Next up was the exciting sparring match between Liu Xiaoyuan and Meng Yisong, which everyone was eagerly anticipating. They all wanted to see who would win.
"President Meng, you go first, you're an elder!" Liu Xiaoyuan said with a smile.
Without any hesitation, Meng Yisong walked to the desk, crumpled up the calligraphy written by Liu Xiaoyuan into a ball, and threw it into the trash can.
Seeing this, Liu Xiaoyuan was not angry and still had a smile on his face. However, some other people felt that Meng Yisong was too narrow-minded.
"Grandpa, let me grind the ink for you!" After saying that, Meng Hao glared at Liu Xiaoyuan, then walked to the side and ground the ink for Meng Yisong. Meng Hao was now pinning his hopes on his grandfather, hoping that his grandfather could help him avenge his previous humiliation and give Liu Xiaoyuan a good slap in the face.
The worst thing you can do when writing calligraphy is to be restless and agitated. So, after picking up the brush, Meng Yisong took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself down.
After his emotions had calmed down, Meng Yisong picked up his brush, dipped it in ink, and began to write five large characters on the rice paper: "Tranquility leads to far-reaching goals!"
"Good!" Following Meng Yisong's strokes, everyone present applauded and cheered, because Meng Yisong's five characters were indeed well written.
Before learning calligraphy, Meng Yisong always copied Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy. Even after becoming a master calligrapher, the influence of Yan Zhenqing was still evident in his writing.
"Well, the five characters of Chairman Meng's name are broad and magnificent, with strong strokes and awe-inspiring spirit. The characters are profound and powerful, and they are elegant and refined."
"Yes, these five characters are comparable to Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy. No wonder he is Chairman Meng."
At this moment, even Zhao Qianhai had to admit in his heart that Meng Yisong had indeed written those five characters very well.
Looking at the five large characters on the Xuan paper, Meng Yisong finally smiled. To say that his five characters were comparable to Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy would be nothing short of flattery, but they could certainly be considered to have come from the hand of a master calligrapher.
Therefore, Meng Yisong felt that he had the victory in his grasp in this competition.
Liu Xiaoyuan knew nothing about calligraphy, but from everyone's flattering remarks about Meng Yisong, he could tell that Meng Yisong's calligraphy was somewhat similar to that of Yan Zhenqing.
Although Liu Xiaoyuan knew nothing about calligraphy, he did know about Yan Zhenqing.
Yan Zhenqing was not only a great calligrapher of the Tang Dynasty, but also a famous minister of the Tang Dynasty. During the An Lushan Rebellion, Yan Zhenqing led the righteous army to fight against the rebels. Later, he served as Minister of Personnel, Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince, and was enfeoffed as Duke of Lu.
"Hehe, since that's the case, then I'll summon Yan Zhenqing through the God-level Invincible System later and show you what the real Yan Body is," Liu Xiaoyuan thought to himself.
"Not bad, not bad!" Liu Xiaoyuan walked to the desk with his hands behind his back and glanced at the book.
Seeing Liu Xiaoyuan's air of self-assurance, Meng Yisong's face turned cold. He acted as if he were Liu Xiaoyuan's student, waiting for Liu Xiaoyuan, his teacher, to give him pointers.
"If you've seen enough, it's your turn!" Meng Yisong said impatiently.
Liu Xiaoyuan immediately walked to the desk, pushed Meng Yisong aside, and said, "President Meng, please move this piece of paper you're writing on, don't spoil my mood!"
Meng Yisong snorted coldly, put the Xuan paper away, and thought coldly to himself, "Kid, let's see how long you can be arrogant."
After Meng Yisong removed the Xuan paper, Liu Xiaoyuan took the brush, dipped it in ink, summoned Yan Zhenqing, closed his eyes, and wrote the five characters "淡泊以明志" (meaning "to be indifferent to fame and fortune").
"Alright, all done!" Liu Xiaoyuan held the brush in his hand, looking at the five large characters on the rice paper with a sense of pride.
Yan Zhenqing truly deserves to be called an outstanding calligrapher of the Tang Dynasty. Even Liu Xiaoyuan, a layman, felt that the five large characters on the Xuan paper were majestic, elegant, dignified, robust, and full of strength and sharpness.
"Phew! Not bad!" Liu Xiaoyuan breathed a sigh of relief. He really knew how to put on a show.
Everyone present was an expert, and when they saw the five characters on the Xuan paper, they were dumbfounded, their eyes almost popping out of their sockets.
This is totally Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy style written by himself!
Meng Yisong stared intently at the five large characters written by Liu Xiaoyuan. After a long while, he muttered to himself like a madman, "How is this possible? How is this possible..."
As a calligrapher with extensive experience in imitating Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy, Meng Yisong could immediately tell that Liu Xiaoyuan's five large characters were many times better than his own.
After muttering to himself countless times, Meng Yisong took two steps back and collapsed to the ground like a lost and dejected stray dog.
At this moment, Meng Yisong seemed to have aged ten years in an instant. All his years of hard work practicing calligraphy had been defeated by a mere young upstart...
"Grandpa, Grandpa, what's wrong? Don't scare me!" Meng Hao knelt down beside Meng Yisong, supporting his grandfather with a worried expression.
Those present, upon hearing Meng Hao's voice, snapped out of their shock and turned to glance at Meng Yisong. However, no one paid any attention to Meng Yisong, because the shock Liu Xiaoyuan had brought them was simply too great. It was unbelievable that such a young man could write calligraphy with such profound skill with his eyes closed.
Zhao Qianhai and the others were also extremely shocked, especially Zhao Qianhai, who looked at Liu Xiaoyuan as if he were a monster. He originally thought that Liu Xiaoyuan's imitation of the Slender Gold style was already unbelievable, but he never expected that Liu Xiaoyuan could also write the Yan style so well, as if Yan Zhenqing had been reincarnated.
"Ding dong, congratulations to player Liu Xiaoyuan for successfully showing off once again, gaining 1000 experience points!" The system's voice rang in Liu Xiaoyuan's mind.
Haha... I gained another thousand experience points. This show-off was worth it.
"Oh dear, Chairman Meng, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?" Liu Xiaoyuan walked up to Meng Yisong and asked, feigning concern.
Meng Yisong was initially feeling a bit better, but seeing Liu Xiaoyuan's crocodile tears and feigned compassion only made him angrier and more upset.
"Oh, Chairman Meng, I heard that drinking ink is very effective for those who are not in good health, and it's top-quality ink!" Liu Xiaoyuan said with a smile.
"Meng Hao, hurry up and feed your grandpa the ink." Liu Xiaoyuan said to Meng Hao with a smile.
Then everyone suddenly remembered that before the calligraphy competition, the two had indeed made a bet: whoever lost would have to drink the ink.
Now that Meng Yisong has lost, he will naturally have to drink the ink.
Everyone's eyes fell on the inkstone on the desk. Seeing the ink inside, everyone felt a chill. The thought of drinking ink was frightening, let alone actually doing it.
"Sigh! Chairman Meng, it's not that we don't want to speak up for you, it's just that we have to accept the consequences of our bet!" Most people cast sympathetic glances at Meng Yisong.
(End of this chapter)
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