"Chin up... a little higher, thank you," a man dressed in a formal suit, holding a palette in one hand and a brush in the other, squinted as he looked at the young man standing before him and spoke respectfully.
Tang Mo slightly raised his head, maintaining that proud posture, as if looking down upon all living beings. One hand was in his pocket, the other on his waist, displaying a contemptuous air.
He was having his first portrait painted in this world, and the artist at work was the most famous realist portrait painter from Dorne Kingdom. His works often sold for hundreds of Gold Coins each.
The painting that the artist was most proud of was titled Samantha, an imaginary portrait of a queen from the Elf Race.
Now, that painting hung in Tang Mo's collection room, and Tang Mo had driven its price up to 1000 Gold Coins.
Indeed, at an auction, the general manager of the Great Tang Entertainment Group, John, under Tang Mo's orders, and with the help of some "plants," bid the painting up to an unimaginatively high and shocking price. Exclusive tales from m v lem|p-yr
Now, the artist who had created the world's most expensive painting had his first task: to paint a portrait of Tang Mo.
The depiction of Tang Mo in the painting was very lifelike, and there was even a bit of beautification involved—though Tang Mo was already very handsome, he now looked even more brilliant.
"Master." Li'ao held a telegram in his hand, pushed open the room's door, and, paying no mind to the painter, went straight to Tang Mo, reporting, "A telegram from Xidos."
"Hmm?" Tang Mo did not change his pose, using only his voice to express his curiosity.
Xidos had just set up its telegraph service, and in that area, Great Tang Group had few serious businesses outside of brothels, gambling houses, and taverns. Normally, one would not expect anyone there to send a telegram.
Moreover, Li'ao had personally delivered the telegram, which made it seem like an extremely important piece of intelligence.
Li'ao directly explained, "The message is from Poplar Kingdom, and it is addressed to you, Master."
"For me?" Tang Mo was momentarily startled, then he signaled to the painter to pause his work and turned to Li'ao, commanding, "They spent 50 Gold Coins for the delivery?"
"Yes!" Li'ao replied with an odd expression.
When Tang Mo had initially set that fee, he had no intention of anyone actually sending him telegrams. He priced it exorbitantly to deter people from idly troubling him with telegrams after having had their fill.
Now, the telegraph system had not been operating long, yet many had already paid handsomely to send telegrams to Tang Mo.
These people included, but were not limited to, His Majesty the King of Leite Kingdom, the grand nobility in the southern part of the Kingdom, the ministers of Dorne Kingdom, the Prime Minister of Suthers Kingdom... and of course, the one who sent the most was a certain Lady Earl from Northern Ridge.
She treated the telegram service as if it were WeChat—such caprice. But after all, her telegrams were free, and not all telegrams were presented to Tang Mo.
After all, Tang Mo now had many affairs to deal with, and he certainly did not have the time to exchange messages with a girl.
Tang Mo reached out, and Li'ao handed over the telegram, which Tang Mo began to read. At the same time, Li'ao turned to the renowned painter standing before the canvas. Feeling Li'ao's gaze, the painter immediately bowed subtly in acknowledgment and then bowed out of the room.
This was the price he paid for becoming the most valuable painter in the world; after all, he had the power to choose, and he had chosen his current path.
Of course, no one knows whether the young man who led the tax reform in the Suthers Kingdom was a graduate from the Tang Military Academy, but rumors say he comes from the Leite Kingdom, and it's highly likely he's a graduate from the academy.
On the other hand, he also outputs culture and art frantically. In the future, these will be the sharpest, most terrifying, and most formidable weapons, capable of destroying the enemy without bloodshed and completely occupying those invisible territories.
"I understand! Then I will take my leave." Seeing that Tang Mo didn't intend to dwell on the telegrams sent by the envoys from the Poplar Kingdom, Li'ao prepared to exit the room.
"Send a telegram to Brunas 2 and 3, tell them to return to base," Tang Mo looked at Li'ao and continued to issue the command.
After pondering for a moment, Li'ao asked a question, "So, is the action against the Poplar Kingdom..."
"Only on hold," Tang Mo clarified directly, "After all, they have almost depleted their supplies, so send Brunas 4 and 5 to Southwater to take over the tasks from 2 and 3."
"Understood! Your instructions are clear!" Li'ao, having grasped Tang Mo's intent, bowed slightly and then turned to head towards the door.
Tang Mo meant to give a respite to the Southwater Port of Poplar Kingdom's special envoy during the transition of the ships, to save the envoy's face a bit.
He was only interested in money and had no intention of completely annihilating the Poplar Kingdom, so there was no need to be thoroughly ruthless.
As long as they realized the gap in weaponry and paid their debt of 14 million Gold Coins honestly, everything else would be easy to settle, right?
"Painting is art! Do you understand art? Photography is merely capturing images," Tang Mo felt that elevating photography to the artistic heights of painting was not an easy feat. He was now making up for his lack of noble heritage; how could he not have a portrait of himself at home?
Though he didn't plan to be as cliche as those so-called gentlemen and nobles, there were still things he truly liked. For instance, fine wine, paintings, yachts, and luxury cars.
After all, he wasn't averse to things from his past life in the West; he just despised those spiteful and arrogant peers from the West.
"I don't understand art." Wes snorted disdainfully, with a look of contempt.
Tang Mo burst into hearty laughter: "Neither do I."
Once he finished laughing, he gave instructions to Wes, "Invite the master in! I still have time; let him continue painting for a while."
"Oh, by the way," as Wes was halfway out, Tang Mo seemed to remember something and asked, "How's your driving practice going?"
"No problem at all, I'm very talented," Wes boasted, "I really like your... what's it called?"
"Rolls-Royce!" Tang Mo, unwilling to bother with naming, directly applied the name of a famous car from his past life to his own vehicle, calling it Rolls-Royce.
"Rolls-Royce! That's right! Rolls-Royce! I really like that car! It's big, and it looks so cool to drive!" Wes laughed as he mimicked the action of turning a steering wheel to Tang Mo.
Then he turned back, opened the door, and gestured for the waiting painter to enter and continue his... creation.
The painter nodded gratefully to Wes and then nervously began a new round of... artistic work.