Chapter 266 A Matching Rival
Guo Feng said, “Don’t worry, Mr. Tang. At least, Brother Qin can draw another Lotus Scene of Wu Daozi. It will not be worse than He Lizhi’s.”
He Lizhi really had good painting skills. As time went on, the noise under the stage slowly disappeared.
After a while, he began to finish his painting. The brush touched the paper continuously and a beautiful picture of a peony appeared on the electronic screen.
With the sound of a whoosh, his wrist shook to outline the last stroke. Then, a showy peony proudly stood in the painting, making people feel that it was the king of flowers.
Whether they liked him or not, everyone had to marvel at his painting skills. This painting had reached a very high level.
He Lizhi threw his brush aside and proudly said, “Mr. Gompos, please mark it!”
As the referee, Gompos approached He Lizhi’s Peony Painting and carefully evaluated it. He nodded ceaselessly and said, “Yes, your Peony Painting is really good. It has the charm of a Huaxia traditional painting. I’m giving you 85 points!”
Others didn’t think so, but Tang Qingzhi knew that Gompos’ painting criteria were quite strict. 85 points was definitely a high score. Ordinary painters wouldn’t even pa.s.s.
He Lizhi was also very satisfied with this achievement. He turned his head to Qin Haodong and said proudly, “Don’t you want to compete with me, boy? It’s your turn now!”
It seemed that Qin Haodong had not seen the Peony Painting. Thus, he said lightly, “You have forgotten even the most basic things about being a human. I will not compete with you. You are not worthy of it.”
“What do you mean?” He Lizhi’s expression changed as he said angrily, “Are you kidding me? We just made a bet.”
Everyone’s expressions had changed drastically. Although He Lizhi was annoyed by everyone, it was difficult for Qin Haodong to win everyone’s approval with his ironic behavior.
“What’s the hurry? Our bet is valid. I’m just looking for a compet.i.tor who is a match for you.”
When Qin Haodong said that, he stepped off the stage in front of everyone and approached a young girl in the front row. The girl was in her early 20s. She was holding a cute little black poodle in her arms. The dog was not very big. It was about three or four months old and it looked very cute.
He smiled at the young girl and spoke to her. “Can you lend me your dog, beautiful? I’ll give it back to you as soon as the game is over.”
“Yes, you can borrow it!”
The young girl did not understand what Qin Haodong was going to do, yet she trusted him enough to hand over the poodle in her hands.
Qin Haodong returned to the stage with the little poodle in his arms. Everyone was confused. “What’s the meaning of bringing a dog? Will he use the dog to compete with He Lizhi?”
He Lizhi said angrily, “What do you mean?”
Qin Haodong smiled slightly and said, “In a compet.i.tion, the ident.i.ty of the players must always be equal. You are a Nihon’s dog. This is a dog raised by Huaxia people. You and this dog are matching rivals.”
He Lizhi became angry when he was called a dog in public. Thus, he shouted, “Sh*t, are you going to compete with me? If you aren’t, I will cut your hand off!”
Qin Haodong did not care. He turned to Gompos and said, “Mr. Gompos, can I have this dog compete at painting with him?”
Gompos was a bit confused, as he had never seen such a compet.i.tion before. After he thought about it, he said, “No matter the way you use, you should produce a painting in the end. The one thing you should know is that you have to fulfill the ultimate bet.”
Qin Haodong looked at He Lizhi and said, “Did you hear him? The rules allow this. Today, I will use this dog to beat you.”
“Run your mouth, boy. Just wait and see how I will cut your hand off when you lose.”
He Lizhi was mad. Even though he didn’t believe that a dog could beat him, he felt bitter in his heart. “I have to cut off this b.a.s.t.a.r.d’s hands later.”
Tang Qingzhi pounded his chest and told the audience, “This young man is still too impulsive. He just has the advantage of speech. Although he looks very happy, he is bound to lose.”
Lang Sanyuan shook his head and said, “I thought he was a capable fellow, but now I see that he is a fool.”
Gao Fengwen and Guo Feng were also nervous. They had originally thought that Qin Haodong could at least guarantee his invincibility if he drew a Lotus Scene. However, he had unexpectedly brought a dog on the stage.
On the other side of the foreigner, Yagyuu Hirai burst out laughing and said, “Stupid! He is an absolute fool. I was afraid that he would disrupt our plan, but now I’m not worried at all. Later, we can cut off his hands. That way, he won’t be able to take part in the compet.i.tion of traditional Huaxia medicine.”
Chiba Mieko also relaxed. Qin Haodong had always been big trouble in her mind. It was good to see that he was finished. However, she still had some doubts. This young man didn’t look like a mindless person. How could he do such an impulsive thing?
Qin Haodong didn’t care what other people thought. He asked the staff to fetch three buckets of water and then filled a small bucket of ink.
When these things were ready, he rolled the little poodle in ink and threw it on the drawing paper that was on the table.
Qin Haodong was not kidding. He had really put the poodle on the drawing paper. There was an uproar in the audience. Everyone knew that it was impossible to beat a real painter by drawing with a dog.
The little poodle, which was only three or four months old, panicked when it left its owner’s arms. It just rolled in ink and ran forward immediately after being let go.
Maybe it was too panicked. After all, the ink made its feet slippery. The dog ran for a few steps and suddenly fell to the ground. The ink on its body smeared the paper. The poodle, which got even more confused, got up and ran forward. Soon, it made a round trip on the rice paper.
Qin Haodong took the little poodle, turned around and handed it to Qian Duoduo. “Brother Qian, please help me clean it up and then take it back to that young girl.”
Qian Duoduo did not understand what he was going to do, but he could only do as he was told.
These things went unnoticed, as everyone’s eyes were focused on Qin Haodong’s painting paper. There was too much ink on it, as the paper was covered in the ink of the small poodle’s footprints and the imprint it had left.
The footprints looked like plum blossoms, but the imprint it had left when it had fallen down was a mess. It didn’t look like anything.
“Qin Haodong, this is the painting you made with the dog. You want to beat me with this?”
He Lizhi laughed. His face was full of ferocity. He acted like he had already imagined Qin Haodong giving up.
Yagyuu Hirai laughed recklessly in the audience and cried, “Is this also a painting? Even an amateur can do better than him.”
Chiba Mieko Huizi did not speak, yet she smiled faintly. She had thought of every possible scenario in her mind, but she did not think that Qin Haodong could win.
Although the Huaxia people under the stage did not laugh, their eyes showed their disappointment. In their opinion, Qin Haodong was bound to fail. How could such a messy painting compare to He Lizhi’s Peony Painting?
Gompos shook his head. He apparently disliked the painting. “Mr. Qin, have you finished your painting?” he asked Qin Haodong.
Qin Haodong smiled and said, “Don’t worry, there’s still one last procedure to go.”
“What do you mean? Didn’t you say you would paint with a dog? The dog has been taken away. Do you want to continue drawing?”
He Lizhi’s face was full of ferocity.
“Now that the dog is your opponent, of course I won’t draw anymore. However, this painting still needs one last procedure.”
“Last procedure? What does he mean?” Everyone felt dizzy. They couldn’t imagine what this young man really wanted to do. Could he change the result without a pen?
Yagyuu Hirai laughed and said, “He just doesn’t want to admit that he failed. Let’s see what he can do!”
Tang Qingzhi, Gao Fengwen and the others were also confused. They really did not know what was on Qin Haodong’s mind.
He Lizhi sneered and said, “Then hurry up. I want to see how you will explain yourself when you finish your last step.”
“Just wait a minute!”
Qin Haodong was still calm. He approached the table and grabbed the corner of the painting paper. His wrist shook slightly in the process.
With a crash, the ink on the paper immediately flowed and covered the whole paper.
Qin Haodong put the paper on the table again and said, “It’s completed now!”
“Is he kidding us? Is this a joke?”
The audience did not understand what Qin Haodong had done. Qin Haodong had just picked up the paper and shaken it for a while. Was this also a way of drawing?
“Wait, look at it!”
While everyone was puzzled, someone suddenly called out!
Everyone’s attention was turned back to the painting. Tang Qingzhi’s voice trembled. “Oh my G.o.d, how could this be possible? What did I just see?”
The paper, which had been fuzzy just a moment ago, had been shaken by Qin Haodong and magically transformed into a Plum Blossom Painting. The ink was scattered, and the small left footprints were interconnected.
The plum blossoms on the scroll stood proudly, and wherever the ink flowed dry trunks formed. The little dog’s footprints had formed scattered plum blossoms on it. The most amazing part was the place the dog had just fallen down on, which had turned into two rugged rocks. The traces left by the dog’s fur formed the different features on the surface of the rocks, which looked very vivid.
He Lizhi’s Peony Painting gave people a feeling of blossoming and wealth, while the Plum Blossom Painting gave them a feeling of pride and clarity.
All the spectators were silent. n.o.body had expected that Qin Haodong’s gentle shake would create such an extraordinary painting. Yagyuu Hirai, who had just laughed, had forgotten to shut his mouth, which hung open in surprise. His face showed that he was stupefied and numb.
It was amazing! A little poodle that didn’t know anything had made this painting. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would not have believed it.
“Oh my G.o.d! It’s a divine painting!”
Tang Qingzhi’s eyes were full of tears as he was talking.
As a painter, he naturally knew how difficult it was to make this painting Qin Haodong had created.
This simple shake, in fact, was very difficult. One needed to know clearly how much ink was left on the paper. One also needed perfect control to determine the strength and direction of the shake and let the ink flow to form tree trunks before eventually forming a complete painting. All the details had to be perfectly integrated in the brain without any mistakes.
In other words, this could only be described as a divine painting.
After a moment of silence, the audience suddenly burst into warm applause. The spectators seemed to finally feel hopeful about winning. Such a picture, at least, would not be defeated by He Lizhi’s Peony Picture.
Gompos was shocked. It seemed that the painting made by the dog and this young man had done nothing. In fact, the most important thing had been the last shake. It had been more important than everything else. If there had been the faintest difference, the painting would have been destroyed.
Qian Duoduo woke up from his shock and cried excitedly, “Mr. Gompos, please mark it!”