Ren Yaoqi chuckled and said loudly, "Daddy, my daughter is back!"
Not long after, Ren Shimin appeared at the door of the east wing. Seeing Ren Yaoqi, he was a little surprised: "Yaoyao? Why are you back today?"
Ren Yaoqi pulled Ren Yaohua forward and saluted Ren Shimin, smiling and saying, "I came back with my uncle and aunt. I heard that Daddy was repairing an ancient painting at Auntie's place, so I came with my third sister to take a look. Rival..."
When Ren Shimin heard Ren Yaoqi mention ancient paintings, his eyes lit up and he waved at Ren Yaoqi: "Yaoyao, come and see, these are two paintings of beauties painted by Jiang Yuanyi."
"Jiang Yuanyi's painting?" Ren Yaoqi was a little surprised.
Jiang Yuanyi was a court painter over 300 years ago. His specialty was painting beauties. It's said he painted over 200 of them, most of which were kept in the imperial palace. Unfortunately, during a change of dynasty, a fire in the palace destroyed many of Jiang Yuanyi's paintings, including most of his own. Ultimately, only about twenty of his paintings survive.
Jiang Yuanyi's paintings were gorgeous and his figures vivid. He had once vowed to paint every beautiful woman in the world, so those with unattractive looks were not included in his paintings. Fortunately, he was a court painter at the time, and the emperor's harem of 3,000 concubines ensured a constant supply of his masterpieces. The concubines at the time were also proud to have their works painted by Jiang Yuanyi.
After Jiang Yuanyi's death, many people imitated his style, but unfortunately, no one could surpass him for hundreds of years. Instead, a school of painting called the "Jiang School" emerged. The paintings of the "Jiang School" have two common characteristics: the style is gorgeous and the people in the paintings are all beautiful women.
When he was young, Ren Shimin was fascinated by figure painting for a while, and he also happened to be a fan of the "Jiang School" style of painting. Although Ren San has now turned his attention to landscape painting, Jiang Yuanyi's paintings still have something different for him.
Ren Yaoqi remembered that in his previous life, Ren Shimin also seemed to have acquired two paintings by Jiang Yuanyi, but that time he didn't repair them himself. Instead, he gave them to a well-established calligraphy and painting shop in Yunyang City. However, for some reason, the two paintings were not returned. It seemed that they were destroyed.
Ren Yaoqi didn't remember much either, because Ren Shimin was unhappy when the two paintings were mentioned, so she didn't ask any more questions.
Ren Yaoqi had already followed Ren Shimin into the east wing.
Fangzhiyuan also had a study in the main house. Perhaps Ren Shimin disliked the study as being too small and feared that it wouldn't be spacious enough for him, so he asked Aunt Fang to clean up two of the connecting rooms in the east wing.
In the center of the east wing stood two large Huanghuali wood desks placed side by side, on which were placed two paintings, brushes, inks, paints, and some repair tools.
When Aunt Fang saw Ren Yaoqi and Ren Yaohua coming in, she smiled gently without saying anything else. She turned around and quietly told her maid to bring some tea and snacks.
Ren Shimin had already walked to the desk and turned to Ren Yaoqi and said, "I have carefully examined it and it is an authentic work. It's just that the painting was not well preserved. I heard that it was hastily buried in the backyard by the owner during the war and remained buried for decades. When it was dug out, it was almost broken into pieces. Judging from the layers of paper when the surface was peeled off, it should have been repaired once before. It's just that the repairer's technique was too rough and he almost ruined a good painting!" Ren Shimin looked a little angry when he said this.
Just as Ren Yaoqi was about to move closer to take a closer look, she heard an unfamiliar female voice say, "Don't worry, sir. I'll be more careful when I unwrap it."
Ren Yaoqi then realized that there was a woman who had been hunched over by the desk. She had previously thought she was a servant in the courtyard and had not noticed her. Now the woman turned around and spoke. Ren Yaoqi saw her face clearly and confirmed that she had never seen her before.
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