely wonderful. One autumn, a theater troupe that often fooled the people came to perform in Ji Xiaolan's hometown. Because the place was very poor and life was very poor, the actors were very resentful. Therefore, an actor who played the role of "examiner" in a play used the play to satirize the local villagers: "sour mustard greens, stinky cucumbers, the entrance is frowning and blinking;" The clinker coincided with Ji Xiaolan's return to her hometown to visit her parents, so she angrily He replied: "Destroying the opera garden will destroy the virtues of the opera, and you will mess up the show!" Ji Xiaolan once had a doctor friend with a bad temper. One day, Ji Xiaolan went to see a doctor for an illness. This doctor friend said to him, I will write out the first couplet. If you can match the second couplet, the consultation fee and medicine fee will be free of charge. Ji Xiaolan thought that the couplet would stump me. ? He nodded in agreement. The first couplet is: "You can eat ointment, you can eat medicine, but you can't eat plaster." Ji Xiaolan took advantage of his temper and continued the second line: "The spleen is good for medicine, qi is good for medicine, but temper is not good for medicine." It not only touches on his shortcomings, but also urges him to correct them. It's a pun, wonderful! A county magistrate had long heard that Ji Xiaolan was talented and very good at couplets, and wanted to try it himself. One day, when Ji Xiaolan happened to be on a tour of the county, he wrote a tricky couplet: "No matter how big or small a rat is, they are all called old." Ji Xiaolan thought for a moment and couldn't make up his mind. He looked around and saw a parrot, so he calmly said: "Parrots of both sexes are called brother." The county magistrate secretly marveled at Ji Xiaolan's talent.