Exclusive Model for the Top Painter Chapter 81

The Grace of a Sick Beauty

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Accepting Fujiwara Miki's invitation to paint, Ji Xiuyuan began to create a series of paintings entitled [Paintings of Classical Chinese Beautiful Male Figures]. The historical archetypes chosen for the paintings are all from historical records of handsome and beautiful men, and the first painting is based on the story of 'Watch Kill Wei Jie'.

Wei Jie was a handsome and graceful man from childhood, but he had a weak constitution; he also liked to read and think, which consumed much of his energy, and over time, he became ill from hard work.

Because of his luxuriant appearance, every time he travelled, he was often surrounded by many fans. 'The Book of Jin - the Biography of Wei Jie' says that the people in the capital heard of his appearance, and those who watched him were like a blockade. Wei Jie became very sick from working, and died in the sixth year of Yongjia, at the age of twenty-seven, and it was said that Wei Jie was killed by the people who watched him.

The key to portraying the image of Wei Jie, in addition to his beautiful and attractive face, the most difficult to grasp was his intelligent and thoughtful character, and his love of debate.

As recorded in 'Shishuo Xinyun - Literature', when Wei Jie was young, he once asked Le Guang, a magistrate of Shangshu, why people have dreams.

Le Guang replied that dreams are born from the mind. Wei Jie, however, thought that this was not the case, for people also dream about things they have never experienced or thought about. Le Guang's answer could not dispel his doubts, and Wei Jie thought about it so seriously that he became ill.

In order to avoid the scourge of war in the time of chaos between the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Wei Jie went to see the great general Wang Dun at the beginning of his journey across the river. He talked with Wang Dun and Xie Youyu all night long, ignoring his physical weakness, and debated until the next morning, thus aggravating his illness.

From these examples, it was clear that Wei Jie was not a weak vase with an empty appearance; Liang Jin's understanding of Wei Jie was that he was a spirited young man with heaven and earth in his heart.

Changing into his elegant jade-coloured robe, his slim figure was like a green lotus and jade stem between the spacious robes.

Sitting in front of the desk, the incense burner emitted curling smoke. Green silk hanging down, holding a scroll in his hand, he was immersed in self contemplation.

He raised his eyes to look out of the window as if he was quietly lost in thought, his teeth biting his lower lip, as if he had stumbled upon a difficult doubt.

Ji Xiuyuan transferred the image captured by the work recorder to his cell phone, bent down in front of Liang Jin and asked in a low voice, "Xiao Jin, what are you thinking about, so engrossed?"

"I'm thinking about what Wei Jie would be thinking about."

"Mhmm, then, in this situation, what do you think he would be thinking about?"

Liang Jin glanced at the vertical rows of the traditional 'Nanhua Sutra' in his hand, "The Wei and Jin Dynasties worship black, especially the style of Laozhuang. Wei Jie was intelligent and good at understanding, and must have had insights into Zhuangzi that were beyond the ordinary. I see myself as a Wei Jie contemplating the philosophy of Taoism, and I am sure that he must have spent countless evenings in conversation, deeply contemplating the subject of the separation of the material and the ego. What is the difference between reality and illusion? Zhuang Zhou and the butterfly, and who actually transformed into whom?" (Angel: Worshipping black refers to advocating the making of iron, as iron is black.)

"Then have you come up with an answer?"

Liang Jin shook his head, "Zhuang Zi's theory of equality of things and mental fasting speaks of the absolute freedom of all things coming together and the ultimate romance of philosophy. Illusion and reality are so entangled with each other that there is no way to tell them apart."

"Reality itself is part of illusion; in other words, illusion can also be a manifestation of reality. However, none of this matters." Ji Xiuyuan said in his ear, "Only what I feel in my heart and what I love are eternal. What does everything else in the world have to do with me?"

Liang Jin looked at him, his lover's face reflected in the bottom of his eyes.

The beauty of philosophy and the pleasure of art became scorching in the ambiguous atmosphere that quietly grew.

The scroll fell to the ground, Liang Jin wrapped his arms around his neck and gently kissed his lips, "No matter who transformed into who, it doesn't matter."

Whether everything is united or not, whether it is a chaotic world or not.

Since I already have the possession of the soul, I should not envy the mountains and rivers.

Liang Jin looked at himself in the recording and felt a little unsatisfied, he asked Ji Xiuyuan, "Ji Shen, you are hesitating to put pen to paper, is it because there is still some lack of flavour?"

"Xiao Jin, this is already very good, I just want to enjoy it for a while longer."

"No," Liang Jin insisted, "there must still be something missing!" He viewed his image several more times over and over again, and suddenly rejoiced, "I know, it's that sickly feeling!"

Ji Xiuyuan said, "Wei Jie has always been physically weak, and you are different from him. This is a physiological objective fact that cannot be forced."

"It can!" Liang Jin suddenly thought of something: "Ji Shen, wait here for a while, I'll be right back."

Within a moment, Ji Xiuyuan understood what he was thinking and immediately stopped him, "No way."

"I can."

"No."

"Why, Ji Shen? Don't you have high standards for your paintings? Can you allow this kind of shortcoming?"

"In the past, the most important thing to me was the painting. But now it's different, you are more important than anything else."

"But for me, helping you to complete the perfect painting is my greatest wish. Let me try, I'll be reasonable. Yuan Yuan?"

"I'll be heartbroken."

Liang Jin coaxed him, "Don't, I'll be fine. Wait for me here."

Ji Xiuyuan held his wrist and did not intend to let him go.

"If I can't fill this shortcoming, then I'll never paint with you again!"

Only then did Ji Xiuyuan let go.

Liang Jin, barefoot, lifted the hem of his elegant and ethereal robe and headed outside the studio.

He opened the fire door of the stairwell and went all the way up the stairway to the rooftop on the top floor of the villa, and then deliberately stood at the very edge of it, looking down.

He was afraid of heights.

The sudden fear was violently transmitted from his mind to his whole body, Liang Jin took several deep breaths and forced himself to feel this strong emotion.

Since he could suppress this emotion because of his work, he could naturally amplify his anxiety for the sake of his work.

Liang Jin purposely tried to stimulate himself, imagining all the scenes of falling from a high altitude.

Vertigo came in like ocean waves, cold sweat broke out on the front of his forehead, and Liang Jin began to feel his legs weakening, he could barely keep his feet on the ground.

He suddenly fell into a warm embrace, Ji Xiuyuan wrapped his arms around him from behind and soothed him, "Alright, it's okay. Let's go back."

"Mhmm."

Ji Xiuyuan gently picked him up and went back to the studio.

At this time, Liang Jin, lips white, hair slightly dishevelled, with a faint sweat, had an exceptionally resolute expression, and the Wei Jie he conceived of was simply indistinguishable from Wei Jie: although his body was sick, he was agile and persistent, and a magnificent and unmatched beauty.

After the first draft was completed, Ji Xiuyuan pushed him down on the floor, and his intense and lingering kiss passionately spread from his lips to his collarbone.

His slightly pale lips were filled with blood from the intense kiss, and the faint sweat was converted into slime that accompanied his gasping breaths.

The body underneath the robe trembled gently, Ji Xiuyuan pressed down on his hands and dominantly plundered the territory that belonged entirely to him.

Their breaths intertwined with each other, completely out of control in this field of collapsing time and space.

———

On Monday morning, Ji Xiuyuan attended a routine meeting at Tian Han Group.

Liang Jin followed along and clocked in to work right around nine o'clock, the peak time for clocking in to work.

There were already a lot of staff in the headquarters building, and there was a long queue in front of all five machines in the clock-in hall.

Liang Jin casually chose a queue and lined up in an orderly manner.

Strangely enough, everyone else's clocking in was smooth, scanning their faces or pressing their fingerprints against the machine, and then the "thank you" beeping sound of successful clocking in would come out.

When it came to his turn, it kept ringing "error" and "error".

Could it be that he was fired by Tian Han?

Liang Jin was confused. In order not to delay other people's clocking in, he withdrew from the queue first and went to the office to find Wen Di to ask about the situation.

Wen Di was staring at the computer and clacking away on the keyboard. Liang Jin asked him, "Wen Di, how come I can't punch in?"

"Impossible, unless you've been fired."

"No way? What exactly am I guilty of?"

"Abducting the chairman, the highest offence."

"I'm not kidding you!"

Wen Di averted his gaze from in the computer screen, "I forgot to tell you, that work number you had before was entered into the information for the modelling division of Tian Han's fashion department, but now the international art department has also set up an employee profile for you, so there's a conflict."

"Oh, then what? Will they deduct money?"

"Deduct what money, who dares to deduct your money? Don't bother clocking in from now on, forget about it and go directly to Director Ji's place to swipe your face."

"Are you serious?"

"Mhmm, in the future, don't come to interrupt me for such trivial matters, I'm very busy, Madam Chairman."

"I'm sorry, and Wen Di, you must correct it, it's husband."

"Okay, okay, I'll eat this dog food, okay? Just let me work."

"Okay!"

"Right," Wen Di suddenly remembered something like, "Liang Jin, did you meet Ji Wenbin last time?"

"Mhmm. Is he really Ji Shen's uncle, huh?"

"Yes, but the situation is a bit complicated."

"I somehow feel that he's not a good person."

"Your feeling is right." Wen Di pushed up his glasses, "He came back prepared this time. Moreover, he has an appointment with Director Ji. At this time now, they should be talking in his office."

"Ji Wenbin told me that Tian Han was co-founded by him and Ji Wenyao, is that true?"

"It's true, but that was only at the beginning of Tian Han's creation. Later on, he and Ji Wenyao's concepts didn't mesh, and many conflicts arose between the brothers. Afterwards, he even used some tactics to withdraw his capital and run away, causing Tian Han to suffer a great deal of damage and nearly collapse. After that, the two families almost cut off communication, and he ran away to the US, with no contact for so many years."

"Then what is the purpose of his return this time?"

Wen Di's voice dropped several tones, "Won't come to the door for nothing, an old fox like him, what good intentions can he have?"

"Speaking of which, Wen Di, how do you know so much about Tian Han's previous affairs? As far as I know, you didn't work at Tian Han more than ten years ago, right, you should still have been in school at that time?"

"Understanding the company's history is a basic employee quality, and a necessary background knowledge that you need to have to avoid risks for the company."

"You're so professional. I'm a bit curious, where can I inquire about this kind of gossip anyway?"

Wen Di smiled, "You'd better not pry."

"Why?"

"Do you know who is gossiped about the most in Tian Han?"

Liang Jin had an uneasy feeling, "I don't know, wait, it can't be me, right?"

"Congratulations on the right answer." Wen Di added, "Those gossips are particularly outrageous, for the sake of your physical and mental health, I won't tell you."

Liang Jin: ......

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it!

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

Translated: November 4, 2023