Trial 026

  Kuo Yestood up just about to speak, when the old-fashioned telephone on the table suddenly rang. The old man looked at his daughter again, then slowly picked up the phone and listened for a while, furrowing his brow and saying "come in". He stood up and walked out.

  "Dad!"

  Tang Xiaolan shouted behind him, and the old man slowly turned around and said:

  "My eyes won't deceive me, young man. It's our Tang family that has been impolite. That thing is too valuable, I can't take the risk. You may leave!"

  He sighed and turned around, walking out of the room.

  "Sorry, my dad he—"

  Tang Xiaolan said in a low voice with red eyes.

  Kuo Yi said somewhat disappointedly:

  "It's nothing, actually what your dad said was right, but..."

  Kuang Ye suddenly straightened his back and said:

  "But for someone who believes in me, I'll prove that old man wrong this time!"

  Tang Xiaolan was taken aback for a moment, then burst out laughing.

  Guo Yi and Tang Xiao Lan walked out of the study, went downstairs through the living room, and saw the guests who had just arrived. To their surprise, they all knew each other. One was the middle-aged man with glasses and a slightly yellow complexion whom he met at the cultural market, while the other was that handsome young man named Yifei.

  Mr. Tang obviously didn't intend to introduce him to Guo Yi, the middle-aged man seemed a bit surprised when he saw Guo Yi, smiled and nodded at me, while the young man looked at Guo Yi with some surprise. Guo Yi also nodded at the middle-aged man as a greeting, then looked at the handsome guy with some depression, and walked straight out. This guy obviously had a good impression of Tang Xiaolan, if he told Mr. and Mrs. Tang about his fight, I estimate their favorability towards me would drop to negative numbers.

  "Wait a minute, young man!"

  Kuo Yi was taken aback and turned around to look at Old Man Tang with a puzzled expression. He pointed to the scroll in Yifei's hand and said:

  "Come and see if this painting can be restored!"

  Obviously, this is a test, to see if Guo Yi really has any real skills. In the end, they still don't trust him. With Guo Yi's personality, he would normally turn around and leave, but now it's not possible. He needs to take care of Tang Xiaolan's emotions, besides, he just promised someone that he would prove himself.

  Tang Xiaolan said in a low voice to her father:

  "Thanks Dad!"

  The old man looked at his daughter with a mixture of sadness and affection, sighed softly and said:

  "It's not for your sake, but I should give him a chance, after all!!!!!!"

  Although the voice was small, Guo Yi could still hear it. Obviously, the old man didn't plan to keep it from him either. Guo Yi understood what he meant: an opportunity had been given to him, and if he could grasp it, that would be good; if not, judging by the old man's expression, he probably wouldn't allow him to meet Tang Xiaolan. Ha! The old man really did treat himself as a son-in-law to test him!

  Actually, Guo Yi and Tang Xiaolan are still far from this step, but his move has some meaning!

  Yi Fei handed the painting to Guo Yao, who carefully opened it and was immediately drawn in by the majestic scenery - two eagles soaring through the sky, one near and one far, with misty mountains hidden beneath, and on the side, written in cursive script: "Thousand Miles of Clouds and Mountains!"

  "Mountains of clouds thousands of miles away? Isn't this that painting from over twenty years ago——"

  "Xiao Lan!"

  Mr. Tang sternly interrupted Tang Xiaolan's words, and Tang Xiaolan also knew she had misspoken, playfully sticking out her tongue at her father. Mr. Tang helplessly sighed, it was clear that he doted on his daughter.

  This painting obviously has some secrets, but Guo Yi is completely unaware of them. He secretly felt ashamed again, it seems that he really needs to work harder, and it's not easy to make a living in this line.

  Guo Yi pretended not to hear Tang Xiaolan's words and didn't pay attention to the expressions of Yifei and others, but instead carefully looked at this "Thousand Miles Cloudy Mountains" painting. This was a perfect scroll, but one side of it had obviously been soaked in water before, with the wet part being blurry, and could only be judged by the surrounding picture that there was a huge and steep mountain peak here, and more importantly, the signature of the painter was right here, with the words and seal being blurred and some parts already broken into small pieces.

  Mr. Tang was also carefully looking at the painting, he obviously didn't think that the painting was damaged so badly, he looked at Guo Yigang with some apology and was about to speak, but Guo Yigang spoke first:

  "This painting is damaged quite seriously. If it's to be restored, of course, it wouldn't be difficult for Old Master Tang, but as for me, I'm afraid it would take some time..."

  Tang Lao Yezi was taken aback for a moment, then snorted and interrupted me:

  "Restore it? Don't give me too much credit, this painting can be repaired, but to say that I can completely restore it, I don't have the skills for that. Hmm, probably only a few people in the country can do it, let alone you... wait, what did you just say? You can repair it?"

  Guo Yi couldn't help but laugh, and his dissatisfaction with him instantly dissipated. Just now, looking at his expression, Guo Yi had already vaguely guessed that he might not be able to recover, with his current status and reputation in the industry, if he said it was irreparable, and then he himself fixed it, it would be too embarrassing for him, so Guo Yi preemptively said those words earlier, but unexpectedly this old man was really straightforward, without any such concerns.

  Guo Ye nodded and said:

  "Can I fix it? Can't I use your study for a bit?"

  The old man's eyes widened suddenly and he said:

  "Sure, but you wouldn't want me to fix it for you, would you? Can you really fix it?"

  The middle-aged man said with a smile:

  "I've asked many people to restore this painting, including some of the best in the industry, but none of them dared to take it on. This young man's skills are impressive, and if he says he can fix it, I'm sure he can. Let him do it! By the way, Mr. Guo, how long do you plan to take?"

  Kuo Yi's impression of middle-aged people has greatly improved, just look at the way he looks at them! He said with a smile:

  "Just call me Little Guo, as for time, um, an hour should be fine!"

  "An hour?"

  Mr. and Miss Tang exclaimed in unison, while the middle-aged man and the young man named Yi Fei were also shocked, but Mrs. Tang, who was drinking tea on the side, remained calm.

  Tang Fu snatched the painting scroll that Guo Yi had just rolled up and waved his hand, saying:

  "Hurry up and leave, I don't want to see you again. You tore the painting just an hour ago, and now it's getting out of hand."

  Tang Xiaolan said with a complex expression on her face:

  "It's a team effort, and without two weeks' time, it would be difficult to complete, and that's just talking about simple repairs, let alone restoration."

  It turns out that's how it is. Guo Yi almost didn't say anything for ten minutes. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said:

  "I know I said just a simple fix, but let's take a look at the effect first. An hour to recover? You think I'm crazy? It'll take at least half a month to recover!"

  Everyone let out a sigh of relief, Guo Yi almost snatched the painting from Old Master Tang's hands. He held the painting and walked halfway up the stairs when Old Master Tang shouted from behind:

  "Be careful with this one, it's worth at least three million!"

  Guo Yi's legs went soft and he almost fell down the stairs. The old man shouted again:

  "What materials do you need? I'll help you find them."

  "No need, I know it. Besides, it's a simple process, won't take much."

  Obviously, everyone else understood the rules better than Guo Yi, as none of them went upstairs. Guo Yi arrived at the study, closed the door, and carefully unrolled the painting. After a careful examination, he slowly placed his hand on the damaged area of the painting and gently inputted a thread of energy.

  To be honest, Guo Yi is now very nervous in his heart. Before, it was just a matter of combining things that were separated, but this time it's about restoring the original.

  He lifted his hand, took a look at the effect, and found that this painting didn't change much. Guo Yi's heart sank instantly. He was now in a situation where he couldn't turn back, having boasted earlier. If he couldn't fix it, how could he face the people below? How could he face Tang Xiaolan who trusted him so much?

  Guo Yeqi took a deep breath and prayed in his heart: Immortal big brother, let me succeed this time. If I succeed, I will be respectful to you from now on. If you need anything, I'll even offer three incense sticks a day!

  Guo Yi once again placed his hand on the screen, slowly outputting energy. After a moment, the screen finally reacted, and the blurry image gradually dispersed before recombining into a clear picture that floated to the surface. Guo Yi was overjoyed, but soon discovered a problem - although the image had become clear, its colors were noticeably duller than the surrounding areas. No matter how much energy he outputted, this part of the image couldn't be brightened by even a single shade.

  What can be done about it?

  He didn't know where the problem lay, and he paced back and forth in the room irritably. Accidentally, he knocked over a cup of water on the computer desk, and half a cup of water suddenly flowed onto the desktop. Guo Yi quickly pulled out a few sheets of paper from the cardboard box to wipe it clean. As soon as the water came into contact with the snow-white tissue paper, it was immediately absorbed, and the paper became completely wet.

  At this moment, Guo suddenly understood.

  He knew where the problem lay and also remembered a huge defect in his repair - it couldn't make up for deficiencies.

  At that time, when the painting got wet, someone must have wiped or dried it, so some ink was also absorbed. Although the painting can be restored, the lost color cannot be replenished!

  Why don't you add some ink and try it?

  Guo Yi immediately negated this crazy idea of his, he was clueless about painting, and didn't know what effect the disproportionate ink would have, three million ah, even selling himself wouldn't be enough.

  Guo Yi turned around the study for another two rounds, still couldn't think of a good solution, sighed and decided to take it one step at a time. He looked at his watch, not even 15 minutes had passed, he said an hour himself, feeling bored with nothing to do, so he started a few more rounds of CF, brutally crushing the noobs, then checked the time again, rolled up the scroll and walked out of the study with his head hung low.

  When he appeared on the stairs, three of the four people in the living room were turning around, only Mrs. Tang elegantly holding a Qinghua porcelain teacup and sipping tea calmly.

  Three people suddenly looked up and saw Guo Yao's face, their expressions momentarily stunned. It was the middle-aged man who first came back to his senses, smiling and saying:

  "One hour, indeed punctual! I wonder what the outcome will be?"

  Tang Lao Yezi then directly and hastily said:

  "Bring it over quickly and let me take a look."

  Kuo Yeh handed the painting over to the old man with a wry smile and said to the middle-aged man:

  "I can only get this far today, the rest——"

  Before Guo Yi could finish speaking, he was startled by a loud shout from Old Master Tang, who yelled:

  "Come on, you, you, you——"

  He actually cursed!