The ten contestants that were in the eighth group silently stood up and took the initiative to walk towards the wooden table with their respective name cards.

When Liu Man got up, Zhou Budai said to her in a small voice, “You can do this!”

The calligraphy industry had always put men before women; it can be told just from looking at the ratio of men to women among calligraphists. The number of women was so few.

Therefore, it wasn’t strange when there was only one woman in these ten contestants.

All the five judges gave her an extra glance, and Su Xuezhen’s look was meaningful.

The list they each held contained a list of all the contestants, and behind each name was a box where there would be additional notes. The additional notes were about their mentors and their accomplishments so that the judges could have a preliminary understanding of each contestant. Su Xuezhen saw that, behind Liu man’s name was the name, “Su Yi”.

He scanned the room, and at the back of the left audience seats, he discovered Su Yi and Ou Yangcen. Both of them had just sat down.

It had been thirty years since he had seen his former mentor. In these thirty years, although there was no contact at all between the two, Su Xuezhen still knew a lot about what happened to Su Yi. Su Yi’s ranking in the calligraphy industry was too high; he was an authority. Just his one word or one action could affect the entire trend of clerical scripts and official scripts in the country.

Noticing Su Xuezhen’s stare, Su Yi locked eyes with him. His old yet still glowing eyes, at this moment, showed coldness and contempt. He did not watch the first two groups’ face-to-face evaluation just now, for he did not want to spend a single extra second with Su Xuezhen in the same space. Now that it was Liu Man’s turn, he had to come and supervise in person.

The Su Xuezhen in his impression was still a boy just over twenty-years-old, so arrogant just because of his talents. The Su Xuezhen now had become much better at surviving in this society, carrying an aura that belonged to a character of great importance.

He stared directly at Su Yi, not a single hint of regret or guilt to be seen in his eyes. He even looked proud.

Su Xuezhen, of course, was very proud. He was only a bit over fifty years-old, but he had already gained lots of money and a good reputation. He was a famous calligraphist, an admired calligraphy academy principal, and a successful businessman. He was a winner in life!

He had already had enough power and experience to face Su Yi. His eyes were, as if, telling Su Yi: “My choice back a few years ago was correct. Fang Huaiyuan couldn’t beat me at all. Fang Huaiyuan was a principal of a university and a principal of an academy, but who could still remember that Fang Huaiyuan was also one of Su Yi’s apprentices?”

If this happened before, Su Yi was going to rage and walk away, so he wouldn’t have to see Su Xuezhen.

But now, he has Liu Man!

Su Yi gazed at the girl standing with her back to him, as if he had found someone to rely on. The somberness in his mind seemed to have found a solution.

After Su Xuezhen, he became extra discreet when taking in apprentices. No matter how talented the youngsters he later met were, he would still consider it for quite a bit before he decided whether he should take them in or not.

Because of that, he had only taken in three apprentices within the twenty years after he disowned Su Xuezhen. Unfortunately, these three people, similar to Fang Huaiyuan, all developed a good path in their careers, but no one could persist on this path of studying calligraphy until they became a “calligraphist”.

Later on, he gave up, too. He thought that he would never meet an appropriate person in the rest of his life to take on his knowledge. He was getting old, too, and he cared no more about this world. He began to put all his attention into educating students in the university.

And like this, ten years had passed. He saw Liu Man’s piece, which she wrote to earn money, on the internet.

His heart, which had been dead for so long, began to start beating again. He didn’t expect to see hope when he was just about to enter his grave. This really must be God’s intention.

He hurriedly made Liu Man participate in this calligraphy exhibit because he didn’t know whether he could live past the next four years, or else, he would definitely teach her everything he knew for as long as five to ten years, making sure that she was a meeting-expectations heir, before letting her participate in the exhibit.

Liu Man didn’t know about what was happening between her mentor and his former apprentice. She wasn’t even looking at any of the judges. The first thing she did when she walked to her table was reorganize the calligraphy brush, ink, paper, and inkstone according to her habits. Her actions were light and silent. After she did all of this, she stood back and stopped moving.

Her standing posture was trained by Xiao Zhao since she was just a toddler. Xiao Zhao, who was born as a dancer, thought postures and appearances were the priorities. She didn’t teach Liu Man how to dance, but she taught Liu Man all the basics of dancing. This was why Liu Man could stand as straight as a pine tree and take such soft steps.

With her ancient-styled dress, she looked like an ancient noble, her silhouette tall and pretty.

Every one of Liu Man’s competitors couldn’t resist but turned their heads to look at her. The one that took the most glances was a young man in the row behind her. Her glance was so prominent that Liu Man couldn’t help but look back. She saw the name card hung up on his desk: Su Maolin.

So he was the author of that clerical script, “Po Yao Fu”, Su Xuezhen’s son.

Su Maolin looked like he was just twenty years-old. He looked very tall, and his clothes were all from famous brands, making him look very energetic and slightly handsome.

However, Liu Man thought Su Maolin didn’t have his father’s temperament. He didn’t even seem as scholarly as Zhou Budai and didn’t have the style of a calligraphist. At first glance, he was just a normal son of a rich father.

Liu Man felt confused. Was he really the author of “Po Fu Yao”?

The round started as each of them had a different thought in mind.

First up was the part where the commenting on the works happened. The five judges exchanged their opinions, and they started commenting on the first contestant, who was closest to the judges’ seats.

Each judge would comment on two pieces, and their comments would only contain one to two sentences. They were mostly full of sarcasm and criticism; none of them was a compliment.

Liu Man was positioned in the middle, and it was soon her turn. The judge who commented on her work was one with a goatee. Liu Man knew he was named Wang Qinghai. He was a famous calligraphist and also a member of the calligraphy association. He was good at the official script.

Wang Qinghai said as he looked at her, “You’re overly copying someone else’s style. It almost cannot be classified as art!”

Zhou Budai had already said something similar, so Liu Man could comfortably accept the criticism. She said gracefully, “Thank you, judge, for your feedback.”

Wang Qinghai felt a bit surprised, and he exchanged glances with Su Xuezhen.

Su Xuezhen gave a slight nod that was almost unnoticeable.

Wang Qinghai continued to comment on the next contestant’s work. The next one in line was Su Maolin. Su Maolin, who was about to listen to his feedback, did not seem to be in a low posture like the others. He seemed as if he didn’t really care, and he even carried a smile.

Su Maolin said, “I can see that your brush carried strength when you wrote this, and your mind was calm.”

This was the only good feedback in all ten of the comments.

To be honest, Su Maolin’s work was definitely the best in all of theirs, but it was impossible for him to not have a single flaw. The commenters could even criticize Wang Xizhi’s work.

TL’s Note: Wang Xizhi = a famous calligraphist in ancient China.

Everyone knew this very clearly. Wang Qinghai said this because Su Maolin was Su Xuezhen’s son! However, he was very skillful as proved by his work, and even if the others were feeling unsatisfied, they had no complaints.

They knew they could not be better than him!

Next came the questioning part, where many had cried before. There is no sequence in this part. Each judge could ask whoever they wanted to. Everyone felt anxious as they waited to be asked.

Translated by: Syclney

Edited by: Michael