Chapter 423: Chapter 423: Huang Xiaolong’s Handwriting!
A group of people stood in front of the writing desks, picking up their brushes to write.

This was becoming a small-scale calligraphy competition, and with prizes. Considering the prizes were distributed by Old Master Jin himself, they were probably much more valuable than those in any domestic calligraphy competition, right?

The guests watched attentively.

They eagerly awaited excellent calligraphy works to emerge, to become Old Master Jin’s favorite birthday gifts.

And naturally, Huang Xiaolong became a significant focus.

After all, Huang Xiaolong had just claimed that no one could outwrite him… His arrogance had reached an irritating level.

Many people were secretly delighted, hoping to see Huang Xiaolong embarrass himself.

“I mean… Is Master Little Long really good at calligraphy?” Sun Hu asked nervously, looking at Huang Xiaolong.

“Little Long knows everything. Don’t worry.” Sun Wei was confident in Huang Xiaolong.

A glimmer of light flashed in Ying Aoshan’s pretty eyes, as she said quietly, “Young Master Huang is a scholar in music, unrivaled in his time. If he could suppress all with his calligraphy skills, he would be quite the gentleman~~”

Having experienced Huang Xiaolong’s performance of “Hundreds of Birds towards the Phoenix”, Ying Aoshan naturally looked forward to his performance this time.

Old Master Jin stroked his beard with a chuckle, his attention focused entirely on Huang Xiaolong.

At this time, Huang Xiaolong picked up his brush, dipped it in ink, and glanced around with a smile. He saw others either drawing slowly in a calm manner, tasting as they wrote, or focusing to the extreme…

“Tsk~~~ Writing a character, why so serious?” Huang Xiaolong scoffed, and then––

He swiftly wrote on the rice paper in front of him.

Three minutes.

After three minutes, Huang Xiaolong put down his brush and said, “Done. I’ve finished writing.”

After that, Huang Xiaolong returned to his seat, crossed his legs, and relaxed.

At this point, everyone in the garden was stunned!

“He’s done writing? It’s only been a few minutes? What did he write? Some scribbles?”

“What’s the meaning of this? I’ve studied calligraphy for half a year, and even for a work of genius, it would still take quite some time. Even if the penwork is divine, it would take more than half an hour, right?”

“Yeah, I checked the time. He only took about three minutes to finish… To create a good calligraphy piece, it takes more than three minutes to prepare, right?”

“This guy boasts about being an unbeatable calligrapher… What a joke!”

“He’s just brushing off Old Master Jin.”

“Today is Old Master Jin’s 100th birthday, and the old man loves calligraphy. If this youngster frivolously handles the calligraphy for Old Master Jin, I’m afraid he’ll anger Old Master Jin, won’t he?”

…

Indeed, Old Master Jin was getting a little angry now!

Originally, he had some expectations for Huang Xiaolong’s calligraphy. However, Huang Xiaolong finished writing in three minutes… Old Master Jin was a master of calligraphy and knew the art well. Three minutes? What a joke!

“Hehe~~ Interesting… Young people are really playful…” Old Master Jin glanced at Huang Xiaolong with cold indifference. He didn’t get up to look at Huang Xiaolong’s work and instead said to the others still writing, “You keep writing, take your time, don’t rush, and don’t let anyone messy disturb you.”

A messy person? This was clearly a veiled criticism of Huang Xiaolong!

“Little Long, did you finish writing so quickly?” Sun Wei asked curiously.

“Yep, I’m done.” Huang Xiaolong laughed, “I’ll definitely get first place. How can these people write better than me?”

“But Little Long, did you finish too quickly? In just a few minutes…” Even Sun Wei was somewhat doubtful.

“Sister Bai Hu, you can’t say that… Three to five minutes? Hehe, tonight, come to my room, I won’t let you get out of bed!” Huang Xiaolong made a mischievous face.

“You’re hopeless!” Sun Wei spat out.

The others in the Sun family tasted bitterness, thinking, Master Little Long, you really know how to play, going so far as to play around with Old Master Jin! Three minutes, what masterpiece could you possibly write?

Uncle Yun chuckled without a word, “Miss, Young Master Huang probably can’t write calligraphy. Calligraphy can cultivate one’s demeanor. It requires quiet, slow, not urgent nor impetuous, like a light breeze and floating clouds. But Young Master Huang was obviously waving his pen around just now. He was quite restless. With only a few minutes, it’s hard to write a good piece.”

“Was he just bragging?” Ying Aoshan frowned.

About half an hour later, the people standing at the writing tables one by one put down their brushes, all having finished their pieces.

“Please appraise our works, Old Master!” They said in unison.

“Haha, okay, good, good! Now, I’ll be a judge and appreciate your calligraphy skills! Hahaha!” Old Master Jin stood up with great interest, went to the first desk on the left, and picked up the rice paper from the table.

Shaking his head, he said, “Oh… This is Yan Zhenqing’s ‘General Pei’s Poem’, well-written, well-written! Sometimes fierce, sometimes calm, the power seeping through the paper, good handwriting!”

“Grandfather, you’re too kind.” The person who wrote this piece was one of Old Master Jin’s grandsons. Hearing the old man’s praise, he broke into a broad smile.

Old Master Jin displayed the piece for the guests in the garden to see. Everyone moved a few steps closer to inspect it carefully and soon, cheers erupted from the crowd.

Only Huang Xiaolong was unbothered, muttering to himself, “What is this? Such poor handwriting!”

In this way, Old Master Jin carefully appraised each calligraphy work, giving fair comments for each and exhibiting them for everyone to appreciate for a few minutes.

Truthfully, the atmosphere was joyful, subtly revealing a scholarly feeling.

Finally, Old Master Jin had looked at all the pieces on the desks, well… except for Huang Xiaolong’s.

Old Master Jin actually overlooked the character written by Huang Xiaolong!

“Alright! The works all of you younger people wrote are not bad. However, since I said we should determine a winner, I should choose the best work to award a prize from among all these excellent pieces…” Old Master Jin laughed heartily.

From his expression, it seemed like he had already chosen the winner!

“Now, I will announce–” Old Master Jin stated solemnly.

Just then,

“Wait~~~” Huang Xiaolong casually stood up, taking his sweet time to say, “You haven’t looked at my piece yet.”

With that sentence, all the eyes of the crowd focused on him.

“Young man, when you’re making a joke, you must know when to stop…” Old Master Jin looked at Huang Xiaolong coldly, “I’ve been immersing myself in calligraphy for my whole life, and have never seen anyone produce a good piece in three minutes. Calligraphy is an profound art that cultivates character… Young man, you’re too impatient… It’s not a big deal if I don’t look at your piece.”

“Huang Xiaolong, what’s the occasion? Do you think it’s your turn to speak? You’re making a spectacle of yourself!” Chen Zihuan took the opportunity to indirectly criticize him.

“Old Master Jin, you should look at it; otherwise, you’ll regret it.” Huang Xiaolong laughed indifferently.

“Old Master Jin, it doesn’t hurt to look at one more piece. It only takes a few minutes. Why not take a quick look?” Ying Aoshan suggested with a smile.

“This…” Old Master Jin was nonplussed. Although he was extremely irritated by Huang Xiaolong now, he couldn’t disregard Ying Aoshan’s face.

“Alright then.” Old Master Jin nodded, turned to a servant next to him and said, “Bring me the young man’s piece. I’ll have a look.”

…