Back in the yard, Bai Yu'an took a brush and wrote hard as soon as he entered the room.
Seeing Bai Yu'an being so serious, A Tao thought he was writing again, so he walked over and said, "Today, I took Wei Ruyi to visit several houses on the street. Master, do you want to hear it?"
When Bai Yu'an heard this, he put down his pen, looked at A Tao and said, "Let me listen to you."
Wei Ruyi came over and poured a cup of tea for Bai Yu'an, then stood behind Bai Yu'an.
A Tao said: "There are three shops that look good today. The first one is the shop on Nanmen Street. That shop used to make ready-made clothes, and it cost nearly a hundred taels of silver to buy."
Bai Yu'an nodded: "That place is on the main street, so it is indeed more expensive."
A Tao then said: "The second shop is on Liuhe Street, next to the river. There are many people there at night. If you buy it, it only costs more than fifty taels of silver."
After A Tao finished speaking and seeing that Bai Yu'an had not spoken, he continued: "The third shop is in Pipa Lane. There are several red shops along the street. It is crowded and cheap. You can buy it for more than forty taels of silver."
Bai Yu'an thought for a while, Wei Ruyi opened a pastry shop, and the one in Pipa Alley was definitely not good. There were many restaurants there, and few people patronized the shop there.
Because Liuhe Street is next to the river, it is lively on weekdays with many boats passing by. At night, the willow trees on the side are filled with lanterns, making it look like daytime.
After thinking for a while, Bai Yu'an turned to look at Wei Ruyi and asked, "How is Liuhe Street?"
Wei Ruyi walked to Bai Yu'an and stood in front of him and said, "I think that's good too."
The matter was thus settled.
Bai Yu'an looked at A Tao: "How much money do we have?"
A Tao said: "Today Ruyi pawned the jewelry for three taels of silver, and I have less than ten taels left in total."
Bai Yu'an nodded and asked Wei Ruyi to go out first before asking A Tao: "Have I not sold my calligraphy and painting yet?"
After hearing this, A Tao sat in front of Bai Yu'an and whispered: "I think the master's calligraphy and painting are so beautiful. If you sell them to ordinary people who don't know how to appreciate them, won't you defile the master's paintings?"
Bai Yu'an looked at A Tao and wanted to laugh: "Who asked me to sell paintings before, and now I can't bear to do it anymore?"
A Tao said a little sadly: "Those people came here to beg the young master to buy it. At least they had a lot of money."
"But this time I took the young master's paintings to the art studio to sell them. The shopkeeper saw the young master's paintings and praised them all the time. But in the end, he only got less than a tael of silver for each painting."
A Tao was about to cry as she said this: "Young Master is the top student in high school. He stayed up late and stayed up for several days before painting one or two paintings. Isn't this a waste of things?"
Bai Yu'an smiled, took A Tao's hand and comforted him: "After all, I can still buy some money. The shopkeeper wants to do business, so he will naturally give you some money."
"But this is good. I will sort out the paintings I am not satisfied with on weekdays later. It is useless if I keep them. You can take them and see how much money you can get for them."
Bai Yu'an looked at A Tao and smiled: "I don't want to keep visiting two more painting studios this time, so I might as well exchange for some money."
After hearing Bai Yu'an's words, A Tao's face improved a little, and she added: "Next time, Master, don't sell your good paintings. The common people in the painting studio can't understand Master's paintings."
Bai Yu'an smiled helplessly. There were people out there who could paint much better than her. However, A Tao had only seen her paintings and was someone close to her, so he naturally felt that her paintings were good.
Bai Yu'an still knew how good he was. He knew that he was a little younger, that his writing skills were more than enough but not enough, and he was still two points short of the mark.
Without saying much, she went to take out the densely packed scrolls from the scroll vat next to her.
Bai Yu'an didn't have much hobbies on weekdays. In the past, he would copy some paintings of the previous dynasties in his spare time, and later he would often paint a few paintings inspired by his thoughts.
Often it takes just a few strokes and it becomes a painting. After a few glances, I feel that the artistic conception is not enough, so I put it aside.
A Tao stood next to Bai Yu'an and helped to choose. Every time he opened a pair, he couldn't help but sigh.
Bai Yu'an had no choice but to make a choice when Wei Ruyi came again and asked him to go out for dinner, so Bai Yu'an put the painting away.
After dinner, Bai Yu'an stood in the courtyard, looking at the green bamboos in the night, and couldn't help but think of the "Wind Bamboo Picture" by Xu Lu, a famous painter from the previous dynasty.
I thought that if I painted a picture based on that painting, I might be able to sell it for some money.
Bai Yu'an's memory has been good since she was a child. Even though she only saw the picture of wind and bamboo once, the details have already been remembered in her mind.
With this idea in mind, she walked into the house, thinking about copying one.
In the room, A Tao was packing up the paintings that Bai Yu'an had selected. When Bai Yu'an came in, he was about to get a pen. He couldn't help but said, "Master, please don't paint tonight."
Bai Yu'an went to spread the paper and said, "What if the shop is bought by someone else if we don't raise some money?"
A Tao didn't want Bai Yuan to be tired, so he said, "Just buy it. There is more than just that shop in the whole capital."
Bai Yu'an sighed and looked outside: "It's better to collect some money earlier to avoid any accidents in the middle."
At this time, Wei Ruyi came in and saw Bai Yu'an holding a pen, and came over to persuade him: "It hurts your eyes at night, please take a rest."
Wei Ruyi didn't know yet that Bai Yu'an was going to sell paintings, and Bai Yu'an also asked A Tao not to tell her.
Lest when Wei Ruyi finds out, she will cry again, make a fuss and refuse to go, and be persuaded again.
Bai Yu'an shook his head and said: "I'm just in a mood, you go back to sleep first, A Tao will stay with me."
Bai Yu'an almost didn't let Wei Ruyi accompany her at night. She was obedient and went out to boil the hot water before going to bed.
A Tao has been guarding Bai Yu'an. When he saw Bai Yu'an pursed her lips and concentrated on painting, she didn't dare to disturb her, so she just stood beside her and polished for her.
I don't know how long I had been painting, but A Tao couldn't hold on any longer, and then I saw Bai Yu'an finally put away the painting.
Bai Yu'an looked at the painting on the table and was somewhat satisfied with it. Besides, the original painting was not around, so it only looked like a seventy-seven or eighty-year-old painting, which could fool those who didn't understand.
I originally wanted to draw Xu Lu's seal on the side, but this seemed to be a deliberate imitation of a painting. I didn't want to do this, so I just left a blank space under the inscription.
After finishing the painting, Bai Yu'an realized that A Tao had been with her for so long, and hurriedly asked her to go to bed.
A Taoqiang cheered up and said, "I'm going to bring you some water to freshen up the young master."
Bai Yu'an was not that particular: "The water should be cold now. Go to sleep. I will sleep like this."
Seeing that Bai Yu'an actually fell asleep on the bed like this, A Tao sighed, pulled her and took off her clothes before letting her go.
Seeing Bai Yu'an sleeping on the pillow, A Tao sighed slightly, lowered the curtain and walked out.
