Chapter 468 - 21: Culture
To Saturday, traditional Chinese painting, this unique painting style and new approach to art, undoubtedly serves as a gateway to a new world.
Ink and brush, these tools so different from charcoal sticks and pens, seem simple, yet they contain many secrets, or rather—
Philosophy.
Stumbling through the text, savoring the choice of words, Saturday increasingly felt that the artistic conception pursued by traditional Chinese painting coincides in some ways with the "Celestial God."
If he had to describe it with a natural element, he would choose "water."
Water is a substance that transforms endlessly, concealing boundless power while expressing itself gently and implicitly.
When gentle, it becomes fine rain, nourishing all things, promoting plant growth, serving as a drink for humans, sustaining life.
When angry, it can raise terrifying waves over ten meters high, destroying everything at sea, even reaching the shore and uprooting robust trees.
It is not as dull and sluggish as the Indigenous peoples, easily transparent to the eye, nor does it act as aggressively as the Spaniards.
Just like the Celestial God.
When angry, he can, without hesitation, take a person's life in an instant.
Yet, ordinarily, he is exceptionally approachable, genuinely making people feel close.
...
Reading the basics of Chinese painting techniques, from the lines describing Zen, the concept of leaving spaces blank, expressionism, and simile, Saturday saw knowledge and culture he had never encountered before beckoning to him.
He thought that maybe the "Celestial God" comes from the world described in this uniquely designed, beautifully printed book.
Those profound and obscure sentences—
"Seeing the mountain as a mountain, seeing the water as water, seeing the mountain not as a mountain, seeing the mountain still as a mountain." They appear as if a torch enveloped in mist, faintly drifting ahead, incredibly elusive.
If one attempts to approach, regardless of the speed and distance traveled, it remains unclear.
But when standing still, it continues to drift ahead, in a haze.
This unique feeling differs from the things usually taught by the Celestial God.
The knowledge imparted by the Celestial God is very straightforward.
For instance, how crops are planted, how machines work, all understood with clear principles.
Even those mythological stories have a beginning and an end.
How Yu tamed the flood, how Gong Gong knocked down Buzhou Mountain, Nuwa patched the sky by cutting off the old turtle's four legs, and the cause and effect of Hou Yi shooting the suns, they are all easy to understand and comprehend.
Unlike the words in the book, the knowledge, and those uniquely flavorful poems.
"Do not consider painting bamboo as easy or difficult; indeed, it's hard to say which is tougher—the complex or the simple.
Observe the few leaves swaying and filling the hall with wind and rain, unable to withstand the cold."
"Why is it that the complicated works are tough to depict, while the simple ones are even more challenging than the complicated ones?"
"How does one express through the plants in the painting the sense of impending wind and rain, their cold approach?"
Many things are beyond Saturday's comprehension.
He had long realized that his original place was backward and severely lacking in common knowledge, yet did not expect the primitive tribe to be this far behind.
It's not just farming, animal husbandry, and skills; their culture falls far short compared to the Celestial God's homeland.
But Saturday did not feel daunted.
He was very clear-minded, knowing that lacking knowledge is not a cause for inferiority; at least he can learn, and he is still young.
He can start with the fundamentals, like literacy and speech, just as with painting, beginning with the simplest straight and oblique lines.
Perhaps even with a lifetime's effort, he may not master enough knowledge, but compared to yesterday's self, making even a little progress today is a form of harvest.
...
Chen Zhou conceded that he was not particularly attuned to traditional culture, being more inclined towards rational thinking, with little appreciation of the emptiness and essence pursued by traditional Chinese painting.
So after receiving the two books, he scarcely looked at them.
Moreover, currently, he was entirely focused on island machinery manufacturing and the procurement of explosive materials, unwilling to delve into studying traditional Chinese painting, or even show interest in sketching.
In fact, ever since capturing the second batch of Indigenous people, he no longer painted, only drawing blueprints.
Sometimes, while alone in his study, seeing the books on the shelf would make Chen Zhou occasionally feel regret that they would have no successors in this world.
Luckily, among the nine Indigenous people on the island, there was truly one talented child named Saturday.
Chen Zhou thought, perhaps someday, he could plant a seed belonging to Yanhuang culture far from the Eurasian continent.
When the challenge ends and he leaves this world, would the entire world change course due to his influence?
Just the thought of it intrigued Chen Zhou.
...
Having handed over the two books to Saturday, and resolving the Indigenous syrup stirring issue, Chen Zhou found himself back in a state of idleness.
With over a month left in the rainy season, he needed to find something meaningful to do during this lengthy period.
Initially, Chen Zhou planned to dismantle the model of the twin-cylinder steam engine, recording the dimensions of each part, then attempt to forge a medium-sized engine.
However, the twin-cylinder steam engine's manufacturing presented too many challenges, with various complex components far beyond what he could forge with just his own hands.
Moreover, having recently worked intensively on forging iron, he found himself lacking the motivation to immerse himself fully back into the Forging Room, with its furnace and metals.
These days, Saturday often consulted the "Introduction to Traditional Chinese Painting Techniques," frequently coming to the cave to ask Chen Zhou for advice, inspiring him, leading Chen Zhou to discover another meaningful task—