Exclusive Model for the Top Painter Chapter 18

A Night of Lingering Dreams

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A week later, Liang Jin's injuries were almost healed.

At night, he was lying in bed reading the relevant information about the series of paintings named 'Liaozhai Zhiyi'.

This commission was initiated by the National Central Academy of Fine Arts, and after the works are completed, they will go on a world tour. The aim is to promote the spiritual core of excellent Chinese traditional culture and enhance the international influence of national culture. It is for this reason that Ji Xiuyuan, who has an international background, has been invited to compose the paintings.

This series of paintings is based on 'Liaozhai', but not exactly 'Liaozhai'. Many new secondary plots and modern elements have been added. The aim is to integrate the context of the new era and to be in line with international standards. Liang Jin has read it all the way through and found it quite interesting.

The three themes that had been drawn up were 'Beautiful Dream', 'White Snake' and 'Forbidden'; about fox demons, snake demons and wolf demons respectively. Interestingly, the last one is about a homosexual affair between a wolf demon and a talented man, which, given the status of the National Central Academy of Fine Arts, I must say is quite a bold choice of theme.

The specific details have yet to be determined, pending further discussions between Ji Xiuyuan and the other party.

His cell phone screen suddenly lit up and a news notification was received – [Fighting evil, building peace together. The task force has cracked a mega case involving dark forces!]

Liang Jin had little interest in it at first, but the criminal with the caption on the cover looked familiar, no matter how he looked, it was as if he had seen them somewhere before.

He clicked on the news and glanced over the ten lines until he saw the sentence: "Successful arrest of vicious forces led by Zhang Mou..."

Zhang Mou, Zhang Mou, Zhang Xuan?

With a jolt, Liang Jin looked at the man over and over again, and it was indeed Zhang Xuan!

He immediately shared the article with Ji Xiuyuan.

Although they had shared their private WeChats with each other not long ago, Ji Xiuyuan was as if he was from the last century, he hardly ever used WeChat in his daily life, nor did he post anything in his friends circle.

Usually, communication was mainly through text messages and phone calls, so this was the first time Liang Jin had sent a message to his WeChat.

Originally, he didn't expect to receive a reply, but unexpectedly, a few minutes later, a WeChat alert tone rang out.

Ji Xiuyuan: I've read this article.

Liang Jin: Wow Ji Shen, so you can reply to WeChat heheheh I thought you didn't use WeChat.

Ji Xiuyuan: My work number is handled by Wen Di, and I don't add any people to my private number, so I rarely use it.

Liang Jin: Zhang Xuan was arrested so quickly, is the police department so efficient now?

Ji Xiuyuan: Mmm.

Liang Jin: Did you make this happen?

Ji Xiuyuan: Mmm.

Liang Jin: As expected of Ji Shen, you not only dedicate your life to your art, but also to the safety of the people!

JI Xiuyuan: How is the wound recovering?

Liang Jin: It's completely healed!

Ji Xiuyuan: Tomorrow morning at nine o'clock, come with me to the National Central Academy of Fine Arts to attend a seminar.

Liang Jin: Okay, roger that!

Closing WeChat, Liang Jin searched for news about the National Central Academy of Fine Arts on his phone and saw the news about Ji Xiuyuan signing a partnership agreement with the Academy.

The word Ji Xiuyuan was in blue, and after a curious tap, the page jumped to his Wikipedia entry.

Ji Xiuyuan, male, internationally renowned artist.

Birthday: August 14th.

French-Chinese mixed race, born in Paris, France. His father is Ji Wenyao, the founder of the Tian Han Group, and his mother is the famous French painter Morgana. As a young child, he lived with both parents in A City. As a teenager, he attended the elite French secondary school STAN and later graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. During his studies, his talent was outstanding and his results were excellent, winning… (Angel: Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris is one of the three major art schools in the world and the alma mater of Xu Beihong, a famous Chinese painter)

There was much more afterwards, listing many awards that Ji Xiuyuan had won at home and abroad, which Liang Jin did not read carefully. He stared at the words August 14 for a long time, it was already the end of July! He opened the calendar, and what a coincidence, the 14th of August this year happened to be the Qixi Festival!

Although the date was slightly delicate, as a partner and good friend, a birthday present still had to be prepared.

He tossed and turned in bed, thinking about what to get him.

Ji Shen was so rich that he didn't need any material things, so it was better to start from the heart. He suddenly had a flash of inspiration, remembering that he had once taken a pottery course at university, and his work had been graded as excellent and had been specially praised by the teacher.

How about making a small figurine?

Liang Jin thought his idea was brilliant and immediately ordered the tools related to clay figurines, intending to personally make one as a gift for Ji Xiuyuan.

Thinking that he was about to create a chibi version of Ji Shen, Liang Jin was a little excited. Only after specifically instructing the merchant to ship it by SF Express did he fall asleep satisfied.

The following morning, National Central Academy of Fine Arts, conference room.

Fang Xingye was the person in charge of the painting project, and he began the meeting by speaking, "Mr. Ji, today is the workshop for our first painting, 'Beautiful Dream', so let me first introduce you to the background of the painting. It depicts a lonely and poor scholar who, on his way to the capital to take an examination, incidentally saves a wild fox in the mountains. The fox is in fact a beautiful fox demon who has been injured during a tribulation and gradually recovers under the scholar's careful care. In return for his kindness, he confesses his love to the scholar and the two of them are privately married. Later, when the scholar was in a dilemma after being awarded a marriage by the emperor, the fox demon left without saying goodbye. The scholar was so distraught that he often dreamed of her, and he never married afterwards. This painting is intended to show the scholar recalling his lingering memories with the fox demon in his dreams, a deep and blissful love."

Ji Xiuyuan jotted down a few key points on the paper and asked, "Are there any specific dynasty requirements?"

"The story is set in the Tang Dynasty." Fang Xingye said, "We'll have a special costume team, and you can use any props or costumes you need. Knowing that you have your own model, we have specially prepared a female model that can match him..."

"No need," Ji Xiuyuan refused with a smile, "I don't need anyone else's support for this series of paintings."

Fang Xingye had some trouble understanding: "If there is only a single person, I would like to know your idea?"

Ji Xiuyuan said indifferently, "The key to the painting lies in the lingering dream of a night, in the despairing indulgence. The essence of the emotion then lies in the scholar's demeanour and the construction of the whole painting. The scholar's recollection of the past is like a mirror, a labyrinth of illusory dreams, where is the need for others?"

These words were sensible, Fang Xingye thought about them again and nodded in agreement.

Ji Xiuyuan added, "However, I need a prop fox tail. The lingering feeling, it will be enough to rely on this."

After the details were finalised, Liang Jin was taken to make-up.

Meanwhile, the prop team set up a Tang Dynasty style, antique bedroom in the studio.

When everything was ready, make-up artist Xu Xin led Liang Jin to Ji Xiuyuan: "Mr. Ji, what do you think of this look? Is there anything that needs to be improved?"

Dressed in white like snow, his hair flowing like a waterfall; Liang Jin's starry eyes were bright as the moon, and his tall figure was handsome. At first glance, he looked like an elegant gentleman from a book, really good looking.

Ji Xiuyuan could not help but be fascinated.

When Liang Jin saw him staring at himself, he coughed gently: "Ji Shen, is there something wrong with this look? You look so serious, I'm under a lot of pressure."

"No problem," Ji Xiuyuan smiled, "It's perfect. It's suitable for both lingering and beautiful dream."

Liang Jin: ......

Xu Xin (inwardly): It feels like something is out of place with them?

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: May 5, 2023