CHAPTER XIII

The road is uneven

He really wanted to do this business, and he was very sincere at this time. However, Ling Xiao just took another sip of tea unhurriedly and raised his eyebrows: "Famous people are not born to be famous. ”

Yan Kuang was immediately stunned when he heard this.

The little girl ignored him, and continued unhurriedly: "Actually, I'm not famous now, which is a good thing for Boss Yan - I think it's not difficult for me to take the exam or win the competition, and I do have such plans." But then and now, it will no longer be the same. ”

Yan Kuang was stunned, his face changed slightly, and he looked at this teenage girl with some surprise - her first sentence was to hint to herself, it doesn't matter if she is not famous, as long as you have real talent and real learning, it is not difficult to promote packaging and even hype to become famous; The second sentence is to tell Sù herself that her works will have immeasurable room for appreciation in the future.

Although these two points are important, what Yan Kuang values more is actually her age - she can have such skills before she is twenty years old this year, so what about when she is thirty years old? Forty or fifty? And, when she started writing, she was unprepared and did it overnight. How far she could go in the future, he didn't even dare to estimate.

The man looked at her carefully again for a while, and suddenly said a little tentatively: "Actually, you have a lot of innate advantages. For example, looks. ”

With such a look, as long as she intentionally guides and promotes a title such as "genius beauty calligrapher", she will soon become popular.

"I'm not afraid of being famous," Ling Xiao glanced at him, slowly put down the cup in his hand, and calmly adjusted his sleeves, and his white and slender fingers were almost dazzling in the light. After smoothing her sleeves, she continued lightly: "But I don't want to be famous." ”

What does this mean is that you don't want to be famous for such a reason? Yan Kuang bowed his head slightly and muttered for a while, and finally seemed to have made a decision: "In this way, your words are considered consignment to me, and I will charge you a commission of 10% - it is much higher than that of the auction house, but for now, the large auction house will not accept your word, and it is even more unlikely that it will promote for you; And the small shop can't sell it at all. Or, if you're in a hurry to wait for the money, I can give you some advances. As for the specific publicity aspects, you can write clearly in the contract, and I am not afraid that I will not do my best - I am afraid that it will be too late today, and you can take a look at it again after I have drawn up the contract when you come next weekend. ”

Ling Xiao raised his chin noncommittally, motioning for him to continue—that was all, he was clearly not finished.

Sure enough, the man smiled, and quickly continued: "My income is linked to your income, and I will naturally earn you money to the maximum, but I also have a few requirements: First, you have to pass the ninth level of calligraphy within half a year - this is easy for you." Second, within a year, you must win at least a national calligraphy competition. With these two items, I can recommend you to join the Book Association, and then the value of your works will naturally rise, and you don't need to rely on those sideways to make a name for yourself. ”

When he said this, he paused slightly, and saw that Ling Xiao didn't mean to object, so he continued: "Third, all your calligraphy and paintings have to be consigned to me." The size can be varied, but there must be at least 20 per year. ”

After he finished speaking, he saw Ling Xiao raise his eyebrows and look over-obviously she was just a little girl, but when she looked at each other, she didn't know why she suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of oppression. He paused, then explained:

"I finally picked you up, and you didn't have a new work for a long time, or turned around and went to another house, wouldn't I want to die? I don't want to make a loss-making deal. But I'm not taking advantage of you in vain, as long as you only consign it to me for five years, and you have another work after five years, as long as you give priority to me, how about it? ”

"Yes." Ling Xiao nodded.

She responded like this, but Yan Kuang was a little stunned all of a sudden-the little girl was so shrewd that he almost couldn't resist it, he thought that she would at least have to bargain with herself in terms of years or the number of works, but she didn't expect to be so happy to agree. He was stunned, and he didn't know what to say for a while, and after a while, he couldn't help laughing, and said frankly:

"It's time to be refreshed."

"Your conditions are fair, my patience has never been good, and I am impatient to bargain with you anymore." Ling Xiao spread his hands, took out a seal from his pocket, opened a box of ink ink on the side of the table, and dipped the seal in bright red ink and vigorously covered the three words "Lin Quan Pavilion" written before - a series of movements, naturally like flowing water. By the time Yan Kuang looked up at her, the little girl had already stood up, "As for how to deal with this character, Boss Yan is at will." I will bring a few words next week, hoping that Boss Yan can draw up the contract as promised. Leave. ”

Yan Kuang subconsciously responded, the little girl had already left her seat at this time, and she had arrived at the door in a blink of an eye. She stretched out her hand to open the door, and paused slightly, as if she hesitated for a moment, before she whispered: "My master has the same surname as you, and he also has the surname Yan - Yan Zhenqing's Yan." ”

As soon as she finished speaking, she had already pushed open the door and strode out.

Yan Kuang was stunned, and after a while, she realized that she was answering her previous sentence, "At this time, you should be happy." It's just that although her tone was calm when she spoke, her voice was extremely low, and there was an inexplicable sense of depression and depression, so that he didn't know how to answer for a while, so he could only pretend that he didn't hear anything and looked down at her seal - next to the three big ink-colored characters of "Lin Quange" was a vermilion seal, and there were four characters in seal script:

"Ten Thousand Flowers"

Although it is a seal character, there is a hidden style of Yan's pen - plump and majestic, and the bone strength is strong.

……

Finally, the negotiation has reached a deal, and his economic situation is barely guaranteed in a short period of time, and the purpose of coming out today has finally been successfully achieved. Ling Xiao breathed a sigh of relief, seeing that the sky was already dark, he was not in a hurry to go back, he found a clean noodle restaurant and had dinner, and then he carried a bag on his back and walked along East Street to the other end, and turned into the West Street of Guanchao Street alone.

――It's not a good idea to come and go, so it's not worth it.

It was already dark.

The location of West Street is more remote than that of East Street. I don't know if it's because it's night or the terrain, compared to the bustle and bustle of East Street, it seems much more deserted here. Walking on the street, only from time to time there are three or two passers-by passing by, and they are all over forty years old.

It's no wonder that the antique industry is really deep, and there are all kinds of ways to talk about things, regardless of whether they are true or not. In this kind of place, there are all kinds of people from all walks of life, not to mention that it is already night, even during the day, and it is far from being as crowded as East Street.

Ling Xiao is a teenage girl and a very beautiful little girl, walking alone on the street, looking very conspicuous.

Ling Xiao is not a little girl who is ignorant of the world, she has long known what the situation here is. It's just that she is proud of her martial arts and high art, and she doesn't worry about anything at all, and she walks slowly from house to house in the night with great interest.

The antique shop has never really done much business, and it is a typical "three years without opening, three years after opening". Most bosses didn't like to deal with her when they saw her a little girl enter the door; There are also a few people who see her young age and exquisite clothes, thinking that she is a rich second generation who does not know how to do it, and they trick her into buying her own things. Ling Xiao wasn't very angry, no one paid attention to her and was happy, as for those who wanted to bully her and didn't know how to do it, she just smiled and brushed the hem of her clothes - it's strange to say, she just flicked her hand, and the bosses who originally wanted to come to her side to "explain" suddenly involuntarily staggered back and took a step, and when they wanted to step forward again, they didn't know why it seemed that there was some invisible barrier between the two, so that he couldn't take that step.

The boss was shocked, and immediately shut up and didn't dare to say a word.

Ling Xiao didn't seem to be aware of it, the expression on his face didn't change at all, and he still walked through the whole store unhurriedly, and then pushed the door and went out to the next one.

Curio shops are more time-consuming than daytime calligraphy and painting shops. When Ling Xiao was about halfway through the stroll, he went out but didn't enter the next one, just stood at the door and found his mobile phone to check the time.

-- It's nine o'clock, and there are hardly any pedestrians on the streets, and even the shops are already packing up and planning to close.

Ling Xiao only hesitated for a moment, but still didn't continue walking, but turned around and prepared to turn back - it takes about an hour to go home here, and today should almost end here.

The girl turned around and was about to turn back, but there was a slight pause at her feet, she turned her head and listened intently for a moment, and soon turned around again, stared at the small black fork not far away for a second, and strode in without hesitation.

This is still the West Street of Guanchao Street, but because the geographical location is becoming more and more remote and business has always been deserted, several shops here have closed their stalls early. The light of the street lamp is actually quite bright, but the light of only one street lamp wants to illuminate the whole path, but it is still inevitably a little dim in the end.

Not far away, there were four or five figures standing in the shadows.

Ling Xiao's internal strength is not bad, whether it is ear power or eyesight, it is excellent, and he can easily see the situation in front of him with the help of the light.

-- Four men around a girl.

The men looked to be in their early twenties, but they were crudely dressed, obscene, and full of ruffianism, and looked at the girl with a wicked look in their eyes, and the one at the head still had a knife in his hand—the light reflected by the blade in the light was faintly harsh; The girl looked to be no more than sixteen or seventeen years old, delicately dressed, and—very familiar.

Ling Xiao stretched out his hand and pressed the corner of his forehead, shook his head a little helplessly and sighed, but he had already strode forward.