Yangon,
Gu's calligraphy and painting shop.
The weekend is another rest day without going to the Shwedagon Pagoda.
Gu Weijing opened the top drawer of his bedroom cabinet and poured all the red envelopes inside on the bed.
Today he contacted an orphanage to visit, and before going there he planned to prepare some gifts for the children there.
He was going to count all the New Year's money he had saved over the years.
Like most Asian places influenced by the Chinese cultural circle, Yangon also has plans to give lucky money to children in the New Year.
And the red envelope is not one but two.
The first red envelope was given out on New Year's Eve and was a normal red envelope.
The second one was on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year. He went to a neighborhood merchant on the same street as Gu's calligraphy and painting shop that had just reopened after the Chinese New Year to pay New Year greetings. He said some auspicious words and usually gave a small gold coin to the child in a red envelope. Guys, this red envelope is called a good start.
Each store will prepare it.
Correspondingly, my grandfather will also buy some small gold coins for other neighbor children.
Myanmar people like gold. These gold coins weigh about half a gram or one gram. They are not very valuable, but they are just for luck.
Many children will spend their new year's money that year.
Gu Weijing has had low materialistic desires since he was a child and has little money to spend.
Over the years, I have saved a lot of gold coins or small jewelry, and this time I plan to take them to a gold shop outside to sell them for money.
The calligraphy and painting shop is a duplex structure, with a shop in front and a home in the back, with a total of three floors.
When Gu Weijing went downstairs, he happened to hear voices coming from the conference living room.
"I heard that someone gave Gu Weijing a set of painting tools, which are very expensive."
This is my uncle's voice.
Although he was born into a family of calligraphers and painters, his uncle's painting skills were average.
After graduating from high school, he followed his father Gu Tongxiang to run a calligraphy and painting shop. Now he is considered the second boss of the calligraphy and painting shop, responsible for the acquisition of calligraphy and painting and some regular entertainment.
During the Spring Festival, my uncle and aunt took their cousin back to my wife's natal home, and they just came back a few days ago.
"Send it to Gu Weijing? Oh, no matter how expensive it is, it depends on our dad's reputation in Myanmar. Otherwise, who would give a paintbrush to such a young child. And how expensive can an oil paintbrush be?"
The aunt's tone was full of gossip.
She also serves as the store's accountant, responsible for managing the finances, and is naturally sensitive to numbers.
His ears perked up when he heard that someone gave his nephew an expensive gift.
The uncle said nothing and seemed to just make gestures.
"Two? Two hundred thousand kyats? This is really a lot of money. There is no need for a child to use such a good paintbrush."
A general oil painting brush set for beginners costs about 8,900 to 10,000 kyats, and 200,000 kyats is about 100 US dollars. This is already a very good brush. It is equivalent to a month’s salary of an ordinary worker in Yangon.
"It's 20,000."
The uncle was silent for a moment: "But the unit is US dollars."
"Twenty thousand dollars!"
Gu Weijing heard his aunt exclaim in low voice.
"That's a Lukes master suit, which is equivalent to Hermès, and it has to be high-end. The $20,000 is just the selling price, and ordinary people can't buy it. If you sell it outside, it's estimated to cost upwards of $50,000."
Fifty thousand U.S. dollars. My aunt quickly converted it in her mind. Even according to the official exchange rate, the amount was hundreds of millions of kyats.
"That's crazy. This is as big as a small car. What's our dad's plan?"
"The old man didn't say anything else, he just said it was Gu Weijing's thing."
The uncle shook his head. When he first learned the news, he was no less surprised than his wife.
Oil painting equipment worth US$20,000 was a luxury item I had only heard about online.
"The old man doesn't really want to give this set of painting tools to a child, does he? That's tens of thousands, tens of thousands of dollars! The economic environment has been so bad in recent years. Tell the old man that it's better to sell it to support the family..."
Dong Dong...
Gu Weijing felt a little embarrassed if he listened any further.
He knocked lightly on the door of the main living room and pushed it open.
The living room suddenly became quiet.
"Good morning, I have to go out."
Gu Weijing pretended not to hear anything, and nodded towards his cousin who was sitting on the sofa holding a mobile phone.
My uncle and aunt have a daughter named Gu Lin.
She is seven months older than him and is in the same grade as him in the same school.
It is difficult to get ahead by learning to paint, and the aunt does not want her daughter to continue on the path of art.
So the other person was in an ordinary class, had an out-of-the-box personality, was slightly chubby, and had average academic performance.
During the Chinese New Year a few days ago, the other party went back to her parents' home with her uncle and aunt. Now the holiday is halfway over, and she has just returned in the past two days.
Gu Weijing saw on the coffee table the set of Lukes' master painting tools that Lao Yang gave him. The black walnut painting box was opened, revealing the messy paintbrushes and the opened lapis lazuli paint box inside.
Lapis lazuli is a relatively expensive gemstone pigment. The Lukes gift box contains a master pigment set and a small plate of various mineral pigments.
Among them are 150 grams of white pearl powder, 5 square meters of gold foil, and 30 grams of lapis lazuli powder.
These valuable items are only used when painting special types of paintings.
For example, lapis lazuli powder is the main ingredient in ultramarine blue pigment.
Italian painter Gennino Gennini commented on ultramarine blue in his book "Art" - "a noble color, unparalleled in beauty, and the most perfect pigment in the world."
Even in the splendid and affordable medieval cathedrals, some lapis lazuli was only used when painting the statues of Madonnas or angels.
Its international market price is US$2,500 per ounce, which is higher than the price of gold.
Cousin Gu Lin held up his new iPhone for the New Year next to the black walnut box, and seemed to be filming TikTok.
Douyin is very well-known internationally, and is even as good as YouTube.
Many people are aware of Tiktok’s lawsuit in the United States, but in fact, even children in the Middle East are now beginning to use Tiktok as a tool to understand the world.
My cousin also has a Douyin account called [Little Princess in Yangon Gallery].
The daily content is to show off some expensive paintings and calligraphy in the gallery.
It is still relatively rare in Myanmar galleries, and her account also has three to four thousand fans.
It seems that his master suit has become a new toy for his cousin to show off.
The aunt pretended not to see anything, and Gu Weijing also pretended not to see anything, which made the uncle a little embarrassed.
"Uh, that..."
The uncle opened his mouth. He knew that Gu Weijing might have heard the conversation in the living room and wanted to say something.
"Just don't break it."
Gu Weijing waved his hand.
"Okay, Xiao Lin, stop taking pictures. That's not your thing. Keep it for your brother." The uncle frowned and looked at his daughter.
"What are you doing? Just shoot a few short videos. Why do you talk so much?"
The cousin was a little impatient with her father's discipline: "Look at Mona in our class. Her family owns a jewelry store and she has more than 30,000 fans."
"It's the Chinese New Year. Why are you so mean to your children? We are all a family, why can't you be more generous?"
The aunt looked at her husband, somewhat displeased with his fierce tone.
"Xiao Lin is just taking a video, and he won't take out a hair on the brush."
Gu Weijing knew that these words were actually meant for him.
His aunt may not have any bad intentions, but she is just a philistine and a bit shrewd.
After all, he was the elder, so it was hard for Gu Weijing to say anything.
When he was young, he knew that his aunt thought his grandfather Gu Tongxiang was partial and made it clear that he wanted to keep the most valuable calligraphy and painting shop in the family for himself.
In recent years, I have also preferred myself, who inherited the family's painting skills, to my cousin.
So I have some opinions about his nephew.
but……
well……
It can only be said that every family has its own scriptures that are difficult to recite.
In fact, from the bottom of Gu Weijing's heart, he really didn't mind selling this master suit.
He felt that he wouldn't be able to use such good paint for a long time.
Even a conservative estimate of US$30,000 is enough to upgrade several of his skills to professional levels.
It is also appropriate to spend some money to subsidize some household expenses. For well-known reasons, the number of tourists has been decreasing in the past two years, and business has not been that easy.
From her perspective, her aunt's plan was naturally for the sake of her family.
But after all, this set of painting tools was a gift given to him by Lao Yang as a sign of goodwill.
Someone gives you something on the front foot, and then it appears on the online market.
There is no such thing as borrowing flowers to offer to Buddha. What would Lao Yang think after seeing it?
Or maybe the master's assistant doesn't care at all.
But Gu Weijing can't be like this.
Gu Weijing shook his head, booked a UBer taxi on his mobile phone, and picked up his coat.
"Shh, have you seen the plastic box in my hand? It's full of gold coins. I guess it was given to me secretly by the old man when we were away from home during the Chinese New Year this year. Your daughter doesn't have it. The old man is too partial."
"I told you that when you are young and don't make money for the family, but the old man gives you so much money, this is pampering. You don't know what he will do with it. People are taught bad things, otherwise there wouldn't be such gangsters before. Come to your door..."
When Gu Weijing left the reception room, he still heard his aunt's murmuring, which was kept low but deliberately meant for him to hear.
He didn't turn around to explain. It was useless to explain this kind of thing. He could only sigh softly.
