Professor Su’s first question made Liu Man speechless.

Liu Man pondered for a moment and said,

“My teacher is an ordinary woman. I only know her last name, Xu, and not her full name. I call her Madam Xu.”

Her teacher was a woman!

Su Yi was surprised inside and asked hastily: “Where is Madam Xu right now? In the capital?”

Liu Man shook her head, “She is from Chang An and passed away years ago.”

The old man sighed, showing regret but also helplessness, “Even heaven is jealous of geniuses… She was such a gifted calligraphist, unknown both before and after passing. Luckily, we still have you, her student, to pass on her teachings and skills.”

Certainly, in Liu Man’s heart, Mrs. Xu’s skills were the finest. Once, when she was talking to Beauty Yu, Beauty Yu told her that when Mrs. Xu was young, she was known as the world’s most talented lady. That was until she entered the palace.

“Is there any of her work still present?” Su Yi asked with a glimpse of hope.

Liu Man shook her head, “Everything was burnt.”

“Ah,” the old man sighed heavily again, “It’s all right. I’ll ask you another question. You’ve learned print seal before, right?”

Su Yi was a pundit, seeing what Yu Zhan couldn’t understand at first.

“Yes, I started my practices with the skill of print seal.”

“That’s why some of the fonts look much different from modern letters. But nowadays, the print seal characters aren’t written like that, either.”

Su Yi stood up, took a folder from the bookshelf, and opened it.

He told his doctoral student to enlarge the letters Liu Man wrote one by one using a magnifying glass to A4 size and print so they could examine them.

The Han dynasty has lasted for more than 2000 years, and at that time, paper making wasn’t fully developed. People wrote and carved mostly on rocks and pamphlets. Even though some writings remained, many fonts got changed by scholars.

Su Yi and his student studied for a long time and even went to the sections for archaeological studies to find similar information. They noticed that the way the printed letters were written was similar to some bronze letters in early Western Han Dynasty utensils.

“Did you start first from studying letters on bronze Western Han utensils?” Su Yi asked his third question.

Liu Man could only admit it, “yes.” Of course, this was not the truth, but she had no other way to explain how she learned to write these ancient letters.

“Your teacher lived in the ancient capital, which means you did have the opportunities to encounter these utensils… I’ve lived for almost a century, and I’ve never encountered a situation like this.” Su Yi was still perplexed.

What Liu Man studied was far too unexplored. To learn to read and write it was already hard, but to utilize it and make it calligraphy would need an enormous amount of cognition.

That was why Su Yi respected Mrs. Xu so much. He thought Mrs. Xu started a new section of calligraphy. Since he had no way of identifying this genre, he gave Liu Man’s font a complicated name — Western Han dynasty bronze utensils print seal font.

“Can you write a few letters right now for me?” Su Yi asked Liu Man.

“Of course.”

There was a wooden desk used only for calligraphy in front of Su Yi’s work desk. There was everything needed from ink to pen. Before Liu Man came, Su Yi was practicing here, and his letters were still faintly wet.

Su Yi said, “you may finish what I’ve started to write.”

Liu Man looked at Su Yi’s letters. He was working on a quote from “Mencius.”

“A gentleman has three joys, and it doesn’t include being the emperor. The first joy: living of both parents, the safeness of all brothers.”

Not only was Su Yi testing Liu Man’s calligraphy skills, but he was also testing whether she had real knowledge.

“Can I use this brush?” Liu Man asked, pointing to the brush that was still wet.

“Of course,” Actually, this delicate wooden brush was Su Yi’s favorite. He never allowed anyone to touch it.

Liu Man picked up the brush, dipped it in ink, didn’t even try hard to recall anything, and wrote:

“The second joy: look up and not be ashamed of heaven, look down, and not be guilty of anyone.”

“The third joy: To meet all elite scholars and learn from them.”

These sentences had been carved into her mind. She didn’t pause for one second.

The ancient font seemed to have traveled throughout time and revive again after two thousand years, appearing in front of Su Yi. This old man even seemed to feel appreciation and sway of emotion. Like what “Mencius” said, he hoped to meet more scholars as a teacher before he died.

And this young lady is a real genius!

If he didn’t see it for himself, Su Yi would never have imagined that a child so knowledgeable and out of the ordinary would exist in a time like this.

Su Yi asked another question right after Liu Man put down the brush: “Do you want to be my apprentice?”

She stared at him for a second.

“But I’m not a student at Capital University.”

“Whether I decide to take a closure apprentice doesn’t relate to the school.”

TL’s Note: In Chinese, a closure apprentice (Guan Men Di Zi) is when a mentor decides to accept one last apprentice. He/she will not accept another apprentice for the rest of his/her life, so a closure apprentice is usually taken if the mentor is about to die or decides to resign.

Su Yi wanted to keep this knowledgeable girl, so he continued to say: “You probably only know how to write in seal characters. I can teach you the other ones such as clerical and regular scripts. I can even say that I’m one of the best! You can count with one hand on those who can write these two fonts better than me.”

Liu Man was moved. She did want to learn the other fonts. What she was good at was more about abstract letters and was hard to read, therefore it was not entirely welcomed in modern society. She should learn some of the more simplified and modern fonts.

As Su Yi watched her with hope and anticipation as Liu Man slowly nodded and said:

“Professor Su, I am willing to become your apprentice.”

Su Yi laughed, “Good, good, good,” he commented three times and laughed out loud as if he was 10 years younger.

“You are, I fear, the last apprentice I will take for the rest of my life. Let’s skip over the complicated customs for becoming an apprentice and start our cooperation on this sheet of paper,” Su Yi said, referring to the “Mencius” Liu Man just completed.

Su Yi wrote at the end of the passage:

“Mentor Su Yi.”

Liu Man understood what he meant immediately, took the pen, and wrote:

“Apprentice Liu Man.”

The two completed this “Mencius” together, a piece that later sold for billions afterward and signed their names.

Su Yi and Liu Man agreed that the lessons would occur every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 12 a.m., as usual, at this place.

Liu Man stepped out of the office, and Jiang Chengfeng, waiting for her outside, asked curiously:

“What did Professor Su talk to you about? You seem quite happy.”

Jiang Chengfeng must have guessed that the old professor complimented Liu Man’s calligraphy, told her she was talented or said something similar.

However, Liu Man said: “Professor Su took me as his closure apprentice.”

Jiang Cheng Feng gawped, his mouth forming into an “O” shape.

Liu Man was here only to meet briefly with Professor Su. How did she become his closure apprentice?

Credits: Valerie & Sydney