Fatal to Pretend With a Cheat | Chapter 39 | The Other Master | Novela.app

Ever since Jun Luoshu returned to Moling, I found myself needing to correspond with him frequently. I was quite wealthy now, so my Hui ink, Duan inkstones, Hu brushes, and Xuan paper were all of the highest quality. However, in all honesty, my handwriting was exceptionally, hideously ugly. Ye Tan nimbly ground the ink for me, then stood behind me to watch me write. With a flourish of my brush, I produced a sheet of "dragons and snakes" that looked more like an incomprehensible, ghostly scribble. He watched for a moment before saying, "It is beautiful." I was genuinely shocked. "Are you blind, or are you just illiterate?" Ye Tan replied, "I am illiterate." "...My apologies." Then I realized something was off. "Wait, that’s not right. I saw you reading a book before." "Reporting to Master," Ye Tan said, "those were picture books." "..." I pulled him down to sit and wrote a crooked "Ye Tan" on the paper. "This is your name. Do you have it memorized?" Ye Tan gripped the brush tightly, his strength nearly piercing through the paper as he followed my lead, writing an even more crooked "Ye Tan." I laughed so hard my feet nearly slipped out from under me. I patted his head and went off to sleep. Three days later, Ye Tan suddenly announced that he had learned how to write his name. I went to take a look, feeling quite pleased, only to find that he had produced a "Ye Tan" that was exactly as disastrously ugly as the one I had written that day—it was as if he had copy-pasted it. Ye Tan held his breath as he looked at me, waiting for my praise. I realized then, with profound clarity, that with my half-baked skills, I really shouldn't be leading others astray—especially not a child as earnest and good as Ye Tan. I hired a scholar to serve as a tutor to teach the both of us how to write. Seeing Ye Tan’s face as cold as frost and his aura as sharp as a blade, the tutor was quite tremulous. He asked, "Might I ask what the current level of these two gentlemen is?" Ye Tan said, "I will show you." The tutor leaned in to look, then clicked his tongue. "Hmph. Ugly." "Presumptuous!" Ye Tan’s cold blade partially cleared its scabbard, ready to silence the man. The tutor shrieked and scrambled away, clutching his head. I hurriedly held Ye Tan back. "What are you doing scaring him for?!" "My writing is exactly the same as Master's. How could it be ugly?" Ye Tan said indignantly. "This scholar slanders Master; I cannot tolerate it." *Sigh, this poor, silly boy.* It took a fair amount of talking to soothe the tutor, and I had to strictly command Ye Tan that he was never allowed to use force against the teacher. The two of them were incredibly awkward about it, but they both gave their reluctant consent. Ye Tan’s strokes were straight and sharp, as if carved by a knife. Combined with his earnest hard work, his progress was meteoric. The tutor soon began to look at him with newfound respect. I, on the other hand, made no progress whatsoever; my writing remained like a mess of crawling earthworms. The tutor looked at me with newfound respect as well—of a different sort. Ye Tan tried every way possible to comfort me. "Master’s meridians are damaged, so it is only natural that you cannot control the strength of the brush." I said, "Fair enough. That’s logical and convincing." In less than half a month, Ye Tan’s regular script was already quite beautiful. However, he made no headway with cursive or running scripts. Ye Tan remarked, "All these twists and turns are simply too difficult to memorize." I found this inexplicably strange. My dog-scratch handwriting had even more twists and turns; how on earth did you memorize *that*? Later, when writing to Jun Luoshu again, I gave up the struggle and let Ye Tan ghostwrite for me. On one occasion, Jun Luoshu wrote back in praise: "Every time I receive a letter, I find that your handwriting has become increasingly beautiful, vigorous, and powerful. I presume your health must be much improved." Ye Tan helped me reply: "It is not my handwriting; someone else is writing on my behalf." Jun Luoshu sent a reply asking: "Is this person always by your side? Might I ask who they are?" As Ye Tan laid out the paperweight, he asked me, "Master, how should I respond?" "Just write: 'It is the other master of the Sword Pavilion.'" | Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | 徽墨 | Hui ink | High-quality ink from Huizhou. | | 端砚 | Duan inkstone | Famous inkstones from Zhaoqing (formerly Duanzhou). | | 湖笔 | Hu brush | High-quality writing brushes from Huzhou. | | 宣纸 | Xuan paper | High-quality rice paper from Xuancheng, used for calligraphy. | | 笔走龙蛇 | Dragons and snakes | An idiom for flamboyant, cursive calligraphy; here used ironically. | | 鬼画符 | Ghostly scribble | Illegible scrawl, like Taoist talismans. | | 连环画 | Picture books | Traditional Chinese sequential art/comics. | | 秀才 | Scholar / Xiucai | A person who passed the entry-level imperial examination. | | 楷书 | Regular script | The most standard and readable style of Chinese calligraphy. | | 草书 | Cursive script | A highly stylized, fast, and often illegible calligraphic style. | | 行书 | Running script | A semi-cursive style of Chinese calligraphy. | | 镇纸 | Paperweight | Used in calligraphy to keep the paper flat. |