CH 83.2

No Money (2)

Carefully unfolding the painting Ruan Qingmu brought, he looked at it for a moment. “Hmm.”

“What is the meaning of ‘hmm’?” Ruan Qingmu tilted his head to look at him.

The old man raised his eyebrows. “‘Hmm’ means it’s not bad. If you drew it, it’s already good at your age and level.”

Ruan Qingmu smiled. “How did you know I was the one who drew it?”

The old man reservedly put his hand behind his back and nodded at the picture. “The five-flowered horse and the thousand-gold fur* is painted with youthful ambition. Your painting technique won’t have the same spirit and vigor ever again after you’ve passed that age and become old, understand?”

*T/N: 五花马，千金裘: a line in the famous Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai’s ‘General Wine.’ The original line is “The five-flowered horse and the thousand-gold fur are to be exchanged for wine, to be shared with you for the rest of time.”

This concept could be found in calligraphy, painting, and poetry. A young man’s unbridled expression of his feelings could hardly be the same when he grows older.

Ruan Qingmu pondered. “I don’t understand. I’ve never been old.”

He had died at a young age in his previous life, so how could he ever know what it meant to be old, lonely, and depressed?

The old man’s gaze was fixed on the picture as if he was mesmerized by it.

After looking at it for a while, he turned his head to look at Ruan Qingmu again and suddenly moved in closer, staring straight at Ruan Qingmu’s eyebrows.

Ruan Qingmu stood still and let him look at him for some time before asking indifferently, “Uncle, is there an ink spot on my face?”

The old man’s brows furrowed. “You kid, has anyone read your fortune before?”

“No. Why? Can you do it?”

The old man hesitated. “Give your birth date to me. Since I don’t have anything to do, I’ll read your fortune for you.”

Ruan Qingmu raised his eyebrows and gave this original body’s birthday and hour.

The old man took out his phone and found the lunar day corresponding to his birthday on the calendar software, his fingers moving quickly and faintly. After clicking a few times, he carefully examined his face, looking odd and slightly bewildered.

“What a messy fate is this, ah…” He muttered, “The five elements are dead with absolute astrology. It looks like there’s a one hundred percent chance the soul will return and that you’re borrowing the qi fate. It should’ve been inauspicious without a qi, but you could survive with a unique stroke of luck. But the countenance just doesn’t match…”

Ruan Qingmu listened without moving a muscle, but then he approached him and withdrew his smile. “Uncle, my body would often feel cold. If you don’t believe it, you can touch it.”

He stretched out his hand, which was freezing cold outside, and put it on the back of the old man’s hand, causing him to shiver upon first contact.

His face had been reflected in the sunlight just now. When he suddenly got close, his porcelain-white face fell into the shadows and his peach blossom eyes, which were initially smiling, also looked sharp in contrast, just like the ink left by a thick ink stick.

“Oh right, I would often dream about some bizarre things as if I’ve lived for more than a lifetime. Is this what you mean by returning the soul and borrowing qi?”

The old man was so startled by him that he leaned back, but he quickly settled his mind and looked at him without saying a word.

Ruan Qingmu saw this and his mouth quietly twitched.

He lazily straightened up and stood under the sunlight again. “Uncle, stop playing around. I don’t have money for fortune telling. I’m poor. Moreover, I have the Marxism-Leninism atheism ideology. You won’t be able to cheat me out of my money.”

The old man didn’t get angry. After a while, he shook his head and looked at Ruan Qingmu with a slightly faint pity in his gaze. “What’s so good about more than one lifetime? There’s so much misery, loneliness, suffering, anger, and foolishness in this life alone. It would be better to forget them all.”

Ruan Qingmu was stunned and finally put away his teasing. “Mengpo soup is indeed a good thing.”

The old man slowly picked up a small heater beside his hand and nodded. “Yes, ah. Otherwise, nothing can be forgotten and it would be exhausting to accumulate everything throughout life.”

Ruan Qingmu pondered. “But I still want to remember some things. Let alone the next life, some people even want to remember everything, am I right?”

The old man let out a long sigh. “You’re still young. Don’t take things too hard.”

The old man and the young man talked about life and death in the shop and no one felt strange about it.

Ruan Qingmu suddenly said, “But how much does it actually cost?”

The old man was stunned by this sharp turn of events. “What?”

Ruan Qingmu pointed at the painting. “I’m here to mount the painting. How much does it cost for you to mount my picture with your craftsmanship?”

The old man let out an “oh” and pointed his finger to a price list under the glass counter. “The grade you want is the highest one. Take a look for yourself.”

When Ruan Qingmu stretched his head to look, his porcelain-white face almost turned green. “Uncle, why does a four-foot item with this grade need 880 yuan?!”

The old man became a little upset. “Look at you. The standard of this painting is enough to win the youth traditional Chinese painting or something like that. Don’t you know the market price? The Red Rosewood frame, the fine Xuan paper, the specially imported silk, and I have to boil the starch paste by hand. Is this a high price? Have you never mounted a painting before?”

Ruan Qingmu replied honestly, “I really never did it. This will be my first time.”

The old man raised his chin to the side. “Why don’t I give you a quick machine mount with a pine frame? It’ll be ready in half an hour and I’ll charge you 120 yuan for the whole set. Do you want it?”

Ruan Qingmu looked at the beautifully finished frame reluctantly and then looked at the less impressive ones on the side. “It won’t do. I want the best. Uncle, I’m still a student. Can you give me a discount?”

The old man came over, looked at his eyebrows, eyes, and cheekbones, and sighed in admiration. “Your fate is full of riches and honor. It doesn’t look like a poor person’s.”