The Challenge of a Farmhouse Son-in-Law
Chapter 380 - 390: The Child Plays with Ink

Chapter 380: Chapter 390: The Child Plays with Ink

Uh... a calligraphy competition?

She was sure to win this round, mastering calligraphy wasn’t something achieved overnight. Given the ages of these little maids, she felt as if she were bullying them.

Alright then, out of the five young ladies, the two younger ones wouldn’t compete, leaving the three older ones plus Gu Youyou, making it four contestants in total.

They would each write one character, piecing together "annual abundance".

Gu Youyou: "..."

She was allotted the last character, "abundance".

This was a proper large character, the paper big as a sieve.

Gu Youyou couldn’t help but notice Yue Rujing’s sly smirk and immediately understood it was his idea.

Among these people, he had seen Gu Youyou’s handwriting the most. After all, he was the clerk back at Jisheng Hall in Qingshui Town, wasn’t he?

As he put it, Gu Youyou had one characteristic when writing–she couldn’t use big brushes, only specially made fine-tip pens, creating small, nimble characters. He conjectured that Gu Youyou must be incapable of writing large or, if too large, it wouldn’t look good.

How wronged Gu Youyou was! She wrote in small script to save paper and also because it was more pleasing to the eye.

Who accustomed to modern small regular script would find those giant brush characters easy to read? She wasn’t near-sighted.

The board for such a large character, accompanied by a brush resembling a feather duster, required more than a small inkstone–the maid brought up an entire bucket of ink.

This time the second young lady, Yue Ruxue, didn’t rush forward. She had just cried, her eyes still somewhat red, yet she looked fierce as ever, as if she was ready to devour Gu Youyou.

Gu Youyou pretended not to see. With the mindset of someone in her late twenties, was she really going to fuss over a little girl?

The eldest sister dashed off a "year" character with one stroke, and the grandmother behind her loudly exclaimed her approval, with the maids and old women joining in the praise.

She bowed to the Madam and stepped aside.

The second lady, with a sullen face, also stepped up. With the same sweeping motion of that feather duster-like big brush, she completed the "year" character in one go, her handwriting no less skillful than the eldest sister’s, and added a bit more force.

No wonder this second lady was favored at home; not only was she born legitimate, but she also had some real talent.

The cousin, slightly younger, did a somewhat inferior "abundance" character, but it still looked not too shabby.

For a teenage girl, it was very impressive.

Finally, it was Gu Youyou’s turn, and everyone held their breath as they watched her slowly pick up the brush.

If they had mocked her earlier for her piano and chess performance, no one dared to laugh at her during this calligraphy competition.

On the contrary, they felt her silent composure hinted at a ’wolf in sheep’s clothing’.

Observing her leisurely demeanor, even the servants couldn’t help but subconsciously believe that Doctor Gu was about to amaze everyone once again.

Gu Youyou certainly didn’t disappoint them, and when the final "abundance" character danced upon the paper like a dragon and phoenix in flight, anyone who knew a little about calligraphy loudly applauded.

Yue Rujing joined in the praise. He usually only noticed the beauty of her small regular script, unaware that her large characters were also splendid.

Four servants each held up one character, standing in a row. Upon comparison, the final "abundance" character stood out starkly, making the other three characters seem paltry by contrast.

In their minds, only four words came to mind: "Child’s play with ink."

Compared to Gu Youyou’s character, the previous three misses looked like mere children playing with ink–right characters, indeed, but utterly lacking in beauty.

Yue Ruxue was so furious her face turned ashen, nearly breaking into tears again.

After being defeated by Gu Youyou in three out of four rounds, what would winning the last one even mean? Gu Youyou still emerged victorious.

But winning one round was better than losing all four, wasn’t it? Her gaze shifted toward the elder sister, who was the best at painting among the siblings.

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