I'm in the Red Mansion

Chapter 41: The Attack
Lin Daiyu frowned and said, "Second Brother Bao, I only have a limited understanding of the sketching method, how dare I mislead the students?"

"The school of sketching was originally founded by Third Brother Cong. If you want to learn, just go find Third Brother Cong and learn."

Jia Baoyu opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but stopped himself. After a while, he said, "Okay, I'll go find Third Brother Cong and learn from him when the time comes."

Next, Jia Baoyu asked several more questions, but Lin Daiyu was too lazy to speak.

Fortunately, Xue Baochai intervened to avoid making the atmosphere too awkward.

After a while, Jia Baoyu stood up and said goodbye awkwardly.

After a while, Xue Baochai also said goodbye and left.

After everyone left, Lin Daiyu frowned slightly.

She really didn't expect that Baoyu would come secretly and eavesdrop on their conversation, exposing the third brother Cong.

I hope Baoyu will keep his promise.

Next, Lin Daiyu looked at the unfinished vase portrait and became distracted.

But she was too lazy to finish the painting, so she put away the drawing board, leaned on the bed, and picked up a collection of Wang Wei's poems to read.

……

The next day after school, Jia Cong returned to Aunt Mei's courtyard, had dinner, then took his drawing board and went out to paint again.

Now he would take about ten days a month to go out and paint portraits, and he could earn about fifteen taels of silver each time.

After all, there are few suckers and it is difficult to encounter them easily.

Occasionally, when I received generous rewards, I would only give three or five taels of silver.

In this way, he could earn one hundred and seventy or eighty taels of silver in a month.

After deducting expenses, there would still be about seventy or eighty taels of silver left.

Jia Cong decided not to go out at the end of the year.

Firstly, the weather is cold, and once it freezes, the paint will be difficult to use.

By the time the second came, the money saved was almost enough.

After the New Year, he can completely change to a job that does not require him to show up in public.

As time went by, his reputation became more and more famous.

Nowadays, there are very few people from small families who come to him for paintings.

Most of the people who come here are sons of officials or young ladies.

They would not queue up themselves, but would only send their servants or maids to queue up.

How could those small families dare to compete with them?

Jia Cong didn't bother to care who the portrait was for. As long as he didn't get shortchanged, it was enough.

Jia Cong painted five or six portraits today. When it was the next person's turn, Jia Cong looked up and met an acquaintance.

Jia Cong couldn't help asking, "Baoyu, why are you here?"

It turned out that the person sitting on the stool waiting for his portrait was Jia Baoyu.

Hearing Jia Cong's question, Jia Baoyu chuckled and said, "You paint portraits for people, and you don't choose the people, so why can't I come?"

"Stop talking so much, there are people waiting in line behind you! Why don't you hurry up and paint? I'm not not paying you!"

After hearing this, Jia Cong shook his head and had no choice but to pick up the paintbrush and start painting.

A quarter of an hour later, the portrait of Jia Baoyu's rich face, as round as the Mid-Autumn moon, appeared on the paper.

Jia Baoyu took the portrait from Jia Cong and loved it more and more the more he looked at it.

Yesterday, Jia Baoyu was amazed when he saw the vase painted by Lin Daiyu in her study. But it was not until today when he saw the painting of the founder of the sketching school with his own eyes that Jia Baoyu truly realized the magic of sketching.

He couldn't help but smile and said, "Third Brother Cong's painting skills can be said to have reached the pinnacle and are perfect. You deserve an appreciation!"

Hearing Jia Baoyu say the word "reward", his servant Mingyan (after the 24th chapter, Jia Baoyu disliked the word "yan" and changed it to "beiming"), took out five taels of silver from his bag and handed it to Jia Cong.

Jia Cong smiled slightly and put the silver away.

Today is pretty good, I think I can earn twenty taels of silver.

……

Jia Baoyu took the portrait and got on the carriage. Along the way, the more he looked at the portrait, the more he loved it and was reluctant to let it go.

Jia Baoyu doesn't like reading the Four Books and Five Classics, or the studies of official career and economics.

However, he does have some talents in poetry, chess, calligraphy and painting.

When he saw the beauty of sketching, he was naturally delighted.

Soon, he returned to Rongguo Mansion and went back to his room.

After entering the house, he still couldn't bear to put down the portrait in his hand.

When the maids in his room saw Baoyu bringing back a portrait, they all came over curiously to take a look.

When they saw the lifelike portrait of Baoyu, which looked exactly like the real person, they couldn't help but marvel at it.

Qiu Wen couldn't help but ask, "Baoyu, I wonder who painted this portrait? It really looks like it was drawn based on a person. After seeing this painting, you don't need to see the real person anymore."

Baoyu smiled and said, "You will be shocked if I tell you this, this painting was painted by the third brother Cong from the first wife's family."

"You don't know, but Brother Cong San is painting for people on the street right now. He charges one tael of silver for each painting. I wonder how many people are lining up to see his paintings!"

Hearing what Baoyu said, Sheyue couldn't help but say, "Although Third Master Cong is a bastard, he is generally a young master in the mansion."

"If outsiders knew that a young master from a Duke's mansion was selling paintings on the street, wouldn't he be laughed at?"

Baoyu sighed, "How could you know that the reason why Third Brother Cong sold his paintings was because he wanted to earn money to buy medicine for Aunt Mei."

Xiren couldn't help but say, "We shouldn't talk about the affairs of the first wife behind her back. This Third Master Cong is also a pitiful man, it's really hard for him."

Qiu Wen couldn't help but say, "This Third Master Cong is not a good person either. If it weren't for him last time, Baoyu wouldn't have been beaten by the master."

Hearing Qiu Wen's words, Baoyu couldn't help but laugh and said, "What you said is really unreasonable. It wasn't Third Brother Cong who asked the master to beat me, so how can you blame him?"

"But he only knows how to study the Four Books and Five Classics all day long. He is a parasite and a boring person. If he hadn't painted a good picture, I wouldn't bother to pay attention to him."

Xiren laughed and said, "Although I didn't kill Boren, he died because of me. It was because of him that I got beaten last time. You didn't blame him, which shows that you are magnanimous."

After everyone in the room talked for a while, Jia Baoyu began to feel sleepy.

Xiren helped him wash and sleep, then quietly hid the portrait, pulled Sheyue aside and said, "Sheyue, take good care of Baoyu."

"If he wakes up and asks me, just tell him I'm out. I'll be back soon."

Musk Moon nodded and said, "Sister, just go and do your work. I'm here. It has nothing to do with you."

Xiren left the house and quietly went to Rong Xi Tang to meet Mrs. Wang.

Soon, Mrs. Wang called Xiren into the house.

"Why are you here now? Is Baoyu asleep? If you leave him here, who will take care of him?"

Xiren said quickly, "Second Master has just fallen asleep. The four or five maids are well now and will serve you. Madam, please rest assured."

"I came here this time because I had something to tell you, Madam. I thought I shouldn't hide it from you, so I hurried over to report it to you."

After hearing this, Mrs. Wang straightened up and asked, "Tell me quickly, what's going on? Is Baoyu doing something weird with someone again?"

(End of this chapter)