Chapter 334: Chapter 250: Colorful Start in Calligraphy Class Chapter 334: Chapter 250: Colorful Start in Calligraphy Class Outside the maple woods at Lanzhou Crossing, a man and a woman stood facing each other, ten steps apart, in silence.
Just monts ago, they had walked side by side, talking and laughing rrily.
But now, the atmosphere between them had beco sowhat awkward.
Zhao Rong’s smile had vanished, his face expressionless.
Zhu Weirui stood with her hands clasped behind her back, lips curled in a smile, teeth white, eyes bright, like a blooming solitary orchid.
Neither of them spoke.
After a quiet mont, Zhao Rong nodded slightly. Then he tucked his hands into his sleeves and turned to walk towards Zhu Weirui.
Zhu Weirui’s face was lit up with a smile, watching him intently. As Zhao Rong approached, the curve of her lips widened even further.
The Confucian robe-clad woman with her hair up was about to speak, her red lips parting, when Zhao Rong, without pausing nor saying a word, passed by her side.
Zhu Weirui turned her head to see the tall figure of the man walking directly toward Lanzhou Crossing.
She blinked, her voice clear, “Young Master Zhao, wait for .”
Zhao Rong stopped, thought for a mont, turned around, and gave a fist and palm salute, his eyes lowered, “Teacher Zhu, please have self-respect. You are the teacher, and I am the student. I am unworthy of the title ‘Young Master’.”
Having said that, he turned back and walked away, entering the midst of the maple woods.
Zhu Weirui lowered her hands from behind her back, patted her sleeves, then continued walking toward Lanzhou Crossing.
At this ti.
Zhao Rong made his way through the maple woods, his pace slightly hurried.
“Hahahaha——!”
The Sword Spirit in his Heart Lake was the source of all the laughter.
Zhao Rong’s expression was calm, “Have you laughed enough?”
“Hahaha…” Gui, sowhat out of breath, “Wait, wait, let laugh a bit more, hahaha…”
“Please keep your voice down, it’s quite unsettling,” Zhao Rong said.
Still laughing, Gui said, “Zhao Rong, you must be so annoyed, aren’t you? You thought Zhu Weirui was an infatuated and clueless person, but it turns out, it’s Young Master Zhao himself who is the fool, hahaha. Don’t hold it in, just let it out if you’re upset.”
“Upset?” Zhao Rong curled his lip, “About this? I’m not upset. I had a hunch. But it’s just as well; either way, I’d make a bad impression. Just don’t think of as so noble gentleman, I can’t bear the thought.”
Gui nodded, “Alright, then I’ll laugh a bit longer, hahaha…”
Zhao Rong’s lips twitched.
He raised his hand, rubbing his face.
…
At Lanzhou Crossing, dozens of desks were neatly lined up on the open ground.
The students of Shuaixing Hall were quietly waiting, with nearly all seats taken, yet a seat in the right rear remained empty, surrounded by students busy with their work, paying it no heed.
At the very front of the open space was a long vermilion table, on which were neatly arranged the “Four Treasures of the Study,” elegant curios, and stacks of clean paper; from ordinary calligraphy rice paper to the exotic scented flower-patterned paper popular among mountain scholars. Everything was available, lined up in an orderly manner on the right upper part of the table, easily within reach, with no less than a stack of each variety.
Currently, behind this ticulously prepared long vermilion table, stood no one.
Teacher Zhu had not yet arrived, and on the ground, the students were each quietly busy with their things, so practicing their calligraphy, so browsing through model scripts. Even Fan Yushu, who, in Zhao Rong’s mory, always slacked off during classes, appeared to be energetically engaged in writing.
The students of Shuaixing Hall were all gearing up with an eager air of anticipation.
In the front row, closest to the long vermilion table, Yu Huaijin glanced around and then nodded slightly.
Zhu Weirui’s calligraphy class was taken very seriously by all the students of Shuaixing Hall.
Not only was she one of the few exceedingly talented and beautiful female teachers amongst a crowd of n at the Academy, elegant and approachable, and not just because her calligraphy teaching was refreshing, but Zhu Weirui also enjoyed setting small assessnts and interactions during her calligraphy classes, adding little incentives. Calligraphy wasn’t like the other art studies; they did not have the daunting presence of Yu Huaijin to contend with, making it a new art where every student felt they had a chance.
Thus, Zhu Weirui’s calligraphy classes were very popular among the new students at Mochi Academy and did not suffer the sa controversy as those between the Academy’s teachers and the more advanced students.
However, what puzzled the students of Mochi was that Teacher Zhu, who seed amiable during classes, could be quite strict when grading howork or exam papers.
What was more frustrating was that calligraphy had no fixed standards for judging—one seemingly just relied on Teacher Zhu’s subjective opinions when grading.
For them, when they received graded papers, it wasn’t evident why a well-graded character was good or where a poorly-graded one had faulted.
The earnest, carefully written characters might not compare with a few strokes dashed off by soone else.
Despite this, these issues didn’t really deter the enthusiasm of Shuaixing Hall students for their classes. After all, looking around, it seed that everyone was at a similar level, unknowledgeable, and taking a shot in the dark with their submissions. So they simply wrote with enjoynt, hoping to perhaps win an accolade by chance.
Such occurrences were not unheard of but rather frequent.
It was like buying a lottery ticket, brimming with anticipation.
Ti ticked by, and soon bell sounds echoed from the distant mountains, signaling the approach of the class ti at the quarter of the hour of Si.
Yu Huaijin glanced at the still unoccupied long table up front and looked back towards the entrance.
And alongside her in the eager expectation was Wu Peiliang among the many male students.
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