Power Up, Artist Yang!

On the sixth day that Yujia stayed at Lingxin, she went over to her master"s residence with a completed painting in her hand . She worked on it for quite a while, in comparison to some of the mountain paintings that she finished in an hour or two .  

This painting focused on something that Yujia hadn"t worked much on before . Contrary to her usual vague scenic paintings, this one depicted a detailed, up-close branch of soft pink plum blossoms next to two jagged boulders . She drew it with inspiration to a large plum tree planted in the middle of the courtyard she stayed in . Though the flowers had long fallen off, she could still imagine how beautiful the sight would be when they bloomed . Thus, she decided to paint them .  

Over the past few days, she spent a lot of time in the outside air of her courtyard, observing the branches of plum and sketching them for reference . Then, a day ago, she began to paint once she was certain that she had enough of an understanding of the structure of the tree .   Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www . webnovel . com for visiting .

Yujia found that there were definitely a lot of benefits to staying at Lingxin, if one were to consider for the sake of art . Almost every single area that one could find at the academy was picturesque with all sorts of flowers and plants . Once Yujia was finished with mastering how to paint the plum trees, she would move on to learn how to paint all the other plant specimens . This made sure that she always had something to do . She would never run out of things to paint .  
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The courtyard that Yujia resided in wasn"t too shabby in other aspects either . It wasn"t just all the greenery planted throughout that made the courtyard a marvelous place to live in . Everything else about it was also tended to in a careful manner, from the wood used to create the floors, walls, and ceiling, to the perfectly matching furniture and decoration within the rooms .  

In fact, perhaps the best of all, was that the entire courtyard belonged to Yujia . She didn"t need to share it with anyone else . It was definitely small in size, but there were three separate rooms within the courtyard: a bathroom, bedroom, and overall living room . This was a definite upgrade in comparison to the South Courtyard that the Fourth Miss lived in, where all the functions of daily life was jammed into one small room .  

The bathroom was what Yujia found most stunning . In it was a large carved out bathing area on the elevated floor where water could be deposited . She tried it out when she first arrived, and it definitely felt more luxurious than anything she ever encountered so far . A wooden tub just couldn"t compare to an almost pool-like structure existing for only her use . It was also nice to know that she could take frequent baths— it seemed like staying clean was the greatest luxury of all .

It was also the existence of this structure also made Yujia a little curious with everything else in the courtyard . Somehow, everything seemed more… technologically advanced . The bathtub could hold hot water, even temperatures outside were chilly, for an extended amount of time . The chamber pots were attached to the floor and had a rudimentary "flus.h.i.+ng" function, involving a small well of water built into the bathroom itself and a water scoop . The drawing desk in the living room had a drawer built underneath it to store supplies like brushes . The bedroom had a mini-fan that functioned like one in the modern world as long as one pulled on a string that made the blades in the fan spin .  

This certainly raised Yujia"s suspicions . Everything was still crude enough to resemble lots of the objects in this time period— there definitely weren"t televisions or electricity-powered things— except the ideas, such as a flushable toilet and a fan with spinning blades, mimicked some of the things that could be found in modern times . To any normal person living in this time period, things may seem a little peculiar, but not too attention-catching .  

Yujia, meanwhile, wasn"t any normal person . To someone like her with a taste of modern life, there was an obvious sense of familiarity to the objects in this particular courtyard that her master gave her .  

Keeping her suspicions in mind, Yujia decided that it was yet another mystery to add on her list of things to solve . She wasn"t sure what the reason was behind all of this, or even if there was any reason in the first place . Since she was heading over to her master to ask for critiques, perhaps it would be a good idea to ask him?

Quickly, however, she paused these thoughts when she arrived at her master"s courtyard . It wasn"t too far from Yujia"s courtyard, and she memorized the structure of the residences at Lingxin fairly well too .  

There were two main "villas", one where her master resided alone, and one where Ye Yunhe and his father lived . Yujia was organized to live with her master, since he had many empty courtyards . He lived in the Osmanthus Courtyard . Yujia was given the Plum Courtyard . There were two other courtyards: the Lotus Courtyard for other guests, and the Winter Courtyard for servants . Conveniently, her courtyard was situated adjacent to her master"s, so it didn"t take long for her to arrive .  

Now that all the matters involving her marriage ended and she was fairly stress-free, Yujia finally decided to spend some time with art . Along with the reawakening of her pa.s.sion for art, Yujia also began to want to truly improve, for the first time in years . She created artwork not for the purpose of profit, but her own growth in skill . This was a sensation that felt almost foreign to her .  

Putting her painting down on the table between both of them, Yujia greeted her master briefly and showed him the piece that she had been working on . Hesitantly, she inquired, "How… do you feel about it?"

Her master looked up at her, then moved his gaze down on the painting, staring at it for a long, tense moment . Yujia felt that her palms began to sweat as she waited for his response with both worry and a desire for praise . It would be a rea.s.suring feeling for someone to acknowledge all of her hard work with this one painting .  

Instead of giving his instant opinion, her master asked back, "Did you paint the plum tree in your courtyard?"

Yujia nodded .  

Seeing her response, he sighed, then stated his next words with a blank gaze .  

"This painting is trash . "