Chapter 52: Take me in

  The Zhang family is really rich, using such good paper for practicing calligraphy. You know that even Lu Zhi and his son wrote their articles on bamboo or wooden tablets.

  In the Western Han Dynasty, paper already existed, but paper that could be used for writing appeared much later. At first, it was not plant fiber paper, but a thin layer of silk left over from silkworm cocoons, so the word "paper" comes from "silk". This kind of paper had very low production and high cost, and its strength was not high, so it did not get promoted. For a long time, the materials used by the Han people for writing were mostly bamboo and wood slips and silk, which was expensive and not affordable for ordinary people. Bamboo and wood slips were cheaper, but not suitable for painting, so the main forms of painting in the Han Dynasty were stone paintings and brick paintings. Only maps that needed to be carried around used silk paintings. This continued until Cai Lun improved papermaking technology and produced Cai Hou paper.

  When Cai Lun invented paper, the cost of paper decreased greatly and it gradually spread. Famous paper makers appeared in various places, leaving behind records such as Zuo Bozi's paper made by Zuo Boren from Donglai. After Cai Lun invented paper, the great scientist Zhang Heng was the first to use paper for painting, mainly for drawing astronomical instruments, occasionally drawing some figures.

  Zhang Fei used a paper that was not Zhibo paper, but a type of paper mixed with silkworm cocoons. The silkworm cocoons gave the paper a glossy appearance, making it look more beautiful and smoother. However, in terms of painting, using this type of paper is not good for ink techniques. Another issue is that it's expensive.

  Although Liu Xiu did not know the price of these papers, he could roughly guess that paper was not readily available at this time, and Zhang Fei's family was just a middle-class landlord, yet they were so luxurious. Of course, there is Zhang Fei's infatuation with calligraphy and painting, which saves money, but it can also be seen that the strength of these local landlords is not ordinary.

  As a former "middle class" in his past life, Liu Xiuxiu, a middle farmer in this life, expressed strong indignation towards this.

  As for Liu Bei, he was even more stunned. His grandfather and father had both been officials, his old man had even been a county magistrate, but their family didn't have many assets, whereas the Zhang family were just butchers, yet... yet they had so much money.

  Laozi is still the descendant of Gao Huangdi, but now he's not even as good as a butcher. Liu Bei suddenly felt a surge of anger in his heart. However, he knew that showing this anger at this time and place would be useless, so he said nothing and just looked calmly, with only the corners of his eyes twitching unconsciously twice.

  Zhang Fei didn't notice the envy, jealousy and hatred in Liu Xiu's eyes at all. Even if he did, he wouldn't care, since he was already used to being looked at with such eyes. Moreover, he knew that there were many people more luxurious than him. He just focused his attention on Liu Xiu's gaze, hoping to see a hint of attitude from the way she looked at the paintings hanging on the wall.

  "Dear brother, please don't hesitate to instruct me."

  Liu Xiu walked slowly with his hands behind his back, passing by sheet after sheet of paper, his face as calm as a dead water, without any expression that Zhang Fei had hoped to see, neither admiration nor disdain, just as if he was not looking at paintings but white papers.

  At this time, Liu Xiu was completely devoid of the humility he had shown earlier in the hall. Although he did not intentionally show off his pride, his calm eyes revealed his pride without any cover or concealment, and it was a kind of pride that didn't even bother to be proud.

  Just like a mountain, it doesn't need to show off its height to you, and even uses clouds and mist to hide its height, but it clearly tells you that it is very high, so high that you can't imagine.

  Zhang Fei's smile gradually stiffened, his waist involuntarily lowered, and his voice slowly became somewhat timid, just like a test-taker who had only completed one-third of the exam paper, and even that one-third was not guaranteed to be all correct, facing a stern teacher.

  The atmosphere in the painting hall became somewhat oppressive. Liu Xiu didn't speak, Liu Bei didn't want to speak, Zhang Fei didn't know what to say, and those two maidservants didn't dare to speak.

  Liu Xu's footsteps were not slow, and in the time it took to drink two cups of wine at a banquet, he had circled the hall once and then turned back to look at Zhang Fei, whose face had already turned somewhat pale. After a long while, he finally spoke: "Yide, you're working very hard."

  "What? What." Zhang Fei didn't know what he meant, was he praising him? But his expression didn't seem like it, instead it looked like he was saying that he was a useless piece of wood that couldn't be carved no matter how hard he tried. Zhang Fei's heart rose up, staring tightly at Liu Xiu's mouth, afraid that the next sentence would make him lose face.

  "That... the painting on the wine building is not bad." Liu Xiu said with a gulp, then nodded towards Liu Bei and forced a smile: "Xuande, we've disturbed them for too long, let's go take a look at how Mr. is doing."

  Liu Bei didn't even have the mood to look, responded with a sound, and turned his head to leave.

  Zhang Fei's face turned pale, standing there motionless. Liu Xiu said the beauty painting on the wine building was not bad, wasn't that saying the ones here were not as good as that one? That painting was criticized by Liu Xiu as worthless, yet he still criticized a few more sentences, in this hall with so many paintings, he didn't comment on any of them, his intention being they weren't worth criticizing.

  Zhang Fei's dazed state, Liu Xiu had already walked out of the hall and was about to step down. Zhang Fei suddenly came back to his senses, took a swift step forward, and without regard for propriety, grabbed Liu Xiu's sleeve, his face flushed red, half pleading, half threatening: "Brother De Ran, please offer some advice."

  Liu Xiu turned his head, looking at Zhang Fei's hand grasping his sleeve, his face somewhat impatient, but in his heart he was laughing with joy. He thought to himself: I thought my words were too harsh and would make you lose confidence and quit painting forever. If that had happened, my guilt would have been immense. My ambition to recruit one of the Five Tigers as a follower would also have been dashed. Since you haven't given up yet, there's still hope.

  "Yi De, what's this?"

  "Please, Brother De Ran, instruct me." Zhang Fei bowed his waist repeatedly and made a series of bows, but he still held onto Liu Xiu tightly, afraid that if he let go, Liu Xiu would run away.

  "Haven't I already said so?" Liu Bei's eyebrows furrowed and he reached out to brush away Zhang Fei's hand.

  Zhang Fei's face turned red to the point where every pimple seemed about to bleed, but he refused to let go. At this moment, he was displaying a teenager's stubbornness to the fullest, repeating one sentence over and over again:

  "Please advise me, Brother De Ran."

  Liu Xiuxiu helplessly sighed, with a look of being haunted by ghosts, and returned to the front of those paintings. He pointed at the first one: "Head big body small." Then he pointed at another one: "Five features unclear." Again, he pointed at another one: "Overnight ink, ink colorless." Once more, he pointed at the next one: "Lines dry, completely without brush intent."

  In a moment, he had finished commenting on all the paintings hanging in the hall, and only then did he turn his head to look at Zhang Fei's hand: "Can you let go of me now?"

  Zhang Fei's face turned white and then red, red and then white again, with fine beads of sweat appearing on the tip of his nose, and he couldn't even speak. Although Liu Xiu's comments were very simple, each sentence hit the biggest flaw in that painting, and while he might not have understood other things, that phrase "overnight ink" was like a thunderbolt, stunning him so much that his vision blurred, his head buzzing with noise, and he didn't hear a word of what Liu Xiu said afterwards.

  All this can be seen, what else can't be seen? Also thinking of Liu Xiu's words about "grinding ink like a sick man" just now in the main hall, Zhang Fei has already paid his respects to Liu Xiu's artistic attainments.

  Let you go? You must be joking! If I let you go, wouldn't that make me a fool?

  Zhang Fei rushed to Liu Xiu's front, "thud" knelt on the ground, grasping Liu Xiu's hem and kowtowed, almost crying out: "Master, take me in!"

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