From the beginning of the stroke to the end, there were merely three breaths of time.
Just when the majority of Shuaixing Hall’s students thought he was about to show off his skill, before they could set their eyes to see clearly, he had finished.
On the vast tabletop, in the center of a pristine piece of xuan paper, stood a character for "zheng," looking squarely squared from a distance, like a simple hut standing alone on an endless snowy plain.
Many students who had subconsciously leaned closer to Zhao Rong’s seat, hoping to be the first to lay eyes on his work, twitched at the corners of their mouths.
Weren’t you a bit too brief, too quick?
Xiao Hongyu was among them, pulling Li Xueyou close out of curiosity for Zhao Rong, eager to see his work, only to find the performance had ended before they could even take a few steps.
She glanced around, silent fell over the scene, as everyone watched the character from near and far, not a single one speaking up first, yet odd glances were already being exchanged.
Xiao Hongyu’s gaze turned to Zhu Yourong and Yu Huaijin, only to see Teacher Zhu, at some point, had already moved to Zhao Rong’s side. She bent down slightly, gazing intently at the character on the paper without speaking, Yu Huaijin stood behind her, staring earnestly at the character, also silent.
Her eyes flickered towards Zhao Rong, who was leisurely setting down his brush, his expression calm as he looked down to lower his sleeves, gathered his hands, and turned his head towards the direction of the lacquered red long table.
His gaze seemed to wander over the small bamboo tube.
As the three people by the desk remained speechless, a murmuring slowly arose among the gathering, with people whispering to each other.
Xiao Hongyu, who had already stopped moving forward, suddenly felt Li Xueyou tug her hand, leading her forward to a spot not far from the table with just the right view, and together they scrutinized the lone character.
Xiao Hongyu widened her eyes, studying the xuan paper on the table. However, the character remained an upright and unremarkable regular script, without any new tricks unfolding. It was simply "zheng," and the brushwork repetitive, consisting only of horizontal and vertical strokes. What could one discern from that?
Her gaze held a hint of disappointment.
After secretly guessing and anticipating for so long, Xiao Hongyu had thought that Zhao Ziyu, whom she presumed she had misjudged before, would be able to write a spirited piece of calligraphy with a flourish of the brush, as described in the popular novels from bookstores. In the climax, the clumsy protagonist would reveal his brilliance in front of an audience, inducing a gasp of shock, leaving the villains with grotesque expressions, faces turning ashen.
Xiao Hongyu pondered carefully, mhm, and it should also include a delicate girl like Li Xue at her side, blushing as she watched the protagonist stun the audience, overturning her previous poor impression, radiating with gilt-edged splendor mixed with guilt from misunderstandings, standing unshakably at the center of her heart, secretly conceding her affection...
Right, the protagonist had to be inconspicuous before, and then during the reveal, like picking up the brush, suddenly the aura would change completely, in the eyes of the onlookers, as if he had become a different person. The books said that when the aura changes, it’s akin to the saying, "A true dragon lies unseen in deep waters, only to be transformed by a breeze or a cloud," Xiao Hongyu mused to herself.
She cast a sidelong glance at her companion next to her, evaluating her, and noticed that Li Xueyou, too, was staring at the lone character with wide eyes, blinking, not the dazed look of being caught up in romantic fantasies.
And that Zhao Ziyu, his aura hadn’t undergone any profound transformation either, still felt... somewhat punchable, but thankfully, even if punchable, his style remained consistent, not as if having a split personality as described in the books.
Xiao Hongyu listened to the noise around her, joining in with a slight sigh, "That was really too brief."
Li Xue looked at Zhao Rong and nodded.
Xiao Hongyu covered her mouth and whispered, "Li Xue, your calligraphy is excellent; did you see anything special?"
Li Xue looked at the character and shook her head.
Xiao Hongyu pouted, "I knew it; it seems it’s not just me..."
Suddenly, Li Xueyou interrupted in a low voice, "Hongyu, but my father also likes calligraphy, and he says that some characters that seem simple are often even harder to write, especially to write well."
Xiao Hongyu was taken aback.
Wu Peiliang had been quite nervous, after all, Teacher Zhu had openly favored Zhao Rong earlier, and anyone could guess with their toes that there must be a reason for it, coupled with Teacher Zhu’s well-known obsession with calligraphy, the interest he showed could only be about calligraphy, it couldn’t be a student-teacher affair, could it?
But none of that mattered anymore.
Seeing Zhao Rong simply finish with one character, Wu Peiliang, whose heart had been lifted from the moment Zhao Rong started writing, finally relaxed a little. He let go of the sweaty brush in his hand, the corners of his mouth curved up, preparing to take a closer look, curious what message this ’zheng’ could carry... though he had to be wary of Teacher Zhu’s bias, but he figured it wouldn’t happen. Those crazy about characters would surely be loyal to the script, unless it really was about mentorship.
Wu Peiliang shook his head with a chuckle,
"I prepared meticulously for so long, just one character? Can you overshadow me? Can you suppress me? If you can suppress me today with just one character, I’ll on the spot..."
Wu Peiliang suddenly paused with a start, meandering thoughts cut short, because he was about to stand up and look up when a familiar figure walked past the table from the corner of his eye...
Zhao Rong, after staring at the jade-green bamboo tube for a while and coming back to his senses, found that Zhu Yourong was still silently looking down at the character. His eyes glanced downwards, from Zhao Rong’s angle, seeing her hand resting on the table’s edge, with her slender index finger horizontally and vertically tracing something in the air.
Zhao Rong retracted his gaze, and after a moment, he spoke softly, "Teacher Zhu, shall I fetch the bamboo tube for you? It would be convenient to give out the papers directly after marking them, right?"