The Versatile Master Artist

Chapter 7: Chapter 5: The Young Man Speaking Japanese-Style English, the Dancing Girl on the Rooftop, and the Crystal Ball in the Palm

A simple metaphor for good and evil: in the face of the temptation of money, goodness may seem powerless, yet it is also powerful. There are many compromises and helpless situations in life. But the battle between good and evil is one that cannot yield.

Including the contrast between Gu Weijing and Miao Angwen, evil will not make you rich; after the illusory dream, it will ultimately lose the soul.

Selling the soul will never bring wealth.

Selling the soul is just selling the soul.

Just as I have said.

The choice between life and death may make it easier to portray Gu Weijing’s personality for a writer.

Similarly.

This exotic background will also have many writing capabilities that cannot be fully catered to, completely lacking in truthfulness. My understanding of the story’s background is mostly limited to some news and books.

I heard that Yangon either has McDonald’s without KFC, or has KFC without McDonald’s. It seems there is no Starbucks, just some store names that might be Starbucks-like—

Anyway, I’ve forgotten.

Take Koizumi Katsuko as an example.

The conversation between Miss Sakai and Monet before leaving Yangon took place in Starbucks, which is probably factually incorrect.

Likewise.

I read some travel journals and found that tourists from Europe and America may not be that interested in famous ancient sites, but they love going to the coast, especially enjoying various cruise trips.

Of course.

It is also a country where jade is a very important export.

So, I casually fabricated a story about a blond auntie buying jade on a ship during vacation.

...

There are many such things.

When writing the first sentence of the opening, I deliberately left an extra lead—

”Myanmar’s winter, the weather is always gloomy, unable to see the sun for half a month straight.”

Geography was one of the subjects I was least skilled at in high school, but even so, I clearly know that Myanmar is divided into hot and rainy seasons, and its winters are unlikely to be ”gloomy.”

This line was something I wrote casually when initially conceiving a London setting.

”Oh, right, the first volume of this novel, that crystal ball, was almost placed in London.”

However.

When I determined the article’s main line, I completely rewrote the beginning without modifying this sentence.

This seems more like a spiritual embellishment.

An atmospheric winter, an atmospheric gloominess, rather than true weather.

The underworld finds its way to the door.

For a family like Gu Weijing’s, even with bright sunshine outside the window, he would feel it’s an endlessly long winter.

Simultaneously, it’s a reminder.

A reminder to myself and the readers that my writing ability is not sufficient, and my portrayal of the environment might be inaccurate.

It might even be quite shallow.

Just as the error of ”gloomy winter” could appear anytime, just more hidden, even I didn’t notice it, so please be forgiving.

This is a fictional background, just a name referenced.

A similar example is ”Anna Ilina.”

Elina, from Greek mythology, carries a certain Russian-name quality, but her name isn’t one that can be simultaneously used as both a surname and a forename.

Thus.

This too is a completely fictional family.

I am willing to leave such small lines to remind you that this is a story occurring within the crystal ball.

Crystal balls and stage plays have another feature: a very vague sense of time and space.

”Hamlet,” ”Romeo and Juliet,” ”Swan Lake,” the prince’s revenge, lovers’ pledges of life and death; in reality, might be very lengthy stories, but on stage, several acts can overlay time together.

In the crystal ball, spring, summer, autumn, and winter can coexist.

Many short events happen within a small timeframe, while grand affairs can be elongated infinitely.

The sense of time in this novel is very ambiguous.

Initially, I conceived it as a story around the 2010s, but as I wrote, it turned into 2023, then got revised back.

Thus, certain issues arose.

Of course.

In the plot design itself, there are moments of multi-time-space jumping scenes.

1850’s Kara.

1930’s Cao Xuan.

2020’s Gu Weijing.

The future 50 years later.

Various situations.

(After all, this novel initially had a version about repairing artifacts by going back in time.)

And so, finally.

Many things I felt unskilled at writing and struggles I concealed. I believe that running such a gallery, Gu Tongxiang, who appears to have no skills, must secretly strive a lot. I also believe that during Gu Weijing’s painting sales, he encountered many challenges.

Even those violent incidents and even assassinations.

All these are merely the background hues in the work, written in a vague tone.

Yet they shouldn’t be avoided.

The aspect I devoted most effort to in the first volume was orphanage life—the mud there also seemed like a corner of a crystal ball, or a picture window carved from jade.

The so-called, earnest and hurried glance.

To recognize life’s true nature and still love it is heroism.

The text also features a group of helpless people, Gu Tongxiang’s beloved Hemingway, and ”The Old Man and the Sea,” which I see as a belief in nobility.

Even if you only bring back a fish bone.

Still you fought the sharks.

You are the noble one.

Gu Tongxiang, Gu Weijing, the local photographer, and Uncle Ah Lai... They are willing to be good people, making them strong in life.

Goodness is courageous.

Evil is cowardly.

The first major theme in the text is about an international artistic project.

I recalled the Chinese character paper strip passed to me years ago.

I heard some sayings, supposedly the con artist industry is very ”regionalized,” Chinese people cheat Chinese, English speakers cheat English speakers, Nigerians cheat Nigerians, Kenyans cheat Kenyans, Indians sell Indians.

This is so bad.

Yet I believe, just like the polarities of yin and yang.

These things are infinitely filthy.

Yet art.

Art should act under the bright sun, serving as a hub for positive culture and exchange. The Tower of Babel in myth didn’t get built. But art and painting should be the Tower of Babel for everyone.

Historic sites are the precious heritage of all human civilization.

Thus, such stories could unfold from mural restoration projects, as a symbol of goodness.

Oh.

By the way, theoretically, mural restoration projects occurring in a city like Bagan might be more likely, but do not mind such details.

Finally.

I thought of Koukou’s father, the police officer.

Having gone through a series of absurd, ambiguous, and dramatic experiences.

He realized he was powerless to handle those grand propositions.

He was like the General Leader in ”New Shaolin Five Ancestors.”

Preparation and enthusiasm ready for a grand undertaking, yet before action, just posing before falling directly.

He accepted fate, as long as his daughter was okay, yet unexpectedly... a new turn of events arrived.

Finally, after experiencing a succession of matters, he understood that he was just an ordinary man with limited power.

The turbulent situation isn’t comprehensible nor manageable; he recognized he wasn’t someone who could handle this. So, he reconsidered, gave up former ambitions, and went to the multinational governance office to combat fraud.

This is also my personal interest.

I heard the multinational governance yielded substantial effects.

Beyond the chaotic situation.

If anything could truly bring help, then such matters, based on my shallow viewpoint, wouldn’t be mistaken.

Elder Cao said, ”A thousand Buddhas have a thousand faces, but all Buddhas share one heart.”

Hope is the Buddha’s heart.

No matter how long the winter, there’s always a day of true ending.

The paintings Gu Weijing creates always bring hope to himself and to the children in the orphanage.

Thus.

That’s how it is.

Let’s commence a journey in the time-space disordered, Four Seasons coexisting crystal ball.

May all the suffering in the world, all the winters, truly have a day of ending.

May the world be at peace.

May global harmony prevail.