Bai Fang looked at the painting for quite a while, with a nostalgic expression on her face.
Looking at Bai Fang's back, Zhang San gradually regretted painting this painting, although he had obtained a hot thousand taels from Lu Gaosheng, Zhang San still didn't understand what Bai Fang, Ming Qing, Lu Gaosheng and the others saw in the painting.
This is a good painting, but is it necessary to look at it so carefully?
So it is said that people's minds are not connected with each other.
Although Zhang San himself also knew that in the painting, he had depicted the fearless spirit of the swordsman who forgot his enmity and lived a pure life.
But Zhang San, who was just thinking about making money, might not understand his own painting better than the three people who looked at the painting.
Or it could be said that Ming Qing and the other three people saw in the painting what they thought it meant, respectively.
Ming Qing saw the artistic conception.
Lu Gaosheng saw Zhang San's extraordinary talent through the painting, which also deepened his suspicion of Zhang San.
What Bai Fang saw was a sense of familiarity.
It was so similar.
That was his back.
Fearless, pure, facing the cliff without regret or fear.
Even looking at the painting, Bai Fang vaguely heard what he had said:
"Fang'er, I, Lu Qingming, have vowed all my life to bring peace to the world! When I come back, I will avenge your father, avenge your mother, get rid of the national pest like Song YanShi, and give the world peace and prosperity!"
That man was also dressed in white like this, and had the same back view.
That man also faced the cliff called "Song YanShi" without looking back.
"Did you paint it?" Bai Fang, who had been watching for a long time, asked.
Zhang San replied, "Yes."
"Then you must be a good person."
Zhang San asked puzzledly, "Why?"
Bai Fang didn't know why either. She looked back with a charming smile that touched people's hearts, and said with a smile, "I don't know, it's just intuition."
Fortunately, Zhang San was completely insensitive to women, otherwise Bai Fang's smile just now would have made any man fall in love with her. However, Zhang San was a little confused by Bai Fang's words and looked at Bai Fang's back puzzledly as she turned around again.
Zhang San muttered to himself inwardly: I'm a good person? Miss, you're really blind, not just a little bit!
However, Bai Fang kept looking at the painting afterwards and never looked back again, so she naturally couldn't see the puzzlement in Zhang San's eyes either.
...
...
Looking at Bai Fang's back, Zhang San's mind gradually gave rise to some "evil thoughts" after a while.
Of course, Zhang San's "evil thoughts" were about hostage taking.
Because Zhang San suddenly thought that if he really conflicted with Lu Gaosheng in the future, with the two shops so close to each other, he could easily grab this Bai Fang with his Heavenly Stairs lightness skills and use her as a hostage.
At that time, he might not even need Heavenly Stairs inner strength to get away safely, and might even be able to ask Lu Gaosheng for some ransom.
After all, he wouldn't kill her, which would not violate the rules passed down by his master and martial elders.
And as a villain, it was reasonable to do such despicable things.
If villains don't do bad things, should they do good things instead?
Just as Zhang San felt "proud" of his brilliant idea, he suddenly heard a burst of urgent coughing from the front.
What's wrong with her?
Bai Fang covered her mouth and nose with her hand, but the urgent coughing did not stop.
Zhang San, who was proficient in medicine, wanted to go up and take a look, but Bai Fang hurriedly turned around and raised her right hand to indicate that Zhang San need not worry.
However, when Bai Fang felt better and put down her left hand covering her mouth and nose, although Bai Fang clutched her left hand tightly as soon as possible, Zhang San still noticed the bloodstains between her fingers.
Coughing blood?
What disease is it?
Zhang San thought about it briefly and remembered that Ming Qing had vaguely mentioned that Bai Fang had been physically weak since childhood and seemed to have a lung disease, and Wang Xiaoer had also said that Lu Gaosheng had specially brought some precious medicinal materials for Bai Fang.
Seeing the blood on her hand, Bai Fang lowered her head and said, "Please don't tell anyone."
Zhang San nodded silently.
Seeing Zhang San agree, Bai Fang looked around and hurried away.
Watching her back moving away, Zhang San suddenly remembered that Wang Xiaoer had once said that although Bai Fang looked nothing like his mother at all, she would occasionally give Wang Xiaoer a sense of familiarity.
This was very strange.
Thinking of Wang Xiaoer's mother, although only a glimpse, Zhang San, who had an unforgettable memory since childhood, now recalled the aura and feeling of that woman.
As he recalled, Zhang San compared Wang Xiaoer's mother with Bai Fang, and found that these two women did seem to resemble each other in some respects.
It was a similar sense of fatigue.
It was the fatigue that came from both women's long-term illness, but still had to work hard for many things over the years.
Zhang San frowned slightly. Although he had no accurate basis, Zhang San believed his guess was most likely correct.
Speaking of which, when he met Bai Fang before, and the first time he met Wang Xiaoer's mother, he, a medical expert, had completely failed to detect their illnesses.
He didn't expect that Wang Xiaoer's mother would die just a few months later, which showed how serious her illness was at that time.
But in order not to worry the people around them, they didn't show it at all.
Zhang San remembered what his master had said:
When a woman tries to be strong, men can't do anything about it.
At that time, Zhang San, who was still a kid, heard this sentence and asked his master: Wow! Why can you say such things when you are such an old bachelor?
As a result, Zhang San was naturally violently beaten by his master, but this also led to Zhang San having an extremely deep impression of this sentence.
The woman in white's back gradually moved away.
Zhang San thought about it and finally gave up the hostage plan, and decided to just focus on practicing inner strength.
...
A few more days passed.
In just a few days, the new year was approaching, and the people in Tian Ruo City were preparing for a peaceful end to the year.
The students were also increasingly diligent in their studies, after all, the exam day was getting closer and closer.
This brief tranquility was perhaps due to the fact that the disaster in the north had not spread widely.
Although the incident was huge, in order to prevent civil unrest, the government had blocked the news layer by layer, and even the Three Great Underworld Gangs of the North seemed to have reached some kind of understanding with the government and did not deliberately spread the news.
All this led to the fact that at present, except for the northern prefectures and the royal court of Dawu Country, the central prefectures only had occasional rumors about the events in Hanwu Commandery, let alone the southern prefectures.
But there were no walls that were airtight.
The officials who knew the news all knew that it was only a matter of time before the news spread throughout Dawu Country.
In the evening, Zhang San swept the snow in front of the shop, under the surveillance he had long detected, and returned to the painting shop.
Although Lu Gaosheng had not taken any action since then, Zhang San was very annoyed by this feeling of being watched, and therefore, with the progress in his inner strength recently, he had the idea of getting rid of Lu Gaosheng before leaving.
But it was just an idea.
After all, there was no great enmity to speak of.
What's more, Lu Gaosheng had also given a thousand taels, and could even be considered somewhat gracious.
Furthermore, and most importantly, Lu Gaosheng was obviously closely related to Jin Wange, and was even a key figure in Jin Wange's development of power in Tian Ge Prefecture.
Not to mention whether Lu Gaosheng was good or bad to kill, or could or could not kill, if Zhang San really took action against him, the consequences were self-evident, and he would really have completely offended the Three Great Underworld Forces of Martial World.
At this time, a person dressed as a wandering merchant walked past the painting shop, waved "friendly" at Zhang San.
Zhang San was thinking about things in his mind, and at the same time showed a smile to the familiar person who had come to the shop several times recently and bought a painting, before slowly closing the door.
As soon as he closed the door, Wang Xiaoer jumped out again from behind Zhang San.
Zhang San scolded, "Stinky boy, went out again with that Bai Xiaoyu next door? Don't you know we are being watched?"
"I know, recently whenever I go out, there are at least two or three masters secretly following me, I noticed it long ago." Wang Xiaoer said matter-of-factly and was completely unpressured.
These days, Zhang San had actually thought about letting Wang Xiaoer sneak out of the city first.
As long as Wang Xiaoer was safe, he Zhang San could get away anytime.
Unfortunately, Lu Gaosheng's surveillance was omnidirectional without any blind spots, and spared no effort in manpower. If it was when Wang Xiaoer and Zhang San appeared together, the surveillance would usually become a laborer or wandering merchant.
Wang Xiaoer changed the subject and said, "Also, Master, you should know that before this I had often gone to play with Little Jade. If I stop after being watched, won't that seem suspicious? Besides, everyone knows a graceful lady attracts a gentleman's favor. Isn't that normal?"
Zhang San did not object to the first half of the statement.
However, Zhang San could not help but coldly laugh at the second half, "That's why I always say the poet profession is good at glorifying ugly things with fancy words. Lust is lust, nothing noble about a gentleman's favor."
Wang Xiaoer smiled awkwardly and switched topics, "Master, I came to ask when exactly will you have a grasp of the Tianjie Inner Strength technique?"
Hearing this, Zhang San smiled proudly but did not answer.
Seeing his master's mysterious attitude, Wang Xiaoer became even more curious.
Clearly, the days for the master and disciple at the art shop were still relatively peaceful for now.