Professor Su's first question left Liu Man speechless.
Liu Man thought for a moment and said,
"My teacher is an unknown woman. I only know her surname Xu, but I don't know her name. I call her Mrs. Xu."
It was a woman!
Su Yi was surprised, and asked eagerly, "Where is Mrs. Xu now? In the capital?"
Liu Man shook his head, "She is from Chang'an, and she died many years ago."
The old man sighed, regretful, and helpless, "Heaven is jealous of talents, such a talented calligrapher was unknown during his lifetime, and even disappeared in the world after death. Fortunately, you are left as a disciple to inherit her mantle."
Indeed, in Liu Man's mind, Mrs. Xu's talent is unmatched. Once, when she was chatting with Yumeiren, Yumeiren once told Liu Man that when Mrs. Xu was young, she had the reputation of being the most talented woman in the world. After entering the palace, it gradually disappeared into the world.
"Does she still have works left in the world?" Su Yi still had a glimmer of hope.
Liu Man shook his head, "Burn them all."
"Hey," the old man sighed heavily again, "That's all, let me ask you a second question, have you ever learned seal script?"
Su Yi is indeed an expert, and at a glance, he discovered something that Yu Zhan didn't understand before.
"Yes, I started with seal seal."
"It's no wonder that some fonts look very different from the way modern Xiaozhuan is written, but modern seal seals are not written that way either."
Su Yi got up, took out a folder from the bookshelf, and opened it.
He asked his doctoral students to enlarge the words written by Liu Man one by one to A4 size and print them out. These days, they all studied these characters with a magnifying glass.
The Han Dynasty was more than two thousand years ago. At that time, papermaking was not well developed, and the carriers of characters were mainly stone carvings and brocade silk. Although there were very few characters and ink marks handed down at that time, due to the changes in the world and the changes in the world, many fonts were used by later generations of other dynasties. Scholars edited.
Su Yi and his doctoral students studied for a long time, and even went to the Department of Archeology to find relevant information. They found that the writing style of these printed characters was the same as that of some bronze inscriptions unearthed in the early Western Han Dynasty. The characters at that time still had the shadow of bronze inscriptions.
"Could it be that you started with the inscriptions on bronze wares and inscriptions of the Western Han Dynasty?" Su Yi asked the third question.
Liu Man could only admit, "Yes."
"Your teacher is from the ancient capital, so he has the environment to be exposed to these things. I have lived for almost a century, and this is the first time I have encountered such a situation," Su Yi was still puzzled.
The bronze inscriptions in the early Western Han Dynasty are too unpopular. It is not easy to learn to recognize and write. It takes a lot of comprehension to integrate them and write them into calligraphy works.
That's why Su Yi admires Mrs. Xu so much. He thinks that Mrs. Xu has created a new category of calligraphy. Since he didn't know how to identify this category, Su Yi and his students gave Liu Man's font a complicated name, called Western Han Bronze Seal script.
"Can you write a few words for me on the spot here?" Su Yi asked Liu Man.
"sure."
In front of Su Yi's desk is a long solid wood table dedicated to writing, with pens, inks, papers and inkstones on the table. Before Liu Man came, Su Yi was writing at his desk here, the words on the rice paper were only half written, and the brush he just wrote was not dry yet.
Su Yi said, "You can finish writing my half-written article."
Liu Man looked at Su Yi's handwriting, he wrote a passage from "Mencius",
"A gentleman has three joys, but the king does not exist with him. Parents exist together, brothers have no reason, and there is one joy;"
Su Yi is not only testing Liu Man's calligraphy level, but also testing whether she has real talent and learning.
"Can I just use this brush?" Liu Man asked, pointing to the wet brush.
"Of course." In fact, this Jane wood wolf nib is Su Yi's favorite pen, and he never allows others to touch it.
Liu Man picked up the pen and dipped in the ink, without deliberately thinking about memories, he wrote directly:
"Looking up is not ashamed of the sky, and bowing down is not ashamed of others, the two are also happy;"
"Educating the best talents in the world is Sanle."
These words seemed to have been engraved in her mind, and she still did not pause at all, and completed them in one go.
The simple and far-reaching words seem to travel through time and space, and they came alive two thousand years later. When they reappeared in front of Su Yi, this old man was moved and grateful. Just as the last sentence of this "Mencius" said, he was a human being Shibiao, of course I hope to meet more talents from all over the world in my lifetime.
And this little girl is a real genius!
If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, it would be hard for Su Yi to imagine that such a child existed in this era, calm and dignified, with a profound background, and extraordinary and refined.
Just as Liu Man put down his pen, he asked her, "Would you like to be my student?"
She froze for a moment.
"But I'm not a student of Capital University."
"I accept closed disciples, which has nothing to do with the school."
Su Yi was eager to be talented, and continued, "You should only know seal script, and I can also teach you official script and regular script. I dare to boast about Haikou here. Nowadays, there are very few people who can write these two scripts better than me. .”
Liu Man's heart is moved. She really wants to learn other fonts. Qin Zhuan, which she is good at, is still based on pictographs, which are difficult to recognize. In modern society, the audience is not wide. She should learn simplified fonts that are closer to life.
Under Su Yixi's gaze, Liu Man nodded slowly and said word by word,
"Professor Su, I am willing to be your student."
Su Yi laughed loudly, "Okay, okay, okay," he said three times in succession, his laughter was hearty, he couldn't tell he was old, he looked happy, as if he was ten years younger,
"I'm afraid you are the last closed disciple in my life. Let's not engage in those fancy apprenticeship etiquette, and just learn on this piece of paper." Su Yi pointed to the "Mencius" that Liu Man had just completed.
I saw Su Yi writing at the end of the article with a round and vigorous brushstroke:
"Master Su Yi."
Liu Man immediately understood what Su Yi meant, took the pen, and wrote:
"Disciple Liu Man."
The two collaborated to complete this invaluable "Mencius" in the future, and signed their names at the same time.
Su Yi and Liu Man agreed that the teaching time will be from 8:00 am to 12:00 am every Saturday, just like the usual class, and the place will be in this place.
Liu Man came out, and Jiang Chengfeng who was waiting outside asked her curiously,
"What did Professor Su talk to you about? You seem to be in a good mood?"
Jiang Chengfeng guessed that the old professor praised Liu Man for her good calligraphy and her talent.
Unexpectedly, Liu Man said, "Professor Su accepted me as a student."
Jiang Chengfeng was dumbfounded, his mouth became O-shaped.
Didn't Liu Man just come to meet Professor Su, how did he come out and become his apprentice