Chapter 32 The privileged cat
The on-campus auditions will be held in the lecture hall of the Art Building.
After several rounds of screening, only six contestants finally stood on the stage.
Pei Heng's seat was by the window.
The mid-autumn afternoon sun poured in through the glass window, dancing on his slightly drooping eyelashes and then falling on the table.
In front of him was a piece of snow-white rice paper, held down by a paperweight, and the tip of his pen was dipped in thick ink.
The host announced the start and the timer started ticking.
The other contestants were more or less concentrating and holding their breath, or thinking over and over again, or holding their wrists in the air and taking a long time to put pen to paper.
Only Pei Heng picked up the pen and started writing without any pause.
The wrist is steady and the strokes are smooth.
The ink spreads on the paper, sometimes thick, sometimes thin, sometimes fast, sometimes slow.
There was no sign of tension on Pei Heng's face; instead, he seemed immersed in it.
There were many calligraphy students and enthusiasts sitting in the audience seats.
Many people were attracted by Pei Heng and whispered about his smooth and calm demeanor.
In contrast, Sun Yumo, who was highly expected, showed some hesitation when he started writing a word at the beginning of the article, and the strength of his pen was not measured, leaving a flaw that was not serious but quite conspicuous.
Pei Heng finished it in one go, put down his pen first and walked off the stage.
The works with the ink still wet were carefully put away by the staff.
"Alright Pei, you're in great shape!"
Zhou Jingming muttered excitedly and gave him a thumbs-up. "That momentum crushed the whole place!"
Pei Heng smiled and winked at him, then took the cup of water handed to him by Shen Shi and took a sip.
Sun Yumo also finished his work. When he walked off the stage, he glanced at Pei Heng with a complicated look.
Shen Shi was the first to notice it, and his thin and slender eyes swept over, like winter snow, and met Sun Yumo's gaze.
Sun Yumo shivered at the gaze, lowered his head hurriedly, and hurried away with the help of his classmates.
The contestants' works were sent to the judges' panel.
Not long after, sounds of arguing were faintly heard from the judges' seats, which had been relatively peaceful, attracting many viewers to look in curiosity.
Ling Yue approached quietly, leaning slightly forward, and whispered quickly behind Pei Heng and Shen Shi, "Master Yan has noticed something unusual. All the judges' scores unanimously gave the highest score to Sun Yumo's work, which had obvious mistakes."
"In addition, Sun Yumo's grandfather, President Sun of the Shanghai Calligraphy Association, is also on the judging panel."
The forum incident was also caused by Sun Yumo.
Over and over again.
This made Xiao Pei very angry.
Pei Heng had a cold face and turned his head to speak a few words quickly into Ling Yue's ear.
Ling Yue nodded, turned around immediately, and quickly disappeared into the crowd with his cell phone in hand.
Shen Shi's hand gently covered the back of Pei Heng's hand, his palm warm, "Don't be unhappy about these dirty things."
Pei Heng pinched Shen Shi's fingertips and answered honestly: "I'm not unhappy. I found something for Old Pei to do."
Soon, the voting results were counted.
The host walked onto the stage with the results and announced, "After careful evaluation by the judges, the first place winner of this campus selection competition is Sun Yumo! He will represent our school in the National College Student Calligraphy Competition!"
Before he finished speaking, there was silence in the audience at first, and then an uproar.
"What? Sun Yumo?"
"Isn't the first character he wrote 'splits'?"
"Pei Heng writes so well..."
"This is shady!"
The whispers grew louder and louder, and even the calligraphy students looked incredulous, exchanging suspicious glances with each other.
Sun Yumo's face was full of pride as he walked back onto the stage.
He took the microphone, his eyes swept across the audience, and deliberately fell on Pei Heng, feeling very superior.
"Student Pei Heng, your strength...is actually quite good."
"If I hadn't been immersed in calligraphy since childhood and hadn't had a solid foundation, today's competition might have been a bit suspenseful."
Pei Heng: “…”
Before he could move, Zhou Jingming next to him was already furious. He quickly snatched the microphone from the staff member next to him and put it into Pei Heng's hand.
Pei Heng stood up with the microphone.
Under the spotlight, he looked dignified and showed no sign of anger or offense. His voice, coming through the loudspeaker, was clear and melodious, drowning out the noise in the venue.
"You don't have to worry about me not being able to participate in the competition."
The smug look on Sun Yumo's face froze, and he subconsciously looked towards his grandfather, Chairman Sun, who was sitting on the judges' panel.
President Sun also took the microphone next to him and said, "Young man, the rules of the competition are clearly written. Each school can only nominate one contestant. You can't break the rules. If you lose, you must accept the consequences."
Pei Heng raised his eyes coldly, "Didn't your grandson spread rumors on the forum that I was enjoying privileges?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the tightly closed door of the lecture hall was pushed open.
Lin Qingyuan, who did not participate in the school review process, walked in.
His eyes briefly met with Yan Ke, whose face was blue with anger, and he nodded.
Done.
Yan Kejin relaxed, leaned back, and looked at President Sun with dangerous and complicated eyes.
President Sun recognized Lin Qingyuan, a professor with a high status in the academic community. Just as he was about to stand up and say hello, he saw Lin Qingyuan walking straight towards Pei Heng in the audience.
Under the gaze of the entire audience, Lin Qingyuan walked up to Pei Heng, took out a beautifully printed invitation from his briefcase, and handed it to him personally.
"The National Calligraphy Association heard that Yan Ke and I had accepted apprentices, so they specially sent us a direct invitation to the national finals."
"The quota does not count towards the school quota. Just go back and practice hard to prepare for the competition."
Pei Heng looked at the invitation that was suddenly handed to him and took it in a daze.
He tilted his head to look at Shen Shi beside him and muttered softly, "The privilege I was talking about...is not this."
The teachers on the judging panel: “!!!”
broken.
Shouldn't I have accepted Chairman Sun's bribe?
Before everyone could react, the door of the lecture hall was pushed open again.
This time, a middle-aged man with an elegant temperament and well-dressed clothes walked in.
When several school leaders and senior professors on the judging panel saw him, they all stood up with a respectful attitude.
"Mr. Liu!"
It’s just an on-campus selection competition, why did they invite the shareholders of the board of directors?
Mr. Liu was followed by Ling Yue who had returned and also walked towards Pei Heng.
Ling Yue stepped forward and said, "Young Master, the Emperor... ahem, the Patriarch called. He said that if you want to participate, you don't need to go through any selection process."
"As the main sponsor of this national competition, Pei Group has a direct recommendation quota for the competition. Here is your invitation letter."
As Ling Yue spoke, Mr. Liu handed another invitation letter to Pei Heng.
Pei Heng suddenly held two heavy invitation letters in his hands.
A hint of mischief flashed in his eyes, and he took the extra invitation and walked to the student on the stage who originally had the third highest number of votes.
In full view of everyone, the invitation was stuffed into the other party's hands.
Pei Heng raised his chin towards Sun Yumo and said, "I think your handwriting is much better than his. This spot is for you."
The third student: "!!!"
Audience: "Pfft! Hahahahaha!"
Sun Yumo's face turned purple, and he felt that the gazes from all directions were full of fiery ridicule.
Sun Yumo gritted his teeth and said, "Are you so proud? Even if you participate, you may not win!"
Pei Heng was surprised. "You dare to go even though your handwriting is so ugly, why can't I?"
Sun Yumo: “…”
He was so ashamed and angry that he smashed the microphone in his hand to the ground, making a harsh noise, and rushed off the stage without looking back.
The laughter from the audience got louder.
Zhou Jingming and his friends in the crosstalk club took the lead in making a fuss.
"Oh my god, this is called shooting oneself in the foot and asking for trouble."
"Oh, that's right!"
President Sun sat on the judges' panel with a grim expression on his face.
He didn't expect that Professor Yan Ke and Lin Qingyuan were not only the student's instructors, but also his own masters!
This student is actually from the Pei family...
When President Sun thought about how he had bribed the judges for his grandson's future, he felt dizzy.
I'm afraid his position as the president of the Shanghai Calligraphy Association has come to an end.
"Let's go," Pei Heng casually stuffed the invitation into Shen Shi's hand, "Go back and practice calligraphy."
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