The three came to the Lin Family’s Jinshi Calligraphy and Painting Shop. The shopkeeper greeted them with a smile when his young Master arrived, ushering them into the back hall. He ordered his staff to prepare some tea and smiled at them, “Young Master, what brings you here today? Do you want to take a look at anything here?”
Lin Fang faked a cough and produced two paintings from Lu Xiao Shu’s package. He said, “Here, I have two paintings. It’s something that a friend wanted me to help sell. Take a look at it and give me your price!” Lin Fang took a deep glance at the shopkeeper as he emphasized the word “friend”.
The shopkeeper caught on pretty quickly as he nodded with a grin and took it from him carefully. He opened the paintings and unscrolled them delicately.
The shopkeeper had already made up his mind since the Young Master had made it clear. About this matter, it probably isn’t anything big, right? Anyway, he could just mention what happened when they count their accounts. The Old Master and the other elders all loved the Young Master very much. They probably wouldn’t give this too much of a thought, right?
He slowly revealed the painting and took a glance at it. Suddenly, he froze as his eyes went big. His face was full of surprise and disbelief. He hurriedly looked closely at the bottom of the painting and wondered out loud, “Bi Teng Shan Ren？”
Just who was that? The shopkeeper was dumbfounded. The painting was very unique in its own way. It was obviously painted by an expert, yet the name did not ring any bells. Who on earth was that? He had no memory of such a person even after racking his brain. There was no one with that name at all.
Impossible? The shopkeeper was flabbergasted!
“This is a professional who isn’t willing to reveal his identity. Just let us know how much it is worth!” Lin Fang said in a tone like Lu Xiao Shu.
“Interesting! This is truly amazing!” The shopkeeper sighed, “An artist with an alias. I’ve never seen anything as magnificent as this! Turns out that it’s painted by a solitary expert! No wonder!”
The shopkeeper smiled, “This painting is excellent! However, Bi Teng Shan Ren isn’t well-known, so the price wouldn’t be that high. Since my young master, you are the one who brought it here, then it’ll be a different story. Hmm… it’ll be five hundred silvers each, what do you…”
“What?” Lin Fang almost jumped.
Meanwhile, Lu Xiao Shu’s heart skipped a beat. Her eyes shone brightly and she was grinning from ear to ear, “Five hundred silvers each? Then that would be a thousand for both!”
Lu Qi was in a trance and could not respond in time.
The shopkeeper was startled as he hastily smiled at Lin Fang with an explanation, “Young Master, the price is considered quite high. Or, I can increase a hundred silvers for each. Young Master, the price can’t go up any higher! Reputation plays a fundamental role. If this Bi Teng Shan Ren could paint a few more paintings and collaborate with my shop, we could help him rise to fame and the price for these paintings would be a lot different—”
“How much more could it increase to?” Lu Xiao Shu excitedly interrupted him with a smile. This question was too important to her. If she became famous, she could go places in the future. It would technically be like traveling with a treasure chest, an advantage that followed her everywhere.
That would be her infinite asset.
Since she kept asking, the shopkeeper rubbed his chin and pondered, “It shouldn’t be a problem to double it…”
Lu Xiao Shu was elated but the more excited she got, the calmer she looked. Then, she smiled gently, “About this Bi Teng Shan Ren, I’m sure he would consider collaborating with you. We’ll sell these two paintings first. After about two weeks, we’ll have him send two more paintings here.”
The shopkeeper blinked in confusion, then he looked towards Lin Fang.
Lin Fang sighed. He had calmed himself down and nodded, “I think that would be fine. It’s settled then!”
Since his Young Master had said it, it seems like this Bi Teng Shan Ren must be someone he knew. He was very happy about it as he nodded with a bright smile. After some discussion, they had decided to keep the two paintings first and wait for the next two paintings half a month later. Only then, they would market two paintings first and one painting per month subsequently. That way, they could slowly build a reputation for him. The only condition was that Bi Teng Shan Ren must sell at least twenty paintings to the shop in which Lu Xiao Shu gladly agreed.
Naturally, Lu Xiao Shu would agree wholeheartedly. Why would she not when there was someone who was going to help her with promoting her work?
When the shopkeeper asked for a contract, Lu Xiao Shu smiled, “Would a seal work?”
He accepted it, “That works! This is perfect!” Thus, they immediately drafted an agreement and duplicated it. Lu Xiao Shu placed it in her pocket along with the note worth a thousand and two hundred silvers that she just earned.
After leaving the shop, Lin Fang asked curiously, “Are you that close with this Bi Teng Shan Ren? How are you allowed to make all those decisions for him?”
“Of course!” Lu Xiao Shu nodded as a matter of fact, “Well, you wouldn’t understand even if I explained it to you. He… erm… the old man ordered me not to tell anyone about it. So, you should just keep your mouth shut.”
Lu Qi rolled his eyes at her, thinking to himself that there was no point keeping it a secret when they were going to promote the name and paintings.
“Oh…:” Lin Fang could only nod, yet he could not help prying, “Could it be— the Mr Wu that we know?”
Lu Xiao Shu glared at him speechlessly.
Lin Fang crouched, “Forget I said anything!”
“Let’s go! Treats on me!” Lu Xiao Shu snapped her fingers as she raised an eyebrow with a smirk.
“Great!” Lin Fang applauded her, but suddenly asked, “But isn’t the money Bi Teng Shan Ren’s?”
Lu Xiao Shu answered nonchalantly, “Oh since I’m helping him sell it, the old man said that it would be a forty-sixty. Forty percent for me while sixty for him.”
Lu Qi gave her a side-eye, The old man? She sounds smoother with it than before. She’s putting up a good show with her lies. On the other hand, this dumb Lin Fang is definitely no match for her.
As expected, Lin Fang did not find it suspicious at all. Instead, he said enviously, “You’re getting as much as forty percent of it? Xiao Shu, you’re so lucky! I want to go to Li Hua Inn to have assorted casseroles and roasted pork!”
His eyes shone with envy, thinking of how much a forty-sixty split would be. It should be at least a few hundred silvers, right? His allowance for a year was not even close to that amount. Xiao Shu was too lucky to know that person. If he knew someone like that too, he would become filthy rich!
“No problem! Then, let’s go!” Lu Xiao Shu had the money in her pocket. She definitely would not be spending modestly today.
The trio stepped into Li Hua Inn and asked for a private room on the second floor. They ordered a table full of dishes and dug into the delicious meal happily.
The only thing that Lu Xiao Shu regretted was that she had earned this huge amount of money without gaining any fame for herself. She could not give her parents the money and instead, she could only keep it privately. What a waste. She thought that next time, she would ask her sister to join them since sisters should always share anything good.
After lunch, the three of them went to the Lin Family’s pier to play. Because of Lu Qi and Lin Fang, Lu Xiao Shu was technically quite close to the people there. So, she bought a lot of food and invited everyone to join them.
Since then, it has somehow become a routine.
Half a month later, she presented two paintings to the Lin Family’s shop as agreed. Just like the ones before, it was two paintings of landscapes; one showed a deserted mountain, one showed the night at a harbor. The shopkeeper was blown away by them as he kept complimenting them. Even though Lu Xiao Shu kept her facial expression empty, she was ecstatic inside.
Since she kept her promise to the shopkeeper and he still had their contract, he was thrilled to see that the seal on the painting was still the same as well.
And thus, their agreed marketing campaign kicked off.
When Lu Xiao Shu saw how it was being carried out, she was utterly shocked!
She definitely did not expect that the people from ancient China knew so much about marketing and advertisements.
Meanwhile, the shopkeeper had sent a lot of cronies to spread rumors and brag about how magnificent Bi Teng Shan Ren and his paintings were. They made it sound like his work was the level of gods, creating news that it was the definition of “allusion” and “anecdote”. Without a doubt, the artist sounded like he had a lot of connections with other famous figures. Surely, with all these allusions and anecdotes, he must have had a great relationship with well-known celebrities.
Soon, even before Bi Teng Shan Ren showed himself, his reputation was already stellar. In a short amount of time, all sorts of rumors were spreading everywhere. Everyone from the literary and art circles was buzzing around, curious about the new famous person in town.
Even Miao Chu He, who attended the poetry festival, heard about that person. When he got back, he brought it up to Mr Wu in their conversation. Meanwhile, Lu Xiao Shu was listening to their banter, and she was so proud of herself that she had to bite her lips from turning into a grin and exposing herself. However, she could not keep her eyes from shining with pride.
What mysterious Bi Teng Shan Ren? It was just her!
Mr Wu found it very weird too, thinking hard for a moment before curiously asking, “Bi Teng Shan Ren? Who’s that?”
Could there be a famous artist under the sun which he had never heard of? He smiled, “Have you seen his painting? If he wasn’t famous, then he would truly be a mystery!”
It would not be weird for him to not know of the name if the guy rose to fame only because of rumors and flatters. It must be someone who had hidden his identity very well, otherwise, there was no professional that he did not know.
Miao Chu He shook his head in response, “On the third day of next month, the Lin Family’s Jinshi Calligraphy and Painting Shop would be holding an art display at Li Hua Inn. I heard that they invited various famous artists from all over the world. They would be displaying two of that man’s paintings. A lot of my classmates had agreed to attend.”
“Oh,” Mr Wu simply nodded. He had no interest in things like that in the first place. So, he would definitely move on from it after their conversation ended.
On that day, Miao Chu He attended the event as expected. When he saw the two paintings, it turned out to be as unique as they described. Everyone reacted the same way as he did, marveling and praising them. It even wowed those who were initially unhappy with Bi Teng Shan Ren’s rising reputation.
This time,Bi Teng Shan Ren’s reputation finally was regarded as true. Since then, he had established a rank in the painting world for himself. As for the two paintings, it was only for display and not for sale. The Lin Family’s Jinshi shop wanted to keep it and sell it in September at the Jiangnan Art Display in Suzhou. They wanted to use this opportunity to make their debut in Jiangnan as well.
The only person who was a little suspicious was Miao Chu He, who felt that the painting style was somewhat similar to the painting on his paper fan. However, it was a lot better than the one on his paper fan. In fact, it was Lu Xiao Shu’s trick since she heard her uncle’s conversation with Mr Wu. She painted his fan with minimal effort and purposely missed a few details, making Miao Chu He slightly skeptical.
