Chapter 1380 - Preface to the Orchid Pavilion' debuts!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Everyone was bewildered!

Miyamoto Shinshou was also surprised. He did not expect that anyone would dare to challenge him. “Who are you?”

Next to Zhang Ye, an interpreter translated, “Who are you?”

Zhang Ye smiled. “Save the formalities, surname’s Zhang.”

Amy was speechless.

Chen Guang was speechless.

Xiaodong, who was very angry just a moment ago, was tickled pink.

The Japanese interpreter grew nervous and translated the reply.

Miyamoto Shinshou looked speechless. Save the formalities? Who’s trying to be polite with you! But when the interpreter whispered him Zhang Ye’s full name, Miyamoto Shinshou could be seen narrowing his eyes. He obviously knew who Zhang Ye was and could not help but cast him another glance. So it was he who led the students at China’s Peking University to scold their countrymen some years ago? A hooligan like that had actually made it to the ranks of the Asian A-list? How could that be? Surely there was a mistake somewhere? How could someone like him not be banned back in his home country? How was he allowed to get to the Asian stage? And why was he still getting more and more popular?

The Korean host asked, “Mr. Zhang Ye, do you have an item to put up for auction too?”

Zhang Ye calmly replied, “Yes, I would like to join in the fun as well.”

The Korean host asked, “What item do you have?”

Zhang Ye said matter of factly, “Calligraphy, of course! Is that fine?”

The Korea host said, “Uh, well, of course it’s fine.”

…

China.

At Zhang Ye’s maternal grandma’s house.

“Ah, it’s Bro!”

“Damn, why did Bro step forward?”

“What is Little Ye doing?”

“Does he know calligraphy?”

“He does, but isn’t it just something that he does for fun?”

…

At Yao Jiancai’s house.

“Dad, come quickly!”

“What’s the matter?”

“Something has happened at the charity banquet! Uncle Zhang has come forward!”

“Damn, is something finally going to happen? I knew it, I knew there’d be trouble when this kid was allowed to travel abroad! He always tussles wherever he goes!”

“Aiya, don’t trample on Uncle Zhang. Come and see this!”

…

On Weibo.

“Damn, go and watch the charity banquet’s livestream!”

“Face-smacking Zhang has been annoyed!”

“What is he trying to do?”

“That’s Miyamoto Shinshou, a world-class calligraphy master!”

“Good job, Teacher Zhang! Get him!”

“That old fogey, he’s really fucking annoying!”

“Right, how can he bully Xiaoxian in this way? She’s such a nice person!”

“With that bit of calligraphy skill, can Zhang Ye do anything about it?”

“Even if he can’t, he still has to stand up to him! This is not something that can be tolerated!”

…

In the Chinese calligraphy world.

Several calligraphy masters happened to be throwing a get-together.

“Teacher Wu, this—”

“Why did Zhang Ye come forward?”

“That’s Miyamoto Shinshou, a great calligrapher who is on equal standing with Master Wu and Master Qi!”

“What is Zhang Ye even thinking?”

“Who has seen Zhang Ye’s calligraphy before?”

“I’ve not seen it before.”

“Me neither.”

…

The Japanese netizens.

“Hahahahaha!”

“What an absolute joke!”

“He’s overestimating himself!”

“He’s just a singing star. What can he possibly know about calligraphy?”

…

The Korean netizens.

“Is this the Zhang Ye who sang ‘Dreaming of the Tang Dynasty’?”

“He’s biting off more than he can chew!”

“Why is he trying to show off now?”

“He dares challenge Master Miyamoto?”

“Has he gone mad?”

…

The news spread!

From mouth to mouth!

More and more people learned about this news and quickly turned on their computers to watch the livestream. The number of online viewers across Asia jumped by many times. There was no helping it. The people were only interested whenever something interesting happened. It was the same all over the world. Once something happened, many of those who had not been interested in the Asian Charity Banquet were now rushing to catch the live broadcast!

Zhang Xia.

Fan Wenli.

Yao Jiancai.

The Chinese calligraphy world.

The Japanese calligraphy world.

All of Asia turned their attention to it!

…

At the venue.

A new set of the Four Treasures of the Study was brought out onto the stage.

This was requested by Zhang Ye. He wasn’t going to use the same ink and brush that had been used by a foreigner.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Miyamoto Shinshou went to the sidelines and folded his arms with a sneer.

Offstage.

Amy tugged at Zhang Ye. “Lord Zhang, didn’t we agree to not cause any trouble while we’re here?”

Zhang Ye laughed. “We’re just going to have a discussion about calligraphy. How is that causing trouble?”

Chen Guang did not know whether to laugh or cry. “He’s a calligraphy master. How can you possibly discuss anything with him? What’s there for you to discuss with him? You’d just be embarrassing yourself!”

Zhang Ye said in amusement, “When have I ever embarrassed myself before?”

Li Xiaoxian also said, “Teacher Zhang, I’m fine, really, I’m fine. Since he’s a calligraphy master, he was only making some remarks because he wasn’t satisfied with our calligraphy. You—”

But Zhang Ye said, “I know what I’m doing.”

Zhang Yuanqi laughed and said, “You sure about this?”

Zhang Ye smiled. “Of course.”

Xu Meilan also came over. “How is your calligraphy?”

Zhang Ye chuckled and said, “It doesn’t count if I speak.”

Was he confident? If this were a week ago, he wouldn’t be so sure. Because, even though he had “eaten” a lot of Calligraphy Skill Experience Books to the point of almost maxing out the skill, the skill was still not considered to be the highest level. But it was different now. In the previous lottery draw that Zhang Ye had played to test out his luck, he received quite a few advanced level versions of the Calligraphy Skill Experience Book. His calligraphy skill was no longer the same as before. More crucially, with his high level of skill, he could finally bring out the piece he had not dared to bring out before!

The ink and brush were prepared.

The camera pointed straight at Zhang Ye, even giving him a constant close-up.

Zhang Ye smiled and then rolled up his sleeves. He slowly walked onto the stage.

Around him, he could hear the whispering voices of the foreigners.

“Does he really not know who Master Miyamoto is?”

“Who knows what this Chinese Heavenly King is thinking?”

“Hur hur, we’re in for a show.”

“I would love to see just what kind of a calligraphy ‘discussion’ he can hold with Master Miyamoto!”

Even quite a few of the Chinese businesspeople in the crowd looked at one another.

When he arrived onstage, Zhang Ye looked down and swept his eyes over Miyamoto Shinshou’s recent work. He was standing very close to it and could see it in much greater detail. The Japanese calligraphy style was indeed in the same vein as Chinese calligraphy, yet it had a distinct style of its own. This old man’s writing was also very good, and it might not be too much to say that he was already at the pinnacle.

His brush strokes.

The way the characters flowed.

The imposing air of the writing.

It had all the characteristics of China’s semi-cursive. It was stunning and breathtaking!

Miyamoto Shinshou’s pride was indeed backed up by his skill.

With such a skilled technique, perhaps no other living person who also wrote in semi-cursive was a match for Miyamoto Shinshou. China’s Master Wu, Master Kong, and a few others, Korea’s Master Kim Seongju, none of them specialized in semi-cursive. So it wasn’t easy to compare them. Miyamoto Shinshou had indeed reached the pinnacle, and there wasn’t anyone above him.

Semi-cursive?

Did you really think that you’re invincible?

Zhang Ye laughed. It wasn’t just a laugh, but a mocking laugh!

He was laughing at the lack of insight from this world’s people!

He was laughing at how the mice came out to play when the cat was away!

When were the Japanese allowed to have the final say on who was the best at writing in semi-cursive?

Zhang Ye picked up the brush and closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, his entire aura had changed. It was as though he had become another person!

His gaze!

His expression!

Everything about him was different!

Miyamoto Shinshou was stunned!

Xiaodong was startled!

Li Xiaoxian stared at Zhang Ye in surprise!

The people watching at the venue and over the live broadcast could also clearly feel this change!

What was going on?

What just happened?

Zhang Ye pushed the nib down and landed it onto the paper!

At this moment, countless people across Asia were gazing at Zhang Ye’s brush. What are you going to write in? Regular script? Cursive? Or clerical script? In any case, in their opinion, Zhang Ye would definitely not write in semi-cursive or running-standard 1 . He definitely would not write in either of those two styles in front of Miyamoto Shinshou.

However, the moment Zhang Ye wrote the first character, everyone was dumbfounded!

Yong!

It was the yong character!

But this was not the reason that left them dumbfounded!

What they were dumbfounded by was the style in which Zhang Ye had written in!

It was semi-cursive!

He just had to write it in semi-cursive!

Li Xiaoxian couldn’t stop smiling wryly. “This is bad, th-this—”

Amy did not understand. “What’s the matter?”

Zhang Yuanqi narrowed her eyes. “It’s written in semi-cursive.”

Xiaodong asked, “What?”

Chen Guang nearly fainted. “Teacher Zhang must be doing this out of spite!”

Huo Dongfang also understood Zhang Ye’s nature. “He’s definitely doing this on purpose!”

Big Qi facepalmed. “There’s really no one with a temper like Teacher Zhang’s!”