Chapter 280: First Place

Surprise chapter! :u:

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Ouyang Cen also spoke to his old friends, “Although the title of ‘Yun Yang Ding’ is a bit off-topic, it isn’t that hard. ‘Yun Yang Ding’ is a famous bronze inscription in the early Western Han Dynasty. As early as the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the article has been circulated. It’s so extensive that as long as you have a thorough understanding of Western Han literature, you can memorize it.”

Ouyang Cen was the deputy head of the calligraphy association, and he was respected. Everyone quieted down as soon as he spoke. He glanced over the judges, and Su Xuezhen and Wang Qinghai, who were guilty, subconsciously looked elsewhere to avoid eye contact.

Wu Qu was probably too angry to think straight, he even said to Ouyang Cen, “You guys are all birds of a feather!”

Zhou Buxuan won’t allow any slander to his teacher, and said angrily, “You can’t go around saying nonsense like that!”

Ouyang Cen made a gesture, signaling for Zhou Buxuan to stay quiet and out of this. 

Wu Qu knew Zhou Buxuan, Zhou Buxuan was actually quite famous and was one of the most anticipated candidates this year. Not only that, he was also Ouyang Cen’s pupil. Thinking of this, Wu Qu got more and more jealous. He looked at Ouyang Cen and said,

“I taught myself calligraphy for twenty years, and I love calligraphy from the bottom of my heart. From the very beginning, I’ve been on this journey alone, I never found a teacher because I was just a normal citizen without any backdoors. I could only copy the words over and over again according to the demonstrations.”

“I didn’t know how well I did, or if I had any calligraphy talents or not. It was like crossing a river by feeling the stones, I knew nothing of the road ahead. I’ve signed up for the exhibition two times already because I don’t have any experience or a guide, I couldn’t even pass the re-evaluation the first two times; however, I’m not afraid of failure. I believe that my work will one day make it to the top! I’ve been focusing all of my energy on studying calligraphy for these 4 years, I’ve even quit my job just for the sake of preparation.”

Wu Qu glanced over Su Maolin, Liu Man, and Zhou Buxuan,

“You guys have famous teachers tutoring you. You’re all so young, yet you’ve already reached a point that ordinary people could never reach. The Exhibition will be like children’s play to you and you will never experience how important this Exhibition is to hobbyists like us. This is like a belief to show that all these years of my hard work were worth it.”

“This time, my work finally made it into the Exhibition. I thought I could proceed to the very end, yet you people who rely on your daddies and mentors to win are the very people who block my dreams. I’m already 35 years old, do I really have to waste another 4 years to compete with another batch of you privileged kids? I’ll never win!”

Wu Qu said this with the determination to give everything up, he has already offended the entirety of the National Calligraphy Association with his words. He knew wasn’t going to attend this Exhibition next time and he won’t ever become a professional calligrapher, so what was there to fear? It would be better for him to stand up for himself and turn this whole evaluation upside down.

He wasn’t happy, so he’ll make all these privileged youngsters suffer too!

After Liu Man heard his words, she was deeply moved. Because of Zhu Xiyang, she felt Wu Qu’s despair and helplessness. The situation Wu Qu faced now was just like the situation she and Li Xiaoru faced before.

She wasn’t mad anymore, because she already had the mindset of, “If you don’t mess with me, I won’t mess with you.” Wu Qu’s speech was out of desperation, she and Professor Su were accidentally insulted.

Liu Man said to Wu Qu calmly, “I play fairly; the sole reason why I knew how to write ‘Yun Yang Ding’ was because the font that I actually study is the small seal rather than the regular script, and ‘Yun Yang Ding’ was one of the first pieces I studied. “

Wu Qu was shocked, he saw the kindness in the girl’s eyes, she was still on his side even when he said so many bad things, including her and her mentor.

Shouldn’t she be mad?

Liu Man continued to say,

“If you don’t believe me, I can write ‘Yun Yang Ding’ again using seal characters.”

Wu Qu didn’t dare speak a word. He was extremely conflicted because he already believed Liu Man, but he didn’t know but to show that. This was his first interaction with Liu Man; he didn’t expect her to be such a big-hearted person, he was at a loss for words.

Liu Man didn’t waste time; a million excuses would be less effective than a simple act. She walks up to Wu Qu’s table and, under thousands of pairs of eyes, starts writing on his blank paper.

Zhou Buxuan saw this and suddenly had an uplifting feeling. He took out his phone and pointed its camera at the girl at work. At that moment, even her basic Han dress was a special sight.

Su Yi was not mad anymore; this was Su Xuezhen’s fault and not the innocent Wu Qu. Since Liu Man found her own way of resolving the issue, he will quietly wait.

Ouyang Cen scratched his head, thinking whether he should report this to the president of the council to remove Su Xuezhen’s title.

At that time, they thought Su Xuezhen only colluded with Wang Qinghai for the question-making process, not yet finding out about So Maolin using his father’s work to enter the competition.

When Liu Man was writing, she was completely zen, contrary to Su Maolin, who was sweating so much his entire shirt was wet, and the air conditioning was turned on to max!

Liu Man wrote very speedily; she finished the seal character version of Yun Yang Ding in less than five minutes. Wu Qu stood right next to her, from her first to her last stroke.

His eyes were rid of any contempt towards Liu Man. He was completely convinced of her skills and even looked at her as a Master of Calligraphy.

Seeing Wu Qu’s huge reaction, the seal character judge Cheng Zikun couldn’t sit there quietly. He stood up and walked towards Liu Man’s calligraphy.

When Cheng Zikun saw Liu Man’s seal characters, his eyes lit up,

“Good, good, good!”

A normally confident speaker, Cheng Zikun ran out of words because he was so shocked. If he didn’t see it in person, he wouldn’t believe a little girl in college wrote this masterpiece.

The charm of the bronze stele,

The Western Han Dynasty, full of vigor,

A masterpiece.

Currently, seal characters are slowly getting modernized; barely anyone was good at such an “ancient” variant of the seal characters, and most of these people were really old, slowly withering away.

Cheng Zikun was very excited, he loudly said to all the other judges, “Liu Man’s seal characters, no matter which group she went to, will always be number one.”

When he said this, the entire venue blew up with more conversation than before.

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Translated by: Puppxteer and Sydney

Edited by: Michael

Chapter 279: Exposing the Collusion

Hi everyone! Sydney, Yutong/Puppxteer, and I have settled down in school and we will consistently post 1 chapter every 2 weeks. We are so grateful for everyone’s continuous support and we are excited to continue translating. :3

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Wu Qu stared at Su Xuezhen’s face. He felt that this person was fake and pretentious. He had been tolerating Su Xuezhen for this entire exam, but now, he is losing patience and is about to explode.

“I’ve always thought the calligraphy exhibit since it is at the national level, is completely fair and open. I’ve always thought all the calligraphists in the National Calligraphy Association were prestigious, and I’ve admired them. As a result, I’ve realized today that these were all my naive, childish thoughts. I didn’t think there would be a collusion behind this exhibition, which we, the calligraphers, see as a sacred celebration!”

As soon as a collusion was mentioned, an uproar struck between the participants in the ninth and tenth groups. The initially quiet, grave, and organized hall became suddenly loud.

Many people had already discovered that something was wrong after Wu Qu’s words because the topic given on the spot was too challenging.

“This is nonsense,” Wang Qinghai shouted, “The selection process was witnessed by everyone, and it was the combined effort of all five judges, how could there be any collusion?!”

Wu Qu retorted, “Do you dare to evaluate group 10 with this topic?”

Wang Qinghai didn’t know how to answer.

Wu Qu continued, “Group 10 was the Seal Characters Group. They must have studied the Han Dynasty’s Xiaozhuan, and “Yun Yang Ding” should be a piece of cake for them.”

The participants in group 10 all facepalmed, they just wanted to say, don’t overestimate them, they really don’t know anything about “Yun Yang Ding”!

“This question is obviously made for people with connections!”

Wu Qu was going all out as if he was afraid of nothing.

Wang Qinghai came up with the questions and gave them to Su Xuezhen two days ago.

Five judges alternated between giving the question prompts for the writing. The normal sequence is that the seal script judges are responsible for the running script group, the running script judges are responsible for the official script group, the official script judges are responsible for regular scripts, the regular script judges are responsible for cursive scripts, and the cursive script judges are responsible for seal scripts.

It was what Su Xuezhen and the other five judges agreed on, it has been the rule every time.

Su Xuezhen knew his son’s level, if he didn’t he wouldn’t have written “Bro Kiln Fu” for him.

With his professional skill, passing the initial evaluation was basically a piece of cake. His plan was simple, he wanted to trip everyone over in the second stage so that Su Maolin would be the only one advancing from his group.

Su Maolin turned 26 this year, after graduating from a third-rate college, he’s been staying at home doing nothing and simply relying on his parents.​​ When Xizhen Academy was opened last year. He was arranged by his father to teach calligraphy in the academy. The students knew that he was the son of the calligrapher Su Xuezhen, and he called him “Mr. Su” respectfully.

TL’s Note: Not sure if everyone knows but a third-rate college in Chinese terms is just calling the college trash but without bad words.

These kids were all beginners in calligraphy and couldn’t see that Su Maolin’s calligraphy was trash. The kids all think that he’s super cool and adore him.

In order to increase Su Maolin’s value as a calligraphy teacher, Su Xuezhen used his piece to enter the competition. Even if his son only passes the face-to-face evaluation, the Calligraphy Association would still pass out a Professional Certificate, even for the Calligraphers at the bottom of the list.

With this certificate, Su Maolin only needed a bit more experience to become a professional calligraphist. 

That time, the thing that opened the gates for Su Xuezhen’s future was exactly this certificate. Unfortunately, his son didn’t inherit his talent in calligraphy and became extremely spoiled under his parent’s love. However, Su Maolin was his only son, and he will pave the path to Su Maolin’s success no matter how little talent his son has.

The computer randomizes the groupings; Su Xuezhen cannot dictate whether his son is put in the “death group” or the “lie down and win group”. To make sure nothing goes wrong, he chose the hardest question that most competitors won’t know. Even if there is a genius amongst them, his son only needs one of the spots.

Therefore, he was very surprised that Liu Man could write this passage. Su Yi’s last disciple could not be belittled.

Su Xuezhen says to the persistent Wu Qu, “There were only 2 people in the eighth group who wrote Yun Yang Ding, you were not one of them. Why are you blaming your own incapability on us? You can’t say these words without taking responsibility.”

Wu Qu laughed coldly, “I will take full responsibility for my words. I dare to say right now that Su Maolin and Liu Man both have connections here. They are the top two that you have already decided. The rest of the eight people, including me, are all here to waste our time and be the background.”

Liu Man was confused, how did she become the one who had “connections”?

Wu Qu was defeated by her. It was like her expression two months ago when she looked at Zhu Xiyang. Liu Man felt wronged and ludicrous.

She wanted to explain herself. 

However, the other seven people had been persuaded by Wu Qu. They thought about how they had been acting as idiots just now, and that embarrassing feeling, when they could not write a single word, was unforgettable.

So every one of them got infuriated and sided with Wu Qu.

“Why is it that only Su Maolin and Liu Man know about ‘Yun Yang Ding’?”

“We got eliminated just because we don’t know ‘Yun Yang Ding’. That’s so bullsh*t. Is this a calligraphy competition or a literature competition?”

“There’s obviously a problem. It’s almost certain that they knew the questions beforehand and memorized all the answers.”

“No wonder in the Q&A section, Liu Man had such a deep understanding of “Longzang Temple Stele” and had no trouble answering the questions.”

“Wow, Su Maolin seemed like he had no pressure and easily answered all the questions.”

…

With supporters, Wu Qu’s guts grew. He said, “I’m curious, what is the relationship between Su Maolin and Judge Su Xuezhen?” Except for internal workers, normal participants knew nothing about Su Maolin being Su Xuezhen’s son, “You guys look so similar, you must be father and son!”

The people who didn’t know the truth were shocked!

A father evaluates his son’s piece? That’s so corrupt!

All kinds of accusations were flung at Su Maolin and Su Xuezhen, even the obnoxious Su Maolin lowered his head in shame. Su Xuezhen pretended to be calm but the sweat on his back exposed his nervousness.

After exposing the Su father and son, Wu Qu did not kindly let Liu Man go. He said, “Liu Man is also a celebrity, the famous Hanfu Goddess. Since your teacher is the famous calligrapher Mr. Su Yi, I wonder what the relationship is between Mr. Su Yi and Su Xuezhen?”

How could he put the blame on Professor Su?! Liu Man was furious as she wanted to speak,

Su Yi stands up, “I have no relation to Su Xuezhen!” How can he tolerate words so derogatory to him and Liu Man,

“I used the regular way of signing up and just helped Liu Man deliver her piece. I didn’t have any say in the process of the evaluation, in fact, neither I nor Liu Man knew what prompt would be given out today. Liu Man wrote “Yun Yang Ding” out of pure talent,” as he turned to Su Maolin, “unlike you.”

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Translated by: Puppxteer and Sydney

Edited by: Michael

Chapter 277: Cheating

Nobody knew better than Su Yi that Liu Man was the best at Western Han Seal Characters. Back then, he and his Ph.D. student even gave her font a special name: Western Han Bronze Seal Characters.

This challenge was really on point. 

Even if Liu Man used the clerical script to write it, which she wasn’t good at, she would still win!

Liu Man still couldn’t decide. She subconsciously looked toward Su Yi, and Su Yi nodded at her. He meant that she could just do what the judges required. Sure, his directions were important, but it was fine to adapt during special times.

Wu Qu, who was standing behind her, saw this scene. His expression was already very gloomy because of this impossible topic, and now, his expression got even worse.

Su Maolin was the most relaxed one here. He had already started writing. There were a total of fifty-one words in Yun Yang Ding, and it was just right for him to write all of them in fifteen minutes. He had to make good use of his time!

One contestant took his phone out and wanted to search for it on Baidu, but his actions immediately got discovered by one of the judges, who hollered, “People who cheat will immediately be removed from this evaluation.”

That person was so scared he hurriedly put away his phone.

After receiving Professor Su’s support, Liu Man, like Su Maolin, lifted her brush, dipped it in some ink, and started to write.

After fifteen minutes…

Only Liu Man and Su Maolin completed the passage, and as for the others, none of them even touched their brush from start to end. Their rice paper was white and clean, as empty as their brains were. There was no need for the judges to say anything; they knew they were automatically goners.

Next, the judges only needed to evaluate Liu Man and Su Maolin’s works.

The five calligraphists stood up at once and walked towards the duo.

They first looked towards Su Maolin’s work.

Su Xuezhen walked closer to his son. The father and the son exchanged eye contact, and at the same time, he had a smile that only they could understand. Su Xuezhen accordingly stood aside, signaling that he was avoiding all suspicion of cheating.

Now he starts thinking of avoiding all suspicion of cheating!

The four judges took a closer look at Su Maolin’s words. Cheng Zikun felt it was strange. He felt that Su Maolin’s words, written on the spot, were somewhat different from the Po Yao Fu, shown in the outside hall. It seemed as if… as if these two pieces weren’t written by the same person.

He pointed out his suspicion, and a hint of guilt flashed through Su Maolin’s eyes. He looked towards Wang Qinghai, asking for help, and Wang Qinghai immediately explained, “After all, he was improvising, and he must’ve felt a bit nervous. He couldn’t control his feelings, so he couldn’t be at his normal level.”

Cheng Zikun barely accepted this explanation, but he still felt a little suspicious.

Naturally, the other judge, cursive script calligraphist, Mo Qi, also thought this piece was unsatisfactory.

However, to not offend Su Xuezhen, he didn’t say anything. If he said anything, he wouldn’t get any benefits, and if he didn’t say anything, he wouldn’t have any loss.

This was why Su Yi told Liu Man before that the five judges would never be biased towards one contestant. Su Xuezhen could befriend Wang Qinghai, who was also from the Northwest part of China, but he couldn’t get the other three judges.

The running script calligraphist, Chen Jianqiu, who was standing far away, along with Wang Qinghai, who kept on helping Su Maolin. He came to an answer, and he had already noticed that it seemed wrong.

During the questioning part just now, he had already prepared several questions for Su Maolin, but just as he opened his mouth, Wang Qinghai stole his chance. Chen Jianqiu felt very unhappy and upset.

Now that he had seen this poor piece, he finally understood that Su Xuezhen was trying to set down a good future for his son.

That Yun Yang Ding was probably written by Su Xuezhen himself!

Chen Jianqiu, who had always been very honest, disliked this behavior, but he couldn’t go against Su Xuezhen right here on the spot. Right now, Su Xuezhen was ranked higher than him!

He couldn’t tell how many people were bribed by Su Xuezhen in this exhibition. Cheng Zikun also seemed confused, but Mo Qi wasn’t talking. What if he was also siding with Su Xuezhen? If he suddenly starts rebutting, they would be going two to three. No, if Cheng Zikun stood out and didn’t want to have anything to do with the conflict, then it would be one to three. He wouldn’t benefit at all and would be isolated.

Or else, why would there be a Chinese saying: Wherever there are people, there’s conflict? The five judges who were temporarily grouped together each had different thoughts.

Chen Jianqiu thought that he should continue observing Cheng Zikun and Mo Qi’s reactions before making his decision.

The five people proceeded to evaluate Liu Man’s work.

Su Xuezhen was the first one to walk up to Liu Man. He didn’t look at his work but was instead staring at her. Liu Man was uncomfortable under his stare, and Su Xuezhen wasn’t feeling good either.

Thirty years ago, Su Yi gave the opportunity to Fang Huaiyuan with the excuse that he was too young and could not graduate. As a result, thirty years later, he gave the opportunity to a girl, who was even younger than he was back then.

Hehe,

Of course. In Su Yi’s eyes, he wasn’t important at all. Su Yi attached great importance to Fang Huaiyuan; he attached great importance to this girl. Su Yi ignored him.

When he came to this thought, Su Xuezhen’s eyes became darker as he looked at Liu Man.

Chen Jianqiu was the first one to study Liu Man’s piece.

It was fine, it was fine. It was about the same level as her work, portrayed outside in the hall. She didn’t fail, and neither did she exceed her limits. Her flaw was still overmimicking, but at least she wrote it herself!

Chen Jianqiu glared at Wang Qinghai. He had the face to suspect that this girl’s work was written by Mr. Su Yi.

The cheaters thought that the others were cheating as well, a case of cheaters calling out other cheaters.

Cheng Zikun and Mo Qi also thought that Liu Man’s work was much better than Su Maolin’s work. They weren’t on the same level at all. The young girl’s work could be called calligraphy art, while Su Maolin’s work could only be regarded as amateur graffiti, it’s enough to fool outsiders, and could perhaps be sufficient for a Spring Festival couplet, but it truly can’t be on par with the big works.

Su Xuezhen asked Liu Man, “Do you know the meaning of Yunyang Ding?”

Chen Jianqiu frowned; this section was only supposed to evaluate their works, not their knowledge. Su Xuezhen shouldn’t have asked this question.

Liu Man detected Su Xuezhen’s hostility; whenever she thinks about his past doings, she just couldn’t respect him as an adult. She said politely but coldly, “Of course I know.”

Even though Liu Man didn’t make it too apparent, Su Xuezhen felt the disdain in her voice.

A little girl dared to look down on him!?

Su Xuezhen was very displeased, “please translate this article.”

“Translation is not necessary,” Cheng Zikun said, “It’s not a part of the evaluation.”  

“If she’s going to translate, Su Maolin has to do it as well,” Chen Jianqiu took the opportunity and said.

Su Maolin had no idea how to translate, he couldn’t even begin to understand the difficult texts in this article. Just memorizing the text was already hard enough. If he spoke up now, he’d be exposed.

Finally, Su Xuezhen gave up on the thought of embarrassing Liu Man.

Seeing Cheng Zikun and Chen Jianqiu argue back hurt his pride.

The judges stood in a stalemate beside Liu Man’s work, which sparked whispers from the 9th and 10th groups of participants. The members of the association who were on the sidelines did not know the reason either.

Su Yi smiled at Ouyang Cen, “Look, the judges are having an argument.”

Ouyang Cen said, “Su Xuezhen should’ve never appeared here at the same time as his son.”

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Translated by: Sydney

Edited by: Michael

Chapter 276: Problems With Precision

To everyone’s surprise, Wang Qinghai spoke up first and challenged Liu Man,

“Was your work completed under the supervision of Mr. Su Yi?”

His words hinted at how he suspected that Su Yi wrote this for her.

Of course, Liu Man mimicked Su Yi’s clerical script style, but no matter how similar their words looked, one of them was male and one of them was female. One of them was an elder, while one of them was a youngster. Their style also looked prominently different. Professional calligraphists could notice the difference right away.

Wang Qinghai’s question made it clear that he was obviously challenging Liu Man.

None of the others felt that there was an issue, for this part was specially designed for the judges to question the contestants.

Liu Man did not panic and said calmly, “No. I wrote this independently.”

“Oh? Can you discuss with us why you chose to write these words?”

“I wrote this piece two months ago. At that time, I was being treated unfairly and had just been fired from my university. This is a description of what was going on inside me. No matter how much the others slander and frame me, my mind still remains as pure and clean as a bright mirror, and I remain free and complete.”

Liu Man did not try to hide this past downfall in her life at all.

The Hanfu Goddess was not famous enough that everyone knew about her. Calligraphists and cyber stars were in two different tiers, and their industries would never connect.

Therefore, her words made many people feel surprised. Whenever someone mentioned that they got fired, everyone would subconsciously think of scums or unscrupulous students, but this girl looks like neither!

They then subconsciously looked toward Su Yi. This time, when Su Yi took in his apprentice, it was sudden and in a hurry. He didn’t report to the association, and most people didn’t know about the specific details. Of course, not everyone was hidden in the dark. Ouyang Cen was very clear about the situation.

Time passed quickly. Lots of talented people appeared in the calligraphy circles. Now, it was the younger generation that dominated the calligraphy association. The youngsters had their own thoughts.

Su Yi had trouble communicating with them. He now barely attended the activities hosted by the association, and he only talked to the elders like Ouyang Cen.

However, Ouyang Cen still asked Su Yi, “Which school was your apprentice fired from?”

“I’ll tell you about it at dinner.”

Wang Qinghai did not ask follow-up questions about why Liu Man got fired; it had nothing to do with calligraphy. Next, he said,

“Please give us your opinion on the first-ever monument in the Da Duo Dynasty.”

This question seemed very difficult, and many contestants may not even know what this monument was, not to mention giving an opinion of it? They probably would not even be able to say a single word, which would result in an embarrassing departure.

About half a month ago, Liu Man, like the rest of them, had no idea what this monument from the Da Duo Dynasty was. At that time, Professor Su gave her a file containing all kinds of different questions. One of them was this question Wang Qinghai had just asked.

Professor Su said that, although in the face-to-face round, the judges could ask whatever they wanted to ask about, they would usually refer to this “top-secret file”. This was like a collection of questions, similar to the ones for different exams. After all, thinking of an appropriate question was also something that wasted brain cells. The judges were usually very busy and would only get to know the contestants and the others’ work on the day of the evaluation. They wouldn’t tire their brains out just to think of questions for hundreds of people!

Because Professor Su did this when he was a judge at the exhibit. He kept this collection of questions that the association handed out in his study, and he never threw it away. To his surprise, it could still be of some use. 

Professor Su also said that he couldn’t guarantee that the judge would definitely ask the questions from the file, but being prepared would definitely be better than being helpless when asked on the spot. And so, Liu Man got completely prepared and memorized every question and answer in the collection.

She searched through her mind for a moment before she answered, “The Long Zang Shi monument is publicly recognized as the first and best monument back in the Duo Dynasty…”

The girl’s gentle and soft voice flowed through the room. She was very confident and relaxed.

Everyone who heard her answer exclaimed in their mind: Which school was foolish enough to fire such an outstanding student?

And the challenger, Wang Qinghai, along with Su Xuezhen, all had weird expressions, as if they were surprised that Liu Man was able to answer it.

Excluding them, the other three judges all nodded, satisfied. They all put a checkmark before Liu Man’s name on their respective lists.

It seemed that Liu Man had passed this part. She sighed in relief.

The judge continued to ask the others. The nine following people all had very unsatisfactory answers. Some people, like contestants in previous groups, completely didn’t know how to answer when they were challenged with very difficult questions. Some people stammered and barely got on point, and some gave very unreasonable replies, not making any sense.

Only two people replied as fluently as Liu Man did. One was Su Maolin, and the other was a man standing right behind Liu Man. When he replied to the question, Liu Man turned her head and saw his name card; his name was Wu Qu.

Liu Man felt that Wu Qu was at least 30 years old. His hair was scarce, and he was a bit fat, but none of it affected his sophisticated temperament.

When Liu Man sneaked a look at Wu Qu, he also took a glance at her in a competitive way. Obviously, he put his whole mind into trying to pass the evaluation.

No matter how everyone responded, they all had to enter the final portion — writing with their brush on the spot.

The five judges discussed for two minutes, and at last, Wang Qinghai was the one who announced the topic: “Every single font came into shape in the Han Dynasty. The people in the two different Han Dynasties helped the art of calligraphy prosper with their smart and clever ideas. They created huge numbers of classical pieces, and at this moment, our calligraphy exhibit is hosted at the Han Dynasty exhibit. Therefore, we would like to ask everyone to write the famous bronze carving, ‘Yun Yang Ding’ from the Western Han Dynasty, and change the font from seal characters to the clerical script. You have fifteen minutes.”

As soon as the topic was given, all the contestants had a bad expression on their faces.

Because the topic was way too challenging!

They were only good at the clerical script, so people would rarely go study the seal character. The Han bronze carving was very unpopular, and the “Yun Yang Ding” was the most unpopular out of all unpopular pieces. Some of the seal character calligraphists might not have even read this passage before.

Some people sweated, some furiously scratched their head, and some tried their best to search back through their memory.

Liu Man stared at the white rice paper, absent-minded.

Her teacher had reminded her so many times for her to write using seal characters this round, but as a result, the judge, as if intentionally going against them, gave a topic that required translating from seal characters to the clerical script. How could she do this?

She didn’t feel like this was hard. Quite on the contrary, she felt like it was super easy. It was much easier than the Jin passages and the Song poems, which were given for the two previous groups!

She knew nothing about the struggles and the sadness in her competitors’ mind. She thought everyone else felt it was easy, just like she did.

So she was very troubled; she was worried about whether her rookie calligraphy style was enough to best out her competitors.

Zhou Budai felt worried for Liu Man, seeing her completely helpless face. He started learning calligraphy when he was five, and he had studied it for sixteen whole years. Even he didn’t know what this passage, “Yun Yang Ding,” was.

Su Yi and Ouyang Cen knew about the content of “Yun Yang Ding.” Its carved copy was displayed in the Gudu Museum.

Ouyang Cen, “This part is too strict. Looks like your apprentice can only stop here.”

“That’s yet to be decided on.”

Everyone felt very anxious, but Su Yi had a big smile.

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Translated by: Sydney

Edited by: Michael

Chapter 275: The Mentor and the Former Apprentice Meet Again

The ten contestants that were in the eighth group silently stood up and took the initiative to walk towards the wooden table with their respective name cards.

When Liu Man got up, Zhou Budai said to her in a small voice, “You can do this!”

The calligraphy industry had always put men before women; it can be told just by looking at the ratio of men to women among calligraphists. The number of women was so few. 

Therefore, it wasn’t strange when there was only one woman in these ten contestants. 

All the five judges gave her an extra glance, and Su Xuezhen’s look was meaningful.

The list they each held contained a list of all the contestants, and behind each name was a box where there would be additional notes. The additional notes were about their mentors and their accomplishments so that the judges could have a preliminary understanding of each contestant. Su Xuezhen saw that behind Liu man’s name was the name, “Su Yi.”

He scanned the room, and at the back of the left audience seats, he discovered Su Yi and Ouyang Cen. Both of them had just sat down. 

It had been thirty years since he had seen his former mentor. In these thirty years, although there was no contact at all between the two, Su Xuezhen still knew a lot about what happened to Su Yi. Su Yi’s ranking in the calligraphy industry was too high; he was an authority. Just his one word or one action could affect the entire trend of clerical scripts and official scripts in the country.

Noticing Su Xuezhen’s stare, Su Yi locked eyes with him. His old yet still glowing eyes, at this moment, showed coldness and contempt. He did not watch the first two groups’ face-to-face evaluation just now, for he did not want to spend a single extra second with Su Xuezhen in the same space. Now that it was Liu Man’s turn, he had to come and supervise in person.

The Su Xuezhen in his impression was still a boy just over twenty years old, so arrogant just because of his talents. The Su Xuezhen now had become much better at surviving in this society, carrying an aura that belonged to a character of great importance. 

He stared directly at Su Yi, not a single hint of regret or guilt to be seen in his eyes. He even looked proud.

Su Xuezhen, of course, was very proud. He was only a bit over fifty years old, but he had already gained lots of money and a good reputation. He was a famous calligraphist, an admired calligraphy academy principal, and a successful businessman. He was a winner in life!

He had already had enough power and experience to face Su Yi. His eyes were, as if, telling Su Yi: “My choice back a few years ago was correct. Fang Huaiyuan couldn’t beat me at all. Fang Huaiyuan was a principal of a university and a principal of an academy, but who could still remember that Fang Huaiyuan was also one of Su Yi’s apprentices?”

If this happened before, Su Yi would have raged and walk away, so he wouldn’t have to see Su Xuezhen.

But now, he has Liu Man!

Su Yi gazed at the girl standing with her back to him, as if he had found someone to rely on. The somberness in his mind seemed to have found a solution.

After Su Xuezhen, he became extra discreet when taking in apprentices. No matter how talented the youngsters he later met were, he would still consider it for quite a bit before he decided whether he should take them in or not.

Because of that, he had only taken in three apprentices within the twenty years after he disowned Su Xuezhen. Unfortunately, these three people, similar to Fang Huaiyuan, all developed a good path in their careers, but no one could persist on this path of studying calligraphy until they became a “calligraphist”.

Later on, he gave up, too. He thought that he would never meet an appropriate person for the rest of his life to take on his knowledge. He was getting old, too, and he cared no more about this world. He began to put all his attention into educating students at the university.

And like this, ten years had passed. He saw Liu Man’s piece, which she wrote to earn money, on the internet.

His heart, which had been dead for so long, began to start beating again. He didn’t expect to see hope when he was just about to enter his grave. This really must be God’s intention.

He hurriedly made Liu Man participate in this calligraphy exhibit because he didn’t know whether he could live past the next four years, or else, he would definitely teach her everything he knew for as long as five to ten years, making sure that she was a meeting-expectations heir, before letting her participate in the exhibit.

Liu Man didn’t know about what was happening between her mentor and his former apprentice. She wasn’t even looking at any of the judges. The first thing she did when she walked to her table was reorganize the calligraphy brush, ink, paper, and inkstone according to her habits. Her actions were light and silent. After she did all of this, she stood back and stopped moving.

Her standing posture was trained by Xiao Zhao since she was just a toddler. Xiao Zhao, who was born as a dancer, thought postures and appearances were the priorities. She didn’t teach Liu Man how to dance, but she taught Liu Man all the basics of dancing. This was why Liu Man could stand as straight as a pine tree and take such soft steps.

With her ancient-styled dress, she looked like an ancient noble, her silhouette tall and pretty.

Every one of Liu Man’s competitors couldn’t resist but turned their heads to look at her. The one that took the most glances was a young man in the row behind her. Her glance was so prominent that Liu Man couldn’t help but look back. She saw the name card hung up on his desk: Su Maolin.

So he was the author of that clerical script, “Po Yao Fu”, Su Xuezhen’s son.

Su Maolin looked like he was just twenty years old. He looked very tall, and his clothes were all from famous brands, making him look very energetic and slightly handsome.

However, Liu Man thought Su Maolin didn’t have his father’s temperament. He didn’t even seem as scholarly as Zhou Budai and didn’t have the style of a calligraphist. At first glance, he was just a normal son of a rich father.

Liu Man felt confused. Was he really the author of “Po Fu Yao?”

The round started as each of them had a different thought in mind.

First up was the part where the commenting on the works happened. The five judges exchanged their opinions, and they started commenting on the first contestant, who was closest to the judges’ seats.

Each judge would comment on two pieces, and their comments would only contain one to two sentences. They were mostly full of sarcasm and criticism; none of them was a compliment.

Liu Man was positioned in the middle, and it was soon her turn. The judge who commented on her work was one with a goatee. Liu Man knew he was named Wang Qinghai. He was a famous calligraphist and also a member of the calligraphy association. He was good at the official script.

Wang Qinghai said as he looked at her, “You’re overly copying someone else’s style. It almost cannot be classified as art!”

Zhou Budai had already said something similar, so Liu Man could comfortably accept the criticism. She said gracefully, “Thank you, judge, for your feedback.”

Wang Qinghai felt a bit surprised, and he exchanged glances with Su Xuezhen.

Su Xuezhen gave a slight nod that was almost unnoticeable.

Wang Qinghai continued to comment on the next contestant’s work. The next one in line was Su Maolin. Su Maolin, who was about to listen to his feedback, did not seem to be in a low posture like the others. He seemed as if he didn’t really care, and he even carried a smile.

Su Maolin said, “I can see that your brush carried strength when you wrote this, and your mind was calm.”

This was the only good feedback in all ten of the comments.

To be honest, Su Maolin’s work was definitely the best in all of theirs, but it was impossible for him to not have a single flaw. The commenters could even criticize Wang Xizhi’s work.

TL’s Note: Wang Xizhi was a famous calligraphist in ancient China.

Everyone knew this very clearly. Wang Qinghai said this because Su Maolin was Su Xuezhen’s son! However, he was very skillful as proved by his work, and even if the others were feeling unsatisfied, they had no complaints.

They knew they could not be better than him!

Next came the questioning part, where many had cried before. There is no sequence in this part. Each judge could ask whoever they wanted to. Everyone felt anxious as they waited to be asked.

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Translated by: Syclney

Edited by: Michael

Chapter 274: The Start of the Face-to-Face Round

At the same time, more news regarding the calligraphy exhibit appeared on TV, in newspapers, and on the internet. After all, this was a national exhibit that only occurred once every four years, and it was a huge event in the calligraphy circle. Now that the upper ranks were advocating for reviving the old culture of the country, calligraphy was one of the categories that would be most capable of representing the Chinese culture; therefore, even if the calligraphy exhibit was unpopular, it was still put on the front page of the newspaper. It was one of those “main melody” head titles, and people would normally just glance at the title, too lazy to read the content.

There were already a lot of people who studied calligraphy as a hobby, gathering around inside the exhibit. They took lots of pictures and posted them on Wei Bo, and most of them were pictures of works they liked. One of the Hanfu Goddess’s fans was the first to discover that, within all of these pieces, one work was signed by “Liu Man”.

He copied the picture of this work and sent a Wei Bo post, asking everyone, “Please, I need my question answered. Was this written by my Goddess? Or was this written by someone with the same name? I’m waiting online and am in a hurry!”

At first, only a few people noticed this post. They were also curious about the answer, so they helped repost it. More fans saw it, and even more, fans helped repost it; this was how it all linked up. This post immediately went viral and received lots of attention from the netizens. Everyone commented their opinion on whether this was a treasure from the Hanfu Goddess.

Some said it was the Hanfu Goddess; others said it was just someone with the same name. Everyone had a different opinion.

Even netizens who never paid any attention to calligraphy started feeling curious about this National Calligraphy and Carving Exhibition.

“The name of this exhibit is way too long. Can someone teach us, the uncultured ones, a lesson about it?”

“I’ve read the description in the news. It says that this is a calligraphy evaluation activity hosted by the National Calligraphy Association. It’s the most outstanding batch put in the exhibition, chosen from all the calligraphy and carving works in the country. It can be compared to ‘The Voice of China’ in the singing industry.”

“There’s also a description in Baidu. It only occurs once every four years! Today’s its fifteenth anniversary.”

“It sounds high-tiered.”

“It’s too professional. Those people who don’t know anything about calligraphy won’t even know about it.”

“Today’s the opening of the exhibit, and the 300 pieces presented have already been chosen cautiously through a very difficult process. If this work is really from the Hanfu Goddess, then she’s crazily good at calligraphy.”

“So, can anyone tell me if this is written by her?”

“Just directly ping Princess Man and ask her.”

“I did ping her. She ignored me.”

“Let’s just go to the exhibit and see. There are exhibits in both the capital and Gudu. If we go to the Capital Art Center, maybe we can run into the Hanfu Goddess herself.”

“The Capital Art Center only showcases the carvings. The calligraphy works are in the Gudu Exhibition. To verify this, we can only rely on the netizens located in Gudu.”

“Fine. For the Hanfu Goddess, I’ll go to the exhibit right now.”

“I’m coming too. I live close to it.”

…

More and more netizens were getting intrigued by the calligraphy exhibit. To be more accurate, they wanted to join the fun and see if the Hanfu Goddess was there!

The number of visitors inside the exhibition got multiplied by two in the afternoon. These extra visitors were different from those who simply loved calligraphy. The first thing they did when they came in was to find Liu Man’s work, and when they did, they would madly take photos with their phone and send it on Wei Bo!

They would then wander around for a bit to see if any other works looked fine, randomly take a few photos, send them in moments, write a few words, and make themselves seem very sophisticated.

Liu Man’s clerical script, which originally got belittled, was now surrounded by waves and waves of crowds, each holding their phone, looking very excited. The other visitors assumed that this was a piece from a master, and they came to admire it as well. Everyone was raising their phone high over their head in the crowd that could not get any crowdier.

If one didn’t study closer, Liu Man’s words were pretty good-looking and were enough to be presented. Everyone only felt unfortunate because they didn’t see the Hanfu Goddess.

Was this “Liu Man” not the Hanfu Goddess?

At the same time, in the second half of the exhibit, all five judges were already seated. They were about to have a face-to-face evaluation of the work of the contestants in groups 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Group 6 was the running script, group 7 was the official script, group 8 was the clerical script, group 9 was the cursive script, and group 10 was the seal character.

Liu Man was in the eighth group, and Zhou Budai was in the ninth group. They had already arrived early to the second hall.

There were ten wooden tables, put into lines, in front of the judges. Each table was numbered off, and brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones were placed on every table.

Behind the wooden tables were fifty plastic chairs that were temporarily placed there. The contestants in the groups that would be evaluated later could sit there and wait for their round. The round was not open to the public, so only members of the calligraphy association could come in to spectate. Their chairs were even more high-tiered; they sat on the soft armchairs that were sat on by Su Yi and Ouyang Cen earlier.

There were around 20 of these soft chairs, spread around the tables. It was as if this was another way of judging.

Liu Man and Zhou Budai sat on the plastic chairs, and after watching the judging process of the first two groups, they already knew how the round worked.

First, the judges would evaluate each of the pieces in the sequence they were handed in at, then they would question each of the contestants. Everyone would get a different question, and nobody knew which judge would be the one to question them.

Questioning, here, was more challenging.

Just now, a contestant from the sixth group, the running script group, met a judge challenging him. He couldn’t come up with a response and was so anxious that he was blushing; however, the judge did not let him pass and forced him to say something. He had to quit the round.

No one in the five judges was generous. Everyone spoke sharply. Maybe this was a purposeful setting in the face-to-face round, so they could eliminate half of the contestants.

At last, the judges would come up with a sentence, a poem, or a short passage. The ten contestants in the group would have to write it all out right there in a limited time to decide the first and second place.

And the pieces they wrote on the spot would be given back to the contestants, at their disposal, unless they were in the first place or second place — In which case, their works would get recorded.

After the face-to-face round was finished for the seventh group, the two people who passed had expressions that lit up as they were feeling glad, and the other eight people had different expressions; none of them had a good expression. One of them angrily ripped the piece he had just written on the spot just now in front of everyone.

He turned around and wanted to leave.

Su Xuezhen called his name to stop him.

“Please leave after you’ve cleaned up the floor so you won’t affect the next group’s evaluation.”

This person was very ambivalent. He still felt angry, but he dared not to vent his emotions.

If he had offended Su Xuezhen, his piece, which was currently being presented in the outside hall, would have been immediately taken off. His name would also be permanently wiped in the Chinese calligraphy circle.

He started behaving well and walked back to his table, knelt, and picked up the ripped pieces of paper. He only left after making sure not a single piece of ripped paper could be seen on the floor. This time, his silhouette seemed lonely and defeated.

None of the five judges did anything about it. They lowered their heads to scroll through the overview of the works that were going to be presented by the next group. The staff quickly retrieved the works from the previous group, respread all the clean rice paper, and changed the name cards on the table so they matched the people in the eighth group.

All of this went on in silence; not a single person spoke. 

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Translated by: Sydney

Edited by: Michael

Chapter 271: Disowned

Ou Yangcen was very curious about Madam Xu, but since she had already passed away, asking more about who she was before she passed away was impolite and meaningless.

“Budai, go close the door,” Ou Yangcen ordered.

“Okay.”

Zhou Budai quickly did what he was asked to do.

Liu Man felt that Ou Yangcen was about to say things related to the calligraphy exhibit and did not want to be overheard. Reality proved her right.

Ou Yangcen said that he was suddenly called into a meeting by the calligraphy association this afternoon, which was why he didn’t go pick them up. The meeting was, naturally, about the calligraphy exhibit tomorrow. It was a “planning beforehand” meeting.

The fortunate thing about having a calligraphy expert as her teacher was now Liu Man could learn who were the five judges for the face-to-face round.

The five people were each experts in five different areas: the running script, cursive script, official script, seal characters, and the clerical script.

Ou Yangcen was originally invited to be the cursive script expert, but because his apprentice, Zhou Budai, was a contestant too, he rejected the invitation to avoid any suspicion of cheating.

The four judges that were first mentioned were all familiar to Su Yi. When Ou Yangcen mentioned the fifth judge, who was an expert in the clerical script, he paused, his expression complex, “For clothe clerical script, they found Su Xuezhen.”

Su Yu’s expression immediately changed. His smile disappeared, and his posture was no longer relaxed. He heavily hammered the arm of the chair and denounced, “Why did they choose him specifically this year?”

“In the younger generation, Su Xuezhen’s accomplishment in the clerical script area is the most prominent. At the end of last year, he also joined the calligraphy association,” the “younger” generation Ou Yangcen referred to as were people who were now 50-60 years old. People who could join the National Calligraphy Association could definitely be called real calligraphists, and the value of their work would also rise by a lot.”

Su Yi was also a member of the calligraphy association. 

“Su Xuezhen’s works in clerical script are now very valuable and are deeply worshipped by investors. Last year, he established the Xizhen Academy that copies ancient academies, and he teaches his students calligraphy and literature.”

Su Yi mocked, “He just wants to be on the news.”

Now that he was this old and had so many accomplishments, he was no longer so concerned over his material possessions and his physical comfort. He did not care at all whether anyone wanted to buy his work. He only wrote to satisfy his own senses; to entertain himself and be happy was all he wanted.

However, nowadays, this entire society focuses on money, including the calligraphy circle. People often judged how good a calligraphist was by weighing how much a work of his was worth.

“You are still biased when it comes to him. Let’s not mention what he had done in the past. He had learned everything about the clerical script from you, and he added his own thoughts onto the fundamentals that you had taught him, making it so that his work is similar to and dissimilar to your work. To be honest, his work is quite good, but I still like your clerical script better.” 

Ou Yangcen had always felt as if something was missing from Su Xuezhen’s works. They weren’t complete. 

Su Yi did not take Ou Yangcen’s words seriously, “No matter how good his works are, they cannot make up for the flaws in his personality. He is no longer related to me in any way.”

“He’s not related to you, but your young apprentice will be facing him tomorrow.”

“Today is different from the days thirty years ago,” Su Yi snorted, “I’m here to watch in person. Let’s see if he dares to play tricks again under my eyes.”

Liu Man was very confused as she listened to the conversation between the two elders. She could guess, however, that Su Xuezhen used to be Professor Su’s apprentice.

Zhou Budai could not understand their conversation, either. In his mind, Su Xuezhen was a renowned calligraphist, and his calligraphy skills could not be doubted. His Xizhen Academy had an extremely good reputation in Gudu. There were long, long lines during both times it openly looked for new students, and the academy was very popular.

So, what exactly happened thirty years ago?

After seeing Ou Yangcen and his apprentice off, Su Yi repeatedly thought it over before finally deciding to reveal everything to Liu Man.

Sure enough, as Liu Man had predicted, Su Xuezhen was Su Yi’s apprentice; however, he had already been disowned by Su Yi thirty years ago. Besides, both of their last names were “Su”. They shared the tiniest blood relation. Su Xuezhen counted as Su Yi’s very distant relative, and they shared the same pedigree.

Everything started thirty-four years ago. At that time, the middle-aged Su Yi was already an accomplished calligraphist and had already become a professor at Capital University. He had already taken in his first apprentice — Fang Huaiyuan.

And Su Xuezhen was only a Freshman at Capital University, one that could not be more mediocre, and he took Su Yi’s calligraphy elective. When Su Yi was reviewing his students’ classwork, he discovered Su Xuezhen’s words and thought that Su Xuezhen had potential. He felt close to Su Xuezhen since they shared the same last name, and so he told Su Xuezhen to come to his office. Su Xuezhen had a similar experience as Liu Man when he became Su Yi’s apprentice.

It was only after they became mentor and apprentice did the two realize that they were distant relatives. A branch of the Su family moved to the west-north part of China a few hundred years ago. Su Yi exclaimed that this must be fate and the intention of God, so he put even more effort into teaching Su Xuezhen.

At that time, Su Yi only had two apprentices. Fang Huaiyuan was seven years older than Su Xuezhen and was the first one to become Su Yi’s apprentice. Su Xuezhen naturally had to call him “Shixiong” to be respectful. As a Shixiong, Fang Huaiyuan really cared for Su Xuezhen. Whenever their teacher was too busy, he would answer all the questions Su Xuezhen had, and he would also show his work to Su Xuezhen so he could study and learn. Su Xuezhen was very grateful towards him. 

TL’s Note: “Shixiong” is how a younger apprentice calls an older male apprentice with the same mentor.

It looked like a peaceful picture, with both apprentices being happy with each other.

And like this, four year had passed. The National Calligraphy and Carving Exhibit that only comes once in four years was open for signups. There was an unspoken rule in the calligraphy industry: there could only be one apprentice from each mentor who could sign up for this exhibit.

Fang Huaiyuan and Su Xuezhen were both very outstanding students. Su Yi hesitated for quite a moment before he chose to send in Fang Huaiyuan’s work. He told Su Xuezhen the old-fashioned story about how Kong Ru, a four-year-old in ancient China, was able to give his pear to someone more in need. Su Yi said that Fang Huaiyuan had already been his apprentice for seven years, and he had been very hardworking and diligent. It was time for him to finish his apprenticeship. Su Yi also said that Su Xuezhen was still young, and there was another opportunity for him in four years.

On the outside, Su Xuezhen smiled and said it was all right.

But in his mind, he really couldn’t agree with Su Yi’s decision.

Fang Huaiyuan delicately prepared his work that he was going to hand in to the exhibit a month before signups were open. He also chose to hand in his clerical script work.

Back then, there was nothing like delivery companies. To send a package, one must go to the post office.

At that time, Fang Huaiyuan had already started working. After he graduated, he stayed in Capital University and worked for the administration. His work time clashed with the post office’s time. 

Su Xuezhen took the initiative to make an offer and help him send the package to the post office.

Fang Huaiyuan trusted him and handed his work to him.

However, Su Xuezhen did something so immoral that Su Yi still could not forgive him today. He replaced Fang Huaiyuan’s work with his own clerical script.

When Su Yi and Fang Huaiyuan learned about it, Su Xuezhen’s work had already passed the first round and had successfully entered the exhibit. 

In front of Fang Huaiyuan, Su Yi berated Su Xuezhen and asked him why he did what he did. Su Xuezhen said as if he did the right thing, “I clearly am more talented than Shixiong, but you took away my right to sign up for the exhibit just because I’m young and was late to become your apprentice. This is unfair for me! Some people who self-studied and don’t even have mentors can successfully sign up, but why can’t I? If I knew this earlier, I wouldn’t have even become your apprentice!”

Su Yi, with his violent temper, exploded right on the spot. He wanted to spank Su Xuezhen.

Fang Huaiyuan hurriedly pulled him back.

Su Yi pointed at Su Xuezhen angrily, “Get away from me. From now on, I will not recognize you as my apprentice.”

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Translated by: Sydney

Edited by: Michael

Chapter 270: The Calligraphy Master

Gudu’s former name was Changan. Changan was Liu Man’s real hometown. 

After two thousand years, Liu Man was finally home. It was just that there were too many vicissitudes of life that her “home” that she could no longer recognize.

After knowing that Su Yi was going to be at the exhibit in person, the National Calligraphy Association specially sent people to the airport to pick them up.

Liu Man and Su Yi followed the crowd out, and the person who was there to pick them up saw them. He excitedly waved his arms at them, incessantly shouting “Master Su, Master Su!” All the passersby would look at him and chuckle.

Su Yi felt very embarrassed and very awkward!

He complained to Liu Man, “Why did they find a hothead to welcome me?”

Liu Man looked at the young man standing from not far away, who had a huge smile on and was very happy. She felt like he was very friendly.

The duo walked up, and the young man immediately welcomed them, “Greetings, Master Su and Sensei Liu.”

Liu Man hurriedly said, “Greetings, greetings.”

The two youngsters who looked about the same age greeted each other in such a formal way; she also felt that it was strange.

Su Yi had already gotten used to the respectfulness coming from the people beside him. He didn’t care whether the hothead was polite enough and said fastidiously, “Please don’t call me Master Su; that makes me sound like a fraud. I don’t know the Kongfu of Qi, and I can’t predict anyone’s lifeline. I can’t advertise for supplements either.”

Liu Man: “…”

Hothead: “…”

“Eh,” Hothead foolishly rubbed the back of his head, feeling regretful. It was as if he was trying to figure out how to call Su Yi. After a few seconds, he finally murmured, “Greetings, Professor Su. My name is Zhou Budai, and my teacher is Ouyang Cen.”

After hearing Ouyang Cen’s name, Su Yi’s eyes were not that sharp when he looked at the Hothead. He asked, “Where’s your teacher?”

“Originally, we were going to come to the airport to welcome you together. However, my teacher had an emergency, so now it’s just me. This is also my first time picking people up from an airport,” Zhou Budai said, embarrassed. Excluding his own teacher, Ouyang Cen, the only other calligraphist he admired the most was Su Yi. Therefore, since this was the first time he had met Su Yi, he felt a little excited.

Seeing how honest he was being, Su Yi stopped blaming him for his impulsiveness, “You’re learning the cursive script?” Ouyang Cen was the best at cursive script.

Zhou Budai said hurriedly, “Yes.”

“How old are you?”

“I’m almost twenty-one years old.”

Su Yi turned his head to ask Liu Man, “Xiao Man, you’re almost 21, too?”

Liu Man nodded.

“You are about the same age, so it’s easier for you to communicate with each other.”

At this time, Zhou Budai sneaked a look at Liu Man. Despite him being so far away in Gudu, there was no such thing as distance on the internet. The Hanfu Goddess was also very famous among the youngsters in Gudu, and he had already learned about her.

Liu Man noticed his stare and smiled at him.

Zhou Buda’s heart skipped a beat! He did not dare to look at her again.

“I’ll help you two carry your luggage. The parking space is outside, so please follow me.”

Su Yi and Liu Man each brought a suitcase; none of their suitcases were big or heavy. Su Yi’s case was mostly full of his medicines. He was getting old, so it was normal for him to have lots of random diseases. His adhesive capsulitis and his high blood pressure caused him to bring his antihypertensive drugs and icy paste with him everywhere.

Liu Man’s case contained her extra clothes and the hanfu Zhong Jiangnan had gifted her.

Zhou Budai was skinny and tall. He pushed one baggage in each hand and seemed very relaxed.

On their way to the parking space, Su Yi asked Zhou Budai more questions.

The duo gained a deeper understanding of who Zhou Budai was. Zhou Budai was born in Gudu and grew up here. He had been studying calligraphy since he was a child, and when he was sixteen, he got chosen by Ouyang Cen and became his apprentice. 

Excluding his identity as Ouyang Cen’s apprentice, he was also in Gudu University’s history major. He was in the same grade as Liu Man.

He also passed the second round for this calligraphy exhibit.

He and Liu Man were competitors, but they were not very competitive. Zhou Budai’s submitted work was in cursive script and was not in direct competition with Liu Man’s clerical script.

It was only when they arrived at the parking lots did Su Yu and his apprentice realized that Zhou Budai was the driver. Zhou Budai drove to the airport, and the car belonged to him, too.

His car was a SUV. It wasn’t expensive, but it wasn’t cheap either.

Which normal college student in China could afford their own car? It was obvious that Zhou Budai’s family was quite rich. Besides, now, calligraphy was as expensive a hobby as drawing was. Top-tiered brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones were all very expensive. Students would also need to be taught by good teachers, and if that teacher was a famous calligraphist, then one class could cost over ten thousand. Of course, it would be different if the calligraphist was willing to take the student in as an apprentice. 

Zhou Budai sent Su Yi and his apprentice to the hotel. Liu Man washed her face and organized the things in her luggage before Professor Su called her, asking for her to come over to his room.

The duo’s rooms were located on the same floor, and they weren’t far away from each other either. Liu Man walked through the hallway and saw that Professor Su’s door was open. From inside the room came the sounds of talking. 

Liu man walked into the room and saw Professor Su and another elder, each sitting on a chair in the guest room. Zhou Budai stood to one side, standing respectfully. 

Similar to Professor Su, this elder also had a mane of silvery white hair; however, he looked a little younger than Professor Su. He, like ancient Chinese, purposely grew his beard and wore a light gray robe. He looked very much not mundane and was as elegant as a fairy. 

Liu Man thought that, even though they were both calligraphists, Professor Su’s modern temperament was much more apparent, but this other elder completely treated himself like an ancient scholar. There was absolutely no contradiction between this man and his character as an ancient scholar.

Professor Su introduced her to him,

“This is Zhou Budai’s teacher, Ouyang Cen. His cursive script is incomparable in the status quo. He’s also the curator of the Gudu museum as well as the deputy head of the National Calligraphy Association.”

Liu Man hurriedly saluted Ouyang Cen. Her instincts made her salute in an ancient way when facing such an ancient-styled Ouyang Cen.

Ouyang Cen stood up and returned the salutation.

Zhou Budai’s eyes were so widened that he felt as if his eyes were going to pop out. Was this still his aloof teacher? There were so many government workers and rich men who came to visit his teacher, and they all had a low posture, but his teacher would always ignore them.

No matter how impressive the Hanfu Goddess was, she was still a youngster about the same age as him. In ancient times, he would have just become an adult. Why was his teacher so polite towards her?

In reality, Zhou Budai was just overthinking it all. Ouyang Cen was only returning the salutation subconsciously.

Because Liu Man saluted in the standard female Han Dynasty royalty way and that Ouyang Cen had only seen related descriptions in ancient literature; he had never seen anyone salute like this in reality.

It was a result of his profession. Ouyang Cen, as the Gudu Museum’s curator, studied and specialized in the early Qin and Han ancient literature.

“Where did you find this apprentice?”

Su Yi could see that Ouyang Cen’s first impression of Liu Man was very good. He felt very proud and bragged,

“We met each other online!”

Ouyang Cen: “…”

Zhou Budai started sweating. No wonder she was a cyber star; everything she did was on the internet.

Ouyang Cen ignored his old friend, who seemed to have become more childish the older he got, “How do you know about the Han etiquette?”

Liu Man said calmly, “My former teacher, Madam Xu, taught me it.”

Push everything onto Madam Xu, and it will be all right.

Ouyang Cen asked Su Yi, “Madam Xu is…?”

Su Yi answered, “From Gudu. She passed away many years ago and is the best at teaching the West Dynasty seal characters. She was the one who taught my apprentice the seal character script.”

Ouyang Cen was surprised, “I was born in Gudu, and I grew up here. I’ve heard nothing about someone like her.”

“There are lots of elites and talented people in this world. How can you know about every single one of them?”

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Translated by: Sydney

Edited by: Michael

Chapter 269: Being Honest With Each Other

So far, Liu Man had already seen three friends of Yu Zhan’s: He Lushen, Song Junzhe, and Tao Zhiwei. The three Gao Fu Shuais were unique in their different ways, but all of them had their brilliant glows, and their domineering auras prevented others from approaching them.

Yu Zhan, however, was an outlier. His words and actions were completely opposite from theirs, and he was more approachable, like a normal person. He could take Liu Man out to have barbeque on New Year’s Eve; he could take gulps of beer with Ye Ziliang beside a road; he could walk in and out of those high-tiered restaurants that cost thousands of RMB per meal; he could live in mansions; he could send out red packets that contain large sums of money. He was casual and free, not distancing himself from people who were poor; neither did he seem fake and make people hate him for being rich.

Maybe this was the charisma of a person. No wonder whenever pets saw him, they would forget about their owners and just want to be with him. Humans and animals both enjoy brightness, warmth, and the feelings of bathing in the Spring breeze.

“I’ve been different from them since I was a kid, so I have different character traits,” Yu Zhan said, “After my parents passed away, I’ve read many philosophical books and have thought through many things.”

Liu Man knew that these modern philosophical literature were like Laozi, Zhuang Zhou, and the classical Buddhist scriptures that she had seen in her past life.

“It can’t be that you’ve already learned to understand the purpose of life and can see through the vanity of the world!?”

Yu Zhan smiled, “If I can see through the vanity of the world, why would I still go after you?”

Seeing that Liu Man looked embarrassed, his smile widened. He didn’t tell Liu Man that his philosophical readings did affect him; it was why before he met her, he had never fallen in love with someone.

When he was going to college back in the US, there were many girls who fell in love with him, and there were many brilliant rich girls who were perfect in many ways. They had the same background as he did, but he was interested in none of them.

Back then, he thought that he was almost 24 years old and still could not meet a person that he really liked. If he couldn’t meet anyone that fits his taste for this entire life, what would he do? Besides, he didn’t know what type of girl he really liked. He even took it seriously and made a chart, listing out all his requirements, appearance-wise, stature-wise, personality-wise…

As a result, after meeting Liu Man, he completely threw all these requirements away. His only requirement was Liu Man herself, the only one he wanted in this entire world.

He admired her attributes, and as for her weaknesses… No, in his mind, she had no weaknesses.

Yu Zhan’s expression, as he looked at Liu Man, was like the one he had when he confessed to her at the ensemble concert; however, his gentleness carried a hint of possessiveness this time. He wished he had met her earlier. His simple and tedious life back then would’ve definitely become brighter, like the life he had right now. He would wake up every day and anticipate what would happen.

“When my parents passed away, I was only ten years old. There were lots of things in the philosophical book that I could not understand, but now, I can understand most of it.”

“Later on, I lived with my grandparents. My mother was their only child, and her sudden death really broke their hearts. My grandma had a heart attack and had to stay in a hospital bed for a long time, and after a year, she passed away, too. We’ve always kept a dog, named Jay. It was a rural dog my mother took in before she married my father. My WeChat profile is the only picture I have of him. That year, when I left for the US, Jay died a natural death. My grandpa died when I was twenty years old. From then on, I had no other close relatives. I was all alone in the world, but I was free and independent.”

Yu Zhan described his background with a calm tone; no sad emotions could be heard.

Liu Man lifted her head and stared into his eyes.

When Madam Xu passed away, she was also twenty. She cried for three whole days. 

Yu Zhan felt it was funny, “Why are you staring at me like that? I’m not a cold-blooded person; I’ve simply learned how to heal myself from those profound philosophical books. My parents died from an air incident, and the plane disassembled above the Atlantic Ocean. At that time, I told myself that people were going to leave this world anyways, it was just the matter of time. Compared to some people, who would end up as some ash or a cup of dirt, they could still sleep under the ocean breeze and bathe under the sunshine.”

Liu Man, nonetheless, felt her heart ache for Yu Zhan.

He was only a ten-year-old, always receiving the best treatment. He was loved by all adults around him, and he had lots of friends. He was having the time of his life. How could he have accepted the fact that his parents both suddenly passed away?

When her relatives passed away, she was able to cry and vent out her emotions.

But Yu Zhan seemed to have understood it all and had let it go. He claimed that he had healed himself, but he had completely closed himself down and numbed himself. He must’ve been depressed to the extreme, making him unable to feel any sense of mourning.

It was worse than just letting out all his feelings, howling and crying.

“All of it has passed. I only mentioned this because I want you to know about my background,” Yu Zhan said, “I got my parents’ legacy. I won’t be able to spend all of the money even in a few lifetimes.”

“That is my story. Can you tell me your story?”

Yu Zhan’s question was sudden and serious.

Liu Man’s heart skipped a beat. She lowered her head and didn’t dare to look at Yu Zhan, “Don’t you already know about my story? My father had an incident and killed someone while driving drunk. I became a cyber star and decided to start earning money in order to return the debt for my family. Before all of this, my life was no different from a normal girl’s. I’ve never experienced any hardships like you did.”

Yu Zhan did not believe a single word she said.

He had already become familiar with Liu Man’s normally-unnoticeable actions. When she felt shy, her ears would redden. When she was lying, she would lower her head, and her fingers would subconsciously bend. 

And at this moment, all of her tells were showing.

Such a silly girl.

Which talent of hers could be done by a normal girl? How could any normal girl have her temperament? There was nothing normal about her from head to toe.

He believed that, one day, Liu Man would take the initiative to tell him her story.

He knew that it must be an astounding and unbelievable story. 

Under Yu Zhan’s delicate caring, three days later, which was on Monday, Pear finally recovered from his disease. During the afternoon, Tao Zhiyao came by the pet clinic to pick him up and bring him home to rest.

At the same time, Fang Huaiyuan drove Su Yi and Liu Man to the airport in person.

The civil aviation’s regulations stated that elders above the age of seventy, when riding airplanes, had to have a proof from a hospital, saying that this elder was fit for a flight. Su Yi was already eighty-four years old. Yesterday, Fang Huaiyuan specially took his father-in-law to the hospital so they could get the proof.

Nobody in the Su family was relaxed for this calligraphy exhibit.

Su Yi originally wanted to accompany her father to Gudu, but Su Yi was reluctant, “It’s already bad that civil aviation had this regulation. Even you are treating me like a dying old man. My body is just fine, and I’m riding a plane, not a rocket. Before, I would fly dozens of times in one year, and I’ve never seen you so nervous. Besides, don’t I have Liu Man here with me!”

    幸好刘嫚处事沉稳，苏娟和方怀远可以信任她，换成其他人，苏娟一定要跟去！

Luckily, Liu Man was always collected, so Su Juan and Fang Huaiyuan could entrust her. If it was anyone else, Su Juan would definitely be accompanying them!

When they arrived at the airport, Fang Huaiyuan repeatedly reminded his father-in-law, telling him to be safe. It felt as if his lips were going to fall off from all the talking. After all, his father-in-law was an eighty-year-old. A single knock or slip could endanger his life.

He also reminded Liu Man to help care for the elder.

Even if he didn’t say it, Liu Man would still have done it.

Fang Huaiyuan only left after watching the elder and the young girl enter the security channel.

Before she got on the airplane, Liu Man received a WeChat message from Yu Zhan: “Have a safe journey.”

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Translated by: Sydney

Edited by: Michael

VSROWDC Chapter 4 Part 2

Everyone was stunned; they didn’t understand why Ji Zeyu would suddenly say this.

Ji Zeyu saw that they didn’t react, so he covered up the microphone pinned to his collars, kept his smile, and said: “Why is it so hard to talk to you guys? The cameras and the microphones are still on. Do you want the audience to see us without our team spirit? Sit down immediately.”

What Ji Zeyu said was true. Everything on this show would be exploited infinitely. Not only would their actions be interpreted badly, they could also be edited maliciously. These were all his personal experiences.

After he said that, everyone listened to Ji Zeyu and sat in a circle on the floor unanimously while Ji Zeyu sat in the very middle.

“I’ll make this short,” Ji Zeyu scanned everyone’s faces, “Bai Shengjie is the best dancer, but he lacks confidence. You have to get better at controlling your facial expressions. You’ll be more charming that way.”

After Ji Zeyu spoke, the whole practice room was silenced.

Wan Long widened his eyes; he thought that there was something wrong with his ears; was Ji Zeyu really teaching other people?

“Wan Long,” Ji Zeyu looked at him and said, “You have pretty advanced dancing skills as well, but it’s very apparent that you aren’t moving correctly in some parts. For example, if you look at this line…”

Wan Long felt more and more astounded — what Ji Zeyu said was completely correct. He also felt like he didn’t do a great job in these parts.

Next, Ji Zeyu said something that made everyone drop their jaws:

“Aodong, you’ve done well in general, but you don’t have enough lyrics. I’ll give some of my parts to you. Look at these lines, I think they suit your voice. You need to practice them when we’re done.”

Qi Aodong stared at Ji Zeyu in confusion, as if he heard an alien speaking.

Because they were in the same company, Ji Zeyu had always thought of Qi Aodong as his stepping stone. His attitude towards Qi Aodong was always aloof, but today, Ji Zeyu somehow gave out his parts?!

TL Note: The wording is really confusing here, but the Ji Zeyu first mentioned is the original Ji Zeyu.

“And Li Xinyu and Zhang Lijie, both of you need more parts. I’ll give you guys these parts….”

Ji Zeyu took a pen and made changes to the sheets. Not only did he point out everyone’s problems, but he also re-adjusted the song segmentations in a short time.

After ten minutes, Ji Zeyu was finally satisfied and said: “Alright, I’ve given out all of your tasks.”

“And you?” Qi Aodong had to ask, “What about you?”

Ji Zeyu thought about it a bit under everyone’s eyes and suddenly said: “I saw a troll comment yesterday on our grouping list. That person said I was an aircraft, and you five were dragging the aircraft.”

Everyone was stunned.

After a while, Wan Long laughed but immediately held it back again.

“I just want to say,” Ji Zeyu said casually, “It’s right. You guys can pretend that I am the aircraft.”

Everyone was stunned yet again, “Dragging the aircraft” was definitely a phrase to insult Ji Zeyu’s skills, but he blatantly agreed with it?

“Well, my job is obvious. I need to first learn the dance,” Ji Zeyu stood up, smiled, and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll make this ‘aircraft’ as light as possible for you guys.”

Normally, Ji Zeyu was arrogant and cocky. He was the person who couldn’t handle criticism or any hate. But right now, he was self-deprecating, and other teammates who were a bit unsatisfied were now relieved.

Bai Shengjie asked worryingly: “There’s only three days left, is it enough time?”

“Probably.” Ji Zeyu said carelessly, “I meant, probably not. So–”

“You guys have to practice hard and think of a way to drag this aircraft.”

The hope in everyone’s eyes was suddenly gone, and everyone let out a howl of despair–

They were wrong to hope for more from Ji Zeyu!

But at the same time, everyone’s negative feelings were relieved, and they practiced even harder than before.

With Ji Zeyu’s advice, they practiced together again, and the results were much more promising.

Unconsciously, Ji Zeyu truly became the captain and center role of the team – even though his dance movements were still bad.

After practice, the six stood in front of the mirror and struck their ending pose. Suddenly, except Ji Zeyu, hope sparked in the other five sweating teenagers’ hearts.

Excluding the unstable factor that is Ji Zeyu…… dragging the aircraft doesn’t seem like such an impossible task after all? At least their dance looks way stronger than before.

In the afternoon, when Wan Long and Lu Nanyun ate together, Wang Long started devouring everything on his plate the second they sat down, he ate as he said: “It’s been so long since I’ve practiced this hard, I’m starving.”

At his side was Shen Mo, who was in the same company, asked: “Aren’t you in the same group as Ji Zeyu? I thought your group was super unmotivated. Why did you guys practice this long today?”

“Let me tell you, I was scared by Ji Zeyu today.” Wan Long took a sip from his drink and continued, “Even though he was still bad at everything, his eyes were really sharp. I didn’t even notice before, but he could see where my dance had faults instantly.”

Lu Nanyun, who was at the side, heard Wan Long, and his hands stopped for a moment.

“Wan Long, did Ji Zeyu give you money?” Shen Mo joked, “You can’t accept rotten money, if Ji Zeyu’s eyes were so sharp, then how come he didn’t see his own problem at the start and when he was doing the theme song?”

Everyone around them started to laugh.

At this time, someone made a joke: “I think Wan Long has a point, if Ji Zeyu didn’t have a sharp eye, then how could he have found Lu Nanyun attractive?”

However, this joke abruptly made everyone stop laughing.

Everyone around Lu Nanyun looked towards him at the same time.

Lu Nanyun took a sip from his soup. His expression did not change at all, and his eyes were very calm. Everyone finally sighed in relief.

It looked like he was in a good mood today. If it was on a regular day, he would’ve been pissed off.

Wan Long, who has his head buried in his meal, did not notice this at all and continued to say: “Why aren’t any of you believing this? Although Ji Zeyu doesn’t have good skills, he really helped our group a lot…”

Everyone assumed that he was trying to switch a topic. They laughed for a bit and continued with their meal; nobody took his words seriously.

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Translated by: Sydney and Puppxteer

Edited by: Michael