Chapter 73: Painting... came to life?!

  You Jia quickly went to fetch the Four Treasures of the Study.

  The pen is a famous Hu pen, with wolf hair, sheep hair, and compatible materials all available; the ink is a famous Hui-style ink, with a faint scent of ink that touches people's hearts; the paper is Xuan paper produced in Jing County, Anhui Province, with fine texture, belonging to a good product; the inkstone is also a famous Duan inkstone, with an ancient and elegant shape, worthy of being an art treasure.

  You Jia personally laid the rice paper on the desk for Zhang Wen Zhong and used a white jade rabbit paperweight to flatten it. Then, she personally ground the ink for him. Since Old Master You liked to paint and write in his free time, You Jia had already mastered the technique of grinding ink. Now, as she ground the ink, her movements were elegant and her strength was just right.

  While Yu Jia was grinding ink, Zhang Wenzhong stood beside the desk, closed his eyes and began to think deeply.

  You Jia ground the ink while sneaking glances at Zhang Wen-zhong, and as he silently cursed the stubborn oak knots, he couldn't help but curiously guess what Zhang would paint.

  With extraordinary calligraphy skills and also knowing how to paint, someone who was called a 'genius' and 'divine being' by Zhou Wenbin, if he wanted to make money or become famous, shouldn't he have already been renowned far and wide? Why would he be hiding in the university hospital of Yongcheng University, content with being an unknown school doctor?

  Yu Jia ground the ink while her mind wandered.

  Just as Yu Jia had finished grinding the ink and was about to remind Zhang Wen Zhong, Zhang Wen Zhong suddenly opened his eyes wide, a piercing gleam flashing in his eyes.

  You Jia was startled, while Zhou Wenbin and Old Master You raised an eyebrow.

  Chinese painting emphasizes a mind-stored brush first, with spirit guiding the brush. At this moment, Zhang Wen-zhong undoubtedly conforms to this situation.

  Zhang Wenzhong stretched out his hand and picked up a brush from the pen holder, dipped it in the inkstone twice, and began to paint on this piece of Xuan paper with a dragon-like stroke.

  It is said that a master's skill can be seen at a glance. Just as Zhang Wen-zhong had finished writing, Zhou Wen-bin could see that his calligraphy was extraordinary. Because when Zhang Wen-zhong wielded the brush with energy, the strokes flowed naturally, each one full of life and character, revealing his innate talent and cleverness in an unintentional yet effortless way.

  Yu Jia beside him looked at Zhang Wen Zhong's confident smile and focused on painting, couldn't help but be fascinated.

  Not only was Yu Jia infatuated, but Zhou Wenbin and Old Master Yu were also infatuated. However, what Yu Jia was infatuated with was Zhang Wenzhong himself, while Zhou Wenbin and Old Master Yu were infatuated with his painting skills.

  Zhang Wen-zhong's brushstrokes were as natural as floating clouds and flowing water. Every move, every gesture, was full of a beauty that seemed to be born from the heavens. Suddenly, in the eyes of Zhou Wen-bin and Yu Lao-ye, Zhang Wen-zhong was not holding a brush to paint, but rather a sword to dance with, singing with abandon.

  Watching Zhang Wen-zhong's brush dance, Zhou Wen-bin involuntarily hummed Du Fu's "Sword Dance": "In the past, there was a beauty named Gong Sun, one sword dance moved the four directions. The onlookers were like mountains and rivers, melancholic and desolate, heaven and earth longed for it to rise and fall. Like Hou Yi shooting down the nine suns, like a group of emperors riding dragons in flight. Coming like thunder collecting its fury, stopping like the ocean's calm clear light..."

  As Zhang Wen-zhong's painting was nearing its end, Zhou Wen-bin's mouth kept repeating only one sentence: "Numerous heroes and outstanding figures, look at today. Look at today...".

  Although Zhang Wen-zhong's painting was not yet thoroughly completed, Zhou Wen-bin, who couldn't suppress his curiosity, still tiptoed to Zhang Wen-zhong's back, stretched his neck and looked at the rice paper on the desk. At this moment, he didn't even dare to breathe loudly, fearing that it would affect Zhang Wen-zhong's painting.

  Zhang Wen-zhong painted a figure painting.

  On the screen, a white-haired and robust old man stands at the top of a towering mountain, gazing into the distance.

  The old man in the painting is vivid, with a subtle expression on his face. However, for some reason, Zhang Wen-zhong did not add pupils to the eyes of this old man in the painting. Nevertheless, Zhou Wen-bin still recognized at a glance that the old man standing high and looking far into the distance was actually Old Master You sitting quietly in a wheelchair beside him.

  This portrait painted by Zhang Wen-zhong uses a brand new painting technique. This technique is the essence of the painting methods of all the masters who were good at painting portraits throughout history, which Zhang Wen-zhong created after fusing them together over a long period of time and observing the spirit of nature. The people in the paintings that use this technique are vividly lifelike, making one involuntarily praise them. At the same time, because of Zhang Wen-zhong's understanding of 'Tao', the people in the painting also possess a faint, unique, and ethereal aura.

  Such a magical painting technique, such a magical painting, is truly unprecedented and unmatched!

  Soon, Zhang Wen-zhong completed the final stroke, and it was in the blank space of this painting, he picked up his brush and wrote 'Old horse lying low, ambition in a thousand miles' eight powerful characters.

  Then Zhang Wen Zhong put down the brush in his hand back onto the pen holder.

  But for some reason, after completing this painting, he still did not dot the pupils of the people in the painting.

  "Is that all? You haven't even dotted the eyes yet." Zhou Wenbin saw Zhang WenZhong was about to stop, so he quickly grabbed him and pointed at the old man in the painting, reminding him. He thought Zhang WenZhong had forgotten to dot the eyes of the old man in the painting.

  "Really want me to dot the dragon's eyes?" Zhang Wen didn't rush to dot the eyes, but instead asked. However, he wasn't asking Zhou Wenbin, but rather Old Master You.

  "Add the eyes!" Old Master Yu and Zhou Wenbin exclaimed in unison. If they didn't add the pupils to the people in the painting, no matter how good it was, it would be incomplete, which would undoubtedly become a regrettable thing. And after witnessing Zhang Wenzhong's incredible painting skills, Old Master Yu and Zhou Wenbin certainly didn't want to leave any regrets behind. Moreover, they were eager to know what kind of astonishing changes the old man in the painting would undergo once his eyes were added.

  "All right, I'll give it a pair of eyes." Zhang Wenzhong nodded in response and picked up the brush from the pen holder, lightly dotting two points on the old man's face in the painting.

  A pair of bright and lively eyes suddenly appeared on the old man's face in the painting.

  The people who had already surrounded the table suddenly found that after the old man in the painting added the final stroke, he seemed to have gained life.

  "This... the old man in this painting... is actually alive!?" Zhou Wenbin's eyes widened in shock, his mouth agape, and he couldn't utter a word for a long time. The two nurses beside him, fearing that he would faint again from excessive surprise, hastily tried to support him away, but were waved off by him. At the same time, he was muttering to himself: "Don't worry, I won't faint, before I've had my fill of this painting, I absolutely won't faint..."

  "Good heavens! Inside and outside the painting, there are actually two living old men..."

  "Drawing the dragon's eyes... This is indeed the legendary Zhang Sengyou's drawing of the dragon's eyes! It turns out that in this world, there really is such a magical painting skill! It turns out that a painting can truly possess life! The ancients were not deceiving me! They were not deceiving me at all!..." Old Master Yu couldn't help but slap his thighs and exclaim. He slapped his legs until they were bright red, yet he didn't even notice, continuing to slap them nonstop.

  "This painting is indeed a rare treasure. But how come the old man in the painting has two healthy legs...” Yu Chaogui's words stopped abruptly here, and he sneaked a glance at Old Man Yu, afraid that his careless remark would hurt his feelings. It was known that in the Yu family, Old Man Yu's leg was their taboo. Because after being diagnosed by many experts from home and abroad, they were all helpless about Old Man Yu's leg. Therefore, they rarely mentioned anything related to his legs in front of him."

  But now, in Zhang Wen-zhong's painting, Old Yu's legs are intact.

  Yu Chaogui's words immediately caught everyone's attention at the scene.

  Yes, the old man in this painting, whether it's his appearance, physique, or attire, even his demeanor, is identical to the current Old Man Yu, and can be called lifelike. But the old man in this painting has not only non-paralyzed legs but also stands proudly on the mountain peak.

  Everyone's eyebrows were furrowed at the same time, and everyone fell silent. The atmosphere also became gloomy and unusual at this moment.

  Everyone's eyes, both intentionally and unintentionally, fell on Zhang Wen-zhong. They were all guessing what it meant that Zhang Wen-zhong had painted Old Master You with intact legs.

  Was it his unintentional mistake? Or was he doing it on purpose?

  Everyone is waiting for Zhang Wenzhong to reveal the answer to this riddle.

  At this time, Zhang Wenzhong turned around with a smile and said to Old Master You: "I can let you stand up again!"