Selling Paintings

"Paintings for sale! Paintings for sale!"

A painting stall had appeared alongside the pig-butchering stalls in the eastern market.

Rong Tianding had not chosen a very good place to sell paintings, but Rong Li had insisted on it.

Rong Tianding and his father, Jia Zhiyuan, were full of schemes. If they used their secret savings to hire someone to buy a painting and pass the test, Rong Li felt the two of them were absolutely capable of pulling such a stunt.

If he wanted to sell paintings, he had to do it in front of her pig-butchering stall.

With her holding the fort, no one would dare help the father and son fake a sale.

Listening to Rong Tianding holler so vigorously, Rong Li could not help thinking it was a terrible waste. If he put even half that effort into butchering pigs, she could retire in comfort.

"Cousin, you have to call out that they're immortal paintings that ward off evil and drive away ghosts!"

Zhang Xuezhou, who was butchering a pig with a knife nearby, could not help reminding him.

"Call out... hey, immortal paintings for sale! Ward off evil and drive away ghosts!"

Rong Tianding shrank back under Rong Li's stare, then steeled himself and changed his cry.

As long as he did not have to butcher pigs, he could do anything.

After years of butchering pigs, everyone in the Rong Household had inevitably picked up the smell of pork. Rong Tianding simply could not stand the strange looks he got when he studied and met with friends.

Nor did he want to spend his whole life endlessly eating the scraps of pork they could not sell.

That was not the life he wanted.

If he did not make a change while he was young, too many things would be beyond his control when he grew older.

His father, Jia Zhiyuan, who had married into the Rong Household, knew that all too well. Rong Tianding had no intention of following in his footsteps.

"Selling immortal paintings?"

For years, Rong Tianding had hawked his paintings of pigs feeding. Now he had actually switched to immortal paintings, leaving Rong Li a little surprised.

But Rong Li quickly put her surprise aside.

No matter what paintings Rong Tianding sold, he would not be able to sell them.

The high officials and dignitaries in the wealthy district looked down on Rong Tianding's paintings, while ordinary people could not afford such useless things.

The path of selling paintings was a dead end for Rong Tianding. In the end, he could only inherit the family trade and continue butchering pigs.

Rong Li saw nothing wrong with butchering pigs. The countless skills people practiced all led back to making a living, and butchering pigs could give her a stable life. That was enough.

It was a trade the Rong Household had worked hard for generations to secure, and Rong Li did not want it to end in her hands.

She watched Rong Tianding coldly, then went back to teaching Zhang Xuezhou where to bring down his knife.

Zhang Xuezhou had a natural talent for weighing meat: with a casual pinch, he could tell roughly how much a piece of pork weighed. But he was somewhat clumsy at the craft of butchering pigs. He understood a pig's anatomy nowhere near as well as Rong Tianding, and his knife work was far from practiced enough.

To become a qualified pig butcher, Zhang Xuezhou would have to train for at least three to five years.

I wonder what Ruoruo and that soldier are up to, traveling in such a hurry, just like those jianghu people!

Rong Li muttered to herself for a while, her thoughts turning to the younger sister she had seen only briefly.

Only when a clamor reached her did she come back to her senses. She stopped gesturing with the knife in her hand as she instructed Zhang Xuezhou and turned her attention to Rong Tianding's painting stall.

"Effective? How could it not be? If it doesn't work, come find me. I, Rong Tianding, am a man of some standing. Why would I cheat you out of this little bit of pork money?"

"This immortal's revered name is Patriarch Nine Heavens Supreme Father, Grand Overseer of the Five Directions, High General of the Northern Pole's Left Enclosure, Grand Marshal of All Forces, True Lord Tianpeng. He was once a man of Bian City in the State of Lu and became an immortal through his pursuit of the Dao. But his parents were killed by ghosts and evil spirits. He has always loathed all manner of demons and monsters, and whenever he sees those filthy things, he wants to beat them to death. Every ghost and evil spirit fears him, and they take a detour at the mere mention of his name!"

Once Rong Tianding changed both the paintings he sold and the way he sold them, he found they sold quite well.

Rumors traveled especially fast these days, and as word passed from person to person, people added fuel to the fire.

Only yesterday, just a handful of people, including Li Erlang, had known about the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons at Ten-Li Slope. Today, most people around Hibiscus City had heard of it, and the story showed signs of growing wilder with every telling.

A ghost might not necessarily come looking for them, but there was no harm in buying an immortal painting to ward off evil and protect themselves.

Although many had never heard of this immortal renowned for suppressing ghosts and evil spirits, Rong Tianding spoke so convincingly that they went straight from half believing and half doubting to being certain he was telling the truth.

"Yin and evil things are fierce, but this immortal is fiercer! How else could he keep ghosts suppressed?"

"This immortal has a fearsome appearance, and we used blood that wards off evil to paint him. The painting has borrowed some of his fierce might, so keeping a few demons and monsters in check is no problem!"

"The immortal is busy. How could he watch over you every day? You don't expect one painting to protect you for your whole life, do you?"

"If that's what you're thinking, why don't you go pay Daoist Mu a fortune to beseech the gods? See if his talismans can protect you for your whole life!"

Rong Tianding promptly silenced the few dissenting voices.

He had planned this sale long in advance, and Rong Tianding already knew the answers to most questions. As soon as anyone asked, he could reply without hesitation.

The pig-headed immortal paintings had no real power to ward off evil in the first place, and Rong Tianding had no intention of promising anyone a lifetime of safety.

As Zhang Xuezhou had said, he only needed to buy some time and let this rising storm blow over.

As long as the people who bought his paintings did not encounter anything yin or evil, the reputation of his pig-headed immortal paintings was bound to spread.

And since his immortal paintings could not guarantee protection for a lifetime, the same customer might buy them more than once, providing him with an endless stream of income in the future.

Besides, according to Li Erlang, it was livestock that had disappeared during this Night Parade of One Hundred Demons. No one had heard of anyone being killed by yin creatures.

Selling immortal paintings was a safe business. There was absolutely no chance of it causing any trouble.

This is an easier way to make money. All I have to do is paint whatever comes to mind, Rong Tianding thought, secretly pleased. Then he added, My younger cousin really has a head on his shoulders. He's nothing like those ignorant fools from deep in the mountains. He's done me a huge favor this time!

He had known for a long time that he had an aunt, but he had never met her, much less heard of Zhang Xuezhou.

When a younger cousin had suddenly appeared in the family, Rong Tianding had felt a little uncomfortable at first.

But with Zhang Xuezhou's advice and planning, his wish of many years had begun to bear fruit. Rong Tianding felt that Zhang Xuezhou was truly one of the family, and any sense of distance had vanished entirely.

Even if Zhang Xuezhou took over his family's pork stall, Rong Tianding felt that would be fine.

He had proved himself to Rong Li.

Without the pork stall, Rong Tianding could still make a living selling paintings, and even live better than before.

At first, only one or two people had selectively made purchases. Then a bustling crowd had gradually gathered to watch, and finally everyone had rushed to buy. Seeing it all, Rong Tianding was overjoyed.

The people who came to the pork stall might not have been wealthy, but anyone who could afford meat was at least not from a poor family. That gave him an immediate pool of potential customers.

Hearing Li Erlang embellish the story of the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons at Ten-Li Slope, some merchants entering and leaving the city were even more frightened and came with money to buy immortal paintings.

"Sold out! Please come back tomorrow, everyone. I really don't have a single painting left!"

Rong Tianding had not expected that cutting up one canvas would leave him with nowhere near enough to sell. Had he known business would be so brisk, he would have cut up every canvas he had in stock, no matter what.

He felt more confident now, and looked forward to the future even more.

But his delight did not last long.

On his second day at the stall, a Daoist appeared in front of it, holding an immortal painting.