Almighty painter

Chapter 563 Cao Xuan's Limits

To be honest, the middle-aged man's attitude towards Gu Weijing could even be described as gentle.

The methods used by Brother Hao were not even as excessive as the methods used by Sir Brown, the chairman of "Oil Painting" magazine, to treat the detective cat.

It's totally inconsistent with the temperament of a gangster.

"Mr. Gu, you must understand one thing. So far, I have never blackmailed you. No one has kidnapped you, no one poured a frying pan on your grandfather's face when he was out, and no one shot a few bullet holes in the body of your old car that was waxed like a mirror."

"I didn't skin that cat you had and throw it on your bed."

Brother Hao smiled.

"All this is just because I am willing to respect you, not because I can't. Respect is often mutual. Unfortunately, I have done all this but have never received the respect I deserve in return."

Brother Hao was still laughing on the phone.

Just for a moment.

The middle-aged man with a gentle tone and a calm voice disappeared.

His laughter sounded sinister.

It turned into the same kind of cold and chilling feeling that came from the bones when he asked Wu Qinlai to give Miao Angwen's father a pistol.

"I think respect has nothing to do with status or wealth, but only with attitude, right? Many, many years ago, I swore in my heart that I can tolerate many things, but my principle is that I cannot allow myself to lose my dignity or allow others to disrespect me."

"And you, you are showing no respect for me now."

"You need to give me a reason. A reason that can convince me. Otherwise, Mr. Gu, please forgive me for being blunt, your situation may be worse."

Gu Weijing held the phone tightly.

There was dead silence all around.

He could only hear the sound of his own heart beating in his chest.

"Cao Xuan...Mr. Cao Xuan."

Gu Weijing found that the voice in his throat was a little hoarse due to nervousness.

He paused, but forced himself to continue. "Mr. Cao knew about your situation. At that time, I asked Mr. Cao's assistant to help me coordinate and borrow security personnel for a period of time."

"It was during that period, there were several special duty officers who stood guard in front of the calligraphy and painting shop." Brother Hao said, "I know about this. Are you trying to tell me that Mr. Cao Xuan gave you the support to not be afraid of me? Cao Xuan is very powerful, but that is in the artistic sense. The old man may not understand my world, nor may he be clear about my abilities."

"No, I mean you may not know that some time ago, I gave a painting to Mr. Cao. After receiving the painting, the old man called me back."

"It was a special call from Germany in the middle of the night."

Gu Weijing recalled: "We talked on the phone for quite some time."

"The old man once mentioned something about you. He told me a story that is also related to the choice I am facing. I wonder if you would like to listen to it?"

"I'm all ears. I'm looking forward to it."

Brother Hao sounded very interested in this on the phone.

"Cao Xuan said that if a painter wants to reach the top of his career, especially after becoming famous, he will constantly face countless temptations. A painting was sold for 1000 million US dollars in New York. Do you want to report the account honestly, or do you want to find some accounting firms to avoid taxes?"

"Legal tax avoidance sounds acceptable, but what if taking a small step into the gray area and doing a little bit of manipulation on some data can help you save an extra $30? Do you do it or not? Well, if you accept this, then what if your accountant tells you that he has a way for you to evade taxes and can help you save a further $200 million?"

"It's okay, everyone is doing this, it's safe, don't worry. If an accountant holds a glass of champagne and whispers in your ear, would you be tempted?"

"If you tell yourself, well, it doesn't matter anyway because you are just evading taxes from the evil capitalist empire. Then what about another situation? If one day someone contacts you and wants to do something with data, not only will you save money, you can also make another 1000 million, but the buyer of this work is an underground arms dealer in South America, will you agree?"

Gu Weijing asked softly.

“Artists are often a group of people who like to do whatever they want, so they often unconsciously blur the boundaries of freedom, morality and even the law.”

"During the years he was abroad, he met too many people, including colleagues, juniors, and students from art academies. Under the constant gnaw of desire, they became different people. Some people started by flirting with some business PRs, and then gradually went to some crazy parties, thinking that this was very trendy."

"Then they started using leaves at parties, where idiots swore that soft drugs were acceptable, just like drinking. Later, it became ecstasy, then heroin, and going to some chaotic neighborhoods to find someone to inject themselves."

"Often after three to five years, this person disappears completely."

"This is how people degenerate. No one becomes an unforgivable bastard all of a sudden, but slowly slides into the mire."

"They constantly compromise with their desires without any bottom line, and then their desires devour them. Mr. Cao has seen too many such things, so he has been vigilant in the face of temptation all his life."

Gu Weijing said.

"Mr. Cao Xuan is an interesting philosopher. I admire his self-control. If a person can live like an ascetic for 90 consecutive years, it will be difficult for him not to become a master. Does he want you to become such an ascetic as well?"

Brother Hao said.

"No, no, no, it's completely the opposite of what you guessed."

Gu Weijing actually smiled. "I thought the same as you at the time. But after Mr. Cao finished talking to me, he specifically told me that he was not trying to criticize or educate me. He wanted to tell me not to live like an ascetic monk."

"Ok?"

There was confusion in Haoge's tone.

"He said he likes to speak to people of a certain age and say things that suit their age."

"Earlier this year, when Mr. Cao and I first met in the Shwedagon Pagoda project team, he told me that if a painter wants to live a long and steady life, he should not be involved in alcohol, sex, money, or anger. Mr. Cao told me on the phone that he said that because he treated me like a child."

"A child's world should be pure and flawless, full of righteousness, without room for even a speck of dust. It should be majestic, warm, and as brilliant as the morning sun."

"At the same time, children do not have a correct worldview and do not know how to exercise moderation. If you are told that you can enjoy yourself, then the child will often have room to persuade himself and eat and drink to excess."

“So they should listen to the most correct truth, not the most real truth.”

"But after seeing my painting... Cao Xuan no longer regarded me as an ordinary child. He said that I had a strong enough heart and was a junior, a man, not a child."

"He said I was ready to become a real artist."

Even though the middle-aged man on the other end of the phone seemed like a vicious cobra lurking at him.

When mentioning the praise that Mr. Cao gave him.

There was still a hint of pride in Gu Weijing's tone that was hard to conceal.

"So, he wanted to treat me as a true artist, a colleague, a junior in his family, and an adult who has grown up." "Adults don't like to be lectured, and they are impatient to listen to the preaching of elders. When Mr. Cao called me, he didn't want to teach me to be an ascetic. He just wanted to tell me his own story and talk to me about his real life experiences."

"And the real experience is——"

Gu Weijing pursed the corners of his mouth slightly.

"Mr. Cao told me that he has never been an ascetic."

"He told me not to believe what was said in newspapers and art reviews, saying he was pure and chaste, a person with no desires or demands. It was all the media's glorification of him. The media always likes to construct a false social image for famous writers and poets. In everyone's mind, great artists are often saints with flawless character."

"They only need to sing Li Bai's poem 'I looked up to the sky and laughed loudly, and went out', but they are not willing to publicize the side of the poet who tried every possible means to seek an official position all his life, but was frustrated and unsuccessful."

"Mr. Cao told me that if I had imagined him as a saint of morality, surrounded by incense, on the altar of the ancestral temple, I would have been disappointed. In reality, he liked to live in a big house, not a shabby hut. He was particular about living in comfort, and when he came to Germany to teach, he lived in a one-to-one replica of a Suzhou garden."

"He also likes to make money. He is very happy when a painting can be sold for 2000 million US dollars, which is much higher than other Chinese painters. He also likes fame. He has been unhappy that the Venice Biennale did not give him the Golden Lion Award. Over the years, he has never agreed to be a judge or guest of the organizing committee of the Venice Biennale."

"Mr. Cao said that he didn't even have such a devout adherence to the spirit and principles of art. A while ago, Sir Brown of Oil Painting magazine wanted to win him over to open up the Eastern art market. Mr. Cao didn't want to agree, but he still offered a signing fee of 10 billion dollars."

"If the other party's board of directors really thinks that an old man like him is worth the money, he will accept it. It doesn't matter if he does something bad. Mr. Cao said, you see, he is very shrewd in his calculations."

Brother Hao smiled again.

It sounds like Mr. Cao Xuan is a very interesting old man.

"The old man specifically told me that I should stay away from things like alcohol, sex, money and anger. I just need to listen to him. It is difficult for people to resist temptation all their lives. He couldn't even imagine that among the famous painters in the world, any of them could really live like a god without a trace of worldly affairs. He himself couldn't do it either."

"He didn't like Picasso's bohemian ways, but he was not an old monk in his life. He had even been fascinated by women more than once. Even when his teacher was supporting stars at the Six Nations Hotel, he would throw handfuls of gold, silver, pearls and jade at them. He was not much more reserved than the fans of today's stars."

"He always criticizes Professor Lin Tao for not being able to quit drinking and being a loser, but when he was young, he also craved a little alcohol. When he was studying in Paris, he drank a lot of whiskey. Later, he got a serious illness and his liver was in bad condition. The doctor said that if he continued to drink, he would die, so he reluctantly gave up. Even now, when he encounters an interview or a cocktail party, he will still take a sip or two when no one is watching him."

"Compared to the selfless old man in the newspaper, what he told me is more real. Mr. Cao said that he really lived a happy life. He liked wine, money, fame, profit, enjoyment, and all beautiful things. He had his own little calculations. He also liked to follow his heart.

"He said--"

"This is what the real Cao Xuan looks like."

Brother Hao listened silently.

There was no sign of impatience.

The media always puts filters on people.

Either beautify or vilify.

Or you may just catch some clues and get only a few scratches.

These kinds of words are definitely not something that ordinary people can read in interviews or artist chronologies.

Even the memoirs written by bystanders may not record it.

Perhaps only when an elder truly regards one as a close junior can one hear such profound self-analysis with one's own ears.

If it weren't for this coincidence.

Even though he was the godfather of Yangon's underworld, these memories are close to those of a great artist speaking directly from his heart.

He also never had the chance to find out in this lifetime.

"Grandpa Cao told me that freedom is like drawing a circle in your heart. The smaller the circle, the more rigid and boring you will be. Conversely, the larger the circle, the greater the risk of disorder and degeneration in your life. He didn't want me to draw a circle that was too small."

"If you are too young, you will become a dull machine. Your heart is nailed to a stake. You have not really lived, but you have carved yourself into the tombstone. Throughout history, he has never heard of any ascetic monk or monk who can only recite scriptures and do good art. Legend has it that Monk Huaisu can only enjoy life with wine."

"People who have never drunk alcohol don't know how it feels to be drunk. In addition, people only live once. Mr. Cao said that it would be a shame to be so disillusioned with the world at a young age, right? However, you must clearly define the boundary for yourself from the beginning. Don't let your self-control struggle."

"Brother Hao, you just said that you admire Mr. Cao's self-control. But that day, Mr. Cao told me that if there was anything he wanted to preach to me during that phone call, it was precisely - don't believe in self-control. What he had experienced in the past 90 years told him that self-control is a very unreliable thing."

Gu Weijing tapped lightly on the back of the phone with his fingertips.

"Do you know when Mr. Cao Xuan was born?"

"Early last century."

"Yes, Mr. Cao Xuan told me that when he was young, he went to Shanghai with his teacher. During the Republic of China, there were always old White Russian prostitutes in the dance halls there. These people were refugees who fled to Shanghai after World War I."

"Many of them were once noble ladies from the ruling class."

"They paint, dance waltzes and minuets, play the piano, read Baudelaire's poems and Hugo's novels, and every autumn they take a first-class train compartment from St. Petersburg across the Prussian plains, and finally arrive in Paris in July, just after the rainy season ends."

"They watched plays, opened salons, stayed at the Ritz Hotel for a few weeks, and bought all the women's clothes in Chanel's hat shop. They even spoke French more fluently than Russian."

(Note: Staying at the Ritz Hotel and shopping at Chanel's clothing store were both part of the fashionable lifestyle that was loved by European aristocrats in the 19th century.)
"These people have received the best education in the world and believe in the very conservative Orthodox Church. They are part of the so-called elegant elite class in tradition, and they are also the kind of people who are 'born noble'."

"At first, they just played the piano for people in the dance hall, then started to accompany guests to drink and watch plays. Then, if you paid them generously, they also started to do some private sex trade behind closed doors. In the end, almost all the White Russian women who frequented the dance halls had a fixed price."

"A bowl of tea costs 2 yuan. A dance costs two tickets for 2 yuan, plus a 15 yuan tip. A romantic date costs between 50 and yuan."

He told him what Mr. Cao had told him.

"When the old man was only a few years old, he saw in the conversations of adults how people moved their bottom line back little by little, sliding step by step into the abyss. So he knew from a very young age that self-control is a very unreliable thing."

"Humans are creatures that easily give in to desires. Family background, education, religion... these things cannot become an indestructible barrier in the face of desires."

Self-control is like a dirt dam built of sand.

Every time the tide of desire hits, a part of it will be eaten away silently.

In a long life.

In the repeated struggles between desire and soul, there will always be a day when everything collapses.

"So Cao Xuan said, you shouldn't wait until temptation comes to test your willpower, and then say to yourself, 'It's just a small step back, just a small step, it's okay.' Once the line is drawn, it is drawn. From now on, taking one step back is taking a hundred steps back."

"If you really want to cross this line, then you must understand what the price of doing so is."

"It's like alcohol, sex, money, and anger. It's not that you can't touch them, but it's hard not to touch them. But your attitude towards them should be like the attitude of nutritionists in health magazines towards ice cream—"

"It's delicious but not healthy if you must eat it. Please make sure it's a big day that's important enough for you."

(End of this chapter)