As for those glowing descriptors, except for “handsome,” I doubted the rest, not ruling out the possibility that he never displayed such qualities in front of me.
I felt conflicted and reluctantly said, “Wife understands.”
Chapter Two: His Resentment
An Jin, as usual, did not return home for dinner. After the meal, I chatted with my in-laws for a while, then went to my study with Que’er.
If there’s one thing I’m most satisfied with since marrying An Jin, it’s having a study entirely my own. An Jin has never stepped inside, and my in-laws rarely inquire about it. So I turned it into a dedicated painting room, mainly for mounting silk and later coloring. Since I claimed to love painting, I naturally had to paint some orthodox landscapes, flowers, birds, and lady portraits for appearances. However, privately, I was known as the Thirteenth Young Master of Yanfeng City, famous for my beauty portraits.
Painting beauty portraits was the way I found to make a living. My teacher once said that one must leverage their strengths to benefit. Among the arts of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, painting was the only skill I could showcase. However, flowers, birds, insects, and fish were too common and wouldn’t fetch much money. So I turned my focus to portraits. These couldn’t be fictional and couldn’t be ordinary people – they had to be beautiful women with some reputation in Yanfeng City.
The first to appear in my paintings was Qin Yu, the top beauty from the Chu Women’s Hall in Yanfeng City at the time. I secretly sketched her during her outing to White Crane Plain, creating my first beauty portrait, “Jade Crane Dance”. This painting, displayed at the Moonlight Pavilion, was bought for thirty taels of silver by Qin Yu’s admirer, to win her favor.
After splitting with the Moonlight Pavilion, I still got fifteen taels.
The pavilion’s owner happily signed a long-term cooperation agreement, voluntarily giving up a share of the profit and promising never to reveal my identity.
In this environment of nationwide beauty worship, the Thirteenth Young Master of the Lantern Festival accidentally pioneered detailed beauty portraits, becoming famous for lifelike, vivid representations.
