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Chapter 543: Chapter 354 How Do You Know I’m Not a Genius?_2
Back in the day, Cui Yu...
And so, the four of them made their way to the entrance of the cafeteria. Many students, after closing their umbrellas, would first shake off the water droplets before entering, resulting in the floor becoming slippery with water stains. 𝑛𝘰𝑣𝑝𝑢𝑏.𝘤𝑜𝘮
The girl walking in front suddenly slipped, landed on her butt, and fell hard, her face the epitome of embarrassment.
All around were students watching, all eyes on her.
Cui Yu burst out laughing, "That was epic!"
With his laughter, the girl, dying of shame, got up and, without buying her meal, turned and ran towards the exit of the cafeteria.
Cui Yu yelled loudly to the crowd, "Take it easy, slow down, don’t slip again."
Even after the girl had left the cafeteria, he was still smugly proud, thinking he had done a good deed.
Wu Xiaoqi had been busy watching the commotion and hadn’t paid attention to where he was stepping. There was chicken egg soup spilled on the tiles, and even with Wu Xiaoqi’s agility, a moment’s inattention had him slipping too.
At the moment of crisis, he threw the basketball he had in his hands to the side, and Dan Xiao, with incredible speed, caught the basketball.
Just as Wu Xiaoqi was about to fall, he placed his hands on the ground and, using that as a pivot, swung his body around, stylishly drawing a 360-degree arc with his legs, his movements cool and graceful.
Cui Yu couldn’t help but exclaim, "Dang, is that breakdancing?"
Wu Xiaoqi pushed himself up, his face stern as he said,
"Every day we don’t dance is a betrayal of life!"
...
In the classroom.
Xue Yuantong finally got the hard-boiled egg she wanted.
She took out the egg and gently tapped it, peeling off half the shell to reveal its snowy white interior.
"Eat up!"
Xue Yuantong took a vicious bite.
After biting, she was a bit upset, "Jiang Ning, why didn’t I bite into the yolk?"
Chen Siyu commented, "Silly, you were so fierce, you probably scared the yolk into hiding."
Bai Yuxia suggested, "You should have caught it by surprise."
...
During evening self-study, the homeroom teacher Shan Qingrong held a class meeting and praised the students for their performance in the mid-term exams.
Everyone liked the class meetings—no studies during this time. They just sat there and listened to Shan Qingrong’s ramblings.
Shan Qingrong was eloquent, and the students were quite interested in many of the things he touched on.
Finally, the top ten students in the class were called up to the podium to receive their awards.
Shan Qingrong had bought notebooks with his own money to reward the top ten.
Lu Qiqi, from the back row, turned around and said, "Our homeroom teacher is pretty generous. I heard that some classes use class funds to buy notebooks for the top ten."
Guo Kunnan added, "It’s really nice, and our classmates are great too. Last semester Xue Yuantong and Jiang Ning received scholarships and even treated our class to food—52 people in total, one portion each, so generous!"
"I’ve never seen anything like it before!"
After praising the students, Shan Qingrong glanced at his watch and said,
"For the last session, your Chinese teacher Dai Yongquan is holding a calligraphy class in the large classroom of Building 4, students who are interested might want to learn a thing or two."
The bell for the end of class rang.
"Jiang Ning, want to try out the calligraphy class?" asked Chen Siyu, her interest apparent.
Without waiting for Jiang Ning’s response, she went on, "My handwriting is pretty average, I definitely lost points for penmanship in my essay. I heard practicing brush calligraphy can make your pen writing look better too, right?"
Bai Yuxia confirmed, "It does help quite a lot, though brush calligraphy is harder to master."
Chen Siyu responded, "Anyway, there’s a teacher to instruct us. Why not check it out, come with us?"
"Sure," Bai Yuxia agreed. Her father loved practicing brush calligraphy, giving her a solid foundation.
In just a few words, Chen Siyu and Bai Yuxia made their plans.
"What about you guys?" Chen Siyu asked.
Xue Yuantong stood up from her desk, "No thanks, my calligraphy needs no further practice."
"Really?" asked Chen Siyu.
"Hmph, of course," Xue Yuantong said as she pushed her Chinese exam paper forward, pointing at the handwriting on it.
Bai Yuxia commented, "Tongtong’s handwriting is indeed beautiful."
"I studied brush calligraphy when I was little," said Xue Yuantong proudly.
"Do they offer calligraphy classes in your town?" Bai Yuxia wondered, finding it unusual since specialized calligraphy classes are quite rare.
"It’s not a town; it’s a village!" Xue Yuantong replied.
Her village was quite backward, but there was an old teaching instructor who adored history and wrote beautiful brush calligraphy. Every Chinese New Year, he would write couplets for half the village.
Not only did he love writing, but whenever there was a wedding or a funeral in the village, he was responsible for collecting money and keeping track of the guests’ names.
After he retired and found himself with nothing to do, he decided to pass on the tradition of calligraphy.
Initially, he opened a calligraphy class in the village and even thought about charging a fee, but when he realized no one was interested and villagers were whispering criticisms behind his back, he was infuriated. Did he need their measly money?
As a teacher, he couldn’t even spend all his pension. In a fit of rage, he decided not to charge and even provided brushes and ink paper for free for the village children to use.
Still, no one attended. The children would roam the village daily, too lazy to do their homework. Who in their right mind would want to learn useless calligraphy?
Finally, the old instructor couldn’t stand it anymore and played his trump card—he bought wholesale spicy sticks, soda, sheepshead fish, plum candies, and declared that attending brush calligraphy class meant getting to eat snacks.
Upon hearing this part of the story, Chen Siyu couldn’t help but ask, "So what happened after that? Did people start learning?"
Xue Yuantong nostalgically reminisced, "I wasn’t interested in the snacks; I loved practicing the writing."
Every time there was a brush calligraphy class, she and Chuchu would be the first to arrive.
Thanks to that early foundation, not a single child from their village had poor handwriting.
...
"Kaiquan, let’s head to Building 4 for the next class," Guo Kunnan invited.
Calligraphy nurtures the soul. Guo Kunnan had been feeling restless lately, his state of mind having fallen countless tiers; he needed the enlightenment from calligraphy to elevate his spirits.
The timing for this calligraphy class was perfect.
Dan Kaiquan hesitated, "I’ll think about it."
