The Yin family was preparing to celebrate the 60th birthday of the old man on June 25th, and they sent out invitations at the beginning of the month.
Chengxin Hall received two letters; one was for Yin Hui and Wei Luo, and the other was for King Yan.
In fact, Yin Yong knew that King Yan would definitely not come to the birthday banquet, but he still had to send an invitation. Wei Luo took the invitation to his father.
King Yan read the letter and said with a smile, “I’ll ask someone to prepare a birthday gift, and you can take it with you when the time comes.”
Wei Luo agreed.
King Yan looked at his son and asked curiously, “What birthday gift have you prepared?”
Wei Luo replied, “Mrs. Yin said that the old man likes to drink wine, so I asked someone to buy two jars. Besides, I was planning to give a painting of a pine and a crane.”
King Yan was good at martial arts, but he also liked painting, so he became interested when he heard this, saying, “Whose painting?”
He guessed that his son must have bought a painting by a famous artist.
Facing his father’s questioning gaze, Wei Luo’s expression changed, and he said with shame, “Gifts are precious, and I was going to paint by myself.”
King Yan raised his eyebrows slightly, saying, “Do you know how to paint?” The five sons each had their own strengths. King Yan’s impression of his third child was that he was cold-tempered and good at Kung Fu, but he didn’t know that he could paint.
Wei Luo said modestly, “I understand a little bit.”
“After the painting is finished, show it to me.”
The son dared to send the painting, which showed that he had some confidence in his painting skills, so King Yan wanted to see it. In case his son overestimated his own painting skills, King Yan had to pay attention even more, so as not to embarrass him by sending gifts out.
After discussing the invitation, Wei Luo went back to Chengxin Hall, stayed in the study before dinner, and went to the study for another quarter of an hour after dinner.
“Are you busy recently?” After lying on the bed, Yin Hui asked casually. There was no war, and he was not busy in the guardhouse. Yet Wei Luo rarely stayed too late in the study.
Wei Luo looked at her, and suddenly remembered that one year his mother mentioned that Yin Shi had taught her about painting.
“Do you know how to paint?” Wei Luo asked.
Yin Hui asked in confusion, “What are you talking about?”
Wei Luo mentioned the birthday gift he had prepared, meaning that if Yin Hui understood, she could judge whether the layout of the painting was appropriate as an outsider.
What he didn’t tell his wife was that he had already painted half of it before, and he was quite satisfied at first, but when his father suddenly said that he wanted to see it, Wei Luo felt that his painting had many shortcomings and had to be replaced.
Yin Hui only thought that Wei Luo attached great importance to the birthday gift to her grandfather, and it was rare for the guy who was usually high and proud to treat her grandfather like this. Yin Hui was very happy and said with a smile, “I can’t paint, but I have seen a lot of paintings since I was young. It’s okay to help you see it.”
The two made an appointment to go to the study room together tomorrow evening.
Because it was the hot summer season, Wei Luo came back the next day and took a shower first.
Yin Hui was already waiting in the study room, the four treasures of the study were placed on the desk, and there was also a plate of green grapes just brought up by the maids, each one as big as a quail egg, crystal clear.
There were footsteps outside, Yin Hui looked up and saw that Wei Luo had changed into a tea-white robe; he seldom wore such light-colored clothes, but at that moment, he appeared a bit elegant, very much in agreement with what he was going to do next.
Yin Hui handed him a grape.
The green color of the grapes made her fingertips as white as jade, which was very beautiful.
Wei Luo’s eyes followed her hands and fell on her body. That day, Yin Hui was wearing a white robe embroidered with green lotus, which was elegant and light.
After eating the grapes, Yin Hui rubbed the ink quietly. Wei Luo picked up the paintbrush and sketched the composition he had imagined the previous night on the rice paper with a few simple strokes.
Nearby were pines and cranes, and in the distance were clouds and mountains.
Yin Hui stood beside Wei Luo, watched intently for a while, pointed to the ink shadow painting the sea of clouds and the mountains, and said, “I think this should be left blank, just draw the outline of the mountain line next to the tree, highlighting the pine and the mountains.”
Wei Luo followed her suggestion and thought for a while, then nodded and said, “It should be like this.”
Then he laid out a new piece of rice paper, reimagining the shape of the pine tree and the posture of the crane.
Once people were immersed in something, they would forget the time.
Yin Hui reminded him, “It’s time for dinner.”
Wei Luo didn’t lift his head, saying, “You go, I’ll go when I’m hungry.”
Yin Hui then went to accompany the children.
Xiao Heng sat next to his mother, and Xiao Xun, who was more than seven months old, sat in his special dining chair and began to eat some porridge.
“Mom, where’s dad?” Xiao Heng asked.
Yin Hui said with a smile, “Dad is painting, and he will give it to your great-grandfather as a birthday gift when he finishes it.”
Xiao Heng’s birthday gift had already been prepared. It was a performance.
But when he heard that his father was going to send a painting, Xiao Heng also wanted to give a painting.
Yin Hui: “Then you can draw a birthday peach.”
It was the simplest.
After the meal, Xiao Heng followed his mother to the study in the backyard to learn how to draw peaches. He practiced until dark, Yin Hui asked the little guy to go to bed first, and continue practicing the next day.
Both father and son wanted to give paintings as a gift, so Yin Hui also wanted to draw something. After much deliberation, she decided to draw a picture of longevity peaches with Xiao Heng. She painted other scenes, and finally asked Xiao Heng to add longevity peaches.
So during the day, the father and son went on errands or studied, and Yin Hui pondered her birthday peach painting.