“I was referring to whoever’s an idiot!” the youngster exclaimed fearlessly. “Qin, do you want to make a bet? If Guo Huai successfully enters the official competition, you’ll have to walk out of the hall naked. Do you dare to accept my challenge?”
“Of course! There isn’t anything I’m afraid of. I even dared to set up such a major gambling entry on the forum. Do you think I wouldn’t dare to take up a challenge this insignificant? If Guo Huai can win the third round of the qualifiers, I, Qin Yulong, will crawl out of the hall naked. If I break my promise, shall heaven strike me with lightning!” Qin Yulong said loudly. “What if you lose?”
“If I lose, I lose. I’ll treat you noodles if I lose,” the youngster said shamelessly.
“Okay! If you lose, I will be sure to make you pay for my noodles. I will make sure that you go broke!” Qin Yulong said.
“Li Gu is done,” Sun Lingling said with a smile. Two volunteers of the event then carefully delivered the paper to the judges. He wrote two lines of poem, ‘乘风破浪会有时，直挂云帆济沧海’.
‘Never lose hope in life no matter how difficult it gets.’
“It’s really impressive for a fifteen-year-old to write something like this. How commendable,” Cao Xinglong said, smiling. He said it on purpose as Li Gu got the ninth place in the second round. It was much safer for him to represent Wucheng Subhigh than to let Guo Huai do it.
After around a minute, Sun Lingling said, “Su Ye is done as well.”
‘山有木兮木有枝，心悦君兮君不知.’ When the host read out Su Ye’s writing, she immediately blushed.
‘There are trees on a mountain, while there are branches on the trees. I’m really lucky to have met you, but you seem to never notice how much I like you.’
“Oh? Girl, are you this emotional during puberty? Hahah,” Tang Xi said and laughed. At this moment, she finished writing as well.
‘只缘感君一回顾，使我思君朝与暮.’ The host announced her writing as well. The two papers were then delivered to the judges. Compared to the works of Tang Xi and Su Ye, Li Gu’s work was slightly superior.
‘Just because you looked back at me once, I fell for you so deeply.’
‘你若撒野，今生我以酒奉陪.’ You Youyou looked at these ten words she wrote and gave Sun Lingling a smile, indicating she finished.
‘No matter how you behave, I will treasure you in this one life I have.’
“Brother Kunlong, when have you gotten a girl disciple? Why didn’t you tell us? Hahah,” one of the judges said. He noticed the shadow of Zheng Kunlong in You Youyou’s writing. Not bad, this is slightly better than Li Gu’s writing, the judge thought.
Nangong Lingmo finished her writing before looking at Guo Huai. What she wrote made the crowd in the hall laugh. ‘武城四害，五毒俱全.’
‘Wucheng Vile Tetrad, men of five vices.’
The judges looked at her work and said, “Hahah, the writing of Crazy Xue’s disciple indeed expresses the style of Crazy Xue. She even looks like she’s crazy. Hahah.” Back then, Crazy Xue stayed at the home of Nangong family for quite a while and passed down his knowledge to Nangong Lingmo.
Qian Duoduo also finished writing. ‘钱多多多多，多多益善.’ When his work was put in front of the judges, they got deeply astonished. The six of the same word seemed similar, but each expressed a unique style.
‘钱: Qian. 多: Duo. The more money you have, the better.’
“Ceasewind Grandmaster, I believe you have to take a look at this yourself,” Li Xunyu said softly.
“Yu, Kunlong, let’s go there to have a look,” Ceasewind Grandmaster said.
“The six same words with six different conceptions. This kid is not bad,” Ceasewind Grandmaster said with a smile. “Kunlong, you should know whom he learned these techniques from, right?”
“If my guess is correct, it should be the Six Ancestors of Yun Mountain. Four of the six had already passed away thirteen years ago. It could be seen that the first two ‘duo’ words are best written. I guess it’s thanks to the two old men who are still alive. They are indeed worthy of the title ‘Best in Wucheng County’,” Zheng Kunlong said with a smile.
Zhao Min finished writing at this moment. ‘千羊之皮，不如一狐之腋.’
‘A thousand foolish people will never outsmart one intelligent mind.’
‘不飞则已，一飞冲天；不鸣则已，一鸣惊人.’ Qin Xuan looked at his own writing and lightly nodded. His writing got the judges surprised once again.
‘It’s only surprising when a low-profile person suddenly shows his skills.’
Sun Lingling looked at Guo Huai who was still messing with his inkstone and said, “Guo Huai, they have all finished already. Aren’t you going to write anything yet?”
“The ink isn’t ready yet. How am I going to start?” Guo Huai asked, smiling.
“Kid, stop making a fool of yourself. Don’t delay everyone’s precious time,” Cao Xinglong said loudly.
“Why not you come here to help me prepare the ink if you want me to be quick?” Guo Huai asked with a smile as he looked at Cao Xinglong.
“Sure, I will prepare ink for you today. I want to witness just what kind of words you can write,” Cao Xinglong said before proceeding to Guo Huai and scrubbing the inkstone. “The ink is ready now, you may begin.”
‘昔年有狂客，号尔谪仙人.’ Guo Huai wrote two lines of Li Bai’s poem.
‘I once knew a hero whom everyone called an immortal, who came to the human world.’ Back then, Li Bai was only an ordinary man. However, the one who wrote these two lines today was a true immortal who got banished into this world.
[TL note: Li Bai was a famous Chinese poet from the Tang Dynasty.]
Cao Xinglong took a look at Guo Huai’s writing and said, “Pff! I really thought you were going to impress me. This is so underwhelming.”
“Guo Huai, I’ll now have the volunteers to send your work to the judges,” Sun Lingling said with a smile.
“They should come here if they really want to look at my writing,” Guo Huai said before standing up. “Xi, Youyou, Weiwei, Ye, I’ll leave now. Text me on where to have lunch later. Hahah!” Guo Huai said as he walked down the stage towards the exit.
“Did he just give up on himself? Why is he leaving now? Hahah! He has given up already. He won’t be representing the school anymore. Hahah!” Qin Yulong said and laughed really loud.
“What an idiot!” the youngster beside Qin Yulong said with contempt.
“Stupid kid, I made my mind up already. Once the qualifiers end later, I want to eat at Golden Noodles! They serve noodles at ten thousand yuan per bowl. I’ll eat until you go bankrupt!” Qin Yulong said loudly.
“Moron, I made my mind up as well. I will set up a livestream on the forum to record you crawl out of the hall naked! You’ll soon be very famous in Wucheng County! Hahah!” the youngster said.
The headmaster of Sunshine High, Xu Wuyi, stared at Guo Huai’s writing for around a minute and said, “Grandmaster, you should take a look at this.”
“No way, it’s impossible. He can’t be writing at this level at his age. Li Wendou, how did he do it? This writing expresses the depth of Wang Xizhi’s work that is in Wucheng Musuem! Why do I feel like this is written by Wang Xizhi?!” the headmaster of First High Li Zhengcheng exclaimed.
“Grandmaster will have to take a look at this. I don’t understand anymore. The depth of this writing has exceeded my understanding,” Li Wendou said as he shook his head before walking down the stage. “Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby announce that I give up my position as the judge of the qualifiers. No matter what his age is, his understanding on words is far superior to mine. I’m not qualified to make any comments on that.”
Someone in the crowd recognized who Li Wendou was and said softly, “He’s the deputy director of Wucheng Musuem and the vice president of the calligraphy association!”