Chapter 027: I'm so jealous
"Those graffiti on the table are your practice works?" Wu Yunzi covered his face with his hands when he thought of the puppies, chickens and ducklings drawn on them.
He couldn't imagine what a terrible scene it would be like if such a unique painting style was painted on an exquisite fan!
"Yes, I'll practice again tomorrow and I should be able to draw it." Wen Yan poured them some tea and was about to go out.
We can’t let Wen Yan ruin such a beautiful fan.
Wu Yunzi gritted his teeth and immediately dropped his "master" airs: "Stop practicing, I'll help you draw, okay?"
Wen Yan said distressedly, "My family is very poor, I am afraid I can't afford the fee."
"I won't take your money, no," Wu Yunzi stamped his feet anxiously, "I'll give you change. Can I give you five taels of silver for one painting?"
Wen Yan straightened her lips to prevent herself from laughing: "You don't have to pay me. If you really want to paint, then paint."
She returned to her desk.
He took down a long wooden box, three feet long and one foot wide, from a shelf nearby.
After opening the lid, press the mechanism inside to pull out three layers of mini storage racks.
On each shelf, there are two rows of white porcelain bottles the size of a woman's fist.
Wen Yan opened the lids of the porcelain bottles, and the pigments in the bottles appeared one by one.
The pigments are arranged according to the depth of the color, including red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.
Wu Yunzi's mouth dropped open in surprise: "You... actually collected such a complete collection of pigments!"
He started learning painting at the age of five, and even after 31 years, his collection is still not as complete as hers.
As a well-known painter, Wu Yunzi admitted that he was envious.
Very, very envious.
He was so greedy that he wanted to pick up the box and run away.
Especially the purple one.
Although there are only five colors in total, it is a deep purple that even the court painters do not have.
Light purple ores are extremely rare, and dark purple ores have never been discovered.
Fabric dyes can be mixed to create different colors, but the colors will gradually fade over time.
Only mineral pigments can last for thousands of years without fading.
"This, this, this...where did you get this dark purple color?" Wu Yunzi widened his eyes exaggeratedly.
Wen Yan: "...pulled it out from the Taoist's alchemy furnace."
Wen Yan pointed from lightest to darkest, "Numbers one and four are the same shade of purple jadeite, and numbers two and three are both purple agate. As for number five, which is the darkest... well, it was pulled out from the Taoist's alchemy furnace."
Wu Yunzi was dumbfounded when he heard this.
"You really will do anything to collect pigments!"
Purple jade and purple agate are both extremely precious gems.
Their chroma is not uniform, so when making pigments, they need to be crushed, and those with similar chroma are picked out, and then made into pigments.
Just a small bottle like this one probably consumed ten or twenty times the raw materials.
Ying Zhilin’s young lady is not simple!
If Wen Yan knew what Wu Yunzi was thinking, she would definitely make him sober up.
Even when she was the daughter of the Wen family, she was still a pauper.
The reason I was able to get so much paint was all thanks to Sister Chi Fei.
Last year they started a business together and opened the "Tianyi Cloth Shop".
In order to make their products stand out, they design the patterns and weave and dye the cloth themselves.
During this time, dyes and pigments were collected like crazy.
Most of these precious minerals were found by Sister Chi Fei.
Wu Yunzi had been itching to try it out for a while and couldn't wait to pick up the paintbrush.
Wen Yan used fish glue to help him mix the ink.
Wu Yunzi held the pen in both hands and wrote left and right.
After a while, two cats appeared on the paper.
On the paper bag was a chubby orange cat with a bald spot on its fat butt.
Its fur stood on end, and it turned around and jumped up, slapping the magpie's back with its claws.
The magpie ran away in panic with a tuft of yellow hair in its mouth.
Did the magpie that stole the feathers get away with it, or did the fat orange get his revenge?
No one knows the ending.
A fluffy, fuzzy tabby cat on a banana fan is chasing butterflies in a cute manner.
The styles are different, but each has its own characteristics.
Wu Yunzi became more and more adept at painting, and what he wanted to paint became clearer and clearer in his mind.
He couldn't wait to draw it: "Silk cloth."
He ordered without even looking up.
Wen Yan immediately took out the best painting silk cloth and spread it on the table.
Wu Yunzi was concentrating on painting.
Wen Yan poured him some tea and mixed some paint from time to time.
Every time it was exactly what he wanted.
In just one hour, a painting took shape.
Looking closely, it turned out to be a picture of sunset in the countryside.
In the mountains and countryside, there are thatched houses and curling smoke from cooking.
The nearest house is the Ying family's.
There is a tall magnolia tree at the base of the courtyard wall, which is in full bloom.
A chubby orange cat was lying on the wall with its limbs stretched out. Its long tail, with its fur standing up like a feather duster, was shaking intermittently.
It yawned lazily, with its big round head raised and its tongue sticking out.
There were several people standing in front of the door. A man and a woman were arguing with their hands on their hips and necks stretched out, and several people next to them were trying to persuade them in a panic.
The setting sun passes over the mountain tops, casting a golden glow on everything in the countryside.
This makes the scene even more warm and peaceful.
Although it is just a sketch, you can already see its wildness, tranquility, liveliness and vitality.
Wu Yunzi is good at painting cats and landscapes.
This painting is rich in color, bold in use of colors, and full of life, which is very different from Wu Yunzi's previous style.
Thanks to Wen Yan, he broke through himself.
"Great! Great!" Wu Yunzi laughed out loud, holding up his pen. "Tomorrow I'll take this to Songshan Academy and piss off those old pedants there."
As soon as he finished showing off, he realized that he had used a lot of paint.
To complete the painting, at least two or three times the amount of paint will be needed.
He suddenly blushed and said, "I'll pay you for the paint, and I also want to buy the paper fan and the banana fan."
He took out all the banknotes and small change he had on him, but could only come up with a little over a hundred taels.
Many of these pigments are out of market, and this amount of money is far from enough.
"I didn't bring any money with me today. I'll send it to you tomorrow." Wu Yunzi's eyes were glued to the paint box again. "I want a set of these paints. Any amount of silver will do. And this paper fan and the banana leaf fan, sell them to me as well."
Unexpectedly, Wen Yan shook her head and said, "The banana fan and paper bag are already taken, so I can't sell them to you. As for the paint... I don't sell this kind of paint. If you want it, you can take a look at this one."
Wen Yan opened another box.
Although this box also has a complete range of colors, it is obviously much worse than the previous one.
There are almost no rare colors, such as deep purple.
Wen Yan explained: "You can see that I don't have much inventory to begin with. If I sell it to you, I won't have any more to use."
Wu Yunzi could not refute this reason.
But he really didn't want to miss out on the paint, so he asked Wen Yan to give him some: "As long as you're willing to share with me, everything else will be fine."
This is what I've been waiting for!
Wen Yan suddenly changed the subject: "I have a compromise, please listen to it."
Wu Yunzi looked at her smile and instantly felt that her true intentions were revealed.
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