Chapter 34: Heartbroken, have you forgotten that I can’t see…
When Zhao Quesheng was taking classes with Jiang Tong, she actually liked having Su Guanqing by her side. The reason was simple: although Jiang Tong treated her very well, once it came to restoration techniques, Jiang Tong would become particularly serious and demanding.
Every time she made a mistake or didn't fully understand something, she didn't dare to look up at Jiang Tong's face.
Although the teacher didn't hit her or scold her, she felt like she was about to pee her pants.
But if Su Guanqing was around, the atmosphere would always be much better. Even if the teacher was angry, as long as the master gave him some advice, the teacher would soon calm down.
So every time Zhao Quesheng came early in the morning, as long as she found Su Guanqing still busy with housework, she would rush to help her master Su wash the pots and dishes so that she could invite this guardian angel into the study.
Of course, if she had seen how Jiang Tong taught his disciples in his previous life, she would have found that Jiang Tong in this life could be considered amiable.
In his previous life, Jiang Tong was never a teacher who was patient with his disciples.
I am so impatient that I will never repeat something I have said once a second time. If anyone gets distracted, it will be on their own.
But today, when Jiang Tong officially began restoring "Early Spring," Su Guanqing wasn't in the study, and Zhao Quesheng didn't dare call him.
The atmosphere between the two teachers has been weird these past two days, and it seems that her guardian angel has become a clay Buddha crossing the river, unable to save himself.
Zhao Quesheng had no choice but to be extremely alert and not dare to be distracted for even a moment.
…
The yard of Jiang's house is very small, and a flower stand covers most of the yard.
Clusters of purple nameless flowers emerged from the flower stands that no one had taken care of, and when the spring breeze blew, they scattered their petals.
Su Guanqing was washing clothes by the well under the flowers with his sleeves rolled up.
Zhong Wanci poked her head out of her room and saw that the study door was closed, so she tiptoed out. She had just stopped beside Su Guanqing and was looking into the study when Su Guanqing stopped what he was doing and called out to her:
"aunt?"
Zhong Wanci didn't expect that she would be exposed so quickly. She was shocked and covered her chest and said, "Guan Qing, you have such a sharp ear!"
Su Guanqing smiled and continued to rub the clothes.
Zhong Wanci looked at the skirt in the water and said with emotion: "Since you came here, Guanqing, you have really helped me a lot."
"You are the mistress of the house and shouldn't do these trivial things." Su Guanqing said.
"Tongtong said that after she finishes a few more paintings, she can hire two maids and servants to come back. Then you won't have to do these trivial things and can focus on healing your eyes."
"It's okay for me to do some chores." Su Guanqing probed into the basin with his fingertips, touched the small piece of pig pancreas soap, and rubbed it back and forth on his sleeve.
In fact, Zhong Wanci was not very familiar with Su Guanqing, and she had no words to talk about at the moment, which made her feel a little awkward.
She walked around the well, looked at Su Guanqing, then turned back and looked at the closed study door.
"Tongtong has started to repair the painting?" Zhong Wanci asked.
"It should have started." Su Guanqing responded gently.
Zhong Wanci nodded, pinched her fingertips, walked around the well a few times, and looked at Su Guanqing again.
The pig pancreas soap formed fine bubbles in his hands, and the drop of ink that Jiang Tong accidentally got on it faded and disappeared under his scrubbing.
"How do you know there is a drop of ink?" Zhong Wanci finally found something to say.
"Tongtong told me when she got it on."
Zhong Wanci said without thinking: "Tongtong told you everything."
Su Guanqing heard her tone was not right, hesitated for a moment, and dipped the cuff of his sleeve into the water. "No, it's just a small talk."
"Tongtong's study, as long as she closes the door, no one is allowed to disturb her. You are the only one who can come and go at any time." Zhong Wanci stopped circling and stood a few feet away from Su Guanqing, staring at him intently. "She treats you differently."
For a few moments, neither of them spoke.
A gust of wind blew across the flower stand, blowing down a purple petal, which fell right into the pot.
Su Guanqing curled the corners of his lips, but it felt as if a thousand-pound lead bar was weighing on the corners of his lips, making his smile bitter: "Tongtong has always been kind-hearted. She just wants to take care of me a little more..."
As he spoke, he exerted force with his hands, and the pig pancreas soap slipped through his fingers and slid into the basin. He reached out to touch it in a panic, but the slippery soap seemed to be playing hide-and-seek with him. He finally touched the edge of it, but it immediately disappeared into the water.
Zhong Wanci stared at it in a daze, and suddenly the image of Su Guanqing in the past flashed through her mind.
A child of destiny, a young talent.
Who wouldn't say the Jiang family had found a good match back then? But who could have imagined that with a new emperor on the throne, their two families would be overthrown to this extent?
Zhong Wanci couldn't bear to see Su Guanqing in such a miserable state anymore, so she turned away.
Su Guanqing's voice came from behind, very low, very slow, but very clear: "...Guanqing knows that he is not worthy, and would never dare to have other thoughts about Tongtong. Please rest assured, aunt and uncle. We are just master and servant now..."
"Why are you saying this for no reason? You..." Zhong Wanci pulled a handkerchief from her sleeve and covered her face with it. "Don't even mention master and servant. Huaishan and I treat you like our own son or nephew."
"Yes, Guanqing knows." The wind blew, and Su Guanqing's voice became a little hoarse.
"It's windy here and I feel a little dizzy. I'll go back first." After Zhong Wanci finished speaking, she walked quickly towards the main house without waiting for Su Guanqing's response.
By the deep well, Su Guanqing was the only one left, still rubbing his sleeve. He rubbed and rubbed, unaware that his swollen hand had almost broken its skin.
…
In the study, Jiang Tong had already reached the stage of revealing the fate paper.
This step is the one Zhao Quesheng is most familiar with at present. As soon as she got here, she began to recall the key points that Jiang Tong had told her, how to judge according to the situation of the fate paper and the center of the painting whether to rub off the fate paper bit by bit with her fingers, or to peel off the fate paper piece by piece with tweezers.
She looked at it carefully and thought that this painting might be suitable for tweezers? Not sure, let's take a closer look.
Jiang Tong lifted the edge a little, and a look of great surprise appeared on her face. Then she seemed to hold her breath, and began to move her hands very steadily and carefully.
Zhao Quesheng was curious, but he didn't dare to interrupt at this time. He just observed Jiang Tong's gestures more carefully.
But what Jiang Tong did next made Zhao Quesheng almost dumbfounded.
Jiang Tong neither rubbed off the fortune paper bit by bit nor peeled it off piece by piece. What she peeled off was a complete, whole piece of fortune paper!
When Zhao Quesheng was practicing, he used new paper, which had not aged or become brittle, so it was easier to peel off the old paper.
She had also thought about whether she could take the fate paper off intact while the condition of the paper was good. However, no matter how hard she tried to soften the glue between the fate paper and the center of the painting with warm water beforehand, or how careful she was when peeling off the paper, it was inevitable that the fate paper would be torn.
New paper was like this, and old paper, eroded by time, was probably even harder to peel completely. She had initially assumed that completely peeling the back was just her own fantasy, but she hadn't expected her teacher to peel the entire paper off right in front of her with such ease!
For a moment, Zhao Quesheng was excited and thrilled, and his admiration for Jiang Tong was like the endless flow of a river.
But in fact, Jiang Tong was not as relaxed as he looked. The whole process of uncovering the old paper lasted for several hours. Jiang Tong's hands never left the life paper. He did not drink a sip of water or eat a bite of food. He maintained a hunched posture and his waist was almost broken.
When she completely peeled off the fate paper, she breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed on the chair, feeling exhausted.
Seeing that her face looked bad, Zhao Quesheng hurried over to massage her shoulders and back.
Jiang Tong couldn't help but be stunned for a moment. She had never enjoyed such treatment. If it were her former apprentice, who would dare to touch her like this? But she quickly squinted her eyes and enjoyed it comfortably.
After a while, Zhao Quesheng saw that she had recovered a little, so he whispered, "Teacher, if it's so tiring to completely peel off the back, why don't you just peel it off in pieces like before?"
Jiang Tong glanced at her unhappily, as if he disliked her for not observing carefully enough.
If this had happened in the past, Jiang Tong would have scolded her apprentice, but unfortunately she didn't have the energy to speak now. She just pointed at the fate paper that she had placed carefully on another desk.
Zhao Quesheng turned his head to look, his eyes widening immediately: "Teacher, this! This! How could this happen?!"
I saw that on the piece of paper, there was actually an ink rubbing of the painting's heart!
Although the overall ink color is much lighter than the center of the painting, the brushwork and painting ideas are clearly visible!
Zhao Quesheng suddenly realized that the teacher must have discovered that the ink mark of the painting's center was imprinted on the fortune paper, so he chose this method of peeling off the back without damaging the fortune paper at all.
Zhao Quesheng said, "I once eavesdropped on my uncle teaching his apprentice. He said that sometimes painters use two pieces of rice paper glued together to create a sandwich. When mounting the painting, they split the two pieces of rice paper in half to create an extra copy of the original..."
"That's different," Jiang Tong interrupted her. "Splitting the painting in two is called stealing. What we're doing isn't called stealing."
Zhao Quesheng thought of something, and his eyes lit up: "Then every painting can be done this way?"
Jiang Tong laughed and shook his head, "You greedy little bastard, there's no such thing as that. It's something you only encounter once in a while. First, the ink of the painting's center needs to seep through to the paper. I've worked on many paintings, and there have been some that have seeped through, but getting the entire painting to be applied completely and evenly is something I've only rarely encountered. That's one thing, but do you think it's that easy to peel off the back completely? It depends not only on the condition of the paper, but also on the craftsman's skill. Even I can't guarantee that I can do it every time."
She recovered her strength and stood up from her chair: "Come on, let's go eat. I'm starving."
The master and the disciple walked out of the study. Zhao Quesheng looked at the sky and realized that it was already late. For fear of missing the curfew, he didn't even dare to eat. He said goodbye to Jiang Tong and left in a hurry.
Jiang Tong did not force her to stay, but just reminded her that the matter of the fate paper today must not be spread to anyone, and then she went into the kitchen.
There was still fire in the stove, so Su Guanqing sat in front of the stove and helped her warm the food.
Ever since Jiang Tong rejected Su Guanqing that day, the atmosphere between the two of them has been a little weird. During the day, Su Guanqing would rather be busy with housework than go into the study.
Jiang Tong knew that he must be feeling bad, but she didn't know how to comfort him. Now that she had an excuse, she walked over happily.
"Guan Qing, guess what I discovered when I was revising the painting today?"
When she said this, she thought again that it would be better not to tell Su Guanqing first. After he regained his sight, she would take out the fortune paper and give him a surprise.
However, just as she was struggling with what to do, Su Guanqing, contrary to his usual behavior, did not back down and just said coldly: "Actually, I'm not very interested."
Jiang Tong was stunned. No matter what she said, Su Guanqing was always very supportive. This kind of situation had never happened before.
Jiang Tong even thought that he had misheard and subconsciously asked, "What did you say?"
"Tongtong, have you forgotten that I can't see it? What you say only makes me feel sorry for myself." There was a hint of sadness in Su Guanqing's voice.
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