After a few drinks, Li Chungang also started talking about so of his own matters.
Back in his youth, he was considered an intellectual and nearly beca one of the art vocational students of the eighties—those who would be guaranteed a job and supported by the state after graduation. At that ti, getting into a vocational school was a bigger deal locally than getting into Tsinghua or Peking University is today.
But then, his father disgraced the family by committing a cri and getting imprisoned, which effectively sabotaged Li’s future. He failed the political background check and his dream of attending vocational school went down the drain.
Consequently, he went from intellectual to farr, working the fields back ho. It wasn’t until his twenties that he found a rural woman to marry, had children, and provided for his family. Only after his children grew a bit did he find ti in his spare hours to revisit his passion for painting and started painting at ho.
Slowly, his paintings caught the affection of so and they started buying them. At first, he gave away many for free, but later he began selling them for a few hundred, then eventually for a thousand or two per piece.
This brought in so extra inco for the family, which finally made his wife, who had previously been against his painting as a waste of money, supportive of his artistic endeavors.
Now, this noodle shop owner turned painter had so local fa in their town.
So wealthy bosses even sought him out to commission works such as portraits or Feng Shui paintings.
Listening to Li’s story, Chen Feng couldn’t help but feel a deep sorrow for him.
Chen Feng was certain that if Li had beco a vocational student back then, he would now be either a governnt official or a true grandmaster of painting.
Others didn’t know, but Chen Feng was very aware that Li’s work was far superior to those so-called famous painters. Li was the real master of painting.
As fate would have it, such a master was tilling the fields and running a noodle shop in an obscure countryside.
It was like the saying goes, "The clown is in the temple, the master roams free." Well, his situation was indeed better than roaming, but without a doubt, his talents had still been buried.
That’s life, that’s fate. Often suffering occupies the larger part.
"Uncle, it’s really not worth it for you to only charge ten or twenty thousand for these custom paintings. Never sell yourself so cheap again. Your craftsmanship is not inferior to those famous painters. In the future, if soone wants a custom painting, you should charge at least a hundred thousand—otherwise don’t bother, it’s better to paint what you love. If I see one I like, I’ll start the bidding at ten thousand."
"Ha, it’s rare for soone to appreciate my paintings so much. It’s like the high mountains and running water, the story of Bo Ya and Ziqi. Hard to co by, indeed. Co, let’s drink another glass."
Li Chungang could hold his liquor very well, the kind that could down a full two jin of Baijiu. But in the end, he couldn’t outdrink Chen Feng.
Apart from Li Chungang’s occasional gulp, Chen Feng suddenly realized that his alcohol tolerance had improved quite a bit.
Before, Chen Feng could only handle up to half a jin of Baijiu, but today he had drunk at least over a jin and, apart from so dizziness, he didn’t feel much drunk at all.
The obvious increase in his alcohol tolerance couldn’t be without reason. Clearly, it had sothing to do with his body getting stronger over this period.
And the reason his body had strengthened was evidently related to absorbing energy from these paintings and calligraphies these past days.
This was yet another confirmation that made Chen Feng even more determined to continue collecting energy-bearing paintings and calligraphy.
The next day, at the request of Lin Wan and Wu ngting, Chen Feng stayed an extra day, enjoying the local sights with the enthusiastic Li Chungang as their guide.
It wasn’t until the third day that Chen Feng and the two ladies journeyed back to Xiu Zhou.
Securing eighteen energy-absorbing paintings was like striking a gold mine for Chen Feng. Moreover, after testing several at random, he found that the first ti they could generally sustain an hour of energy absorption.
This was an unexpected joy for Chen Feng.
With so many paintings, he could ensure his consumption for the next three or four months.
Besides the tumor indeed growing in his brain, he had no other ill symptoms.
So, in his view, he had a good chance of living past this year.
It was already December, and New Year’s Day was fast approaching, with less than two months until the Spring Festival.
Therefore, Chen Feng felt hopeful he could survive the year.
Surviving this year would an defying the grim diagnosis given by those doctors at the "dog hospital," who had estimated he only had two or three months left. But now, more than a month had passed, and Chen Feng had shown no symptoms of a terminal illness.
This rekindled Chen Feng’s thirst and hope for life.
After all, one should always have hope—what if it actually cos true?
Upon returning to Xiu Zhou, Chen Feng was in good spirits. He left the art acquisition store to Lin Wan and spent his days leisurely either reading books and browsing his phone at ho or absorbing energy from the paintings. He would mooch als either at noon or in the evening at Lin Wan’s or Wu ngting’s.
If Qin Zhen was free in the evening, the two would head out for barbecue skewers.
As for sleeping arrangents at night, it depended on his mood and physical needs. If necessary, he definitely headed over to Red Villa Bay; otherwise, he stayed alone at the East Lake Villa.
Life was leisurely and pleasant for him, with the only slight disappointnt being Sun Xiaorui’s extended absence.
Her father had been discharged from the hospital, but as a dutiful daughter, she needed to continue caring for him a little longer, fulfilling her filial duties and keeping her timid and frail mother company.
The good news was that Sun Xiaorui had said she would return after another ten days to half a month, and she would also hire a nanny to help look after her parents.
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