Chapter 183: 068 Ren Qian suspended, VIP member!_4
Translator: 549690339
Jian Zhe submitted the list and flew back to Beicheng the next day.
After taking a train transfer, he arrived in Xiangcheng dusty and disheveled on Monday afternoon.
No one from the Jian Family came to pick him up.
He wasn’t surprised at all, as he never considered himself to be the chosen one by fate.
Jian Zhe arrived alone at the Calligraphy Association venue, where Qiu Xuezheng was sweeping the floor outside.
Seeing him, Qiu Xuezheng looked up and smiled, “Jian Zhe, right? Come in first, we have a members’ meeting at six o’clock.”
Bai Lian quietly set up a Calligraphy Association without any opening ceremony or press conference.
She personally invited local calligraphers who hadn’t taken any exams to join.
She wrote the signboard “Xiangcheng Calligraphy Association” with her own hand.
Beforehand, Jian Zhe had heard from Qiu Boqing that the Xiangcheng Calligraphy Association was desolate and run-down, but upon arrival, he found that while the items here were old, they were very quaint.
He held up a teacup and took a sip.
“Where did this tea come from?” Jian Zhe looked up at Qiu Xuezheng, feeling quite strange.
This tea…
Why does it taste so much like Old Patches tea…
Why do I know it so well?
Because his grandfather sent a tea cake to Jian Rong when she was shortlisted for the Lan Ting Award, and she had boasted about it for a year, even letting Jian Zhe try it, and he remembered it distinctly.
He even felt that the color of this tea was much better than the one Jian Rong had.
“Here,” Qiu Xuezheng pointed to a big jar behind him, “Brought by Student Bai. Do you like it? Take some back with you later. We have limited funds here, only these things…”
He sighed.
Jian Zhe stared dumbfoundedly at the large jar placed behind him, and then glanced down at the tea in his hands.
“?”
That time, Jian Rong had boasted about that tea cake for a long time.
With so much of it… could it really be Old Patches tea?
It was almost six o’clock.
Bai Lian arrived with Jiang He.
She wore her school uniform, carried a bag, tied up her hair, and stepped into the Calligraphy Association hall against the setting sun.
“Everyone’s here,” Qiu Xuezheng led a few old teachers out and then said to Bai Lian, “Today is the first general meeting of all members. Although there are not many people, starting the association will be difficult…”
Jian Zhe sat next to Bai Lian, looking at the few scattered people sitting around the octagonal table.
He was beginning to understand what Qiu Boqing meant.
“Teacher Qiu, wait,” Bai Lian was looking down at her English reading when she heard Qiu Xuezheng’s words. She lifted her head slightly, her arm lightly resting on the table, legs crossed, the other hand propping her chin as she looked outside, “There’s one more person.”
“Who?”
Qiu Xuezheng was startled.
He hadn’t received any other applications.
Just as he was saying that, a tall figure slowly appeared at the doorway in the twilight, holding a cellphone and casually walking along the stone path.
Qiu Xuezheng immediately recognized him as the man who had sat next to Bai Lian at the coffee shop.
Jian Zhe, who was leaning on the table and talking to Bai Lian, straightened up abruptly as he felt the gaze.
There were others sitting around the octagonal table who were previously chatting merrily, but they all became tense for some reason upon seeing Jiang Fulai.
Jian Zhe moved halfway off his seat, thinking to make room for this big shot.
However, before he could stand up, Jiang He, sitting on the other side of Bai Lian, got up in a familiar way and sat down expressionlessly on a stool set to the side.
Jian Zhe:
Jiang Fulai casually pulled out the chair next to Bai Lian and sat down nonchalantly, greeting everyone at the octagonal table, “Just carry on, I’m just here to listen.”
He acted as if he was just casually listening.
But facing him, how could Qiu Xuezheng be casual?
“It’s like this, we have a total of seven… eight initial members,” Qiu Xuezheng read from the notebook one by one, and when he got to the end, he hesitated as he looked towards Jiang Fulai, “May I ask…”
“Jiang Fulai, the Fulai from Turkic language.” Jiang Fulai lightly tapped the tabletop with his fingertips, leaning back lazily in his chair as he announced his full name.
Qiu Xuezheng nodded, added the name, and asked, “Is this your first time joining a Calligraphy Association, or a second time?”
“Second time joining.”
Qiu Xuezheng looked surprised again, as he had thought Jiang Fulai, like Bai Lian, was joining for the first time.
After all, Jiang Fulai had an aura of elite about him, more like someone in finance or politics, and didn’t quite fit the artistic image.
“Second time joining,” he took a sip of tea to ease himself before continuing to write on the paper, “Which Calligraphy Association were you previously in, and do you have a rank?”
“Traditional Calligraphers Association, ranked…,” Jiang Fulai started lazily, then thought for a moment, “Special grade member, I guess.”
Qiu Xuezheng, about to take note of Jiang Fulai’s information, paused with his pen in shock and looked up!
