tiantianyingshi

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 growds 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 passers by 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 Ou Yangcen.”

After hearing Ou Yangcen’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, Ou Yangcen, the only other calligraphist he admired the most was Su Yi. Therefore, since this was the first time he was meeting 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?” Ou Yangcen 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 nor 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 Ou Yangcen and became his apprentice.

Excluding his identity as Ou Yangcen’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 weren’t very competitive ones. 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 realize 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, Ou Yangcen. 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 Ou Yangcen. Her instincts made her salute in an ancient way when facing such an ancient-styled Ou Yangcen.

Ou Yangcen 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. Ou Yangcen was only returning the salutation subconsciously.

Because Liu Man saluted in the standard female Han Dynasty royalty way and that Ou Yangcen 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. Ou Yangcen, 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 Ou Yangcen’s first impression of Liu Man was very good. He felt very proud and bragged,

“We met each other online!”

Ou Yangcen: “…”

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

Ou Yangcen ignored his old friend, who seems to have become more childish the older he gets, “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.

Ou Yangcen 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.”

Ou Yangcen 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?”

Translated by: Sydney

Edited by: Michael