Chapter 28: Farewell

  Liu Yitiao glanced at the four onlookers, smiled confidently, picked up his brush and splashed ink onto the large red paper to write a couplet.

  Three feet of stage, three inches of tongue, three inches of brush, three thousand peach blossoms.

  The couplet is: Ten years of trees, ten years of wind, ten years of rain, a hundred thousand beams.

  The handwriting is bold and powerful, with a depth of three points on the paper. The brushwork that was painstakingly practiced in a grid notebook when I was young has finally come in handy today.

  Put down the pen and looked at Li Ruxi, Liu Yitia asked: "Li Gongzi, how do you think this couplet is? Is there anything wrong with it?"

  Li Ruxi seemed to have heard Liu Yitiao's question, and after a long time, he moved his gaze away from the rice paper, looking at Liu Yitiao and saying: "Brother Liu is a great talent, I admire you! With just a few strokes, you can write out all of our teacher's hard work and merits, it's absolutely amazing." After finishing speaking, he pointed to the characters on the rice paper and said: "However, compared to this couplet, I am even more in awe of Brother Liu's calligraphy. Looking at Brother Liu's characters, there is the foundation of regular script, the elegance of the Ouyang style, the flair of Wang Xizhi, but it is not entirely the same as theirs. The character shape is square and correct, with clear angles and edges, neat and even, clear and bright to read, yet without losing its charm. It seems to be a new type of font, I don't know which great calligrapher Brother Liu learned from? If there's an opportunity, I will definitely go to pay my respects."

  "Huh..." Liu Yitiao was stunned, looking at the font on the paper, and suddenly realized that the font he wrote was Songti. But now it's the Tang Dynasty, and the Song Dynasty seems to be still far away.

  Seeing the four of them staring at him with eager eyes, Liu Yitiao thought of Qin Hui, the original creator of Song typeface, and began his pirated career without any psychological burden. "Brother Li is overpraising me, this font was just something I created in my spare time, it's not worthy of Brother Li's praise."

  "Ah?!" The four of them were shocked, looking at the person in front of them who was wearing a coarse shirt and didn't look impressive, yet claimed to be a farmer. It was hard to believe that he had such astonishing skills in calligraphy. Creating new fonts, he was comparable to the three great masters of contemporary calligraphy.

  "I didn't expect Brother Liu to not only have exceptional literary talent, but also such astonishing skill in calligraphy. I was truly rude just now." Li Rusi bowed his head and gave a salute to Liu Yitiao. Liu Yitiao could see that this bow from Li Rusi was not the same as the previous polite gesture, but rather came from the heart.

  "Just now, I was wrong, please don't blame me, sir. The little boy is here to apologize to you." Li Ru's book boy also came out and bowed to Liu Yitiao to apologize. His facial expression was very sincere.

  Huang Zichu and his partner Xiao Wu also followed to pay respects to Liu Yitiao. It made Liu Yitiao dizzy, didn't they just create a new font? How did they suddenly become so respectful to him?

  Liu Yitiao was very unaccustomed to this, and he repeatedly waved his hand, saying: "Everyone doesn't have to be like this, Liu is just a farmer, can't bear everyone's courtesy." He turned around and looked at Li Rusi, saying: "Since Brother Li appreciates Liu's calligraphy, I'll write a couplet for you. How about writing the one that Brother Li mentioned earlier?"

  "It's what I've always wanted, I just didn't dare ask!" Li Ru was overjoyed and bowed his head in gratitude.

  "Hmm, Mr. Liu, would you be willing to write a couplet for our humble shop as well?" Huang Zichu couldn't help but speak up from the side. Afraid that Liu Yitiao might not agree, he added: "I'm willing to offer ten taels of silver as a token of appreciation."

  As soon as the words came out, Huang Zichu regretted it, not for the ten taels of silver, but because he was afraid that this would make Liu Yitiao lose face. Who would dare to ask for a price in front of the sect master? Isn't this slapping the sect master in the face?

  Li Ruxi also looked at him with an unpleasant expression, her eyes filled with disdain, as if she had smelled a foul smell of copper on Huang Zichu's body.

  "Oh? Boss Huang actually thinks so highly of Liu? Then I'll have to make Boss Huang spend some money. I wonder what Boss Huang wants to write?" Liu Yi naturally accepted this order. Ten taels of silver, it's worth more than treating five heads of cattle.

  "Huh?..."

  He actually agreed?! Huang Zichu's face was filled with surprise and delight, while Li Ruxi and his book boy were both shocked.

  How could he agree? How could he sell himself for a few pieces of silver? Looking at the coarse linen clothes on Liu Yitiao's body and the basket full of garlic heads, Li Rusi quickly found a very reasonable reason for Liu Yitiao. Maybe it was because his family was too poor, after all, Zongshi was also human, and he had to eat grains to pass the days.

  He was a poor master. Almost everyone present thought so, but they didn't know that Liu Yitiao not only wasn't poor, but also found a way to get rich.

  "You just help me write down what you said earlier and that's it." Huang Zichu hastily put forward his own requirements, fearing that Liu Yitiao would regret again.

  "En, can, wait for me to finish writing Li brother's couplet first." Liu Yitia nodded in response. He handed the finished couplet to Xiao Wu to paste and frame, then began writing one for Li Rusi.

  The pagoda's top gourd, sharp pinched fist pounding the white sun;

  The city head is full of arrows, and the inverted teeth bite into the blue sky.

  Twenty-two characters, with a perfect balance and neatness, written in Song font by Liu Yitiao, looks even more majestic.

  Li Ru Si nodded in agreement with the young servant, compared to the current Kai font, Liu Yitiao's created font seems more suitable for written expression.

  Liu Yitiao blew dry the ink marks on the couplet and handed it over to Li Rusi, saying: "Brother Li, what do you think? Does it still meet your requirements?"

  "Good! Thank you, Brother Liu, for bestowing this treasure of ink. I am deeply grateful." Li Ru said, "Why not have me also contribute ten taels of silver like Old Man Huang?"

  "Hey, Brother Li, no need to be like that." Liu Yitiao waved his hand to stop him: "For you, it's a favor, but for Old Man Huang, it's business. These two things can't be mixed up. I, Liu Yitiao, may be poor, but I'm not greedy for money. Brother Li, please don't look down on me like that."

  Indeed, he is a poor man.

  "This is indeed a oversight on my part, please don't blame me, Brother Liu." Li Ru seemed to bow his head in apology, then took out a jade pendant from his waist and handed it to Liu Yitiao: "Today, I met with Brother Liu as if we were old friends, but unfortunately time is limited, and I'm afraid I won't be able to have a long conversation with Brother Liu again. This jade pendant was given to me by my father in the past, now I'd like to give it to you as a memento. Please don't decline."

  As a farewell gift, it was quite common to give each other something during school holidays or graduation. So Liu Yitiao didn't think twice and accepted the jade pendant. He didn't notice the surprised expression on Shu Tong's face when Li Rusi was about to give away the jade pendant.

  "Brother Li, are you leaving already?" Liu Yitiao suddenly felt a little reluctant. Although this pale-faced scholar looked unimpressive, their conversation had been quite pleasant, and he didn't really want him to leave so soon.

  "If you're not in a hurry, why don't we go back to my place and have a few drinks before leaving?" Liu Yitiao said with a hint of persuasion.

  Li Ru said: "Thank you, Brother Liu, for your kind intentions. However, I'm in a hurry to rush on my journey and cannot stay to repay your kindness. If fate permits, we'll meet again next time. I bid you farewell now."

  Liu Yi made a bow with his hands and said: "So be it, Brother Li. Take care on your journey. I'll stay here and wish you a smooth journey."

  Watching Li Rusi and his servant leave the store, Liu Yitiao suddenly remembered that he hadn't asked Li Rusi where he was from. He quickly chased out of the door, but outside, there was no sign of them. Thinking that Huang Zichu might know them, he went to ask him.

  Huang Zichu replied, "Those two young men look unfamiliar, it's their first time coming to our humble shop. However, judging from their clothing and accent, they shouldn't be locals, but rather seem to have come from the direction of Chang'an, the capital city. Mr. Liu will probably find it a bit difficult to track them down later."