Chapter 352 First Incense

For Dai Qiuyan, the most difficult part of creating a mural was not the images or the stories and characters to be presented, but the complex perspective issues caused by viewing the painting on the vault from a relatively low angle. This was different from the large-format paintings she usually created. The mural also needed to have a very clear decorative quality. The content, form, and color scheme of the entire vault ceiling and the surrounding arches had to be highly unified while still presenting different content. After a long period of experimentation, Dai Qiuyan roughly understood the composition of this perspective. Only then did she begin to work in her mind, in her sketchbooks, and on the vault itself, gradually creating the current mural. In Dai Qiuyan's imagination, when the mural was complete, those standing below would see the entire dynamic scene as if it were hanging down from the sky, as if the warriors who had ascended to paradise were parting the clouds and looking down upon everyone on earth, telling their stories...

However, this idea was still in the painting stage. Most of the main lines were completed, and Dai Qiuyan had marked each color block with the colors, transition colors, and transition methods she needed to facilitate large-area coloring. This allowed her many assistants to work simultaneously, greatly shortening the required time. Some details had already been completed; there were some in each section, partly because Dai Qiuyan needed to test the actual effect and partly to define the style of different areas.

Dai Qiuyan didn't really understand this kind of thing before. This was no longer purely about creating art, but more like managing an entire art creation department, allowing everyone to fully understand her intentions and work together to paint the work little by little. Although it was not entirely completed by her alone, Dai Qiuyan was very meticulous about details and would not let any flaws go unnoticed.

After the site was cleared, Ye Tao lay on the ground. His face was directly facing the center point of the entire vault mural. Although the scaffolding blocked some of the content, he could still take in most of it and slowly experience the joy, sorrow, intensity, pain, and any other possible emotions that Dai Qiuyan experienced while painting such a large work. Looking at such a work, which was not yet great but could be considered stunning, Ye Tao had a premonition: Dai Qiuyan's name might be more exemplary than his own in this era, admired by future generations.

Although Tan Xiaopei also looked at the mural, he was different from Ye Tao. He didn't have the ability to judge what the final result would look like just by looking at the current sketches. After taking a quick look, he went to inspect the Gondor construction site. There were various municipal facilities under construction, something no one had ever tried before. Ye Tao, on the other hand, gave a day off to the assistants and servants who had been with Dai Qiuyan, spending a long time in basic isolation from the outside world. He waited there for Dai Qiuyan to wake up from her heavy fatigue.

Fortunately, that moment didn't make Ye Tao wait too long. The faint fragrance of the awakening incense that Ye Tao had lit in the hall permeated the entire space. Dai Qiuyan was already hovering on the edge of sleep and wakefulness, and immediately woke up with a light sniff. When her personal maid told her that Ye Tao had come and was waiting for her alone in the hall, she didn't care about anything else. She threw on a loose robe and rushed out, through the corridor, into the main hall, ran into the hall, and then brushed against the white canvas that had been laid all over the floor in preparation for large-area coloring, and then threw herself on Ye Tao...

"You're here." She lay on Ye Tao, hiding her face full of joy in Ye Tao's arms. "Did you know that I finished the draft? Now that the mural is like this, what do you think?"

Ye Tao stroked Dai Qiuyan's head and said, "It's very good now. But how long will it take to finish?"

Dai Qiuyan turned over, rested her head on Ye Tao's shoulder, and lay side by side with him on the ground, her eyes full of her accomplishments. She said with great confidence, "I think it will take about two months. When it comes to detailed painting, these assistants are all experts. They have worked hard in this field for many years and are much better than me, who is half-hearted. However, we lack a few people who can stably mix the same color. Now, we have to have several people working together each time, mixing colors in batches, and calibrating each time, which is really a headache. The best people for this kind of thing are those skilled guys in Cassandra's workshop. Can you help me ask if they can spare two or three people to lend me?"

Ye Tao smiled and agreed, saying, "This is a small matter. His Majesty is now in Gondor. We'll have dinner together tonight. And let's have Eldest Brother with us. Can you take some time off now, instead of staring at this all day?"

Dai Qiuyan smiled sweetly and said, "Didn't you give my assistants a day off? Of course, I can't do anything either. … I think, I hope to give everyone a slightly longer vacation. Everyone has been thinking very seriously about how to make this mural better for a while now, and has been isolated from the world. Now, these are all problems that can be solved with basic techniques and experience. I don't think it's necessary to continue like this. Moreover, I'm afraid everyone is going crazy."

"Okay, let's do everything according to your wishes." Ye Tao agreed without any hesitation. Dai Qiuyan now had quite accurate and sensitive judgment on these issues.

Naturally, after learning about what had happened in these days later, Dai Qiuyan complained to Ye Tao for a while. However, it was most important that Ye Tao was okay now. Dai Qiuyan also understood very well that if she had known about these things while painting, she would definitely not have the current progress, and the Lingyan Pavilion's opening would be postponed indefinitely.

Although the Lingyan Pavilion was still a semi-finished product, Tan Xiaopei still made some preparations, unveiled the statue of the God of War, temporarily disassembled and removed the scaffolding, and then allowed the statue of the God of War to be offered incense for the first time. After that, the Lingyan Pavilion and the entire hilltop continued to be closed off, waiting for the large-scale coloring work to begin again in ten days. Tan Xiaopei was preparing to go to Ye Tao's villa to see his grandson when good news and bad news came one after another.

The good news was that Suo Yong had transported the treasures they had unearthed one after another back to Dongping. This batch of treasures was now being piled up in batches in Sufeng City and Iron City, and was being inventoried. The sacrifices made to protect this batch of treasures were not small. The bad news was that the news that Dongping had obtained the secret archives of the previous dynasty had somehow leaked out. Among the officials in Danyang, some rather strange rumors had begun to circulate; and Nie Rui, who had been urging the整理zhengli (to sort out) of the secret archives, reported a very terrible situation: the influence of the descendants of the previous dynasty might be more far-reaching than everyone imagined. These secret archives involved many, many aristocratic families throughout the Central Plains, and some names that no one had expected appeared in the secret archives. If it was something that happened a long time ago, that would be fine, but the Chen family obviously took this secret archive that was left behind to prepare for their retreat very seriously and carefully. The most recent information was five years ago. And some of the names mentioned in this information made people shudder.

The various businesses that the Chen family had scattered in various places were still running healthily in the vast majority of cases. Although a large part of them had limited profits, there were very few businesses that didn't make any money at all. After the Chen family was诛除zhuchu (executed) by the Daoming Sect's forces, leaving only Chen Kai alone, the Chen family's leadership over this large batch of industries was interrupted. Although the news that Chen Kai was serving in Yunzhou spread relatively widely, Chen Kai himself did not reveal that he was going to take over these industries, and didn't even mention a word, completely listening to Ye Tao's arrangements. On the one hand, Chen Kai felt that he was indeed not interested in those things, and that the work he was doing now was far more challenging. On the other hand, it was also because Chen Kai wanted to completely sever ties with the former Chen family and establish a brand-new image of the Chen family by himself. However, these two aspects combined, plus the numerous things that had been interfering with Ye Tao and Chen Kai, the time was delayed until many shopkeepers and bosses began to fight on their own, and some people even began to form cliques, showing a tendency to break away from Kong Zi. The Intelligence Bureau was interpreting the materials while constantly sending people to understand and monitor these businesses, which allowed them to敏锐minrui (keenly)捕捉buzhuo (capture) the current situation.

What was even more troublesome was that although Zhuo Xianchen had taken over Tan Weizai's guard team dispatched by Dongping in Chunnan, he fully demonstrated his strictness and seriousness in service, as well as his tough methods in handling other problems, the situation became even worse. The reason was that Lianfei and Tan Weizai, who could finally stay in Chunnan for a long time, didn't support them very much. It was strange that an army dispatched to a foreign country did not receive the support of the master they were guarding, a situation that made Zhuo Xianchen very depressed. But Zhuo Xianchen did not change his original intention, and remained as strong and steady as ever, unmoved. Recently, during a training exercise, the guard team had a conflict with a small aristocratic family in Chunnan. This point was seized upon by Lianfei, who insisted that Zhuo Xianchen was bad in this and bad in that, and strongly demanded that he be replaced. Some aristocratic families, under the instigation and indulgence of some people, even began to gather clan soldiers to surround the guard team. Fortunately, Yan Gong took action and brought the entire guard team and Zhuo Xianchen and others into a manor belonging to the Song family. Now, Lianfei was increasingly showing异心yixin (disloyalty) towards Dongping and a野望yewang (wild ambition) for power, which made Tan Xiaopei very dissatisfied, but he had no way to change this situation for the time being.