Chapter 92 - 80: He Turned Life Into Poetry
Shanghai Dance Academy, Dance Complex.
"One-ta-ta, two-ta-ta..."
"Lower your back, sit down a little more, ah! It hurts—"
Painful groans from dance students echoed from the practice rooms on both sides of the hallway.
The sounds of wind, rain, and groans filled the air.
Fifth floor, Gymnastics Room 13.
The orange-red light of the setting sun fell upon the slender, graceful body of a young woman from the Western Regions named Aina. With every rise and fall of her hands, she expressed the boundless beauty of the female form.
The long summer vacation was over, and they had returned to the quiet routine of campus life.
The four of them weren’t stuck together at the hip; each had their own things to do.
When they were together, they were loud and goofy.
But when they practiced dance alone, they were serious and diligent.
BRRR-BRRR-BRRR—
A video call from Su Ran.
Aina, her hair in a bun, took a few deep breaths and wiped the sweat from her forehead before answering the video call.
"Hey, Su Ran~"
"I tried calling Liu Jinyu. Why didn’t she pick up?"
"Jinyu’s phone is broken. She took it in for repairs."
"Oh. Well, ask her if they can fix it. If not, tell her to borrow money from me. I’ll give her a loan."
Aina smiled. He was just joking, of course.
"What are you up to?"
"I threw out all the beds in the house I just bought. Now I’m looking for new ones."
"Threw them out? They were perfectly fine, why get rid of them?"
"I just didn’t like the style, okay?"
"Tch~"
"By the way, help me pick out a vanity."
Even though traditional Chinese vanities could look pretty creepy at night, they were an essential piece of Chinese-style decor. But Su Ran had no eye for such feminine things, so he held up his phone to let Aina take a look.
Aina picked one out from over a dozen different models. Just as she was about to ask the price, he hung up.
BEEP BEEP BEEP—
Aina sent a voice message: [Su Ran, buy a few wooden combs, too. And it’d be great if you got some Han-style robes! When we come visit, you can take pictures for us.]
Su Ran: [Got it. Girls are so much trouble.]
Aina: [Finger heart]
Su Ran picked out a few more small items in the store, spending over 2.3 million in total. For a ’Chinese-style luxury mansion’, this really wasn’t the most expensive part.
Unlike European styles, the high cost of Chinese-style decor comes from the furniture you choose later on. It’s all solid wood, mahogany, intricate carvings, and the like. If you want it to look impressive, you have to be willing to spend a fortune.
"...I think that’s about it. Manager Zhang, please give me a call before you deliver everything, since I won’t necessarily be home."
Su Ran filled out the delivery address, handed it to the manager, and after a bit more small talk, he left to go look for Han-style robes.
Manager Zhang glanced down at the delivery address. The first thing he noticed was the excellent penmanship, and then, with a hint of astonishment, the address itself—Shanglin Fu: Yuxin Garden.
’It sold? And to a college student?’
News that Yuxin Garden had been sold had already spread through the interior design community, and the buyer’s identity was becoming more and more legendary. Meanwhile, in the days before the semester started, Su Ran would sometimes go to the university to meet his new classmates. With only twelve people in his class—four boys and eight girls—he quickly remembered everyone.
As a local, he would also tell the female classmates who weren’t familiar with Jiangning about the local tourist spots, night markets, and shopping malls.
Back in the privacy of their dorm room, Zeng Cao and Wang Dachui loved to gossip about which female classmate was pretty and whose girlfriend was ugly. Zeng Cao, in particular, really wanted to be like Chen Hanshen. As for Su Ran, he had never been one to talk about girls behind their backs.
Most of his time, however, was spent bustling through various home decor markets, purchasing furnishings for Yuxin Garden, like small ornaments, flowers, and plants.
Now that he had bought it, this was his home. Naturally, he had to decorate it just the way he liked.
「On the last afternoon before military training began.」
Su Ran had finally gotten the house into shape. He had also acquired two of the ’Treasures of the Garden’.
The first item.
When the developer, Qi Shan, had visited earlier, they discussed how the entrance was missing an Arhat Pine. As a real estate mogul, Qi Shan naturally had connections with landscaping companies. He made a call and sourced a large Arhat Pine. It took a crane and seven or eight workers to plant the 3.6-million-yuan tree. The pine’s original owner was on pins and needles throughout the whole process, terrified that something would go wrong and the deal would fall through.
The second item.
Twenty Taisho Sanke Koi Carp, each a top-quality specimen. Qi Shan had also sourced these through his circle of koi enthusiasts. Every single fish had competed in koi championships. The cheapest was 80,000 yuan, while the most expensive was 320,000 yuan, for a total of 5.3 million. To someone who doesn’t understand koi, this would seem like a ’nouveau riche’ move. But to those in the know, it was standard procedure. Su Ran’s pond of koi was by no means the most expensive; ponds worth far more were everywhere. Ponds worth tens of millions were quite common, and some enthusiasts, like Ma Yun who adored koi, even owned single fish worth tens of millions.
Of course, the joys of the wealthy are something ordinary people can never comprehend.
The koi represented an auspicious start for Su Ran.
The third item, the true ’Treasure of the Garden’ in every sense of the word, Su Ran had not yet found.
But he wasn’t in a hurry. That was just his personality; he wouldn’t panic even if his eyebrows were on fire, so he certainly wasn’t going to rush this. It was something that required a slow and patient search.
At this moment, Qi Shan and a group of cleaners watched with admiration as Su Ran brandished a brush. On the white wall of the entrance foyer, using Tang Yin’s painting Skill, he was creating a "Great Peng Spreading Wings and Swallowing Mountains and Rivers Painting."
He dipped his brush in ink and dotted the Great Peng’s eyes, instantly bringing the creature to life. The cleaning ladies clapped and cheered.
As for the final stroke, the Great Peng needed to be holding a small insect in its beak.
Su Ran paused his brush and turned to look at Qi Shan.
Qi Shan held up a hand to stop him. "Don’t! I’m no Zhu Zhishan, and I have a huge temper."
Su Ran smiled, glanced at a small green caterpillar on a nearby leaf, and simply painted it into the picture.
As Su Ran cleaned up his ink and brushes and headed back inside, the cleaning ladies also got up to continue their work. Qi Shan took another long look at the painting. ’Incredible!’
He followed Su Ran into the house, and they sat down in the tea room to chat over some tea. Qi Shan was in awe of the young man’s talent; all the calligraphy and paintings throughout the entire house were Su Ran’s own work.
What had originally seemed like a garish, nouveau-riche mansion had, in just a few short days, been transformed into a residence brimming with a scholarly atmosphere.
’He really knows how to enjoy life.’
"By the way, President Qi, thank you for all your help recently. I’ve also prepared a piece of calligraphy for you. It suits your personality perfectly. I hope you like it."
"It suits my persona, huh? I’m curious to see what you’ve written."
Qi Shan hastily put down his teacup, took the scroll, and unrolled it. His expression changed slightly.
"’Wanton’?"
PFFT—
Su Ran sprayed out a mouthful of tea and burst into laughter.
"It’s ’Magnanimous and Unconstrained’."
"Hahaha..." Qi Shan laughed too. "Well... it’s about time for dinner. You have military training tomorrow, so tonight I’ve prepared a dinner at my clubhouse for our ’new recruit’. Let’s go have a drink."
"I happen to be hungry too. Let’s go."
The two of them got up and left.
Qi Shan watched as Su Ran casually unwrapped a piece of candy and popped it into his mouth. He chuckled and said, "Keeping it all to yourself, Young Master Su? Not sharing the candy? That’s not like you."
The two had grown quite close recently.
"Here."
Su Ran took one out and tossed it to him. Qi Shan unwrapped it, put it in his mouth, and after one chew, his face twisted.
"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey! What the hell is this?"
"Dried yogurt chunks."
"You actually like this stuff?"
"It’s not bad."
Su Ran chewed with obvious enjoyment as he stepped onto the stone bridge, heading toward the clubhouse.
Qi Shan glanced back at Yuxin Garden, the name he had once derived from the phrase, "Beauty captivates, the soul is surrendered; the heart finds its joy by one’s side."
Su Ran had felt the line was too ’sensual’, so he had changed the name.
He used the famous line, "I know he is on this mountain, but the clouds are too deep to show where," to rename it Buchu Garden, completely redefining the grand garden estate.
Qi Shan turned back. Gazing at the young man’s back on the bridge, he was filled with admiration. Su Ran had truly turned his life into poetry.