Chapter 318: The Fourth Crock of Gold 3
Soon, the brushes, inkstones, and paper were prepared.
Qi Qingyao began thinking about what to draw.
Meanwhile, the others were placing their bets excitedly with Lu Yan.
Lu Yan naturally would not record these things on his own and assigned them to Dong Jing.
After Dong Jing handled all the accounts, he reported back to Lu Yan.
Lu Yan turned to Qi Qingyao
“The amount betted on Jiang Siliu is more than three million taels while on your side, it’s a hundred and fifty thousand taels. Jiang Siliu’s odds are one to one. Yours is one to three.”
“Looks like everyone doesn’t think highly of me.” Qi Qingyao smiled, already expecting this kind of outcome.
Lu Yan said, “Let’s say even if you are connected to Master Architect Li Qinglian, say you learned something and know how to design a house. It’s not the same as painting. They are two completely different things. So, it’s normal that your odds are poor.”
Qi Qingyao replied in a relaxed manner, “As the dealer, if I don’t work hard today, I’m afraid I might have to pay up with my life later.”
Lu Yan, “…” ‘So you are aware.’
Si Jin was not the slightest bit worried that sister would lose. In his eyes, she was undefeated and skilled in anything. Si Jin sat beside her while carrying the cat.
Quietly, he asked her.
“Sister, what do you plan to draw?”
Qi Qingyao was thinking of quite a few of Van Gogh’s paintings in her head as well as some of Monet’s sunset impressionism. She liked this style a lot, but there were no oil paints here; she would not want to produce some poor eclectic show of her skills.
However, she might not be able to beat Jiang Siliu… if it came to painting classic mountains and rivers landscape.
This rich young lady would definitely have cultivated this skill since she was young.
No matter how good Qi Qingyao painted…
The result might only be a draw.
From a strategic point of view, if one wanted to win, one must employ a surprise attack! It had to be something out of the ordinary!
Qi Qingyao was in deep thought for a long time before she finally answered.
“I’ll just paint the grand view of the hot springs.”
Si Jin, “??”
Lu Yan, “…”
Why the grand view of the hot springs?
Jiang Yeqian, “…” She must have lost her mind, to have actually dared to agree to Jiang Siliu’s bet!
Jiang Siliu snorted. She cast a sidelong glance at Qi Qingyao who was over there and thought to herself, ‘Who was she going to fool… with a view of the hot springs?!’
The three little kids had all always been very sensible. They knew that their mother was competing in something against someone, so they sat obediently beside Lu Yan. Erniu even hugged Lu Yan’s thigh. Lu Yan was stunned for a moment but he did not push the kid away. He looked at the soft, adorable, and fair little child. After thinking for a bit, he stretched out a hand and caressed Erniu’s head.
Erniu lifted her head and looked at Uncle Lu curiously.
The child was an innocent and naive thing.
She immediately climbed onto Lu Yan’s thigh.
Although her birthday had yet to arrive, the new Lunar New Year had passed, so she was already a four-year-old child. She was also quite fond of the handsome guy and sat into his embrace right away without hesitation.
Lu Yan, “…”
He thought he would abhor the feeling.
Unexpectedly…
It was likely because she was a child that the corners of Lu Yan’s lips curled into a smile as he caressed the child’s head just like how he usually cradled his white cat.
Erniu turned around and gave Lu Yan a rather pure and innocent smile.
She even used her little fingers and touched Lu Yan’s face.
Lu Yan was faintly surprised. He held the child’s soft but cute and fleshy little hand.
In his eyes, the little kid’s hand was just like the paw of a cat, very cute and soft!
Dong Jing was absolutely stunned at this scene.
Eh.
Did the master not usually repel children?
Seeing him playing with the little kid’s paws, it was clear that he was treating her like a cat!!
…
Qi Qingyao said she would paint the grand view of the hot springs but the others could not quite understand this. Only Jiang Yeqian alone looked desolate as he thought, ‘No… no way it’s going to be what people think it will be.
‘That woman… had taken a peek at the general appearance of certain things last night.’
Now she was saying the words ‘a grand view of the hot springs’!
No, no, no… no normal person would overstep boundaries.
She must be fooling around.
The hot spring scenery she mentioned must be referring to the beautiful sceneries of this hot spring villa, yes, it must be a beautiful landscape painting!
At the side, Jiang Siliu was painting with a brush. Qi Qingyao, however, did not use a brush. She immediately grabbed a charcoal pencil next to her and began to draw on the rice paper spontaneously.
She first sketched out the outline with a few strokes.
Quickly sketching out the focus point…
Everyone had already placed their bets.
They naturally gathered around the side and began to watch the battle.
Jiang Siliu’s paintings had nothing much to discuss, it was just a normal landscape painting…
Qi Qingyao’s paintings, however… Forget about the tool she was using… even her technique as she began to paint was confusing.
“Her painting is quite unusual.”
It had been unusual from the first stroke.
Was she drafting?
“Why does it look rather realistic?”
An enclosing wall? Was that an enclosing wall?
Then… water, flowing water.
Which was quickly followed by… human figures…
Was this not a landscape painting?
“Nonono, it’s not just some simple realistic drawing, it carries a slight vibe of a fairy tale.”
The lines of floating steam, it looked like a hot spring?
“Isn’t this a hot spring!!”
It was definitely a hot spring, so that thing to the side was definitely an enclosing wall.
When Qi Qingyao began sketching figures…
Everyone was beginning to anticipate a beautiful and lively drawing.
In the end, the characters were gradually emerging, from hairstyles, to their facial expressions, and then more hairstyles…
Many of them were shocked.
“They’re all… men.”
The expression on Xiao Wuji and a few others’ faces instantly turned dark.
Jiang Yeqian’s expression was as black as the bottom of a pot!
Along with Qi Qingyao’s strokes, the expressions of many others were also…
“She, she, she, she’s actually drawing men bathing in hot springs! And they’re all naked.”
“Thank goodness it’s just the upper half…”
Listening to the discussion next to her, Jiang Siliu could not help but glance over. She was instantly shocked, causing her brush stroke to exceed the borders of the drawing paper. Jiang Siliu let out a growl of anger. She grabbed another piece of paper and started painting again. She could not let herself be distracted by this woman!
Despite that, her mind was filled with Qi Qingyao’s… erotic-looking painting!
It completely disrupted Jiang Siliu’s concentration.
For some reason, Gu Cheng was rejoicing!
If she were to exaggerate her painting like that…
Then it would be completely unsalvageable…
Jiang Yeqian , “…”
He was trying very hard to take deep breaths, holding himself back from rushing forward and ripping that painting into pieces!
Who the f*ck would paint something that resembled… an erotic painting during an art competition! She really was something else!
Xiao Wuji was also considered part of the wealthy in the capital of Eastern Ling. He had never seen a woman like Qi Qingyao in his entire life. Even he was dumbfounded by what he saw!
He pointed at Qi Qingyao’s nose.
“How can you draw such a picture?” He asked in a disbelieving tone.
Qi Qingyao shrugged. Her expression showing wicked pleasure, she said, “We just said we’d draw, no one said if anything was off the table. Mine is a combination of realism and fantasy!”
When she was done with her painting…
Qi Qingyao was really pleased.
She even drew on a caption.
Then she declared.
“The title of this painting is called, “Beauties of the Hot Spring”!”
Everyone, “…”
The clueless people who did not know that Qi Qingyao had gone peeking at others in the hot springs last night were very puzzled as to why some of the figures she drew looked like Xiao Wuji and even Gu Cheng! What was more, one of them also really looked like the Head Grand Secretariat…
What was going on?
After Qi Qingyao excitedly wrote the title, she looked toward where Jiang Siliu was. “I’m already done but you’re not? No rush, please continue.”
Jiang Siliu flushed, feeling awkward but also embarrassed. “You can’t win with that.”
Who would vote for something so vulgar?
Si Jin was, however, very satisfied with Qi Qingyao’s art. He clapped his hands in applause. “How can Sister possibly not win when her art is so extraordinary?”
Lu Yan was too far away and could not see things clearly. So he walked over and stood behind the group. He took a glance at the masterpiece.
From just a glance.
Lu Yan just knew…
This was not a matter of victory or loss.
It was… beyond the scope of ordinary people’s comprehension.
He had already been very worried about the outcome, but now he felt completely hopeless.
The kids had initially also wanted to squeeze themselves over to see what their mother had drawn, but they were quickly pulled away by Lu Yan.
How could one let children see such a thing?
That woman… did she not even consider that her children were still on scene when she was drawing?
Qi Qingyao was very proud of her masterpiece!
“It’s so realistic!”
She exclaimed, feeling satisfied.
As she said this, she explained to the spectating crowd at the side.
“This painting of mine is not just realistic. Take a look, I even painted the steam. I also carefully painted out the charms of beautiful men.”
Suddenly, someone asked with complete bewilderment.
“How did you make everyone’s expressions so lifelike when you haven’t even seen them before?”
Qi Qingyao laughed. “How could I have not seen it? I’d personally peeped at these beauties when they were taking a bath last night! So, this is absolutely real!”
Everyone, =, =|||
Jiang Siliu’s hand shook and in a moment of carelessness, a drop of black ink once again dripped onto the paper…