Generally speaking, unless two people were very close, they wouldn't write the same piece of calligraphy together.
After all, once two people wrote on the same sheet of paper, their skills would inevitably be compared.
The less skilled person might feel a little embarrassed, while the more skilled person might feel a little guilty for making a friend look bad.
Many calligraphers had already analyzed Guo Degang and Wang Yi's calligraphy.
Not a trace of classical influence could be seen in Guo Degang's work.
There was no hint that he had ever studied ancient steles or copybooks.
Of course, his calligraphy had developed its own distinctive style, one that people found amusing and entertaining.
Wang Yi's calligraphy, on the other hand, clearly showed that he had studied copybooks.
His work bore traces of Ouyang Xun's regular script, Wang Xizhi's running script, Zhang Jizhi's large-character calligraphy, and Emperor Huizong of Song's Slender Gold Body.
He had mainly drawn inspiration from Slender Gold Body and Zhang Jizhi's large-character calligraphy, blending the two before adding his own interpretation.
You could say that both had created their own styles. Guo Degang's style had a certain value for its originality.
Wang Yi's calligraphy, meanwhile, had a certain artistic value.
Some people summed it up this way: "Guo Degang is a celebrity who does calligraphy, while Wang Yi is a calligrapher who's a celebrity."
Of course, calling Wang Yi a famous calligrapher was clearly a bit of an exaggeration at this point.
But if he continued to study calligraphy, he wouldn't be far from becoming one.
Guo Degang didn't care about these comments.
He had studied traditional culture in depth, so he naturally knew there was a gap between his style and Wang Yi's.
He had also said many times that he wrote purely for fun.