Danqing

"I'm five and a half years old now, and I won't be until summer when I'm six! Are you telling the truth, Grasshopper?" Tan Songxue's eyes lit up, and he looked at Chen Kezhi expectantly.

Chen Kezhi thought that Father Tan would definitely visit Mother Qin once or twice this year. Because of the hot weather, Father Tan worked most leisurely in July and August, and Tan Songxue's birthday happened to be in July. As soon as you mention it, father Qin will agree eight out of ten.And it's time for him to go to the provincial capital to see his grandparents. Grandpa Chen's condition is very repeated, and Grandma Chen's mood is depressed because of Grandpa Chen, and her health is gradually getting worse.

"Have I lied to you?" Chen Kezhi asked back.

Tan Songxue was finally in a better mood, finished eating the remaining two fried dumplings and ran away.

The proprietress chased after the door and shouted: "Baby, come back! You haven't paid me yet!"

Chen Kezhi: "..."

The mess left by Tan Songxue was naturally left to Chen Kezhi to clean up.

"Auntie, I'll give him his money." Children's bills are clearly divided, usually snacks can be shared, and there are very few people who directly use money to treat guests. First, there is not enough pocket money, and second, there are no treats yet. consciousness.The breakfast shop is just outside the yard. The proprietress often deals with this group of children, and she is very clear about their habits. Although Qin Songxue called him brother since childhood, the two are not related by blood, so Chen Kezhi said that The words surprised her.

"One piece for two bowls of soy milk, two yuan for eleven fried dumplings, a total of three yuan." Among them, only Chen Kezhi spoke Mandarin. Although his expression was a little cold, he was very polite. When selling fried dumplings, one will be given away.

Qi Chenzhuo and Yang Bo usually slept until almost noon before getting up. During this time, Qin Songxue practiced calligraphy with Chen Kezhi. Father Tan assigned them four sheets of rough-edged paper every day, two in the morning, two in the afternoon and two in the evening.

At present, Qin Songxue mainly uses official script, supplemented by Wei Bei.The styles of the two are very different. The official script of the Eastern Han Dynasty is represented by Cao Quan and the stele of ritual vessels. With natural simplicity and precipitousness.

Among the Wei steles, the calligraphy level of the Northern Wei Dynasty is the highest. The copybook selected by Qin's father for Qin Songxue is the Zhang Menglong Stele of the Northern Wei Dynasty and is known as the "No. [-] Wei Stele".Zhang Menglong Stele is a representative work of traditional calligraphy, which plays a role in connecting the past and the future in the history of calligraphy. It inherits the legacy of Han Li and opened the beginning of Tangkai calligraphy.

Qin Songxue had a hard time mixing the two fonts at the beginning, and accidentally mixed the two fonts together. The Zhang Menglong Monument was too tender, while the Cao Quan Monument was too majestic.Even though Tan Songxue was so talented, he was still dizzy after two weeks. He once lost his temper while holding a pen, and didn't eat lunch.

"The Cao Quan I wrote doesn't look like Duan Yu, it's clearly Tian Boguang! And this Zhang Menglong, I wrote it as Zhang Wenlong! I'm so pissed off!"

Chen Kezhi held back his laughter as he heard Tan Songxue lose his temper alone in the study.

Since Father Tan knew that Chen Kezhi gave up calligraphy as a profession, he has been very strict with Qin Songxue, starting from writing a complete piece of rough-edged paper and changing a font, to writing a word and changing a font in the end, and the styles cannot be mixed. , Tan Songxue's hard-earned self-confidence was blown to the ground, but he has always been a master who refused to admit defeat. In addition to the four pieces of rough-edged paper arranged by Tan's father, he also practiced one more piece every day.After more than half a year, the two fonts can be clearly distinguished, the Zhang Menglong stele is square and upright, and the Cao Quan stele is handsome and elegant.

Qin's father often said that Zhang Menglong is like Zhang Fei in the Three Kingdoms, while Cao Quan is a gentleman like Duan Yu. They are two completely different styles.

The scope of Chen Kezhi's practice is wider than that of Qin Songxue. He mainly uses regular script and supplemented by running script. In order to better connect the two, Qin's father also asked him to practice Chu Suiliang's "Yanta Holy Teaching Preface".

"The characteristic of Yan body is that the vertical line on the right side is thicker than the left side, and it has a slight curvature. You can see that the border of the country looks like a bulge. Therefore, Yan body looks very bulky. Write according to this feature. After practicing, you You don’t need to read the copybooks, the writing is just the face.”

"Chu Suiliang made a lot of strikes. Look at these words, the edges are all sharp, so there is a sharp feeling."

Father Tan's explanations are very simple and easy to understand every time, and are more practical than those who show off their knowledge in theoretical books. Even with Qin Songxue's comprehension ability, he can remember the characteristics of these words very well.

The running script appeared earlier than the regular script. The writing in the running script is indulgent and flowing, with little or no interruption, light turns and heavy pressing, and the words are intertwined with each other. The movement of the strokes is especially obvious between the stippling.Regular script, on the other hand, is "square in form and straight in strokes." "Ci Hai" (Note), at first glance, each stroke is an independent individual.

However, the regular script evolved from the official script also follows the so-called "eight-point regular script", while the running script is a branch of the "eight-fen regular script" that removes the waves of official script.The origins of Xing and Kai are still one, and the shape is changing but the momentum is there. The writing of regular script also pays attention to "silk connection".

The Preface to the Holy Teachings of the Yanta written by Chu Suiliang in his later years is different from Yan Zhenqing's straight and firm style. He mostly uses curved lines, and his pen is closer to running script, and the traces of "eight-point regular script" are very obvious.Each character can be seen to be connected with the previous character, for example, the small tick at the end of this stroke corresponds to the small tip at the beginning of the next character.

When Chen Kezhi first got started, he felt the huge difference between Chu Suiliang and Yan Zhenqing. In order to distinguish it from Yan Zhenqing's handwriting, the usual one-and-a-half hour speed was reduced to two and a half hours.After all, Chen Kezhi is older, and his ability to learn things is better than that of Qin Songxue, and his content is relatively simpler than that of Qin Songxue. Within a month, Chen Kezhi has been able to write "The Preface to the Holy Teaching of Yanta" very beautifully. .

After writing a spelling couplet by Chu Suiliang, Father Qin greatly praised Chen Kezhi. At that time, Tan Songxue’s stele of ritual vessels was messed up by Zhang Menglong’s stele, that is, he was so angry that he didn’t even eat lunch that day. .

Qin's father personally admired Su Shi's running script, but it was Wang Xizhi who taught Chen Kezhi to practice.The purpose of Qin's father asking Chen Kezhi to practice running script was not to improve his calligraphy, but to keep his hands and feet from being restricted when writing regular script. When he specialized in running script in the future, his brushwork took over the momentum of regular script and made the characters stiff and rigid.

Taking Wang Xizhi as an introduction, it is difficult and difficult. As the best running script in the world, "Lanting Collection Preface" is Wang Xizhi's pinnacle work with nearly perfect composition, structure and brushwork.Wang Xizhi, who learned from Mrs. Wei, is proficient in Li, Cao, Kai, Xing and other styles, and has profound attainments in seal script.

The works of the middle-aged Wang Xizhi bring his own experience, peaceful and natural, euphemistic and reserved. The world often uses Cao Zhi's "Luo Shen Fu" to describe the beauty of his works as "elegant as a frightening bird, graceful as a dragon". This is Chen Kezhi 30 years later. A realm that may not be reached.

Even though the original "Lanting Preface" has not been unearthed today, he used the version of "Lanting Preface" copied by Feng Chengsu, but this version undoubtedly expresses the charm of the original work very well, with at least [-]% similarity.

After Chen Ke went to elementary school, the school organized a lot of cultural activities. He asked Father Tan if he wanted to participate, but Father Tan immediately rejected it, saying that in the future, he would not participate in any competitions that were not held by a certain Calligraphers Association, which was a waste of time and self-defeating worth.Father Tan is a very proud person in this respect, which deeply affected Tan Songxue.

However, there is another reason why Father Tan didn't tell Chen Kezhi. He didn't want his closed disciples to be exposed to others too early. Several members of the County Calligraphy Association were teachers from their elementary schools. If those few knew Chen Kezhi's current level It will be a very troublesome thing.

Even though Chen Kezhi is less than nine years old now, his level has far surpassed that of all the children in the county. As long as the apprentices brought by other people make a little progress, the teachers will hang up their works to show off, so Father Qin is very kind to those students. The child understands it very well, even the master is a bunch of jealous people, what can the apprentice do?

To learn calligraphy, you must have a good tutor. Wang Xizhi has Mrs. Wei, Su Shi has Su Xun, Yan Zhenqing has Chu Suiliang and Zhang Xu, but in modern times, self-taught is completely nonsense.The circle of painting and calligraphy is not as clean as it looks. Even if you have practiced for 40 to [-] years to reach a certain level, and there is no one with a background behind you to bring into the circle, no one will admit that the works you write are worthless.

Father Tan knows this truth very well. What worries him most now is that he has no background, but for the sake of Qin Songxue and Chen Kezhi, he must create a good condition for them.

Fortunately, both children were young, and he had a long time to figure it out.

The winter in the south is very gloomy and cold, with little snow and freezing rain. There is no heating, and every household in small cities is accustomed to using charcoal fires for heating.Qin Songxue was already a little fat, but because of the cold weather, she dressed like a ball during the Chinese New Year.Qin's mother bought him a gift box of children's firecrackers, which contained all kinds of firecrackers, the ones held in the hand, the ones placed under the feet, the ones with sound, the ones without sound... During the day, Tan Songxue cat kept warm at home and practiced calligraphy , At night, they called the other two brats to come out and set off cannons, which made the whole yard bang bang. That was the happiest moment for the three brats.

Occasionally, when there were big fireworks going off not far away, Tan Songxue would ask Chen Kezhi to cover his ears, and his hands would ache after covering his ears for a long time.

Because the Chen family and the Qin family are small, they spend New Year's Eve together, so there is no need to worry about wasting too much food.The New Year dishes in the south are very rich. After Chen's mother married, she cooked with Qin's mother, and gradually learned how to cook pork with preserved vegetables and steamed meat with millet flour, and Qin's mother also learned the way of northern pasta.The two mothers were busy from morning to afternoon, cooking a table of good dishes.

Father Chen opened a bottle of Moutai and shared it with Father Tan. Drinking time during meals would drag on for a long time.The one who ate the most was Tan Songxue, with a full stomach, and took a break in order to stuff more food.Chen's father and Chen's mother bought a 29-inch color TV with year-end subsidies, and the two families got together to watch the Spring Festival Gala, which was very lively.

It was the first time for Qin Songxue to watch TV on such a big TV, and she was so excited that she didn't sleep until the clock struck twelve o'clock.The night of New Year's Eve was the most painful time for Chen Kezhi. After [-]:[-], the full name was fireworks. As always, the boy Qin Songxue asked him to help cover his ears, while he stared at the TV screen with gusto.Chen Kezhi was delighted to be quiet, the sound of fireworks exploding made his ears hurt, and he couldn't cover himself.

Chen's mother had the habit of eating dumplings at twelve o'clock, Qin's mother helped her in the kitchen, and the fathers set off firecrackers on the first floor, Chen Kezhi had to be tortured by the noise all the time.

Fortunately, the two mothers moved quickly, carrying dumplings into the living room before twelve o'clock, seeing Tan Songxue's behavior, Qin's mother slapped him on the head.

"The bastard bullied your brother again!"

Tan Songxue stuck out her tongue, and reluctantly covered her ears.The two fathers also entered the house after setting off the firecrackers. The dumplings just out of the pan were still hot, and they were divided into four plates. Chen's mother and Qin's mother brought out two plates first, and the two fathers brought the remaining two plates.

After all, there are few people in the county town, and it gradually quieted down after a quarter past twelve.

The Qin family didn't pay much attention to eating dumplings in the past. They basically bought ready-made dumplings outside, and they didn't know how to make bread inside. But after Chen's mother came over, eating dumplings was the top priority of the Chinese New Year.Since Qin Songxue ate the first coin, he fell in love with this kind of food for Chinese New Year. Father Tan forgot about the coin and almost broke his teeth when he bit down on it, which made everyone I laughed so hard I couldn't straighten up.