“Very well, I still have that same question. You clearly promised that when you marry, you’d ask me to be your matchmaker. Why did you break your word?” Shi Fa Ke thought that while this question didn’t seem all that important anymore, considering he had come over with his injuries just to explain things to her, it would be somewhat heartless not to give him a chance to explain, so she asked.
Chu Yizhi’s breath caught, and his heart filled with bitter pain.
Unable to marry the person he loved, yet having to watch her serve as his matchmaker at his wedding—why would he torment himself like this!
But he couldn’t say this. If he did, Second Brother Shi would definitely beat him to death on the spot.
Little did he know that Second Brother Shi was currently feeling nothing but sympathy for him…
As an observer, although Shi Chongshan disdained Chu Yizhi’s indecisiveness—unable to either grasp or let go—seeing his face full of bitter sorrow while his own sister kept pressing to know why he’d broken his word about letting her be the matchmaker, he almost wanted to shed tears of sympathy for the man.
Finally, Chu Yizhi forced out a sentence: “…I only considered it childish words spoken in youth.”
When they were childhood sweethearts, little Ah Ke had declared she would become a matchmaker when she grew up and would handle all three of her brothers’ marriages. Seeing how happy she was when she said this, little Yizhi had tried to please her by saying… Ah Ke, Ah Ke, you can handle my marriage affairs in the future too.
And so it had led to today’s situation.
Chu Yizhi’s heart was full of sorrow.
But Shi Fa Ke didn’t feel good either. So everyone had grown up, and only I remained in the same place, still believing in childhood promises…
The atmosphere became somewhat heavy for a moment, as these two people with completely different thought processes strangely found themselves in similar emotional states.
However, one was grieving his lost love, while the other was grieving her lost friendship. Well… it could be considered achieving the same result through different means.
“I understand.” Shi Fa Ke nodded. “I’ve received your explanation, and I won’t be angry with you anymore. You still have injuries, so go home.”
Being forgiven so easily made Chu Yizhi feel somewhat uneasy, but he couldn’t think of anything to say at the moment, so he could only leave with frequent backward glances. For some reason… he felt as if something had been hollowed out of his heart, something lost forever.
Never to be found again.
Chu Yizhi’s appearance was merely a small interlude. Shi Fa Ke was someone who could pick things up and put them down decisively—when she said she would do something, she would do it. She quickly cast the matter aside, though Shi Chongshan felt somewhat melancholy. However, his melancholy was just casual melancholy. If his sister had been wronged, he would definitely be the first to roll up his sleeves and fight.
In short, he was quite hypocritical.
At this moment, this hypocritical person glanced at the painting scroll Shi Fa Ke held in her arms and tentatively asked, “Yesterday I heard you say this painting was stained with soup and then repaired?”
“Mm! You didn’t see it—Master Lu’s painting skills are simply divine!” Speaking of this, Shi Fa Ke said with great enthusiasm.
No… this wasn’t the point Shi Chongshan wanted to get at.
“But why would he give you a repaired painting?” Shi Chongshan tried to steer the conversation back on track, then said with heartfelt sincerity, “If a man truly values a woman, he certainly wouldn’t be so perfunctory as to give such cheap and insincere gifts.”
“Hm?” Shi Fa Ke blinked her eyes, her face written with confusion. “Master Lu was just thanking me for treating him to wontons, so he casually gave me this… Besides, he originally wanted to throw it away, but I thought the painting was really beautiful and couldn’t bear to part with it, so I took it back.”
…Why did it suddenly involve valuing someone? Shi Fa Ke’s face was full of question marks.
Shi Chongshan paused, and after a long while, finally said “Oh…”
He should have known long ago that his sister was completely clueless about such matters!
Otherwise, Chu Yizhi wouldn’t have been so tragic!
With complicated feelings, Shi Chongshan took his sister to buy all the materials needed, then went to the shop together.
The pawnshop had an empty room specifically for this kind of mounting and repair work. Shi Chongshan took the painting scroll and placed it on the table, slowly unrolling it.
Then, Shi Chongshan’s face showed an expression of amazement. “This brushwork…” He suddenly focused his gaze, settling on the small red seal in the corner. “Master Linyuan?!”
“Ha, Second Brother, you’ve been fooled too.” Shi Fa Ke felt a sense of proud satisfaction. “This is Master Lu’s imitation of Master Linyuan’s painting.”
But Shi Chongshan didn’t quite believe it. Having worked as a clerk in the pawnshop for several years, he had developed keen eyes. He had seen Master Linyuan’s paintings before, and this artwork, this brushwork, and this small seal—no matter how he looked at it, it didn’t seem like an imitation.
Currently, there were many imitations of Master Linyuan’s paintings on the market, but he had never seen one that could pass for authentic, because Master Linyuan’s paintings were extremely difficult to imitate. Even if they looked similar, they had form but no spirit, which was why people said Master Linyuan was a once-in-a-century painting genius. There were rumors that even the current Emperor held him in high regard.
But this one before his eyes… no matter how he looked at it, it didn’t seem fake.
Shi Chongshan’s gaze fell on the figure of the woman holding an umbrella by the pond in the painting. Though rendered with just a few casual strokes, the woman’s silhouette was slender and graceful… and strangely familiar.
“Ah Ke, turn around,” Shi Chongshan suddenly said to Shi Fa Ke.
Shi Fa Ke turned around somewhat puzzled.
Shi Chongshan looked at the silhouette in the painting, then at Shi Fa Ke’s silhouette.
Strangely similar indeed!
“What’s wrong, Second Brother?” Shi Fa Ke turned back around, looking at him with confusion.
“The girl holding the umbrella in the painting—her silhouette looks very much like you, Ah Ke.” Shi Chongshan said with somewhat ambiguous meaning.
“Really?” Shi Fa Ke said with some delight, stepping forward to examine the painting again, clearly treasuring it. “Master Lu is truly thoughtful.”
Shi Chongshan felt inexplicably annoyed again.
However… he stroked his chin and bent down to carefully examine the entire painting again. Was this really an imitation? If it wasn’t… Shi Chongshan’s heart suddenly began beating faster.
What if this really was Master Linyuan’s painting?!
What would that mean? It would mean that silly scholar was the legendary, elusive great painter Master Linyuan himself!
At this thought, Second Brother Shi’s breathing became somewhat rapid. Of course, at this moment, Second Brother Shi had already forgotten about his earlier disparagement of the silly scholar, when he had called this painting “cheap stuff.”
“Mounting paintings isn’t accomplished in a day—it requires dozens of processes including preparing paste, backing, mounting with silk, and adding rollers. It can’t be completed quickly. Why don’t you leave this painting here? I’ll bring it home for you once I’ve finished mounting it.” Second Brother Shi suppressed his somewhat rapid breathing and said with a smile.
Shi Fa Ke had no suspicions and naturally agreed.
After Shi Fa Ke left, Shi Chongshan studied the painting in the room for a long time. The more he studied it, the more shocked he became… From his perspective, this painting was definitely not an imitation.
He suddenly remembered something and called for Little Chaofeng.
“Young Master, you called for me?” Little Chaofeng ran over.
“The former owner of yesterday’s jade bracelet came to redeem it—you handled that?” Shi Chongshan asked.
“Yes.” Little Chaofeng nodded without understanding, then added, “Young Master, rest assured, that jade bracelet is a permanent pawn and cannot be redeemed.”
“I’m not asking about that. I remember hearing you mention that when that person came yesterday, he was carrying a box on his back with painting scrolls inside?”
Little Chaofeng nodded. “About ten or more scrolls.”
Shi Chongshan suddenly clutched his chest.
If it really was Master Linyuan, how much silver would that be worth!