Lin Xue was also stunned, then chuckled and said, "So that's how it is. Cousin, since you and Ye Ning have already made things official, what is there to be embarrassed about?"
Su Qingqing was about to lose her mind. She hurriedly said, "That was fake! I was just pretending."
"I said it back then—once I put my stamp on you, you're my woman. It doesn't matter even if you don't agree," Ye Ning said domineeringly.
Seeing that Su Qingqing wanted to say more, Ye Ning cut her off. "Alright, time to get up. I'll make breakfast for you two."
Ye Ning stood up, bare-chested and wearing only a pair of boxer shorts. His muscular, athletic frame came into full view, defined by streamlined muscles packed with masculine charm.
He walked straight into the bathroom, and the sound of gushing water followed.
"Wife, bring me a fresh set of clothes," Ye Ning called out.
Lin Xue teased playfully, "Cousin, Ye Ning is calling you."
Su Qingqing's face darkened. "Get lost, he's calling you. I have to go to work."
She hurriedly threw on her clothes and bolted out of the room as if running for her life, leaving Lin Xue behind in a fit of giggles.
Placing Ye Ning's clothes by the bathroom door, Lin Xue strolled leisurely back to her own room.
After washing up, she came out to the living room and found that Ye Ning had already prepared breakfast.
Steamed eggs and Yangzhou fried rice.
A simple pairing, but meticulously made.
Su Qingqing took a bite, and her eyes lit up.
"Delicious! I didn't know you had this hidden talent," Su Qingqing said in surprise.
Ye Ning explained, "All three of my masters love good food, but they were too lazy to cook. Ever since I was five years old, they made me cook and bought recipe books of all the major cuisines for me to study."
Su Qingqing was dumbfounded. Making a five-year-old child cook—what on earth were Ye Ning's three masters thinking?
No wonder Ye Ning's culinary skills were so incredible; even simple dishes tasted exceptionally delicious.
By his age, he had already been a househusband for fifteen years.
As the two of them were eating breakfast, Lin Muhua walked in.
His expression was somewhat strange as he stared at Ye Ning, as if looking at a monster.
"Dad, what's with that look?" Lin Xue couldn't help asking.
Lin Muhua smiled bitterly. "Do you have any idea what your man did?"
Lin Xue was puzzled. Could Ye Ning have done something earth-shattering?
Ye Ning scratched his head too. What had he done?
Taking a deep breath, Lin Muhua said, "Your man killed Chen Hong last night."
"Who is Chen Hong?" Lin Xue asked, confused.
"Lord Fourth Chen."
Lin Xue gasped. She hadn't heard of Chen Hong, but the name Lord Fourth Chen was legendary.
The man was the undisputed king of Xiaocheng's underground world; even her father had to treat him with utmost respect when they met.
Seeing her absolute shock, Lin Muhua continued, "Not only that, your man took on hundreds of his men all by himself and shook the entire Xiaocheng to its core."
Taking on a hundred men single-handedly—wasn't that something that only happened in novels?
Ye Ning shrugged. He thought it was going to be a big deal.
Just that?
"The underground world of Xiaocheng has changed hands now. Li Baia has become the new king. Word is he's your subordinate. Is that true?" Lin Muhua asked, staring straight at Ye Ning.
Ye Ning shook his head. "I just think he's a decent guy, so I let him replace Chen Hong. He's not my subordinate; we're barely friends. The underground circle is beneath me."
Lin Muhua instantly breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's good then. The underground world looks glorious, but very few people in it get a good ending. You did the right thing—you can influence the underworld while keeping yourself completely out of it.
"Actually, I came here today for another matter."
Both Ye Ning and Lin Xue turned their gazes toward him.
"Ahem, Uncle Tan is holding an exhibition of Master Yinlong's paintings at his home. He's invited some of his old friends and wants to introduce you to them. I'd like you and Xiaocheng to go; it'll be good for your future," Lin Muhua said.
Ye Ning didn't mind either way since he had nothing else to do.
"Sure, we'll head over as soon as we finish eating."
Ye Ning agreed.
Lin Muhua immediately let out another breath of relief. Smiling, he said, "Alright, I won't disturb you two lovebirds eating anymore. Be a little modest at Uncle Tan's place—the people coming this time are big shots. Making a good impression on them will be of great benefit to your future."
Lin Muhua genuinely regarded Ye Ning as his son-in-law and was already starting to pave the way for him.
Ye Ning could feel Lin Muhua's good intentions and didn't reject them.
As for Lin Xue, her father's casual use of the word "lovebirds" made her cheeks flush slightly. That bashful look gave her an arresting, peerless radiance.
After finishing breakfast, the two of them left in Lin Xue's car.
They arrived at Tan Qingshan's residence and rang the doorbell.
Tan Qingshan came out to welcome them in person, and his face lit up with excitement the moment he saw Ye Ning.
"Hello, Grandpa Tan," Lin Xue greeted obediently.
Before, she hadn't known about the connection between Tan Qingshan and her family, but now that she did, it was only natural to show him more respect.
"Hello! Haha, you really are a blessed girl, finding such an outstanding husband. It's truly the envy of others," Tan Qingshan sighed in admiration.
"Please come in, Mr. Ye," Tan Qingshan said, greeting Ye Ning without daring to put on any airs.
In matters of skill, the master is king.
Given Ye Ning's status in the painting and calligraphy world, Tan Qingshan wouldn't even be out of line calling him senior.
"Elder Tan, after you," Ye Ning said, offering a polite gesture in return.
Finally, the two walked side by side.
Tan Qingshan beamed with pride, his heart filled to the brim with joy.
Being able to walk side by side with Master Yinlong was the highest possible honor for him.
The living room was already packed with people. As they entered, Elder Tan lagged half a step behind Ye Ning, then respectfully invited him to take a seat.
There were six men sitting in the living room, ranging in age from their fifties to seventies. They all looked somewhat surprised.
They had all witnessed Elder Tan's behavior—he was actually treating a young man with such deference.
Even when they had arrived, Elder Tan had never been this polite.
Just what was this young man's background?
***
Chapter 23: Ye Ning is Master Yinlong
Lin Xue followed Ye Ning and sat down beside him. Even with so many eyes fixed on them, she showed no sign of panic.
The Lin Family was no ordinary household, so this kind of scene was practically second nature to Lin Xue.
"Who are these two?" asked the only man there who was in his fifties.
Tan Qingshan smiled faintly and said, "They are honored guests I invited. This Mr. Ye possesses a level in the field of painting that far surpasses our own."
Hearing Tan Qingshan's words, the man in his fifties looked somewhat unimpressed.
"Elder Tan, it's not that I doubt your words, but Mr. Ye is so young. If you say his skills in painting surpass ours, I simply cannot believe it," the man said.
"Brother Zheng, you've misjudged this time. Mr. Ye's skill is truly far above ours. I'll provide proof in a moment." Tan Qingshan didn't get angry.
If he hadn't known Ye Ning's true identity, he wouldn't have believed it either, just like the others.
Zheng Le was the vice president of the Yangcheng Calligraphy and Painting Association and wielded considerable influence in the Yang City government.
His own painting skills were a close match for Tan Qingshan's.
Ye Ning remained silent, merely offering a faint smile, which made the others look at him in a new light.
Just this composure was something none of them had possessed at his age.
Zheng Le glanced at Ye Ning, unimpressed.
In his eyes, the young man was probably just a junior relative of Tan Qingshan's.
Tan Qingshan had brought Ye Ning along this time simply to let him gain some exposure and leave a good impression in front of old timers like them.
It was just that Tan Qingshan's claims were a bit too absurd, rubbing everyone the wrong way.
Tan Qingshan knew what they were thinking. With a faint smile, he said, "Everyone, the reason I invited you all here today is because I obtained a painting by Master Yinlong, and I wanted to invite you all to inspect it."
Zheng Le's eyes instantly lit up, and he said with pleasant surprise, "A painting by Master Yinlong? Which one? Since when did Elder Tan get so wealthy that you can even afford a painting by Master Yinlong?"
"It's a painting none of you have ever seen before," Tan Qingshan said proudly.
"You old fox, stop keeping us in suspense and take it out already," Zheng Le said with a smile.
The others chimed in, gesturing for Tan Qingshan to hurry up and reveal it.
Without further ado, Tan Qingshan took out the painting Ye Ning had made for him.
Zheng Le eagerly unrolled the scroll.
When he saw what was depicted in the painting, everyone present was struck dumb.
"Is that Elder Tan in the painting? Have you met Master Yinlong?" Zheng Le asked excitedly.
His eyes were practically turning red. Any painting by Master Yinlong was worth hundreds of millions.
However, such a work meant far more to a specific person than simply owning a portrait painted by Master Yinlong's own hand.
If Master Yinlong were willing to paint a portrait of him, Zheng Le would even be willing to trade more than half of his collection accumulated over the years.
The other men reacted the same way, their eyes turning red as they gazed at the portrait.
"I have." Tan Qingshan glanced at Ye Ning and said with a smile.
"Is Master Yinlong an immortal-like figure, transcendent and otherworldly, completely different from us mortals caught in the dust of the world?" Zheng Le asked with an expression of deep adoration.
Another elder chimed in, "I think Master Yinlong must be the reincarnation of Wu Daozi, the Saint of Painting."
"Indeed! In this day and age, who else could compare to Master Yinlong? He must be an immortal being."
The group praised in unison.
As they appraised Tan Qingshan's painting, one of the elders even asked, "Old Tan, how about selling this painting to me? I'll offer three hundred million. Though staring at your portrait every day might be a bit awkward, it's still a work by Master Yinlong—I won't mind having your face around."
"Get lost! Forget two hundred million; I wouldn't sell it even if you gave me a billion," Tan Qingshan retorted irritably.
This was his prized possession now; he would never part with it.
"Sigh, what a pity. All my life I've wanted a painting by Master Yinlong, but I never thought I'd have the chance," the elder sighed.
Seeing his crestfallen expression, Lin Xue couldn't help speaking up. "Elder, if you really want a painting, you could just ask Ye Ning to paint one for you."
Hearing Lin Xue's words, the old man laughed instead. "Young lady, you misunderstood. I want a painting by Master Yinlong, not someone else's work. Thank you for your kind intentions, though."
Clearly, the old man looked down on Ye Ning's paintings entirely.
Seeing herself rejected, Lin Xue felt a little indignant. Knowing these people were looking down on Ye Ning, she grew annoyed and simply shut her mouth.
Tan Qingshan couldn't help laughing out loud. He glanced at Ye Ning and said, "Old Wu, I hope you don't slap yourself across the face in a moment."
"Why would I slap myself?" Old Wu asked, puzzled.
Zheng Le even laughed. "Elder Tan, you're acting a bit strange today. Why do you keep saying things that don't make sense? What does Elder Wu have to regret?"
Tan Qingshan smiled faintly. Glancing at Ye Ning and seeing no sign of objection from him, he said, "Do any of you know Ye Ning's true identity?"
"What identity? Could it be that he is Master Yinlong himself? Or is he Master Yinlong's disciple?" Zheng Le said dismissively.
He didn't care much for Ye Ning because Elder Tan was putting him on way too high a pedestal.
Zheng Le felt a flicker of doubt. Elder Tan shouldn't make this kind of mistake.
In matters of social etiquette, Elder Tan was an absolute grandmaster; pulling a stunt like this today was way too unexpected.
Could it be that Elder Tan was truly losing his mind in his old age? That thought crossed everyone's mind.
Knowing what they were thinking, Tan Qingshan smiled faintly and said, "Ye Ning is actually Master Yinlong."
Silence fell over the room.
Everyone froze. They stared at Tan Qingshan, assuming he was joking.
Zheng Le even gave a bitter laugh. "Elder Tan, that's not a joke you can just make."
Tan Qingshan said with displeasure, "I am a die-hard fan of Master Yinlong. Do you think I'd joke about Master Yinlong's identity?"
Pointing at the painting on the table, Tan Qingshan continued, "Besides, this painting was drawn by Ye Ning's own hand. Can't you all tell whether it's Master Yinlong's work or not?"
Everyone invited by Tan Qingshan to appraise paintings had attained a certain level of achievement in the art world.
With their discernment, they could naturally tell at a glance that this was indeed a work by Master Yinlong.
Which meant that this young man named Ye Ning was the real Master Yinlong.
*Slap.*
Old Wu slapped himself right across the face. How stupid had he just been? He had actually refused an offer from Master Yinlong to paint his portrait!
At that thought, Old Wu felt like digging a hole and burying himself alive.
Zheng Le was utterly dumbfounded. The dignified Master Yinlong was actually just a young man in his early twenties!
By that age, when the Master produced the *Crane Painting*, he probably hadn't even been ten years old yet.
What kind of terrifying painting talent was this? The Jiuzhou art world was about to birth a monstrous genius.
***
Chapter 24: I Am Desperate for Money
In an instant, everyone swarmed around Ye Ning, pushing even Lin Xue off to the side.
Their burning gazes fixed on Ye Ning as if they were looking at a peerless treasure.
"Master Yinlong, could you tell me how you managed to elevate your painting skills to this level at such a young age?" Zheng Le asked with a trembling voice.
The others also pricked up their ears. Knowing the secret to Ye Ning's artistic breakthroughs would undoubtedly be of immense benefit to them.
Ye Ning scratched his head. How had he improved his painting skills?
He had simply studied under Third Master for two months, and then Third Master told him he could graduate.
Was he supposed to tell these old fogies to go find Third Master and become her apprentices?
That was definitely out of the question.
"Actually, after I turned ten, I hardly painted at all. My three masters told me it was a waste of time. Playing around with it as a hobby is fine, but you shouldn't let hobbies consume your ambition," Ye Ning said very seriously.
A hobby? Just playing around?
Damn it.
Every single old man present had the urge to curse out loud.
What the guy did just for fun was a height they could never reach in a lifetime.
Wait—several of them suddenly caught on.
Ye Ning stopped painting after he was ten years old? That meant the paintings by Master Yinlong that they worshipped to the extreme were all works created before he was ten.
Even so, their own work still couldn't hold a candle to Ye Ning's; the gap was more than just a little bit.
The old men smiled bitterly, feeling as though they had lived their entire lives in vain.
"If I may be so bold, what is Master Yinlong's primary profession?" Zheng Le asked cautiously.
Ye Ning thought about it for a moment. "My martial arts are high, my medical skills are decent, and I know a bit of Qimen Dunjias, the zither, Go, calligraphy, and painting. I honestly don't know which one counts as my main profession."
Everyone was left dazed.
Could a person really learn that many things?
"Actually, out of all those, painting is my worst skill," Ye Ning added.
The group instantly suffered ten thousand points of critical damage, leaving them completely speechless.
If they hadn't known that the person before them was the legendary Master Yinlong, they would have assumed Ye Ning was just bragging.
A person could exhaust their entire life and still fail to reach Master Yinlong's achievements in painting. Some even felt that Ye Ning was the most brilliant painter of the last hundred years, rivaled only by the grand masters of antiquity.
"I can vouch for him. Ye Ning's medical skills are the most incredible. My dad was sick and practically on death's door, but when Ye Ning stepped in and treated him, he was able to get out of bed the very same day and was completely normal by the next day," Lin Xue said.
Everyone was shocked, genuinely not knowing what else to say.
Right at that moment, Zheng Le's cell phone rang.
After answering the call, his expression changed instantly.
"Everyone, I'm terribly sorry. Something happened at home, and I need to head back immediately," Zheng Le said with a bitter smile.
"What's wrong? Did your father's illness act up again?" Tan Qingshan's heart stirred, as he knew a bit about Zheng Le's situation.
Zheng Le's career and family life were both going well, except that his father had a health issue. Usually fine, whenever it flared up, the old man would act like a madman—not attacking others, but hurting himself.
Zheng Le nodded and smiled bitterly. "God knows what kind of sin we committed. Ever since we took a trip to Coconut Country, my father ended up like this. We can't find the root cause no matter what. We've consulted all the major specialists, and they've even ruled out psychiatric illness."
Being friends who understood Zheng Le's plight, they all wore sympathetic expressions.
"Hurry back then. Oh, by the way, why don't you have Mr. Ye go with you? Mr. Ye just said his medical skills are exceptionally good," Tan Qingshan suggested.
Everyone's gazes landed on Ye Ning.
Zheng Le glanced at Ye Ning and hesitated.
After all, Ye Ning was simply too young.
A young man in his early twenties—no matter how brilliant his medical skills were supposed to be, how advanced could they really be?
When Ye Ning said his medical skills were good, he probably just thought so himself.
Seeing Zheng Le's disbelief, Tan Qingshan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "You fellow, have you forgotten how your face got slapped just now? Mr. Ye is a rare talent of our generation; maybe his medicine is just as transcendent as his painting."
Only then did Zheng Le remember that Ye Ning was no ordinary person.
The dignified Master Yinlong didn't even think his painting was good, instead believing his medical skills surpassed his art. That alone spoke volumes.
"Master Ye, would you be willing to come with me and treat my father? If you can cure him, money is no object," Zheng Le said earnestly.
Old Wu said with dissatisfaction, "Zheng Le, that's a terrible way to phrase it. Do you take Master Ye for someone who cares about your petty money?"
"I do care! Old man, if you don't know how to talk, keep your mouth shut," Ye Ning interrupted immediately. Glaring at Old Wu, he said, "I am desperate for money. If I can cure your father, how much are you going to pay me?"
The final question was directed at Zheng Le.
Everyone wore strange expressions. A single painting by Master Yinlong could sell for two or three hundred million, yet he was actually claiming to be short on cash.
"Master Ye, are you really that hard up for cash? I gave you a hundred million just before..." Tan Qingshan paused slightly, never expecting Ye Ning to be so fixated on money.
"I gave it to my other wife. I have to support several wives, which takes a lot of money. A real man can't let his wives suffer," Ye Ning said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.