Chapter 89.1 - Two Hearts
On the third day, Fu Wu Tian fulfilled his promise to help him paint five drawings.
Although he had been staying at the border for more than a decade, he started learning these things ten years ago. Also, just because he stayed at the border didn"t mean that he had to fight a war every year.
Other people thought that he was just an all-brawn-no-brains man, when in fact, the sons of high-ranking officials who stayed in the capital for many years did not have as much ink in their belly as he did*.
[*T/N: they are not as cultured as him]
After knowing that Fu Wu Tian could paint, An Zi Ran had no worries. He directly told him the pattern he wanted to paint. The patterns were complicated and needed to be drawn by talented people. In his previous life, he could draw simple sketches, but once a brush was in his hand he lost all rhyme and rhythm.
After listening to his description, Fu Wu Tian immediately got to work. He was silent for a while before asking, "w.a.n.g fei, can you say it again?"
An Zi Ran seemed to be expecting this. Unsurprised, he said, "I said I want to draw an old couple and their son. The size should not be too large. The length should not exceed eight centimeters, and the width should not exceed four centimeters." After he said it, he was afraid that the other would not understand and even gave the dimensions.
"…w.a.n.g fei, are you retaliating against this prince for causing you to be unable to get out of bed yesterday?"
When Fu Wu Tian heard that he wanted to draw such a small image, he could only think that it was so.
An Zi Ran had no expression on his face. "Does it matter if that"s the case or not?"
"Of course."
"What?"
Fu Wu Tian replied, "You obviously enjoyed it that night. You came four times, even more than this prince."
A sharp gaze pierced him.
Translations by Vanilla Muse
An Zi Ran said in a monotonous tone, "You want to tell me now that you can’t actually draw it? It doesn"t matter, you can tell the truth, I won"t look down on you."
"But you will discriminate against this prince." Fu Wu Tian immediately answered.
"Yes!"
Fu Wu Tian clicked his tongue. "Really impolite, didn"t even hesitate for a bit. This prince didn"t say he couldn"t draw it."
Fu Wu Tian has indeed never painted such a small image, but that didn"t mean he couldn"t draw it. However, looking across all of Da Ya, afraid that no one has ever painted such a small size, because with a few strokes of the brush, the dimensions that An Zi Ran gave would already be completely covered in black or red ink. Exactly like what happened to An Zi Ran the day before yesterday.
"Then go ahead and paint. Remember to make the clothes look better," An Zi Ran added another request.
Fu Wu Tian said, "If you have any more requirements, say it all at once."
This was the rhythm of a broken jar!*
[*T/N: literally 这是破罐子破摔的节奏！]
An Zi Ran really thought about it for a bit. It"s been a long time since he touched that kind of thing. He couldn"t think of the specific pattern. Finally, he took out a brush and dipped some ink to draw a picture on another piece of white paper. "This can be drawn in a straight line on the clothing. Simple is fine, it doesn"t need to be too complicated."
Fu Wu Tian looked at the pattern An Zi Ran drew, and pictured the finished product in his mind. If it"s like this then it was much simpler. But… "w.a.n.g fei, what are you painting these pictures for?"
An Zi Ran answered, "I want to print these pictures on small pieces of hard paper that can be carried around, so the picture can"t be too big."
After Fu Wu Tian understood, he finally started painting.
An Zi Ran figured that he would be painting for a while, so he left the study room while the other man painted. Before long, he returned with a pot of hot tea and some little snacks. Just as he placed the tray down on the table, he saw Fu Wu Tian stop painting. The brush was changed to a stiff bristle brush. The stiff bristles were relatively small, and the lines outlined were relatively thin.
An Zi Ran took a look at the table top and couldn"t help but blink once.
Ancient people probably didn"t look highly upon this type of character, but in his eyes it was already very shapely.
The three characters outlined with straight lines were obviously rigid, but they appear on the rice paper in a vivid way. It was no wonder that he dared to boast about his painting skills. It was indeed not bad. If other people heard his description, it was hard to imagine what they would draw.
An Zi Ran picked up a brush and drew a few patterns on another piece of paper. To Fu Wu Tian, these patterns seemed very strange. Then An Zi Ran pulled out a piece of paper with ten patterns that he had drawn before.
"According to this format, add these symbols on the upper left and lower right corners."
Fu Wu Tian looked at his drawings and sketched a few strokes. The symbols he drew were even better than An Zi Ran"s. Furthermore, he drew everything in one stroke without lifting the brush.
"How is it?"
An Zi Ran praised, "It is much better than I imagined."
Fu Wu Tian, who was praised, revealed a bit of happiness in his eyes.