After around ten minutes, there were only ten people left on stage—Guo Huai, Nangong Lingmo, Murong Weiwei, Qian Duoduo, You Youyou, Tang Xi, Su Ye, Li Gu, Zhao Min and Qin Xuan.
The host let the volunteers place a brush, inkstone, ink and paper on each contestant’s table. “The testing method of the third round is really simple. While knowledge is important, we mustn’t forget the most basic technique. The final round of the qualifiers will be writing. We’re really lucky to have Ceasewind Grandmaster, Teacher Zhen Kunlong and Lin Yu to be our judges today,” the host said.
The crowd immediately started to make noise once again. The appearance of Ceasewind Grandmaster for the charity auction sale earlier had already surprised most people. No one would expect him to attend an event at Wucheng Subhigh again this soon, to be the judge of calligraphy writing, not to mention the other two judges were well-known in the world of writing. The legendary duo ‘South Zheng North Xue’ referred to Crazy Xue and today’s judge: Zheng Kunlong, while Lin Yu was one of Ceasewind Grandmaster’s disciples.
“Why did the grandmaster agree to be the judge this time? I don’t think he needs to entertain Li Xunyu…” Cao Xinglong said, looking at the people on stage.
“The girl on stage is the grandmaster’s new disciple! Guo Huai even ate at the grandmaster’s house before. I was there at the time!” Kong Yifu said. Correct, he was a disciple of Ceasewind Grandmaster as well.
“Brother Yifu, you are more than qualified to be a judge this time based on your influence in the writing community,” a middle-aged man beside Kong Yifu said with a smile.
Kong Yifu ignored the person beside him and said, “Who doesn’t want fame and fortune? Since Teacher has announced his retirement in the field, why is he still here as a judge? Senior Sister Lin even left her business aside to attend the event. Old Man Zheng probably came to give Teacher face,” Kong Yifu said.
[TL note: The concept of face for Chinese is explained very well in this video by Deathblade.]
“Back then, didn’t Teacher become a judge to lift me up as well? I want to properly thank you today,” Kong Yifu continued saying. The two seemingly simple sentences had pulled down Ceasewind Grandmaster’s reputation.
“What?! There are disciples of the grandmaster here? Even Guo Huai is related to him?” the crowd started discussing. “It seems like Guo Huai will enter the finals. How envious…”
A few students from other schools said, “Wow, that escalated quickly… I didn’t expect Ceasewind Grandmaster to come here to push Guo Huai into the finals. It all makes sense now—it’s totally possible for Guo Huai to memorize the previous answers, however, he can’t trick anybody when it comes to writing.”
Qin Yulong seemed like he was holding onto the last strand of gra.s.s to keep his life. “No way… Guo Huai cannot win this round and represent the school. He can’t be allowed to pa.s.s the third round!” he muttered to himself.
“Ceasewind Grandmaster, since there’s someone related to you and a disciple within the partic.i.p.ants, isn’t it unfair for you to be a judge?” Qin Yulong said loudly after standing up.
The few middle-aged men heard what he said and their faces turned really red. “Where’s this guy from? Who is he to question the grandmaster? I don’t believe the grandmaster would lower his standards just for his disciple. Since the girl could become the grandmaster’s disciple, it can only mean that she’s a real deal. It would only be natural that she pa.s.ses this round,” one of the middle-agers said.
“He’s Qin Tianzheng’s son, the kid who started the gambling entry on the forum. Sigh… It’s sad that Qin’s reputation got thrown by his son just like that before he even enters the coffin,” an old man said helplessly.
Ceasewind Grandmaster stood up with a smile, saying, “Oh? I totally agree with this student. There’s definitely a chance for my judgement to be biased. Yu, let’s both be spectators this time. Xunyu, since the headmaster of each school is here together with people from the calligraphy a.s.sociation, let’s pick ten people among them to replace Yu and I. Hahah!”
Li Xunyu’s face turned really unpleasant as he stared at Qin Yulong. I’d never think that my student is doing something like this. He’s so daring to challenge the grandmaster in public. Who the h.e.l.l are you to doubt him? Li Xunyu thought.
“Grandmaster, you’re overreacting. Please ignore what this kid said. You all will still need to be the judges today, hahah. I’m afraid that we’d spoil the finals with our poor judgement,” Cao Xinglong said with a smile. However, he was thinking the complete opposite. He really wanted to be the judge to take down Guo Huai, but he had to say something appropriate in front of Ceasewind Grandmaster after all.
“You’re Headmaster Cao, right? You guys should be the judges today and ignore everything else. If Weiwei and Huai did not perform as well as the others, feel free to take them down. The Knowledge Compet.i.tion has taken place for so many years. It must not be contaminated by a half-dead old man like me,” Ceasewind Grandmaster said with a smile.
After around ten minutes, Li Xunyu had formed a new group of judges, including Cao Xinglong, the headmaster of Sunshine High, Xu Wuyi, the headmaster of Seventh High, Zhang Zhengcheng, the headmaster of First High Yan, Gang and the five vice presidents of the calligraphy a.s.sociation.
“Ling, you may continue the show now,” Li Xunyu said to the stage on stage.
“The final test is very simple. There’s a piece of paper in front of each of you. You’re allowed to write one sentence, any sentence. The judges will rate each of your work in the end. The seven students with the highest ratings will represent the school for the official compet.i.tion taking place next month,” the host Sun Lingling said before smiling.
In terms of knowledge, every contestant who had made it into the finals was undoubtedly knowledgeable. It could be seen that they all had a rather decent writing skill the moment each of them held the writing brush.
“Teacher, which is the one you told me about a few days ago?” Lin Yu said.
“Yu, you may take a guess. There are only four guys on stage, who do you think he is?” Ceasewind Grandmaster asked, smiling.
“I’ll have to judge based on their writings,” Lin Yu said. “What I know now is that Junior Sister is doing very well. I don’t think anyone on stage could rival her writing skills,” she said happily as she looked at the pleasant Murong Weiwei on stage.
“Every one of them on stage has put in hardwork in writing. Kunlong, that girl is your disciple, right? I can see your shadow in her writing,” Ceasewind Grandmaster asked, pointing at You Youyou.
“Grandmaster is indeed observant. I guess she can be considered to be half of my disciple. When I visited You family a while ago, I simply gave her my advice while she was writing. Youyou’s learning ability is not bad,” Zheng Kunlong said and smiled. Qin Yulong only stopped Ceasewind Grandmaster and Lin Yu to be the judges, however, he did not know that what he said offended Zheng Kunlong as well, the well-known writer of the north.
“Hahah, you’ve finally shown your true self. I guess you don’t even know how to hold a brush! Why haven’t you started already? Hahah!” Qin Yulong said excitedly. He looked much happier than a moment ago since he noticed that Guo Huai did not even touch his writing brush.
“Idiots will never know their ignorance until the end,” a student within the crowd said softly. This student was there at Crazy Restaurant when Guo Huai was writing. Although he did not know much about calligraphy writing, he could tell that Guo Huai was unrivaled by Crazy Xue’s reactions.
“Moron, who are you talking about?!” Qin Yulong shouted. He did not expect someone to insult him in public.