amaotonovel Chapter 183 Reunion on New Year's Eve 7
Chapter 183 Reunion on New Year's Eve 7
When You Dalang opened the first half of the book, he felt nothing; it was no different from the previous one.
It's just a change of face and location.
Erotic paintings are generally like this.
My eyes got tired after looking at it for so long.
He hiccuped, and unintentionally flipped to the last page, his eyes suddenly widening.
The style of the painting changed abruptly; it was no longer the hazy colors, nor the impressionistic figures depicted with just a few strokes.
The woman in this painting is dressed neatly, though her clothes are a bit strange, yet she is undeniably beautiful in every way.
"Why is You Dalang's nose bleeding?" someone exclaimed.
Hearing the sound, everyone looked over, astonished, and then began to scramble for the picture book in his hand.
"Let me see what this wonderful thing is that has made Brother You so excited."
Lu Changzhi became interested and went over to watch together.
Several heads huddled together, flipping through the pages from the last one onwards; the only sounds besides turning the pages were panting.
Each picture depicts a different scene.
No longer high beds and soft pillows, and rarely soft curtains and veils; the scenes can be changed at will.
On the edge of a cliff, on a small boat, on a grassy field under a sky full of stars, and even on horseback.
The sheer volume of source material makes one wonder if the artist was a seasoned veteran.
Moreover, the men and women in the paintings are usually fully clothed, with only a hint of skin showing, but strangely, each painting exudes an alluring atmosphere.
Especially the picture of them galloping on horseback, it was hard to tell for a moment whether it was a man and a woman or two men.
"Absolutely amazing! Absolutely amazing!"
"Who is this artist? I want him to paint a whole book for me!" The speaker was a philanderer; that painting of a horse riding a horse had opened up a whole new world for him.
Xiao Ding has already taken the money and left.
However, Jifeng Study is right there, so it's not difficult to find someone.
"Young Master Lu, how about you sell this album to me? I'll pay three times the price!"
Lu Changzhi sneered. "Do you think I'd be short of your little bit of money? Get out of my way!"
He put away the catalog and said to his friends, "It's not about quantity, but quality. If the items are good, we can just keep them to ourselves. Don't go around telling everyone."
Shen Lan was unaware that her first famous painting was actually an erotic painting.
If the hermit of Rongshan finds out, he'll probably break off all ties with her.
In the evening, she closed the bookstore and walked down the street, leaning on her hand.
"Shopkeeper Shen, are you going to buy paintings by the Bian River again?"
Some familiar vendors greeted Shen Lan.
Since everyone does business on the same street, they become familiar with each other after seeing each other a few times.
Then they also learned that the female owner of the bookstore liked to go to the Bian River to buy books and paintings.
I heard that it's a gathering place for literati and artists, where painters often have sudden inspirations and create paintings.
If the painting is well done, it will be bought on the spot.
Some people would also take their family's ancestral books to the Bian River to find buyers, hoping to make a fortune.
Shen Lan greeted him with a smile: "How's business today, Sister Xin? I heard a famous painter has arrived, so I'm going to try my luck."
"Business is better during the Chinese New Year, but my business for the whole month doesn't even match what you make from selling just one painting."
Bookstores are places that ordinary people dare not even enter. I heard that someone spent one hundred taels of silver to buy a painting yesterday. They are really rich and powerful.
A light rain was falling as Shen Lan leisurely walked to their usual spot.
It was just getting dark, and pedestrians were hurrying home for dinner, while men who were out looking for fun arrived in waves and boarded one pleasure boat after another.
Lin Miaoniang, who came from Tanzhou, was granted the title of eighth-rank dance official and now serves in the palace. Many people envy her for her meteoric rise and transformation.
But the absence of Lin Miaoniang did not affect business on the Bian River.
Debauchery is everywhere.
Shen Lan's gaze fell on one of the largest flower boats.
The flower boat was decorated with red lanterns on both sides, and guards stood at the bow and stern. Looking through the windows, one could see the shadowy figures of the crowd.
Alluring dancers, maids pouring wine, and pleasure-seeking young masters.
What a scene of peace and prosperity!
Shen Lan had been squatting here for many days. She knew that the second young master of the Tong family liked to come here to play, and recently he had become infatuated with Qiu Yu, the girl on the flower boat.
It is said that Qiuyu was a skilled pipa player and exceptionally beautiful, even more so than Qingman.
This second young master of the Tong family had an exceptionally bad reputation on the Bian River.
Unlike other spoiled young men, he not only liked beautiful women, but he also liked to share them with others.
Even if Qingman's death was suicide, it was definitely related to him.
She died with a pained expression, and death may not have brought her relief.
From the moment she learned that the Tong family was Liu Engui's backer, Shen Lan began to think about how to get close to the Tong family.
Tong Juntao is not a good target; his status in the Tong family is too low.
But he is the easiest to approach.
"Young Master Tong, didn't you say that you've been under strict control at home lately and haven't had any free time? How come you can still come out every day?" Qiu Yu thought to herself, feeling miserable.
She did indeed intend to seduce this young master of the Tong family at first.
Who knew he wasn't a good man? Now I can't get rid of him.
Tong Juntao lost the family's account books and was originally going to be confined to his home. However, on the day of the palace banquet, he pleaded with his aunt and received her permission to be released.
He knew that his aunt had always loved him the most since he was a child.
"Hey, it's nothing. A day without seeing a beauty feels like three autumns!" Tong Juntao pinched the beauty's chest hard.
Qiu Yu endured the pain and dared not cry out, otherwise it would only ignite the wildness in this creature and make it even more excited.
"Young master, shall I play a tune for you?"
"I'm tired of hearing it."
"A new song is playing today."
"Alright, play it for me."
Qiu Yu's fame is also due to her hard work on the pipa.
It just so happens that a certain storybook has recently become very famous. She often heard her guests mention it, so she composed the music and wrote the lyrics herself, creating a song full of murderous intent.
On ordinary days, they mostly murmured softly, lamenting the passing of spring and the coming of autumn, but today, as this piece of music began, the atmosphere changed.
Tong Juntao was indeed very satisfied.
Before long, a maid came in to pour wine, and Tong Juntao glanced at her slender waist a few more times.
"A new maid? How old is she?"
Qiu Yu didn't recognize her and assumed she was a new maid.
The maidservant lowered her head and answered, "Sixteen."
"That's a really good age."
Shen Lan is rather thin, but she has grown taller rapidly in the past six months, with a slim waist and long legs. Even in a simple maid's outfit, she looks very beautiful.
She wore heavy makeup, and others assumed she was trying to win favor, and they looked down on her.
Qiu Yu, however, was overjoyed and covered her mouth with a smile, saying, "Our Mother Flower has such good taste; she's found another beauty."
"Whether it's beautiful or not, I'll only know after I see it for myself."
Tong Juntao suddenly reached out and ripped off the veil from her face, revealing a somewhat incongruous look to her made-up face.
"Tsk, what a terrible face! Looks like she's a hopeless beauty."
Shen Lan lowered her head again and said weakly, "This servant just drew it casually."
If a modern person came, they would probably recognize that she was wearing smoky eye makeup, but even her own mother wouldn't recognize her.
"Alright, get out of my way, don't get in my way."
Shen Lan obediently retreated to a corner, a position to Tong Juntao's right rear, an excellent spot where the enemy was in the open and she was in the dark.