Chapter 301

Liang Huaying came a little later than the couple.

It wasn't that she arrived late, but Su Youfu and Sheng Juanhua came too early.

The two were quite nervous. When they arrived, the staff had just set up the stage.

So they were among the earliest to arrive.

When Liang Huaying arrived, she was considered a well-known entrepreneur and had been invited, so she also sat in the front row. She simply adjusted her seat a little and sat next to Sheng Juanhua.

Seeing Liang Huaying arrive, the couple immediately felt a little more confident, as they now had someone familiar around.

Otherwise, they would have felt a little lost.

They were worried about not hearing clearly or missing something.

The two were quite nervous.

Seeing the couple's restraint, Liang Huaying found it amusing.

They were so sincere, typical of people from the countryside, unfamiliar with the wider world. She wondered how this couple had raised a girl like Xiao Qi.

"You two must be tired from all the traveling these days. Has Xiao Qi called you? I saw she was on TV again. She won the Jingnan Province English speech contest."

Liang Huaying had a daughter who was Xiao Qi's fan. She kept close track of everything about Xiao Qi, so she was often the first to know.

It was much better for a young girl to idolize a hardworking, aspiring student than chase stars. Liang Huaying was very supportive.

Her brother's daughter was older than her own daughter and already in high school, but she only chased boy bands all day, claiming they were her husbands. Whenever there was an event, she had to rush over. Her obsession caused endless fights at home.

In contrast, Liang Huaying felt her own daughter was so well behaved.

After meeting her idol once, she became even more diligent and matured a lot.

But after her brother's daughter met hers once, she became even more indifferent to studying. All she did was buy merchandise related to her idols, no matter how useless or expensive.

"I asked, Xiao Qi said it was a small competition at another school. There was a 3,000 yuan prize, and their own school awarded another 10,000 yuan. Xiao Qi deposited it all into our bank account." Sheng Juanhua had set up SMS notifications for expenditures and deposits, so she felt reassured.

When it came to his daughter, Su Youfu was no longer nervous. His face was filled with pride, and his back straightened. No matter how much gossip and rumors circulated in the village, no matter how vulgar his mother scolded, he persisted in sending his daughter to school. He had no education himself, and could not let his daughter follow in his footsteps.

Liang Huaying chatted with them for a bit. More people gradually arrived, and leaders finally appeared as well.

Liang Huaying noticed that Xiao Qi's Japanese teacher from that day was also there.

She learned that Zhou, who had the surname Zhou, was actually a deputy director at the Culture Palace. She came from a good family background, married into a civil servant family after studying abroad in Japan and Korea, and became a civil servant herself.

She was known to be difficult to get along with, had high standards, aloof personality, yet seemed close with Xiao Qi.

Zhou Meiling usually avoided participating in such events. She disliked the pomp and her skin was prone to sun damage. But today, knowing Xiao Qi's parents would be there, she came to help and be a judge, impartial as always.

She sat at the judges' desk.

The host from the organizing department was a staff member from their Culture Palace responsible for this event. He gave a formal, grandiose opening speech.

There were big red inflatable arches, banners, balloons, local TV cameras, hosts, a bright red stage, all looking quite formal.

The standards today were quite high. The invited host was the famous Jiang Yiru from Lvshan City.

Originally, Sheng Juanhua and Su Youfu would not recognize Jiang Yiru or follow celebrities, too busy with farm work.

But because their daughter had been on Jiang Yiru's show before, seeing her in person felt like meeting an acquaintance.

Of course Jiang Yiru did not recognize them.

Due to time limits, the leader's speech was relatively concise, not dragging on for hours. After some passionate words, he announced the start of today's intangible cultural heritage master selection event.

Su Youfu's hands had stopped shaking earlier, just sweating. But when his name was called to go on stage, he became extremely nervous again, wishing he could turn and run.

Sheng Juanhua was also nervous, but seeing her husband's state, she knew that wouldn't do.

She fiercely pinched his waist and growled, "Think of your daughter. Do you want to go back to the village and listen to her grandma calling her a money-losing product every day?"

Su Youfu was so nervous he barely felt the pain, but snapped out of it at his wife's words. He gritted his teeth and stood up.

Sheng Juanhua also stood up. She still felt uneasy and planned to assist, since there were no rules against having a helper. It would look quite loving.

Liang Huaying noticed the couple's interactions and smiled without comment.

Su Youfu was a bit clumsy. Sheng Juanhua held her husband's hand tightly, appearing intimate and enviable. For people their age to still hold hands while walking was quite amusing.

Sheng Juanhua would normally feel shy about it, but right now she didn't care. If she didn't hold his hand, who knew where he'd wander off to.

On stage, Sheng Juanhua whispered, "Pretend everyone else is your mom. Think about how you are around your mom."

The host Jiang Yiru overheard this and nearly couldn't hold back her laughter. What a comparison! But she was a professional host and managed to maintain a straight face as she continued the introductions.

When Su Youfu thought about how he'd react with his mother there, he would focus completely on weaving bamboo, ignoring her presence entirely. He could block out all noise and not even glance at her, fully immersed in weaving, conditioned to do so. Otherwise, he'd get so angry and upset at her words that he felt he could suffocate.

Su Youfu's background introduction was very simple, with no special master inheritance. They forcibly played up Gumula Village's history as a mysterious, ancient village. The contents were compiled on site by the staff member who helped with the application, as a favor to Deputy Director Zhou.

There were 3 artisans competing today. One was Su Youfu doing bamboo weaving. One was a carpenter claimed to inherit the Lu Ban lineage and specialized in mortise and tenon joints, able to build very sturdy houses without any nails. The third made sugar figures. After the host introduced the 3 and announced the start, they actually worked on very different things with little comparability. Intangible cultural heritage masters were already so rare, and even fewer knew of it and applied. The candy maker was just an old man who had sold candy figures on the streets for years. He looked very old but made the figures smoothly and beautifully on stage.

The carpenter was the youngest. He emphasized his Lu Ban inheritance, clearly smart, but didn't seem very skilled on stage, hammering away but not producing anything for a while.

Meanwhile, Su Youfu focused on weaving bamboo as Sheng Juanhua handed him materials and helped sew cloth linings, just like at home.

The judges, including Deputy Director Zhou, sat under the increasingly scorching sun. Zhou Meiling had prepared well, applying thick sunscreen.

As the contestants worked, the judges chatted, seemingly critiquing but actually just talking.

Zhou clearly had high status among them, as they fawned over her.

"Director Zhou, who do you favor most?"

Zhou Meiling directly said, "The bamboo weaver. He looks ordinary, but the pieces he's making now could sell for 1,000-2,000 yuan on the market. I even bought one."

The others nodded knowingly.

The candy man old guy did a good job, but he was really too old, and putting candy figurines in a museum didn't seem high-end enough. Also, they weren't local products. This candy seller said his hometown was Heilong Province and that he had moved here with his son, so he couldn't really be considered as representing local intangible cultural heritage.

The young carpenter looked a bit unreliable and sounded like he had some minor background issues.

In every way, the middle-aged bamboo craftsman seemed most suitable.

The on-site competition was approaching. Su Youfu started making things, his hands moving very quickly without any shaking as he concentrated wholeheartedly on his craft, especially with the woman and child accompanying him nearby. In less than an hour, he produced a beautiful, exquisite, and sturdy-looking bamboo bag.

There were two women and three men among the judges. The two ladies liked it, and although the three men didn't understand what was so great about the bag, they thought about their wives' crazy passion for buying bags at home and could understand it.

After a fair and impartial process, the judges scored and voted.

In the end, Su Youfu was selected as the intangible cultural heritage inheritor of Lvshan City.

The host handed him the microphone and asked him to say a few words.

Despite being mocked every day, Su Youfu was a man of great passion and conviction.

As he took the mic, his hand started shaking again. He coughed heavily and said, "I was disabled since childhood with a limp leg and was ridiculed by others. But I have a great daughter who has always encouraged me and bought me many books on bamboo weaving, asking me to study and learn. Her thinking was, either don't do it, or do it well if you do. I wouldn't be where I am today without the leaders' recognition and my wife and daughter's unfailing support."

Applause broke out from below. No one expected this old farmer to be quite good at speaking, and what he said was meaningful and touching.

Zhou Meiling also clapped vigorously. The host next to her chatted and said Su looked familiar.

Zhou Meiling smiled. "Of course he looks familiar. Yiru, you even interviewed his daughter, this year's 200m women's freestyle swimming champion of Jingnan Province."

Jiang Yiru remembered and had quite a deep impression. "I remember the girl went to college, I wonder how she's doing now."

"She's simply a monster. Although she went to the private Enhua University, she broke records at this year's Meng City Marathon, won the Jingnan Province English Speech Contest championship, and has made appearances on Meng City Sports Channel and Meng City News." Zhou Meiling said with a laugh.

On hearing this, several leading judges became quite curious and paid more attention. They said that if she didn't have any connections, how could her father become an intangible cultural heritage inheritor? And they were quite interested in that storefront next to the museum.

Raising a good daughter is also a skill.