The next day, the moment Liu Man entered the classroom, she noticed something was up between Li Xiaoru and Wang Nina. They used to sit next to each other, and they would even save her a seat.
However, this time, Li Xiaoru was sitting in the corner of the last row by herself, and she seemed very lonely.
Wang Nina was sitting with a group of girls as they looked at Li Xiaoru, pointing and laughing.
Ever since the new semester, Wang Nina has hung out much more with Xu Zihan and the others. But usually, Li Xiaoru would sit near them. Today looked extra abnormal.
After seeing Liu Man enter the classroom, Wang Nina said something to the girls and there were a few more moments of laughter.
Liu Man strode to sit down beside Li Xiaoru.
Li Xiaoru looked very upset.
“Did you argue with Wang Nina?” She quietly asked Li Xiaoru.
“Don’t mention her name. I am done with her!”
Liu Man thought this was a normal conflict between girls, but Li Xiaoru pulled her back and said in her ears, “Stay away from Wang Nina in the future. I found out there are huge flaws in her character.”
The open and carefree Li Xiaoru did not take the argument last night and Wang Nina’s departure seriously.
But when she came to class this morning, Li Xiaoru heard, through her classmates’ chats, that there was a rumor of Liu Man secretly crushing on Tang Tu. They said Liu Man tried to seduce him before, and she also got in contact with some rich guy outside of school and that she was a gold digger. The nickname, “Hanfu Goddess,” was made by herself to get popular.
What made Li Xiaoru even more surprised was the piano majors thought this rumor was very reasonable:
First of all, they all saw with their own eyes how Tang Tu came to the classroom to find Liu Man; Secondly, many people saw Liu Man going to Starbucks with a boy from another school last night; Third of all, they knew Liu Man’s piano skills. She was not such a good piano player and did not do such an incredible job when she accompanied Coco. Anyone of her classmates playing electric piano would achieve the same effects. The only advantage Liu Man had was her good-looking face. Her cyber star popularity did seem all because of spammers.
Li Xiaoru didn’t dare to tell Liu Man the rumors. However, these impolite words spread around the major bit by bit like viruses.
Liu Man knew nothing about this.
Two days later, Jiang Chengfeng called Liu Man to tell her that the professor wanted to meet her, and they scheduled a time.
Liu Man came to Capital University as she promised.
As one of the top colleges in the country, the environment, the atmosphere, the culture, and the faculty here were very different from the music university. Eighty percent of the students on campus wore glasses, which was the complete opposite from the music university — Only twenty percent of the students in the music university were near-sighted.
This was the territory of straight-A students!
Liu Man exclaimed.
Some students had large, heavy bags on their backs, and some were holding textbooks. They were all looking urgent as they rushed off to class. Liu Man’s classmates were the opposite; some of them never carry their textbooks, and some only bought the books when they realized there would soon be an exam. Everyone thought the knowledge of books was too tedious. The music skills you had were based on your natal talents and your practices. What could memorizing texts on a book do?
Music and academics were different, after all.
Because Sun Weiwei also went to Capital University, the past Liu Man had never stepped onto this campus. Not only was she proud, but she was also self-abased. She knew she was nothing compared to Sun Weiwei if she wasn’t good-looking.
“Sis.”
Jiang Chengfeng’s calling came from behind Liu Man. She turned her head to see Jiang Chengfeng panting as he stood in front of her since he ran here.
“Sorry, sorry. I’m late because we got off class late.”
“It’s all right. I’ve just arrived, too.”
“Oh, then that’s good,” Jiang Chengfeng tried to stop panting, “Let’s go. I’ll take you to the literature department.”
The literature department of the Capital University covered many majors, so it meant a lot. The professor who wanted to meet Liu Man was the deputy department head, Su Yi. He had another title — China Capital University Calligraphist Department Head.
Jiang Chengfeng led Liu Man through the campus, turning many corners to take the shortcuts so they could get deeper into the Capital University. As they got through the white birch forest, an ancient-style entered Liu Man’s eyes.
This building had green glazed tiles and crimson roofs, with carved, painted columns. There were two auspicious beasts carved in stone at the entrance, and the building was magnificent and dignified, much like a corner of an imperial palace.
Liu Man saw a plaque on the side of the doors, and written in clerical script was, “The Capital City Calligraphist Department.”
Because of Liu Man, Jiang Chengfeng, as a computer science major, had already been here a few times. He brought Liu Man to the familiar office of the department head.
“I’ll wait for you outside.”
He said before heading out.
Liu Man knocked on the door softly.
“Come in, please,” It was a voice that sounded old.
She pushed open the door to see an elder with white hair holding a brush. He was staring at her with a pair of eyes that saw through the vicissitudes of the world.
Jiang Chengfeng had introduced Su Yi to Liu Man on the way here. He was a very famous calligraphist and scholar who specialized in clerical and regular scripts. He had made countless contributions to calligraphy and studies of ancient Chinese civilization in his life, and even other countries knew him. As a professor, teaching students was only one of his careers.
The plaque at the entrance was written by him.
Su Yi was already eighty-four years old this year, but he still insisted on giving a public elective to the undergraduates every month. He would teach the students some beginner knowledge on calligraphy to get the younger generation more interested in calligraphy.
His calligraphy electives were open to all majors in this school, and students nicknamed them “The hardest elective course to get in.” In every one of his calligraphy electives, there was not an empty spot to be found in his classroom. Even the hallways and the space behind the seats were filled with students, and there were even some young teachers here to learn.
Because Jiang Chengfeng had been watching Liu Man live-stream her calligraphy works, he gradually developed some interests in calligraphy. He wanted to get into Professor Su’s calligraphy elective, but he had horrible luck and hadn’t been able to get into one until today.
“Hello, Professor Su,” Liu Man said with a reverent tone.
Su Yi smiled, “You are Liu Man? Your words are just like you.”
He already knew who she was before she even introduced herself.
“Sit down, please,” He told Liu Man to sit on the sofa beside his desk.
Liu Man thanked him and sat down with a straight posture.
Su Yi put his calligraphy brush on the holder and sat down opposite her, “I saw your calligraphy work on Wei Bo. There are a few questions that I need to ask. I’m a person who’s stubborn about his questions and wouldn’t be able to do anything else under I find the answers. This is why I had my assistant find Jiang Chengfeng and had him ask you if you can answer my questions.”
Su Yi’s attitude was very soft, and his tone was full of curiosity. He didn’t show any elderly posture because Liu Man was a kid, and he was not ashamed of asking someone younger than him,
Liu Man made her attitude even more humble.
“What’s your question?”
“Who is the calligraphist that taught you to write seal characters? Ouyang Shisui? Zhang Zhihai?…” Su Yi said several names at once. They were all calligraphists who were as famous as him who specialized in seal characters.
Credits: Sydney
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