On the day of the traditional Chinese painting competition, Old Man Qin got up early and carefully dressed himself, wearing a dark blue Zhongshan suit.
He had been hesitant and unsure whether to go to the cultural square with the two students to watch their match.
A few days ago, after the eldest brother's secretary, Liang Qing, secretly made a phone call to the courtyard house, Old Man Qin decided to go together.
Because Liang Qing told him that his elder brother already knew he had returned to Beijing and had asked him when he would return to the Qin residence.
Old Qin stopped hiding and spent the last few days leisurely strolling around the alleys or going to squares and parks to play chess and chat with other old men.
However, for the time being, Old Man Qin still has no plans to return to the Qin family.
Liang Qing also told him that there had been plans made long ago, and that his elder brother would be going to the United States for an interview in a while.
Before the trip, there are many things to prepare, and my elder brother certainly won't have time to go back to the Qin family to see him.
"Chen Xiaowu, are you ready yet? Stop dawdling." Old Qin saw that Miao Huizhu was already waiting in the main room, but Chen Xihua was still in the room and hadn't come out yet, so he urged her loudly.
"Coming, coming..." It wasn't that Chen Xihua was dawdling; it was only 6:30, which was very early.
Although it takes more than an hour to get from the fourth or fifth ring road in the northern district to the Cultural Square, the competition does not start until 9 o'clock, so there is plenty of time. It was Old Qin who was impatient and unsteady.
It must be Ye Jichang, who arrived in Beijing a couple of days ago with Zhou Qingfeng.
He chatted happily with some calligraphy masters or traditional Chinese painting enthusiasts from other provinces who had arrived in Beijing in advance.
The Beijing cultural newspaper reported on it and even published several photos of Ye Jichang.
That's why Old Man Qin felt uneasy!
"Let's go. Huizhu just went outside and bought some breakfast buns. You should eat a couple of bites quickly."
As Old Man Qin spoke, he walked and arrived at the entrance of the courtyard house.
Miao Huizhu followed immediately, smiling helplessly as she glanced at Chen Xihua, carrying a small stationery box in her hand.
Actually, she was woken up early by her teacher, and she is still a little sleepy.
...
Around eight o'clock, Chen Xihua drove Old Man Qin and Miao Huizhu to the Beijing Cultural Square.
At this time, quite a few elderly people had gathered in the square's corridor, while those in their thirties and forties were few.
But there were quite a few young people, probably like Chen Xihua and Miao Huizhu, who came with their teachers to broaden their horizons and also to compete.
We were almost at the entrance of the competition venue, about ten meters away.
Chen Xihua and the others saw a group of people chatting and laughing.
Zhou Qingqing and Zhou Qingfeng happened to be there, and they politely nodded to the elderly people around them from time to time.
Among this group of people was an elderly man in his sixties, somewhat obese, who was being flattered and fawned over by those around him.
"Master Ye was a student of Master Zou, and his disciples were also outstanding, successfully carrying on the Southern School of landscape painting..."
"Yes, young friend Zhou Qingfeng's understanding of traditional Chinese painting is already quite unique..."
"What, you're all gathered at the door? I thought it wasn't open."
At this moment, Chang Feng, with his white hair, accompanied by his grandson Chang Yi'an, also arrived at the entrance of the venue.
Just a few steps behind Chen Xihua, Old Man Qin, and Miao Huizhu.
As soon as Master Chang spoke, everyone at the door turned to look at him, including Chen Xihua and the other two, who all subconsciously turned around.
Then, they all greeted each other politely.
"Master Chang has arrived!"
"Greetings, Master Chang!"
"....."
The slightly overweight Ye Jichang greeted Master Chang with politeness and respect, saying, "Master Chang!"
Zhou Qingqing and Zhou Qingfeng, who were standing nearby, quickly called for help.
Zhou Qingqing happened to see Chen Xihua. Her eyes flickered, and she was slightly taken aback. Why was Chen Xiaowu here?
Master Chang merely nodded slightly in response to Ye Jichang's greeting, his expression indifferent.
His gaze didn't linger on Ye Jichang and his two companions for more than half a second before he looked up at Chen Xihua and the other two.
"Miss Chen is here too!"
"Greetings, Master Chang! Senior Brother Chang, it's been a long time!" Chen Xihua and Master Chang and his grandson were acquaintances, and she greeted them with a smile.
Chang Yi'an quickly replied, "Hello, Junior Sister Chen!"
Meanwhile, Master Changfeng had already noticed Old Man Qin next to her.
He narrowed his eyes slightly. This person looked somewhat familiar, and he had come with Miss Chen. Although he didn't recognize him immediately, it had been more than thirty years since they last met.
But Chang Feng quickly recognized the person in front of him and said meaningfully, "Young Qin, you've finally decided to return to the capital?"
"Hello Master Chang, it's me, I'm back!" Old Man Qin said somewhat awkwardly.
His eyebrows twitched, and he subconsciously straightened up and lowered his head slightly. After speaking, he did not look directly into Master Chang's eyes.
Although he hadn't returned to Beijing for over thirty years, Master Chang had participated in some calligraphy events before, and when reporters took photos and published them, Old Man Qin recognized Chang Feng at a glance.
Old Qin felt a little guilty, because Master Chang had wanted to take him as his disciple before.
"Who is that person? Is his surname Qin?"
"Yes, I don't think I've ever seen it before."
"Qin, I was wondering why he looked so familiar. It turns out he's back in the capital."
The people who had just gathered at the entrance were talking amongst themselves, and one of them, an elderly man in his fifties or sixties, murmured something.
He was a local from Beijing, so of course he knew Qin Xian, the second young master of the Qin family who had the talent of a top scholar and was the younger brother of the old Qin family.
"Mr. Ye, do you know who that person is?" Zhou Qingqing asked Ye Jichang in a low voice, puzzled.
She never expected that Master Chang would talk to an old man next to Chen Xiaowu, completely ignoring Master Ye, the student of Master Nan Zou.
Zhou Qingfeng was also a little curious. He looked up at his teacher. Although he didn't care about anything except painting, when he heard his sister bring it up, he subconsciously looked at the two groups of people not far away.
Ye Jichang had not seen Qin Xian for thirty years. At first, he did not recognize him, but felt that he looked somewhat familiar. When he heard Master Chang call out "Young Qin", he realized that Qin Xian was a familiar face.
His eyes widened instantly, his face showing a hint of panic, and he was momentarily at a loss.
But he quickly forced a smile to cover up his lapse in composure, and without replying to Zhou Qingqing, Ye Jichang walked into the venue first.
When Ye Jichang heard that Qin Xian would not be returning to Nansheng University after that period, he felt relieved.
In the following years, he sent people to inquire and learned that Qin Xian was a principal of a rural primary school in a small county town, living a mediocre life as if he were avoiding the world. He was completely relieved.
Later, more than ten years later, or even longer, he gradually forgot about Qin Xian and stopped taking him seriously.
Besides, so much time has passed, no one knows what happened back then. It was him who wrote the whistleblower letter, and the teacher has already passed away.
Furthermore, Ye Jichang felt he had done nothing wrong; he was merely conforming to the demands of that era, and his reports were all factual.
Not many people know that Ye Jichang was jealous of Qin Xian. Back then, his teacher only accepted him as his apprentice, while the others were students.
But ever since a new student named Qin Xian came to Beijing, he was discovered by the teacher and taken in as his last disciple.
Qin Xian is not only talented in calligraphy, but also excels even more in traditional Chinese painting, which Ye Jichang is so proud of, surpassing him even though he specializes in traditional Chinese painting.
The teacher always praised Qin Xian highly, but pointed out many shortcomings in his traditional Chinese paintings.
Ye Jichang felt uncomfortable and resentful many times, feeling that the teacher was biased because he didn't think he was any worse than Qin Xian.
Moreover, he learned from his teacher that Qin Xian was intelligent from a young age, but both of Qin's parents had passed away, and he lived with a distant cousin.
Qin Xian only received special attention from his teacher because of his pitiful background.
After Qin Xian graduated from university, his teachers specifically recommended him to stay at the university to teach, while Ye Jichang had to rely on himself to stay at the university after graduation.
Ye Jichang didn't understand why his teacher didn't show him any special care, since he also came from a poor family.
A few years later, at the beginning of that special period, Ye Jichang remembered that Qin Xian was very fond of all kinds of historical literature, and there must be many classical literature books in his study.
As for the teacher, Ye Jichang was also hesitant, but since he and the teacher were in the same department, the teacher always suppressed him and prevented him from being promoted to the head of teaching.
So, the letter of complaint was sent out by Ye Jichang without any regard for personal feelings.
On the other side, while Old Man Qin was chatting with Master Chang, his eyes inadvertently glanced at Ye Jichang, who was walking hurriedly into the venue.
Haha, even a hypocrite like him, who betrays his master and ancestors, feels guilty?
Of course, Chen Xihua also kept an eye on Old Man Qin, because she was afraid that her teacher would lose his temper and start scolding Ye Jichang.
In fact, some time ago, Chen Xihua specifically asked someone about Ye Jichang's actions at the university in the southern province over the past thirty years.
He was cunning and clever enough that he didn't claim to be a disciple of Master Nan Zou, for fear of being exposed by Old Man Qin, and only referred to himself as a student.
After all, before Master Zou passed away, he had already written a letter expelling Ye Jichang from his school, and Old Man Qin knew about it, but outsiders were unaware of it.
Master Zou was a professor at a university in southern province, and all the classes he taught were his students. It was not wrong for Ye Jichang to call Master Zou "teacher".
Furthermore, because Old Man Qin never returned to the Southern Province.
Gradually, in the southern province, Ye Jichang became a prominent figure in the southern school of traditional Chinese painting.
His style is also the closest to that of Master Zou, so outsiders naturally admire him in various ways.
Chen Xihua thought to himself, "It's just that old man Qin is being pretentious. If he had gone back to Nan Province earlier and slapped Ye Jichang in the face, that man wouldn't have been able to receive so much respect as Master Zou's disciple."
Now that he's old, Old Man Qin is only now thinking of showing up, while others have been living a life of glory for twenty or thirty years.
However, the higher you stand, the harder you fall.
Well, anyway, she and Sister Huizhu have already decided what kind of works they will prepare for the competition.
Soon, many people entered the venue one after another, and Chen Xihua, Old Man Qin, and Miao Huizhu also found their seats and sat down.
Master Chang exchanged a few words with Old Man Qin at the door and agreed to meet again after the young people's competition.
He walked straight to the front of the venue and sat down in the middle of the five judges' seats.
It was called a competition, but it was really just a personal showcase.
First, Chen Xihua and Miao Huizhu, along with about forty or fifty other young people, were arranged to sit at the middle row of desks and begin writing or drawing.
Since the paper was provided by the venue, it was impossible to find someone to write the cheating code in advance.
So there's not much need for supervision, since there are many people watching, and it's even less likely that someone else will be asked to help write it on the spot.
Miao Huizhu was a painter and was assigned to the left, right next to Zhou Qingfeng.
On the right, Chen Xihua was writing calligraphy, and there were about ten more people writing traditional Chinese paintings than those writing calligraphy.
Chen Xihua wrote very carefully and steadily, and tried her best to follow the style of Master Zou's strokes.
Anyone could immediately recognize that she was a student of Master Zou; she even deliberately wrote, "Know what is enough and what is lacking; know what to do and what not to do."
Writing calligraphy is relatively quick; she finishes in less than ten minutes, and then someone comes to take it away and show it to the five judges in the middle.
About half an hour later, the calligraphy practitioners had basically finished, and the traditional Chinese painting practitioners also soon submitted their works.
Miao Huizhu was the third, ahead of Zhou Qingfeng. Actually, it was Miao Huizhu's intention. She saw that Zhou Qingfeng was about to finish, so she submitted her work first.
She painted "Spring," which was Master Zou's most prized landscape painting during his lifetime.
While Miao Huizhu's paintings cannot be said to be 100% identical, they are about 80% similar, and Miao Huizhu's playful and lively style has been added.
Two hours later, the results of the competition were announced. In the calligraphy category, a man in his thirties from the Northern School won first place, Chen Xihua came in second, and Chang Yi'an came in third.
In the traditional Chinese painting category, Miao Huizhu came in first place, Zhou Qingfeng second, and a girl from the Northern School who wore glasses came in third.
When the results were announced, everyone around was surprised, because at the same time, the corresponding works were displayed one by one in the corridor for everyone to appreciate and comment on.
"Isn't this painting 'Spring' a work by Master Zou? It's unbelievable that someone has painted such a similar work. The artist is Miao Huizhu, who must be Master Zou's student."
"Yes, it's actually better than Master Ye's apprentice Zhou Qingfeng's painting, and it's closer to the style of Master Zou of the Southern School."
"Look at this calligraphy. Although it's second place, it's still in the style of Master Zou of the Southern School. The author is Chen Xihua."
Isn't she the interesting little girl that Master Chang often talks about?
Previously, this young girl, Chen Xihua, had come here to practice calligraphy, but her writing style didn't seem to be like this.
So she was also a disciple of Master Zou of the Southern School?
"Hehe, Qin Xian, you old rascal, you haven't let your master Lao Zou down. Your student Miao Huizhu has surpassed her master."
And then there's Chen Xihua, that little girl. I wanted her to become my apprentice, but she just wouldn't agree.
She said that her teacher was Old Zou's apprentice, and she only realized it was you, Qin boy. At this moment, Master Chang also came over.
He raised his voice deliberately as he spoke, as if he had suddenly realized something.
"Master Chang, you flatter me." Old Man Qin replied politely immediately, then said somewhat sadly, "Isn't there no other way? My master only has me as his disciple, and I learned his calligraphy and painting."
If I don't train two decent students in calligraphy and painting, I'm afraid my master will come after me in his dreams.
As soon as these words were spoken, many people nearby heard them and looked at Ye Jichang, Zhou Qingfeng, and Zhou Qingqing, who had just come out onto the corridor.
Actually, inside the venue, thanks to the introductions from locals in Beijing, most people from other provinces knew who Old Man Qin was.
It turns out that he was Qin Xian, who was very famous in the capital back then and had the talent to become the top scholar.
Because he hadn't appeared in public for two or three decades, many people gradually forgot about him or didn't think of him for a while.
Even more unexpectedly, Qin Xian was Master Zou's disciple, while Ye Jichang, whom outsiders had always assumed was not Master Zou's disciple.
But back then, I heard that Ye Jichang was also a disciple of Master Zou. What happened that caused him to stop?
Many people were waiting, thinking Ye Jichang would say something, but he didn't refute it, as if he was admitting it.
It seems there are some unknown details behind this.
Some people, in particular, suddenly remembered that Master Zou died on a farm in Northwest China, and couldn't help but suspect certain aspects of the situation.
And Chen Xihua's calligraphy, "Knowing what is enough and what is not enough, knowing what to do and what not to do," hangs right in the middle of the corridor.
Those who knew the truth looked at Ye Jichang with disdain.
When Ye Jichang saw the various expressions on the faces of the people around him, his expression turned very unpleasant.
It wasn't that he didn't want to refute it, but he felt that his teacher must have had a backup plan back then. Now it seems that Master Chang also knew that he had been expelled from the school.
He was filled with resentment; the teacher had left him no way out!
After glancing discreetly at Old Man Qin and Master Chang, Ye Jichang hurriedly left.
Suddenly, Chen Xihua seemed to sense that Zhou Qingqing had glared at her when Ye Jichang and the other two left. Had she offended her?
Is it because of Zhou Qingfeng, the fifth brother of the week, that he didn't get first place? Didn't he get to become more famous and become the most outstanding young painter of the Southern School?
Chen Xihua really couldn't understand whether Zhou Qingqing had something wrong with her brain.
Zhou Qingqing, who was leaving, was indeed very unhappy. Now, her dislike for the Chen family, especially for Chen Xiaowu, had intensified.
[System, why are the Chen family members always going against me?]
System: [What did they do to you again? Chen Xiaowu studies calligraphy, your Fifth Brother studies traditional Chinese painting!]
Zhou Qingqing: [Hmph, Principal Qin has always been the principal of Shanghe Village, so why did he become Chen Xiaowu's teacher? And he even took in Miao Huizhu, who studies traditional Chinese painting.]
As long as the Zhou family members achieve good results in various industries and have a good reputation in all sectors of society, I will also gain favor with them through your system rewards.
The more people have a good impression of the Zhou family, the more points I will have.
Now, thanks to Master Ye, my fifth brother doesn't have a good reputation and isn't being talked about by others for having a master of bad character. I'm already thankful for that.
And you, don't you know the data from all the worlds? Why didn't you remind me before? I could have had my fifth brother go to Shanghe Village ahead of time to become Principal Qin's apprentice.
The system rolled its eyes: "I can know, but I still have to export it. There are so many people in the world, so much information data. Do you expect me to export everyone's information for you to see?"
That's a waste of time, and those people are irrelevant to you. Right now, all you need to do is cultivate a good image in front of the Zhou and Gu families and live your life well.
Having more points only allows you to redeem more prizes; it doesn't help you complete tasks.
...
Chen Xihua and Miao Huizhu, who remained at the venue, wanted to leave early, but Old Man Qin was kept behind by Master Chang.
“Young Qin, your master wrote me a letter back then, asking me to take good care of you.”
Haha, under Master Chang's unquestionable gaze, Old Man Qin could only write a few words and draw a picture seriously, as if it were an assessment.
Chen Xihua wanted to laugh but dared not. At this moment, Old Man Qin reminded her of when he had previously made her practice calligraphy and checked her homework.
No wonder Old Man Qin didn't want to return to Beijing before. No matter how old Old Man Qin was, he had to obey Master Chang.
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