Chapter 279: Exposing the Dark Side
Wu Qu looked at Su Xuezhen's face and felt that he was hypocritical and pretentious. He had been enduring the whole interview process, but now he had reached his limit and exploded.
"I have always believed that the fairness of national calligraphy competitions is beyond doubt. I have also always believed that the calligraphers of the National Calligraphy Association are highly respected and admired. But today I realized that those were all my naive and childish thoughts. I did not expect that the exhibition that we calligraphers regard as a grand ceremony would also have shady dealings!"
As soon as the shady dealings were mentioned, the exhibitors from Groups 9 and 10 were in an uproar. The sub-hall, which had been quiet, solemn and orderly, suddenly became noisy.
They were discussing Wu Qu's words, and some people had already felt that something was wrong because the last question given on the spot was too difficult.
"That's nonsense," Wang Qinghai shouted angrily. "Everyone has seen our review process. It is a result of the combined opinions of the five judges. How could there be any conspiracy?!"
Wu Qu asked back, "Do you dare to use this question to test Group 10?"
Wang Qinghai was stumped by the question.
Wu Qu continued, "The 10th group is the seal script group. They must be quite knowledgeable about the small seal script of the Han Dynasty. The Yunyang Ding should be a piece of cake for them."
The exhibitors of Group 10 were all ashamed. They wanted to say, don’t think too highly of them, they really can’t recite the “Yunyang Ding”!
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"This topic is clearly tailor-made for people with connections!"
Wu Qu really gave it his all and seemed to be fearless.
The question was set by Wang Qinghai and was given to him by Su Xuezhen two days ago.
The five judges take turns to set questions for the on-site writing. The normal order is that the seal script judge is responsible for the running script group, the running script judge is responsible for the clerical script group, the clerical script judge is responsible for the regular script, the regular script judge is responsible for the cursive script, and the cursive script judge is responsible for the seal script.
This was something that the five people from Suxue Town had discussed in advance, and it is also the customary practice for each session.
Su Xuezhen knew his son's level very well, otherwise he would not have written "Po Yao Fu" for him.
With his professional level, it was easy for him to pass the initial and re-evaluation. His plan was simple, which was to use difficult questions to stump other people in the face-to-face evaluation, so as to achieve the goal of allowing Su Maolin to advance.
Su Maolin is 26 years old this year. After graduating from a third-rate university, he has been living off his parents at home and doing nothing. Last year, Xizhen Academy opened, and his father arranged for him to teach calligraphy in the academy. The students all know that he is the son of calligrapher Su Xuezhen, and they respectfully call him "Teacher Su."
These kids were all beginners in calligraphy. They couldn’t tell that Su Maolin was a loser. They thought he was really good and admired him very much.
In order to improve Su Maolin's teaching quality, Su Xuezhen asked him to use his own works to openly participate in this calligraphy exhibition. As long as he successfully passed the face-to-face evaluation, the Calligraphy Association would give each author a comprehensive ranking, and even the last one would receive a professional certification certificate.
With this certificate, Su Maolin is only short of experience and qualifications to become a professional calligrapher.
Back then, Su Xuezhen got this certificate, and his subsequent life was smooth sailing. Unfortunately, Su Maolin did not inherit his talent for calligraphy, and under the doting of him and his wife, Su Maolin was idle all day long and had no ambition. But he only had one son, Su Maolin, and no matter how useless Su Maolin was, he had to pave a good way for his child.
The authors were randomly grouped by computer, and Su Xuezhen had no say in the matter. He was not sure whether his son would be assigned to the "death group" or the "easy win group". To ensure everything was foolproof, he found the most difficult topic. He believed that the vast majority of exhibitors would not know "Yunyang Ding", but he did not rule out the possibility of exceptional cases of those who were particularly outstanding. Anyway, there were two places, and it was enough for his son to take one.
Therefore, he was particularly surprised that Liu Lan could write this article. Su Yi's last disciple, who was accepted at the age of over 80, should not be underestimated.
Su Xuezhen said to Wu Qu who was not giving up, "Didn't two people in Group 8 write the Yunyang Ding? You can't write it yourself, so you blame the topic for being difficult, and you also slander us for having a shady dealings. You can't say these things carelessly. You must be responsible if you say them."
Wu Qu sneered, "I will take full responsibility for what I said. I dare to say now that Su Maolin and Liu Lan are both relatives of you. They are the top two you have chosen in advance. I and the remaining seven people are here to serve as foils and waste your time!"
Liu Lan was suddenly confused when she was called out.
How did she become a relative?
Wu Qu looked at her with disgust, just like the way she looked at Zhu Xiyang two months ago. Liu Lan felt wronged and absurd.
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