A Valiant Life

At the Military Compound.

“Auntie, sorry for the trouble. I didn’t really buy anything for all of you this time. I’m a little embarrassed,” said Lin Fan as he entered the house.

Xiu Fang was busy in the kitchen, “What’s the point of the formality? Your presence as a guest here is good enough.” Then, she shouted, “Lil’ Bao, your Uncle Lin is here. Quickly come down and see him. Weren’t you crying for him?”

The kid ran down excitedly from the stairs, “Uncle Lin…”

Although he was still young, his grandparents and parents told him that he was able to run so quickly because of Uncle Lin. Therefore, Lil’ Bao had always seen Lin Fan as his hero.

Lin Fan gently touched his head, “Lil’ Bao, you’ve grown taller.”

Elder Zheng said, “Elder Lin, let’s go and drink some tea. When my wife is done with the food, we can drink some beer.”

Lil’ Bao stuck to Lin Fan wherever he went. He felt that he had this power that could attract kids since every child loved to be with him so much.

In the study room.

Lin Fan looked at one of the artworks on display. It was the one that was given to Elder Zheng by him. It had been mounted on the wall.

Elder Zheng said, “Elder Lin, what are you thinking of drawing? How could you not have the materials to draw it?”

Lin Fan waved his hand, “It’s not that I don’t have it. It’s just that I don’t have a space that is big enough for me to draw. This time, it is going to be the biggest artwork that I’ve ever drawn. It is about 5 meters long…”

*Clatter!*

Elder Zheng spat out his tea, “Elder Lin, what did you say? Five meters long? What are you going to draw? Till this date, the biggest artwork was only 3 meters long and it was a legendary piece that lasted for many decades and generations. Isn’t yours a bit too big?”

“Too big? This is an International Arts Exhibition. We can’t just do average things. Now, do you understand why I decided to come to Beijing? I really can’t find a place that is suitable to draw such a big artwork. Therefore, I decided to come to Beijing to do it. Furthermore, we can keep it after the exhibition. If it is ruined, my efforts would be wasted.”

Zheng Zhong Shan took a deep breath to calm himself down. He didn’t expect Elder Lin to do such a thing. It was shocking.

He was almost shocked to death.

Then, Lin Fan took a piece of paper and a pen to write down what he was going to need to draw the artwork.

“Elder Zheng, look. All of my requests are here. Just prepare them and I can start anytime. However, you have to hurry. These artworks will take up a lot of time. It is really very different from other artworks.”

Zheng Zhong Shan felt that he wasn’t going to be shocked any further. However, when he saw Elder Lin’s requests, he swallowed his saliva forcefully. All ten artworks were going to be grand and big. They weren’t the usual type of artwork. Then, Elder Zheng nodded, “Don’t worry. I will get someone to prepare them tomorrow. Perhaps I’m lucky enough to see a groundbreaking artwork in my lifetime. I’m ecstatic even at the thought of it.”

…

The two of them chatted in the study room for some time.

Xiu Fang said, “Come on down, masters. The food has been prepared.”

Zheng Zhong Shan and Lin Fan discussed about many things in the study room. Even though they mainly discussed about artworks, they also discussed about some daily family activities. A youngster discussing with an elderly man about that would be a rather shocking sight to others.

The others somehow knew about Lin Fan’s arrival in Beijing and they immediately came over in the middle of the night.

Lin Fan was a little helpless. He was a youngster after all. He felt that he would become ‘old’ after interacting with so many elderly men.

Two days later.

At the Chinese Arts Association

“Master Lin…”

“When did Master Lin come to Beijing? Why didn’t you tell us?”

Most of the core members of the association knew Lin Fan and they greeted him warmly. The bulk of the pressure was on Lin Fan for the upcoming International Arts Exhibition.

The others wanted to share the workload with him but they knew that they couldn’t match up to Master Lin’s standards at all.

Some of the other members of the association looked at the youngster that was being surrounded by a group of elderly men and they were curious.

“Who is this youngster? Why is he so welcomed here?”

“You don’t know him?”

“Yeah, why would I know him? I’m already so old, how would I know a youngster like him?”

“You don’t even know Master Lin. Recently, something happened to the association. You should know that, right? The incident about the Youth Chinese Arts Cup.”

“I know about that. Could the youngster be Master Lin?” He looked at the youngster in disbelief. He didn’t expect the youngster to be Master Lin. If he didn’t see him with his own eyes, he probably wouldn’t have believed it.

“Yeah, I heard Master Lin is going to draw really grand artworks for the upcoming International Arts Exhibition. I wonder what it’s going to be like. Everyone is looking forward to it.”

…

Lin Fan nodded at the people to acknowledge them. Although he didn’t remember some of their names, they were really friendly to him and he had to greet them with positivity too.

The core members of the Chinese Arts Association stood by Lin Fan while some of the ordinary members wanted to see what was going on. However, there were too many people and they couldn’t squeeze through the crowd. They could only stand outside to watch.

The crowd came to a spacious room meant for drawing.

The room was packed cleanly and there was a long table placed in it. There were a lot of brushes placed on the table.

Zheng Zhong Shan introduced, “Elder Lin, what do you think? Is there anything that you’re not satisfied with? I got people to prepare this setting after looking at your requests. Our association has the five-meter long sheet of picture scroll.”

Lin Fan walked around and nodded, “It’s really good.”

The other masters that looked at the long table were stunned.

“Why would he need such a long table?”

“I don’t know, I was already thinking about that when I was arranging this. I still can’t figure it out.”

“Is he really going to draw such a long artwork?”

…

Yue Qiu Ju Shi said, “Elder Lin, why did you ask for such a long table?”

Lin Fan smiled mysteriously, “You guys would find out in the future. It is still a secret.”

“Elder Lin, stop hiding it from us.” Yue Qiu Ju Shi felt a little helpless. However, he looked at Elder Zheng’s confident face and he knew that Elder Zheng knew something about it. Then, he wanted to ask Elder Zheng about it.

He really wanted to know what was the final outcome going to be like.