29 The Collector of Beauty

That evening, Yuan Ge begins his customary shot-by-shot film analysis after dinner.

This has been a habit of his for over a decade.

As a man with a strong sense of self-awareness and the ability to persevere, Yuan Ge has dreams of becoming a great director from the time he was introduced to the art of film in junior high school. While his peers were chasing girls, playing games or being completely occupied by the pressure of schoolwork, he took advantage of his superior intellect and ability to easily cope with regular studies to watch two films a day. During his holidays, he often stayed up late and watched films day and night as if he was obsessed. He wanted to understand not only what the world's most famous films were about, but also to learn in detail how the best directors express their artistic ideas through this complex art form. The art of cinema is an integrated art form that relies on modern technology, allowing Yuan Ge to maximise his inexhaustible energy and multifaceted talents.

Before the National College Entrance Examination[1], he had already won the National Artistic Film Directing Scholarship and was exempted for his award-winning playwriting and the drama club he led, meaning that all of China's top art schools opened their doors to him. While his peers in the directing department were able to amass between 2,000 and 3,000 films, Yuan Ge had already surpassed 10,000.

In Amélie's words, the most frightening thing about Yuan Ge, compared to all young people, is that he knows early on what he wanted to pursue in life. Talent and drive may be found in many people, but perseverance is a rare trait among people of his age. In a world of temptation and choice, there are too few people who can walk the talk, because no one can resist temptation so resolutely or dare to persevere so relentlessly.

But Yuan Ge has done it.

That is why he had the confidence and strength to say that he was going to achieve his dream. He is a man who can bring dreams to his friends around him and make them come true. Just like when he was a student, he told his drama club members that he would become a director one day and bring them along to make the best films. Now, although those who vowed to make films together have long since gone their separate ways, drowning in the minutiae of mundane life and abandoning their initial dreams, Yuan Ge is like a rock-solid pillar in the flood, steadfast and finally making dreams come true for everyone. As long as they are with him, anyone can dream without fear.

Tonight, however, the ever-energetic director somehow drifts off to sleep after only a few minutes into a film.

In a trance he seems to be back in the Rong Mansion, still in that misty and bleak late autumn morning.

Immediately he sees the white figure feeding the fish by the pond under the tree.

"Rong Qing, why don't you stay in bed this early in the morning, instead of sneaking out to the pond to watch the fish?"

Rong Qiuchen glances back at the sound of his voice, and a poignant smile drives away all weariness.

Yuan Ge vaguely feels that the person who spoke must be Huilu, the Third Lord of the House of Rong. Yet for some reason, when Qiuchen looks over, his eyes are always looking at him.

The Third Lord is a man who knows how to appreciate beautiful objects. Not only does he understand beauty, but he also collects it. By virtue of the Guwalgiya clan's loyalty, his second older brother, Ronglu, inherited the family title and is so highly regarded by the Empress Dowager Cixi that he became Governor of the Nine Gates before the age of forty and has now been promoted to the rank of First Grade Minister of Works. As his only younger brother, Huilu doesn't have a title or an official post in the imperial city, but he is famous among the boulevardiers. With his brother's connivance, he never lacks silver to spend and never skimps on anything. Without such wealth, who would dare to speak of collecting beauty?

He loves poetry and books, qin[2] and chess, good paintings and delicious wine, listening to opera and admiring beauties on the stage. But he doesn't want to stop at just admiring them, he wants to collect all the beautiful things and have them in his possession: beautiful artefacts that he goes to great lengths to get his hands on; beautiful landscapes that he takes great pains to recreate before his eyes. Although the Rong Mansion was built in the name of his second brother, the actual design and construction came from the Third Lord himself. He had hired famous artists for five years, including top craftsmen and painters, and spent countless amounts of silver, so much so that there were rumours that the mansion was more magnificent than the imperial gardens. As for the beautiful people, he is even more reluctant to let them go. Everyone in the House of Rong, from Lady Rong to his concubines, from maidservants to boy-attendants, are all good-looking people. Even when he holds private parties in the garden, he would bring out his own troupe to compete with the famous actors and singers from outside; if any of the new performers from outside are better, he would buy them into his troupe at any cost.

When it comes to beauty, he is an undisputed connoisseur and the most renowned collector in the Imperial City.

Yet there is only one thing in his collection that really makes the Third Lord proud - the man in front of him. He often makes him feel that in the past he has talked about having all the beauty in the world, but has not realised that beauty could reach such a supreme level of perfection.

Yes, perfection.

Having finally licked and tasted the beauty of perfection, he is now completely addicted to it.

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[1] The National College Entrance Examination (NCEE), commonly known as the gaokao, is a standardized college entrance exam held annually in mainland China. It is required for entrance into almost all higher education institutions at the undergraduate level.

[2] Qin, or guqin, is a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument. It has been played since ancient times, and has traditionally been favoured by scholars and literati as an instrument of great subtlety and refinement.