"Han Ba Dao" could be mass-produced with the technology at the time because its craftsmanship was extremely simple and a small cicada could be carved with just a few strokes.
Shui Yiyao looked up at the game panel. There was a countdown on it. It was half an hour long and there were still ten minutes left.
She remained calm, lowered her eyes to look at the little cicada in her hand, and began to carve it.
Sister Yu kept her phone raised. She had originally wanted to just take a few shots, but she felt Shui Yiyao's movements were particularly exquisite and had a unique charm, so she kept wanting to take more shots. Her hand was sore from holding the phone up, but she couldn't bear to press the end button.
She glanced at the tablet on the table next to her. In order to make it easier to take pictures with her mobile phone, she placed the tablet on the table next to her.
In the picture, the Qingwu Studio across the street had already carved several cuts on the cicada, and it was about to take shape in a few cuts, while Shui Yiyao had just started the first cut.
Sister Yu stared at it without blinking. In the camera, Shui Yiyao's hands were very steady. She rolled the knife and a line was formed, very smoothly.
Sister Yu was stunned for a moment and looked towards the Qingwu Studio across the street.
His technique is different from Shui Yiyao's. He will roll a line back and forth several times.
Even though she was an outsider, she could see that Shui Yiyao's technique was much more experienced and smooth, and looked more pleasing to the eye.
Each line of Shui Yi Yao is pressed only once, without any crooked or incorrect lines, and the lines are clear and crisp.
Seeing Shui Yiyao's actions, the Qingwu Studio opposite was obviously panicked and also accelerated the progress.
Even Sister Yu could clearly see that Qingwu Studio was rushing to meet deadlines. The lines that originally required several rounds of pressing were now only required twice.
Shui Yiyao was not influenced by anyone and continued her carving. With one stroke after another, the pattern of a jade cicada was completed in a short while.
It feels very simple.
After she finished carving, she turned off the grinding machine, put down the carving pen, and took the finished material to the camera to focus.
Sister Yu reminded: "Click submit."
Shui Yiyao noticed the word "Submit" next to it and clicked "Submit".
She turned around: "I didn't even notice, thank you Sister Yu."
[Ding Dong—Contestant "Chengdao Jade Carving" has completed the exam.]
The community loudspeaker suddenly lit up and began broadcasting in a loop.
There was a moment of silence on the public channel, and then someone spoke with emotion.
-ox.
-That’s awesome.
-It's pretty fast.
-Although speed doesn’t mean anything, it is rare to see something this fast.
-The last one to arrive was the first to hand in his paper! I didn't expect that.
-Isn't that just a perfunctory response?
-This test is not about speed, but about the degree of restoration. Stop bragging.
-Yes, it's the accuracy. There's nothing to brag about the speed.
-I think the degree of restoration of Qingwu is quite high and it is done very carefully.
Ding Dong! Contestant "Qingwu Jade Carving Studio" has completed the exam. The second bell rang.
-We Qingwu are not slow either.
-Yes, about the same speed.
-Can you please stop insisting that the speed is about the same?
-They came ten minutes late and finished early, and you said your speed was about the same as theirs? You must be kidding.
-Speed is not important, just look at the work! Our Qingwu works are quite impressive.
-It is not up to you to decide whether the work is good or not, it is up to the judges to decide.
The jade carving community’s competition specially invited some respected people in the circle to serve as judges and give scores to the contestants.
The judges, who were on a separate channel, surrounded the live broadcast room of the competition. They were recognized as accomplished jade carving masters and appraisers in the industry, and 20 of them were specially invited to prevent bribery.
This is a points-based competition. Each judge has one point and can choose who to vote for.
After the thirty-minute countdown ended, the loudspeaker in the system announcement came on again, announcing that the exam time was over and asking all teams to put down their tools.
[Now it's time for the judges to vote. Each judge in this segment only has one vote, so please choose carefully and vote!] The live broadcast screen of the PK changed, showing the judges: ten judges above, and ten judges below.
They didn't hesitate much and chose the answer one after another.
[Group 1: Chengdao Jade Carving Studio vs. Qingwu Studio - Score: 18:2.] [First round, Chengdao Jade Carving wins!]
When Sister Yu saw the prompt box pop up on the screen, her eyes lit up and she pointed the camera of her mobile phone directly at the word "Victory".
Win!
Xiao Yiyao scored 18 points!
It feels like she won so easily.
Qingwu Studio seemed a little bit unbelievable. He said, "How could it be?"
He looked at the material in his hand and fell into doubt: "This carving of mine is pretty good, right?"
Only two points?
【Judges, please give reasons or comments for your vote.】
The first judge, fanning himself, folded his fan and tapped the screen. "Han Ba Dao emphasizes simplicity and elegance. Both of these pieces achieve that, but the first piece, with its sharp lines, is clearly more majestic and refined! It's more in line with the basic standards of Han Ba Dao!"
The second judge: "It is indeed magnificent. The lines are very well restored."
The third judge: "That's right——"
…
The twenty judges gave their reasons one by one, all praising the Chengdao jade carvings. They were not only similar in appearance, but also in their inner spirit. The craftsmanship was simple, but the sharp lines formed by the knife also revealed a rare majestic atmosphere.
Although the score seemed a bit exaggerated, no one refuted it.
Because it is true.
Although Chengdao Jade Carving's carving was so fast that she was questioned for being perfunctory, she did manage to make the shape and spirit of the work look like reality. The carving lines were neat and clean, and appeared sharp, thus exuding a sense of grandeur.
Everyone could see the live broadcast of the competition. Qingwu was considered one of the better jade carvers, but he didn't expect the result to be so overwhelming.
But they couldn't argue with the result. As industry insiders, they knew the judges were objective and impartial, without any deception or fabrication. Chengdao Jade Carving was indeed worthy of 18 points.
There was no sound from Qingwu Studio, which was obviously a big blow.
-This is only the first game.
Someone reminded on the public channel.
-There are still two games left.
-Everyone has their own strengths. Chengyu may be better at Han Ba Dao. That’s nothing.
-Yes, there are still two games to go, let’s get the score back.
Shui Yiyao didn't say anything, but stood up and poured herself a glass of water.
Tie the score back?
There are still two games left, and the score will only get wider and wider. You still want to make a comeback? That's wishful thinking.
She returned to her workstation with the cup of water, took a sip of water, put the cup down, and waited for the second question.
The judges were still commenting on the performance of the next few groups of contestants, but this did not delay the continuation of the competition.
[Second test question - Thin carving. Countdown, 11:59:59] This project actually has 12 hours.
However, thin carving requires precision and is definitely worth it.
Shui Yiyao took another sip of water, put the cup aside, picked up a piece of sugar-white material that had been prepared earlier, and began carving.
Thin carving is somewhat similar to relief carving, but it is shallow, like an ink painting. Most carvings have clear edge contours, but the outlines of thin carving are very rounded. Compared with the bold carving, thin carving is more gentle and subtle, requiring careful carving and slow polishing.
Despite this, she still acted quickly.
Sister Yu watched as other jade carvers slowly tried their hand at using the smallest and thinnest knives, while Shui Yiyao simply chose one of the right thickness and pressed it right down into the middle of the material.
After just a few strokes, Sister Yu figured out what Yi Yao was drawing: a line of egrets flying in the blue sky.
The egrets are shallow reliefs, while the white clouds and the sun are carved out. Although there is only a large shape, it is clear to see that it is a line of egrets flying in the blue sky.
Sister Yu looked at the other jade carvers, but it was impossible to tell what they were carving. Some were even sketching on the jade.
No shape emerged.
So fast! Shui Yiyao is much faster than other jade carvers.
After half an hour, Shui Yiyao finished painting a picture.
Yes, from Sister Yu's perspective, it's more like painting than carving, because it's so smooth. And she never regrets her strokes, it's so steady.
After Shui Yiyao finished the painting, she changed a carving knife and refined it again.
Half an hour later, she put down the engraving pen and clicked the "Submit" button.
[Ding Dong—Contestant "Chengdao Jade Carving Studio" has completed the exam.] - Finished?
-Did your hand slip?
-Your hand slipped and you submitted it now?
-How long has it been?
-It wasn't a slip of the hand, I just entered their group's live broadcast room, and she did finish it.
-And honestly, it's pretty good...
Even the judges were surprised. Seeing the prompt for the contestant to submit the answer, they immediately asked: "Hey, Chengdao Jade Carving, didn't you slip?"
This is a 12-hour question, and this is only one hour...
Hearing the voice coming from the live broadcast room, Shui Yiyao was a little amused: "How could my hand slip? I'm done."
"Okay, let's take a look."
The judges clicked on the pictures and videos of the work that Shui Yiyao had just submitted.
The judges were seen pointing at the egret in the blue sky, frowning as if they were in a dilemma.
Finally, the judges began to vote.
"Because the works of the contestants behind us are not yet completed, we voted very conservatively and only gave you 15 votes."
One of the leading judges explained.
-Only 15 votes? Conservative?
-You call this conservative? Isn't it just 20 votes?
-I don’t know why, but I suddenly felt sorry for Qingwu.
- Qing Wu...seems a bit miserable. How can we compare?
-It seems like a sure loss.
-Be more confident and remove the "seem".
-Now Chengyu has 33 votes. Even if he didn’t get any votes in the third round, even if all 20 votes in the third round were from Qingwu, Qingwu would only have 27 votes.
-Besides, Qingwu probably won't get 20 votes in the third round...
Shui Yiyao: "Thank you, judges."
"Then I'll do the third question first?"
Question 3 has not yet been announced.
Judge: "Okay, you can go first. The theme of the third round is thread carving. The time limit is 24 hours."
Shui Yiyao: "Okay."
Line carving is difficult. It uses lines of different thicknesses and depths to form a picture. It requires attention to detail and the carved picture will look good.
The time allotted for the second and third rounds was quite long, which was within Shui Yiyao's expectation. After all, jade carving is a time-consuming endeavor. The reason why she finished it so quickly was that she didn't actually complete the finished product, but only demonstrated a technique.
Just show it well enough.
Sister Yu watched Shui Yiyao pick up the third piece of material and start line carving, while the other jade carvers couldn't even figure out the approximate shape of the second question. She truly felt the gap in strength.
Her artist may be a genius in jade carving.
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