Chapter 222 (2/2)
Everyone present inside the box revealed a look of disgust, as Mu Wanying had a terribly blackened face.
Tang Xiu laughed involuntarily and said, “Hahaha, I’ve seen shameless people, but never have I ever seen a truly shameless one such as you! Fine! How about I accompany you to play? If I lose, say whatever condition you want. But if you lose, I don’t want whatever calligraphy or painting you have, just get your damn ass out of here.”
Flames of anger were almost blazing out from Zhu Xiang’s eyes. He glared angrily at Tang Xiu and snapped, “Who the fuck are you? Why the hell are you meddling in someone else’s business?”
Tang Xiu pointed at Mu Wanying and plainly said, “You just said yourself that you’re a gentleman who is trying to court a graceful lady. You can take me as her envoy or guardian. How about it? Didn’t you dare to bet with her? And now, do you dare or not to play and bet with me?”
Zhu Xiang clenched his fists. If he didn’t strongly restrain himself, he really would have fiercely punched Tang Xiu’s face. Looking at Mu Wanying’s blackened face, he said, “Fine! Since you want to insult yourself, I’ll help you. But I don’t like a gambling without stakes. I’ll use my “Sailboats and Pavilions” painting and you bet your collection.”
“My collection?” Tang Xiu rolled his eyes and turned toward Mu Wanying. He then said lightly, “Do you dare to lend me your treasured set of Wang Xizhi’s calligraphy?”
Mu Wanying took a deep breath and spoke with a deep tone, “I’ll lend it to you.”
Tang Xiu shrugged his shoulders and said, “Did you hear it? The set of Wang Xizhi’s treasured calligraphy should be enough, no?”
Despite his fury, Zhu Xiang smiled as he clapped his hands and said, “Alright. Since you wanna bet, then bet we will! Say! You wanna do it here or in another place?”
Tang Xiu looked at Bai Yu and peacefully asked, “Manager Bai, right? Since your Lotus Blossom House has a painting custom, you should have prepared paintbrush and papers, right? May I trouble you to provide the painting tools as well as make an appraisal committee consisted of the guests of your restaurant?”
Bai Yu looked at Tang Xiu deeply. She then nodded and said, “I’ll immediately pass the orders as per your request. The contest will be held half an hour later in the first floor’s hall.”
“Alright!” Tang Xiu replied calmly.
Bai Yu looked at Zhu Xiang with a bad expression, saying, “Now, come with me!”
Zhu Xian snorted coldly and glanced provocatively at Tang Xiu as he then turned around to leave.
Inside the box.
The anger on Professor Hu’s face slowly faded away and was replaced with a bitter expression. He looked at Tang Xiu, shook his head and sighed, “Young man, you shouldn’t have let your decisions be affected by your emotions! I know you did that out of good intentions. Yet, on-the-spot painting is not something you can fake! The set of Wang Xizhi’s treasured calligraphy might not reach the point of being priceless, yet it’s still very valuable. It’s a collection everyone who loves calligraphy and painting long for even in their dreams.”
At the moment, the contempt Le Baiyi had toward Tang Xiu got more intense. He believed that Tang Xiu was just jealous toward Zhu Xiang because of Mu Wanying. He even thought that Tang Xiu was very stupid. He knew that Zhu Xian was very skillful in painting, but still, Tang Xiu gave his face to be slapped by him. The most annoying thing was that Mu Wanying would also lose her precious set collection.
Mu Wanying was also a bit bitter and annoyed. Even though Tang Xiu did it to help her, but to think that she had to lose her calligraphy collection made her quite distressed. One must know that it was given by her grandfather, of whom he spent quite a big effort to find and buy it at a sky-high price.
“Tang Xiu, you really can paint?” After hesitating for a moment, still, Mu Wanying couldn’t help asking.
“A little.” Tang Xiu lightly replied.
“You know a little about it?” Mu Wanying couldn’t feel more disappointed anymore.
Professor Hu took his eyes back from Tang Xiu and said with a wry smile, “Ah, how I wish Yang Qing was here. He’s acclaimed as the most outstanding genius of the new generation in the painting and calligraphy world. His skill in painting is extremely high and only a few of the great painters of the older generation are more skillful than him.”
Le Baiyi nodded upon hearing this, saying, “I also have heard about this Yang Qing name. He’s indeed a very skillful young painter. He started to learn painting at the age of five and was able to paint good works at the age of ten. Between the age of 16 and 26, a mere ten years, he won hundreds of awards.”
Professor Hu nodded and said, “That’s right. If there wasn’t the sudden emergence of a certain painting recently, I originally believed that he could win the first place in the next Asian Painting Competition with his ‘One Hundred Birds Turn Toward the Phoenix’ masterpiece!”
“Huh?” Le Baiyi was surprised and asked, “A sudden emergence? What painting is that?”
“Accurately speaking, it’s a grand and majestic large-scale architectural design, and was manually hand-painted by someone.” Professor Hu exclaimed.