A Word to Wake the Dreamer

Unexpectedly, Xiao Ruotong acted quickly and had already entered.

Looking at Zhao Ruxi's handwriting, she exclaimed in surprise, "My God, is this your handwriting?"

She ran over, examined Zhao Ruxi's handwriting closely, and looked up in surprise, asking, "When did you start practicing?"

Zhao Ruxi had been her student. The two had met in the jewelry store before class even started, and she had paid special attention to Zhao Ruxi's handwriting during class.

At that time, Zhao Ruxi's handwriting was worse than that of an average person. It was completely disorganized and rather ugly, and it was obvious at a glance that he had never practiced calligraphy.

But now, Zhao Ruxi's calligraphy already possesses eight-tenths of her master's style; what's even more remarkable is that she has also incorporated a touch of her own style, forming her own unique charm.

Zhao Ruxi possesses a free-spirited and magnanimous personality, as well as wisdom and insight, which are fully reflected in her paintings.

Now, this characteristic is also reflected in her writing.

Master Mingcang's calligraphy is elegant and graceful. When Zhao Ruxi copied his calligraphy, he not only learned the essence of this elegance and grace, but also added a touch of unrestrained and bold style. However, Zhao Ruxi seems not to have realized this point. When practicing calligraphy, he tries his best to fit his own calligraphy into the mold of Master Mingcang's style, trying to resemble Master Mingcang as much as possible, and dares not release his own style.

"Hehe, my handwriting used to be terrible, wasn't it? I was ashamed to show it to anyone, so I practiced whenever I had free time. After I became my apprentice, I practiced even more diligently, afraid of embarrassing my master and ruining a painting when I wrote on it. You gave me a calligraphy copybook before, and later Grand Princess Shangde found me a copybook by Master Mingcang, which I practiced whenever I had free time. I've been practicing for two whole years now, so I'm bound to have made some progress."

Xiao Ruotong: "..."

He practiced for two whole years!

It's been a long time, and there's only been a little progress.

If those scholars found out about this, they'd probably beat me to death.

"You have completely grasped the essence of my grandmaster's calligraphy, so you no longer need to be bound by his model. Write freely and let your own style shine through," Xiao Ruotong advised.

"Look at your paintings. Only by developing your own style can one become a master. The same applies to calligraphy. If you only imitate others without your own style, people will only say that your writing is good and resembles that of a master, but they will not acknowledge that you are a master."

Xiao Ruotong's words were truly a wake-up call!

Zhao Ruxi slapped her forehead. "Ah, I was so confused! Luckily, Sister Ruotong reminded me."

She was misled by the system's points system.

The reason she wasn't misled in painting was that she initially used modern painting techniques without earning points. She had to combine them with ancient painting techniques to form her own style in order to earn points. This motivated her to put in a lot of effort to create her own painting style.

But she had never practiced calligraphy in modern times, so she was starting from scratch in ancient times. The system told her that if she could reach the level of Master Mingcang, she could earn 100 points for each piece of calligraphy. So she started from zero, climbing up one point at a time, not aiming to create her own style, but to achieve a style that closely resembled Master Mingcang's calligraphy.

Therefore, even though she had grasped the essence of Master Mingcang's calligraphy, she still dared not forge her own path and remained bound by Master Mingcang's conventions, diligently working forward within Master Mingcang's established patterns with the goal of earning one hundred points per piece of calligraphy.

If Xiao Ruotong hadn't reminded her, she probably wouldn't have thought about innovation until she reached 100 points per piece. But if she really got to that point, it would be difficult to break out of her established patterns.

Of course, without this goal as bait, she wouldn't have had the patience to practice to this level before turning to a different approach. She might have let herself go after only two or three minutes of practice. That might have given her her own style, but the foundation would be unstable, and she would never become a master.

So everything was just right.

The thought of being able to innovate and perhaps earn 100 points for each piece of writing excited Zhao Ruxi.

She said to Xiao Ruotong, "Shall I start writing freely now?"

Xiao Ruotong nodded, her face full of anticipation.

Zhao Ruxi removed the paper that had been filled with thirty characters and took another piece of paper.

The size of the paper she used for practicing calligraphy was intentionally cut by her; Qingfeng even pressed creases into it so that she could practice exactly thirty characters before stopping.

But now, in order to find that unrestrained state, she took a piece of paper that had not been cut or creased and planned to write down any passage from the Four Books and Five Classics that automatically came to mind.

Zhao Ruxi is a top student not only because of her high IQ, but also because of her exceptionally strong concentration.

She laid out the paper, but instead of immediately picking up her pen to write, she began grinding the ink.

Xiao Ruotong watched from the side and saw that Zhao Ruxi had only been grinding ink for a short while when she completely entered a state of mind. It was as if she was the only person left in the world, and everything around her had been blocked out, leaving only herself and the words she was about to write.

Seeing Zhao Ruxi like this, Xiao Ruotong suddenly had a realization.

At this moment, Zhao Ruxi put down the ink stick, picked up the brush, and began to write.

Because Qingfeng had to be at the young lady's beck and call at all times, Zhao Ruxi didn't ask her to go out, and she stayed in the room at the moment. However, she stood in a relatively secluded position to minimize her presence and try not to affect Zhao Ruxi and Xiao Ruotong.

At this moment, she clearly noticed that the way the girl wrote was different from before.

She used to be very serious, even to the point of losing herself in the process. But when she put pen to paper, she was serious and slow, each stroke very fixed, as if restricted by some rules and regulations. Her expression remained tense until she finished writing a piece of calligraphy before she could relax.

But at this moment, Zhao Ruxi was just like the boxing she practiced in the courtyard that morning. She was very relaxed and carefree, like the clouds in the sky, gathering and dispersing with the wind, unrestrained, and even a little lazy.

Because of his spontaneous nature, Zhao Ruxi wrote more than thirty characters in this passage, stopping only after writing forty or fifty characters.

Xiao Ruotong was worried about disturbing her, so she had sat down some distance away from Zhao Ruxi earlier. Now, seeing her put down her pen and recover from her absorbed state, she walked over, moved closer to Zhao Ruxi, and looked down at the words she had just written.

"Wow, that's great!" she exclaimed.

The words on the paper are ethereal and graceful, unrestrained and free-spirited. The overwhelming sense of spontaneity and carefree spirit makes it seem as if the writer is about to ascend to immortality and transcend the mundane world, leaving one in awe and yearning for such a vision.

Zhao Ruxi had no time to appreciate the words she had just written; she was stunned by the points announced by the system.

"Congratulations, host, your Wisdom Points has increased by 156."