name

June in Nancheng seems to be hotter than usual this year.

In the elegant Chinese-style courtyard, there are continuous green shades, which block the scorching light, but cannot block the hot and humid water vapor in the air.

Shu Qingmo retreated to a corner of the courtyard, quietly unbuttoned the first button of her shirt, exhaling the boredom in her heart unbearably.

He really didn't like such an occasion.

Shu Guohua passed away due to illness last night, and the Shu family built a mourning hall in front of the Buddhist hall in their courtyard overnight.

Not surprisingly, Shu Qingmo was the last of the Shu family to know the news.

If it wasn't for the content about him in Shu Guohua's will, Fang Wanrou probably wouldn't have informed him of this "outsider" at all.

"Mr. Shu."

The old nanny of the Shu family came to Shu Qingmo, bowed slightly, and kept a proper distance.

Shu Qingmo remembered this nanny surnamed Wang. He used to live in this yard for a while, and Nanny Wang would call him "Third Young Master" affectionately at that time.

"My wife said that there will be a large number of guests coming soon, please go to the room to avoid it." Nanny Wang's eyes stayed on the blue-gray ground, her attitude was neither humble nor overbearing.

Shu Qingmo looked in Fang Wanrou's direction after hearing the words.

More than ten years have passed, and the years have not left too many marks on Mrs. Shu.She was wearing a black velvet cheongsam, showing her beautiful figure, her jet-black hair was combed behind her head in a dignified and elegant bun, silently demonstrating her identity as the hostess.

While Shu Qingmo was looking at Fang Wanrou, Fang Wanrou was also looking at him.His eyes were as cold as ever, as if he was urging him to obey the nanny's words and stay away from this meeting place.

Think about it too, no woman would wait to see an illegitimate child born to her husband and another woman.

Shu Qingmo calmly withdrew his gaze, and with his thin memory, walked along the corridor to the entrance of the hall of the main building.

The entrance hall is the same as before, with calligraphy and paintings of famous masters hanging.

The Shu family is a family of painting craftsmen. Shu Qingmo's grandfather, whom he had never met, once presided over the restoration of national key famous paintings, and enjoyed a very high reputation in the field of ancient calligraphy and painting collections.

When Shu Guohua was the head of the family, although his craftsmanship was not as good as that of his late father, he gained a firm foothold in the art world in the south of the Yangtze River with his superb communication skills.

However, due to unforeseen circumstances, Shu Guohua died of illness when he was less than fifty, and the carefully raised son and daughter were only 24 to [-] years old.

It's no wonder Fang Wanrou's face showed no trace of sadness when her husband passed away.The Shu family's huge family business is all supported by her alone, she can only cheer up and be the head of the family.

All the servants at home went to the Buddhist hall, but the main building was empty.

Shu Qingmo didn't know where to go to pass the time, so he simply came to the framed room in the corner of the second floor.

In the spacious framing room, there are dedicated framing workbenches and complete framing tools. In addition, there are many paintings created by the Shu family on the walls.

The craft of mounting has high requirements for craftsmen, not only the basic mounting techniques, but also calligraphy and traditional Chinese painting.

Shu Qingmo roughly glanced at the paintings and calligraphy on the wall, they were ordinary and lackluster.

His eyes quickly fell on the painting table by the window, where there was an unfinished ink painting.

This painting should be done casually, the ink color is uneven, and the smudge is not in place. It can be seen that the painter's heart is impetuous and his level is not high.

Judging from the composition, the painting should be the scenery of the courtyard outside the window, but from the window of the framed room, it happens to be the courtyard in front of the Buddhist hall.

At this time, the funeral ceremony had already begun. A Taoist priest wearing a yellow robe shook the soul-calling bell in his hand, chanted words, and danced with his body.

Fang Wanrou brought Shu Mengfu and Shu Yichen to kneel aside, surrounded by the guests, some were mourning silently, some were sobbing.

A sad atmosphere enveloped the entire courtyard, but Shu Qingmo, who was standing behind the window on the second floor, watched all this indifferently, faintly feeling that the scene downstairs was a bit funny.

The mourning hall is at least in front of the Buddhist hall, no matter what, you should find a monk to chant scriptures, right?

Thinking of this, Shu Qingmo suddenly picked up the brush on the painting table on a whim.

Shu Qingmo's right hand was injured before, until now the middle finger and the bones of the palm are still covered with steel nails, making it impossible to do fine work.

Originally, he was very talented in traditional Chinese painting when he was a child, and because of this, he briefly won the favor of Shu Guohua.

However, after the injury, his right hand could not hold the brush steadily, so he had to give up traditional Chinese painting and switch to oil painting, because oil painting only needs the thumb and index finger to hold the brush holder.

Now Shu Qingmo is a college student majoring in oil painting at the South China Academy of Fine Arts, but secretly, he has been practicing meticulous painting with his left hand (note), and his level has already surpassed that of then.

Painting oil paintings with his right hand and Chinese paintings with his left hand, this is Shu Qingmo's specialty and also his secret.

So to be precise, at this moment in front of the painting table by the window, Shu Qingmo picked up the brush with his left hand.

A few dark iron lines soon appeared on the rice paper, vividly outlining the exaggerated posture of the yellow-robed Taoist priest.

Shu Qingmo skillfully used the Langhao fine brush in his hand to highlight the key points on the yellow robe with stippling techniques, and then carefully drew the soul calling bell in the Taoist's hand.

And just when Shu Qingmo was painting vigorously, the window diagonally opposite to his left was suddenly pushed open, and a man with a cigarette and a lighter in his hand and an irritable face appeared in front of him.

The framed room is located at the corner of the whole building. If you regard this part of the corner as the capital letter "l", then the vertical line is the long corridor, and the horizontal line is the framed room.

Shu Qingmo could clearly see every move of the man across from him, and conversely, that man could also clearly see that he was drawing.

Shu Qingmo put down the writing brush in his hand almost reflexively. Interestingly, the other party also reflexively put away his impatient expression and the cigarette in his hand.

Apart from the well-fitted figure in the suit and the bright and star-browed face, Shu Qingmo's first impression of this man was that he must be very good at disguising.It's just a blink of an eye, and the temperament on his body is completely different.

"Hello." Yan Zonglang spoke first, and nodded slightly to Shu Qingmo.His tone was calm and steady, his eyes swept across the painting behind the window frame, and then returned to Shu Qingmo's face.

"Hello." Shu Qingmo nodded politely, and calmly pushed the brush at hand away.

According to local funeral customs, relatives wear black armbands and guests wear white armbands.

Shu Qingmo saw that the other person was wearing the same black cloth on his arm, and suspected that this person was a distant relative of the Shu family.Because if someone is familiar with this house, they should not come to this corner to smoke.

He kindly reminded: "Go back to the place where you went upstairs just now, turn right and walk to the end, there is an open-air balcony, you can go there to get some fresh air."

Yan Zonglang followed Shu Qingmo's words and looked back at the direction he looked at, then said "Thank you" to Shu Qingmo, closed the corridor window and turned to leave.

Firecrackers were set off downstairs, and the crackling sound made Shu Qingmo's eardrums numb.

Green smoke filled the courtyard, and the strong smell of gunpowder wafted to the second floor. Whether it was hearing, sight or smell, Shu Qingmo was extremely uncomfortable.

He wanted to close the window of the framed room, but he didn't want to be seen by the people downstairs, so he had to cover his mouth and nose with his right hand.

He picked up the brush again, drew a pair of earphones on the head of the Taoist priest, and drew a mask on his face, wondering why he was not the magic brush Ma Liang, and everything he drew could become a real thing.

After a long while, the sound of firecrackers finally stopped.

The green smoke scattered into the air, and his vision widened. Shu Qingmo held back for a long time, and finally he could let go of his breath, but at this moment, he suddenly smelled a smell that didn't belong to the framed room.

It was a faint woody aroma, like cool sandalwood, but not so pure, it seemed to be mixed with a low-key leather scent.

Shu Qingmo suddenly realized that it was the smell of perfume, he swished his head, and then saw Yan Zonglang who was supposed to go to the open-air balcony to get some fresh air.

"Why are you here?" Shu Qingmo hastily put down the paintbrush in her hand, and asked the people behind her with unkind eyes.

The framed room is not a private space, anyone can come in.But Shu Qingmo still felt somewhat offended by walking quietly behind others like this.

"I knocked on the door." Yan Zonglang's tone was still very calm, and he explained unhurriedly, "But you don't seem to have heard it."

All right, the sound of firecrackers below is so loud that Shu Qingmo must be able to hear it.

"Are you from the Shu family?" Yan Zonglang glanced at the funny Taoist priest on the drawing paper, and with a slight smile on his lips, he looked at Shu Qingmo and asked.

"No." Shu Qingmo subconsciously gave a negative answer.He knew that this person had seen him draw with his left hand, and although he wasn't afraid to expose it, he didn't want to cause trouble either.

Without giving the other party a chance to continue asking questions, Shu Qingmo turned around and left the mounting room.

After the ceremony, Fang Wanrou sent a servant to call Shu Qingmo to the study on the first floor.

This study was the place where Shu Guohua worked before his death. The tables, chairs and bookcases used were all carved from golden nanmu, and the price was extremely expensive.

The cabinets on the entire wall are filled with ancient books, calligraphy and paintings, and there are many antique devices on the shelves. Just in this room alone, it is not difficult to see how rich the Shu family is.

"This is Lawyer Li."

Fang Wanrou introduced the middle-aged man sitting next to her. Besides Shu Qingmo, there were also her eldest daughter Shu Mengfu and second son Shu Yichen, but her eyes were always fixed on Shu Qingmo. The only person here who doesn't know Lawyer Li is Shu Qingmo.

"Next, Attorney Li will read the will."

Shu Qingmo did not expect that he was the first person mentioned in the will.

Shu Guohua left him some calligraphy and paintings and 500 million deposits, while the rest of the property was shared equally between Fang Wanrou and his two children.

"How about it, isn't my dad generous enough to you?" Shu Yichen looked at Shu Qingmo jokingly, his expression was not at all like someone who just lost his father.

Shu Qingmo didn't express his opinion immediately, he always felt that the matter was very strange.

If Shu Guohua was really so generous, why didn't he treat him better while he was alive?

Sure enough, Lawyer Li changed the subject: "As for the inheritance of the youngest son Shu Qingmo, the will clearly stated the inheritance requirements."

Shu Qingmo frowned slightly: "A request?"

Lawyer Li said in a business-like manner: "We need the approval of my wife, Fang Wanrou."

In the quiet basement study, every word that Lawyer Li read was resounding.As soon as he finished speaking, Shu Qingmo heard a sneer, which came from Shu Yichen who was gloating.

Fang Wanrou didn't show any expression. She looked like she was taking an elevator. She knew how many floors the elevator would lead to, and all she had to do was wait for the process to end.

As for Shu Mengfu, she was much more restrained than Shu Yichen, but she also looked at Shu Qingmo unabashedly, as if looking at an overconfident ant.

Shu Qingmo lowered her eyes and chuckled lightly at herself.

In fact, Shu Guohua didn't need to go through such troubles, even if he didn't leave any inheritance to Shu Qingmo, Shu Qingmo wouldn't think it strange.On the contrary, it was he who left an inheritance that made Shu Qingmo feel puzzled.

The reason why Shu Qingmo came back to Shu's family to attend the funeral today was entirely out of curiosity—curious how Shu Guohua would think of him before he died.

It turned out to be like the old saying, curiosity killed the cat, he really shouldn't be involved in other people's inheritance.

"No need." Shu Qingmo stood up, with a calm expression and a calm tone, "I don't need his inheritance."

Meticulous painting: One of the techniques of traditional Chinese painting, which requires delicacy and realism.It can be simply understood as more troublesome to draw.