Qi Baishi is very picky, often entertaining guests with moldy snacks, Huang Yongyu visited Qi Baishi for the first time, he actually brought out two plates of broken snacks to entertain Huang Yongyu, Huang Yongyu's face was almost unbearable.
Once, the young painter Huang Yongyu embarked on the path to Master Qi Baishi's house with great respect and expectation.
Pushing open the quaint wooden door, Huang Yongyu felt a strong literati breath rushing towards him. In the courtyard, the antique buildings are dotted with all kinds of flowers and plants, all of which show the elegant taste of the owner.
Under Li Keran's advance "ventilation report", Huang Yongyu knew that there would be two special dishes of dim sum in front of him later.
Sure enough, not long after sitting down, Qi Baishi opened the cabinet door and took out the two plates of "famous" dim sum: a plate of incomplete mooncakes and a plate of peanut shells. Three-quarters of the mooncakes are left, and the peanuts are all bad.
Huang Yongyu watched this long-famous dim sum from afar, and was already prepared, but he was still slightly shocked by this "luxurious" treatment.
This unique way of reception is the embodiment of Master Qi's philosophy of life: thrift first. Not only in entertaining guests, but also in every detail of Qi Baishi's daily life.
He is very strict with the food management at home, even if the yellow leaves are picked, as long as they can be pinched, he thinks they can be eaten. He would wash the cooked meat sent by others, even the cabbage leaves that wrapped the meat, and use it to marinate and serve it with rice.
The same is true for food, and the same is true for one's own paintings. Even though he is old and has poor eyesight, he still refuses to sell his grass insect paintings lightly, unless the other party shows enough sincerity and the right bid. He will even use a question-and-answer method to make the price continue to climb in the dialogue between the buyer and Mrs. Qi.
The frugal lifestyle and the importance of money did not affect Qi Baishi's artistic pursuit and personality persistence.
After the outbreak of the all-out War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1937, Qi Baishi was trapped in Beiping, which was controlled by the enemy and puppet, and was co-opted and tempted by the enemy and puppet leaders, but he sternly refused, unwilling to sell his artistic soul and personal dignity.
These unique philosophies of life undoubtedly also deeply influenced Huang Yongyu, from whom he learned the true meaning of art - to find extraordinary beauty in seemingly ordinary and even "rotten" things.
Qi Baishi used those two plates of moldy dim sum to show him how to dig out those unnoticed but real pieces of beauty in the ordinariness of life, and how people can insist on their own persistence. He knows that as long as he has devotion and dedication to art, he will be able to create extraordinary works in an ordinary life, so as to reach the highest level of art.
Resources:
He is the most popular "people's artist" in history, a group of works worth 900 million yuan, but he entertained countless people with the same piece of moldy and hairy mooncake - People's Artist Magazine
