Chapter 30030 True and Fake Banknotes
Cao Xingcan came in discouraged and dejected, and left with high morale, leaving Du Qingtang and Fu Wen looking at each other in bewilderment.
Fu Wen: "What is he talking about?"
Du Qingtang: "I don't know, maybe he's declaring war on me?"
Fu Wen: "He doesn't deserve first place alone. What an inexplicable possessiveness and desire to win."
Du Qingtang stuffed the book into his bag and said, "Let's not talk about him anymore. Let's go eat."
"Okay!" Fu Wen said cheerfully, "There's carrot and meatball soup tonight. We have to hurry, or we won't be able to grab it."
No matter how hard you try, you are still a step too late.
The cafeteria was packed with people, and all you could see were the backs of heads.
Du Qingtang didn't get the radish and meatball soup, but the aunt in charge of serving the food gave her an extra spoonful of chicken stewed with mushrooms.
The same is true for Fu Wen.
"Thank you, auntie." They both said in unison.
My aunt waved her hand and smiled kindly, "We made a lot today. It would be a waste if we can't finish it. Eat more and grow taller!"
There is no radish meatball soup, but there is cabbage soup.
They each took a bowl, and after eating and drinking their fill, they returned to the dormitory together.
Take a nap for half an hour and then go back to class.
There is only one class in the afternoon, which is Teacher Huang’s calligraphy class.
Calligraphy belongs to the "book" among the six arts of a gentleman. It has many requirements, the most important of which are brushwork and brush strokes.
The brushwork emphasizes the techniques of using the brush, including straight, side, light, heavy, forward, and reverse. [1]
Brushstrokes are not only about the shape of individual strokes, but also about the internal or external connections between dots and strokes, characters and lines, and can be expressed in a variety of forms. [2]
If you can achieve either of the two, you can highlight the vitality and dynamic beauty of the calligraphy works.
In modern times, Du Qingtang has a wide range of interests and is involved in many fields, calligraphy being one of them.
She has copied the works of many ancient calligraphy masters and won awards in calligraphy competitions in her spare time.
After traveling back to ancient times, there is a saying that handwriting reflects the character of the person, and the importance of good handwriting in the imperial examination is self-evident.
Some people cannot even pass the examination to become a scholar even though their literary attainments meet the requirements because they cannot write well.
In order to leave a good impression on the examiner, Du Qingtang practiced calligraphy every day for many years, practicing regular script the most.
——Daxia’s imperial examinations had clear requirements: candidates must answer in neat regular script. If other fonts were used, the results would be invalidated.
"Qingtang, did you really only study for two years?" Fu Wen admired the sharp, silver-stroked, and iron-stroked regular script. "You can recite the Four Books and Five Classics backwards, you can paint, and you can also write calligraphy... Qingtang, what other surprises do you have that I don't know about?"
Of course it will take more than two years, Du Qingtang thought.
"Read more, practice more, and you'll always improve." Du Qingtang picked up his brush and dipped it in ink. "Your calligraphy style is different from mine. Yours is more reserved and subtle. You can practice diligently by imitating the calligraphy of the calligrapher."
Fu Wen smiled broadly: "Thank you Qingtang, you are such a good person."
Thinking about it this way, it seemed that all her luck for the past thirteen years had been used to meet the person in front of her.
Ever since she left home and moved to the city and met Du Qingtang, her dark and bumpy life has become bright and smooth.
Fu Wen secretly hoped in his heart that it would be great if it could always be like this.
......
In class, Teacher Huang asked the students to copy poems and essays. He walked between the desks with his hands behind his back, praising and giving pointers from time to time.
When he reached Du Qingtang, he paused.
The calligraphy on the paper is vigorous and unrestrained, with sharp strokes that penetrate through the back of the paper, making it impossible to look away.
Teacher Huang looked at the owner of the calligraphy, who was a stranger.
Thinking about the recent recruitment exam, he had some ideas in mind.
Teacher Huang: "What's your name?"
Du Qingtang: "Student Du Qingtang."
Teacher Huang: "How long have you been practicing?"
Du Qingtang: "Two years."
Teacher Huang was shocked. He had reached this level in just two years?
He walked around the classroom with a dizzy feeling and stopped beside Du Qingtang. "Well - if you want to learn calligraphy, you can come find me."
Everyone who pricked up their ears and eavesdropped: "!!!"
Huang Jiaoyu is a world-famous calligrapher. The late emperor and Your Majesty both praised his calligraphy highly.
Over the years, many people have come to Huang Jiaoyu to ask for his calligraphy, but he has ignored them all and does not sell it to anyone.
Today, his works are worth thousands of dollars per word.
What did Du Qingtang do to make Teacher Huang say this?
"Does Master Huang want to take her in as his disciple?"
"Du Qingtang is not only good at memorizing books and writing articles, but also has beautiful handwriting. Is there anything in this world that she can't do?"
"Is she really from a rural peasant family, and not some hidden family?"
Cao Xingcan was originally admiring his own calligraphy with complacency, but when he heard the noisy discussions of the people around him, his good mood instantly plummeted.
“Crash—”
He crumpled the rice paper into a ball with an expressionless face and threw it at his feet.
Instantly becoming the focus of the crowd, Du Qingtang remained calm and unfazed: "Yes, I've made a note of it."
Teacher Huang was a little disappointed that he didn't get the answer he wanted, but he knew that the bond between master and disciple could not be forced. He stopped to watch for a moment, gave some pointers on Du Qingtang and Fu Wen's calligraphy, and then left.
Fu Wen exhaled a breath of foul air, his tense body collapsing. "The instructor was watching me the whole time, and I almost made a typo... Qingtang, the instructor clearly wanted to take you in as his disciple, so why didn't you agree?"
Du Qingtang said softly: "Du's ambition is not here."
After four reincarnations, her ideals have never changed.
She planned every step carefully and meticulously, all she wanted was to pass the imperial examination and become a high-ranking official.
Fu Wen heard the hidden meaning in her words and whispered softly: "In fact, I share the same ambition as you, but unfortunately..."
Du Qingtang said calmly: "That day will come."
Fu Wen: "Hmm?"
Du Qingtang didn't say anything else, but Fu Wen was confused by what she said. Seeing that she was concentrating on practicing calligraphy, he had to suppress his curiosity and concentrate on practicing.
-
After the calligraphy class, the news of Du Qingtang's great attainments in calligraphy spread, and she was once again surrounded by students from the three neighboring classes as if she were a national treasure, the giant panda.
Du Qingtang accepted this well, got up at dawn as usual, went out for morning reading and exercises with Fu Wen, listened carefully in class, took notes seriously, and drew illustrations and did exercises after class.
Du Qingtang was like a sponge, madly absorbing knowledge from the teachers of Qingyuan Academy. His days were boring and monotonous, but very fulfilling.
On the other hand, Yuan Sheng was expelled from the private school by Mr. Li. In the following half month, he encountered obstacles everywhere. No private school in the county town was willing to accept him, and even the most greedy teacher turned him away.
When asked why, the other party gave a clear answer: "If you don't cultivate your personal morality, you will never achieve great things."
If you trace the root of the problem, it was because he was having an affair with someone without any intermediary and was playing two games at the same time.
But Yuan Sheng knew very well that Du Qingtang was putting the blame on him. It was totally fabricated and a slander!
Yuan Sheng wanted to eat Du Qingtang alive, but unfortunately she was hiding in Qingyuan Academy, so he had no choice but to let Xie Guang deal with her.
When Zhu learned that Yuan Sheng was expelled from the private school because of Du Qingtang's complaint and had no place to go, she was so angry that she started cursing. She grabbed Yuan Shi who was working at Yuan's house, slapped her several times, and then went to Du's house with a knife.
"If I can't handle that dead girl, can I handle those girls?"
As a result, he didn't even get into the Du family's house. After just a few curses, he was driven back by Fang Honghai who came after hearing the news.
Zhu was so angry that she fell backwards and took Yuan out on her punching bag, beating her until there was not a single piece of good flesh left on her face or body.
Even so, Yuan just cried and still came to the Yuan family to work on time every day.
Yuansheng went to all the private schools in the county, but returned disappointed every time. He had no choice but to settle for the next best thing and go to study in a nearby town.
Zhu couldn't bear to see her precious son suffer, so she gritted her teeth, rented a house, and went to the town to take care of Yuansheng.
As a result, only Yuan Ping and his daughter Yuan Xue were left in the Yuan family.
When there is no tiger in the mountain, the monkey will become king.
Yuan Ping was no longer under his supervision, and the day after Zhu left, he took two hundred taels of silver from his private money and went to a gambling house in the county town.
Yuan Ping often visited the gambling house. Most of the waiters and thugs in the gambling house knew him. After he entered the gambling house, he felt like a fish in water and quickly became friends with the guests.
It's just that his luck was not very good today. He won two rounds at the beginning and got more than twenty taels. He thought he could return with a full load, but he didn't expect that he would lose from the third round onwards.
After just two rounds, he lost thirty or forty taels.
Yuan Ping was so anxious that he was sweating profusely. He wanted to give up, but he was unwilling to give up. He wanted to win back the money he lost. He gritted his teeth and took out two hundred taels of silver: "I'm going to bet big!"
Unfortunately, things went against his wishes. Not only did he fail to win back the money he lost, he also lost two hundred taels of silver notes.
Yuan Ping knew something was wrong and planned to retreat.
"Wait!" A burly man at the gambling table pointed at a banknote. "Why does this banknote look fake?"
Everyone looked closely and some even touched it.
“It’s a bit like that.”
"Hey, why is the color fading?"
Yuanping's heart skipped a beat, and he had a bad feeling.
He looked down and found that his fingers were black, obviously stained by the ink on the banknote.
Yuan Ping: "!!!"
The manager of the gambling house came over and Yuan Ping was dragged aside by his thugs, and punches rained down on him.
"How dare you use counterfeit banknotes in the Qinglong Gang's territory? Are you really that bold?"
"Laishun, how much did he lose?"
"Three hundred taels!"
"You have five days to pay back the three hundred taels, or I'll pay it back with your fingers!"
Yuanping curled up like a shrimp and screamed in pain.
He couldn't understand how the banknotes he had saved for more than ten years could have turned out to be fake.
It must be that stinky bitch Zhu!
With one punch from the thug, Yuanping lost two of his teeth.
“Ahhhhhhhhh!!!”
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