The Pentium Era - South to North

Zhang Chen thought he had slept for a long time. When he woke up, he looked at his watch. It was only four o'clock. He felt his mouth was a little dry. He got up and poured a glass of water. He walked to the window with the cup, opened the curtains and took a look. Outside, the sky was still dark, and the sea and sky in the distance were in chaos. However, in the garden of the hotel below, stars were shining brightly.

Zhang Chen walked back to the bed, put the cup on the bedside table, and fell on the bed again, but he was no longer sleepy. He simply sat up again, opened the door and walked out of the room, going downstairs. He wanted to paint a few more strokes.

The elevator door opened, but the hotel had not yet opened for business. The lobby below was dimly lit and there was no one there. The front desk was empty. The security guard on duty was sleeping on a sofa near the entrance with his head hanging down. Zhang Chen walked to the right, heading towards the lobby bar, where their studio was located.

As soon as he turned around, Zhang Chen was stunned. He saw that in the studio, the lights were on, and Yao Fen was still painting alone. Zhang Chen walked over, and when he was about to get closer, he coughed lightly, and Yao Fen listened. Hearing the voice, he turned around, looked at Zhang Chen and smiled, but he was a little embarrassed.

Zhang Chen asked: "It's so late, why don't you go to bed?"

"I couldn't sleep, so I went downstairs to draw." Yao Fen said, "Why didn't you sleep, boss?"

Zhang Chen smiled and said: "I have already slept and I don't want to sleep anymore. I want to paint."

The two of them laughed, and Yao Fen felt relaxed with this smile.

Zhang Chen walked over to his painting, opened the oil painting box, and used a scraper to scrape off the paint on the palette. This is Zhang Chen's habit. He always likes to clean up and mix colors before starting to paint again. When clearing the palette, people will gradually stabilize their emotions and start to enter the state.

As soon as they started painting, the two of them entered a relatively casual and comfortable state. While painting, they talked intermittently, or they could remain silent. Even when they spoke, the language was very concise.

Zhang Chen asked: "How are you now?"

Yao Fen hummed.

The pens in the hands of the two people did not stop. After a few minutes, Zhang Chen continued to ask: "Are you still adapting to the new job?"

"It's okay." Yao Fen said softly.

The two of them stopped talking and were left to their own devices. Zhang Chen was very quick in painting. After finishing the painting, he rarely went back to modify or adjust anything. After continuing to paint for more than ten minutes, he almost finished the painting and turned around. Look at Yao Fen. Yao Fen purses her lips and frowns slightly, staring at her own painting.

Zhang Chen held the brush in his hand and retreated behind Yao Fen. He stood there with his hands folded in front of his chest and watched Yao Fen continue to paint. After watching for a while, Zhang Chen said:

"Yao Fen, you are using sex more cruelly now than before."

"Really?" Yao Fen said, "I haven't felt it yet. I haven't painted for a long time."

Yao Fen said with a touch of sadness in her voice, and Zhang Chen sighed inwardly.

Zhang Chen stood and looked at it for a while, then walked back to his painting, finished the last few strokes, wiped the pen clean with straw paper, and stared at his painting while wiping it, making sure that no more modifications were needed. The pen was soaked in turpentine.

"Boss, are you okay?" Yao Fen asked.

"Okay." Zhang Chen said.

Yao Fen came over to take a look and praised, "It's great!"

Zhang Chen smiled, sat in the chair next to him, took out a cigarette, lit it, and watched Yao Fen draw while smoking.

Zhang Chen watched for five or six minutes and suddenly shouted: "Stop, Yao Fen, stop quickly, that's it, don't change it anymore."

Yao Fen turned around, looked at him, and asked doubtfully: "Really?"

"Yes, that's it. Don't fill it too full, otherwise it will be overflowing." Zhang Chen said.

Yao Fen held a pen in her hand and looked at her own painting, then at Zhang Chen, then at her own painting. She pointed at a place in the painting with her pen and said, "Here, I want to change it again."

"No, come on, sit down, put down your pen, sit here for a while, don't look at your paintings." Zhang Chen said.

Yao Fen came over, sat down on the chair next to Zhang Chen, and listened obediently to Zhang Chen's words. Sure enough, she no longer looked at her paintings, but leaned her head on the back of the chair and closed her eyes.

Zhang Chen stood up, walked over, wiped Yao Fen's pen clean with paper, and soaked it in turpentine.

After walking back and sitting down, Zhang Chen and Yao Fen said, please open your eyes now and see if they are complete.

Yao Fen opened her eyes, stared at her painting for a while, sighed softly, and said to Zhang Chen, "Okay, you are right."

"Everyone who draws thinks that it is difficult to start, but in fact, it is even harder to stop. Knowing when to stop is the hardest." Zhang Chen said, "For a long time, I also fell into this kind of confusion. That is, I can't stop. When I look at my paintings, I always feel that I still have regrets. I want to express them more perfectly and keep revising them.

“As a result, the more I corrected my mistakes, the more mistakes I made, until I became discouraged.

"Later I gradually understood that, in fact, every work has regrets. If you let Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt or Rubens look at your own works, you will have regrets. However, they have a benefit."

"What's the benefit?" Yao Fen asked.

"That is, their paintings are all customized by others, and there is a delivery time limit. You can tell from many of Rubens's paintings where the last stroke is placed, and you can tell that he is In a hurry, why, the business is so good, the business is so busy, there is not enough time to complete each painting.

"The manuscript was about to be handed in. The ship or carriage to France was about to leave. There was no time. He had to seize the last moment to finish it." Zhang Chen said.

Yao Fen smiled softly: "Is this what you pay attention to when looking at paintings?"

"Yes." Zhang Chen said with a smile, "It's easy for me to fall into it. When I look at paintings, it's easy to confuse myself with that painter. I feel like I'm painting, where it starts, where it ends, and somewhere in the middle. , I revised it repeatedly. When I watch Rubens, I feel like I am Rubens. When I watch Pissarro, I feel like I am Pissarro.

"I can feel their happiness. Like Pissarro, how happy he was when he painted the streets of Paris after snow. If he wasn't happy, he wouldn't be able to paint a sky with such fresh air. I can feel it. , he drew it while whistling.

"After seeing more and feeling more, I also understood that no work is without regrets. Regrets are an integral part of the work. After understanding this, I painted faster. I also know where to stop, Yao Fen, do you know why I draw so fast?"

"Why?" Yao Fen asked.

"I'm chasing Qi." Zhang Chen said, "In Chinese, many words are very wonderful, such as the one-stop breath, the vivid charm. I am just chasing the one-stop breath. A work has its own rhythm. It has its own rhythm. In its own rhythm, the charm is vivid. If you catch up with this breath and complete it in one breath, the work will be completed. When it is completed, it will be your last breath."

Yao Fen laughed softly.

"Really, it would be very awkward for you to change it after you have breathed your last. This is not only true for painting, but also for music. You can listen to a symphony for forty or fifty minutes, and it will be enjoyable from beginning to end. Dripping, that was a very careful interpretation, right?"

Yao Fen nodded.

Zhang Chen looked at Yao Fen and said: "But have you ever thought that when the composer created this work, it didn't just take him forty or fifty minutes, but several months, writing it note by note, and changing it He may have racked his brains and put in a lot of effort during this process. It is not an easy process, but what can support him to go on is that that tone has always been there.

“Without it, the composer has no way to continue, he can only put it down, which is why there are so many unfinished works.

"In fact, the same is true when we paint. No matter how much time you spend creating this work, the rhythm and tone within the work must be there. If it is not there, you have to end it. Once you are done in one go, stop immediately. , believe me, don’t try to change it anymore, you won’t be able to change it no matter how you change it.”

Yao Fen nodded and said, "It makes sense, I learned it."

After a while, Yao Fen's eyes dimmed. She sighed and said softly: "You're right, I just don't know how to stop."

This was what he meant. Zhang Chen's heart skipped a beat and he froze there.

Zhang Chen looked at his watch. At about five o'clock, Zhang Chen asked Yao Fen, "Do you want to go back to your room and sleep?"

Yao Fen shook his head.

"Then let's go for a walk outside to the beach. By the way, how about we watch the sunrise?" Zhang Chen asked.

Yao Fen said yes.

The two people walked outside the hotel and walked to the door. They saw that the security guard was no longer there. The stars in the yard outside had been turned off. It was still dark and the garden lights were on.

The two people walked down the steps. Zhang Chen saw the security guard on duty in the lobby and the security guard in the parking lot standing in the parking lot, smoking and chatting. When they saw Zhang Chen coming out, the two people quickly put down their cigarettes. Hiding behind his hands and standing up straight, Zhang Chen waved to them and said, thank you for your hard work.

Zhang Chen and Yao Fen walked to the end of the garden and walked towards the beach outside. The thin sea breeze blew over and it was a bit cool. The waves were lingering on the beach. They could not see the waves in the distance, but they could hear them. Its tireless gurgling sound.

This time before dawn is the darkest time. There is still more than an hour before sunrise, and the stars in the sky have already hidden themselves.

The two people walked towards the place where the waves made noise, that is, towards the sea. When they reached the point where they could vaguely see the sea, and when they saw the layers of white waves in the sea, they were constantly advancing. I know from experience that the beach will be wet further on.

"Shall we just sit here and wait?" Zhang Chen said.

Yao Fen said yes.

The two people took off their flip-flops and placed them on the beach, then sat side by side on the flip-flops.

Thank you Lao Chentang for the tip! Thank you for your monthly votes from Don’t Take It Too Seriously, Qianqian Dad, It’s Not an Impossible World, and [Potato]! Thanks for all the votes and reading! Have a good evening everyone!