Reborn in 1977

The meeting was originally scheduled for half an hour, but by the time Chen Fan offered his farewell, more than two hours had passed.

As they were leaving, Old Ba led them back to his study, picked up a brush and wrote a calligraphy piece. After finishing, he stamped it with his personal seal and smiled at Chen Fan, "Struggle is life, and life is only about moving forward. I give you this saying, hoping you can continue your efforts and write even better works."

Chen Fan held the paper, grinning from ear to ear, "I will definitely keep your teachings in mind, continue to work hard, and never stop."

Just kidding, the next ten years will be the golden age of literary creation. You can't stop me from writing even if you try!

Old Ba smiled and said to him, "Have you studied calligraphy?"

Chen Fan blinked, "A little."

Without any modesty, among the long list of skills on the skill panel, the one with the highest level was not the earliest one, cooking (the first household skill, which had been neglected and remained at LV3, was automatically ignored), nor was it the literature that produced more than a dozen submissions a month, nor the martial arts that he practiced diligently every day.

But the one that came from behind was "Calligraphy"!

He learned the basics of calligraphy from Fourth Master Lu, and later, he wrote more than 10,000 words a day. How much experience points did he earn?!

At this time, the calligraphy skill was also the only LV6 skill on the skill panel. Old Ba asked him if he could write calligraphy, wasn't that exactly what he was good at?

Jiang Tiantian carefully took the calligraphy from Chen Fan with both hands, took two steps back and stood aside, watching Chen Fan with curiosity in her eyes.

She had heard her sister say that Chen Fan's handwriting was very beautiful, even better than the calligraphy templates in the bookstore.

But she was a little skeptical. She believed that Chen Fan's handwriting was good, but she didn't believe that it was better than the calligraphy written by calligraphers on the templates.

She even suspected that her sister's eyes had turned into the shape of Chen Fan, and she could even say such outrageous things.

Now it was finally time to witness the truth.

So, how was Chen Fan's calligraphy really?

Smoothing out a piece of ordinary white paper, Chen Fan casually picked up a writing brush, dipped it in ink on the inkstone, and flicked it a few times to remove the excess ink. Then, without hesitation, he began to write.

As soon as the first character appeared, Old Ba's eyes lit up, and he stared at the paper without blinking.

Jiang Tiantian was even more astonished, her mouth wide open and unable to speak.

Chen Fan wielded the brush like a god, and a line of characters was completed in one stroke.

"Live in works, struggle in works."

This was a sentence from Old Ba's short story collection in 1991, published in Wenhui Daily. He didn't believe Old Ba wouldn't recognize it!

Sure enough, Old Ba couldn't help but step forward, bowing slightly to look at the words on the table, unwilling to blink.

After a long time, he straightened up and let out a long breath, "Good calligraphy, good calligraphy!"

Well, he didn't even look at what was written.

He turned to look at Chen Fan, his eyes full of amazement, "Your calligraphy has become a force to be reckoned with. I am not as good as you. Perhaps only a few masters such as Ouyang Zhongshi and Qi Gong can be comparable to you, and I wouldn't even dare to say that they are better than you. How did you practice your calligraphy?"

Chen Fan coughed dryly and began to make up a story again, "I didn't have the conditions before, so I followed my teacher and used a chicken feather pen to learn the basics. Over time, I became proficient in using all kinds of writing brushes. With years of practice, I have achieved a little success."

Jiang Tiantian gave him a meaningful glance. Years? Wasn't it more like months?

My sister told me everything!

However, she would definitely not expose Chen Fan.

Old Ba took a deep breath and asked with a serious face, "Besides regular script, how are your other scripts?"

Chen Fan smiled, "About the same, about the same."

Old Ba immediately carefully moved the paper on the table to the side, pulled over another piece of paper and spread it out, "Come, write a cursive script and let me see."

Chen Fan picked up the brush again and wrote another sentence, "Ideals do not abandon those who pursue them with painstaking effort."

After he finished writing, Old Ba quickly leaned over to blow it dry, moved the paper to the other side, and spread out another piece, "Write a running script."

Chen Fan blinked and glanced at Old Ba. In the end, he still picked up the brush to write.

It was an honor for the big shot to ask you to write. He definitely wouldn't be deliberately tricking you for calligraphy pieces.

After the running script was finished, he wrote a seal script and an official script as expected.

With five scripts in hand, each with different content, Old Ba nodded in satisfaction… his mouth couldn't close, should be laughing? Just without making a sound.

After laughing for a while, Old Ba realized, "Hey, why are there no signatures and seals?"

After speaking, he spread the calligraphy pieces on the table again, and took out his treasured inkpad from the drawer, "Come, come, add them, add them."

Chen Fan obediently followed his instructions, added the signatures one by one, and took out a small seal from his pocket, um, it was the Tianhuang stone that Fourth Master Lu gave him, and he carved it himself. He pressed it on the inkpad and stamped the calligraphy pieces.

Finally, it was complete.

Old Ba spread the five calligraphy pieces on the table, took a few steps back and clasped his hands tightly. At this time, there was nothing else in his eyes… and no one else.

Jiang Tiantian hung Old Ba's handwritten calligraphy in her hands, her eyes staring straight at Chen Fan, with nothing else in her eyes and no one else.

Chen Fan slowly put away the seal, saw her expression, and shrugged innocently.

Calligraphy can't be hidden. You can't deliberately write badly, otherwise it would be easily exposed.

After a long time, Old Ba finally came back to his senses. He first looked carefully at the words on the paper, nodded secretly in his heart, paused for two seconds, and turned to look at Chen Fan, "There is no Calligraphers Association in Jiangnan Province, so you must not have joined. But it doesn't matter, Shanghai has one, it was established in 1961. Many members of the Writers Association are also members of the Calligraphers Association. I will arrange for you to join tomorrow.

Although the Calligraphers Association is not as high-level as the Writers Association, it is also a member of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles. And when the Federation of Literary and Art Circles is rebuilt, a National Calligraphers Association will definitely be established. With your calligraphy, there will definitely be no problem getting in.

Your calligraphy has great artistic value. Joining the Calligraphers Association will be beneficial to you and to the development of national calligraphy art."

He said a series of words without giving Chen Fan a chance to consider.

Chen Fan smiled slightly, but did not refuse. He just wondered in his heart whether the Calligraphers Association had any benefits, otherwise joining would be meaningless.

If it was just a title, it couldn't be converted into cash?!

Of course, Old Ba didn't know what he was thinking. Seeing that he didn't object, the matter was settled.

After a pause of two seconds, he thought for a moment and asked, "Your calligraphy attainments are so profound, do you have any special secrets?"

Chen Fan hesitated for a moment and said, "Calligraphy has been passed down for thousands of years, from the seal carvings of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods to the flying white script of the Three Kingdoms period, and then to the peak of the Two Wangs. So many sages have already exhausted and explained the mysteries of calligraphy. I didn't have any particularly good experience when practicing calligraphy. I just wrote more, practiced more, and copied more. After writing for a long time, it will naturally be slightly better."

Old Ba glared at him unhappily, "This is not just slightly better. I have practiced for decades, and my writing is still far behind yours."

Chen Fan chuckled dryly, "I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare."

Old Ba waved his hand, ignoring his false modesty, and said with emotion, "You are right. The mysteries of calligraphy have already been exhausted in the writings of the sages of the past. There are indeed no more secrets to dig out."

As he said that, he shook his head and went to admire the five calligraphy pieces on the table again.

Chen Fan hesitated for a moment and said, "Old Ba, although there are no secrets to brush calligraphy, I have researched a little bit of hard-pen calligraphy."

Old Ba turned his head sharply, his eyes full of curiosity, "Hard-pen calligraphy?"

Now he couldn't even bother appreciating the calligraphy. He pulled Chen Fan towards the desk, "This is the first time I've heard of hard-pen calligraphy. Write a few words for me to see."

Jiang Tiantian also curiously crowded over.

Chen Fan helplessly sat in the chair, took the fountain pen that Ba Lao shoved into his hand, and wrote a sentence on a stack of white paper.

"A Brief Discussion on Hard-Pen Calligraphy".

Just those few words made Ba Lao and Jiang Tiantian's eyes light up with wonder.

At this moment, Jiang Tiantian suddenly understood her sister's words. So this was what her sister meant when she said that Xiao Fan's handwriting with a fountain pen was especially, especially good!!

After writing the title, Chen Fan saw that Ba Lao was still staring at him expectantly, so he had no choice but to continue writing.

"When people talk about calligraphy, they all think of the brush. However, as things change and the old is replaced with the new, most people today write with fountain pens. I believe that since it is a pen, and words are formed on paper, it can also be called calligraphy.

Therefore, I have studied the method of hard-pen writing. After years of research and summary, I will briefly discuss the key points and methods of hard-pen calligraphy. Like traditional calligraphy, hard-pen calligraphy needs to take into account three elements: penmanship, structure, and composition.

The key points are 'head dot high and upright', 'dot and vertical opposite each other', 'middle straight and correct'..."

The characteristic of level 6 calligraphy skill is not only writing well, but also writing fast.

Chen Fan used the large sheets of calligraphy paper as draft paper, and his hand speed was comparable to a typewriter, writing hundreds of words per minute, a thousand words in ten minutes. In less than an hour, he completely wrote out his conceived "A Brief Discussion on Hard-Pen Calligraphy".

He even added ink once during the process.

After he finished writing, before he could put away the fountain pen, Ba Lao had already impatiently taken the paper.

He first glanced at the content briefly, and then carefully pondered the font on the paper.

In order to more intuitively reflect the characteristics of hard-pen calligraphy, Chen Fan actually used 5 fonts to write the entire article of several thousand words, and each line and each word was neat and tidy, completely without modification from beginning to end.

A few minutes later, Ba Lao raised his head, slowly exhaled a long breath, looked at him and asked, "Did you research this yourself?"

Chen Fan smiled, naturally put the fountain pen in his pocket, which made the corners of Ba Lao's eyes twitch.

But he had schemed for Chen Fan's calligraphy works first, just a Parker gold pen obtained on the Korean battlefield... It hurt so much.

This was a souvenir given to him by the leader of the unit to which Wang Cheng's prototype Zhao Gongchen belonged. Was it just gone like that? Why did he just happen to draw this pen?!

Then he heard Chen Fan say, "If you haven't heard of this hard-pen calligraphy elsewhere, then I should be the only one researching it."

Ba Lao nodded, then coughed dryly, "Keep that pen safe, don't lose it."

Chen Fan was slightly stunned, and immediately realized that this pen was not simple. He quickly took it out to return it, but Ba Lao waved his hand, "It's a gift for you. This pen is a trophy from the northern battlefield back then. It's considered making the best use of it in your hands. Keep it well."

Hearing this, Chen Fan could only smile awkwardly and put it back in his pocket.

Jiang Tiantian watched from the side, unable to help but lower her head to suppress her laughter.

As expected, he would never suffer a loss anywhere, even daring to take advantage of Ba Lao.

Of course, Chen Fan still had a sense of propriety. If he hadn't seen that Ba Lao had an excellent impression of him and had deliberately schemed for a few pieces of calligraphy, he would definitely have been well-behaved and would never have overstepped the mark by half a step.

After Chen Fan put away the pen, Ba Lao said to him, "This article of yours has publishing value, but it's not suitable to submit it to any magazine. If it's published in a newspaper, the number of words is a bit excessive."

After a two-second pause, he thought for a moment and said, "How about this, I'll find a publishing house for you to publish a book separately?"

Chen Fan blinked, did not immediately agree, but pretended to hesitate and said, "But what about Chairman He's side?"

The "Jiangnan Literature" magazine also has its own publishing unit. If his first book is not left to "his own people", I'm afraid Chairman He will come looking for trouble.

If it weren't for the way his eyes were blinking, Ba Lao would have really thought that He Qingsheng was narrow-minded and dared to suppress young writers at will.

He immediately said unhappily, "I'm finding a publishing house for you to publish a book, and you're still not happy. Tell me, what conditions do you want?"

After a pause, he quickly said, "Don't mention royalties, this is stipulated, a rigid rule. I can give you a maximum of 7 yuan per thousand words. There's no other way."

Then he coughed dryly again, "Well, at most, I can try to get you a little more in terms of other benefits."

Chen Fan blinked, "What benefits?"

Ba Lao looked at him, couldn't help but smile wryly, "You young man, you haven't earned less in royalties, why are you so focused on money?"

Originally, he didn't like talking about money very much, but at this time, seeing that this little guy was a bit of a money grubber, he not only didn't feel disgusted, but found it a little funny.

So he thought for a moment and said, "Don't even think about money. If you want to buy something, I can help you find ration coupons."

Chen Fan clapped his hands, "If you can help me buy a small jeep, that would be the best."

Hearing this, Ba Lao almost spat out a mouthful of old blood, "A small jeep? What are you dreaming of?!"

Saying that, he raised his head and looked at him with a smile that was not a smile, "A small jeep costs 40,000 yuan, do you have that much money?"

Chen Fan smiled awkwardly, "Actually, I can get a car myself, and it doesn't cost much money, it's just that I don't have a unit to register with. If..."

Ba Lao's smile faded slightly, and he looked at him in surprise, "I didn't expect you to have this ability."

He thought for a moment and said, "As long as you can get the car, I can help you register it under the Writers Association, and the procedures can be handled. It will be for your personal use."

This time Chen Fan was also surprised. He was just asking for the sky-high price, but he didn't expect Ba Lao to actually agree.

At this time, Ba Lao said again, "If you can't get it, I won't treat you badly either. The publishing house also has a Changjiang 750 motorcycle that has been used for more than ten years. Adding a sidecar can also be used as a small car. Tomorrow you go to the Writers Association meeting, you can drive the car away."

Saying that, he raised the paper with the full text of "A Brief Discussion on Hard-Pen Calligraphy", looked at him with a smile that was not a smile, "But the copyright and publishing unit of this book will be exclusively owned by our Writers Association. You can no longer give it to the Jiangnan Writers Association for publication."

Chen Fan nodded without thinking, "Okay."

Not to mention that there is also a motorcycle, even if there is nothing, he would not do something like selling a book twice. Even if this kind of thing is not uncommon now.

Since he took this out, he planned to hand it over to Ba Lao to help publish it.

It doesn't matter if there are no royalties at this time. Anyway, he has a series of calligraphy copybooks waiting to be released later. When he can register and run his own publishing house in the future, with Ba Lao's connections, how much money can't he earn back?!

On the contrary, this motorcycle is really an unexpected surprise, and there is also a promise of a license plate for a small car... Other authors also publish books, with the same royalties, do they have such treatment?!

Isn't this a big profit?!

Ba Lao saw Chen Fan smiling like an idiot, and he was secretly snickering.

He had a hunch that this unprecedented hard-pen calligraphy, once published and released, would definitely set off a nationwide craze for practicing hard-pen calligraphy.

This wave, his unit will make a steady profit!

As for giving Chen Fan such generous conditions, it was just a matter of convenience to win him over.

After all, such an excellent young man belongs to someone else. If he doesn't give him more, how will he ask for him in the future?!