Seeing her husband's somewhat embarrassed expression, Mrs. Ji chuckled and said:
"Xiao Lu, your handwriting is so good, your uncle is embarrassed to even write it."
Old Man Ji gave Old Man Ji a small, secret glare.
However, you can't just say the truth carelessly.
Lu Yibei, however, disagreed:
"Didn't Auntie say Uncle just started learning calligraphy? I've been practicing for over ten years... What's there to be embarrassed about? It's just writing Spring Festival couplets, not a calligraphy competition. How about this, Uncle and I will write the top and bottom lines, and you can add the horizontal scroll, and then Qingqian can write the character '福' (fortune)..."
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Ji's smile deepened, and she first looked at her husband.
Old Man Ji admitted that his handwriting was inferior to Xiao Lu's.
But winning over his own wife was still a piece of cake.
He immediately straightened his chest, looking confident.
"That's a good idea."
However, Mrs. Ji hesitated: "But I don't know calligraphy either."
"If you can't do calligraphy, can't you at least write characters? Little Lu said it's not a calligraphy competition, but we should each write one line, that's what makes it neat and tidy, and it'll bring good luck for the coming year!" Old Man Ji advised.
"Okay, then I'll write it twice on scrap paper first, and you can take a look at it for me." Mrs. Ji agreed.
Since that's the case, then Lao Ji won't stand on ceremony.
He put pen to paper.
Swish, swish, dragons and phoenixes dance.
A line reading "Spring grass turns green again" has been completed.
"How about it?"
Old Man Ji sought the opinion of a professional. Master Lu glanced at it and praised, "Good handwriting, much better than when I first started practicing."
Old Man Ji felt a little embarrassed by these words and wanted to scold him for just flattering him!
"Xiao Lu, stop flattering your uncle, or he'll get too cocky," said Mrs. Ji.
"No, it's the truth," Lu Yibei quickly replied.
"that is."
Old Man Ji said, "What Xiao Lu said is all true."
—If someone actually said that Lu Yibei was flattering him, he would be unhappy about it.
In fact, Lu Yibei was telling the truth.
He only kept part of the truth from his mind—he was six years old that year.
After Old Man Ji finished writing.
Mother Ji started by practicing calligraphy. She took some unused paper and began writing by practicing how to hold the pen. Calligraphy is not something that can be accomplished overnight; it requires years of practice.
But as Lu Yibei said, it was just a family member writing a Spring Festival couplet.
—Besides, Ji Qingqian's house is a detached house, and no one usually comes to visit. She just puts up the Spring Festival couplets on the door and doesn't care who comes.
The most important thing is to make myself happy.
After practicing for about twenty minutes, Ji's mother wrote the four characters "春盛景明" (Spring is in full bloom and the scenery is bright) in a crooked and messy manner.
"How is it?" she asked her husband, then called to Lu Yibei, who was busy in the kitchen, "Xiao Lu, come and take a look!"
Lu Yibei then brought Ji Qingqian over.
The last word has to be written by Xiao Ji.
“She has talent,” Lu Yibei said. “If Auntie is interested, she can practice with Uncle in the future.”
“How could I possibly have that interest?” Aunt Ji said. “I have no interest in learning this kind of thing.”
Even so, Aunt Ji still smiled.
I was quite happy to be praised.
Lu Yibei's calligraphy is the best, followed by Old Man Ji, and then Old Man Ji's mother.
Then Ji Qingqian wrote the character "福" (fortune/blessing).
The other three nodded in agreement, then sighed deeply.
—Oh, so what we wrote was actually pretty good.
—Compared to Qingqian.
Then Lu Yibei got kicked by his girlfriend.
"Come on, let's stick them on!"
Even if the writing is terrible, they are still family. So, Mrs. Ji started to get the two men to do the work.
Although both men were over 1.8 meters tall, they were still somewhat overwhelmed by the door frame.
Mrs. Ji brought a stool for Xiao Lu.
Lu Yibei stood on top and pasted the horizontal scroll first.
Then, under Old Man Ji's guidance, they began to paste up the second and third lines of the couplet.
—First line: The apricot blossoms are still red for miles.
—The second line: Spring grass turns green again this year.
Beautiful words and phrases.
Xiao Lu's handwriting is indeed beautiful.
But mine isn't bad either! Haha.
Old Man Ji was thinking to himself.
"Yes, that's it, that's it."
He gestured for Lu Yibei, but then frowned and looked at the couplet again: "...That's not right, Xiao Lu."
"What's wrong?" Lu Yibei asked.
"You've got the couplet reversed, haven't you?"
Old Man Ji then said, "Couplets are supposed to start with an oblique tone and end with a level tone. You've reversed the 'red' and 'green' in the last character."
Lu Yibei was surprised. He looked at the couplet in his hand.
Mrs. Ji reprimanded her husband:
"What beginning and what end... Xiao Lu didn't even have any requirements for your handwriting, but you're already criticizing it—Xiao Lu, don't listen to your Uncle Ji, I think it's fine, just paste it like this!"
Lu Yibei suddenly realized:
“I really made a mistake… Luckily Uncle Ji noticed, otherwise it would have been so embarrassing! Haha, Auntie, Uncle Ji wasn’t wrong, I just remembered it wrong, but it doesn’t matter, we can just switch the top and bottom lines.” Lu Yibei said.
“Look.”
Old Ji was quite pleased with himself. He smiled at his wife and said, "Even though we wrote these Spring Festival couplets ourselves, we still have to follow the rules!"
"Yes, Uncle is right."
Lu Yibei laughed: "Uncle has read a lot of books—hey Uncle, do you think this is a good way to stick it on?"
"Let me see..."
Old Man Ji looked at Lu Yibei, maintaining his usual meticulousness—especially since he had just been praised—and examined him particularly carefully: "Not bad, just like that, stick it on!"
"become!"
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