Chapter 129 - 103 Too Honest

Words : 1712 Updated : Sep 17th, 2025

Chapter 129: Chapter 103 Too HonestThe flight was scheduled for a little past eight in the morning, so the three of them got up early and all sat in first class. This was Lin Wan’s first time in first class, and she was so excited she almost started a live stream. Three hours later, they got off the plane and then transferred to a county-level city below, before taking a car to a township below that city. Li Chungang ran a noodle shop in this rural town, called "Chungang Noodle House," which was simple and unpretentious. Though Li Chungang was nearly sixty years old, he looked young, around fifty. When Chen Feng and the others entered the noodle shop, Li was wearing a white apron and cooking noodles. It was just past two in the afternoon, and there were five or six customers in the shop; the business was doing okay. After introductions, Li enthusiastically shook hands with Chen Feng, then asked if they had eaten. Chen Feng honestly shook his head, and Li immediately served them, each person receiving a large bowl of barrel-bone noodles. And they were delicious indeed; each person was served a large barrel bone. Chen Feng took more than ten minutes to finish sucking the marrow with a straw, leaving his stomach satisfyingly full. After finishing their meal, Chen Feng tried to pay, but Li refused to accept any money. Then Li handed over the shop to his wife and took them back home to see his paintings. His home wasn’t in the town, but it wasn’t far from it either; it took about ten minutes by his electric tricycle. It was a traditional rural house with a private courtyard enclosed by a high wall topped with shards of broken glass, and they even had a large wolf dog inside. According to Li, a few years ago, a thief had targeted his home. Luckily, the thief didn’t recognize the value of the paintings. Although many items were stolen, including their rice cooker, none of his paintings were taken. Since then, they’d built higher walls and kept a large wolf dog to watch over the premises. As they arrived at the gate, the wolf dog began barking loudly until Li scolded it into silence. The dog was indeed very big, scaring the two women to the point where they didn’t dare enter. Only after Li went over and grabbed the dog, which was chained, did the two women, hiding behind Chen Feng, follow him into the yard. Chen Feng declined the invitation to drink tea in the main house living room and headed straight for Li’s art studio. The studio was large, occupying the left side of the courtyard at almost two hundred square meters. The decor and arrangement were clearly not as refined or well-designed as those in Song Yi’s home. There were shelves, all at the far end of the entrance, displaying several mismatched sets of mostly wooden shelves filled or rather piled with paintings that were mostly unframed. Some shelves were covered with plastic tarps, others were not, but all were crowded with dust. Near the door were cleaner areas, furnished with several easels and various painting tools. Additionally, along the wall were some completed and incomplete paintings with both oil and Chinese paintings on display. It’s fair to say that Li Chungang, as a folk artist, had a remarkable level of skill, mastering both Eastern and Western art forms. "Sorry, the place is a bit messy," Li said somewhat apologetically, then gestured for the three to come further inside. Chen Feng, of course, didn’t mind and immediately responded, "I want to first see some of your recent works, which ones are they?" "This whole section," Li pointed to the shelves on his left hand side, "feel free to look around." "Okay." Without any reservations, Chen Feng stepped forward to inspect the works. At first glance, Chen Feng was thrilled to discover three paintings that resonated. This was indeed a delightful surprise. It was worth traveling all this distance. Chen Feng immediately took down the three paintings from the shelf, then moved to another row of shelves. After examining all the shelves on the left side of the entrance, featuring almost fifty to sixty pieces, Chen Feng had collected five paintings, which almost made him laugh out loud with joy. Then, Chen Feng moved to the shelves on the right side, which held an even larger number of pieces, around seventy to eighty. After looking through them, he collected another five paintings. Honestly, such a collection amazed even Chen Feng. But it was true! Of course, Chen Feng was not satisfied with this. These kind of responsive paintings were, of course, the more the better. So, Chen Feng went to search again among the shelves covered with plastic cloth. Searching for over an hour, despite eating a lot of dust, his efforts were not in vain as he managed to find a total of 8 more paintings. This trip alone netted him eighteen pieces of artwork, and Chen Feng was both shocked and delighted. He felt as if he had truly discovered treasure, and his view of Li Chungang, this folk artist from a farmer’s background, changed completely. In Chen Feng’s view, Li Chungang was the kind of true master painter buried among ordinary people. Chen Feng did not know much about art, but he knew that any painting that internally attracted him and contained an invisible energy was undoubtedly a good painting. Others might not know, but Chen Feng did. This was probably a natural advantage in his line of work dealing in artworks. "Mr. Li, look here, there are eighteen paintings in total, and I’m interested in all of them. Please give me a price," he said. Li Chungang was very straightforward. Without even looking at the paintings, he casually said, "You came all the way here to buy these paintings, which shows you respect me. I’ll give you a discount, the current price I offer to others is usually two thousand for smaller ones and three thousand for larger ones, but for you, I’ll make it two thousand each." Two thousand each?! That’s only thirty-six thousand for eighteen. Chen Feng felt a psychological shock. That was way too cheap! Chen Feng had the urge to mourn silently for these paintings for three minutes, feeling sad for them and that they were undervalued. Their artistic value was much higher than those of so-called famous artworks, yet now they were being sold off so cheaply. Pearls covered in dust, weren’t they? Chen Feng nearly blurted out impulsively to remind Li Chungang that these paintings were very valuable. But in the end, because of his own selfish interest, he managed to hold back. "Mr. Li, you’re too straightforward." With a sigh, Chen Feng, unable to overrun his conscience, said, "How about this then. For the eighteen paintings, I’ll give you ... 100,000." Chen Feng originally wanted to offer him 180,000, ten thousand for each. But then he thought, if suddenly having money meant no more pressure in life, would he still be able to create so many energy-filled paintings? Many artists and creators are like that, after becoming famous and wealthy, the pressures of life dissipate, and their works often lose the spirit they once had. Therefore, Chen Feng still slightly lowered the price. "What!?" Li Chungang was clearly not expecting Chen Feng to raise the offer, and certainly not by so much. "I’m saying, these paintings, I’m giving you a hundred thousand for them. They’re worth it." "No, no," Li Chungang immediately shook his head and waved his hands in refusal, "That’s too much. The most expensive painting I ever sold was for twenty thousand, and that was a custom order that was over two meters long and more than a meter wide, which took me two months to complete. These others, at most, take me two days to paint, and the smaller ones I can even finish within a couple of hours. I can’t take more from you. You came all the way from Xiu Zhou, how could I overcharge you?" Chen Feng didn’t know what to say to his attitude and those words. After a while, Chen Feng sincerely admired and said, "Mr. Li, you really are too straightforward. I can only truly admire you. The price I offered isn’t just because I think your paintings are worth that much, but also because I would like to have the right of first purchase for your future works. When you have new paintings, send me a video or photo of them first thing, and if I’m interested, you can hold them for me and not sell to anyone else." Li Chungang, pleased by the words, said, "Caring for my business and liking my paintings, it’s only right for me to send you videos and photos first. You don’t have to pay extra." "Ah! Alright, just listen to me. If you don’t take the money, I won’t feel at peace. And to be honest, I really like your paintings and I do believe I can resell them at a good price, so buying so many won’t be a loss for me, and I’ll actually make some profit." Seeing Chen Feng put it that way, Li Chungang no longer insisted and nodded, "Alright then. Let me throw in a few more paintings for you." Chen Feng couldn’t reject his kind offer; the man was truly too sincer... Finally, Chen Feng just picked out two more visually pleasing paintings, making it a total of 20. They signed the contract and transferred the money via WeChat. Li Chungang, upon suddenly receiving one hundred thousand, was extremely happy and insisted on hosting Chen Feng at his home for a drink. Feeling obliged, and also considering building a good relationship for the future to continue acquiring energy paintings from him, Chen Feng agreed. Li Chungang was not just a painter, but also a chef. He raised chickens and ducks in the backyard, grew vegetables, and had plenty of ingredients in his refrigerator. Through a lot of hard work, he prepared an authentic farm meal for them. Chen Feng and his companions were very satisfied with the meal.

Chapter 129 - 103 Too Honest

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