Chapter 107 Becoming a Disciple
Professor Su’s first question left Liu Lan speechless.
Liu Man thought for a moment and said,
"My teacher is an unknown woman. I only know her surname is Xu, but not her name. I call her Madam Xu."
It was actually a woman!
Su Yi was surprised and asked anxiously, "Where is Madam Xu now? Is she in the capital?"
Liu Man shook her head. "She was from Chang'an and died many years ago."
The old man sighed, regretful but helpless, "God is jealous of talent. Such a gifted calligrapher was unknown during her lifetime, and even more forgotten after her death. Fortunately, you are left as her disciple to inherit her legacy."
Indeed, in Liu Lan's mind, Madam Xu's talent and learning were unmatched. Once, when she was chatting with Concubine Yu, Concubine Yu told Liu Lan that when Madam Xu was young, she was known as the most talented woman in the world, but she gradually faded into obscurity after entering the palace.
"Does she have any works left in the world?" Su Yi still held on to a glimmer of hope.
...
...
Liu Man shook her head, "They were all burned."
"Ah," the old man sighed again, "Forget it, let me ask you a second question. Have you ever learned seal carving?"
Su Yi was indeed an expert. He immediately discovered what Yu Zhan had not understood before.
"Yes, I started with seals and seal characters."
“No wonder some fonts look very different from modern seal script, but modern seal script is not written that way either.”
Su Yi stood up, took out a folder from the bookshelf and opened it.
He asked his doctoral students to enlarge the words written by Liu Lan one by one to A4 size and print them out. These days, they studied the fonts with magnifying glasses.
It has been more than two thousand years since the Han Dynasty. At that time, papermaking technology was not well developed, and the main carriers of text were stone carvings and brocade. Although very few written texts of that time have been passed down, due to the changes in dynasties and the passage of time, many fonts have been modified by scholars from other dynasties in later generations.
Su Yi and his doctoral students conducted research for a long time and even went to the Archaeology Department to look for relevant information. They found that the writing style of these printed characters was the same as that of some bronze inscriptions unearthed in the early Western Han Dynasty, and the characters at that time still had the shadow of bronze inscriptions.
"Could it be that you got started with the inscriptions on bronzes and steles from the Western Han Dynasty?" Su Yi asked the third question.
Liu Lan could only admit, "Yes."
"Your teacher is from the ancient capital, so he has the environment to come into contact with these things. I have lived for almost a century, and this is the first time I have encountered such a situation," Su Yi was still puzzled.
The inscriptions on bronze ware from the early Western Han Dynasty are too unpopular. It is not easy to learn to recognize and write them. And it takes a lot of comprehension to integrate them and write them into calligraphy works.
That's why Su Yi admired Madam Xu so much. He believed that Madam Xu had created a new category of calligraphy. As they didn't know how to identify this category, Su Yi and his students gave Liu Man's font a complicated name, called Western Han Dynasty Bronze Seal Seal Script.
"Can you write a few words for me here?" Su Yi asked Liu Lan.
"sure."
In front of Su Yi's desk was a long wooden table specially used for writing, on which were all the necessary writing tools, such as pens, inkstones, and paper. Before Liu Lan came, Su Yi was writing at his desk, with only half of the words on the rice paper written, and the brush he had just used was not yet dry.
Su Yi said, "Please continue writing the article I have just finished."
Liu Lan looked at Su Yi's handwriting. He wrote a passage from Mencius.
"A gentleman has three joys, and ruling the world is not one of them. Having both parents alive and having no brothers is another joy;"
Su Yi was not only testing Liu Lan's calligraphy skills, but also testing whether she had real talent and knowledge.
"Can I just use this brush?" Liu Lan asked, pointing at the wet brush.
"Of course," In fact, this precious wooden wolf tip pen is Su Yi's favorite pen, and he never allows anyone else to touch it.
Liu Lan picked up her pen, dipped it in ink, and without thinking or recalling, she wrote directly:
"Looking up, you can be worthy of heaven, and looking down, you can be worthy of people. These are the two joys.
"To educate the best talents in the world is the third joy."
These words seemed to have been engraved in her mind, and she still did not pause for a moment, and finished them in one go.
The ancient and profound text seemed to travel through time and space, coming alive two thousand years later and reappearing before Su Yi's eyes. The octogenarian was actually moved and grateful. As the last sentence of this "Mencius" said, as a teacher, he certainly hoped to meet more talented people in the world during his lifetime.
And this little girl is a real talent!
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