Stop Bothering Me, Emperor

Chapter 46 - Calligraphy

Passing New Years in his hometown was very peaceful. Every day, Song Xiao spent the morning at his paternal grandparents’ home and went to his grandfather in the afternoon.

Old Qu was a well-known writer in this small town. All the books he wrote were related to history, and there were two large sections in his house displaying his historical material. Song Xiao, exhilarated, searched through the bookcase. There was a small cabinet filled with books his grandfather had published.

‘Emperor Wu’s Time Of Prosperity’, ‘The Ten Countries In Chaos’, ‘Golden Age of Jinghong’- This trilogy of the world was very famous. The first two had already been filmed into a tv show, and because Old Qu was unwilling to alter the plot in the latter book, it had always been unable to be filmed.

Not meeting all year round, the grandfather and grandson pair didn’t know how to interact. Old Qu had an obstinate temperament, and Song Xiao wasn’t someone who would take the initiative to speak either. Consequently, every afternoon became Old Song writing and drawing at the side, while Song Xiao silently read books.

“Qu , Happy New Year ah.” The president of the local culture society brought a few apprentices to visit Old Qu. This Society president, surnamed Jiang, was a calligrapher and painter. At the time, when they were electing a president, everyone honestly wished that Old Qu would become the president; after all, his status was higher, but he refused, so it fell on Master Jiang.

“Happy New Year.” Grandpa didn’t even raise his head and continued to write.

President Jiang felt somewhat humiliated, gritting his teeth as he moved closer to see what he was writing. With a glance, it was obviously the four large characters, ‘Golden Age of Jinghong’. He couldn’t help curling his lips.

“I say, Old Qu, didn’t I tell you to alter it, then just alter it. Delete those places with homosexuality, and just film the golden age of Jinghong, that would be perfect,” President Jiang said as he passed over the New Year’s gift in his hands.

“It’s exactly like this in history, what delete are you saying?! Having my work turn into purely singing praises, I would rather sell my calligraphy on the streets to live.” Old Qu puffed his beard, shooting a glance at the group of young people behind President Jiang.

“You ah, you’re just too stubborn,” President Jiang said as he pulled over the three youths behind him. “I didn’t introduce to you, these are some apprentices I just accepted. Their comprehension is very high.”

The three youths were in their twenties. It was said that they had already studied painting and calligraphy for many years, and had seek him out to formally become an apprentice.

“Come on, show your skills to Teacher Qu.” President Jiang was very happy. He was always fond of showing off all sorts of apprentices in front of Old Qu. Because Old Qu was too fussy, he still hadn’t taken in a decent disciple to this day.

One of them, a young man with a neat appearance walked out, then took out the scroll of characters he wrote himself and pulled it open. “These are the characters this younger generation wrote, may Qu lao please assess it.”

It was a pair of large characters, with only the two words ‘道’ and ‘忍’ written on it. It was composed with the Wocao style, with a rough overall style.

Old Qu took a look then narrowed his eyes. He had seen this scroll before. Previously, someone had mailed it to him, wanting to depend on this to be formally accepted as a disciple. But he was mainly an author, and calligraphy wasn’t his specialty, and he also didn’t know this Wocao style, so he directly returned it.

The youth was very persistent, insisting that Qu lao had to say a word or two. He regarded himself as having studied for three years and practiced the Wocao style to the point of perfection. Why was this old man dissatisfied with him?

Old Cao frowned. He felt that this character was written badly, but Wocao was an extremely prejudiced sect. If he didn’t really understand, it was better if he didn’t say too much. Just as he was silent, he suddenly heard the voice of Song Xiao, who was sitting at one side and reading his book.

“These two words have no character.” Song Xiao lifted his head for a look and spoke casually.

“What did you say?” The youth turned his head. Upon seeing that it was a small child, he immediately became unhappy. “The Wocao style is just this way, showing softness in its roughness. If you don’t understand, don’t talk nonsense.”

Song Xiao put down the book in his hands and walked over. He carefully looked at the two characters then walked to the writing-table. In passing, he picked up a slender writing brush, dipped it in Chinese ink, then wrote freestyle in a free and easy manner on the spread-out writing paper. Very soon, a much more refined ‘道’ character appeared vividly on the paper.

The Wocao style was actually written by a general during the founding period of Great Yu. This general was unwilling to give in to his father pressuring him to practice the Gongcao style, disliking it for being too soft, so he freely came out with this Wocao style.

“The essence of Wocao lies in the character ‘争’. There cannot be the slightest bit of softness. In this character of yours, it lacks the vigorous strength of General Cao and a man fighting against the skies and earth, of how he would rather break than bend.” Song Xiao tapped on the perfectly square shape.

The young man promptly blushed, looking at the large character written by Song Xiao in shock. At the side, Grandpa Qu was even more startled. When did his grandson learn calligraphy?

“This is…” President Jiang looked at Song Xiao up and down in astonishment. It was hard to believe that such a young child could write such a character.

“This is my grandson,” Grandpa said and proudly stuck his chest out, then impatiently waved his hand. “If there’s nothing else, then you all hurry up and leave ba, I won’t keep you for a meal.”

President Jiang quirked the corner of his mouth and took away the group of apprentices who came in with their heads held high and left with their tail between their legs.

Only then did grandpa turn his head to look at Song Xiao. “Xiaoxiao, this character of yours…”

Song Xiao’s heart leaped. It was only now that he recalled that this body originally hadn’t learned calligraphy. Modern people usually didn’t understand this, for a young child to suddenly write out a good character, how was he going to explain?

Before he could think of how to respond, he saw Old Qu pick up the scroll in delight. “Such a good character was actually written by my grandson, hahaha- That won’t do, this has to be hung up. If this character was seen by those old fellows in the calligraphy association, they’ll definitely have you as the president, haha!”

As he spoke, grandpa went out while holding the calligraphy, leaving behind the stunned silly Song Xiao standing in place.

Song Xiao’s level of mastery in calligraphy couldn’t be considered top-notch during Great Yu, but in the modern era, he was considered the level of a master. According to his grandpa, if he doesn’t study well in the future, he could still provide for himself by selling his calligraphy.

Selling calligraphy and paintings was the work of a scholar in dire straits. Song Xiao still insisted on taking the imperial examination, and thus didn’t agree to the matter of his grandfather having him join the calligraphy association.

In the blink of an eye, it was the seventh. Waving goodbye to his grandparents, Song Xiao returned to A city once again. When he exited the airport, among the people waiting at the airport, he could immediately spot the person who stood out from the masses in a glance.

Yu Tang just had a single hand stuck into his trouser pocket as he stood among the crowd. It wasn’t obvious when there weren’t many people, but when there were a lot of people, it could be seen that the people around him consciously stayed one step away from him, thus isolating him.

“Yu Tang!” Song Xiao was pulling his luggage. When he saw His Majesty the emperor, he couldn’t help calling out to him. It was after he called out that he realized that it was a little impolite, and he peeked at his father.

Song Zicheng had also seen Yu Tang, and was rather surprised. “He came to welcome you?”

As a classmate with a close relationship, there was nothing wrong with him coming to welcome Song Xiao when there were no parents accompanying him. But he was with Song Xiao, yet this child still came to the airport, then it was a little strange. The eldest young master of the Yu family was this idle?

Yu Tang leisurely walked over and greeted Song Zicheng. “I came to welcome someone.”

Song Zicheng then understood. It was to welcome someone else, and he just happened to encounter them. The smile on his face promptly became much more brilliant.

Si Dashu’s car wasn’t far away. Yu Tang followed after them, stating that the plane he was welcoming hadn’t landed yet. Song Zicheng walked in front, and the two of them were at the back, secretly hand in hand.

Having not seen each other for over ten days, the two of them were a little excited. Yu Tang reached out to take the backpack Song Xiao was carrying, and took the opportunity to kiss Song Xiao on the lips.

Song Xiao promptly turned red. He looked around, but everyone appeared hurried and weren’t paying attention to him. Song Zicheng was still walking in front, so he couldn’t help returning a kiss.

After sending Song Xiao to the car, Yu Tang stood outside and waved with a smile. When Si Dashu’s car had driven far away, he expressionlessly returned to his own car. “Return home.”

“Young master, didn’t you come to welcome someone?” the driver asked, baffled. Driving through the city to come to the airport, he stood there for a while then returned empty-handed. What was this?

Yu Tang slowly licked his lips. “Came to eat a dessert.”

Little Theater

‘How The Wocao Style Came To Be’

Military counselor: General, what style are you writing

General: Fuck ah! I’m a general, but I still have to be forced to practice calligraphy by my dad. To be able to write this is already good enough!

Military counselor: So it turns out to be Wocao style

Later generations: It deserves to be called Wocao style, it’s a bit similar to Gongcao style ne!

General: …