Chapter 10: Vulgar Books

  After Liu Bei finished writing, he first went to the front of Gongsun Zan's desk to take the wooden tablet, turned around and took over Liu Xiu's tablet, glanced at it, his eyes lit up, and then smiled again: "Big brother, when did you practice good calligraphy?"

  "Nonsense." Liu Xiu burst out laughing and changed the subject: "Shall we have dinner soon? I'm getting a bit hungry after rushing on the road all day."

  Gongsun Zan also came over to take a look, furrowed his brow, and was about to speak, but met Liu Bei's gaze, so he swallowed his words back. Liu Xiu's calligraphy is good-looking, but he made a mistake. In the Han Dynasty, although there were already regular script, running script, and cursive script, these were all called "common scripts". Writing letters or other informal documents was fine, but when writing formal documents, one had to use official script, that is, clerical script. They wrote an introduction letter, which would be the first impression on their teacher, so they should have used clerical script to show respect. Liu Xiu's use of common script, from a certain perspective, was disrespectful, even if his writing looked good. This is like taking exams in later generations - can you write cursive script on it? Even if you are the Cursive Saint, you will still be rejected.

  Gongsun Zan originally wanted to remind Liu Xiu, but thinking that even Liu Bei didn't remind him, he himself being an outsider shouldn't interfere too much, and not wanting to be blamed by Liu Xiu in the future, he pretended not to see it and sat back down with a thud.

  Liu Bei took three wooden slips out of the door, feeling a bit hesitant in his heart. He wanted to take advantage of the situation to see Liu Xiu's joke and vent some of the unhappiness that had accumulated over the past two days. However, with Gongsun Zan by his side, he wondered if this was not quite appropriate. Earlier, in a moment of impulsiveness, he had used his eyes to stop Gongsun Zan, but now he felt somewhat regretful and thought that dealing with Liu Xiu in this way was a bit excessive. Nevertheless, going back to remind Liu Xiu didn't seem quite right either.

  Liu Bei was in a dilemma, and after thinking for a while, he still steeled himself and left. When handing over the wooden tally, he deliberately placed Liu Xun's token in the middle to avoid revealing his weakness, then retreated back. On the way, he went to take a look at the dining area, and lingered outside for a while before returning to the room. Gongsun Zan was lying on the bed with his eyes closed, it was unclear whether he had fallen asleep or was just pretending to sleep because he had nothing to say to Liu Xun. Liu Xun was examining the books he had brought, and upon hearing his footsteps, looked up and casually said: "You're back."

  "Hmm." Liu Bei responded with a somewhat nervous forced smile: "Reading?"

  "Haha, temporarily preparing a bit is better than not preparing at all. Who knows, Mr. Liu might ask some questions and I might be able to bluff my way through one or two of them." Liu Xiu chuckled and put down the book in his hand. His own family didn't have any books, but Liu Bei had brought over several volumes, including two from the "Analects" - "Xue Er" and "Wei Zheng", as well as a complete copy of the "Classic of Filial Piety". There were many marks on it, with fresh ink, looking like they had been written recently.

  Liu Xuan smiled as he watched and said: "Xuande, you've been practicing quite a bit recently."

  Liu Bei smiled awkwardly, originally wanting to take it back, but couldn't stretch out his hand, so he just hummed twice and lay down on the bed to rest. He thought about the letter he had just sent up, feeling a bit uneasy, hoping someone would come soon to make Liu Xiu lose face, yet fearing that if someone came, Liu Xiu would discover his own misdeeds. Listening to the occasional footsteps outside, his heart was alternately tense and relaxed.

  Liu Xiu looked at it for a moment, and saw that the notes Liu Bei made didn't have any new ideas, so he thought to ask if there were any others. He leaned forward to take a look, and saw that Liu Bei's face was somewhat pale, and couldn't help but ask with concern: "Xuande, what's wrong?"

  Liu Bei's heart skipped a beat, and he hastily said: "Nothing, maybe I've just walked for a day and I'm a bit tired, I'll be fine after resting for a while."

  "Oh." Liu Xiu saw that his eyes were evasive, and a cloud of doubt rose in his heart, but he didn't think it was about telling the truth. He wanted to ask, but seeing Liu Bei turn over and face inward, it was clear that he didn't want to say anything, so he swallowed his words again.

  It wasn't long before someone came to invite them for dinner, and Liu Xiu called out to Gong Sun Zan and Liu Bei. The three of them went together to the dining hall to eat. The dining hall was a room next to the kitchen with over ten long tables. Most of the people who arrived first were already familiar with each other, eating while quietly discussing in hushed tones. Seeing Liu Xiu's group enter, they didn't show much surprise, only a few came over to greet them. Gong Sun Zan was indifferent, but Liu Bei was very enthusiastic about striking up a conversation with them. Liu Xiu smiled and listened from the side without interrupting.

  While they were eating, the young man who had arranged for everyone to move in came in, his eyes scanning the room. The several people who had been chatting and laughing while eating immediately stopped talking, lowered their heads and continued eating in silence, the atmosphere in the dining hall suddenly becoming solemn.

  The young man asked: "Who is Liu Deren of Zhuo County?"

  Liu Xiu was extremely surprised, he was stunned for a moment, preparing to ask Liu Bei who this was, but Liu Bei lowered his head and ate in silence. He could only stand up, bowing: "It's me."

  The young man looked him up and down, his face expressionless, and said, "Come out for a moment."

  "Yes." Liu Xiu didn't dare to be slow, hastily got up from his seat, and hurriedly rushed to the door, put on his shoes, and politely said to the young man with a surprised expression: "May I ask for your advice?"

  "Let's talk over there." The young man looked at him, his eyebrows twitching slightly as if he wanted to laugh but couldn't, and turned to leave. Liu Xiu didn't understand what was going on and could only follow closely behind.

  Suddenly a burst of laughter erupted in the cafeteria, and someone laughed: "Where did this reckless guy come from? He was pulled away by Young Master on his first day?"

  "Looks unfamiliar, probably just arrived today." Another voice responded.

  "As soon as he came, he was scolded, this kid's luck is really bad."

  A jesting voice said: "This is also uncertain, perhaps it's because of good scholarship that the master wants to test him in person and directly enter the hall."

  Gongsun Zan gave Liu Bei a meaningful look, and Liu Bei's face turned red as he lowered his head.

  Liu Xiu followed the young man to the other side of the corridor and stopped, but he could hear the voices in the cafeteria clearly. He was also somewhat perplexed - what had he done wrong? Why had this Mr. Lu called him out on his first day? The young man who delivered the wooden tablets seemed to have said that this Mr. Lu was Lu Zhi's eldest son, Lu Min. Could it be that Lu Zhi was very satisfied with his calligraphy?

  All that glitters is not gold, but this is a bit too fast. Liu Xiu thought with some self-satisfaction, a smile appearing on his face, but the smile had just appeared when it was interrupted by Lu Min's words.

  Lu Min took out the wooden slip that Liu Xiu had written his confession on and handed it over to him: "Is this yours?"

  "Yes." Liu Xiu took a glance and nodded immediately, then put on a very humble appearance.

  "Take it away and rewrite it in a more elegant script." Lu Min said calmly: "You have no opinion on this, do you?"

  Liu Xiu was taken aback, and although Lu Min's words sounded like a query, there was a hint of chill in his tone. He glanced at the wooden tablet in his hand and asked somewhat nervously: "Excuse me, sir, is it that I wrote something wrong?"

  Lu Min glanced at him, saw his sincere expression, and didn't seem to be pretending. He hesitated for a moment, then said: "It's not that it's wrong, but using this common script to write is ultimately somewhat inappropriate. It would be better to rewrite it in official script. You... aren't trying to say something about my father, are you?"

  This time Liu Xiu heard it and hastily shook his head, saying: "How dare I? Sir is my model in mind, how dare I be disrespectful to sir. I really didn't know this was a vulgar book, and since sir has taken the lead, I will immediately go back and rewrite it, and then send it to sir."

  Lu Min listened, and his face finally cleared up. He nodded and said "alright", then turned around and left. Liu Xiu stood in the same place, his face turning very ugly. He let out a cold snort, but then revealed a smile. He turned around and went back into the house, took out his pen and ink again, erased the carefully written notice, rewrote it in elegant clerical script, carefully checked it over, and only then got up to hurry to the backyard.