Learning to Paint

What had Lin Ke seen?

He could hardly believe he was seeing these things in this world.

These paintings were worlds apart from the ones outside. They were exquisitely lifelike, so vivid that looking at them felt like stepping right into the scene.

After a moment, Lin Ke recovered from his surprise and quickly composed himself.

I'd seen plenty of things, after all. There were no shortage of works like these in the twenty-first century-Teacher Cang, Teacher Ozawa, and the like.

Of course, although his mind thought that way, his body might not agree.

He heard Wang Lin point to a small door inside and whisper beside him, "Hehehe, can't hold back anymore, young master? Look, there's a special room over there!"

Lin Ke followed Wang Lin's gaze but said nothing, merely taking a deep breath.

Wang Lin continued in her soft, sweet voice, "Worried about not having any toilet paper? I can provide some. It's ten copper coins a roll outside, but I'll charge you three. I sell it to everyone else for twenty a roll. Three for you is a bargain, isn't it?"

Is toilet paper really what I'm worried about right now?!

You're tempting people into crime, lady!

Come to think of it, could this be a honey trap or a police sting?

Can I really take her as my master...? Lin Ke pondered, looking hesitant.

Wang Lin struck while the iron was hot. "There's a condition for selling it to you for three coins. You have to let me see your... you know..."

Lin Ke snapped his gaze toward Wang Lin, horror in his eyes.

But Wang Lin gave him no chance to speak.

"Other people don't interest me, but you're an exception. I'd be happy to look." Wang Lin narrowed her eyes slightly and stuck out her tongue, running it around her lips.

Lin Ke was about to turn and leave, but then stopped.

This painting studio even came equipped with a Little Black Room!

And provided toilet paper?

No fucking wonder it was called the Immortal Realm Painting Studio!

It could just as well be called the Sacred Realm Painting Studio or the True Buddha Painting Studio!

People came in tangled in desire and left ready to spend their lives beside an oil lamp and an ancient Buddha, their minds as tranquil as sages, as though they'd entered an immortal realm.

Lin Ke looked at Wang Lin beside him, shifted his backside, then turned to her and said, "No need, Miss Wang."

"Oh?" Wang Lin frowned slightly, then looked Lin Ke up and down. Her predatory gaze made every hair on his body stand on end, and he shivered.

Note the important point: he shivered. He gave a little shake.

Seeing Lin Ke shake, Wang Lin's gaze stopped at his crotch.

She curled her lip in disdain, apparently having misunderstood something. "Finished already? You're not much good, are you?"

"No, I..." Lin Ke was instantly furious.

Before he could say anything more, however, Wang Lin looked enlightened and waggled her eyebrows. "Oh, oh, oh! Does the young master like something else? I understand. I understand everything!"

"Do you like muscular men? Or a domineering prince and his bodyguard? Or something else?" Wang Lin's eyes shone brightly with the light of wisdom as she continued, "People like you have all these special tastes. I have another room over there..."

"Stop, stop, stop. If I hear any more, this book's going to get banned."

Alarmed, Lin Ke hurriedly waved his hands, cutting off Wang Lin's increasingly outrageous remarks. "...Miss Wang, I came to become your disciple and learn painting!"

She stopped counting on her fingers. Hearing that Lin Ke had come to become her disciple, she raised her eyebrows, then walked over and sat in the room's only chair. "You're not here to spend money?"

Lin Ke's eyes went round, opening as wide as Old Man Qi's.

Why?

Because Wang Lin spread her legs like a man and sat down with a swagger, exposing what lay between them...

Long johns?

Lin Ke raised his eyebrows, imitating Wang Lin.

That's going too far, sis.

"Not spending money? Becoming my disciple?"

Sprawled in her chair, Wang Lin heard Lin Ke's request and said, "Sure. I can teach you to paint turtles, papayas, cherries, long dragons..."

"Stop, stop, stop!! Good heavens!" Hearing these dangerous words, Lin Ke hurriedly interrupted Wang Lin, saying helplessly, "Master! I want to learn something else."

Master?

Wang Lin seemed unconcerned about Lin Ke calling her master. She simply waved a hand and asked, "Then what do you want to learn? Let me make this clear first: some things are too niche. Even if you learn them, you might not be able to sell them!"

"What is all this nonsense..." Lin Ke didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but he secretly breathed a sigh of relief when Wang Lin didn't object to being called master.

He then explained, "I'll be competing against someone in painting later. These paintings are good, but I can't use them in a competition. Please teach me something proper that I can use against him."

He had figured it out: Wang Lin's paintings outside were just a smokescreen. Now that he had come inside, he could clearly see her true skill.

She was a genuine master of painting!

At the very least, every one of these many paintings was exquisitely lifelike. Even if he painted for ten years, he might not capture the same feeling.

In his previous life, they could probably have supported an entire little website.

"I see..." Wang Lin stroked her chin with her right hand, looking at Lin Ke in puzzlement. "Who are you competing against?"

Lin Ke hesitated, then slowly said, "I'm competing against Qi Ye."

"Qi Ye?" Wang Lin's right hand paused on her chin, and her eyes widened slightly. She confirmed each word carefully. "Qi Ye, the son of the Minister of War, Qi Tianxia?"

Lin Ke nodded calmly. He had only known that Old Man Qi was a minister, not that Minister Qi's name was Qi Tianxia.

What a great name!

Wang Lin stood up immediately, glanced around at the paintings covering her walls, and said, "Then let's talk outside."

A weight lifted from Lin Ke's heart, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Being in here was torture!

Would all his future painting lessons take place in the Little Black Room?

Wasn't this testing a cadre's willpower?

After they left the Little Black Room, Wang Lin waved her hand, and every candle inside went out from a distance.

Lin Ke's eyes lit up at the sight.

Another expert!

He had met quite a few experts by now: his father, Old Man Qi, and Li Chungang-though that was only three.

Adding Wang Lin now made four?

He could already feel himself gradually developing resistance. Supernatural powers no longer seemed quite so startling.

After leaving the Little Black Room, the two stopped inside the shop, but neither spoke.

Wang Lin, who had been thinking, seemed to reach a decision and struck her right fist into her left palm.

Smack!

Only then did she say, "Qi Ye is a Confucian scholar. Beating him won't be easy, but it won't be hard, either. Let me teach you for two or three years, and you'll beat him with ease... Of course, you'll have to pay tuition."

"Hahaha! I'm a fucking genius! Another chance to make money! Hahaha, haha, hahaha!"

What the hell... Lin Ke's expression stiffened. "Yesterday, we agreed to compete in painting three months from now. Oh, right, there's also literature and martial arts. Three subjects."

"Three months?" Hearing Lin Ke's words, Wang Lin reached out and touched his forehead, looking at him as though he were an idiot.

"Are you fucking sick?"

"You want to beat Qi Ye in three months... You should know he's a genius who ranks among the best in the entire capital! You want to beat him, and in literature and martial arts too? Try again in another eight or ten years."

Wang Lin looked speechless again, her voice turning soft and sweet. "I can't teach you. I'm just a frail sixteen-year-old girl who's only studied painting for three years. You'd better fucking find someone more qualified, young master!"

A sixteen-year-old girl?

Only studied painting for three years?

Weren't you the world's most talented woman earlier, lady?

Lin Ke was dumbfounded.

Was his attempt to find a master going to fail?

He thought for a moment, then said, "Senior, do you know why I'm competing against Qi Ye?"

"Because Qi Ye once said in public, he said..."

Lin Ke stopped there and looked at Wang Lin.

"Hmm?" Wang Lin raised her right eyebrow and asked, "What did he say?"

Lin Ke let out a breath, as though deciding to reveal something momentous.

He adjusted his emotions, swiftly slipped into acting mode, and said indignantly:

"Qi Ye said that people of Servile Status should stay among the lowest trades, that those of Servile Status should know their place, that those in the lowest trades deserve to be treated like dirt... Since I, Lin Ke, am also of Servile Status, I want to prove myself to him. That's why I'm challenging him."

Then Lin Ke put on a sorrowful expression and looked at Wang Lin. "Since you're unwilling, Senior, I'll take my leave. I'll look around and see whether anyone else is willing to teach me."

Wang Lin watched Lin Ke with calm eyes.

Watching Lin Ke's retreating back, she unclenched her fists, chuckled softly, and asked, "Heh. Are you trying to goad me?"

"Perhaps." Lin Ke neither looked back nor stopped.

He put three parts anger, three parts regret, three parts sorrow, and a trace of veiled disappointment into his voice.

Meanwhile, as he walked, he silently counted, 10, 9, 8, 7...

But his pace remained unchanged as he continued toward the door with seemingly heavy steps.

"Fucking stop right there! I'll take you as my disciple! Come here every day during the Siwu Hours, and I'll teach you. Give Qi Ye a proper lesson when you compete!"

Wang Lin's voice rang out, though she didn't sound angered by his provocation. Instead, she sounded like an old cow unwilling to give up the tender grass already at her lips.

At the same time, she sounded like another actor.

But Lin Ke didn't care about any of that. He turned with the speed of thunder that left no time to cover one's ears, strode up to Wang Lin, and clasped his hands in a bow.

"Your disciple, Lin Ke, pays his respects to Master!"

"Tch. It's a waste for a brat like you not to join a theater troupe." Wang Lin stepped back, clasped her hands behind her back, and lifted her chin slightly as she accepted his bow. "Still, that brat Qi Ye does seem like the sort to say something like that."

"Exactly!" Lin Ke nodded, then straightened and said to Wang Lin:

"Master, could we change the time? Before coming here, I arranged to study at Li Chungang's tofu shop next door during the snake and horse hours."

"What could Old Man Li teach you?" Wang Lin raised her eyebrows. "Making tofu? He's just an ordinary tofu maker registered as an artisan. What can he do besides make tofu?"

Li Chungang was actually an artisan of Commoner Registry status?!

Wasn't he a great Confucian scholar?

Confucian scholars had Noble Registry status!

Sure enough, these experts all liked to keep their abilities hidden.

"That's not it. Elder Li Chungang has a few scrolls of books, and I'd like to read them." Lin Ke didn't elaborate, giving Wang Lin only a casual explanation.

"Read books? You're literate?" Wang Lin looked at Lin Ke as though he were a rare species. "Everyone on this street is of Servile Status, but we're very close-knit! If Qi Dayan hadn't brought you here, do you think I'd have let you in?"

"Still, being able to read is something. Fine, then. We'll arrange the time as you say."

Wang Lin waved her hand.

Lin Ke was about to thank her and praise Master Wang Lin for her generosity, beauty, and kind heart when she spoke again.

She stood up and rubbed her hands together in an utterly sleazy way, like a green bottle fly. Her face, beautiful as a celestial maiden's, revealed traces of human ugliness.

"Come, come, let me see those chest muscles... No, I mean, let your master examine your physique and see whether you're suited to painting. I'm telling you, this is very important!"

"It'd be best to take off both your shirt and trousers. Sometimes you have to stand while painting, so I need to inspect your feet... No, your legs. No, that's not right either. The roots of your legs. Come, come, I'll use my ancestral Bone-Reading Method..."

Lin Ke: (^_^;)?

This woman wouldn't even spare her own disciple?

Just as he was looking around, unsure what to do, a call came from outside.

"Is Sister Wang Lin here?" a woman's voice rang out, as sweet as heavenly music to Lin Ke's ears.

To Lin Ke at that moment, that call was a life-saving straw.

Being with Wang Lin was sheer torture!

Then Lin Ke saw a woman in red walk slowly through the doorway and stare at them, dumbfounded.

"The customer's already finished. Very quick!" Wang Lin smiled toward her and replied, "I'm here, Sister Bingbing! Come in, I'm over here!"

Lin Ke also looked toward the doorway. Only when the woman called Bingbing approached did he get a clear look at her face.

The woman wore light rouge on her face, with phoenix eyes, willow-leaf eyebrows, and a pale red floral ornament between her brows.

Her features were neat and delicate, and she wore a white gauze robe over a bright red underdress.

A lovely woman with that traditional, classical beauty... Lin Ke couldn't help looking a little longer.

Even without the benefit of makeup, she was more than pretty enough to surpass Wang Lin.

A gust blew in through the doorway. Lin Ke closed his eyes and sniffed gently, only to find...

"Urgh..."

It wasn't perfume. It was the stench of Chaoyang Street!

Bent over, Lin Ke caught sight of Wang Lin slowly lowering her right hand out of the corner of his eye.

He instantly understood what had happened.

Wang Lin must have seen through his thoughts and deliberately swept the smell in from the street outside.

Somewhat embarrassed, Lin Ke straightened and calmly smiled at the two women.

After entering, the woman named Bingbing first looked at the wooden door to the Little Black Room behind Lin Ke, then kept glancing at his crotch.

She seemed to be pondering Wang Lin's remark about the customer being "very quick."

Noticing the odd way the girl was looking at him, Lin Ke lowered his head and followed her gaze, instantly understanding.

In an instant, his face turned green. Wang Lin, damn you! Give me back my fucking reputation...