Practice starts with skill points.

Chapter 16 It’s done
The scholar looked up at Zhong Lin for a moment and smiled: "Why, you want to sell paintings too?"

Zhong Lin was stunned. Was his intention so obvious?

As if aware of Zhong Lin's doubts, the scholar straightened up and smiled calmly: "You've been hanging around here for two days, and you still haven't made up your mind?"

Zhong Lin was startled. He thought he had hidden it well, but he didn't expect that he had been discovered so early.

"Compared to writing letters for others, selling paintings is indeed a good way, but if you sell them here, the most you can do is to make a living. If you want to make more money, you have to find another way." The scholar said leisurely.

Although he didn't know why the scholar would say these words to a stranger like him, Zhong Lin still quickly bowed and said, "Please give me some advice, sir."

"Nuanxiang Tower."

The scholar uttered three words.

Zhong Lin knew this place after a little thought, mainly because it was too famous. He had heard of it countless times after arriving in Heishan County.

The so-called Nuanxianglou is actually a brothel, and a relatively high-end one at that. It is not the kind of secret brothel where you enter and leave after a few minutes of prostitution.

Nuanxianglou is popular for its warm and comfortable atmosphere, high-quality performances and meticulous service. It can be said to be the favorite place for literati and wealthy aristocrats in the entire Heishan County.

It is said that the dancers could receive hundreds of taels of silver in rewards for each dance.

Zhong Lin's eyes lit up. What the scholar said was right. He could only earn a few cents at most by painting for ordinary people. But if it was the dancers in Nuanxiang Tower, it would be different. They might just give him a few taels of silver as a reward!
"Why don't you go, sir?" Zhong Lin asked curiously.

The scholar looked down at his right hand and sighed, "I wish I hadn't been born with a pair of skillful hands!"

After saying that, he ignored Zhong Lin and lowered his head to continue painting.

Zhong Lin didn't argue any further and turned away.

Seeing Zhong Lin disappear at the intersection, another scholar who was copying books for someone at the stall next to Xu Heng teased, "Xu Heng, when did you become so kind-hearted? You're even giving directions to others. Aren't you afraid of stealing your business?"

The scholar Xu Heng glanced up at Zhong Lin's departing figure and said disdainfully, "I'm not afraid he'll steal my business, but I find him standing here an eyesore. He has dark skin, prominent finger joints, and calloused thumbs and index fingers. He looks like a hunter who just popped out of nowhere. I'm afraid he doesn't even know what a sage's book looks like, yet he wants to imitate others in painting. It's simply disrespectful to his manners."

"That's not necessarily true. What if he has the skills? Just like Wang Zhi, the mounter in the west of the city, although he is blind and lame and illiterate, his copying skills are amazing to us." The scholar retorted.

Xu Heng smiled slightly: "Even if it's a family painting skill, it doesn't matter. This is Nuanxiang Tower."

The scholar who asked the question's face changed, as if he thought of something, shook his head and said no more.

……

Sweetwater Lane.

Zhong Lin returned with a pile of brushes, paints, and drawing paper. He didn't even bother to eat and went straight into the study room converted from the west wing. Then he brought over a stool and asked Xiao Shitou to sit upright as a model.

Zhong Lin has not been wandering around these days, but looking for business opportunities to make money.

With no capital, no energy, and no skills, he finally set his sights on the painting industry.

The painting techniques of this era are similar to the ancient freehand ink painting, which focuses on meaning rather than form. Zhong Lin looked at Xu Shusheng's paintings, which were extremely vivid and made people marvel at them.

We can’t compare with them in traditional Chinese painting, but we can find another way.

In his previous life, he lived in an era of information explosion and had seen many kinds of paintings. Compared with freehand paintings, Zhong Lin planned to make a detailed three-dimensional painting, and the highlight of the painting was just one word... likeness.

It's as good as a camera.

Coincidentally, in his previous life, Zhong Lin accidentally saw a meticulous three-dimensional painting on Douyin and was amazed. He even went to study it for a period of time, but unfortunately, it was only a short-lived enthusiasm and he didn't persist.

It would be extremely difficult for Zhong Lin to pick it up again, but who could blame him for having a cheat? Unwilling to waste the paper and paint he had bought, Zhong Lin sharpened a branch and squatted on the ground in the yard. He had spread a layer of fine sand on the ground. He planned to practice on the fine sand, which he could reuse repeatedly.

Zhong Lin used a sharpened branch to sketch the small stone model stroke by stroke.

"Brother, are you done? My butt is itchy."

"Bear it."

"I want to poop."

"Hold it in."

"I need to pee."

"Why are you so troublesome? Just bear with it for a while."

It took Zhong Lin half an hour to put down the branch in his hand. There was the outline of a small stone on the sand, but that was not the point.

Zhong Lin couldn't wait to call up the system panel.

Host: Zhong Lin

Skills: Archery (max level), Locust Stone (max level), 3D Painting (beginner)
Skill Points: ∞
"Okay, I've finally formed a skill. Give me some points."

Zhong Lin was overjoyed. With an order, the ∞ symbol on the skill point shook, and the "primary" in the random three-dimensional brackets turned into "full level".

Then a wave of memories flooded Zhong Lin's mind. In his memories, he painted every day, twenty-four hours a day, without interruption except for eating and sleeping.

Leaves, flowers, rocks, cats and dogs, people...

Each object and each character comes to life under his pen.

As time went by, his paintings became more and more lifelike. A cat he drew was enough to scare away the mice in the house, and the flowers he painted could even attract butterflies and bees.

"system."

Host: Zhong Lin

Skills: Archery (max level), Locust Stone (max level), 3D Painting (max level)
Skill Points: ∞
Zhong Lin slowly opened his closed eyes. His mind was full of knowledge about three-dimensional painting. When drawing a face, the general shapes of different people's faces would appear in his mind.

When drawing two eyes, various types of eyes come to mind, such as phoenix eyes, peach blossom eyes, triangular eyes, watery eyes, etc.

Once the bridge of the nose is outlined, all sorts of information about the three parts of the face, five eyes, and the distribution of the facial features will come flooding in.

As long as a person explains it clearly enough, he can draw a 70% or 80% like of the other person without seeing him/herself.

Not only that, he also knows how to mix all kinds of pigments.

He stood up and walked back to the study, spread rice paper on the table, dipped the brush in ink, held the brush, and gently sketched on the white paper. After a moment, the portrait of Xiao Shitou was born under his brush. However, it was not the image of him sitting on the stool, but the image of him gnawing on a chicken leg yesterday. There was grease on the corners of his mouth, and his eyes were smart, and he even felt alive.

"Second...Second brother."

Little Shitou pointed at the painting on the desk with some fear, as if he had seen a ghost. Zhong Lin laughed out loud at his expression.

"It's done."

(End of this chapter)