Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 1246: Chapter 414: Birthday, the Painter Living in Xia City, Population Boom, Discouraged

Sure, here’s the translated text:

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In the eighth year of Great Xia, on the fifth of October

Just entering the night, Inner City, Yuan Mansion.

"Hahaha, I finally turned six!"

Shi Lu was setting up a feast with six maids on the first floor, when she heard an exaggerated and excited shout from upstairs, a smile immediately appeared on her face.

"Young master, put on your clothes before coming down."

"Forgot, forgot."

"Hahaha."

Upon hearing the conversation between the maids and Little Yuan Shao upstairs, Shi Lu and the six maids around her couldn’t help but laugh.

"Young master has been looking forward to this for a year, and it’s finally here."

"Not just the young master, kids in the Inner City around his age now especially enjoy comparing who turns six first, this kind of thing cannot be compared, hahaha..."

"You can only officially start cultivation at six, there’s no choice!"

"I know, I heard it’s a new trend started by the Second Prince this year. Whenever there are peers, they ask each other’s exact age. Many kids in the Inner City have picked up on it, and the young master often plays with the Second Prince, so needless to say."

Thump, thump, thump.....

The maids’ cheerful conversation was interrupted by the sound of hurried footsteps from behind, they immediately turned around and, along with their mistress Shi Lu, looked towards the stairs, their eyes immediately brightened.

Yuan Shao, who had just turned six, was running down the stairs excitedly.

Though only six, Yuan Shao’s height exceeded 1.3 meters, already far surpassing peers in the camp, his burly physique starting to show its presence;

He was dressed in a tailored black little summer clothes, with silver thread woven into the collar and cuffs, a pendant hanging at his waist, and a youthful Demon Sheep pattern embroidered with red thread on his back. The Demon Sheep appeared fierce, with its six horns extending to Yuan Shao’s left chest, as if perched on his shoulder, lifelike and both beautiful and formidable;

He also carried a double-edged giant axe on his back.

Of course, it was a specially tailored miniature version.

Once Yuan Shao reached the bottom of the stairs, remembering today was his sixth birthday, he immediately suppressed the excitement on his face, stood upright, pretended to cough, and then asked Shi Lu formally: "Mother, have the Prince and my friends arrived?"

"Pfft..."

Seeing her son purposely acting like a little adult, Shi Lu couldn’t help but burst into laughter, and as she laughed, the maids who were holding back their laughter followed suit.

"Hahaha..."

Shi Lu directly pulled Yuan Shao into her arms, took the giant axe off his back without hesitation, and scolded: "You little rascal, you’re only six and dare to act all grown-up in front of your mother, wait till you’re a few years older you might flip the world!"

As she scolded him with laughter, she took down the giant axe from Yuan Shao’s back. Seeing her son’s reluctant face, she couldn’t help but gently smooth the small round hair bun on his head, tidying his disheveled shoulder-length black hair which had been tousled by rushing down the stairs, then softening her voice: "You’re about to enter the add-hair ritual, you can’t be so reckless anymore, your father and grandfather haven’t arrived yet, the Prince can’t come that fast, sit here for a while and don’t run around, Mother has invited a painter to draw your portrait later."

With the population in Great Xia increasing, the number of new generation children has started constantly rising. To better manage and regulate these new generation children, "Xia Li·Ritual Chapter" stipulates:

Before the age of six, children’s hair can only be partially tied up; after turning six and going through the add-hair ritual, they can tie up all their hair; then wait till fifteen and after the add-crown ritual, they can truly be considered adults and go out alone without adult accompaniment.

Yuan Shao was not usually hyperactive, but today he turned six and was extremely excited. Being gently advised by his mother, he immediately quieted down, but on hearing about the portrait he immediately showed a sour expression and pouted: "Portrait again... Mother, I don’t want to draw!"

......

With Great Xia’s population increasing, various talents have started to emerge continuously, painters being one of them.

Painting is an extremely important skill; regardless of scale, almost anyone who can go out in the camp will know a bit.

The reason is simple, whether going out to gather or hunt, including exploration and mapping, you need to know a bit about drawing skills. For instance, when compiling Cold Beast Record in the early days of Great Xia, Xia Hong himself attempted it, though he had no talent in this area, and the result was tragically bad.

However, Xia Hong’s lack of skill doesn’t mean others couldn’t do it.

The emergence of paper in the First Year of Great Xia greatly encouraged the development of the painting industry, but at that time, this craft was mostly applied to record hunting gatherings, and geospatial mapping;

But with the growing population of Xia City in recent years, more talents emerging, painters’ skills have become increasingly sophisticated, expanding the scope of painting skills to include aspects of civilian life.

The incident’s origin was Bai Yunzi, the chief painter of the Craftsmen Department, who was famous for being under his wife’s thumb. One day last year, after being scolded by his wife, he painted a portrait of her scolding angrily with hands on her hips, and labeled it "Shrew Scolding" beside it.

This shrew scolding portrait was so lifelike, somehow it began to spread within the Craftsmen Department first, and Bai Yunzi’s wife happened to have quite good looks, making this interesting story paired with the lifelike portrait quickly spread throughout Xia City.