Chapter 42 - Touching Hands

Translator: Superbulat

After Song Mo lifted Tang Huan, he withdrew his hand, turned around, and asked the store worker, “What’s going on?”

He was not smiling. He was not even thirty years old, but he had a stern temperament even when he was not angry. The older masters in the store respected him, while the younger ones were both respectful and fearful of him. So when he appeared, the worker put away his arrogant demeanor, respectfully stood at the door, and sullenly replied, “Sir, this boy came late and missed the registration, so he begged me to write down his name. I did not want to break the rules because of him, but he blocked me.”

Song Mo glanced at him and turned his gaze toward Tang Huan.

Tang Huan didn’t wait for him to say anything before kneeling down and pointing her finger at the lantern hanging on the shelf in front of her, looking firmly at Song Mo.

The worker said quietly, “Sir, he is mute.”

Song Mo gave an “Mhm”. Seeing Tang Huan’s skinny body and thin cheeks, he frowned and asked her, “Does your family know that you’re applying to be a disciple?”

Tang Huan shook her head, pointed to the sky, lowered her eyes, and tears rolled down her face.

Song Mo understood. Seeing that the young man had a disability and both his parents were dead, he did not directly chase him away as he usually did to people who blocked his way. He motioned to Tang Huan to get up first. “Show me your hands.”

When Tang Huan’s master accepted her as a disciple, she also looked at her hand. Tang Huan guessed that all acceptance of disciples probably have to pass this hurdle? She obediently stretched out her hand. Even a picky person like her master also praised that her bone structure was suitable to practice martial arts. Looking at her palm alone, Song Mo would probably approve her, right?

How would Song Mo, an ordinary person, know how to feel one’s bone structure and do palm reading? He just wanted to see the shape of the teenager’s hand. When Tang Huan stretched out her hand, he looked down and saw that her fingers were slender and long, looking like they were pretty dexterous. He praised her in his heart. He pressed on her right knuckles. They were soft as if she had no bones in her palms. He was slightly surprised. To work in this field, one’s fingers should absolutely not be too stiff, but a man was born with such a pair of hands……

He let go of her and instructed the worker, “Write down his name.” After saying that, he turned around and walked away. He was satisfied with the teenager’s hands, but whether the boy could become his disciple would depend on his performance tomorrow.

Tang Huan looked at the man’s disappearing figure in confusion, and then looked down at her own hand. A touch of her hand gave her the qualification to participate in the competition. Was this Song Mo really interested in good-looking men?

“What are you still standing there for? Quickly let me know your name, where you are from……” The worker asked loudly as he glared at Tang Huan and leaned down on the table.

Tang Huan walked over, snatched his pen, and wrote down her name on the list: Yu Wu. 1

After this dream ended, there were five more dreams remaining.

After leaving the lantern store, Tang Huan settled in an inn. When she was eating dinner, someone around her happened to mention Song Mo, so she deliberately slowed down and listened attentively.

It turned out that this was the first time Song Mo publicly recruited a disciple. His eldest disciple Fu Ning was accepted by him when he was on a trip. He was seventeen years old, a full ten years younger than Song Mo. Because Fu Ning also had good looks, many people suspected that the master and disciple relationship was not simple.

Tang Huan was about to drink the wine in her hand when she heard this. She suddenly remembered how Song Mo had touched her hand previously and could not help but shake her head and smile. It was easy to see whether the other party had ulterior motives when it came to touching hands. When Lin Pei Zhi touched her hand, he was obviously teasing her, but when Song Mo touched her, except for the temperature of his fingertips, she did not feel anything strange.

But this could not be ruled that Song Mo did not like men. Maybe he just didn’t like her?

After finished eating and hearing that Song Mo was recruiting someone who had not learned lantern making before, Tang Huan went to bed at ease. Competing against a group of ordinary people, as long as they did not test about poetry and lantern-making skill, she was confident that she could win.

On what basis?

Because even a picky person like her master only accepted her as a disciple.

The next morning, it was completely packed in front of the Song family lantern store. There were around a thousand of people, all young men under the age of twenty. In addition to those who wanted to be a disciple, there were also those who came to watch the fun.

Tang Huan watched from afar. She wanted to see how Song Mo choose disciples.

Soon, the store door opened, and a tall man wearing a royal blue round-necked robe came out. He was about seventeen or eighteen, with long eyebrows, fox eyes, and a smile on his lips.

What a graceful and beautiful man!

Tang Huan’s eyes lit up, and she regretted a little for not squeezing to the front.

“Everyone be quiet,” Fu Ning stood in the center of the entrance and spoke loudly and clearly. “My master has said that one hundred people will participate in the first competition at the same time, and five people will be selected at a time. Those who are selected will go to the side room to prepare for the second game, and those who are not selected will be asked to leave. Now please stand in line. The first hundred people will go to the courtyard to wait.”

As Song Mo’s eldest disciple, Fu Ning’s words carried a lot of weight. The people in the front quickly lined up, and only those who were far behind whispered, speculating among themselves about how would they be competing.

The first hundred people went in. After about an hour, there was a sudden uproar inside, which quickly subsided.

A worker ran out and said something in Fu Ning’s ear. Fu Ning nodded and counted the next batch of candidates.

This time it was Tang Huan’s turn.

When she entered the entrance, she carefully examined Fu Ning. One reason was to admire this person’s appearance, the second was that if the rumors outside were true, this person was her ‘love rival’.

Fu Ning noticed that someone was looking at him, not a glance of curiosity, but with a deep exploration. He looked back and noticed that it was a handsome young man wearing a green scarf on his head. He was thin and small, but his expression was calm. His black eyes were as bright as spring water, staring directly at him without any timidity.

He smiled at the teenager and continued to count.

Tang Huan snorted in her heart. There was no use smiling at her. If he dared to spoil her plans, she would definitely not show mercy.

The Song family mansion was divided into three. The first two parts had very large courtyards in the middle. These were the places where the disciples make lanterns. At this time, the courtyard had been cleared out to make space for five large tables that could each accommodate twenty people. The worker left after arranging for the hundred people to sit down.

No one told them how to compete, no one served tea and water, and they were just left to sit like this.

After a short period of silence, some people got up and left their seats to look around, and some people asked the people around them about what was going on. Next to Tang Huan was a square-faced honest-looking man. When he talked to Tang Huan, she did not even look at him, only staring at the table in front of her. Since the previous round ended in just one hour, it was unlikely that Song Mo would waste time letting these people get to know each other. Most likely, the competition had already begun.

As the people around Tang Huan were getting more and more irritable, she became more and more certain.

Sure enough, after an hour, an old master with gray hair appeared to lead people out. Including Tang Huan, he led two people from this table outside, and Tang Huan didn’t look at who the remaining three were. She did not care.

In the end, a total of forty-eight people had passed the first round.

The unsuccessful candidates had already left, and the courtyard quieted down. Tang Huan and the others were led inside again and sat at the same table as before, but this time, there were scissors with long handles and short blades and large red rice papers on the table. A sheet of paper with butterflies coloured on it was laid flat in the middle of the table.

Fu Ning and four masters went to the five tables respectively, and Fu Ning said, “Now a few masters and I will demonstrate how to cut the paper. Everyone please look carefully. We will only demonstrate once, and then you will cut the paper yourself. The duration is still one hour. You will have three pieces of rice paper in front of you. In the end, you can give us the paper you think is the best, and my master will choose the five ones he likes the most, who will then be selected for the third round.”

“What kind of competition is this? What kind of man will……”

Someone complained quietly. Fu Ning smiled and looked over. “If you are not willing to compete, you can leave now. We don’t force anyone.”

The man kept quiet.

“Okay, allow us to show you. Please watch carefully.”

Fu Ning stood with a smile, picked up the scissors and rice paper, and skillfully began to cut.

Was this a test of observation skills and dexterity?

Tang Huan was speechless. Her eyes were looking at Fu Ning, but her mind thought of Jinzhi.

Jinzhi was gentle and handy, and the festive decorations she had cut out on New Year’s Eve were as if she had breathed life into them.

Tang Huan was so grateful to her master for arranging Jinzhi’s dream in front!

After an hour, she successfully passed the round and proceeded to the third round with the four other people under the leadership of Fu Ning.

Then, she met Song Mo.

Song Mo first asked who cut each of the five papers, and then solemnly touched their hands one by one.

Then, she, the mute, won with her beautiful hands.

When Tang Huan knelt down and kowtowed, she wanted to ask the man in front of her: after going through all that trouble, did you just want to pick a pair of good-looking hands?

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余五 (yú wǔ): 余 stands for ‘remaining’, while 五 means ‘five’.