Chapter 96: The So-Called Calligraphy Dilemma

On matters of scholarly contest in olden times, the questions were nothing more than verse, songs, and paired couplets.

Liu Yitiao, for all that, had memorized Tang and Song poems and even sung popular songs; how could he be stumped by some pedant from the Tang era? Moreover, this bookworm was plainly offended that Chu Chu had married beneath her station, and so was deliberately trying to make things difficult for him.

This was a challenge. Seeing Huang Feiyun’s disdainful gaze, Liu Yitiao felt a surge of anger. Was it any of your business, you pretty-faced pup, who I marry?

“Please, Brother Feiyun, go ahead!” Liu Yitiao said confidently, extending his hand toward Huang Feiyun.

At that, Zhang Chuwen could not help shaking his head and sighing inwardly. How could his brother-in-law be so unwilling to heed advice? Huang Feiyun was a renowned talent of Sanyuan; how could he be easy to deal with? Liu Yitiao had agreed so readily. If he could not answer later, would that not only bring humiliation upon himself?

Seeing Liu Yitiao accept, a smile appeared on Huang Feiyun’s face. He stood and cupped his hands toward Zhang Chuwen. “Brother Chuwen, would you trouble yourself to bring me some brush, ink, paper, and inkstone? Feiyun wishes to discuss a matter of calligraphy with Brother Yitiao.”

Calligraphy? Liu Yitiao froze. Why was it this? His heart sank at once.

As a child, he had only practiced standard script for a few days; later, in high school, he had spent a few days learning fountain-pen calligraphy from Pang Zhonghua. After that, he had never studied any other style.

This Huang Feiyun had indeed chosen an excellent topic.

“Please wait a moment, Brother Feiyun. I shall fetch them at once,” said Zhang Chuwen as he rose. After glancing at Liu Yitiao, he went into the inner study.

After a short while, he returned carrying the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, and set them on the table beside Huang Feiyun. “Brother Feiyun, please.”

“My thanks for your trouble, Brother Chuwen.” Huang Feiyun thanked him, then began grinding the ink. As he worked, he said to Liu Yitiao, “Brother Chu Wen told me that Brother Liu once even worked as a veterinarian, and that your medical skill was rather remarkable. I wonder whether that is true? By chance, there happens to be a country dog in my residence. A few days ago, someone broke one of its hind legs. I wonder whether Brother Liu has a remedy for setting it again? If so, Feiyun will certainly offer a handsome reward.”

Hearing this, Zhang Chuwen frowned. When had Huang Feiyun ever kept a dog? Was he not obviously making sport of Liu Yitiao? This was going too far.

No matter how one looked at it, Liu Yitiao was his brother-in-law. With that family connection, Zhang Chuwen naturally leaned a little toward him.

“Broken leg?” Liu Yitiao replied. “It must be that your family’s mongrel has a filthy mouth and barks at every passerby, annoying someone. Otherwise, who would break its hind leg for no reason? Even if I were to set that leg for a dog like that, sooner or later someone would break it again. So, Brother Feiyun, why not stew it instead? Make a pot of good dog meat soup, and you’ll save yourself a lot of trouble.”

Good!

Even Zhang Chuwen could not help wanting to applaud. Liu Yitiao’s words were truly venomous.

Huang Feiyun’s face instantly turned the color of liver. But he quickly recovered and smiled as if nothing had happened. “Brother Liu’s suggestion, Feiyun will consider. If it is stewed, Feiyun will be sure to invite Brother Liu to come and have a taste.”

“Your kindness is too great, Brother Feiyun. My favorite thing to eat is dog meat. When the time comes, I will certainly come and join the feast,” Liu Yitiao said with a smile and a cupped-fist salute. In his heart, however, he thought that the fellow could indeed endure. To have been insulted like that and yet not sweep his sleeves and leave—yes, his mental fortitude was not bad.

By then, Huang Feiyun had finished grinding the ink. He picked up the brush, dipped it into the inkstone, and wrote a huge character.

“Please look, Brother Liu,” Huang Feiyun said, laying down the brush atop the inkstone. “This character, this lowly and mean character, belongs to which script, and by which master calligrapher was it created?”

Liu Yitiao stepped forward and took one glance, then almost stared blankly. Was this style not simply standard script?

After Chen Kun left the room, the two brothers, Gongsun Wuda and Gongsun Wenda, sat down again.

Gongsun Wuda rested his right hand on the table and tapped it lightly. After a long while, he finally asked Gongsun Wenda, “Second Brother, what do you think of this matter?”

“If I think it through, it is actually quite normal,” Gongsun Wenda said, as though some things had become clear to him. “Big Brother, among the Emperor’s many princes, which of them is truly simple? Each one has more or less some means. That Prince of Wei having a secret household of his own is not all that strange.”

“What is strange, however,” he continued with careful analysis, “is why Prince of Wei would send men to assassinate Lan’er and Young Friend Yitiao, and why he would send the leader of his secret household at that. My Gongsun family has no political rift with his Prince of Wei Mansion, nor any conflict of interest. He had no reason at all to take such a risk and assassinate Lan’er. It would only bring him more trouble. Prince of Wei is not a fool; he would naturally not be so rash.”

“Then you mean his target was Young Friend Yitiao?” Gongsun Wuda blurted it out, then immediately rejected it. “Second Brother, you must be joking. Though that Liu Yitiao has some ability, he is only a newly risen small landowner. What virtue or capacity does he have to make a dignified Prince of Wei think so much of him?”

“Big Brother’s words are right. The possibility that it was Young Friend Yitiao is very small. But if not for Little Lan’er and Young Friend Yitiao, then what on earth was Prince of Wei doing this for? There must be a reason, must there not?” Gongsun Wenda also agreed with Gongsun Wuda. Yet apart from that explanation, he truly could not think of any other possibility.

“Whoever it was for, what of it?” Gongsun Wuda was not one to overthink things. He rose and said sternly, “This time he wounded Little Lan’er, and I wiped out his secret household. The grudge between our Gongsun family and his Prince of Wei Mansion is now set in stone. If Prince of Wei does not know his place and still dares to come stirring up trouble, then this old man will not believe that he, a mere boy, can really turn the heavens upside down!”

“Yes, no matter who it was for, the feud between our two families is already settled,” Gongsun Wenda said with a sigh. “It is just that offending a prince for no apparent reason seems a little more loss than gain.”

“Second Brother!” Gongsun Wuda said to him, “You worry too much. So what if he is a prince? Can he be greater than the Emperor? Must only he be allowed to strike on the first day of the month, while we are not allowed to strike on the fifteenth? When that old castrated wretch came to kill Little Lan’er and the others, did he show any mercy? You saw the wounds on Little Lan’er yourself; every one of them was delivered with lethal intent. If Young Friend Yitiao had not been there at the time, the next head of our Gongsun family would already be gone!”

Seeing that Gongsun Wenda remained silent, Gongsun Wuda went on, “Young Friend Yitiao has done our Gongsun family a great kindness, and he is sworn brother to Little Lan’er. So whether that castrated wretch and Prince of Wei came for Young Friend Yitiao or not, our actions have not been in the least mistaken. To strip Prince of Wei of his poisonous fangs and frighten him into caution, to ensure peace for both our families—that is a bargain worth making!”

“Big Brother speaks reasonably. Wenda has been taught,” Gongsun Wenda said, rising to bow to Gongsun Wuda. He too had now understood it. Since the face had already been torn apart, there was no need for further restraint. As for Li Tai, that hypocritical gentleman, he could hardly stir up any great storm.