Visiting Kang Shilin

The Fifth Highness is, after all, a prince. Even if he doesn't have the same status as the Crown Prince, the Second Prince, or the Third Prince, when he issues an invitation, no court official or powerful family dares to disrespect him. Even disregarding the Fifth Prince himself, they have to consider the Second Prince and the Cen Family's reputation, right?

These people were all heads of a family, and several thousand taels of silver was nothing to them. Usually, they would spend about the same amount of money on a painting or antique.

Moreover, given the Fifth Prince's antics, no one would feel comfortable contributing several hundred or even a thousand taels; raising the amount by two or three thousand taels would be perfectly acceptable.

As long as the Fifth Prince holds the auction he mentioned, even if his business doesn't make money, he at least won't lose money.

"Your Highness's idea is excellent."

He bowed deeply to Xiao Lingyan: "In that case, I entrust this bell to Your Highness for sale."

Xiao Lingyan helped him up, and waved his hand magnanimously, saying, "You entrusted me with selling this clock, which shows you trust me. We're good brothers, and you even gave me a share, so I won't charge you any commission on these three clocks."

Fu Yunlang said urgently, "How can that be? One thing at a time. If you don't accept money for my things, what if other relatives and friends have good items to auction tomorrow? Will you accept money then too? Buying a house and getting people to arrange things are all expensive, time-consuming, and laborious matters. How can I ask you to do all that for nothing? There aren't many people in the world who would dare to order you around like that. So you absolutely must accept the money. If you sell that bell for an extra thousand taels of silver, I'll actually make a profit."

Xiao Lingyan cupped his hands in thanks. "Then thank you very much Yunlang, for patronizing my business."

The two looked at each other and burst into laughter.

"Your Highness, how long will this auction take?" Fu Yunlang asked eagerly.

"Ten days from now. I need to prepare more items for auction to make it more lively. Nobody has ever seen your clock before, let alone knows its purpose. If we only sell the clock, I'm afraid not many people will come. If there are few people, the price won't go up."

Upon hearing this, Fu Yunlang became even Gao Xing.

He cupped his hands and said, "Very well, we await Your Highness's news."

After parting ways with Fu Yunlang at the palace gate, Xiao Lingyan sent someone to deliver a visiting card to Kang Shilin.

Mister Kumu was not short of money, so he rarely sold his paintings. However, his paintings were unique in style and superb in technique, making him extremely famous; in addition, his own extraordinary status made him highly sought after by the wealthy and powerful families in the capital.

Once his paintings were released, they could fetch at least five or six thousand taels of silver. Yet, even with the money in hand, people still couldn't buy them, so wealthy and powerful families considered it an honor to own a painting by Mister Kumu.

If he could persuade Mister Kumu to sell his paintings, Xiao Lingyan felt that his auction would be more than half a success.

Although Zhao Ruxi was Mister Kumu's beloved disciple, and Mister Kumu would certainly agree to sell a painting if Zhao Ruxi persuaded him, Xiao Lingyan's relationship with Zhao Ruxi could not be exposed, so he did not intend to follow Zhao Ruxi's path.

Without troubling Zhao Ruxi, he was confident he could persuade the old gentleman to sell his paintings.

Some time ago, Zhao Ruxi combined Chinese and Western painting techniques to create a unique style of painting. Although there were flaws in the various techniques in her first painting, the style was very unique, and the ideas she wanted to express were directly displayed on the paper, with a strong appeal, which made the old gentleman praise her highly.

After a period of diligent practice, her paintings are now very mature, and no flaws can be seen. Moreover, because of her improved skills, the paintings are more expressive.

Upon opening a painting, everyone is awestruck by its grandeur and forgets all about the painting technique itself. This is the most fundamental difference between a master painter and an ordinary painter. Therefore, once Zhao Ruxi's paintings are displayed to the public, the title of "master" is already firmly established, without any need for promotion.

Therefore, Mister Kumu always wanted to find an opportunity to make his young apprentice famous.

Although he could invite those who appreciate his paintings to bid against each other, display Zhao Ruxi's paintings in front of everyone, and then use the high prices to make Zhao Ruxi famous, the scope was too small, the influence too weak, and it was also somewhat unreliable. He felt that it was completely unworthy of his young apprentice's extraordinary painting talent, so he remained inactive, waiting for the right opportunity.

Now that Xiao Lingyan is going to hold an auction, he believes this is the best way for Zhao Ruxi's paintings to suddenly appear on the scene, and he is not afraid that the old gentleman will not be tempted.

As a prince, Xiao Lingyan sent a visiting card, and no matter how high Kang Shilin's status was, he dared not refuse Xiao Lingyan.

Kang Shilin immediately replied and arranged to meet the following evening.

The following day, Xiao Lingyan visited Kang Shilin with gifts.

Kang Shilin was always immersed in his own world and rarely paid attention to worldly affairs. He didn't care much about the disputes among the princes. He only met the princes briefly during the New Year banquets held by Xiao Ge. In addition, Xiao Lingyan was still young, so he didn't have a deep impression of him.

Seeing Xiao Lingyan, who seemed to have grown up and matured a lot, the old man was very surprised.

"Ah, time really flies. I don't realize it when I'm living my life, but seeing you, Fifth Highness, makes me realize how fast time goes by. I've gotten another year older," he sighed.

"Uncle, you're not old at all. Look at your robust physique, you're much stronger than many young people," Xiao Lingyan said.

Kang Shilin burst into laughter. "I love hearing that."

After a few pleasantries, Kang Shilin got straight to the point. "I wonder what brings Your Highness here to see me, young master?"

Xiao Lingyan knew that Kang Shilin was most impatient with dealing with mundane matters and hated others beating around the bush and wasting his time. He thought it best to just say what he wanted to say directly. If Kang Shilin agreed, he would agree; if not, he shouldn't pester him.

He said, "I want to hold an auction."

He then described the auction in detail, emphasizing that many people would participate, everyone could go on stage to observe the items up close, and that bidding would be done live, creating a lively atmosphere and making it easy for all the items to fetch high prices.

Finally, he said, "I've heard that your youngest apprentice Layperson Zhiwei, has created a new painting technique, which can be considered the founding of a new school. However, no one has heard of it or seen it. I think it's time to let Layperson Zhiwei's new paintings shine at this auction. What do you think, sir?"

Kang Shilin is just like a parent who spoils their child. He remains calm when others praise him, but he will definitely be overjoyed when his child is praised.

Upon hearing Xiao Lingyan's words, he was Gao Xing and nodded, saying, "That's right. My little apprentice's talent for painting is truly unparalleled. If you saw her paintings, you would be absolutely amazed. She's incredible."

Then he switched to his apprentice-bragging mode, praising Zhao Ruxi's paintings at length. If he weren't facing a young man, he would have praised his apprentice himself as well.

Xiao Lingyan was always biased, and his attitude towards Zhao Ruxi was comparable to that of Kang Shilin. Moreover, he studied design, so he was no stranger to drawing.

So when Kang Shilin boasted about his apprentice, he could always agree and even offer his own unique insights. Although he had never seen Zhao Ruxi's paintings, his agreement with Kang Shilin when he praised his apprentice was also sincere from the bottom of his heart. This made Kang Shilin more and more interested, and he found Xiao Lingyan more and more pleasing to the eye.

Finally, the old man concluded, "You're a good child, with excellent taste and talent in painting. Very good indeed."