CHAPTER 103: CHAPTER 103: SLAP IN THE FACE! HOLLY CROWE’S TALENT REVEALED

When she received the invitation to record "Success", Holly was just replying to an email from Teacher Miles Quill, and they were in a video call.

Ever since the previous media incident, she had received many invitations on Weibo from various media shows inviting her to participate in recordings, but most were ostensibly for the program, when in fact they were interested in her private life.

She had heard of the show "Success". It involves a group of six freshmen from various ceramic art schools who must fully experience the 72-step ceramic production process in one month and then hold a recommendation exhibition at the end.

Holly didn’t want to participate in this kind of variety show and instinctively refused.

However, in the video call, Miles Quill, upon hearing this, seemed to ponder, "Aiden also seemed to participate in this show a few days ago."

Holly was surprised.

Miles spoke earnestly, "Holly, I suggest you participate. On one hand, it can increase your visibility, and on the other, I hope you can promote our Chinese ceramic art through the show."

Miles said a lot more, and finally, Holly was swayed.

On the day of the recording, Blake Sinclair drove her to the airport and reminded her, "I’ll fly over on the third day."

The recording location was chosen in a ceramic town in Kennet, reputed to be the earliest birthplace of celadon.

The recording, lasting three days and two nights, would be synchronized with a live broadcast.

Upon arrival, Holly discovered that two other guests would be recording with her. One was the renowned ceramic art master, Jack Jenson, and the other was a mysterious guest who would arrive the next day.

After a brief introduction, they plunged into recording.

As soon as the students saw Master Jack Jenson, they immediately gathered around him, leaving Holly on the outer edge of the crowd.

In the afternoon, they toured the Celadon Town, which comprised a celadon museum, a celadon factory, and a celadon experience classroom.

The ceramic content, which should have been the main focus, was overshadowed by the camera’s fixation on Jack Jenson reminiscing about the past.

Holly was sidelined; what was supposed to be a ceramic art show was actually just grazing the surface of ceramic art, in reality, it was a lifestyle reality show, with most of the time spent playing games and less time on ceramics.

After dinner, everyone gathered on the lawn, and the production team prepared a quiz game.

The production team, holding an answer board, announced the rules: "Answer all questions correctly, and you’ll win a wish for everyone. If wrong, what’s due tomorrow is wading into the pond to dig for clay, and the losing person must face additional questions from the production team."

Holly had a bad feeling, and sure enough, when it was her turn, the production team took out three porcelain fragments, "Teacher Holly, please identify which dynasty these three fragments are from?"

Holly glanced at the production team.

At this moment, in the live broadcast, viewers flocked into the live room.

[Here we go, here we go. I heard Miss Holly is on this show, came to have a look.]

[Feels like Holly got tricked! Staked out in the live room all afternoon, and it feels like Holly’s being completely marginalized, though I understand Master Jack Jenson is a senior, but this favoritism isn’t fair, is it?]

[I agree too; whenever Jack Jenson appears, he starts reminiscing old times, which I have no interest in.]

[The production team is biased, clearly targeting Holly. Just now, everyone’s questions were simple, but for Holly, it’s so difficult?]

[Haha, isn’t Holly supposed to be formidable? Wasn’t she top of her ceramics class? Now she’s exposed?]

[I bet the production team is doing it on purpose! They want to see Holly unable to answer, then ask her about President Sinclair’s private life.]

Of course, Holly saw through the production team’s little plot. She smiled without saying anything.

The atmosphere on site was very subtle. A male university student next to her spoke up, "The production team has raised the challenge? We’ve won so far, if Teacher Holly loses here, her pressure is too great, isn’t it?"

As soon as he said that, the way everyone looked at Holly changed.

Although he seemed to be speaking in Holly’s defense, everyone could hear the implication: if she got it wrong, her ability was inadequate, and she’d have to take the blame.

A female student nudged his elbow, looking at him disapprovingly.

"It’s okay, Teacher Holly; it’s just a matter of wading in the pond to dig for clay, a nice experience," she said.

Holly glanced at this girl who spoke, the only one who had greeted her in the afternoon, named Tiffany Thorne.

She smiled, turned to look at the production team, "Can I take another look?"

The production team hesitated, discussed, and delightedly declared, "Only for three seconds."

"Okay."

The production team once again brought out the three numbered porcelain fragments, took them away after three seconds, and covered them with a cloth.

The live room viewers exploded:

[Just one glance? Three seconds? Are you kidding? Who’s being fooled here? If it’s on purpose, just say it.]

[I’m a graduate at Keramos University, and I can only say it’s very hard; it’s too dark at night, and three seconds is not enough to identify anything; Holly can only rely on luck.]

[Feeling anxious for Holly! Where’s President Sinclair? Calling for him because his wife is being bullied!]

Offscreen, Blake Sinclair looked at Holly’s fleeting face on his phone, his expression dark.

She stood with a furrowed brow in the middle of the lawn, the camping lamp illuminating her, making her seem particularly thin.

Beside him, Cole Tanner dared not breathe.

"President Sinclair, do you need me to contact the production team?"

Blake Sinclair’s face was pale, but his gaze never left the screen: "No need for now. Book me a ticket to Kennet right away."

Cole Tanner: "Got it."

The production team’s countdown reached its end, and Holly wrote down her answer on the whiteboard.

When it came time to reveal the answer, all the viewers across the live rooms were very tense.

The production team eagerly revealed the answer: "These three porcelain fragments are from the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the Era of Division, and the Eastern Valian Dynasty. Next, let’s see Holly’s answer."

Holly froze for a moment, then flipped the whiteboard around.

The three answers written on it were "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms", "The Era of Division", and "Xylos".

"It’s over, I saw Holly frown just now, sure enough, she got it wrong."

"But still, she did well, answering two correctly, and the Eastern and Western Dynasties are so close in time."

However, the show’s team showed no mercy; once the answers were announced, they finalized the result.

They raised their voice: "Well, Teacher Holly, the last answer was incorrect, which is a pity. According to the rules, you need to accept a question from our show."

Holly looked at him, "What question?"

The show’s staff rubbed their hands together, seeming to foresee a spike in viewership, and brought out a question board, "Teacher Holly, you dated your ex-boyfriend for seven years and now you’re married to President Sinclair. Have there been any arguments between you because of this?"

As soon as the question was asked, Holly’s face darkened.

The YouTube comments about the "BlakeHolly" couple blew up.

"The show’s team is being unreasonable, how can they ask such a personal question?"

"Isn’t this a pottery show? What does this question have anything to do with pottery?"

"Holly, stop recording the show! This is a trap, let President Sinclair cover the penalty fee. He can afford it!"

Everyone stood up for Holly, but the atmosphere at the recording site was different.

Everyone was watching with an entertained attitude; they all had heard the gossip about Holly, ready for a show. Jack Jenson, on the side, minded his own business and sipped his tea.

The show’s team "helpfully" reminded, "Teacher Holly, you have one minute to answer the question."

Holly looked at him with a cold gaze, "I won’t answer."

The show’s team wasn’t easy to deal with either, "We’re live, are you going to go back on your word in front of the whole internet audience?"

Holly looked in the direction of the camera they indicated and smiled, "You said I got it wrong, and that’s why I have to answer questions, but I didn’t get it wrong."

The show’s team retorted, "Stop quibbling! We have experts here to verify it; Jack Jenson is on site too, do you not care about him at all?"

"Jack Jenson is a senior, and I respect him a lot, but professional issues cannot be concluded based on seniority."

Saying that, Holly walked directly forward, picked up the last piece of broken porcelain, and turned toward the camera, speaking slowly:

"Xylos was a northern dynasty during the Bronze Age. During that time, there were internal strife and invasions, and bronze was used to make weapons, with celadon used for daily items, so the surfaces of utensils back then often featured inscriptions like those on bronze vessels."

She spoke while pointing out a very small piece of decorative mark at the corner on the outside of the fragment she held, "This is the decorative technique of Xylos with hard lines, carrying traces of northern nomadic culture."

Holly looked at the show’s team, continuing, "Later, in the Eastern Valian Dynasty, the Xylos moved east and established the capital in Jiankang, becoming a southern dynasty; people then began to admire nature, and aesthetics changed, with fewer decorative patterns on porcelain."

"So this fragment is from Xylos, not the Eastern Valian Dynasty."

Holly spoke slowly, her voice gentle; combined with her speech, she was captivating, and everyone was drawn in.

The live broadcast room instantly went quiet, then burst into more heated discussion.

"Am I learning history from a variety show? I actually didn’t fall asleep this time?"

"So much history exists behind just one piece of porcelain?"

"My grandfather is an archaeology expert on porcelain fragments, and he says Holly was completely correct. It took him a long time to identify it, yet Holly identified it in just a few seconds! So impressive!"

"So the show’s team got it wrong; they owe Holly an apology!"

"I’m already intrigued and want to hear Holly continue talking about the other two porcelain pieces."

The reviews online shifted, and the show’s team quickly took emergency action to remedy the situation, but the audience wasn’t appeased.

Helplessly, the show’s producer had to publicly apologize.

As Holly prepared to turn back, he stopped her, this time with a very respectful attitude: "Teacher Holly, the viewers want to hear you talk about the other two pieces of porcelain."

Holly came to her senses and remembered her original purpose for coming on the show, so she turned back and began explaining again.

She picked up a fragment from the Era of Division and looked at the camera, "It’s easy to identify porcelain from this period. Everyone has heard the poem ’The four hundred eighty temples of the Southern Dynasties stand in the misty rain’, indicating the admiration of Buddhism during this period, and the lotus is one of Buddhism’s sacred flowers, so porcelain from this period features many lotus patterns."

Holly tried to speak in simpler terms this time, to make it easier for everyone to understand.

She picked up the last piece of broken porcelain, glanced at it, and frowned, "Actually, this piece is strictly called Secret Color Porcelain, and everyone can look up more about Secret Color Porcelain online. But in fact, our high school history textbooks have a picture titled ’Night Banquet’, and the utensils on it are Secret Color Porcelain."

Finishing these points, Holly leaned a little closer to the camera, "Actually, the history of ceramics is like half a history, and I’m fortunate to stand here and share this with you. But I’m not saying this to prove how great I am, rather to tell you that the real craftsmen are the people behind each piece, with ingenuity and determination, creating things of quality. I hope everyone can learn more about our country’s ceramics and bring China to the world!"

"I’m crying! This is the real significance of the Success show, right?"

"As a Keramos University student, I’m touched by Holly’s words!"

"Someone who can say ’with ingenuity and determination’ must be someone who truly loves ceramics!"

"Show’s team, how can you neglect such a broad perspective in your publicity!"

Holly’s speech quickly became a trending topic online, was reposted by the official account the next day, and was shared by various ceramics schools.

"With ingenuity and determination, bring China to the world!" even became a slogan for admissions campaigns at major ceramics colleges for quite some time.

But at the show’s recording site, Holly was completely unaware of all that had happened online. It was three hours after the night’s recording ended when she returned to the hotel.

Exhausted, she suddenly missed Blake Sinclair very much and wondered if he watched the live broadcast.

Just as she swiped open the hotel room door, someone grabbed her and pulled her in. The familiar scent of cedar instantly enveloped her.

"My Holly, tonight you were finally seen by everyone!"