Outsider: The Fifth Young Master of the Kang Family

Chapter 93 Chinese Painting
"Dear students, have you finished the homework I assigned to you yesterday?"

Kang Qirui had nothing to do that day, so he stayed at home and attended the course at the senior activity center. After the teacher asked questions, everyone said they had finished their homework. Mrs. Zhu was particularly enthusiastic and was the first to say that she would read her homework aloud in front of everyone.

"Pearl bird's nest stewed with red dates can nourish the skin and prevent aging. Add three slices of ginger to the stew and it can also prevent colds." But that's just the level. Everyone laughed. "What are you laughing at? What are you laughing at? Poems must be rhymed. Teacher Liu, my poem must be rhymed, right?"

"Rhyme means rhyme, but." Before Teacher Liu could even finish the word "but", Mrs. Zhu cheered loudly, "Did you hear that? Did you hear that? Teacher Liu praised me for my rhyme."

The nanny didn't indulge her, she stood up and said, "Do you call that rhyme? I think you look like someone selling soup in a commercial. Listen to mine, mine rhymes." The nanny put on her reading glasses, took out a manuscript and read, "The whole family went up the mountain to plant pumpkins, and the daughter-in-law was like a flower, and went home after eating the pumpkins. Only I am good."

"Aunt Kang, what does haokeba mean?" asked Uncle Liang.

"You don't even know what haokeba means? In Mandarin, it's called lianbaba." The maid spread her hands and said, "Everyone has gone home, leaving me all alone. What do you think of haokeba?"

Liang Bo thought that this was just a forced combination, so he stood up and said, "Listen to my poem, what else do you think counts?"

"The sun rises and becomes red, shining brightly on the earth, the river is full of red, the flowers are red and green, the whole Guangzhou is red." After reading it, Liang Bo looked around the audience proudly, "Isn't it a good poem?"

"Ah Liang, you call this a poem? I keep hearing it all red, red, red." Mrs. Zhu stood up and criticized Uncle Liang, not forgetting to drag Kang Qirui into the water, "Ah Rui, you must have written poems in your daily life, right? Read a couple of them to open their eyes."

Kang Qirui was very helpless when he was called out. He was usually very low-key. He really couldn't understand what was going on with Mrs. Zhu's strange desire to win. Wasn't it just an assignment for an interest class? He waved his hand and said, "I don't study poetry much, and I haven't written any yet. Well, I'm going to the bathroom, you guys continue."

When Kang Qirui went to the dining room after urinating, he saw his father practicing calligraphy at the invitation of his teacher. He couldn't help but shake his head and thought: "My father is really an arrogant old man, who is so obsessed with face that he suffers in his life." He went back to his room to take a nap.

When he woke up, the elderly people in the activity center had already left, and the old man was alone in the dining room admiring his own calligraphy. When the old man saw Kang Qirui, he asked, "A Rui, come here, let me ask you, which of these two calligraphy pieces is better?"

"Why are you asking me this?" Kang Qirui asked.

"Let me explain it to you clearly." Lao Dou said with a smile: "One is written by the teacher, and the other is written by me. Take a closer look and decide which is better, the left one or the right one."

It turned out that he wanted to brag that his handwriting was better than the teacher's. Kang Qirui said tentatively: "If you ask me, the one on the left..."

"What?" The old man's tone changed.

Kang Qirui understood what was going on, and heard him say, "I haven't finished speaking yet, why are you so anxious? What I mean is that the painting on the left is indeed well done, but you can only see the shape but not the meaning. The painting on the right is much more artistic and majestic. So the one on the right is better."

After hearing this, the old man was very satisfied and laughed. He also said modestly: "How can you say it so well?"

Kang Qirui continued to coax his father, "The one on the right should be written by our teacher. He is indeed a master of calligraphy, with great skills." His father laughed even louder, and said proudly, "Then you are wrong, the one on the right was written by me."

The second brother, who had just returned, heard the old man's laughter at the door, walked into the dining room and asked curiously: "What's the matter? Why are you laughing so happily?"

The old man repeated the same question he had asked Kang Qirui, but the second brother was not so conspicuous. He actually said that the one on the left was better, and was severely reprimanded by the old man. "If you had told me earlier which one you drew, I would have done it." The second brother said unconvinced.

After practicing calligraphy for two days, Lao Dou felt that his teacher's calligraphy was not as good as his, so he changed to learning Chinese painting. He heard from somewhere that a Chinese painting would not be complete without a seal of his own, so he asked Liang Bo to carve a seal for him with the word "頔雅斋". At first, Liang Bo was reluctant because he could not find the word "頔" in the Xinhua Dictionary, but Lao Dou firmly believed that words that could not be found in the Xinhua Dictionary showed profound knowledge, so he must carve this one. In the end, it was Liang Bo's son who found the word in the Kangxi Dictionary before Liang Bo agreed to carve it.

When everyone got home from get off work in the evening, they saw that the entire dining room had become an exhibition of paintings by the old man. The walls were covered with paintings that the old man had painted in the past two days. The second sister-in-law saw a very interesting painting and asked, "What is this?"

"Roast goose, idiot." Er Lao said with certainty after taking a look. But Kang Qirui looked left and right and it looked like a fat and dwarfed horse.

When everyone was looking at the paintings, my father came out of the room and said, "How is it? Everyone has seen my paintings, right?" He had an expression that seemed to be asking for praise.

"It's great." The second sister-in-law said approvingly.

"That's really great. I didn't expect that you not only have beautiful handwriting, but you can also draw better than others." In comparison, the second brother's support was much more attentive.

The satisfied old man took a painting and handed it to the second brother, saying, "A Zong, I'm going to give this painting to you now." The second brother and his wife were so scared that they quickly waved their hands to refuse, but the old man insisted, "Hang this painting in your room and look at it when you have nothing to do. This way you will look cultured. Otherwise, you will look like a migrant worker when you go out, with no temperament."

Kang Qirui, who was watching the show nearby, could not escape either. He was also given a painting by his father and asked to hang it in his room. After dinner and watching TV in the evening, when everyone went back to their rooms to sleep, Kang Qirui found that A Yao was frowning and had no intention of going back to sleep. He thought A Yao was missing his wife. He said apologetically: "Third brother, are you missing your third sister-in-law? I'm sorry, because she has to travel frequently for company matters." After hearing this, the second brother also stayed. After all, he also had a share in the company. If this caused discord between the third brother and his wife, it would be a serious crime.

A Yao waved his hands and denied, "You think too much. Sachiko worked hard on her own, she's a strong woman." Then he said in annoyance, "Actually it's because our director's daughter is getting married tomorrow, and I don't know what to give her."

"Can't you just give him a red envelope?" Kang Qirui didn't understand what A Yao was worried about.

"Of course not. The adults won't dare to accept the red envelopes, and the children will be unhappy if they receive them." A Yao explained.

The second brother patted his thigh and shook his head, "Tsk, is that all? How simple it is, just give a famous calligraphy or painting as a present. The leader will definitely like it, and it's also decent, and you don't have to worry about what others say."

"You think I haven't thought about it?" A Yao frowned. "I went to Wende Road to check it out. The cheapest one costs more than a thousand yuan, which is half a month's salary for me."

"Does our Kang family still need to spend money to buy famous calligraphy and paintings nowadays?" The second brother yelled at A Yao, "Why don't you just get a painting from Di Ya Zhai and send it over?"

A Yao looked towards his father's room, then whispered, "Father's calligraphy and paintings? You thought of that, but how can you give it away?"

The second brother disagreed. He said, "You are stupid, but who really understands calligraphy and painting? It all depends on whether the painter is famous or not. You will keep bragging about how great Di Ya Zhai is, but who knows he is your father?"

It must be said that what Er Lao said does make sense. He continued, "I remembered, how about taking the one in our room? It has flowers and plants, suitable for weddings." Er Lao was about to go into the room to give it to A Yao, but A Yao quickly stopped him, "Er Lao, stop playing."

"Third brother, if you don't like the painting in the second brother's room, I can give you the one in my room. It's a big fat baby, which is more suitable for weddings." Kang Qirui took the opportunity to say with a smile. His father specially painted a picture of a baby for him and placed it in the room.

"What's the matter?" The old man came out of the room and said dissatisfiedly, "What time is it? Why don't you go to bed in your room? Yumi will have to sleep on the sofa later. Don't bother others if you don't sleep yourself."

"Dad, this is what's going on. We were talking about A Yao's boss whose daughter is getting married tomorrow, and A Yao can't think of what to give as a gift. So I gave him a suggestion. Give the calligraphy and painting that you gave me for my room as a gift to his boss. It's generous, appropriate, and has commemorative value." The second brother said it directly, and A Yao wanted to stop him but failed.

The old man thought about it seriously and shook his head, "No."

When A Yao heard what his father said, he immediately smiled, "Did you hear that? My father said no."

"Why not?" Kang Qirui asked doubtfully. Did his father also realize that his calligraphy and painting skills were just average?
The old man said excitedly, "I mean the painting in A Zong's room is not good. I framed another one today and that one is good enough. Wait a minute." The old man went back to his room, and A Yao glared at the second brother.

"This one, this one with two melons on one stem is fine." The elder brother took out the painting and showed it to the three brothers. "Old brother, it doesn't seem right to give melons as a gift for someone's wedding." A Yao wanted to refuse, but the second elder brother nodded.

"Why not? Melons bring more fruits and more blessings." My father thought it was good. "Hair grows white until eyebrows, and we grow old together. Qi Baishi painted shrimps, Xu Beihong painted horses, and I, Kang Ershou, paint pumpkins."

After hearing this, the second brother clapped his hands to show his support for his father, "Great, great, it's a good omen. I heard from others that pumpkin can cure diabetes."

"Take it, and remember to bring it to your boss tomorrow." The old man handed it to A Yao, who took it reluctantly and went back to his room with a bitter face. Kang Qirui said something to the old man and went back to his room.

As soon as he entered the room, he opened the bookcase and looked for something. Zhu Wanling, who had not yet slept, asked, "What are you looking for?" Then she got up and helped to look for it. Kang Qirui quickly said, "It's okay, you go to sleep, I'll look for the painting I drew before."

Kang Qirui can draw. As mentioned before, his calligraphy is very good. In recent years, the spring couplets of Kang's family have been written by him. Calligraphy and painting are inseparable. A good calligrapher can write good calligraphy and paint a good painting. Calligraphy and Chinese painting, as two important representatives of Chinese culture and art, fully embody the core aesthetic elements of Chinese art. Therefore, the two have something in common in terms of penmanship, artistic conception, inner emotions and other aspects.

Kang Qirui found a painting of lotus and mandarin ducks he had drawn before, and took out a brush and ink to write a poem on it: "Ten miles of flat lake, frost fills the sky, every inch of black hair worries about the prime of life. Facing the moon, I look at each other alone, I only envy the mandarin ducks, not the immortals." He stamped his own seal, Phoenix Pavilion Master, which is Kang Qirui's name, taken from the meaning of the phoenix's rebirth, implying that he is a reborn person. However, in the interpretation of outsiders, it means to make a big splash and soar to the sky.

Kang Qirui knocked on Ayao's door. Ayao opened the door and asked, "Arui, what's wrong?" Kang Qirui handed over his painting and said, "This is a painting of lotus and mandarin ducks that I drew. If you don't want to give it to your father, you can take this one." Seeing Ayao's strange expression, he emphasized, "Don't worry, I won't embarrass you."

A Yao took it and unfolded it, his eyes lit up. Although he didn't understand it very well, he was afraid of comparison. Compared with the one his father had seen, it was much better, and it was about the same level as the ones he saw on Wende Road that cost several thousand yuan. He praised: "Great, I didn't expect that A Rui, you are also good at painting."

"Of course. Don't you see who it is?" Kang Qirui was indeed not bragging. He learned painting from Lu Jingqu, his master's master was Yu Haitang, a master of calligraphy and Chinese painting, and his great master's master was Zhao Hao, who was known as a "rich painter" and was a professor of Chinese painting at Shuangyashan University. He could be said to be from a famous family and naturally had the qualifications to brag.

(End of this chapter)