President Wu looked at Shui Yiyao, extended his hand toward her, and said with a polite smile, "Teacher Chengyu, I've heard of your great name for a long time!"
Shui Yiyao shook hands with him: "President Wu."
President Wu added, "I've seen all of your work. You're truly a rising star. The young are truly formidable. No one would have guessed you were only twenty-three."
"Twenty-three years old?" Misa looked at Shui Yiyao in surprise: "Two years younger than me."
She thought she would be the youngest here.
After greeting Ao Li, the champion of this Jade Friends Association, Xiao Jingguang, also looked at Shui Yiyao.
He extended his hand towards her, intending to shake her hand. "I know you, the jade carver from Chengdao Jade Carving Studio."
Shui Yiyao looked at his hand, then looked up into his eyes, but did not reach out her hand.
Call her by her name: "Xiao Jingguang."
It was this little Jingguang who had bad intentions and was stirring up trouble, causing the jade carving community to be in turmoil over this jade friends association. This might be exactly the situation he had planned to see.
Xiao Jingguang is a jade carver among the craftsmen from Xiaoshan Kingdom. He is thirty-nine years old and has been in the industry for twenty years. He is considered one of the most outstanding young jade carvers in Xiaoshan Kingdom and has won numerous awards.
Shui Yiyao refused to shake hands with him. Xiao Jingguang paused and finally withdrew his hand.
He raised his eyebrows and looked at Shui Yiyao with interest.
The girl's expression looked very unfriendly.
He had read this girl's profile and found she had only been active in the jade carving industry for less than a year. However, after seeing her works, he could see that they were all the work of someone with great skills.
Generally, this situation would be considered as impersonation of someone else's work. However, this girl is live streaming. However, most of her live streaming, her voice and face are not shown, only the carving, so if it is a different person who is doing the carving, it is not certain.
The most impressive thing is that this girl's work is mainly based on finger knife carving. You know, finger knife carving has long been lost in China. And now she has not received official certification, so I wonder if it is authentic finger knife carving, or just hype?
Misa, who was beside Xiao Jingguang, frowned. Looking at Xiao Jingguang's hand that had been withdrawn, she questioned Shui Yiyao, "Why are you so rude?"
Shui Yiyao glanced at her and said, "Courtesy is for polite people. Impolite people deserve impolite treatment."
Misa was dissatisfied: "You——"
"We have an old saying in China," Ao Li suddenly said, "Repay evil with kindness. How can we repay kindness?"
He spoke clearly and steadily and was quite polite.
Ao Li said: "Chengyu is just being straightforward and honest. It has nothing to do with politeness or impoliteness."
Shui Yiyao looked at him: "..."
She wasn't actually afraid of being called impolite. After all, although it was Hikaru Koi who was disrespectful and ill-intentioned, her refusal to shake hands was indeed a lack of etiquette, and there was nothing to deny. Since she had already done it, she wasn't afraid of what others would say.
Chairman Wu, who was standing nearby, also came out quickly: "Young people are like that, they are straightforward."
He looked at Shui Yiyao, and a touch of intimacy appeared in his originally distant smile.
If possible, he didn't want to shake hands with Xiao Jingguang. As a foreign friend, it was normal for Xiao Jingguang to hold a jade friend gathering and exchange ideas with local jade carvers. If he had followed the normal procedures, they would have welcomed him. But he came and asked people to bet on the qualification for the competition, which was really full of malice.
However, as the president of the Jade Carving Association, he represented all of China's jade carvers and couldn't be as direct as Chengyu. Chengyu only represented herself, so she could choose not to shake hands if she wanted to.
"Chengyu!"
Suddenly someone called her, and Shui Yiyao turned around and looked outside.
From the direction of the gate, a white-haired old man walked towards her, looking at her with a pair of eagle eyes, looking energetic.
"Teacher Chengyu." The old man strode to stand in front of her and extended his hand to her: "I have longed to see your grace, and now I have finally seen it."
The old man's voice was as loud as a bell and there was a smile in his eyes.
Shui Yiyao looked at him, stunned for a moment, then extended her hand towards him: "Mr. Lu."
Lu Guoliang, Lu Jiayu's father, is a master of Southern jade carving and holds a high position in the jade carving community. Anyone involved in carving will undoubtedly be familiar with his work.
Mr. Lu was surprised: "Do you recognize me?"
Shui Yiyao smiled and said, "I've seen your photo. You're a highly respected master. I've admired you for so long, how could I not recognize you?"
Mr. Lu shook his head: "Not as good as you."
President Wu next to him looked extremely surprised.
Mr. Lu Guoliang was indeed a well-known master in the industry, and he only respected those with real skills. But he didn't expect that he would choose to greet the little girl Chengyu first.
This time he came as a guest spectator.
Because this jade club also has an age limit. Generally, these old masters have 20 to 30 years of experience, and some even have 40 to 50 years. It would be too bullying to compete with the younger generation. Therefore, there is an age limit to prevent old masters from participating.
After greeting Shui Yiyao, Mr. Lu greeted everyone else one by one. However, compared to his enthusiasm towards Shui Yiyao, he was much colder towards the others.
When Xiao Jingguang stretched out his hand, he just reached out and touched it, which was considered a handshake.
After a brief greeting, everyone took their seats one by one.
Shui Yiyao's seat is in the third row.
However, there were not many participants, and there were only three rows of seats in total. The first row was occupied by masters and important guests such as Ao Li.
The second and third rows are all contestants from China. Perhaps the seats are arranged according to age or seniority. Shui Yiyao's seat is the last one, and there is no one sitting next to her.
"I want to change seats."
Suddenly, Ao Li, who was in the middle of the first row, picked up his nameplate on the table and looked towards the empty seat next to Shui Yiyao.
"Why?" Xiao Jingguang felt that there was nothing wrong with his seat arrangement. He was curious: "Where do you want to sit?"
Ao Li has a very high status among them, and the position assigned to him is also in the middle.
"I want to sit with Teacher Chengyu." Ao Li looked in Shui Yiyao's direction and asked her, "Is it convenient, Teacher Chengyu?"
Everyone in the hall looked at her, curious and surprised.
Shui Yiyao stared at everyone's eyes, nodded, and remained polite: "...It's a great honor."
Ao Li looked happy and walked over with his name tag.
He placed his name tag on the table next to Shui Yiyao and sat down steadily.
Shui Yiyao waited for Ao Li to sit down, but then she caught sight of someone sitting steadily beside her. Finally, she couldn't help but turn around and ask him, "Are you an elementary school student? Why are you changing seats?"
Ao Li turned to look at her: "Don't you want me to sit with you?"
Shui Yiyao looked into his eyes and shook her head: "...No."
After everyone was seated, the organizer began to give a speech, explaining the significance of this Jade Friends Association. This was completely different from the last time, when the Jade Friends Association got straight to the point and started the competition as soon as everyone entered.
Xiao Jingguang was the first to speak, saying that he held this jade club because he wanted to learn from Chinese jade carvers.
Shui Yiyao was playing with a jade hand-held ornament in her hand, then turned to look out the window, looking as if she didn't want to listen to him at all.
She looked around, then looked at Ao Li beside her.
He looked directly at the speaker, listened attentively, and sat perfectly still.
This person seems to be very serious about everything he does.
Xiao Jingguang was talking about jade, the development of handicrafts in the two countries, history and trends. He said that he held this jade friends meeting because he wanted to have in-depth exchanges and learn from each other.
Never mention your own malice.
It's all nonsense anyway.
She doesn't like to hear it.
Ao Li listened attentively.
Shui Yiyao: "Are you not busy anymore?"
Ao Li looked at her and said, "I'm not busy right now. I'll be going back to the research institute after the meeting."
Shui Yiyao: "Is the research institute busy lately?"
Ao Li began to talk about his work at the research institute again.
Shui Yiyao listened inattentively and suddenly laughed. She felt that she was like the primary school student. Not only did she not listen to the class, but she also dragged her deskmate to not listen to the class.
The above Xiao Jingguang didn’t say much and got straight to the point.
"Our competition system is to challenge the champion and draw lots."
"Come up and challenge me in the order drawn. If a challenger loses, the next challenger will take over. The competition will not end until I lose. The stakes have already been set, so I won't emphasize them."
"Now, let's start drawing lots."
Hearing this, Shui Yiyao stood up and said, "Since this is a free exchange, there's no need to draw lots. Let's go one by one. I'm the youngest here and have the least experience, so I'll start."
Xiao Jingguang looked at her.
A young man next to him frowned: "The draw was arranged long ago—"
Ao Li said, "Since the seats have already been arranged according to seniority, then we can come according to seniority. It won't be a hassle."
Shui Yiyao nodded, her tone challenging: "If the champion can't even beat the weakest me, then there's no point in drawing lots. Right?"
Xiao Jingguang looked at her, was silent for a while, and finally nodded: "Okay."
In fact, his intuition told him to refuse, but in the end his pride made him accept it.
No matter how powerful she was, she was just a 23-year-old girl. How powerful could she be? Perhaps it was because she was too confident and ostentatious that it was glaring, causing him to start doubting himself.
And this suspicion is just an illusion.
"Then let's start." Xiao Jingguang said, clapping his hands.
As his applause rang out, three etiquette ladies stood up next to him. They each held a tray covered with a red scarf.
Xiao Jingguang gestured to the three trays in front of him: "I brought three things this time. Everyone, please take a look."
"As long as you can identify all three things, I will admit defeat."
He walked over to the first tray and lifted the red handkerchief.
Below is a jade statue.
He gestured towards Shui Yiyao and said, "Please take a look."
Shui Yiyao walked over and started looking.
This statue is in a kneeling position.
She walked closer and, before even taking a closer look, revealed the basic information: "Kneeling Jade Figure. It's Qinghai jade, very well preserved."
Xiao Jingguang was a little surprised.
Even before Chengyu had even examined it carefully, he'd already revealed the jade's origin, and he'd gotten it right. It seemed like he had some skills. Although he hadn't yet revealed the specific origin, he'd already done a pretty good job.
For a young person, being able to achieve this is already quite good.
Shui Yiyao walked closer and continued, "It's the work of Master Chen Da of the Shanghai School."
Xiao Jingguang: “…” That’s right again.
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