The System Wanted Me to Be a Landlady (GL) - Chapter 35: Brush Holder

Chapter 35: Brush Holder

On the rice-yellow bamboo skin stood two tall mountains among them, with layered peaks and ridges, and on the left and right were several distant mountains. Near the mountains, in a low area, stood a temple in the mountains, faintly visible among the lush trees; the spring water in the mountains gathered into a stream, quietly flowing past the houses at the foot of the mountain…

Without ink or brush to paint, the reason Tang Haogen could see it so clearly was that this layer of rice-yellow bamboo skin formed a deep and light contrast with the amber-colored bamboo flesh revealed after scraping away the surrounding bamboo skin.

And on the bamboo skin, the different landscapes used techniques from thick to thin, from light to lighter, to highlight the layered relationships, without making the mountains, waters, and trees feel chaotic and complex.

Even though it was not drawn with ink or brush, Tang Haogen still marveled at the brushwork of this.

This was the first “painting” on bamboo he had ever seen in his life, a landscape map, and at the same time, the first carving work he had seen using the leave-green engraving method to carve a landscape map on bamboo.

“Where did this come from?” Tang Haogen subconsciously thought this was not carved by Song Yuyan. Looking again at the side, it seemed there were small characters. He carefully identified them. “Li Cheng, Sunny Peaks and Quiet Temple Map, engraved by Lu Fang…”

“Haha, I thought it was carved by Song Dalang. Turns out it was carved by someone named Lu Fang!”

Tang Zhi did not know what her brother was thinking, why he let out a sigh of relief again. She snatched the brush holder back and said, “This is carved by Song Yuyan, but she said this map was drawn by a great painter named Li Cheng. That great master has already passed away, only some of his paintings remain in the world.”

Tang Haogen was still shocked that this was carved by Song Yuyan. He was unwilling to believe this fact no matter what. “How is that possible? How could Song Dalang know bamboo carving? Look, it says above that a person named Lu Fang engraved it. Did he buy this back and fool you?!”

Only then did Tang Zhi notice these four small characters engraved like seals. She secretly guessed: could this be her real name?

But she could not tell her brother the truth. She only said, “Perhaps this is her courtesy name? If Big Brother does not believe it, then just treat it as if she bought it from someone!”

The siblings did not argue further on the topic of who carved the brush holder. But Tang Haogen, seeing something he liked, could not help crowding next to his sister. “A Zhi, lately has the family had any worries that need your brother to handle?”

“No, the family is doing quite well. The soil methods for killing pests are all in the testing stage. Big Brother, just go to the yamen to do your duty with peace of mind.” Tang Zhi wandered around the room as she answered.

“What are you looking for? Big Brother will help you!” Tang Haogen crowded up again eagerly.

Tang Zhi searched around and found several hairpins, then stuffed them into the brush holder, and covered it with the lid.

Seeing this, Tang Haogen inwardly cried out that his sister was wasting such a good brush holder. So he said, “A Zhi, this is a brush holder. How can you use it to store hairpins?”

“But I only have one writing brush for calculating accounts on ordinary days. Putting just one brush in it is too wasteful. It is better to put my hairpins in it, so I can hide them well.”

“Your broken hairpins are not worth much. Do they need to be hidden? Besides, in this room of yours, there is only you and Little Leaf. Are you not treating her like a thief to guard against?”

Tang Zhi said, “I am not guarding against her!”

Tang Haogen took the brush holder over, took out her hairpins while saying, “But what if she thinks that way? Listen to Big Brother. Big Brother will handle it for you.”

Tang Zhi finally came around. “Big Brother, you would not be wanting this brush holder yourself, would you?”

The upright gentleman Clerk Tang: “Would Big Brother be the kind of person to rob his little sister’s things? A scholar…”

Before his words finished, seeing Tang Zhi about to snatch the brush holder back, he hurriedly reached out to block her, thickening his face to admit it. “A Zhi, let us make a deal. You transfer this brush holder to Big Brother, and Big Brother will compensate you with a good gift.”

Tang Zhi rarely saw her brother like an object so much. Although she had already agreed in her heart, she still wanted to tease him a bit. So she said, “This was given by Song Dalang. If I turn around and give it to you, would that not be good?”

Clerk Tang was also a bit troubled. But he thought for a moment and said, “How about this? Big Brother will pay money to ask Song Dalang to buy another identical brush holder for me. Or ask him to tell me where that artisan named Lu Fang is, and I will go buy it myself!”

“What if it is very expensive?” Tang Zhi asked again. “If it is very expensive, would Big Brother still be willing?”

Clerk Tang, who had no money on him, became sorrowful, his expression like an eggplant beaten by frost, all wilted. Tang Zhi did not want to tease him anymore and smilingly pushed the brush holder over. “Big Brother, if you want it, just take it. Song Yuyan also said that if I feel it has no use, I can give it to you to use. It would not be good to let it gather dust.”

Clerk Tang beamed with joy, happily holding the brush holder to examine it. He said, “A Zhi, you say, what kind of person is this Lu Fang after all, to be able to carve such an elegant bamboo carving! No, I must go find Song Dalang and have him tell me how he obtained this bamboo carving!”

“So Big Brother also likes bamboo carving?”

Clerk Tang shook his head. “I do not simply like bamboo carving. Rather, the technique of this leave-green carving is very unique and innovative. Before this, in Mingzhou, I had not seen a single leave-green carving that could be so novel and bold! You know, the bamboo skin is just such a thin layer, but this person actually managed to do deep and shallow carvings on this one layer. It can truly be called a divine skill!”

Only then did Tang Zhi know that the work Song Yuyan carved actually had such value!

No wonder her big brother refused to believe it was carved by Song Yuyan. But she also did not plan to make her big brother believe it was Song Yuyan’s work right now. Anyway, after some time, he would see the reality clearly.

The young Clerk Tang really ran to ask Song Yuyan about this person “Lu Fang.” Song Yuyan smiled and said, “This is the courtesy name my grandfather gave me. Because my full name is Yuyan, my childhood name is Yam. The ancient texts say, the mountains have spiritual medicines, recorded in the immortal prescriptions. Shave off a few slices of jade, steep in the fragrance of a hundred flowers. Hence, taking the two characters Lu Fang as my courtesy name.”

Whether it was her jade carving master’s grandfather, or the bamboo carving Zhejiang school representative teacher, or even her mother who changed from a ceramic artist to a merchant, they all had similar courtesy names like this. This was equivalent to an artist’s name in the handicraft art industry.

Clerk Tang’s head felt like it had been hammered, dizzy and muddled: how was that possible? Song Dalang was actually the person who carved this work?!

“But your grandfather did not pass away very early—”

Song Yuyan had to seriously start fooling him. “At the time my father married, Grandfather had already thought of my name and courtesy name. My father told my mother, so even though Grandfather and Father are no longer here, the name still gets passed down.”

Clerk Tang slapped his forehead and said, “I was muddled.”

He asked again how Song Yuyan knew these skills. Song Yuyan’s wording was exactly the same as what she had told Tang Zhi back then. After he heard it, he was still confused. He went home in a daze and saw his sister seemed to feel Song Yuyan had no changes at all. Slowly, he also calmed down.

“Song Dalang is still that Song Dalang. Except for no longer doing rascally things and having skills now, there are no other changes.” Clerk Tang said to himself.

Thinking this way, he felt relieved and treated Song Yuyan as before. But he did carry his brush holder to the yamen every day to do his duty.

_____

In the blink of an eye, it was mid-August. The coastal areas of Jiangnan also entered the season with many typhoons. But from June until now, only one typhoon had passed through Mingzhou.

Fortunately, the typhoon was not strong. Only some simply built sheds were blown down by the wind, without causing any casualties. Instead, the strong winds and heavy rain caused some impact on the crops. For this, the county magistrate led his subordinates to the countryside to offer condolences again. Tang Haogen thus had to go out early and return late every day.

Besides her brother being very busy all day, Tang Zhi and her sister were also very busy. The pest control methods Song Yuyan found from agricultural books had already shown initial results. Families who originally worried that the Tang family’s vegetables were sprinkled with lime and unhealthy to eat saw that she finally no longer sprinkled lime, so they came back to buy vegetables from her.

Some people inquired, “Miss Tang, before you used lime to make the vegetables grow so well. Now without it, why are they still so good?”

Tang Zhi smiled mysteriously. “I naturally found a way to replace the lime…”

Although she no longer sprinkled lime in the fields, no one dared to steal vegetables anymore, because everyone often saw her spraying something in the vegetable garden. They did not know what it was. What if it was something like lime that would leave a special smell? Would they not be found out like Chen Erming?

No one thought these unknown liquids were any poison, after all. They had all eaten the Tang family’s vegetables so many times and had not seen any discomfort in their bodies.

Later, vegetable farmers often came to the door to consult Tang Zhi. Tang Zhi then said this was a method Song Yuyan found from books, and had them go find Song Yuyan.

No need to mention how complicated people’s thoughts were after knowing it was Song Yuyan giving advice to Tang Zhi. To make their own vegetables suffer less from insect damage, they all hardened their scalps and went to the Song house to seek help.

Song Yuyan originally wanted to tell them directly, but Tang Zhi held her back and said, “They have requests of you, but their attitude toward you is not much better than before. So that is not a sincere attitude of seeking help from you. You do not owe them anything, so there is no need to be so great, because they will not remember your goodness either!”

Song Yuyan originally did not mind these things. But although she could get along well with Meng Shuituan, Bai Can, Du Yan, and others, that was all based on the premise that they originally did not know Song Dalang’s character well. As for how to change the neighbors’ impressions and attitudes toward her, she was far inferior to Tang Zhi.

Since Tang Zhi kindly helped her, she went along with Tang Zhi’s intention and first gave everyone the cold shoulder.

Everyone originally thought that since they personally came to show goodwill to Song Yuyan, the Song Dalang who always had no connections should immediately tell them the method for removing pests. But why was Song Dalang still acting like “I do not understand what you are saying”?

They also wanted to give Song Yuyan the cold shoulder, but this person was busy with bamboo weaving and grass weaving every day and did not put them in her heart at all. They immediately felt like they had received tons of hurt… Gradually, some people could not hold on. They brought some eggs or other gifts to the Song house to “humbly seek teaching.”

Song Yuyan said, “This is after all a method I found from books, so I cannot tell you for free. Like this, I do not want your eggs. You just need to buy a few baskets from me, and I can tell you as a gift.”

Song Yuyan also did not want to make herself seem like she had to be begged for help. Some people might not mind, but petty people would feel she was deliberately making them lose face. So using the method of cash on delivery made both sides equal. This way, the other party would not feel they lost face, and Song Yuyan could also promote her own goods.

As soon as the other party heard it, they indeed let out a sigh of relief in their heart, and getting along with Song Yuyan also did not have that awkward and strong resistant feeling.

Song Yuyan did not say to buy how many baskets, so he just meant it and bought three: one basket, one bamboo hamper, and one bamboo sieve.

Song Yuyan indeed kept her promise and told him the method of pounding cucumber vines into juice and spraying it on the vegetable fields.

Song Yuyan also was not worried this person would tell it out. After all, this was a secret recipe he “bought” with money. So when others saw him being secretive and unwilling to say, their hearts itched very much and they could not help coming to find Song Yuyan.

In this way, one after another, quite a few people “bought” the secret recipe from Song Yuyan.

Of course, as more and more people knew this secret recipe, there were always some who could not help telling it out. Although this made Song Yuyan lose some income, she also did not really plan to get rich by selling recipes.

Plus, the Tang family had a patriotic Clerk Tang. After he saw that the methods in the books really worked, he recommended this method to the county magistrate.

That county magistrate saw him speaking so firmly, so he went to flip through an agricultural book and found that after searching for half a day, he could not find the method Song Yuyan mentioned. He also had no patience, thinking if this matter succeeded, it was his achievement; if it failed, it was Tang Haogen’s responsibility. He had no loss either way, so during the countryside consolation, he conveniently promoted it.

In this way, using these methods to control pests was no longer any secret.

Although no one would specially come to “buy” the secret recipe from Song Yuyan anymore, some vegetable farmers would still come to the door specially to praise a sentence. “Hey, the method Song Dalang you said really works! These are all from books, right? Turns out Song Dalang you can read! Looks like one still needs to read more books. I also think of a way to let my family’s child learn a few characters…”

Song Yuyan, being praised, would not show a proud expression. This appearance of not being surprised by honor or disgrace again made quite a few people develop good feelings toward her.

Plus, after Lin Yongming decided to deepen cooperation with her, he promoted her reputation everywhere. Her grass weaving and bamboo weaving were also known by more and more people, and the prices of the finished products sold were a bit higher than ordinary people’s. For a time, in Xingxian Ward, rumors spread of her prodigal son turning back and reforming.

As for the reason for repentance—although some said it was because Song Dalang dreamed of her deceased mother being very disappointed in her, so she decided to repent. But after everyone witnessed the changes in interactions between the Tang and Song families, they thought it was more likely that Miss Tang changed Song Dalang.

So every time a child at home was disobedient, the neighbors would go to the Tang house to ask Tang Zhi for help. “Miss Tang, you can scold Song Dalang into true repentance. I hope you also help scold my child, to make him obedient…”

Tang Zhi: “?”

When did her scolding have this effect? Would it not be passed later that her scolding could cure all diseases? How did she feel that this group of neighbors’ thoughts were becoming more and more like Song Yuyan’s—wildly imaginative and nonsensical?

For this, she would righteously refuse. “Auntie, what are you saying? I am such a gentle and virtuous person. How could I scold people! If the child is disobedient, just beat him once, and it will be fine. If you need a rattan strip, I can lend it to you.”

The neighbor auntie who had seen Tang Zhi disciplining Song Yuyan: “…”

Gentle and virtuous? She said it as if it were real!