Another older man said, "She's teasing you, so you're teasing us. As soon as you enter this garden, you keep chewing on it, not even mentioning giving it to us to feast our eyes on. What's wrong? Are you afraid you'll snatch it away?"
Du Hui laughed and scolded, "I'm really afraid that you, an old man, will be greedy. If you want to read it, you can come to my house some other day. But I refuse to borrow it. This collection is not allowed to leave my house, let alone my study."
After laughing, he saw Xu Jiang still standing in the distance, so he quickly asked her to come over and introduced them to her one by one.
"This is the owner of the Lou residence, Lou Jing." He was the older man.
"Hello, Mr. Lou."
"This is Yuan Zuzhi."
"Hello, Mr. Yuan."
“This is Li Tongxue.”
"Hello, Mr. Li."
Xu Jiang recognized everyone's face and looked at the sky. Seeing that the sun was warm and sunny, she said to Lou Jing, "Excuse me, sir, where will you mount the cover?"
"It's right here." Then Lou Jing ordered the servant to bring a table and some chairs, and served some cakes and tea, and asked everyone to sit down.
Then he brought in all the supplies needed for mounting the scroll and asked Xu Jiang to check them. "Shopkeeper Xu, please see if there's anything missing. I'll have it delivered."
"It's basically complete." Even if there is something missing, she brought it with her.
Lou Jing invited: "Then let's start."
Xu Jiang used the same technique, and she was very skilled at it. Lou Jing's painting must have been recently created, with fresh ink and paint, so it didn't need any repairs. While this saved a step, the painting was much larger than Du Hui's last mounting, so applying the paste and mounting the backing would require more effort.
It is not easy to dry and wrinkles easily, so you need to use an iron with paper to iron it dry and flat.
Xu Jiang was concentrating on mounting the scroll, and the others were also concentrating on watching it. Soon, a thin layer of sweat appeared on her face.
The last step was to get on the axis. Du Hui was itching to help, so he came forward to help.
Lou Jing couldn't wait to come over and inspect it, only to find that the surface was smooth and the colors hadn't faded. The ironing distance was also controlled properly, without any scorching, and there was no fuzz or curling at the joints of the wooden shafts.
He couldn't help but praise, "Not bad, really good! Lao Du didn't choose the wrong person!"
Seeing this, the other people also came to watch. Seeing that it was mounted very well, they couldn't stop praising it.
"Gentlemen, please don't worry. It's not over yet."
Du Hui knew that she had a unique process, so he sent everyone back to their seats and said in suspense, "You don't know that this shopkeeper Xu has a unique process at the end of mounting the back."
Everyone was very curious, "What's the unique process? Tell us about it."
"It will be meaningless if I tell you." But this abominable person refuses to tell me, which makes me angry.
Fortunately, Xu Jiang didn't make them wait too long. She took out the small incense burner from the basket, burned incense over the fire, and then carried it around the table, fanning it from a distance to fumigate the area.
"This is... rosin." Du Hui had a very sensitive nose and could tell at the first sniff.
Xu Jiang replied, "That's right."
Lou Jing said, "It smells different from ordinary pine scent, and seems to be more mellow."
"Sir, you must be accustomed to the smell of precious rosin. This free stuff strikes you as unusual," Xu Jiang explained with a smile. "Ordinary rosin is often supplemented with herbs that alert the mind to achieve its calming and soothing effect. This scent contains only pine oil and pine bark, so the pine aroma is much stronger."
"It's actually better if it doesn't have any other smells." Li Tongxue half-closed his eyes, savoring the aroma. "Those rosin sold out there is so much about its efficacy that it actually makes your head cold and hurts your mouth and nose. This is much better, simple and pleasant-smelling."
"I'm not in the mood to criticize others, but Mr. Lou's painting of pine and crane for the longevity of life doesn't suit a complicated style. A simpler style is better."
"What a good idea." Lou Jing said with appreciation.
After dyeing three or five times, Xu Jiang put down the stove and asked a few people to come over for inspection.
"Gentlemen, why don't you test it again?"
Several people gathered around to take another look, but four pairs of eyes couldn't find a single mistake.
"Not bad, not bad!" Lou was very satisfied and immediately ordered the servant to carry the painting to the study.
Seeing how much he valued the painting, Xu Jiang couldn't help but feel curious and asked, "Who created this painting? Why did you take such a fancy to it?"
When she was mounting the book just now, she carefully identified the signature and the seal, and it was not the work of some famous artist.
Lou Jing just smiled and said nothing, but Du Hui told the truth, "This was painted by his son himself as a birthday gift for him. He must treasure it, right?"
Xu Jiang understood and wondered why he cherished her so much. It was truly a story of loving father and filial son.
Yuan Zuzhi said: "Speaking of which, it's been a long time since I last saw Yunchun."
Du Hui laughed and said, "He's busy arresting people everywhere. In this capital, who wouldn't tremble at the mere mention of Lou Yunchun's name?"
Several people burst into laughter, and Chen Tongxue continued, "I heard he even got the nickname King Yama?"
Listening to their jokes, Lou Jing couldn't help shaking his head. "Tell me, how could our Lou family, a family of scholars, produce such a rough and tumble person?"
A rough man? The image of a big man with a curly beard popped up in Xu Jiang's mind. Then, when she thought of the painting of pine and crane for longevity, she felt something was wrong.
Although the painting has a majestic artistic conception, the brushwork is meticulous and detailed, depicting the pine and crane vividly, and it does not look like it was created by a burly man.
She collected her utensils, thinking the matter was over, and was about to leave. Lou Jing gave her some silver, but did not let her go. Instead, he asked her to stay and attend the afternoon banquet, and ordered a maid to lead her around the garden.
Xu Jiang did not refuse. Firstly, she wanted to see what the banquets of the dignitaries in the capital were like. Second, she wanted to take this opportunity to become familiar to these people so that she could attract business for the bookstore in the future.
Lou Jing and others went to the study together. Xu Jiang saw that the pine incense in the stove had not yet burned out and she felt a little tired, so she took a rest in the Mingshi Pavilion.
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