Among the people who came this time were two old men and a burly man who looked quite old. Liu Laoliu accompanied them.
I hurriedly stepped forward and bowed. I knew that these recent groups of people were all highly educated intellectuals who cared about this, so I wanted to make a good impression first.
Liu Laoliu pointed at me and said, "Gentlemen, this is Xiaoqiang."
An elderly man in the room returned my greeting with a friendly smile, while another elderly man seemed lost in thought, a beat slower than him. The burly man also had some gray in his temples, probably in his fifties, though by today's standards he would only be considered middle-aged. He tapped his hand on the table and simply nodded at me.
Even though I've served hundreds of clients, I'm still curious. After all, these are all household names. Being shocked so many times hasn't made me numb; in fact, it's kind of addictive. I smiled ingratiatingly and asked the first old man, "What's your name?"
The old man was very well-mannered. He was clearly the kind of scholar who was polite to everyone but had his own integrity. He said with a smile, "My surname is Yan, and my courtesy name is Qingchen." Liu Laoliu said to me, "That's Yan Zhenqing." Then he said to Yan Zhenqing, "Master Yan, this is just a commoner. Don't talk to him about his courtesy name in the future."
I was slightly surprised and said, "Yan Zhenqing? Liu Gongquan has been here for several days now." I didn't expect that I could gather "Yan's sinews and Liu's bones" so quickly.
I assumed these two were equally famous and must be quite familiar with each other, but to my surprise, Yan Zhenqing asked blankly, "Liu Gongquan, who is that?"
Liu Laoliu gave me a disdainful look before saying, "There's a difference of several decades between them."
What's the point of putting things together when you've never even seen them? History really doesn't take a few decades seriously.
Just like last time, upon hearing Yan Zhenqing's name, another old man stood up and respectfully bowed to him, saying very reservedly, "I didn't expect Yan Lugong to be here. I have been impolite."
He looked older than Yan Zhenqing, which meant he must have become famous even later. I said, somewhat troubled, "In this place, we only go by age, not dynasty. You can address each other as brothers from now on—may I ask your surname?"
The second old man, however, was engrossed in chatting with Yan Zhenqing, and seemed to be a passionate calligraphy enthusiast as well. When I asked him a question, he simply said "Zhang Zeduan".
Zhang Zeduan, "Along the River During the Qingming Festival"!
Even I, a complete novice, know this. To be honest, almost everyone who's come these days is a star, a shining beacon in the annals of history. But even stars are different. Wu Daozi and Yan Liben are praised for their unparalleled skill; their contribution lies more in pioneering a new school of thought. Zhang Zeduan's "Along the River During the Qingming Festival," however, is a masterpiece in every sense. With just this one painting, he has already overshadowed the brilliance of all other Northern Song Dynasty painters of his time.
I stood there in a daze for a while, noticing that Zhang Dashen wasn't really paying attention to me. Although this old man was quite good at painting, I found him to be a bit dull, far less accommodating and easygoing than Yan Zhenqing.
I had no choice but to turn my head to the last, middle-aged man. He was tall, with dark reddish-brown skin, long hair cascading over his shoulders, and bright, piercing eyes, though the occasional glints in them seemed a little too sharp and cunning. If it were like last time, with one writing and one painting, the remaining one should be a doctor, but this old man didn't resemble Sun Simiao at all, much less Li Shizhen. Then, looking at the hand he was idly tapping on the table, it dawned on me: he was most likely a musician.
I bent down and asked him, "What is your name?"
The man was playing an aggressive drumbeat on the table. He glanced at me and said, "Wu Sangui."
Chapter Seventeen: The Battle of Paintings
Upon hearing this name, I gasped and instinctively asked, "Wu Sangui? Is it the Wu Sangui of Chen Yuanyuan?"
Wu Sangui's face showed displeasure, and he said in a deep voice, "It's Wu Sangui's Chen Yuanyuan!"
That old traitor! He's so arrogant! I really want to punch him!
He probably wanted to punch me too, staring at my face and scanning it up and down. I pulled Liu Laoliu aside and said, "What's he doing here?"
Liu Laoliu peeled a pistachio and said, "He is a celebrity after all. You can't expect him to be completely spotless. Besides, if he were completely spotless, he wouldn't be human."
"You can't just send a traitor to me out of the blue! Besides, Wu Sangui has many enemies!"
Liu Laoliu popped a pistachio into his mouth: "So this is a test from above. Why didn't you complain when I helped you get 5 million?"
I protested, "The original agreement was that we would only serve clients and follow the contract. I served the Liangshan heroes, and I also served the Four Heavenly Kings, even though they weren't under my jurisdiction. Now Wu Sangui has appeared, and He Tiandou is going to pull Li Zicheng out of some corner. What am I supposed to do? This is a unilateral breach of contract, and you should give me more compensation."
Liu Laoliu said slowly, "Then we don't need to wait for He Tiandou. I'll bring Chen Jinnan down from upstairs first. According to the rules, you have to take charge of that, right?"
I:"……"
Seeing that I was speechless, Liu Laoliu patted my shoulder and said earnestly, "Time is tight and the task is urgent, it's normal to complain, but you can't slack off. Actually, I've helped you a lot. There really is Chen Jinnan, but I arranged for him to come next year, so your burden will be lighter. So, the organization not only trusts you, but has also been ensuring the smooth progress of your work..."
I said, "Judging from your tone, are you asking for a kickback? Why don't you take this cookie with the copy of Zhao Bailian and eat it?"
Finally, I remembered something and said to Liu Laoliu, "Oh, by the way, I have something important to ask you..."
Liu Laoliu interrupted me, saying, "It's not time to collect our wages yet!"
"That's not it!"
"I'll pay you back the money I borrowed next month."
"...It's not this one either!"
"Oh? Then go ahead and ask."
I suppressed the intense urge to strangle him and said, "Why would a horse remember its master from a past life?"
Liu Laoliu said naturally, "That's normal. Horses, cows, cats, and dogs are all spiritual animals, what people call having heavy yin energy. Although not all of them can remember what they were in their past lives, compared to other animals, the probability of them retaining memories from several lifetimes is very high. People say that an old horse knows the way, but why do some young horses also know the way? Why are some cats and dogs that are always docile suddenly attacking certain people?"
I asked in horror, "Because they had a grudge against those people in their past lives?"
Liu Laoliu nodded and said, "Yes, of course—it could also be because of illness."
Me: "..." I suddenly remembered that for a few years I was particularly prone to dog bites, averaging four bites per bite, making me a local oddity, on par with our city's GDP growth rate. My heart sank. Was I a dog meat seller in my past life? Even if not, I should still get a rabies vaccine. The incubation period can be up to 20 years; I don't even know if it's still effective now. I'm really afraid that one day I'll become afraid of light, afraid of water, pee under lampposts, and sniff every member of the opposite sex I see...
I then asked Liu Laoliu, "What about people? What are the chances of this happening to them?"
Liu Laoliu said, "It's not that they don't exist, but they are extremely rare, basically one in several hundred million. Moreover, such people are usually too stubborn to forget their past. After drinking the Meng Po soup, they struggle against the effects of the medicine, which will definitely damage their brains to some extent. Very few of them can grow up after birth, and even if they do, they will either go crazy or become stupid. Therefore, it can be said that almost no one can successfully retain their memories of their past life."
Then wouldn't that guy who calls himself Zhou Cang also be in trouble?
I pulled Liu Laoliu aside and said, "Let me ask one last question."
Liu Laoliu said confidently, "Ask away. There's nothing in heaven and earth that your sixth grandfather doesn't know."
"Are you sure you can pay me back the money you borrowed next month?"
Liu Laoliu suddenly staggered, and the old swindler took the opportunity to pretend to be drunk and escape.