Nobody knew better than Su Yi that Liu Man was the best at Western Han Seal Characters. Back then, he and his PhD 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 towards 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 it up 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 toward 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 solidated.
Or else, why would there be a Chinese saying: Wherever there are people, there’s conflict? The five judges who got 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 over mimicking, 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 dare look down on him!?
Su Xuezhen was very displeased, “please translate this article.”
“Translation is not necessary,” Chen 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 group of participants. The members of the association who were on the sidelines did not know the reason either.
Su Yi smiled to Ou Yangcen, “Look, the judges are having an argument.”
Ou Yangcen said, “Su Xuezhen should’ve never appeared here at the same time as his son.”
Translated by: Sydney
Edited by: Michael
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