Chapter 26: The Earth-Shattering Painting (Part 2)

  Li Gonglin was born into a wealthy and influential family, with a vast fortune. When he heard about the paintings sold by Mo Xiangzhai, he didn't pay much attention at first. After all, he himself was a master painter, and white drawing was his specialty. In his opinion, those supposedly extremely realistic paintings were just excellent examples of white drawing, at most on par with his own level, nothing special.

  But what Li Gonglin did not expect was that one of his friends had the good fortune to buy one of the paintings, and brought it to him for appraisal. As a result, Li Gonglin was shocked by its magnificence upon seeing it, as he himself was already a master of outline drawing, known for his vivid and lifelike depictions of landscapes and figures. However, compared to this painting, his own outline drawing techniques seemed somewhat crude, especially the many techniques used in this painting, which were unprecedented. For example, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't understand why the people in the painting looked so realistic, as if they were protruding from the paper itself?

  As soon as he saw the real thing, Li Gonglin immediately developed a deep interest in this painting. He begged his friend for half a day and promised many conditions before his friend reluctantly parted with it. In addition, Li Gonglin inquired extensively and finally acquired another painting from someone else's hands. Today, he invited Su Shi brothers and Wang Zou to appreciate them together.

  "Bo Shi, is this the unprecedented white drawing?" Wang Zhen asked excitedly as he stood up. He had also been indifferent to this sensational white drawing like Li Gonglin before, but as more and more people around him discussed it, especially those who had seen the painting, they couldn't stop praising it. This sparked Wang Zhen's strong interest in the painting, and he had been searching for it through others over the past two days, unfortunately to no avail. He didn't expect Li Gonglin to find two pieces so quickly.

  "Heh heh, that's right! And I also have a most precious rain landscape painting." Li Gonglin said with great pride. The four people present were all connoisseurs of painting and loved art, so being able to get his hands on two precious paintings before anyone else was a rare opportunity for him to boast.

  Upon hearing Li Gonglin's words, Wang Shen and Su Shi could no longer bear it, and without waiting for Li Gonglin's consent, they snatched the box open. Inside, they found two scrolls of paintings. Wang Shen grabbed one, while Su Shi and Su Zhe grabbed the other. The two paintings were almost simultaneously unrolled and placed on the table.

  The painting in Wang Zong's hand is a portrait, on which a maid-dressed girl sits on a velvet cushion, holding a lovely little black dog in her arms and gently pressing it against her forehead. Her face wears an innocent smile, while the little black dog has its mouth slightly open, as if making a discontented "whimper". It can be said that whether it is human or animal, this painting is extremely realistic and vivid. The girl's coquetry and the dog's cuteness are all portrayed to perfection. Especially with this realistic style of painting, people feel that the girl and the dog in the painting are right in front of them, within reach.

  As for the painting in Su Shi's hand, it is a rain scene. Outside a half-open window, a sparse clump of bamboo is exposed, with many raindrops that have just fallen on the leaves. The puddles on the ground are rippling, and there are also many rain threads falling in mid-air, making people feel as if they are in the rain, feeling extremely realistic.

  Looking at the two paintings in front of them, Su Shi, Su Che and Wang Shen did not speak for a long time. They were also seeing such realistic painting styles for the first time. Not only were the characters, animals and scenery vividly depicted, but even the raindrops were painted extremely clearly, as if the author of this painting had divine power and could cut out a scene from the world and put it on paper.

  "Zi Zhan, brothers, what do you think of these two paintings? Can they live up to their reputation?" Li Gonglin asked with a smile, looking at the three men's stunned expressions. In fact, when he first saw the two paintings, he was even more out of control, and his whole body wanted to stick his face to the painting. The more this happened, the more he wanted to see his friends also lose their composure in front of the painting.

  "What a great painting! It's like a divine miracle, I've never thought that there could be such magical brushwork in this world, which can depict scenes and characters so realistically!" Su Shi exclaimed, looking at the two paintings in front of him. He had originally thought that Wang Wei and Li Gonglin's painting skills were already extraordinary, but after seeing these two paintings, he realized that although Wang Wei and Li Gonglin's paintings also had their own unique qualities, they were far inferior to the author of this painting in terms of realism and capturing the spirit.

  "Haha, Brother Zihan and I have similar views. Originally, I thought my own white drawing skills were the most realistic in the world, but compared to this painting, it's still far from it. If I can know the author of this painting, no matter what, I will ask him to be my teacher!" Li Gonglin also laughed loudly, his literary talent was good, but he really liked painting, and he was deeply fascinated by the art of painting, especially since the other person's white drawing skills were far superior to his own.

  "This person's painting style is indeed suitable for Bo Shi, if Bo Shi can learn from this person, he will surely become a master in the future!" Su Zhe also spoke out in praise at this time. Although painting skills are not included in the six arts of a gentleman, more and more scholars in the Northern Song Dynasty began to regard painting as a hobby after reading books, which also elevated painting skills to a elegant level, on par with the status of qin art.

  However, compared to the Su brothers' praise, Wang Zhan, who had been silent all along, suddenly put forward his different opinion: "Bo Shi, don't rush to worship as a teacher. Although these two paintings use an unprecedented painting technique, making the picture look extremely prominent and eye-catching at first glance, but if you look carefully, you will find that these two paintings actually have no artistic conception, only bringing realism to the extreme. In this way, the craftsmanship of the painting is too heavy, lacking a lot of spirituality. Therefore, I don't think highly of this painting technique!"

  Wang Yan was good at painting landscapes, and landscape paintings emphasize the atmosphere, paying attention to the charm of the work. So he felt shocked by this realistic style in front of him, but thought that this style was too heavy-handed, making the painting lack spirituality.

  However, Li Gonglin did not agree with Wang Zuo's point of view. He was best at baimiao, especially figure painting, emphasizing the combination of spirit and form. In his opinion, this realistic style of painting not only brought out the shape of the characters to the extreme, but also expressed the spirit of the characters through the subtle expressions on their faces, making it extremely exquisite. So Li Gonglin shook his head and said: "Brother Jin, you and I have different painting styles, we have argued about this many times. Maybe in your opinion, this style is a bit stiff, but for me, it's an unbeatable skill. If I can meet this person, I will definitely ask him to accept me as his apprentice!"

  Su Shi and his brother didn't want to hear Wang Shen and Li Gonglin's argument about painting styles anymore, so Su Che hastily took over the conversation and asked: "Bo Shi, didn't you say earlier that you heard some news about these paintings? Do you already know which master created them?"

  When Su Zhe asked about the author of this painting, Wang Zong's attention was also drawn over. Li Gonglin first hesitated for a moment, then smiled mysteriously and said: "I have indeed heard rumors about these paintings. Although I am not sure who the author is at present, there is a clue. If we follow this clue to investigate, it should be easy to find out who created these paintings."

  "What clue is this?" Su Shi and the other two asked almost simultaneously. Even though Wang Mou felt that these paintings were too heavily crafted, he couldn't help but admit that their techniques had a unique quality to them, so he was also very concerned about who the author of these paintings was.

  "Hey, everyone take a look!" Li Gonglin said, holding up the painting of the girl. "This painting is of a young maid, and the other three portraits are also of this same girl. Judging from her clothes and hairstyle, she should be a maid from a wealthy family, and she even has a small black dog. Also, these paintings are all very new, nine of them have rain scenes, and it's been raining every day in Tokyo for the past month, so these paintings must have been done within this past month."

  "What...what kind of clue is this?" Su Shi and the other two looked at Li Gonglin with great puzzlement.

  "Don't be impatient, I haven't finished speaking yet." Li Gonglin's habit of teasing people had relapsed again, and sometimes it really made one want to pry open his mouth and pull out the words directly.

  Li Gonglin smiled again and continued, "Also, I heard another crucial piece of information. Although these paintings first appeared in Mo Xiang Zhai, it's actually just a front for someone else selling the paintings. The person behind the scenes is none other than Xue Ning'er, known as the second master of Tokyo City."

  "Xue Ning'er, it was actually her. I've heard that she not only has an extraordinary appearance but also exceptional talents, exceling in music, chess, calligraphy and painting. She herself is no worse than Yan Yu Ru, the first-ranked courtesan, but because Xue Ning'er is more greedy for wealth, she ranks second. Could it be that these paintings are actually from this woman's hand?" Su Shi was also an old hand in the pleasure quarters, familiar with all the top courtesans in Tokyo City. He had even met Xue Ning'er once before, but unfortunately, she was a high-class courtesan who charged tens of taels for just one song, so even someone as talented as Su Shi couldn't afford to get close to her.

  "Hey, such a painting, how could it be painted by a woman?" Li Gonglin smiled and shook his head, "I bribed someone close to Xue Ning'er and finally found out that these paintings were actually given to Xue Ning'er by Cao Sheng of the Cao family. As for where Cao Sheng got them from, there's no need to ask. The reputation of this great thief has already spread throughout the capital. So we just need to investigate who Cao Sheng visited in the past month and then check one by one. Especially since the woman's appearance in the painting is so realistic, someone will surely recognize her. At that time, the author of these paintings will also surface!"