Chapter 249 - 137: Secret
Shan Weizi gave Su Ran a shy punch. "You’re gross."
Time flew by as they chatted, and soon the car stopped at the gate of the Shan Family estate. Shan Weizi walked up the steps, pushed open the door, and called out, "Grandpa, Su Ran is back."
Su Ran: ...
’This really feels like a young wife welcoming her husband home after a long time away at work.’
"Su Ran, come have a look at this calligraphy I just did. What do you think?"
The old master called out from the courtyard. Su Ran answered, handed his luggage to Shan Weizi, and walked over to the old man to examine his work.
"Well?"
"This is..." Su Ran looked at what was written, then said, "Hussy!"
PFFT...
The old master burst out laughing.
"That says ’Magnanimous’! Su Ran, you’re doing that on purpose, aren’t you?"
"They look very similar. I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that someone might write this style of cursive with the deliberate intent to mislead."
The old master nodded. "Alright, you write something then."
"Alright."
Su Ran took the brush, his hand gliding across the paper. With a final flick of the wolf-hair tip, he finished. "How’s that?"
Just then, Sister Piaopiao came out of the house. She was wearing a qipao, as always, though this one had a more modest slit, not as high as her previous ones. She swayed over to them, blinked, and looked at the calligraphy. "A good dog floating on water? Su Ran, what on earth did you write? And is that ’hussy’ written next to it?"
"Mom, if you don’t know what you’re looking at, you shouldn’t comment," Shan Weizi said, walking over. "This piece says ’Magnanimous,’ and this one says, ’The scenery here is uniquely beautiful.’ What are you talking about?"
Liu Piaopiao said, "Was I wrong?"
Su Ran stammered, "Er... Actually, I really did write ’A good dog floating on water.’"
Liu Piaopiao: "You get a thumbs-up from me."
Shan Weizi said, "Su Ran, you’re very good at humoring my mom, aren’t you?"
Su Ran replied, "Sister Piaopiao is your mother. Of course I have to keep her happy. Right, old master?"
The old master said, "You have to keep them both happy. Come on, let’s go inside and eat."
Su Ran asked, "Isn’t Uncle Shan coming home for lunch?"
"Uncle Shan? Who’s that? Never heard of him."
Liu Piaopiao said coldly before storming into the dining room.
From her tone, Su Ran knew they must have had a fight.
Alright, his future mother-in-law and father-in-law had a fight. Su Ran wasn’t about to get involved.
"Come on, don’t worry about them. They fight all the time. They’ll have made up by tonight."
Shan Weizi took Su Ran’s hand and led him into the dining room as well.
During lunch, Shan Weizi mentioned that her grandfather’s 70th birthday was the day after tomorrow. Many people from the Art World would be attending, so it would be quite a gathering. She also added that Liu Buqun would be arriving in Hangzhou that afternoon.
The old master said with a smile, "Su Ran, I’ve shown your paintings to some of my old friends. They’re all incredibly impressed. They say you’re a truly rare talent."
"You’re too kind."
Su Ran decided not to be overly modest anymore. He found that whenever he was, people thought he was just putting on an act.
Frankly, after inheriting Tang Yin’s Painting Skill, his abilities were so great that modesty would seem fake.
However, no matter how well one could paint, without proper marketing, it was all useless.
Are paintings at auction really sold for high prices just because they’re good? Art itself has no hierarchy, but marketing is more valuable. Being dead is even more valuable. It’s all about hype. Hype up Master Zhang, then after him, hype up Master Liu.
As for Shan Changqing’s paintings, their value rose year after year. It was a morbid reality: the older he got, the more collectors anticipated the day he would kick the bucket.
"...Oh, right, I just remembered. I’ve got some sausages and cured meats in my suitcase. They need to be taken out to air."
"Don’t you go. Weizi can get it. Come, have a drink with me."
The old master held Su Ran in his seat, while Shan Weizi and Liu Piaopiao went to get the cured meats to hang them up to air out.
The old master was truly fond of Su Ran. He greatly appreciated these small, thoughtful gestures, and was already treating him like a true grandson-in-law.
「After lunch.」
Su Ran and Shan Weizi returned to their small courtyard house.
"You’re asking what kind of gift my grandfather would like?"
On the antique-style bed, Shan Weizi was straddling Su Ran’s back and giving him a massage. "Now that you ask so suddenly, you’ve really stumped me," she said, pondering as she worked on his muscles. "Let me think about it..."
Shan Weizi knew Su Ran didn’t want to give an ordinary gift.
"Oh, I’ve got it! My grandpa doesn’t lack for anything; he already has everything he could want. But his favorite things in the world were two dishes my grandma used to make for him."
"What dishes? I’m going to flip over."
"What are you flipping over for? It’s the middle of the day. Just stay put."
Shan Weizi held Su Ran down, making him stay on his stomach, and continued her story. "My grandpa always said that back in the day, he went to eat at a restaurant that my grandma’s family owned. The place didn’t have a menu. He happened to be in a foul mood that day over something related to his painting, so when he was ordering, he asked the waitress—my grandma—what they served. My grandma told him they could make anything and that he could order whatever he liked. So, just to give her a hard time, my grandpa said, ’You can make anything, huh? Alright then, bring me a serving of Tang Monk’s Flesh and a plate of Dragon Meat.’"
Su Ran asked, "And your grandpa didn’t get thrown out?"
Shan Weizi shook her head. "No. My grandma’s family’s restaurant was doing very well, and they thought he was a troublemaker sent by the restaurant next door. So they just told him, yes, they could make those two dishes!"
Su Ran: "Huh? Then what?"
Shan Weizi continued, "And then, my great-grandmother actually brought out a serving of Tang Monk’s Flesh and Dragon Meat. My grandpa ate it and was completely convinced."
Su Ran said, "They were that amazing?"
"Yes. I often hear my grandpa say how much he misses those two dishes that my grandma used to make for him. But she passed away a long time ago, decades now, and he’s never been able to have them since."
Su Ran asked, "Do you know how the Tang Monk’s Flesh and Dragon Meat were made?"
Shan Weizi said, "I have no idea. But I’m sure of one thing—it wasn’t actual Tang Monk’s Flesh, and it definitely wasn’t real Dragon Meat."
’This is getting interesting,’ Su Ran mused. He was a foodie, after all.
’Tang Monk’s Flesh and Dragon Meat... I’d really love to try them.’
"Not necessarily!"
"What do you mean, ’not necessarily’?"
"I mean, who’s to say real Tang Monk’s Flesh doesn’t exist?"
"Huh?"
"Let’s go! I’m taking you to catch a Tang Monk."
Su Ran rolled over and hopped off the bed.
"What? Are Tang Monks real?"
"Of course. And trust me, what we’ll get will be authentic Tang Monk’s Flesh, not some imitation. Let’s go!"
"Okay!"
Su Ran pulled Shan Weizi out of the courtyard house, and they drove off on a hunt for a Tang Monk.