Hey, today the Yangzhou merchant fleet drifted in on a wave of "sugary-sweet yawns"! The maritime fleet was stuck in the doldrums, the sailing ships looking like sweet biscuits soaking in honey. Pei Hongxiu tapped the ship's rail and complained loudly: "Huwa! If you don't think of something soon, the crew are going to start chewing the Peace Talismans like sugar cookies!" Huwa squatted behind the mast and snickered, the maltose in his hand dropping with a "splat" into the navigation chart cylinder—he had sewn a ring of storm-popped joke sugar beads into the Dashi Star Brocade, tossed it up into the sky, and turned it into joke-telling "sweet-talk clouds." Every cloud grew Huwa's cartoon face, opening its mouth to declare: "Do you know why camels don't dare travel by water? They're afraid of being boiled and eaten in the 'sweet-salty faction' debates!"
"Huwa! Quickly bring out the 'Maritime Deyunshe'!" shouted the Protagonist. Huwa immediately stuffed a handful of crosstalk sugar beans into the loom, and the woven Chinese character patterns began to clack-clack out a crosstalk double act: "A: To learn and time and again practice it, is that not 'sweet'? B: Friends coming from afar, 'sweet' to the bottom of your heart!" The chief manager of the Silla scholar delegation laughed so hard he slapped his thighs, startling his page boy into nearly kicking an inkstone into the sea. Huwa stood with hands on hips and chuckled: "Is the sea too dull? What I'm doing is 'sweet-talking away…
Chapter 412