Chapter Thirty-One: Calligraphy Competition

  Since then, I have been going to the small park for a run every weekend. Grandpa Ding also taught me some moves. Although my strength is not enough, fortunately, Tai Chi is about using softness to overcome hardness. Grandpa Ding told me that Tai Chi is all about balance and harmony in the body's yin and yang. If they are out of balance, it can lead to illness. As an internal martial art, Chen-style Tai Chi emphasizes cultivation and nourishment. Its training methods aim to unblock the meridians, balance yin and yang, cultivate internal energy, and increase internal power. The ultimate goal is to achieve a state of stillness and movement, where one complements the other. Grandpa Ding practices Chen-style Tai Chi, but he says it's just for physical exercise and health. He only learned some basic moves, but in my opinion, that's already very good. I don't expect to be as skilled as Grandpa Ding; I just want to learn enough for self-defense. Maybe one day when Taekwondo becomes popular again, I'll go learn some more self-defense techniques.

  It seems that my little thoughts have been seen through by Xuan Yuan and Grandpa Ding. And then Xuan Yuan starts to persuade me again: "Nan Nan, as long as you study hard, you will definitely be better than now, although this is just a physical exercise, but having one more skill is not bad, right?"

  Uh, but my interest is not in this, what to do. They say that interest is the best teacher for learning, I don't have a strong interest in studying Tai Chi deeply, I just want to exercise my body. I smiled and said: "No, I didn't slack off, I'm not a god, how can I learn well just by thinking about it? Xuan Yuan, we must respect the laws of nature, in order to fully exert our subjective initiative."

  "You've started using philosophy to persuade me, but do you really have a deep understanding of the consciousness of Tai Chi? Without this consciousness, how can you study with purpose and planning? It's what guides and controls your behavior."

  Not even for a moment, I used philosophy to explain the past, he immediately used philosophy to retort, this kid has really read a lot of books. I'm reborn, it's not strange that I know, how do you also know? It's too crushing.

  "Haha, Xuan Yuan, you still haven't figured it out yet. Little Ya Tou isn't good at learning martial arts. It's enough for a girl to learn some self-defense and exercise her body. Don't get any ideas about taking her with you to Old Man Chen's place to learn martial arts. You thinking of making her your junior sister is impossible. Besides, Old Man Chen doesn't accept female disciples. No matter how clever Little Ya Tou is, Old Man Chen won't give her a second glance. I think you should just give up on this idea."

  As soon as I heard this, I immediately got a bit angry. "What's with learning martial arts? What's with the term 'disciple sister'? Why can't they accept female disciples? Isn't this gender discrimination? No way, I have to go see how Xuan Yuan learns martial arts."

  "Little girl, you'd better study hard then. Let our family's Xuan Yuan teach you some skills and let Old Man Chen take you in as a disciple. It won't be easy for him to accept you, but it'll be interesting to see his reaction."

  Grandpa Ding walked away, and Xuan Yuan Ruo was going to correct my movements again. Ah, I fell for it, I was tricked by Grandpa Ding's provocation method, and I forgot my original intention. Never mind, a woman's words are difficult to retract, I'll study hard and be careful in the future, when I get to university, I can also guard against fire, theft, and even my senior brother.

  In October, the city calligraphy competition kicked off, and I had intended to sign up. My class teacher also recommended me to represent our school's children's group, so I had no choice but to accept. Of course, along with me were Wu Hanwen, Hou Jingya, Wang Xiaoxiao, and Xuan Yuanrui (this guy is always exceptionally good at everything, I really don't know if he's a genius or not). Our third-grade class took up half of the ten spots available, it's really enviable.

  October 4th was a fine day with clear sky, we gathered at school and went to the examination room by bus under the leadership of our teacher to participate in the calligraphy competition. Generally speaking, everyone has their own strengths, the examiner specified the words to be written and the time, everyone is standing on the same starting line, it's just that some people may have practiced these words many times before, or some people are more skilled at writing certain words.

  I looked at those words, for me it's not that I'm particularly good or bad at them, so I didn't feel especially happy or unhappy, but just took a deep breath, calmed my mind and carefully placed the cushion, spread out the paper, and slowly dipped the brush in ink to write one word after another. Time slipped away unnoticed, when I finished writing, I found that most people around me had already completed it, and looking at my watch again, indeed there wasn't much time left until the end.

  After coming out of the examination hall, I heard several candidates say that they were lucky this time, and many words were just right. Some people regretted that these words were not what they liked to write, and they didn't practice much in their daily lives. They even had a fluke mentality before coming here. It's really should have been practiced well from October 1st to 3rd, maybe it would be better.

  Xiao Xiao came out and asked me, "Xiao Xiao, how was it? Did you perform well? I'm really ruined this time, you're my only hope now. We have five people from our class participating, but not many will get an award, or else other classes will laugh at us. I was full of confidence before I came, and my parents had high expectations for me too, although they were just hoping I'd get a third prize, but I think getting into the finals is unlikely."

  "Hehe, don't be so exaggerated, writing is a matter of feeling and not entirely accurate. Maybe the judges just appreciate your handwriting. I didn't have any special feelings, I just wrote quietly, if others laugh at us, let them go their own way, they're not as good as us, we're representatives selected through competition. Even if we didn't win, it's because our opponents were too strong, what qualifications do they have to laugh at us? Besides, we still have our class leaders, they're really capable, I think our class won't be shaved bald. And YaYa's handwriting is also very good-looking, wasn't she practicing calligraphy since she was four years old? We're not losers, losing doesn't matter. Your parents will forgive you."

  "That's right, I should go home and play, eat and sleep. Let's go to the amusement park tomorrow."

  "Hmm, you're really something, I give up. Okay, let's go to the amusement park tomorrow, we can also invite some classmates, like my brother."

  "Bad idea, that means we'll have to invite Xuan Yuan Rui too."

  "You guys are talking about the amusement park, unfortunately I have to go back to B city tomorrow, otherwise I really want to join you. By the way, Xiaotou, do you think you can make it to the finals?"

  "Hehe, I don't know, only heaven knows. You're going back to B city? That's great, have a smooth trip!"

  "You also had a great time, I'll be back in two days. Is there anything you'd like me to bring for you?" "No need, that's too much trouble." "Xuan Yuan, she's a foodie, bringing her some special products from B city is more effective than anything else." As soon as Xiaoxiao finished speaking, I gave her a stern look, "Don't listen to Xiaoxiao's nonsense, just have fun when you go back. You can bring whatever, everything from B city is new to me."

  The next day, I went to the amusement park with Xiao Xiao, Shu Ge, Wu Hanwen, and Xun Gege. We played thrilling pirate ships, 360-degree rotations, UFO flying discs, and relatively calm Ferris wheels and bumper cars. Everyone was very high, although after playing the thrilling projects, they felt dizzy, but when they were on it, they really had a different feeling from usual, feeling like their hearts were going to jump out. The only pity is that Ya Ya couldn't play with us together.

  The seven-day holiday is over, and it's time to resume school life. Xuan Yuan brought back a lot of B-city specialties, distributed them to the whole class to eat together, and everyone was excited and happy. Everyone loves to eat meat, but I didn't get any duck jerky, only had some fruit leather and donkey rolls.

  After school, as I was on duty, I had to finish cleaning up before going home. My brother was doing his homework in the classroom, waiting for me to go home together. When I went out to throw away the trash, I found that Xuan Yuan Ruo hadn't gone home yet, and he just came out of the head teacher's office, walking towards me with a big bag of things, saying: "This is for you, I saw that you didn't get to eat anything, so I specially saved it for you. Take it back and have it with Uncle, Auntie, and Grandma Feng together."

  I'm not being overly sentimental, but I really can't take this trash bag. He looked at my conflicted expression and said with a smile, "Don't worry, I'll just hand it over to Zhan Feng later." Actually, I wanted to give these to you. He carefully took out a Jingtai blue enamel hairpin and a facial mask from his backpack, saying, "These are our local specialties, I think they suit you pretty well, and they're not expensive at all, please don't refuse."

  It's come to this, I had no choice but to accept it. As a girl, of course, I like this exquisite pearl hairpin and this cute little doll. Upon closer inspection, the little doll looks somewhat familiar too. I smiled and said: "Thanks, but don't think you can get away with giving me something for free, come over to our place often and try my dad's new dishes, they're delicious! I usually invite people over."

  "Hehe, okay, one group doesn't invite me, but I'm a second group person. So I'll definitely go and try it out, don't complain that I eat too much later."

  Soon, the list of preliminary matches came out, and we five were all on it. Xiao Xiao was overjoyed, saying she really had dogshit luck.

  When the final results came out, Xiaoxiao Qiu got a third prize, I unexpectedly got a first prize just like Yaya, Wu Hanwen and Xuan Yuanrui undoubtedly got special prizes, it's really true that the children of a master are different.

  I'm already very satisfied, it's really no less than a pie falling from the sky. As soon as I got home, I told my parents and grandma about this good news, they were all happy for me, and Dad even made a table of delicious dishes for me, and I had a great time eating.

  After dinner, my mother told me not to be complacent, and my cousin said that he would learn calligraphy from me in the future. I humbly said that we should learn from each other and make progress together. My mother said that's right.