Insufficient balance

  You don't care about fame or fortune, right? No big deal! You're not willing to have any relationship with us, right? No big deal either! But when I tell you that as long as you have some connection with me, I can help your mother recover from her illness, are you moved or not?

  You disdain me now, but what if I make you come crawling back to me?

  Tens of thousands of thoughts swirled in his mind, coming and going without rest. Xiao Teng anxiously tapped his forehead, and subconsciously walked to the center of the garden, beside the waterside pavilion. He looked up to see several figures moving back and forth inside a light silk canopy, likely maids serving tea to the connoisseurs inside. But he didn't know if the girl who had just delivered the message from Taiping was among them.

  At this time, no one has come to hand in their paintings. Xiao Ting looked around and saw that some people were frowning in thought, while others were looking around the garden's spring scenery, probably searching for inspiration for their own works. Since it was still early, everyone was not in a hurry, determined to make full use of these three hours and strive to bring out their best work.

  He sighed and said, "Forget it, just paint then!"

  Having made up his mind, he soon found a servant of the princess's palace and had him arrange a desk in a small pavilion on one side of the rear garden. With all the writing materials ready, he picked up his brush and wrote with a flourish.

  The painting techniques at that time and the ones Xiao Ting learned in art schools later on can be said to be two completely different styles.

  Before Wang Wei created his own school, the style of the entire painting world was to emphasize realism. When painting, they would first use bottom ink to outline the details and then go through several processes such as setting colors and dyeing before a painting could be considered complete. Therefore, at that time, all paintings were colored. In some sense, this kind of painting style can be roughly classified as the so-called Gongbi painting in modern society.

  At the height of the Tang Dynasty, Wang Wei created a unique style of literati painting. This style emphasizes capturing the spirit rather than the form and does not involve later processes such as coloring. The entire painting is done with natural brushstrokes, resulting in a fresh and elegant appearance. From then on, Chinese painting began to shift towards ink wash painting, with artists like Eight Great Masters being outstanding representatives of this style. If categorized, this style can be roughly classified as freehand brushwork.

  Xiao Ting's previous life was in an art academy, where he took the route of freehand brushwork, so when painting, he particularly emphasized capturing the spirit. However, as a foundation for painting, he had some skill in the route of meticulous brushwork, although it couldn't be said that he was proficient. After crossing over to the Tang Dynasty, because the style of the entire era was like this, from a young age practicing zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, he could only once again solidly take the route of meticulous brushwork. Thus, up until now, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he excelled in both styles.

  Moreover, the most important point is that during the Tang Dynasty's Yonghui era, the elements of his freehand brushwork style had not been mentioned or used by anyone else. Therefore, his paintings would give people a visual shock at first glance, making them feel very fresh. This was also an important reason why he could become Yang Liu's teacher and convince Taiping to follow him in learning painting with just one piece of work.

  The time it took to burn a stick of incense was not even up, and Xiao Ting had already put down his pen. He looked up and saw that there were very few people walking in the garden at this time. The dozens of temporary desks moved into this small pavilion were all occupied, and many people were anxiously waiting beside them.

  Because they painted that kind of meticulous and colorful painting which took a lot of time, so it would take more than one day to finish a painting from start to end, therefore they had to seize the time.

  Xiao Ting blew gently on the screen, and waited until the ink had basically adhered to the paper before putting it away.

  He raised his head, thinking of leaving, but suddenly noticed that someone on the left side seemed to be staring at him. He turned his head to look over and found it was Xue Shao. Xiao Ting couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed and smiled at him, saying that he had actually gone back on his word!

  Then he clearly heard him hum a cold hum and lower his head to continue painting, Xiao Ting touched his nose and walked away with his own painting.

  He handed the painting to a maid in front of the small pavilion where several connoisseurs were gathered, and then turned around and walked away. By this time, it was almost noon, and many servants began to busy themselves setting up more than a dozen small tables in the garden, on which were placed some melons and fruits. Since it wasn't yet the season for melons and fruits, these must have been carefully preserved from last year by the princess's estate.

  Xiao Ting walked over and, without waiting for the others to finish setting up, casually picked up a handful of fresh cherries from the plate, washed them by the lake and popped one into his mouth. Not bad, the juice was quite refreshing.

  Think about it for them, so many people, it's impossible to treat everyone to a wine party, and it's more practical and cost-effective to serve some fruits that are not easy to eat or afford outside for lunch.

  Xiao Ting took advantage of others being busy painting to eat his fill, then ran alone to a quiet place and sat on the ground with his eyes closed, basking in the sun.

  Tai Ping changed into a light and comfortable home dress and returned, but couldn't see Xiao Ting's shadow anywhere. She asked in the small pavilion and indeed he had already submitted his painting. Overjoyed, she turned around and pinched Qing Nu's tender face, her smile radiant.

  He took the painting from Yan Lao Shangshu's smiling face, spread it out carefully on his desk, and Taiping couldn't help but stare blankly.

  On the screen is a painting of a fifteen or sixteen year old girl. Just by looking at her wearing a yellow Daoist robe, it can be known that she must be a female Taoist priest. Reflected in the mirror in front of her is her sleepy and disheveled appearance, obviously just getting out of bed. If you look carefully, you will find that although she has just woken up, her eyebrows are slightly furrowed.

  The woman's face was round and white, but her chin was extremely pointed and thin, and her eye sockets seemed to have sunk in a bit, as if she had lost weight due to worrying about something.

  Her arm lifted, applying rouge to her cheeks, the wide sleeve of her robe fell down, revealing a section of tender small arm, a fragmented gold chain hanging from her slender wrist bone, it was unclear whether the chain was ill-fitting or she had become increasingly thin, but the chain hung down for nearly half a circle, all the more highlighting the gradually widening meaning of her clothes.

  The young Taoist nun was doing something that only a worldly woman would do - applying rouge!

  Tai Ping was completely stunned by this painting, which had some interesting connections with the one he saw in Feng Huan's Yang Liu Fang a few days ago. However, without a doubt, the intention of this painting was even more profound, and the visual and psychological impact it gave people was even more intense, making Tai Ping recall the origin of his title "Tai Ping" as soon as he saw it.

  She is also a female champion!

  At that time, she was only eleven or twelve years old. The ignorant Tibetan barbarian actually came to ask for her hand in marriage. The emperor and empress were reluctant to let their only daughter go to a distant foreign land to suffer, so they found an excuse to make her become a nun, granting her the title of Taiping. Although she never actually became a nun later on, this title was still retained until today.

  She turned around and asked Qing Nu, "What about him?"

  Qing Nu shook her head, "I don't know either, I only know that this Xiao Gongzi handed over the painting and left, thinking... he should still be in the garden, right?"

  Tai Ping took a deep breath and said, "Send someone to bring him back to me at once!"

  Qing Nu bowed his head and responded with a "yes", then turned around to instruct someone to find the person. Here, Taiping turned around and smiled: "Lord Yan, what do you think of this painting?"