Lu Mengzheng: Shortest Couplet "2 3 4 5,6 7 8 9! " 呂蒙正 最短春聯: 二三四五 六七八九 橫額: 南北 Poem by Frank Yue

"2,3,4,5; 6,7,8,9": An Odd Encoded Homonym-Omission Couplet
- by LU MENGZHENG

"Two, Three, Four, Five,

Six, Seven, Eight, Nine."


"No ONE"-"Wu Yi": "No clothes" to wear; that's it.

"Missing TEN"-"Shao Shi": that's "Little to eat"!

Written on top of the ultra terse couplet: "North, South" only;
"Dong Xi": "East, West", the other two directions are missing clearly:
That can only mean one thing -
In my 'home' there is "Nothing! "


(2013.10.15)


Translator's Notes:

1. We each have 5 digits in each hand. "1,2,3,4,5" on the right, "6,7,8,9,10" on the left.

2. Therefore, "-2,3,4,5" = "No 1", pronounced as "Wu Yi" (in Chinese)= '無一' (衣) , meaning "No clothes".

3. "6,7,8,9 - " = "Missing 10" = "Shao Shi" = '少十' (食) , meaning "Little to eat".

4. 橫批(只有) : "南北"，(所以)沒有 "東西"。
Written atop the couplet: "North, South" only; 2 of the 4 cardinal points, but "Dong Xi": "East, West", the other 2 directions are missing.
and the 2-word combo "東西" also means "something".
Therefore, 沒有 "東西" = (have)"nothing" (at home) !
The young scholar then was in abject poverty.