Almighty painter

Chapter 597: Thousands of Years of Loneliness, a Picture to Learn from

Old Yang pushed the door open in a hurry.

"wait a sec."

When he entered the study, he realized that he was still holding the packaged Thuringian sausages in his hands, so he turned around in a hurry and put the restaurant takeaway box by the window frame, then rushed in again, like a Chihuahua undergoing pet shuttle hurdle training.

"Be more stable, don't rush around like that, it's just like anything."

Cao Xuan caught a glimpse of his assistant's appearance and gave him a "class teacher's stare" that made Old Yang shudder.

"Sir, there is something..." Old Yang was considering how to start.

"No hurry, I just wanted to find you, and I have something to ask you." Cao Xuan was the first to ask a question. "I think the circle of friends you posted before is quite interesting. Tell me about it."

Aha?

Old Yang was stunned for a moment, confused by the question. He didn't expect that Mr. Cao had the leisure and elegance to care about such issues.

Circle of friends?
Lao Yang posts on WeChat Moments intensively almost every day!

Which circle of friends are you talking about?

Old Yang began to push them one by one in his mind. When he woke up in the morning, he casually posted a poem by Oscar Wilde to show off... It shouldn't be this, Mr. Cao doesn't like Oscar Wilde very much. Last night, he went to a live house to play and posted a silhouette of himself holding a whiskey to show off. It shouldn't be this... Although the old man is trendy, he is not that trendy. Yesterday at noon——

His brain started to work at high speed.

When he was checking whether the pretentious article he posted there in the capacity of an artist's assistant recalling the past relationship between Mr. Cao and Picasso, which he had just met last Wednesday and tried to hook up with, had aroused the old man's interest in reminiscing about the past.

Cao Xuan finally couldn't wait any longer.

"Hope, hope. Use this shield of hope to resist the attack of the dark night of emptiness. Even though the dark night of emptiness is still behind the shield, it is different. This is what makes humans different from animals."

He slowly repeated the sentence to remind his assistant.

"Oh, oh, it's this one. The one I distributed at the Shwedagon Pagoda."

Lao Yang devotes himself selflessly to high-intensity show-off activities every day.

Thanks also to his excellent memory.

Ordinary people post hundreds of messages every month, so they may not be able to remember clearly what they sent out such a long time ago.

Lao Yang not only remembered it, he also had a clear impression that it was his circle of friends with the highest number of likes in the first half of this year.

If you pull out the list of likes and comments saying "Teacher Yang is so great" following the little heart, there will be dozens of lines!
"I stood in front of the mural and was inspired by the brushstrokes, lines and colors. They were exquisite, vivid and lively. Every stroke touched my heart!"

His face was solemn, and he looked up at a 45-degree angle into the distance. "I think this is the work of a true master. It is so inspiring. Keats said in his Ode on a Grecian Urn that beauty is truth and truth is beauty. O Attic shape! Fair attitude! with brede——"

Lao Yang's arsenal includes eighteen weapons for flattery and seventy-two postures for telling dirty jokes.

As he spoke, he had already gathered his energy in his dantian, took a horse stance, and was ready to rush forward and start licking.

There's no harm in memorizing more things when you're young, right?
Not only can it be used to pick up girls, but when you turn into a loyal licker, you can lick them more differently than others.

Delicate and exquisite, sophisticated and lively?

Mr. Cao sat in his seat without making any comment, just listening quietly, without encouraging or interrupting, just listening to Mr. Yang's appreciation of art.

a long time.

Finally, when Lao Yang took a breath and was ready to start again.

The old man shook his head gently. "There's no need to talk about all that. Let's talk about that sentence - hope, hope. Use the shield of hope to resist the attack of the dark night in the void. Even if there is still the dark night in the void behind the shield, it is different. Did you say that?"

"Oh, this is what Mr. Lu Xun said." Old Yang replied hurriedly.

"Of course I know this sentence comes from Mr. Lu Xun's Wild Grass Collection."

Mr. Cao was almost amused by him. "I'm not asking you that. What I'm asking is, is this what you thought of when you stood in front of that painting? About that painting, about the Shield of Hope, about Lu Xun's Wild Grass, all of these are what you saw in the painting yourself."

"Of course I just felt that—"

The ninety-year-old man's eyes, which were clear in black and white and even had a childish innocence, fell on his assistant.

The old man paused for a moment and asked again in a playful tone.

"Are you sure, really?"

Ding dong! Ding dong! Ding dong!

Old Yang's killer instinct came out and he started swinging the little bell wildly again.

This time.

He smelled a trap.

Just like a local dog smells a dog stick, a bohemian cowboy encounters a honey trap, and a western bandit runs into a bounty hunter.

Old Yang took only 0.01 seconds to analyze the calm expression of Mr. Cao when he listened to his flattery, analyzed the look in the old man's eyes when he was looking at him, and then analyzed the playful curve at the corner of his mouth.

Danger!Danger!Danger!

"But the reason why I can express my feelings is mainly because Mr. Xiao Gu guided me well!"

He slapped his thigh excitedly, kneeling smoothly without any sense of stagnation, "Oh, sir, you don't know, when I met Gu Weijing in Yangon this time, the young man stood quietly in front of your painting "Pray to the Buddha and Protect the Dharma". He told me that he saw hope in the eyes of the Buddha."

"Mr. Gu told me that he got a feeling from your painting "Pray to Buddha and Protect the Dharma". Whether you are a Buddhist or not, you can feel the power here. This power is about faith and has nothing to do with faith. It is hope."

"He told me that a thousand people have a thousand ways, a thousand Buddhas have a thousand faces, but a thousand faces have one heart. Just like Mr. Lu Xun's Wild Grass, it always brings strength to people, because they are all written with blood and sweat, so no matter how much time has passed, they can't condense, still don't want to condense, they are still warm."

“Use the shield of hope to resist and dispel the black hole-like nothingness.”

Lao Yang rubbed his chest and said, "At that time, I thought, oh, this is really a very good statement, it really touched Lao Yang's heart! I couldn't help but post it on WeChat Moments to commemorate it."

Lao Yang posts on WeChat Moments just to show off. He is a person who can get great satisfaction and pleasure from "Teacher Yang is great" and "666".

Just pretending for the sake of pretending.

Get unlimited spiritual pleasure and full self-satisfaction from simply pretending to be cool.

If we just talk about the matter of showing off.

Old Yang is really a very simple person.

There isn't so many twists and turns, and he doesn't want to win the house or the land by this, he just likes to show off.

So he can pick it up and put it down.

When can you install it, and when can you install it to the end.

Old Yang knows clearly when to be cowardly.

He originally just wanted to post it casually to get some likes, just like posting Oscar Wilde's quotes or reciting Keats' poems.

However, the old man's attitude is not the same as when facing any random quotes from Oscar Wilde or poems by Keats.

Obviously serious.

At a time like this, if he continues to pretend, it means he is out of his mind.

It's not that he can just speak out of his feelings just because he says so.

It is different from the vague creative similarities between Cui Xiaoming's painting of Buddha and Gu Weijing's "Good Luck Orphanage in the Sun".

This matter.

If Mr. Cao really wanted to make a fuss, he could just make a phone call and call Gu Weijing to ask about the situation.

Judging from Cao Xuan’s admiration for that guy.

Between Gu Weijing and Tang Ning, which one does the old gentleman prefer?

Maybe it was Tang Ning, whom he had watched grow up since childhood.

But Old Yang was never so naive as to think that between him and Gu Weijing, Mr. Cao would be more willing to believe what he said.

If the force is not installed properly, you will have to pay more rice.

Old Yang wouldn't do that!
"Isn't it crystal clear, experienced and lively?" Cao Xuan still looked at Lao Yang.

“Your painting is really good!”

"I'm in a good mood today, so I'll teach you a lesson. When you say someone is good, you have to explain how they are good." Mr. Cao shook his head, "Don't use clichés like crystal clear, sophisticated and lively to describe people. These words are good, but if you don't understand painting, then these words will lose their meaning. If you don't understand what you are saying, it's just making people laugh."

"Old man, you saw through me at a glance. Why don't you tell me more about the painting? I'll save you from embarrassing myself."

Generally speaking, middle-aged people will feel ashamed when calling themselves "kids".

Lao Yang's face was as thick as a city wall. His face didn't turn red, his heart didn't beat, and he showed his signature greasy smile.

He didn't seem shy at all and went over to pour tea for Mr. Cao.

Old Cao is twice his age. If you don't call him kid, then what should you call him? It's good enough for him to be someone's grandson.

"Oh, you are a man who is good at seizing opportunities. Well, if you can get a pole, you should climb it. Who says it is not a skill?" Old Master Cao seemed to be in a good mood. He did not refuse and knocked on the table with his knuckles. "Beauty is truth, and truth is beauty. Although I know you are talking nonsense, nonsense is nonsense. You are indeed quite sharp sometimes. It's a pity that you don't use it in the right way all day long."

Old Yang's face was full of wrinkles when he smiled.

She looked so beautiful that she seemed to be about to transform, and she stuck out her tongue to dissipate heat.

Check it out!

The old man was saying that I was sharp! The second half of the sentence was selectively ignored by Lao Yang.

What's wrong with criticism? Not everyone has the opportunity to be criticized by the old man.

Let others just be envious and jealous.

"That's true, but what is beauty and what is truth? I would rather summarize it in these 19 words: 'The painter should be clear and cautious; the rise and fall of the world; the loneliness of a thousand years; the picture can be a lesson for you.'"

Cao Xuan pondered for a moment. "This is what Xie He, a painter from the Southern Qi and Liang dynasties who proposed the Six Laws of Chinese Painting Appreciation, wrote in the preface to his book, Appreciation of Famous Paintings. Paintings can help people understand the merits and demerits of admonitions, and see the rise and fall of historical contexts. Over the past thousands of years, those past events that have been gradually forgotten by people, those people who have been submerged in the surging rivers of history—"

"Their success, their failure, the young heroes, the white-haired beauties, the scars and the atmosphere of the Han and Tang dynasties that have never been seen by people, the lonely and desolate ones, the powerful ones, everything, when people open the scroll, will appear vividly before their eyes."

"This is what is called a thousand years of loneliness, and the picture is a lesson for you."

The old man's voice echoed in the study.

Cao Xuan, the skinny and thin old man, started talking.

It's full of energy and weight.

His voice inevitably has the raspy sound of an elderly man, but there is none of that tired feeling of having to breathe heavily for half a day to finish a sentence.

The thinking is fluent and the language is fluent.

"When I was young, my teacher took me to the cultural salons in Peking and I had the honor of meeting many senior artists in the art world. Until 1937, when the Japanese occupied Peking and Southwest Associated University moved to Changsha and then to Kunming, Ms. Lin Huiyin's salon at No. 3 Beizongbu Hutong was the forum for the most famous cultural elites in Peking. People talked about literature, architecture, and aesthetics. People said that Liang Sicheng was always silent, just listening, smoking, and then smiling and nodding. On the contrary, Lin Huiyin was very talkative and knowledgeable. However, I was too young at that time and didn't know how valuable such an opportunity was."

"For so long, I have long forgotten what brilliant ideas those masters had and what essence of thought they talked about. Even their faces are blurred. However, I only remember two things. One is that once, the Liang family kid who was eating Daoxiangcun cakes with me saw the worry on the adults' faces and suddenly asked his mother, 'If the Japanese captured Peking, you planned to go to the southwest to continue teaching. But one day, the southwest also fell. If the Japanese occupied all the land of China, where else could we go?'"

Mr. Cao recalled, "I remember that Ms. Lin smiled calmly. She did not comfort the child by saying that such a thing could not happen. Instead, she answered the question with her usual humor. She said, it doesn't matter. There is always a river at the doorstep, the Yongding River or the Jinsha River. Even if one day, Chinese scholars will always have a last resort to choose."

"This courage, this teasing in the face of the Japanese, this fearless sense of humor, shocked me. In all kinds of boring gossip, it is always said that Ms. Lin is famous for her beauty. I can't remember what she looked like when I saw her when I was young, but this sentence, this brave joke, made me remember it for a lifetime."

"The second thing is a vague impression."

(End of this chapter)