The atmosphere at the scene became tense again.
Although Jing Zhe excelled in poetry, if his calligraphy couldn't compare to Master Xia's, Jiang Ling would still win the argument!
Of course, no one believed that Jing Zhe's calligraphy could be as good as his poetry, or even better than Master Xia's!
After all, Master Xia is recognized as the best calligrapher in Jiangling City. When Prefect Xu introduced him earlier, he said that if we go back a hundred years, Master Xia's calligraphy would be ranked among the top three. But that was actually an understatement!
Within a hundred years, Master Xia will also be number one!
Otherwise, they wouldn't have let him write the plaque for the city gate of Jiangling!
"Let me grind the ink for you!"
At this moment, Lin Wan'er walked to Jing Zhe's side, took the inkstone that Master Xia had just thrown down, and offered to help grind the ink.
The scholars of Jiangling were immediately envious.
Why do I feel like I've already lost before the game even starts?
Lin Wan'er, the most talented woman in Jiangling, was a fairy in the hearts of every scholar in Jiangling. Fairies are naturally high above and untouched by worldly affairs. So even though Lin Wan'er often participated in various poetry gatherings, she rarely spoke except for writing poems and lyrics, let alone treating anyone with gentleness or a smile.
Even though Feng Mubai has harbored feelings for Lin Wan'er for so many years and is considered by everyone to be the most suitable match, he has never let Lin Wan'er take the initiative to do anything. But now, Lin Wan'er is taking the initiative to grind ink for Jing Zhe, which will surely become a beautiful story.
However, the male protagonist of this beautiful story wasn't from Jiangling, which is a bit sad...
In fact, Qingqiu and Pei Yunxi also wanted to grind ink for Jing Zhe. Especially for Qingqiu, grinding ink was not the most important thing. She hadn't seen her man for so long, and now that they had finally met, they couldn't even exchange a single word. This made Qingqiu feel inexplicably sad.
So she wanted to take advantage of the time while he was grinding ink to go to his side, even if she didn't speak, just to be closer and quietly watch him. However, she and Pei Yunxi were both martial artists, so if she suddenly went to grind ink for Jing Zhe, it would seem a bit awkward.
So both Qingqiu and Pei Yunxi hesitated for a moment, and it was this moment of hesitation that gave Lin Wan'er the upper hand.
Seeing that Lin Wan'er had already walked to Jing Zhe's side, Qingqiu and Pei Yunxi both sighed: After all these years, Seventh Sister is still as bold as she was when she was a child!
"Alright, then Seventh Sister will have to trouble you."
Jing Zhe smiled and said politely, but Lin Wan'er rolled her eyes at him. In her opinion, it was only natural to do things for her younger brother, so how could it be considered "burdening"?
Jing Zhe smiled awkwardly, his attention returning to the Xuan paper.
Then, with flowing strokes and a smooth, uninterrupted flow, he completed the work in one go.
The onlookers hadn't even seen what he wrote yet, but just seeing his elegant and graceful writing style made them envious.
Master Xia broke free from everyone's support and limped to the stone table. He wanted to see what kind of calligraphy Jing Zhe could write and was prepared to mock him.
However, when he saw the powerful and incisive characters on the rice paper, he was completely stunned.
This... is impossible...
Master Xia muttered to himself as if he were in a trance. He had been learning calligraphy since he was four years old, and it could be said that he had been practicing calligraphy all his life, which is why he had reached his current level. He also knew very well that writing was different from other things. Only through many years of practice could one develop good handwriting, and one could also see the skill from the strength and thinness of the characters.
But Jing Zhe is too young. How could he write such elegant and powerful characters?
What puzzled Master Xia even more was that the font Jing Zhe wrote was not from Anguo, or even from any other font in the world. He had been writing for so many years and knew all the different fonts in the world. It was impossible for him not to know them.
So he asked the question that had been bothering him: "President Jing, this handwriting..."
"Hehe, it's my own creation. What do you think? Not bad, right?"
"Hmm, it's...not bad..."
At this moment, Master Xia suddenly realized that Jing Zhe's earlier praise of his calligraphy as "not bad" was actually quite high, considering that even he himself, with such excellent handwriting, had only said it was "not bad"...
After hearing his answer, Jing Zhe sneered, then picked up his brush again and continued to write on the rice paper.
Next, he wrote down the poem and the lyric "Last year on this day, in this doorway, faces and peach blossoms reflected each other's redness" and "Not as beautiful as the lotus, a deep and quiet feeling is strong in the cold." However, the first time he wrote it, he used regular script, while this poem and the lyric used cursive and clerical script.
Master Xia was completely dumbfounded!
Two more fonts I've never seen before!
One is continuous and winding, the other is square and straight. As a calligraphy enthusiast, Master Xia can see the power of these two styles at a glance.
Seeing his blank expression, Jing Zhe continued to ask, "Master Xia, these three different styles of calligraphy were all created by me. The first one is called regular script, and the second and third are cursive script and clerical script. Master Xia has been writing calligraphy for so many years, have you ever created any calligraphy styles yourself?"
"No...no..."
Hearing this question, Master Xia was indeed a little embarrassed. He had practiced calligraphy for so many years and thought he had mastered it, but he had never thought of creating his own calligraphy. The calligraphy left by his predecessors was a summary of hundreds and thousands of years of experience. How could he be qualified to create a calligraphy that was better than theirs?
But Jing Zhe actually did it, which undoubtedly taught him a good lesson, letting him know that there are always people better than you, and there is always something beyond your understanding.
"So, Master Xia, what do you think? Is it alright?"
"It's alright...it's alright..."
Master Xia spoke again.
"good?"
Jing Zhe was displeased this time and immediately launched into a sarcastic tone: "I praised your calligraphy as 'okay' because it really is just 'okay.' And you actually say my calligraphy is 'okay' too? What, can you create your own calligraphy, or can you write better calligraphy than me? Who do you think you are, huh?"
"..."
Master Xia was stunned; this was tantamount to a direct slap in the face.
Although he was indignant, he had to admit that Jing Zhe was absolutely right. In terms of age, he was a junior compared to him, but in terms of calligraphy alone, although he had decades more experience than Jing Zhe, his skill level was far inferior. Compared to him, he was at best a junior...
Therefore, Master Xia could only say, "President Jing's calligraphy... I am far from reaching its level. In the art of calligraphy, President Jing truly deserves to be called... the greatest calligrapher of all time..."
"Ha ha…"
After listening, Jing Zhe laughed twice, then patted Master Xia on the shoulder and said earnestly, "Master Xia's calligraphy is not very good, but his words are quite good!"
"..."
This time, Master Xia felt blood rush to his head, his ears were ringing, he couldn't hear anything anymore, and before he could catch his breath, he fainted...
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