After the college entrance examination, life began to follow one's heart

Chapter 161 Library Routine, Masterful Hands and Brushstrokes: Xu Lin's Small Attempt at Sketching

In Shang Wanjun's opinion, it is very difficult to understand classical Chinese without any annotations.

Especially since this is a historical record, which is completely different from other ancient texts.

Other classical Chinese texts describe the same thing throughout.

A few words in a historical record may represent a major historical event, which may be incomprehensible without annotations or even with extensive historical knowledge.

However, Xu Lin reads very, very quickly.

The first volume of the "History of the Song Dynasty," which contains more than 500,000 words, was read by Xu Lin in half an hour.

It doesn't look like he's reading a book at all; it looks more like he's just randomly flipping through pages. Someone who doesn't know better might think, "Is this person an idiot?"

Shang Wanjun couldn't help but ask, "You! You've finished reading this book?"

"I've almost memorized them all."

Xu Lin laughed and said, "Why don't you just pick a passage for me to memorize?"

"Let me see……"

Shang Wanjun took the first volume of the "History of Song". Xu Lin told her to open to any page, so Shang Wanjun opened to the first page of "Annals of Emperor Taizu".

She said, "Why don't you recite the description of Zhao Kuangyin's birth?"

Xu Lin thought for a moment: "Zhao Kuangyin was... born with a red light surrounding the room, a strange fragrance that lingered all night, and his body was golden, which remained unchanged for three days..."

Seeing Xu Lin recite it, Shang Wanjun remained unmoved. After all, this story was quite famous. Historically, some founding emperors or emperors who had made great achievements were often depicted with mythical elements in later records. For example, Zhao Kuangyin was born with golden light that lingered for three days.

So Shang Wanjun picked a few more passages, and Xu Lin answered them one by one. She was a little surprised. Then she randomly flipped through the book and asked Xu Lin questions, which Xu Lin answered as well.

Is this photographic memory?

Shang Wanjun was very surprised, not expecting Xu Lin to have such a good memory.

"I can only say I have a good memory, not that I can remember everything I see. I'm not that good."

Xu Lin opened the second volume of the History of the Song Dynasty and continued reading.

Xu Lin spent the entire morning reading, finishing the entire "History of the Song Dynasty" around noon.

"Your reading speed is amazing."

Shang Wanjun couldn't help but say, and then she added, "Why are you interested in reading history? These thick historical books are actually quite dry, even the very literary 'Records of the Grand Historian' is no exception, it's still dry."

"I guess it's because I read fast. I can finish so many books in just a few hours. If you asked me to spend a long time, like ten days, half a month or even longer, to read a book, I probably wouldn't do it."

"What are your thoughts after reading the history books?"

"Thoughts, being intangible, cannot be accurately described in language. I can say that I have benefited greatly, but I can't explain exactly how. I can't say that reading these books taught me how to be a person, can I?"

"What you learn from books is never enough; the principles you learn in books are useless. Even if you seem to have learned them, if you haven't put them into practice yourself, they're not truly your own," said Chi Shangwanjun.

Xu Lin agreed: "That's right. Only by applying what you've learned and putting knowledge into practice can you say you've truly learned something."

"And you, teacher?" Xu Lin asked her.

That morning, Xu Lin was reading a book, while Shang Wanjun was copying poems into her notebook.

"I copy down some poems. When I see poems or sentences from classical Chinese texts that I like, I will write them down."

"Can I take a look?"

"Ah."

Xu Lin took the notebook from the other person and saw that it already contained many copied poems.

Xu Lin had never seen most of them before. He flipped through them and found that the poems copied by Shang Wanjun also had obvious characteristics.

"It seems that the teacher really likes poems with integrity and spirit."

"Otherwise, what kind of poetry do you think I would like?"

"I have some stereotypes. I think girls like poems that are more about lamenting the passing of spring and the coming of autumn, like those by Nalan Rongruo and Li Yu."

Shang Wanjun shook his head. "I don't like poems that lament the passing of spring and the coming of autumn. I don't like Li Yu. As an emperor, he didn't have the bearing of one."

"If you are not in a position, you should not concern yourself with its affairs; if you are in a position, you should concern yourself with its affairs. Li Yu was an emperor, but he did not fulfill the duties of an emperor. In the end, he became a prisoner and could only weep with the palace maids, lamenting the passing of spring and autumn every night. It is truly difficult to judge him." Xu Lin also said the same thing.

Shang Wanjun said, "Li Yu and Emperor Huizong of Song are similar. From the perspective of ordinary people, such emperors are a disaster. However, most people take the perspective of literati or nobles, without considering that they are ordinary people. If such people become emperors, the whole world will be in dire straits."

When people talk about Li Yu, they usually think it's a pity that he died, saying how much better it would have been if he hadn't been an emperor.

But Shang Wanjun didn't think so. She felt that Li Yu was useless. After being imprisoned, he cried and sobbed like a woman. Putting aside his incompetence as an emperor, he didn't even have the courage to stand up as a man.

Xu Lin was even more straightforward. He simply disliked Li Yu, feeling that as a man, he didn't act like one. After his wife was taken advantage of, all he did was wallow in self-pity and cry, which was quite absurd. As an emperor, needless to say, he was even worse.

Xu Lin and Shang Wanjun were on the same wavelength, and they had a lot to talk about on this matter, chatting for a long time.

"Xu Lin, which poem do you like the most?"

"Currently, there's one poem you read this morning, 'Lang Tao Sha: Beidaihe,' and another poem by a great man, called 'Nian Nu Jiao: Kunlun.'"

"Really? Why don't you write it in my notebook?"

"You have these two songs in your notebook too, right?"

"I'd also like to see what you wrote."

"also."

Xu Lin picked up the other person's pen and began to write on the blank page of the notebook.

The first poem I wrote was "Lang Tao Sha: Beidaihe".

Next up is "Nian Nu Jiao: Kunlun".

Actually, Xu Lin mainly liked the first half of the second half of the song.

"Appearing out of nowhere, the mighty Kunlun Mountains have witnessed all the beauty of the world. Three million jade dragons soar into the sky..."

These few sentences are truly magnificent and powerful.

Poetry is something that needs to be savored carefully, and it requires a quiet time, without being disturbed.

Xu Lin finished writing very quickly.

"Xu Lin, your handwriting is even better than before!"

Beside her, Shang Wanjun watched Xu Lin write, her eyes filled with amazement.

Xu Lin's calligraphy is now more imposing and sharp, possessing considerable power. Shang Wanjun had seen Xu Lin write before, but it wasn't like this. Compared to before, Xu Lin's current calligraphy only retains a few of the original outlines.

"is it?"

Speaking of which, Xu Lin suddenly remembered that he had received two new skill rewards yesterday.

A stroke of genius in calligraphy.

A master painter.

With the help of his masterful brush, Xu Lin's calligraphy underwent a dramatic transformation.

Shang Wanjun: "Have you been practicing calligraphy lately? You've improved so much!"

"Calligraphy? I've been practicing a little recently, but I haven't really paid much attention to whether I've improved or not."

Xu Lin simply left it at that. Some things are better left unsaid than explained. He's just a cheat code user.

Shang Wanjun: "You've made great progress. Your handwriting is the most beautiful I've ever seen."

"That's an exaggeration, I really don't deserve it!"

Xu Lin should be modest.

Shang Wanjun: "Not an exaggeration at all!"

The two chatted for another ten minutes or so.

It was already past 1 p.m.

Seeing that it was getting late, Xu Lin said, "Teacher, let's go eat!"

"Ah."

After returning the book, the two went to have dinner together.

Nothing happened during the meal; it was just a normal meal.

After finishing his meal, Xu Lin said goodbye to Shang Wanjun.

Xu Lin was also busy in the afternoon.

He thought to himself that he now had two new skills. Calligraphy aside, it was something that Xu Lin used quite often and he would practice writing regularly.

And what about painting?

Xu Lin hasn't tried it yet.

Speaking of which, when was the last time Xu Lin painted?

He remembered that it was when he was in the third grade of elementary school that he drew a big tree and won the third prize in the school's drawing competition.

But elementary school students' drawings are just so-so, nothing much to say.

Now that Xu Lin has this cheat-like skill at his disposal, he can't help but want to try it out.

"Let's try some sketching first!"

Compared to other forms of painting, such as traditional ink painting or foreign abstract paintings.

Sketching is much simpler.

The tools needed for sketching are very simple: pencils, charcoal pencils, charcoal sticks, erasers, rags, sketching paper, and drawing boards. In simpler terms, they are just pens, paper, and erasers.

So, after parting ways with Shang Wanjun, Xu Lin bought a whole set of sketching tools at an art supply store, a bundle of paper, and an easel to hold the drawing paper.

Afterwards, Xu Lin returned to the duplex apartment.

He doesn't like being disturbed when he's working now.

After putting everything away, Xu Lin began to study the items in the living room.

What should I draw?

"people?"

"There is."

Xu Lin opened the photo album and found the best-looking picture of Ning Yuhan.

Xu Lin opened the photo and looked at it carefully for more than ten seconds, memorizing it completely. Even the texture of Ning Yuhan's hair was meticulously recorded thanks to Xu Lin's extraordinary memory.

Then, Xu Lin started drawing on the drawing paper with a pencil and charcoal pencil.

When Xu Lin first drew Ning Yuhan, he presented her exactly as she appeared in the photograph, as if he had copied her.

Under the influence of the "Masterful Hands and Painting Skills" ability, Xu Lin has strong sketching skills and can draw very quickly.

Therefore, Xu Linhua produced Ning Yuhan's half-body photo in less than half an hour.

But Xu Lin knew it wasn't enough.

He had previously learned guitar, piano, or written songs and composed music, and only after a lot of practice did he produce the final product.

The same applies to sketching. Although Xu Lin is already a master painter, he simply presented Ning Yuhan directly on the paper without any changes, just like copying homework.

Therefore, Xu Lin began to paint Ning Yuhan for the second time.

This time, Ning Yuhan leaps off the page, lifelike and vivid.

Compared to the first sketch, Ning Yuhan's hair has subtle changes. In the first sketch, Ning Yuhan's hair was in a static state, while in the second sketch, Ning Yuhan's hair seems to be in rhythmic waves, and Xu Lin has given her more spirituality. Then, there was the third sketch.

This time, besides the hair, there's also a change in the eyes.

The eyes are the core of a character.

In the third sketch, Ning Yuhan's eyes resembled the line from the Book of Songs.

“Her beautiful eyes are bright and inviting.”

"Her smile is enchanting, her eyes are bright and beautiful, but she's still missing the charm of a charming smile."

This sentence describes the beautiful woman's smile as sweet yet slightly mischievous, and her eyes as lively and captivating.

Therefore, Xu Lin's fourth sketch gave Ning Yuhan even more unique qualities.

"This is not bad!"

Xu Lin looked at the fourth sketch and was very satisfied this time. It was as if he had put Ning Yuhan, who was in real life, into the drawing.

So Xu Lin took a picture and sent it to Ning Yuhan.

He added, "How's your new sketching lesson?"

After sending the message, Xu Lin stopped checking his phone. On a whim, he had gained some insights into sketching.

"While you're at it, try drawing a portrait of the female protagonist in my novel."

Xu Lin didn't have any photos of Chi Linyue on his phone, so he asked her to take a selfie.

Chi Linyue's photos were taken quite casually, in the bathroom.

"Never mind, I'll just imagine it myself."

Xu Lin would not draw Chi Linyue's real appearance and post it online.

After thinking for a moment, he decided to draw a portrait of Chi Linyue that was about 80% accurate.

For example, the real-life Chi Linyue doesn't have peach blossom eyes, but the novel's Chi Linyue does. Xu Lin even added a pretty little beauty mark to the left corner of the novel's Chi Linyue's eye. In addition, Xu Lin also adjusted the nose based on the real-life Chi Linyue.

Finally, the first sketch was completed. This was the initial version of the novel's female protagonist, and it bore a striking resemblance to the real-life Chi Linyue.

Then, it was the second time, the third time, and so on, until the fourth time.

Thus, the sketch of a stunningly beautiful woman was officially completed. Like the portrait of Ning Yuhan, Xu Lin added more and more characteristics to her one after another.

"It's done."

Xu Lin was quite satisfied with Chi Linyue's fourth sketch.

He took out his phone and carefully took a picture of the sketch paper.

Xu Lin first sent the message to Chi Linyue, and then opened Xiaohongshu to post a new thread.

Post: Is this the Ms. Chi you envisioned?
The next step was to take a picture of Xu Lin's sketch portrait.

In the portrait, Chi Linyue sits on a swing, her legs dangling off the ground beneath her long dress. A gentle smile graces her lips, and her eyes sparkle with life. Her hair and clothes seem to sway gently in the breeze, and even the breeze in the painting seems to have a physical presence. Everything is so lifelike.

The sketch immediately amazed people when they clicked on the post.

"Holy crap, is this a sketch? It's so well done!"

"It feels so real, author! I've saved the images; I'll use them as wallpapers and avatars!"

"This is exactly the Miss Chi I've always imagined. May I ask if this was painted by Mr. Xu?"

"I don't think so. This sketch looks very high-level. It must have been studied for a long time. And this person must also have a high talent for drawing, otherwise he couldn't have drawn this kind of feeling. Mr. Xu can't be good at everything, can he?"

The post garnered tens of thousands of comments in less than ten minutes.

Aside from a few comments discussing who was speaking, most comments praised the sketch as very well drawn, or discussed the character of Miss Chi.

Xu Lin didn't bother replying to the comments; after posting the message, he logged out of Xiaohongshu.

Speaking of the skill of "masterful painting", it is not just about the well-known field of drawing such as sketching. In fact, it covers all fields and techniques of painting, and most importantly, it also includes Xu Lin's talent in painting.

Similarly, calligraphy is the same. Xu Lin can now write regular script, running script, cursive script and other calligraphic styles, but this is only the foundation. In the field of calligraphy, each famous calligrapher has their own unique style and characteristics. For example, there are the famous Yan style, Liu style, Ou style and so on in history, as well as Wang Xizhi, who is famous in the field of running script, or even Emperor Huizong of Song, who has the so-called "Slender Gold" style. In short, there are countless famous calligraphers.

Xu Lin did not know the calligraphy of these famous calligraphers, but his calligraphy ability of "exquisite brushwork" was inherent and allowed him to easily learn the calligraphy of these masters.

This is the effect of "spirituality," and painting is naturally the same principle.

After posting on Xiaohongshu, it was already 7 p.m. Xu Lin had been engrossed in sketching all afternoon, drawing eight sketches in total, which took four or five hours. Before he knew it, it was already very late.

It's too late to go for roll call now, so Xu Lin simply asked the class monitor for leave.

On the other side, Xu Lin sent sketches of Ning Yuhan and Chi Linyue, and both women replied, quite surprised.

Ning Yuhan replied at 4 PM: "Honey, you even learned sketching?"

Xu Lin: "Just drawing for fun, is it pretty?"

"nice!"

Ning Yuhan replied instantly, "You know a lot of things."

Xu Lin: "I was just learning this for fun out of boredom. I'll draw you something even better when I have time!"

Ning Yuhan: "Mmm!"

Chi Linyue asked, "Did you draw this?"

Xu Lin: "It's obvious to the naked eye that I'm painting this seriously. Who else could it be but me?"

Chi Linyue: "They just look a little different from me."

"It has to be different. I made a character portrait for the female protagonist of the novel, so I made some slight adjustments."

"How can you draw so well? Did you learn some new sketching techniques?"

Chi Linyue had already witnessed Xu Lin's rapid learning of the piano and knew that he had a powerful brain, so she assumed that Xu Lin had recently learned sketching.

Xu Lin simply replied, "I learned it when I was bored."

Chi Linyue: "Amazing, such a smart brain!"

The two chatted for a few minutes.

Xu Lin didn't go to school tonight; he went the next morning.

On Monday, Xu Lin received his royalties, which cheered him up again.

Pre-tax royalties: 14458694.36 yuan.

After tax?

In other words, Xu Lin officially received 0.112 yuan in royalties tax, paid 1619373.77 yuan in taxes, and ultimately received 12839320.59 yuan.

However, Xu Lin will have to make up a considerable portion of the difference next year.

With this payment of approximately 13 million yuan, Xu Lin has once again set a new record for monthly royalties in online literature.

There was once a top-tier online novelist who wrote fantasy novels, earning tens of millions a quarter and averaging over three million a month. But Xu Lin has now surpassed him in just one month.

The website, after consulting with Xu Lin, promoted the news that Xu Lin's monthly royalties had exceeded ten million yuan.

Xu Lin is currently very popular, and with his monthly royalties from writing books exceeding 14 million yuan before tax, he already has a strong topic of discussion. As a result, he immediately topped the trending searches, shocking countless people.

In response, Xu Lin once again showed off his superiority from afar.

And this time, who knows how many hotheads, blinded by greed, have come here for online novels, thinking they can do the same.

"This month's royalties are over fourteen million?"

Ms. Ren discovered the news and immediately came to ask Xu Lin.

Xu Lin sent a screenshot of the payment confirmation message to the other party.

"I paid more than 1.6 million yuan in taxes, and this is a high income for me, so I will have to pay back taxes next year."

"Oh."

"sharp."

"And just make sure you don't go astray,"

Ms. Ren is still afraid that Xu Lin will go astray. In fact, the reason why many people are honest and law-abiding is simply because they don't have money. Otherwise, if they had a little money, they probably wouldn't be good people. There really aren't that many morally upright people in the world.

"Don't worry, I haven't gone astray, and you've said that many times already."

"If I bring it up every now and then, what if you go astray?"

There are so many things that rich people can do. Ten thousand yuan a month can support a pretty female college student. Fifty thousand or one hundred thousand yuan a month is just outrageous. For example, if you pay fifty thousand a month, that's six hundred thousand a year. If you buy her some gifts occasionally, it could be over a million a year or even more. Even if you graduate from a top university, you have to be very outstanding and work your life away to earn that much.

There are too many intricacies involved in the gray area.

As a lawyer, Ms. Ren has seen all sorts of things, from black to white, and from gray to gray. For professions like lawyers and police officers, these kinds of things are part of their daily lives.

As her son seemed to be getting more and more capable, Ms. Ren couldn't help but fear that Xu Lin would go astray.

Theoretically speaking, the more capable you are, the more impressive people you will meet. As the saying goes, a hero's origins are irrelevant. You don't know where this "hero" rose to power, whether his first and second fortunes were clean or not, or what he did in private. All sorts of shady characters are involved.

Will my son come into contact with these people?

As a mother, Ren Yan became increasingly worried.

Ms. Ren added, "In short, we must not learn bad habits!"

Xu Lin: "ojbk".

On Monday, besides Xu Lin receiving his royalties, another important event was the release of the list of the website's twelve top contributors.

Updated this morning.

Wu Chengfeng and the other three were undoubtedly on the list.

Xu Lin, as the man with the highest achievements in the history of online literature, directly ranked first.

However, he was rather unconventional. While everyone else used real photos of their heads, Xu Lin's photo was of Gaia, the destroyer of the earth, which made many people lose their composure.

In addition, the website's comment on Xu Lin is: the strongest man in the history of online literature, without exception!

While others are all about: being number one in a certain genre in 2025, setting a record in a certain category, being good at creating something, etc.

Only Xu Lin's comments stood out.

Xu Lin also glanced at the Twelve Heavenly Kings. Besides him, there were eight men and three women. Xu Lin was curious about what these people looked like.

There are really no good-looking online novel authors. If they are good-looking, it's probably because they photoshopped their pictures or wore makeup. They would be honest when they met the real person.

Professional photography studios, like Haima Studio, offer services where, as long as you're neither too thin nor too fat, you can have your makeup done by a Haima Studio makeup artist, and then have your photos edited by Haima Studio. It's like getting two sets of the four great "East Asian sorceries" done at once, making you look the best you've ever looked.

However, Xu Lin noticed that among the Twelve Heavenly Kings, the ascetic was quite handsome; the head photo was actually a selfie, without any editing.

"I must say, this kid is actually quite handsome."

The remaining authors, including his three other apprentices, all have ordinary looks.

"It would be a waste for someone like me to be in the online literature circle."

Xu Lin looked at himself in the mirror.

A few more days passed, and Xu Lin continued to live a peaceful yet fulfilling life.

Sunday night arrived, and Xu Lin's other eight apprentices, who had been writing songs for him, were finally going to perform all at once tonight after half a month of training.

"Let me see how it works!"

Xu Lin thronged around, eager to try.

(End of this chapter)