Page 5
Next to the portrait were eight large and elegant characters written on the woman’s behalf: “Write letters and draw portraits.”
This is where the predecessor wrote and painted portraits.
The tables, chairs and benches all came from Shui Mo Zhai behind him, including the place where he was sitting, and the rental fee was two copper coins a day.
Chen Mu sat behind his desk, waiting for business to come in boredom.
In this era, productivity is low, and the living standards and education levels are not good.
Poor families would at most ask someone to deliver a message, but rarely would they write a letter.
After sitting for a whole day, he only wrote three letters.
Writing letters is different from selling calligraphy. It is impossible to sell by the characters. A piece of letter paper is three copper coins.
"Three letters are nine coppers."
"Give two to Shui Mo Zhai, and keep four as rent reserves. There are only three left. It's barely enough for a day's meal, and it's still not enough to eat."
"Ugh……"
……
Four days later in the evening, Chen Mu arrived near Anlefang in the northern part of East City.
This is a street full of brothels and prostitutes.
As it gets dark, the place becomes more and more lively.
Chen Mu stood in the shadow of the street corner, staring at an old man on the street.
The old man was wearing a long gown and had a table in front of him. He was concentrating on painting with a brush.
He had been observing for two days. The old man was a painter who made a living by painting portraits for people.
The protagonists of the portraits are mostly singing girls in street brothels.
I don't know his exact income, but seeing that he is dressed neatly and eats out every day, I think it's not too far off.
Walking out of the street corner and slowly approaching the old man's desk, Chen Mu looked at his paintings for a moment and nodded pretentiously.
The old man looked up at Chen Mu for a moment and smiled: "Why, you want to sell paintings too?"
Chen Mu was stunned. This old man actually saw through his thoughts.
As if knowing Chen Mu's doubts, the old man straightened up and smiled calmly: "You have been watching me for two days, and you haven't made up your mind yet?"
Chen Mu was startled. He thought he had hidden it well, but he didn't expect that he had been discovered so early.
"Selling paintings is a dead end! Young man, listen to my advice and go back to study hard." The old man looked unfathomable.
"The water in this business is very deep, you can't grasp it." The old man sneered and said lightly.
Chen Mu looked puzzled. How complicated could selling a painting be?
"I won't stop you. Just wish you good luck." The old man smiled, lowered his head and continued painting without paying any more attention.
……
Ping An Fang
Chen Mu didn't bother to eat. He went straight into the study room in the east and took a self-portrait facing his reflection in the basin.
After finishing the painting, I compared it in the mirror. This painting doesn't look like anything other than my own!
A gray wall appeared before my eyes.
Writing: 1035/10000/Level ;
Picture: 3061/10000/first order;
Chen Mu thought about the painting of the old man in Goulan Street...
"Well, at least there's a lot of room for improvement."
After putting away the painting, Chen Mu left the study.
Pour all the money onto the square table and counted it again.
There were two paths before him.
One is to live along the original owner's path, slowly accumulate wealth, and look for possible opportunities for change.
The other way is to take a gamble, spend all your money to practice painting in seclusion, and when you have reached a certain level, go to the brothels to paint portraits for singers, earn more money, eat your fill, and then try more possibilities.
No matter the original owner or his past life, they would choose the first option because it seemed safer and more stable.
They dare not step out of their comfort zone, dare not face unknown pressure, and dare not muster the courage to risk their lives.
This is the common state of all living beings.
Facts have proved that even if you choose a seemingly safe option, it may not necessarily bring stability.
Any unexpected event in life can destroy this seemingly stable but fragile peaceful life.
"I've already put it on, what else is there to worry about?" Chen Mu smiled: "Besides, I still have the proficiency in gray walls."
He took the money and went out to buy wheat to fill the rice jar.
He also calculated his expenses carefully and bought enough oil, salt and firewood for two months' use.
Carefully organize the vegetable garden on the east side of your courtyard, plan the daily edible amount, and try to last until two months later.
After preparing everything, he only had three copper coins left on him.
But Chen Mu felt a sense of relaxation both physically and mentally.
Everything was ready, Chen Mu closed the door and began to practice painting.
……
The painting techniques of this era are similar to the ancient ink-splashing style, which emphasizes meaning rather than form.
My father was an old scholar who made a living by teaching children elementary school.
My father taught me how to paint.
Chen Mu does not plan to develop according to his predecessor's techniques.
He had seen the paintings of the old man in the brothel, and his paintings were extremely lifelike. Even with the help of proficiency, Chen Mu was not sure he could surpass him in a short period of time.
He plans to find another way.
In my previous life, I lived in an era of information explosion and had seen many kinds of paintings.
Compared with freehand painting, Chen Mu planned to do a three-dimensional painting with meticulous brushwork, which emphasized one word: likeness! Likeness comparable to that of a camera!
Holding a branch with a sharpened tip, Chen Mu came to the vegetable garden in the courtyard.
There was a flat area about one meter square, covered with a layer of fine soil evenly.
It's fine for writing with water, but not for drawing, so he plans to practice on fine soil that can be reused repeatedly.
Facing the reflection in the basin, Chen Mu sketched each stroke with a sharpened branch.
It took him half an hour to finish a self-portrait.
Chen Mu couldn't wait to call up the gray wall.
Writing: 1035/10000/Level ;
Picture: 3073/10000/first order;
"Each portrait drawing increases proficiency by twelve points. Fortunately..." Chen Mu breathed a sigh of relief.
Drawing takes more time than practicing calligraphy. Fortunately, the experience gained is also greater.
After leveling the ground and covering it with sifted soil, Chen Mu continued painting.
This time, I only gained nine proficiency levels.
While Chen Mu was sorting out the fine soil, he was thinking and summarizing what he had learned from the two painting sessions. After he started painting again, he made conscious efforts to improve.
The proficiency level has indeed improved significantly, and I got thirteen points.
"It seems like I need to be more dedicated!"
After that, every time he practiced painting, Chen Mu would take a short break, summarize what he had learned, and even use paper and pen to record it.
Time passed slowly as he practiced, improved, and practiced.
Chen Mu's drawing skills are also improving little by little.
……
One and a half months later, in the study.
Chen Mu had disheveled hair and a messy beard. He held a brush in his hand and gently drew on the white paper.
A beautiful woman in flowing white clothes and with an ethereal temperament was created under the pen.
This beauty has long black hair, a three-dimensional figure, lively eyes, and she even seems alive.
Chen Mu put down his pen, looked at it, thought for a while, and then wrote a seven-character poem next to it.
"The sky is covered with frost over the ten-mile flat lake, and every inch of blue hair is filled with worries about the past."
"Looking at each other facing the moon, I only envy the mandarin ducks instead of the immortals."
Writing: 1035/10000/Level ;
Picture: 72/10000/Second Order;
"It's done!"
(End of this chapter)
Chapter 6 Portrait
As long as the skills on the gray wall reach the second level, they will undergo a qualitative change.
Just like calligraphy, if you only look at the structure of the font, there is no obvious difference between the initial second order and the peak of the first order.
But if you look at the whole text, the second-level characters will have a special charm.
When I copied the scriptures for Qingfeng Temple, the last few copies obviously had a more ethereal temperament. Just looking at the font makes people feel that the Taoist scriptures are mysterious.