Ch3 - Uh Uh Uh

Edited by Zaki

The fact that Qi Linqing made his living in his previous life by painting rather than calligraphy, suggested that he was better at the former. 

The essence of the art of calligraphy was in fact the derivation and evolution of Chinese characters based on their structure. This gradually led to various styles of fonts.

The basic form, shape, direction and order of calligraphy was already fixed. It was not like painting which could be imagined out of thin air and did not rely on instruments.

Qi Linqing thought that he had a decent talent in painting, but he felt he was not that good in calligraphy.

In the two years during his terminal illness, he was inspired by two great calligraphers and he had studied hard. Although he could write all kinds of fonts, he was best at running-regular script and cursive script. 

——The inscription on this sample of “Hundred Miles Kingfisher” was in cursive script.

Qi Linqing looked at the painting and instantly gained more insight.

The Scene Manager shouted “Action!” and when he struck down the clapperboard, three cameras began to run around him.

Qi Linqing had never seen this kind of machine before, it felt like a dark monster with a metallic sheen, so he was quite interested and moved his gaze from the painting to the machine for a while.

Director Shen’s face instantly darkened.

The Scene Manager tried to wink at Qi Linqing: Big brother! Big brother!! You can’t be distracted during acting (burst into tears).

Qi Lele saw this scene, and his expression was slightly worried.

Director Shen was notoriously bad tempered. 

He wouldn’t offer any praise for actors who had passed the scene in one take, but if they even made a small mistake when acting, they would be scolded badly by him.

Just when Director Shen was about to open his mouth to reprimand Qi Linqing ——

Qi Linqing finally realized that he was working for someone else and lowered his eyes and started to paint.

There’s no point in being curious now, it was better to find the information in Duniang after he got home. 

After all, what if the other party was not satisfied and deducted his fee? He had often encountered such things in his last life.

Qi Linqing thought he had to hurry up.

———

Director Shen sat behind the monitor and whispered to Lai Ze, “Do you really think he can do it?” 

Even if he had confidence in professionals, Shen Cheng was still disappointed by Qi Linqing’s performance just now.

Lai Ze pointed to the screen and said, “Keep looking, the answers are there.”

Director Shen raised his eyes and looked——

If one ignored the out-of-place blond hair, the teenager in front of the camera looked very pleasant. He was thin, and his height was similar to that of Qi Lele’s. Every gesture revealed a solemn and ancient atmosphere. 

This time Qi Linqing did not inscribe first, but followed the normal order of painting – directly dipped in ink and splashed.

He used to start with the details, two drops of ink on the white paper, slowly outlining the lines and carving the mouth and nose of the kingfisher first.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

But at first glance, this painting would confuse the viewer.

Aera ilxf cbk, atfgf kjr j mbwwbalbc jwbcu atf jmabgr. 

“Qtja lr tf vgjklcu?”

“Ktf ylgv’r yfjx vbfrc’a ibbx ilxf j ylgv’r yfjx, yea ilxf j vemx!”

Hl Olcdlcu pera olclrtfv tbbxlcu atf xlcuolrtfg’r wbeat jcv kfca ab vgjk atf cfza ilcf. Ktf rtjqf kjr lcvffv rilutais ragjcuf ogbw atlr rtbbalcu jcuif.

Qi Lele stood aside and silently turned his back. He didn’t seem to have the heart to witness his brother’s downfall. 

The producer scoffed and said, “It’s better to let Qi Lele do the scene himself. They both draw birds, one like a chicken, the other like a duck, not much difference.”

Qi Lele: “……”

“Yes, director Shen, why did you bother invite a high school student who has been ostracised by the whole network to be a substitute painter?” An actor who usually had a good relationship with Qi Lele hurriedly helped say a few words.

When Director Shen heard these words, he inexplicably felt a pang of annoyance. He no longer stared at the monitor, but stood up from his chair and walked to the corner to smoke. His heart was already very disappointed with Qi Linqing. 

Did his best friend lie to him? Maybe this blond boy who could write good calligraphy was actually not good at Chinese painting …… Was his expectations too high? If he thought about it carefully, how could there be such a miracle of suddenly meeting a young genius who was good at calligraphy and Chinese painting as well?

As the people were gossiping, Qi Linqing had finished sketching the outline of a Kingfisher and began to trace the peach blossom branches and leaves below. He didn’t just mechanically copy everything from “Hundred Miles Kingfisher”, but used his own brushwork according to his own habits.

If the other party was not satisfied, there was nothing he could do. Qi Linqing thought to himself that he could only draw so far.

———- 

Director Shen finished smoking a cigarette.

Director Shen stamped out his cigarette butt on the ground and turned back to the shooting scene.

“Director Shen, the camera has finished shooting.” The Scene Manager pointed to the painting on the desk.

The director absently raised his eyes to look over, but saw a different expression on the faces of the people present and froze slightly. 

Qi Lele was talking quietly with some actors who were usually good friends: “My brother paints very well. I didn’t know he was so talented.”

Qi Lele was not stingy with his praise and his tone was sincere from his heart. This was a sharp contrast to Qi Linqing who had sounded extremely jealous in the “Metamorphosis Meter”. The actors present couldn’t help thinking that Qi Lele was simply an angel.

And the producer, out of nowhere, conjured up a magnifying glass, bent down to study the picture on the table carefully, and looked embarrassed as if he wanted to find a crack in the ground.

Director Shen’s face was full of questioning looks. But as he walked towards the desk, his anticipation slowly built up. 

Surely it was not possible that the moment he turned his back, the blond boy had become famous?

But when he saw the painting, his usual calm expression totally cracked up.

It was he who misunderstood, his best friend did not lie to him.

Obviously this was a copy, but why did it seem to be more realistic and charming than the original “Hundred Miles Kingfisher”!!! 

———-

The Scene Manager hadn’t studied for several years and couldn’t understand traditional Chinese painting at all. He stared at Qi Linqing’s painting for a while, and then looked at the “Hundred Miles Kingfisher” and his expression turned strange

One was two-dimensional and the other was three-dimensional.

Why was everyone praising Qi Linqing for his good painting? 

“These two paintings are not very similar at all.” The Scene Manager murmured.

Several people at the scene echoed: “Yes, although this boy paints very well, it feels completely different.”

Lai Ze’s mood was very complicated as he explained, “Because he was not copying… But showed the flexibility of flowers and birds in another way according to his own brushwork.”

People would subconsciously ignore the outside world when they encounter something magical. 

Just now, Lai Ze had not participated when everyone was gossiping about the painting.

Because he was so immersed, he couldn’t hear!

Just now his attention was completely focused on witnessing the birth of a living Kingfisher.

Lai Ze’s major was oil painting. He had seen many three-dimensional pictures using shadows in the Western art system, but it was the first time he saw that Chinese painting could also use lines to create a distinct sense of volume and space! 

This had completely transcended his systematic cognition.

Director Shen looked at the blonde boy. He was worried that he was too fierce just now and had frightened the other party, so he subconsciously softened his voice, “Thank you for today. I’ll ask the Scene Manager to transfer money to you later. Do you want ZFB or WeChat?”

Qi Linqing: “Can you give me cash?”

He did not use these two software. 

Director Shen was stunned for a moment and then immediately said, “Of course.”

Director Shen asked the Scene Manager to withdraw money from a nearby bank and specially put the money in a red envelope and handed it to the other party.

Qi Linqing took it, opened it on the spot and counted, and asked in a low voice: “Why is there only three thousand yuan?”

Director Shen was embarrassed, “Not enough? ……” 

《Tang Yue Fengyun》 was originally a low-cost online drama and it just had enough money to hire actors. Obviously the money for substitutes was not much.

According to the market, it was only 1,500 yuan. This 3,000 yuan was specially applied by Director Shen and the producer.

Qi Linqing: “The owner of the framing store told me that there are more than ten thousand.”

Director Shen: “??” 

Director Shen paused and said honestly, “He lied to you.”

Qi Linqing: “……”

After working hard for most of the day, the total money was still not enough to buy paints.

Qi Linqing sighed inexplicably, thinking that even if he had a new life, he could not escape the fate of poverty. 

“Are you short of money?” Director Shen asked tentatively.

Qi Linqing mumbled, “Well, kind of.”

After being reborn, Qi Linqing wanted to fulfil his last wish – to continue the painting of “Ten Thousand Miles of Landscape” that he had not finished in his previous life. The modern mass-produced boxed pigments were not good enough, so he was currently anxious to earn money to buy the natural ancient pigments sold by the owner of the framing store for secondary processing and colour mixing again.

Director Shen was happy to hear that. Although he didn’t know why the young master, who had just been recognized by the Qi family as their biological son, would be short of money, it was good for him. 

《Tang Yue Fengyun》was a web drama adapted from a JJWXC novel, in which there was originally a confidant friend character, Gao Lanxi, who played with the second male character, Li Tianyu. But because the plot required high drawing skills for this character, Shen Cheng was not able to find a suitable candidate and hence he simply deleted it from the script.

Director Shen looked at the handsome looking teenager in front of him, excluding the blonde hair that subtracted points like dead grass, the other party’s appearance was actually not inferior to Qi Lele, and even somewhat better.

And he and Qi Lele happened to be the protagonists of the “Metamorphosis Meter” “accidentally swapped 18 years of life” that was on the news a while ago.

If Qi Linqing came to play as Gao Lanxi … Maybe they could create a wave of early publicity. 

“We are still missing a role here.” Director Shen said: “Are you interested in acting?”

Qi Linqing politely refused: “I am sorry, No.”

When he first transmigrated into the book, he didn’t quite understand why Qi Lele could consider acting as a lifetime career.

Even though he knew that the times had changed, in Qi Linqing’s opinion, it was still difficult for an actor to make it to the Hall of Fame and become famous. 

“How easy is it to eat with your face? It’s a pity that with your face, you are not an actor!” the producer interrupted.

In his previous life, Qi Linqing had ordinary looks and did not pay attention to his appearance. But in this life, he was asked if he wanted to be an actor because he had a good face.

He said firmly, “I’m not interested in acting.”

Director Shen choked for a moment and continued, “This role doesn’t even have a line, so you don’t really need to act. You just need to draw a picture like you just did and let us shoot the process. Feel free to copy or not, can you paint a landscape this time?” 

Gao Lanxi was a painter famous for his landscapes, and Director Shen wanted to fit the original as closely as possible.

Qi Linqing fell into deep thought.

“………”

It was as if a row of crows flew by. 

Director Shen stubbed his toes on the ground wondering if his request was too presumptuous?

Maybe so. Because for Qi Linqing, there was no need to rely on face or strength. The power of the rich Qi family was behind him. For sure the other party saying that he was short of money was just a joke. 

Besides, the other party could paint flowers and birds, and may not necessarily be able to paint the more difficult paintings like landscapes………

“Can I have 7800 yuan?” Qi Linqing suddenly asked. 

Qi Linqing had calculated the money for the paint, subtracting 6000 from his hand, there was a difference of 7800 yuan.

Director Shen was at a loss, “What?”

Qi Linqing: “I want to ask if the salary can be 7,800 yuan?

“Of course there is.” Director Shen said: “If you are willing, I will make the decision to give you a big red envelope of 10,000 yuan!” 

Qi Linqing nodded and immediately agreed: “Okay, that’s fine.”

Director Shen: “………”

He hadn’t expected that mere money could touch this young master’s heart.