Chapter 276 In One Go
Since Qin Sheng had s.n.a.t.c.hed away Lin Su, who was supposed to be Yan Chaozong’s wife, and disgraced him, Yan Chaozong intended to punish him. The reason Yuan Ke planned to punish Qin Sheng was that Qin Sheng had ruined his plan, making him lose the benefits within his reach and waste all of his efforts on a wild-goose chase. However, speaking of why Young Master Qu intended to do something unpleasant to Qin Sheng, it was somewhat depressing. Young Master Qu did so simply because he considered Qin Sheng an eyesore.
Young Master Qu was born as Qu Fan, who was also nicknamed Happiness. Speaking of the reason his nickname was Huanxi, it was nothing special. After being born, he had liked to smile often. However, he could not be consequently nicknamed happiness or joyfulness. In the end, Old Monk had named him Huanxi, which was the Chinese phonetic spelling for happiness or joyfulness. Everybody called him that later on. However, some people called him Huanxi because he was pretty good at singing Taiwanese songs, including “As Long As You Are Happy” , which was his best hit. As a result, everybody teased him frequently by saying “Huanxi, Huanxi, as long as you are happy”.
It was unknown whether he was happy or not. Anyway, since he was talented, handsome, rich, and came from a powerful family, women felt a strong affinity for him. He had also offended many people. After all, as a young and frivolous man, he was powerful and intransigent. However, despite looking like a rich playboy, he was pretty smart. He would never confront the people he was not supposed to offend. As for the people he dared to offend, he would hit them as hard as he could.
Qu Huanxi had hooked up with Yan Chaozong. Yuan Ke was also by their side, adding fuel to the fire. Meanwhile, the Lin family was playing the waiting game. All in all, it was indeed difficult for Qin Sheng to overcome all these difficulties.
At nightfall, Qin Sheng drank with several leaders from the city bureau thanks to the matchmaking Fang Jianping. Fang Jianping was also on the spot that night. All his expenditures would be on Qin Sheng. The others would not have such an opportunity. Of course, Qin Sheng did not disgrace Fang Jianping at all. He settled everything in a proper manner and drank frequently.
It was not until everybody on the scene was almost drunk that the party came to an end. By the time the party ended, Qin Sheng was already half-drunk. Gu Xiaobo was his driver that night. As far as work issues were concerned, others would take care of them for him.
Gu Xiaobo agreed with him by saying, “As a famous poetry line goes, ‘When will the bright moon show up again? I ask the sky above my head this question while holding a cup of wine in my hand.’ Without wine, there probably would have been far fewer magnificent things in thousands of years of history. Upon looking back, we can easily find out that the ancestors fully showed their gifts when they got drunk.”
“There you go. As the story goes, when Huai Su is drunk, he uses his hair as a pen to write a piece of calligraphy willfully. I will also have a try tonight. Let me see whether I will be satisfied with my own work or not,” Qin Sheng said thoughtfully. In the past few days, he’d really had no time to finish writing that piece of calligraphy. The deadline drew near, so he intended to stay up tonight. Anyway, he needed to make himself feel satisfied.
After going back to his home, which was located on the Golden Coast, Qin Sheng locked himself in the study. Since Lin Su was not around, n.o.body would restrain him. Thus, he could do whatever he liked to tonight. Feeling unsatisfied, he took out another bottle of spirit and started smoking and drinking heartily. By the time the study became smoggy, Qin Sheng was already on the verge of being completely drunk. He realized that he had already reached the state he had been looking forward to.
As a result, he smoothed out the paper decisively and started to grind the ink. Then, he picked out a writing brush made of weasel hair with a long tip that suited him the most. While mulling over Buddha’s saying in his mind, Qin Sheng closed his eyes and pondered when he could start to write.
It was unknown how long it had been. Qin Sheng opened his eyes all of a sudden. The moment he placed the pen on the paper, the characters emerged like blooming flowers. He started performing, the writing brush moving quickly and forcibly on the rice paper. Qin Sheng’s eyes sparkled with glory and intelligence as he wrote at an increasingly faster speed. It seemed that he had seen both Huai Su, who was drunk and crazy, and Zhang Xu, the Sage of Calligraphy, in person.
If those so-called masters saw Qin Sheng’s current state in person, they certainly would feel both astonished and stupefied. Many people in this world could not reach such a state in their lifetime.
A few minutes later, Qin Sheng finally finished writing the last character. Then, he directly shook off the writing brush subconsciously. This piece of calligraphy, which could make the so-called masters of calligraphy feel ashamed, was completed in the end.
Qin Sheng laughed out loud. Since he had finished a piece of calligraphy in one go, he felt hearty and delightful.
It seemed that this piece of calligraphy had also used up Qin Sheng’s last burst of energy. Qin Sheng could not persist anymore. A drowsiness came over him, so he immediately sat down on the ground and fell asleep.
By the time Qin Sheng opened his eyes, it was already 12 o’clock at noon. He had enjoyed such a comfortable sleep that he had not even been awakened by his regular life schedule.
At the moment, Qin Sheng was a mess. Ink and cigarette ash were all over his body, and his hair was really messy. Getting drunk, along with getting insane, made him feel as if his head was splitting apart. He struggled to stand up, looked outside the window, and realized that the sun on the sky was already scorching. It was not until he glimpsed at the alarm clock on the wall that he discovered that it was already past 12 o’clock.
Qin Sheng murmured to himself as he said, “How long have I been sleeping?” After picking up his cell phone, he found out there were more than a dozen unanswered calls and dozens of WeChat messages. Apparently, since n.o.body could get into touch with him, they had thought that he had encountered a mishap.
Instead of paying attention to other things, Qin Sheng directly stared at his work. Even he was surprised to see that he could actually produce such a masterpiece. He smiled with satisfaction, knowing that he had already completed his task.
After taking a shower, Qin Sheng got dressed, called back the people whose calls he had missed, and replied to the WeChat messages. Chang Baji, who had been anxious that he would encounter a mishap, was at ease after inquiring about Gu Xiaobo and confirming that Qin Sheng had been at home. Cao Da and Ms. An had intended to contact him due to some issues. As for Lin Su, she had just called to offer her normal greeting. Han Bing had called to complain to him that although she had been in Hangzhou for a long time, she had only met Qin Sheng once. As for Yang Deng, he had called to confirm whether Qin Sheng had set everything in place or not, as they would be setting off tomorrow afternoon. The birthday party was the day after tomorrow.
Qin Sheng was currently so hungry that he could not hang on anymore. He directly asked Han Bing to have lunch out together. Meanwhile, he sent someone over to find a professional artist to mount the piece of calligraphy, advising him to stay close to the piece. He knew how stupefied and astonished the professional would be once they saw the piece of calligraphy.
Han Bing’s new company was located in an office building beside West Lake, where she could overlook the beautiful scenery of the whole lake. Han Bing, who cared about inspiration and relaxation all the time, was certain that Han Bing would not treat herself unfairly. After all, she was a really fair-skinned, rich, and beautiful lady. Since she had inherited a large fortune but was not ambitious, she could only think about how she was going to spend her fortune.
Han Bing, who had already reserved seats, was awaiting Qin Sheng’s arrival. When Qin Sheng finally arrived, she muttered to herself and said, “Why are you here so late? I thought you were coming here on a snail.”
“For G.o.d’s sake, I drove here instead of taking a flight. Don’t you know how heavy the traffic in Hangzhou City can be?” Qin Sheng replied, looking astonished.
Han Bing snorted as she said, “I guess that if Lin Su had asked you out, you would definitely have rushed over gladly. This is just an excuse. An excuse!”
Qin Sheng did not bother paying attention to her. He gave her a hard look as he said, “You should order the dishes quickly. I am so hungry that I can’t take it anymore.”
Staring at Qin Sheng, Han Bing asked, “Why are you so dejected? What on earth did you do last night? You did not even pick up my call this morning. Tell me honestly, did you start fooling around outside while Lin Su was not around?”
Qin Sheng teased her by saying, “Why would I need to fool around outside when there was already such a great beauty in front of me?”
This sentence made Han Bing feel pretty comfortable, as she began to order the dishes with Qin Sheng happily. They had lunch and chatted with each other, inquiring about their respective situations recently.
In the afternoon, Qin Sheng went to the company first and got some things done. At nightfall, he went to visit Cao Da and finished his dinner in Jiuxi Rose Garden. There, he also reported to Cao Da about some tasks he had completed recently.
The next morning, Qin Sheng went to the villa in Meijiawu to fetch the painting. Sun Yu had called him last night, informing him that Master Liu had already completed the painting he had agreed to give him. In the past few days, Master Liu had almost remained quietly at home. Meanwhile, he had shut his door and refused to meet any visitors. He had been busy creating this painting all the time. Anyway, he did exert great effort and energy to complete this painting. Of course, Qin Sheng knew that he owed Master Liu a great favor this time and needed to return this favor sooner or later. However, he was not sure when he could do that.
“Little Qin, come and check whether you are satisfied with this painting or not!” Master Liu asked his servants to spread the painting on the table. Soon, a magnificent painting was unfolded in front of Qin Sheng. The painting was both subtle and magnificent. Qin Sheng could not help sighing to himself. Master Liu was indeed a top master across the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai regions. No wonder so many people were after his paintings and paid a high price for them.
On the ink painting were rivers, mountains, green pines, spectacular cypresses, windy rivers, a sunset, a cowherd, an elder man, a thatched cottage, and farm cattle. Everything was really natural. If this painting had been on sale at the market, Qin Sheng dared not guarantee that its price would be over tens of millions of dollars. However, it would cost millions of dollars.
Qin Sheng was appreciating the painting. The longer he stared at it, the more he liked it. He did not know that Master Liu had spent quite a lot of his energy on this painting, just like he had done. Master Liu looked much more tired. There were even more white hairs on his head.
Qin Sheng said slowly, “Master Liu, this painting of yours is already beyond my evaluation level. I really don’t know how to appraise it, nor am I qualified to do it.” He was just speaking his mind.
Master Liu smiled happily as he replied, “As long as you are satisfied with it, that will do. You can just take it. Don’t forget my calligraphy piece. I need to rest well for several days.”
Qin Sheng, who did not dare disturb Master Liu anymore, left with the painting happily.
Since both the painting and the calligraphy piece were ready, it was time for Qin Sheng to leave for Mountain Putuo. He was not sure whether two stunning gifts of his could help him knock on Third Master Wu’s door successfully this time.
In the afternoon, Qin Sheng left Chang Baji and Ms. An several advisories. Then, he and Gu Qingyang went to join Yang Deng. It was estimated that he would return no later than next Monday. Originally, Qin Sheng had planned to go to Mountain Putuo on his own. However, Chang Baji had advised him to keep Gu Qingyang by his side, just in case.
When Yang Deng saw Qin Sheng, he chuckled and said, “The way I see it, if we go there in the same car, it will do, right? In that case, you won’t need to go through so much trouble.”
Of course, Yang Deng did not understand what Qin Sheng had been trying to guard him against. Qin Sheng made a random excuse as he explained, “I’ll probably need to stay in Ningbo to attend to some issues.”
“Oh, I see. Okay. In that case, I will ride in the same car with you so that we can discuss something on our way.” Yang Deng did not overthink it. Then, he directly got in Qin Sheng’s car. His driver drove behind them.
Qin Sheng said casually, “Have the people on Brother Luo’s side left yet?”
“Brother Luo needs to take care of some issues tonight. He probably will make it in the evening. Although the Old Master intends to keep a low profile, it is not impossible to do so since it is his 70th birthday. It’s estimated that a lot of people are on their way to Mountain Putuo.” Yang Deng smiled happily as he spoke, indicating how influential Third Master Wu was.
Qin Sheng remembered clearly when he had just read White Deer Plain for the first time. He had been super amazed by the death of Master Zhu, a famous educated scholar. Numerous people had seen him off, including people who had known him and people who had barely met him. The white streamers looked like really long dragons stretching endlessly to a destination beyond sight.
This was how a person should spend their whole lifetime.
After chatting with each other casually for a while, the members of Qin Sheng’s group started to walk toward Mountain Putuo.