Chapter 101
Chapter 101: Capital Handsome Men Register
Hugging the ten hard-won sutras back to her room, Lin Yu Ning spun in circles, cheeks flushed with excitement. The thrill had barely faded when a brand-new, huge problem popped up in her mind: [I’ve got the sutras, but I can’t draw the little portraits myself. My drawing is so bad I struggle with a chick pecking at rice, let alone Elder Cousin. That would be an insult to the Buddha’s Chosen!]
She paced fast across the room: [I need a professional.] A name leaped into her head: [Zhao Lv Liu.] [Yes. Tomorrow I’ll go to Yunlang Studio.]
Decision made, early the next morning she urged her maid to wrap the ten sutras in brocade, tucked them carefully in her arms, and marched straight to Yunlang Studio. Her luck was good. At the door she glimpsed Zhao Lv Liu through the lattice. Dressed in an elegant water-green dress, Zhao Lv Liu held her wrist steady above the palette, blending colors with full focus. Sunlight sifted through the window, bathing her quiet profile in a scholarly glow.
“Sister Lv Liu!” Lin Yu Ning called before she even crossed the threshold, then rushed in, lifted her skirt hem, and went straight to the worktable. With great care she spread out the ten sutras that smelled faintly of ink and sandalwood, like she was offering rare treasure: “Sister Lv Liu, look. These are my Elder Cousin’s sutras from the past few days. Smell the ink, the sandalwood. Every character carries a touch of Buddha.”
Leaning close, she lowered her voice, mysterious: “I want to ask a big favor. Could you paint small portraits of my Elder Cousin in the blank spaces of each roll? Whether he’s chanting or watching the clouds, you capture him best. Price is easy to discuss. Or we can sell them and split the profit.”
Zhao Lv Liu’s gaze was caught at once by the text. The strong strokes and strict structure held a calm strength that made the painter’s breath hitch. With her pale, slender fingers, the tips faintly stained stone blue from her pigments, she gently brushed the page, as if touching a peerless work of art and trying to feel the writer’s state of mind through the paper. After a moment, she lifted her eyes. The usually gentle, wistful light in them turned bright and firm, burning with an almost feverish resolve Lin Yu Ning had never seen.
“Third Miss,” Zhao Lv Liu said softly, every word clear, then lightly yet decisively pushed the precious sutras back across the table: “I cannot paint on these.”
“Huh?” Lin Yu Ning froze, mind buzzing. She hadn’t expected a refusal at all. Nervous, she blurted: “Why? Is the split too small? Sister, we can renegotiate. Seventy-thirty. You take seventy.”
Zhao Lv Liu shook her head, cutting her off: “I don’t want a split. Not a single coin.” She paused, gaze keen as a hook: “I ask only one thing. Please find a way to bring me to meet Yuan Jue, the Buddha’s Chosen, just once. If I can stand near and sketch him from life, I’ll paint as many as you want for free.”
Lin Yu Ning gaped: [She wants to get close to Elder Cousin and paint him in person?] Her little brain raced, abacus beads clacking: [Oh no, this is harder than prying money from my father. Elder Cousin’s Auspicious Cloud Residence is so guarded that not even a female mosquito gets in, except for Sister Xiao Man and a few Old Grannies sweeping the floors. Bringing an outsider to paint him… I didn’t see this coming. Sister Zhao’s hidden aim is deep!]
Eyeing Zhao Lv Liu’s all-or-nothing resolve, then the ten sutras gleaming like piles of silver, she felt torn. Silver was lovely, but this condition was deadly. As her heart itched like a kitten scratching, she couldn’t bear to watch the soon-to-be pocketed money fly away. Rolling her eyes as a plan formed, she leaned in and warned in a low voice with a hint of pressure: “Sister Lv Liu, I remember very clearly what you said last time at my home. I doubt my Aunt thinks well of you. Going in by the main gate to see my Elder Cousin will be as hard as climbing to the sky.”
To her surprise, Zhao Lv Liu showed no embarrassment. Instead, pride lifted her expression, the cool arrogance of an artist: “Do you think I struggle like this because I’m like those ordinary women in the capital who have a crush on your Buddha’s Chosen Elder Cousin?” She raised her fine chin, solemn as if making a formal declaration: “It is for my art. My Capital Handsome Men Register needs only one last portrait to be complete. The only missing piece is a true, everyday depiction of Yuan Jue, the Buddha’s Chosen. Do you understand what that means to a painter who seeks perfection?”
“Capital Handsome Men Register?!” Lin Yu Ning’s eyes went round as copper bells, as if she’d heard a great secret of the martial world. She asked, breath caught by wild curiosity: “Sister, what is that? All handsome men?”
Zhao Lv Liu shot her a look that said, You really don’t appreciate elegance, but her voice held a faint, tempting lilt: “Just get me inside so I can look at your Elder Cousin from far away, quietly and unnoticed, enough to finish the portrait. When it’s done, I’ll paint these ten sutras for free, consign them for sale here at Yunlang Studio, and also…” She drew out the last words on purpose, pleased to see Lin Yu Ning’s ears perk up: “I’ll give you a facsimile of the Capital Handsome Men Register.”
“How about it, Third Miss? No matter how you count it, this is a profit for you.”
The abacus in Lin Yu Ning’s head exploded with clicks: [Right! She’s only going to paint. Nothing else. I don’t have to pay a thing. I’ll earn a pile of silver and get the legendary book for free. This is like a meat pie falling from the sky. No, a gold ingot.]
Thinking of owning that mysterious Capital Handsome Men Register, a thrill shot from her tailbone to the top of her head. She nearly floated. Fighting the grin stretching to her ears, she cleared her throat and forced a serious face: “Since you’re doing this for art, then… fine. I’ll try. But we make three rules. You can only look from far away. You must not make a sound. And you absolutely cannot be discovered.”
Seeing the act, Zhao Lv Liu hid a smile and, returning to her calm painter’s poise, nodded: “Of course. I’ll follow your arrangements, Third Miss.”