Chapter 356 — The Old Man Sells Paintings for a Living
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 4 of 4
Shen Mu took the Deaf Elder's hand and walked him out, saying with a smile, "Grandpa Deaf, now that we have money, let us buy the finest cloth and have a few new suits of clothes made for you, then eat a good meal, and afterward go back to see the Steward. And one more thing: on the boat in the Land of No Sorrow I saw a way of painting utterly different from yours. Yours is painting the world, making all things walk out of the painting; but the painting way of the Land of No Sorrow is a world within the painting."
The Deaf Elder had not been willing to go with him, but at these words his heart moved at once. "A world within the painting? There is such a way of painting? Tell me in detail!"
Shen Mu went to a cloth shop, bought the finest fabric, cut it himself and made several sets of clothes for the Deaf Elder; then he drew out the Butcher's Knife, shaved the old man's beard and trimmed his hair, dressing the old fellow up neat and fresh. Only then did he bring them back to the Grand Academy, saying, "Grandpa Deaf, if you can combine the painting way of the world within the painting, you will surely advance another step. This time the Imperial Preceptor Jingping has had me forge the Sun-Shooting Divine Cannon, and it needs Grandpa Deaf's brush as well — first paint a Sun-Shooting Divine Cannon!"