Almighty painter

Chapter 45 Auntie
Yangon,

Gu's Painting and Calligraphy Shop.

The weekend is another day off without going to the Shwedagon Pagoda.

Gu Weijing pulled open the top drawer of his bedroom cabinet, and dumped all the red envelopes inside on the bed.

Today he contacted an orphanage to visit, and before going there, he planned to prepare some gifts for the children there.

He was going to count all the lucky money he had saved over the years.

Like most Asian places influenced by the Chinese cultural circle, Yangon also has plans to give lucky money to children during the New Year.

And the red envelope is not one but two.

The first one was issued on New Year's Eve, and it was a normal red envelope.

The second one was on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, when he went to a neighborhood business that had just reopened after the Chinese New Year on the same street as Gu's Painting and Calligraphy Store, to say auspicious words, and would usually wrap a small gold coin in a red envelope for the children Folks, this red envelope is called Kaimenli.

Each store will prepare.

Correspondingly, my grandfather will also buy some small gold coins for the children of other neighbors.

Burmese people like gold. These gold coins weigh about half a gram or one gram. They are not very expensive, but they are just a lottery.

Many children will spend their New Year's money that year.

Gu Weijing's material desires have been relatively low since he was a child, and he has nothing to spend money on.

Over the years, I have also saved a lot of gold coins or small jewelry, and this time I plan to take them to the gold shop outside and sell them for money.

The calligraphy and painting shop is a duplex structure with three floors in total.

When Gu Weijing went downstairs, he happened to hear voices coming from the living room of the conference.

"I heard that someone gave Gu Weijing a set of painting tools, which are very valuable."

It was my uncle's voice.

Although born in a painting and calligraphy family, my uncle's painting skills are very average.

After graduating from high school, he followed his father Gu Tongxiang to run the painting and calligraphy shop. Now he is the second head of the painting and calligraphy shop, responsible for the purchase of calligraphy and painting and some regular entertainment.

During the Spring Festival, my uncle and aunt took my cousin back to my wife's natal home, and I just came back a few days ago.

"Send Gu Weijing? Heh, no matter how expensive it is, it depends on our dad's reputation in Myanmar. Otherwise, who would give such a small child a paintbrush. And how expensive is an oil paintbrush?"

Aunt's tone was full of gossip.

She also serves as an accountant in the store, responsible for managing the finances, and is naturally sensitive to numbers.

Hearing that someone gave his nephew an expensive gift, his ears perked up.

Uncle didn't speak, but seemed to be making gestures.

"Two? 20 kyats? That's a lot of money. Children don't need to use such a good brush."

A general oil painting brush set for beginners is about 20 to [-] kyats, and [-] kyats is about a hundred dollars. This is already a very good brush.It is worth a month's wages of ordinary workers in Yangon.

"It's 2."

Uncle was silent for a moment: "But the unit is dollars."

"Twenty thousand dollars!"

Gu Weijing heard his aunt let out a low exclamation.

"It's a Lukes master suit, which is equivalent to Hermès, and it has to be high-end. The price of [-] US dollars is just the price, and ordinary people can't buy it. If it is sold outside, it is estimated to be worth [-] US dollars."

Fifty thousand U.S. dollars, my aunt quickly converted in her mind, even according to the official exchange rate, the money is hundreds of millions of kyats.

"Crazy, this is worth a car, what is our dad planning?"

"The old man didn't say anything else, he just said it was Gu Weijing's stuff."

Uncle shook his head. When he heard the news, he was no less surprised than his wife.

The $2 oil painting set, I have only heard of the existence of this luxury on the Internet.

"The old man doesn't really want to give this painting set to children, does he? That's tens of thousands, tens of thousands of dollars! The economic environment has been so bad in recent years. Talk to the old man, why don't you sell it to subsidize the family..."

dong dong...

Gu Weijing felt that it would be a little embarrassing to listen to it any longer.

He knocked lightly on the door of the large guest room, and pushed it open.

The living room suddenly fell silent.

"Good morning, I'm going out for a while."

Gu Weijing pretended not to hear anything, and nodded to his cousin who was sitting on the sofa holding a mobile phone.

Uncle and aunt have a daughter named Gu Lin.

She is seven months older than herself, and she is a student of the same grade in the same school as herself.

It is difficult to get ahead in learning to paint, and my aunt does not want her daughter to continue on the road of art.

So the other party was in an ordinary class, with an out-of-the-ordinary personality, a slightly fat body, and average academic performance.

During the Chinese New Year a few days ago, the other party went back to her natal home with her uncle and aunt. Now half of the holiday has passed, and she just came back two days ago.

Gu Weijing saw the set of Lukes master painting set that Lao Yang gave him on the coffee table. The black walnut painting box was opened, revealing the messy brushes and the opened lapis lazuli paint box inside.

Lapis lazuli is a relatively expensive gemstone pigment, and the Lukes gift box contains a master paint set, as well as a small plate of various mineral pigments.

Among them are 150 grams of white pearl powder, 5 square meters of gold leaf, and 30 grams of lapis lazuli powder and so on.

These valuables are only used when painting a particular type of painting.

For example, lapis lazuli powder is the main ingredient in ultramarine blue pigment.

Italian painter Cennino Cennini commented on Ultramarine Blue in the book "Art" - "a noble color, unparalleled in beauty, and the most perfect pigment in the world."

Even in the medieval cathedrals that are resplendent and not bad for money, some lapis lazuli is only used when painting the statues of the Virgin or angels.

Its international market price is US$2500 per ounce, which is higher than the price of gold.

Cousin Gu Lin held up her new iPhone for the Chinese New Year next to the black walnut box, as if she was shooting TikTok.

Douyin is well-known internationally, even as good as Youtube.

Many people know about Douyin's lawsuit in the United States, but in fact, even children in the Middle East are beginning to use Tiktok as a tool to understand the world.

My cousin also has a Douyin account called [Little Princess in the Gallery in Yangon].

The daily content is to show off some expensive paintings and calligraphy in the gallery.

It is still quite rare in Myanmar galleries, and her account also has three or four thousand fans.

It seems that my master suit has become a new toy for my cousin to show off.

The aunt pretended not to see anything, and Gu Weijing also pretended not to see anything, which made the uncle a little embarrassed.

"Uh, that..."

Uncle opened his mouth, he knew that Gu Weijing might have heard the conversation in the living room, and wanted to say something.

"Just don't break it."

Gu Weijing waved his hand.

"Okay, Xiao Lin, don't take pictures, it's not yours, keep it for your brother." The uncle frowned and looked at his daughter.

"Why, just take a few short videos, why are you talking so much?"

The cousin was a little impatient with her father's discipline: "Look at Mona in our class. She runs a jewelry store at home and has more than 3 fans."

"It's Chinese New Year, why are you so cruel to your children? We are all a family, so can't you be more magnanimous?"

My aunt looked at her husband, a little displeased with his fierce tone.

"Xiaolin is just shooting videos, and he won't lose a single hair on his brush."

Gu Weijing knew that this was actually for himself.

His aunt may not have any bad intentions, it's just that she is a philistine and a little shrewd.

After all, he is an elder, so it is hard for Gu Weijing to say anything.

When he was young, he knew that his aunt thought his grandfather Gu Tongxiang was eccentric, and made it clear that he wanted to keep the most valuable painting and calligraphy shop in the family to himself.

In recent years, I prefer to inherit my family's painting skills rather than my cousin.

So I have some opinions on his nephew.

but……

Ugh……

It can only be said that every family has scriptures that are difficult to recite.

In fact, from the bottom of Gu Weijing's heart, he really doesn't mind selling this master suit.

He felt that he would not be able to use such a good paint for a long time.

And even with a conservative estimate of $3, it would be enough for him to upgrade several skills to the professional level.

It is also appropriate to take out some money to subsidize the family.Due to well-known reasons, the number of tourists has decreased in the past two years, and business has not been so good.

From her point of view, the aunt's plan is naturally that she is thinking about the family.

But this painting set is after all a gift from Lao Yang as a favor to himself.

People give you things with the front foot, and the back foot appears in the online market.

Borrowing flowers to present Buddha is not like that, what would Lao Yang think if he saw it?
It's also possible that the master's assistant doesn't care about any of this at all.

But Gu Weijing couldn't do that.

Gu Weijing shook his head, booked an Uber taxi on his mobile phone, and took his coat.

"Hush, did you see that plastic box in his hand? It's full of gold coins. It must have been secretly given by the old man when we were not at home during the Chinese New Year this year. Your daughter doesn't have one. The old man is too partial."

"Let me tell you, the old man gave so much money when he was young and didn't earn money for the family. Come to the door..."

When Gu Weijing left the reception room, he could still hear his aunt's low-pitched nagging voice that he deliberately let him hear.

He didn't turn his head back to explain, and it was useless to explain this kind of thing, so he could only sigh softly.

(End of this chapter)