Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
When Fang Yuan wrote this line of Chinese characters, Dunbar finally understood the profundity of Chinese culture.
All of the characters looked square, but why did it look so enchanting?
This was ridiculous!
However, Dunbar did not express any dissatisfaction. After all, Fang Yuan was kind enough to help him.
“Okay…in that case, thank you, Fang Yuan.”
“No problem.”
The smile on Fang Yuan’s face grew wider. He pushed the paper to Dunbar and said, “Chinese characters are easy very easy to learn. Just practice it more. There’s a Chinese saying that if you copy someone’s writing a hundred times, you’ll be a master in no time. You should practice this a hundred times before writing it on your friend’s book.”
Dunbar’s eyes were filled with despair.
These characters were stuck together with so many strokes that it was hard to see clearly.
Writing this a hundred times would take forever!
Dunbar braced himself and started writing.
The first time.
The second time.
..
The tenth time.
By the time Dunbar wrote it for the tenth time, he stopped and felt that his hands were already numb.
Why were these words so difficult to write?
It was like a spell!
Fang Yuan said, “Not bad! You’ve improved compared to your first time. Keep up the momentum and write it 90 more times.”
‘This devil!’ Dunbar thought about how he had to write this 100 times when he got back to his room later and felt a little helpless.
“Thanks, Fang Yuan. I think that I’ve practiced enough, so I’ll continue to practice later when I go back.”
Dunbar quickly changed the topic. “Isn’t the live broadcast of the final judging session tomorrow? The judges will review all the shortlisted works, and at the same time, they’ll reveal the identity of the anonymous author. Why don’t you teach me some Chinese? I heard that the head judge is the head of the Cultural Administration and has a Chinese background. It’ll be great to learn a few sentences in advance.”
He made a direct reference to tomorrow’s award as he tried to draw Fang Yuan’s attention to something else.
Now, Dunbar was eager to learn spoken Chinese.
Anything was better than writing these complex Chinese characters.
No matter how difficult spoken Chinese was, it was probably not as difficult as this line of gibberish.
“Alright. Since I don’t have much time, I’ll just teach you a few things that you can use tomorrow.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll listen to you.”
Dunbar’s strategy of changing the topic was very successful and nodded with interest.
“Since we’re still students, we can’t seem too immature when we get the award tomorrow. We’ll need to master some social skills. For example, if the judge looks for you personally, you can answer, ‘yǒu shì?’. This will show the judge that you’re straightforward and concise. If the judge praises you, you can answer, ‘jiù zhè?’. This expresses that there are still many shortcomings in your writing and will make you seem neither too arrogant nor impetuous. It’ll make you look humble and down-to-earth. If the judge criticizes you, you can answer, ‘nǐ zài jiào wǒ zuò shì?’ This is a humorous expression to avoid being in an awkward situation. Did you get all that?”
Fang Yuan’s expression was incredibly serious.
Dunbar was a little stunned and even began to imitate what Fang Yuan just taught him seriously in an awkward accent.
“yǒu shì?” [Translation: what’s the matter?]
“jiù zhè?” [Translation: that’s it?]
“nǐ zài jiào wǒ zuò shì?” [Translation: who are you to tell me what to do?]
Dunbar learned these phrases very quickly. Fang Yuan nodded and said, “Not bad! You’ve basically mastered it. These are some commonly used phrases, so the judge will certainly look at you in a new light.”
“Thank you so much, Fang Yuan!”
Fang Yuan waved his hand. “No problem. Remember to practice more when you get back and don’t forget to apply what you’ve learned tomorrow!”
..
The next day was the day of the final judging session.
As usual, the final judging session of the Fall Cup Creative Writing Workshop was carried out through live broadcast nationwide.
A professional reader judging panel of 3,000 people signed up in advance.
Those who were selected for the panel of professional readers had to go through a series of screening processes to determine their reading preferences before they could reach this stage.
Each reader would be randomly assigned to the participants’ works on the spot.
They would then mark the works according to creativity, plot, character, worldview, writing style, and thematic values.
Based on the average score of each work, the final four submissions would be chosen.
Then, the final judgment would be made by the star jury present.
The winner of this competition would be chosen from these four works.
“Alright.”
Sherry stood in front of the stage in the middle of the hotel lobby, facing the live broadcast camera as well as the contestants below the stage.
She began to announce the shortlisted works. “The four shortlisted works for this year’s Fall Cup Creative Writing Competition are as follows. The first work is ‘Candle in the Tomb: Ruins of the Ancient City’ by author ‘The World Stops Singing’. The second novel is ‘The Lost Tomb: Palace of Qixinglu’ by author ‘Southern Sect Third Uncle’. The third one is ‘The Witch Carrie’ by author ‘First Creation’. The fourth one is ‘Ghosthand’ by author ‘Winning The Championship’. A huge congratulations to the four anonymous authors mentioned above!”
There was a round of applause below the stage. There was a mixture of joyful and sorrowful expressions from the authors.
Many curious contestants also asked each other if they were part of the four finalists.
“Anyhow, I think that Fang Yuan’s book is one of them.”
“Which book though?”
“Yeah, which book do you think it is…”
Without letting the contestants below the stage get into their discussion, Sherry continued, “According to the rules of the competition, we will publish the full text of these four books online. We’ll also make the first three chapters free for a trial read. Each book will be priced the same, and the winner of this competition will be determined by the total online sales and the judges’ ranking!”