Xiao Lingyu stood up and left, and when he turned around he saw two portraits on the wall.
Xiao Lingyu looked at the portrait of Su Xingyi kissing the corner of her eye.
She came and he fell asleep. She had to get some benefit from it.
Xiao Lingyu turned and walked to the head of the bed, leaned over and kissed Su Xingyi's left eye. After a moment, he took the quilt, covered him, and left the room.
The next day, Su Xingyi woke up and felt very regretful. He actually fell asleep first last night!
That won't be the case tonight.
Later in the morning, Su Ning'an went to the village to borrow two logging tools and took Su Xingyi to the old woods across the valley.
"Dad, let's cut down this tree. It's shorter than the other trees and easier to cut down."
Su Xingyi looked up and saw that the short tree was also towering into the sky.
"Did your mother say which big tree she wanted to cut down?"
"Mother said that the ancient tree here would be fine. We just need to chop it down and plane it into planks of different sizes."
"Then start chopping."
Su Ning'an swung the axe, startling the birds perched on the tree and causing them to fly around in panic, with bursts of bird calls filling the air.
The white tiger and snow wolf hiding in the dark were terrified when they saw this.
The master's elder brother was so strong that he cut down the old tree in less than half a cup of tea.
If the axe falls on them, won’t their lives be in danger?
After the tiger and the wolf looked at each other, they turned around and went deep into Wufeng Mountain.
Su Xingyi came to chop down the tree purely to lend a hand and peel off the bark. Su Ningan used a machete to peel from the end, as easy as peeling a potato.
Before noon, Su Xingyi called Wang Yunhe and others to carry the planks of wood cut into different sizes back to the large flat...
After a simple lunch, Su Ning'an chose a flat wooden board that was 60 centimeters wide and 1.2 meters long, and in front of his parents, brothers and sisters, he drew a picture of circling cranes and then carved it.
In order to see the effect in one go, Suningan slowed down and spent an hour carving the painting on the wooden board into small pieces of wood in different colors.
Xiao Lingyu dyed small pieces of wood with corresponding pigments and placed them in order on another planed wood board.
After Su Ning'an finished carving, Xiao Lingyu also put the engraving plate together.
Su Xingyi, Su Ningjie and others were unable to help. They were either holding cakes or books in their hands, watching from the side.
As the sun was setting, Su Ning'an took out a large piece of rice paper from the study and said, "Mother, I'll stick it up and make a rubbing of it."
"Mom is with you, we need to be careful."
The mother and son carefully pasted the rice paper on the engraving board and pressed it firmly.
When it was time to witness the miracle, Su Xingyi and the three little ones came over.
"Mom, big brother, can you please peel it off and take a look? The image of circling cranes should be printed on the rice paper." Xiao Xier could clearly see the vague outline of the image of circling cranes on the back of the rice paper.
"Don't wait, let's see what happens next." Su Xingyi agreed.
Xiao Lingyu and Su Ning'an faced the four father and sons and peeled the rice paper off the engraving board.
A complete and colorful picture of circling cranes was displayed in front of everyone.
"It's done, it's done!" Su Ningjie shouted excitedly, "The crane on the rice paper is exactly the same as the one on the wall, there's not much difference."
Xiao Xier said, "Mother, big brother, look, it's been successfully printed."
The mother and son then spread the rice paper flat on the stone table and could clearly see the image of the circling crane on it.
The whole painting looks very three-dimensional and realistic.
Su Ning'an asked carefully, "Mother, how is it? Is the painting on the rice paper the effect you want to see?"
Xiao Lingyu nodded: "It looks pretty good overall, but what's missing?"
"It's missing a seal." Su Ningjie quickly discovered the problem and pointed to a spot on the rice paper. "If the three characters 'Ning An Jun' aren't printed here, no one will know that this painting of circling cranes was painted by Big Brother."
Su Ningan hurried back to the study to get his own seal, dipped it in ink and stamped it on the rice paper. That was it.
Su Ningjie said, "Why not print the three characters 'Ning An Jun' together?"
"This time we were just practicing. I forgot. Next time, we'll just print it directly in color." Su Ning'an turned his head to look at Xiao Lingyu, "Mom, did we succeed in printing it in color?"
Xiao Lingyu nodded. "Tomorrow we will go to Huayang County to purchase high-quality rice paper and silk cloth. After we come back, we will start making the Hundred Beasts Picture. The first copy will be printed in color on silk cloth."
Su Ningjie thought that picture albums made of silk cloth would be much more valuable than those made of paper.
"Mother, let's make a few more copies of the Hundred Beasts Picture Book using silk cloth. Each copy can sell for a lot of silver. If we use other paper to make albums, the price will be relatively cheaper. With this comparison, it will be easy for those scholars and learned people to spend a lot of money to buy the albums."
Xiao Lingyu thought for a moment and said, "I'll only make twenty copies of the silk album. Scarcity makes things valuable. A single silk album of animals will easily sell for over a thousand taels. Once the color album appears in various bookstores, it won't be hard to sell. There's a chance it will be snapped up."
Su Ningan said hurriedly: "Mom, I still need to practice painting more. My painting skills are still very average now."
Su Ningan was worried that some people would say his paintings were not good. After all, the picture albums were sold to be seen by many people, and painters who were better than him would laugh at him because of his average level.
Su Xingyi said, "Your painting skills are very good. Don't underestimate yourself. Paint with the same skill as you paint for your mother."
Su Xingyi whispered the last sentence in Su Ning'an's ear.
Su Ningan nodded, "I will paint with all my heart."
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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