At first, he thought this painting was an obsession, made of many people,
but now,
he saw that the painting actually consisted of many scenes: infants, children, teenagers, young adults, middle-aged, elderly...
Dozens of paintings combined, each depicting a different stage of the old man's life.
"It's not an obsession but rather the many temporal states of a person, overlapping together."
"Young man, why are you back again?"
"Oh, I misspoke earlier—I thought it was a painting of many people forming one. Now I see clearly that this painting represents this old man's entire life."
Zhou Xuan said, "From infancy to old age, all blended into one painting. The artist is truly remarkable."
"You said you don't understand painting? To be honest, this painting was done by me. Few people appreciate it—I didn't expect you would understand it."
The old man looked as if he'd met a kindred spirit he'd waited a lifetime for.
