42 4.4

There was a very important festival in the beginning of the summer for the Wei Country called the Painted Lantern Festival.

When the night of the Painted Lantern Festival arrived, every family would carry a painted lantern out to partake in the festivities. All the shops on every street of the city would hang countless, beautiful painted lanterns for everyone to view.

Dignitaries would take boat rides around the lake. There would be many merchants on the lake with lanterns on their boats for the people to admire. The ones who sat on the boat rides would discuss or make comments about which lantern was better and which had the better art.

If the merchant's lantern became the focus of the year's Painted Lantern Festival, then their shops would have better business throughout the rest of the year. For this reason, merchants would put forth a lot of effort when they participated in the lantern festival. Some merchants even spend a lot of money in order to invite famous painters to paint on their lanterns. Therefore, a competitive nature had grown among the merchants' side of lanterns.

Since the court was currently divided into two political groups, the Xiao family and Prince Yong An's side, the lake was also very clearly divided.

The Xiao family's side had mostly generals and high ranking military members while Prince Yong An's side had mostly scholars and erudites. There had been several instances when members of both sides fought or argued because of disagreements. In fact, the scholars had used their words and gained the upper hand in their disputes, but were quickly beaten up by the generals. Because something fairly big had just happened, people from both sides tried to avoid each other a most as possible.

After the last rays of the end disappeared, night finally arrived. The lights from the merchants' boats were all lit up, and all the dignitaries' boats set off from the shore. Almost instantaneously, the lake that was drenched in darkness became almost as bright as the day's sky. The lanterns all twinkled like stars in the sky. It was all breathtaking.

Among all the boats on the lake, the biggest and liveliest boats were of course from the Xiao family and Prince Yong An. The top families' younger generations were sitting side by side as they drank fine wines, ate the culinary delicacies, and chatted. They would occasionally stop to comment on a passing boat if it had a good or interesting lantern.

On the merchants' side of boats, Chen Jingrui's businesses had produced the most innovative and unique painted lantern in recent years. They very easily became the focus of the Painted Lantern Festival's discussions.

In his previous life, Cheng Jingrui was a student at the University for Fine Arts. After he transmigrated, Cheng Jingrui painted several good paintings in order to show off his intelligence and wisdom. It was very rare for such young of a child to be able to draw such works. The Marquis of Guangde also wanted him to follow a famous teacher so that he could improve his talents in painting. This was only because even though the great Wei Country had great literary books, painting abilities were preferred over writing.

However, after those famous painters saw Cheng Jingrui's paintings, they all said same thing. His paintings lacked the artistic mood or a creative concept and that he wasn't suitable to learn orthodox color ink painting.

The Marquis of Guangde had thought, at that time, that it was already good enough that a child to was able to paint such great pictures. What artistic mood do you still want?  Creative concept or whatever… Didn't you just have a lot of paintings? However, Governor Cheng Su didn't dare rashly offend those famous painters. Since the master painters didn't accept them, he could only leave dejected.

Cheng Jingrui didn't feel much reluctance or loss over those famous painters' rejection to him. He thought that those so called orthodox ink paintings were just boring, rigid landscape paintings. There wasn't anything novel about it. If you had seen them once,  then you'd have seen them all. With his modern thinking and knowledge, he was able to create a new style of painting in this ancient world.

Last year, Cheng Jingrui's store that focused on children's paintings. In fact, those so called children's paintings were character and animals drawn in Q version*. Those cute and lovely paintings were very attractive. In addition, the lanterns created by his shop each year were very novel. Not only did the commoners like them, but the nobles and dignitaries also thought they were very interesting.

This year, Cheng Jingrui's shop produced a 3-D painting. They made the lantern into the shape of an object and then painted a three-dimensional painting. It was both beautiful and interesting, so it attracted many boat goers to gather and watch.

Cheng Jingrui saw the constant praise and admiration from the crowd. One couldn't tell just how proud he felt inwardly. He still had to pretend to be gentle and indifferent to the public. It seemed as though he had only drawn it up in passing, but in all reality, he had been busy in his private life for more than a month in order to prepare these paintings with such a result.

"Look! Look, what's over there?" Someone suddenly shouted.

All the lantern boats were basically in a row. Even if the lantern boats were scattered around, they weren't that far apart so that boats that cruised by could admire the lanterns easily.

However, a further into the distance, there wasn't a place for lantern boats or passenger boats at that moment. A scenery of a mountain and river could be suddenly seen. It was like the sun had risen over the dark lake. What was even more amazing was that the mountains and rivers were moving.

Everyone in Luo city knew there was no such mountain or river there during the day. Even if they looked to the other side of the lake, there was only a forest of willows over there.

"What is that? It can't be that the heaven's paradise flipped upside down, could it?" Someone said in amazement.

"I don't know. Hurry up and go see. Quickly row the boat over there."

"We'll go and see too. Quickly, faster. Have the boatman change directions."

Many boats headed over there. Of course the Xiao family's boat and Prince Yong An's boat could see the strange scene over there too. Other boats didn't dare to rush out in front of them, so they could only follow closely behind and try to grab the next best viewing spot.

When the boats got closer and closer to the landscape, they heard the sound of a guqin playing in the distance. The scenery before them also became clearer and clearer. Even more surprising than before, the scenery had actually changed into the four seasons, one by one. The guqin player followed along with the images' themes. The music gave them a sense of immersion, and they were entranced.

Cheng Jingrui stood by Prince Yong An's side and looked at the dynamic picture. It was too much like a modern movie. He couldn't help but frown. Who the hell is that? Who can accomplish this sort of thing to level that we can in modern society?

When all the boats finally arrived to the front of the images, they could see the true nature of the scenery. It turned out that the two story lantern boat was hung with a rotating glass lamp. The scenery they saw was the painting on the glass lamp.

Even though they were able to see the true nature of the show, they couldn't help but admire it. This was because not only were these glass lamps difficult to make them rotate in sync but it was also a never-done-before feat for someone to paint on a glass lamp like this.

When the sound of the guqin stopped, a well-dressed, tall, and thin man exited the boat and stood at its bow. He saluted Prince Yong An and Xiao Qianan, "Greetings to the Prince. Greeting, General Xiao."

"So it actually turns out to be boss Hu's lantern boat. Ben Wang* had just mentioned that your lantern boat was missing. It turns out that you kept such a magnificent lantern at hand. It seems that the best lantern boat of the year will be under your banner." With so many lantern boats on the lake, it was impossible for Prince Yong An to see or remember every single family he had seen. However, he had always been good at sweet talk and saying the things that people wanted to hear.

"The prince flatters me." Boss Hu said modestly.

"The painting on your glass lamp is very exquisite. However, I don't seem to know which artist you've commissioned to paint it." Prince Yong An asked the question that everyone else had wanted. It had to have been a very famous artist to be able to paint such an artistic landscape. Everyone already had guesses in their hearts.

"The painter is on currently on the boat. He also played the song that you all listened to just now." Boss Hu replied.

"Oh? Why don't you invite him out for us to meet with him." Prince Yong An said with great interest.

"Prince, please wait a moment. I will invite him out." Boss Hu turned around and went back into the ship after he finished talking.

Prince Yong An and General Xiao were present, but the person didn't take the initiative to greet them. Furthermore, the person had to be invited out. In other people's minds, they reasoned that this person should be a well seasoned and very high profile artist.

When everyone saw a young man exit the boat, they were all stunned. They looked behind him, but no one else came out.

The first person to recognize Qiao Chen was Xiao Qinan. He was originally standing on the boat when he happened to look over at hustle and bustle. When he saw that it was Qiao Chen who came out, he immediately glued his eyes onto Qiao Chen's silhouette.

The second person who recognized Qiao Chen was Cheng Jingrui. When he realized it was Qiao Chen, he was inwardly very shocked. He never expected that the artist would be Qiao Chen.

Qiao Chen wore a white robe that was as white as the moon. There were silver mystic cloud patterns embroidered on the edges of his sleeves and along the hems. When the wind blew across the lake, it caused Qiao Chen's clothes to flutter with an almost immortal air.

"Greetings to General Xiao. Greetings to Prince Yong An." Qiao Chen cupped his hands together and saluted.

When Prince Yong An saw Qiao Chen's outstanding appearance and immortal-like temperament, his heart couldn't help but skip a beat. His gaze was stuck on Qiao Chen's face for a while before he asked, "You are?"

"Prince, this is my eldest brother." Cheng Jingrui, who had been standing next to Prince Yong An, immediately chimed in. He felt that even though Qiao Chen had stolen the spotlight, he still couldn't let him hog it all to himself.

"Oh?" Prince Yong An smile and said. "It turned out that he is Jingrui's eldest brother. No wonder he has such an extraordinary air."

The people on Prince Yong An's ship were all the same.

Qiao Chen inwardly sneered because of all their reactions. His outer facial expression was flat, and he didn't pay any attention to them. Instead, he looked at his dear Xiao Qinan, who had been staring at him with a burning gaze.

When the two's eyes met, Xiao Qinan saw a smile glitter in Qiao Chen's eyes. So his heart couldn't help but bubble up in joy.

Boss Hu ordered the ship's servants to set up a writing desk at the ship's deck. Then he had then place ink, paper, and a brush on the desk. Boss Hu was holding a glass lamp in his hand and said, "This is our glass shop's new glass lamp. Not only could it be used for lighting, but it could also be used for your viewing. Why don't we ask young master Cheng to show you how to make the painting move?"

What kind of business has new technology but doesn't hide it? Since Boss Hu actually took the initiative to show it off, of course he'd get a resounding yes.

When Qiao Chen began to draw, the people stood on the boats confused. This was because Qiao Chen was not painting on the glass lamp, nor was he painting on paper. It looked like he was painting directly onto the writing desk since they didn't see any paper on the desk.

Sometimes Qiao Chen would use the brush to deposit the ink. Then, from time to time, he'd wave the brush in his fingers very quickly. And even though the audience couldn't see what was being painted, Qiao Chen's free-flowing movements were enough for them to enjoy the demonstration.

After Qiao Chen put down his brush, he picked up a sheet of paper that was thin as cicada's wing from the desk. Exclamations of awe and wonder clamored from the crowd watching. They realized why they didn't see the paper just now. It was so dark and they stood so far away, so they couldn't see the extremely thin paper on the table at all. However, they were even more surprised that Qiao Chen could paint on such a thin piece of paper without breaking it.

Qiao Chen carefully rolled the painted paper into the inner walls of the glass lamp. The paper was almost a meter long. After he put all the paper into the glass lamp, Boss Hu himself lit the candle inside the central cylinder. Finally, Qiao Chen turned the lamp by hand and lifted it up high.

Everyone saw a horse running on the lamp and the scenery was moving.

"Wonderful! That's just too wonderful!" Prince Yong An clapped his hands and exclaimed.

Initially, Cheng Jingrui was just upset because Qiao Chen was in the limelight. When he noticed that Prince Yong An looked at Qiao Chen somewhat differently than normal, he erupted. Anger and jealousy reared their ugly heads up, and he almost broke the folded fan in his hands.

Boss Hu immediately came forward introduced, "You can freely change the paintings in this glass lamp. You can put your own paintings in it, or you can commission one of your favorite paintings and insert it into the glass lamp too. Even though it's better to use thinner paper for a better result, it is still possible for you to use paintings on thick paper. From tomorrow on, the shop will begin to sell these glass lamps. Furthermore, young master Cheng's paintings and glass lamps will be on display as the shop's crowning jewel. Everyone is welcome to come and see."

"Ben Wang will order one hundred glass lamps from you first. How about you first give the horse glass lamp that young master Cheng just painted to Ben Wang?" Prince Yong An offered.

"I'll two hundred lamps if give me that horse lamp instead." Xiao Qinan looked at Qiao Chen and said.

Prince Yong An looked at Xiao Qinan, "Are you challenging Ben Wang, General Xiao?"

Xiao Qinan sneered and looked right back at him. The expression on his face seemed to say, isn't it obvious?

Xiao Qinan and Prince Yong An weren't only rivals in the court, but they also had quite different personalities. However, they did have one common hobby. That hobby was that they both liked good horses and horse related paintings.

This wasn't the first time that the two quarreled in the public eye. It usually ended in a win and a loss. The crowd already had the hunch that the two men would be fighting again tonight.

"Boss Hu, who would you like to give this lamp to?" Prince Yong An pushed his anger down and asked Boss Hu.

"Uuuhh..." He couldn't afford to offend either side. Isn't this a big problem for him? Boss Hu felt that the situation was too difficult to handle and looked at Qiao Chen in hopes that he had a plan that could help him out.

Qiao Chen met Boss Hu through Zhang Hong. Then he taught Boss Hu how to make a rotatable glass lamp. Qiao Chen also claimed fifty percent of the profits from this transactions. He also stipulated that Boss Hu couldn't disclose that the information and method of the rotating glass lamps came from him. He had to say that he just commissioned him to paint the pictures.

After a period of contact, Boss Hu also saw that Qiao Chen was a man of great wisdom. He thought that Qiao Chen would definitely have a solution.

Qiao Chen said, "Why do you two need to argue? I can paint another one."

Boss Hu used his sleeve to wipe the sweat off his forehead. He was too nervous that he forgot such an easy solution to solve the problem.

Qiao Chen immediately painted a picture of a running horse and asked Boss Hu's servants to send them to Xiao Qinan's and Prince Yong An's boats.

People from both sides of the boats were surrounding the glass lamps and watching. It was still interesting to watch the lamps even at such a close distance. Qiao Chen's painting was especially interesting. It was really amazing. Not only was it beautiful, but it was also very realistic.

Qiao Chen smiled at Xiao Qinan who was still looking at him. Then he returned back inside the boat.

On Yong An's ship, everyone was looking at the lamp. Cheng Jingrui was the only one who stood in the corner with a gloomy face, but no one noticed.

Prince Yong An looked at the glass lamp in his hands for a while. Then he turned around and looked at the glass lamp that hung on Boss Hu's boat. He thought that it would be nice if he could also bring it back to the palace and hang it up there. However, he also figured that since the Cheng family belonged to his faction, then he could have Qiao Chen paint as many paintings as he wanted in the future. He no longer dwelled on Boss Hu's glass lamps any further.