Chapter 26: The Brush is Not Selected Like This

  Ye Nan was frightened by the old man's affair yesterday, and secretly thought that if he hadn't broken through to the upper grade of Jiling yesterday morning, he could only watch as the old man sent himself to his death. The old man's luck is pretty good.

  But if one day he himself encountered a life-threatening situation and couldn't use the suitable talisman, that would be a great injustice. Thinking of this, gathering materials to make the talismans became an urgent matter for Ye Nan.

  After careful calculation, the materials for making talismans are already available, including realgar and black dog blood, but still lacking rootless water, yellow paper, and a brush.

  Taking advantage of the free afternoon, Ye Nan took a half-day off and pulled Fang Wei to drive with him to buy. The brush was easy to solve, and the two drove to the Cultural Street of Hexi University Town, where they strolled around and found one.

  It was Sunday, just at the busiest time, and the four-meter-wide Cultural Street was packed with crowds of people.

  Ye Nan walked around inside and saw a large stationery store with four treasures, so he went in. The walls and cabinets were filled with brushes, inkstones, ink sticks, rice paper, and other items that dazzled Ye Nan's eyes.

  The shop owner looked at Ye Nan looking around and walked over enthusiastically, asking: "This classmate, what would you like to buy?"

  "Classmate?" Ye Nan rubbed his forehead, stared at the radiant Fang Wei behind him and replied: "Oh... I want to buy a better brush, does the boss have any good recommendations?"

  The shop owner smiled and said: "Good brush! I have a lot here, all of which are authentic Huzhou brushes directly from Zhejiang. Are you using it for calligraphy or painting?"

  Is it writing or painting? Ye Nan widened his eyes, this talisman should be considered as a type of writing, right? Hmm...it should be about the same..."For practicing calligraphy."

  "This is a sheep's hair brush, it's softer and has better ink absorption, suitable for writing running script and cursive script. The one in the middle is wolf's hair, slightly harder, more suitable for beginners to write regular script. And this one on the side is purple hair, its hardness is also good, very suitable for beginners."

  Ye Nan took a look and found that the cloud seal script used for drawing talismans was closer to cursive script, but drawing talismans should be more spiritual with wolf hair brushes, after all, the treasure of the Symbol Sect's Town faction back then was the Wang Yue Tian Lang pen.

  However, what Ye Nan didn't know was that the Wolf Hair Brush was indeed made from the hair of a thousand-year-old wolf, but it was actually made from the tail hair of a yellow mouse wolf, which is slightly different from a real wolf.

  "Is there a softer version of Wolf Hao?"

  "The soft ones are also made of wolf hair?" The boss was taken aback.

  But others are also experienced in dealing with such young and inexperienced people, so they handed a long-handled wolf hair brush to Ye Nan: "This big Lan bamboo is absolutely suitable for you..."

  Ye Nan took it and tried it out, and it was pretty good. With such a long nib, the ink absorption is absolutely fine.

  Very satisfied, just about to pay, suddenly found a dozen yellow papers in a wall cabinet in the corner of the store. After careful examination, it seemed to be the kind of yellow paper used for making talismans in temples.

  He hastily pointed at the yellow paper and asked, "Boss, how much is that yellow paper?"

  The boss looked over and said, "That yellow tablecloth?" "Yes." Ye Nan quickly nodded.

  The boss took it out and handed it to Ye Nan: "This yellow paper is a high-quality handmade product, if you want to buy it, I'll charge you 50 yuan."

  "That's all, and wrap that brush together for me." Ye Nan was quite excited, thinking he would have to run to two more places to find a incense shop to buy everything. Unexpectedly, he could buy everything here.

  The boss was indeed a good businessman, smiling and asking: "Do you still want to buy inkstones, ink sticks and the like? The goods here are all good things, and the entire Cultural Street is the most authentic here."

  Ye Nan thought for a moment and indeed still lacked an inkstone, so under the boss's introduction, he picked out another inkstone.

  The boss helped Ye Nan pack the things, "dada" on the computer keyboard: "Good quality Dalan bamboo 180 yuan per branch, high-quality Huangbiao paper cutter 50 yuan per knife, genuine Zhuan Yan inkstone 68 yuan per piece. Chen Hui's total is 298 yuan."

  Ye Nan clicked his tongue, this wolf hair brush is really not cheap. When he was young, a brush only cost one or two yuan, but now it's over a hundred times more expensive. The boss wouldn't be trying to cheat him, would he? He smiled and said: "Boss, can you make it cheaper? I'm buying a lot of things."

  The boss smiled and pointed to a large sign hanging in the center of the store, which read: "Quality guaranteed, no haggling."

  This little shop is quite impressive, the boss pointed to the few calligraphy and ink paintings hanging next to him, smiling at Ye Nan: "Our store on Cultural Street is one of a kind, other stores have prices that can be discussed, but our store doesn't discuss prices, what's it based on? It's based on quality speaking for itself. The calligraphy master Professor Wu from the Normal University and the famous painter Mr. Yan are both old customers of our store, look at these, they were all given to us by them as ink treasures. Don't worry, I'll give you a receipt, if there's any problem, come find me."

  Fang Wei nodded and smiled beside him: "I've seen Professor Wu and Teacher Yan before, these two people are very strict, the ones on the wall are their own works."

  The boss heard this and smiled nodding on the side: "This classmate knows his stuff." Ye Nan saw Fang Wei say so, and felt at ease, paid the money, took the things and left the store happily.

  Halfway through, Ye Nan looked at Fang Wei with a suspicious gaze: "Little guy, aren't you still a graduate of Shi Da?"

  "What's the matter, after we didn't graduate from high school, we were sent to a special forces training camp by someone. When did I ever attend university?! These two are both teachers of Han Yan, I accompanied Han Yan to visit them several times."

  "You've seen it a few times and you dare say you know someone's work?" Ye Nan said disdainfully.

  Fang Wei looked at Ye Nan's appearance, very displeased, and said: "Those few seals I have seen before, besides, in this cultural street, who dares to openly impersonate the names of two teachers? Can still stand firm on this land? You have little knowledge, yet you look down on others."

  Yè Nán was left speechless, and could only stand by, dryly chuckling. He quickly changed the subject: "We've all arrived, why don't we go take a look at Hányàn?"

  Fang Wei glanced at Ye Nan with a slanted gaze, and smiled slyly: "Looking for Han Yan? I think you're looking for Xu Min instead. It's been half a month already, I thought you'd ask me about this matter by now. Heh heh..."

  Ye Nan wiped the sweat and thought to himself, "What's going on? Lately I've been busy to the point of dizziness, if you hadn't mentioned Han Yan, I would have forgotten about Xu Min..." However, he didn't dare say this to Fang Wei, or else Han Yan might find out, and then he wouldn't be able to see Xu Min again.

  After that, Fang Wei turned the car around and drove straight to Shi Da. When he arrived at the gate, he called Han Yan's phone. Then he waited at the gate of Shi Da, waiting for a while, feeling bored, Fang Wei suddenly thought of something and asked Ye Nan, who had just bought a bunch of stuff: "Hey Nanzhi, why did you buy these things? Are you going to practice calligraphy to cultivate your temperament and refine your emotions?"

  Ye Nan's opponent was also speechless, and he waved his hand to conjure up a spell for Fang Wei to see, but after thinking for a while, he realized that among the dozen or so spells he knew, none of them could produce a shocking effect on the spot. Helplessly, he said: "Wait till next time I'll tell you what this thing is for."

  After waiting for half an hour, Han Yan and Xu Min finally came out slowly. Fang Wei stretched out his head and waved at the two of them.

  After the two got on the car, Ye Nan turned around and greeted the two in the back seat: "Long time no see, beautiful ladies. I've missed you so much."

  Han Yan gave a disdainful look and curled her lip: "Missing us? You must be thinking of Xu Min, I won't bother you to miss me!"

  Ye Nan's old face rarely turned red, and he glanced at Xu Min who was smiling slightly but not speaking. He dryly chuckled twice: "Of course you don't need me to worry about you, if I dared to worry, that kid Fang Wei would definitely have an opinion..."

  Fang Wei stood by, smiling as he watched the two argue, without interrupting. He started the car, glanced at his watch, and saw that it was already past 5 o'clock. Thinking about the dog meat stored at home, he turned to Ye Nan beside him and asked, "Why don't we go buy some more dishes later and let our two beauties taste your cooking skills?"

  Ye Nan rubbed his forehead, he himself was clear that except for cooking soup and making dog meat, the other dishes were just average level, not very impressive, so he smiled and said: "Why don't I take care of the dog meat, and you handle the other dishes?"

  Fang Wei thought for a moment and nodded: "Okay, I'll take care of the other dishes. It's been a long time since I last cooked."

  Han Yan, who was behind, heard that there was dog meat to eat and asked excitedly: "I and Xu Minke both like to eat dog meat, Ye Nan, is yours delicious?" Ye Nan smiled and said: "You'll know after you try it later."

  Looking at his confident appearance, Xu Min smiled and said: "Ye Nan, don't be too self-satisfied, Han Yan's mouth is very poisonous."

  Xu Min looked at Ye Nan with some doubt, Fang Wei smiled and helped to persuade: "Wait until you try it later, I had a great time yesterday afternoon." With Fang Wei's words, Han Yan and Xu Min felt much more at ease.