painter

Morning

The eastern sky was slowly dyed red by the rising sun, and smoke started rising across the city, as people heated water and cooked their meals.

Amidst the crowd of people going to and fro, a handsome young man in a faded green track suit made his was to the market square.

Achoo!——

Achoo!——

After sneezing twice, Garfield gnashed his teeth and cursed at a certain carriage driver.

He spent a long time out in the autumn wind yesterday searching for someone who fits his aesthetics and was "willing" to take him in.

Why did he not find a hotel?

Even if he could afford it, which he couldn't, he would need identification documents to register for a stay.

Identification documents are relatively easy to obtain, as the relevant regulations were not strict, and one can obtain identification documents as long as he or she has two hundred silver.

Before coming to Maple city, Garfield thought that he had various ways he could make money, since he had transmigrated to a relatively backward civilisation, he considered: inventing electricity, making phones, create the engine, creating guns etc.

It was only yesterday when he was carefully considering which path to persue, that he realized that he lacked the necessary technical knowledge to carry out these plans.

As for the the paths that he had the knowledge to pursue, they needed large amounts of initial investments.

Feeling the weight of the thirteen silver in his pocket, Garfield made his way to the nearest market street.

He was going to investigate the situation and see if there was any place he could use his modern knowledge to make money.

When he got to the market, he found that although the sun had just risen, it was very lively.

He bought himself two steamed buns and a cup of soy milk, cutting his savings by two silver.

In spite of the fact that his savings were dwindling, Garfield was not flustered, because for some reason, ever since he transmigrated, things almost always go smoothly for him, with yesterdays incident being the exemption.

As he walked around, he found that the society here, although backward, was very complete: food, entertainment, etc.

Since he couldn't find a void to fill, he decided to integrate himself into an existing business and use his knowledge to bring an edge to the field.

After walking around for half a day, he decided to settle on painting portraits of people.

In his previous life, Garfield was an art student, so he is very confident in his drawing and painting.

"Tsk, tsk, my painting style will definitely make portraits that are more life-like than this guy."

He commented in a low voice as he stood behind a street painter that was drawing a portrait of a family of three.

Glancing at the sky, he found that the sun was at the peak, so he did not linger any longer.

He went straight to the nearest "arts and craft" shop near him, and he bought some ink, paint, and a few painting brushes.

Even though he managed to bargain a good price out of the store owner, his pockets were empty when he left.

After finding an empty stall, he set up his set and wrote the dazzling price of 10 silver.

Other street painters charge a standard price of 4 silver, so Garfield directly doubled it and rounded it off for easier calculations.

His target group was wealthy people, and he felt that it was a price worth his art.

Not long after he set up his stall, some people came over, but they ran just as quickly as they appeared.

Garfield even vaguely heard someone cursing as a profiteer.

Even though he did not quickly get customers, Garfield did not panic, it was all within his expectation.

He was sure that sooner or later, someone with more money than they can spend will probably try his painting out of curiosity.

An hour later.

Garfield was starting to get anxious!

Right at that moment, a lady in a long black dress, followed by two girls that seemed like servants, came close to him.

"Oh, you draw portraits here?"

When she saw that he was doing portraits, she became interested in getting one for herself.

"Ma'am, this price is very black hearted, other painters charge less than half of his price!"

"He does not even have any paintings hanging to show his art style! He is definitely a fraudster!"

"If my lady wants her portrait done, I can take you to a relatively popular painter with excellent craftsmanship!"

The two servant girls reminded the lady gently.

How could Garfield just watch as the customer he got with difficulty get confused by two ignorant little girls?

Swoosh!——

An invisible halo that no one could see flashed by, followed by Garfield's dry voice.

"Beautiful lady, other people charge 4 silver because their art is worth that much, and I have my reasons for charging this much!"

"Oh? Are your paintings worth 10 silver then?"

The lady's interest instantly grew, and she proactively inquired.

"No, paintings are not worth 10 silver."

At this moment, a servant girl couldn't hold back and she directly scolded.

"Then why are you charging such a ludicrous price? Stop wasting our lady's time! If you aren't good, I might as well take her to the swan..."

She stopped mid sentence as she received a rebuking look from the lady, who was still under the influence of the protagonist's halo.

She offered Garfield a good matured smile, and apologized for her maid.

"I'm sorry about that, she is just very protective, please don't take it to heart."

"So, why do you charge ten silver then?"

She continued to inquire.

Ha!——

Garfield let out a pretentious sigh before answering.

"I am afraid I will scare off potential customers if I charge the real price in my heart!"

The lady immediately perked up.

"Then please make a portrait of me, then I will judge for myself wether your art is as good as you say it is."

...

To be continued