When dinner ended, it was barely seven o’clock. But now it was already eleven. The restaurant wasn’t far from where Jiang Yu lived, at most two hours by car, even with bad traffic. So… where did the other two hours go?
Jiang Yu pressed her forehead, her cheeks burning. She could already guess: she must have spent those missing hours asleep in the car!
Because of that, her thoughts couldn’t settle down. She felt restless, so she spread out her drawing paper, picked up a pencil, and began sketching. As she drew, her jumbled emotions slowly calmed.
She hadn’t even known what she was sketching; her mind was a blur, her hand just moving on its own. But when she finally looked at the finished drawing, her face instantly flushed hot again.
On the paper was a man with eyes like bright stars, long, narrow, and fathomless. When those eyes narrowed, they carried a sharp, cutting light. With his tall, imposing figure, the image radiated a sense of danger, almost predatory. Yet the man in the picture was wearing a lazy smile, his aura of sharpness sheathed, leaving only a languid, relaxed presence.
He was dressed in a black shirt, his tie loosened and collar open, revealing the firm lines of his chest. The whole image exuded a lazy elegance, like a lion sprawled contentedly after a meal.
Jiang Yu snatched the drawing down, crumpling it in her hands. She had intended to throw it away, but after hesitating, she smoothed it back out and looked again.
It wasn’t that she liked Lu Mingshen. Most likely, she had simply felt embarrassed for falling asleep in his car, so her mind had been filled with him, and unconsciously, her hand had drawn him.
So… in her heart, was this how she saw Mr. Lu?
Tilting her head, she stared for a while. The figure before her, so vivid, so natural, felt strangely unfamiliar. She had rarely seen Lu Mingshen in such a state. And yet, the drawing was very good. Probably the best she’d managed recently, out of all her figure sketches.
After thinking it over, she didn’t throw it out. Instead, she tucked it into a box.
Normally, she never discarded failed sketches. She would paste them on the wall to remind herself of what mistakes not to repeat. After some time, she’d collect them and store them away.
That night, as expected, it rained. The air grew chill. By the next morning, the weather was so gloomy and damp that Jiang Yu didn’t even want to step outside. She curled up indoors instead, doodling idly with her pen.
Around noon, the old master called and asked her to come over. She put down her pen, hailed a cab, and went.
The Cui household was bustling. From the gate, she could already hear the master’s booming laughter, deep, hearty, echoing through the halls.
“Is there a guest today?” Jiang Yu asked one of the servants as she stepped inside, shrugging off her heavy coat in the warmth of the house.
The servant took her coat with a smile. “Yes, some of Master’s old friends, Mr. Lin and the others.”
Jiang Yu had never met the old man’s friends before. Entering the living room, she saw several elderly men and women gathered together. The glass coffee table had been moved out and replaced with a wooden tea table, the kind designed for gongfu-style brewing, with grooves to let excess water flow down into a basin below.
The elders sat around the table, while one white-haired old gentleman, face ruddy with good spirits, held a clay teapot, brewing tea as he chatted with the others.
“Ah, A-Yu is here! Come, come!” Master Cui waved her over.
“Teacher!” Jiang Yu walked over and greeted him politely.
He had her sit at his side. “Come, meet your teacher’s friends… This is your Grandpa Lin. He’s a master of calligraphy, especially in the shoujin style, bold and graceful. He’s terribly proud of it, too. But unlike me, he has no good students. I, on the other hand, have the likes of you all.”
At that, Old Lin rolled his eyes. “Cui Guosheng, must you always brag? So you’ve got a few talented students, do you have to rub it in every time?”
The master bellowed back cheerfully, “Why shouldn’t I brag? I have good students, and I’ll boast all I like!”
Old Lin: “…” This old rascal, better not argue with him.
Humming smugly, Master Cui went on introducing the others. “This is your Grandpa Sun, and this is your Grandpa Yang. Grandpa Sun is skilled in flower-and-bird painting, while Grandpa Yang is a master of oil painting. In fact, he studied abroad, at the Academy of Fine Arts in S Country’s Begalia University. Back in our day, that was truly rare.”
In those times, studying abroad was a precious opportunity, far more remarkable than it is now.
Grandpa Sun was a plump, kindly man with a perpetual smile. Stroking his chin, he looked Jiang Yu up and down and said, “So you’re the student old Cui keeps talking about. We’ve heard your name for quite a while!”
Jiang Yu blinked, bewildered.
Chuckling, Grandpa Sun turned to the others. “You don’t know, this old fellow brags about you every single day. He’s forever on the phone with us, boasting about how gifted you are. Can you imagine how annoying that is?”
Jiang Yu coughed lightly. She really didn’t know what to say about her teacher’s behaviour.
“You’re just jealous!” Master Cui declared proudly, with no shame whatsoever. His smug expression made his old friends’ hands itch; they dearly wanted to smack him.
Grandpa Sun poured Jiang Yu a cup of tea. Startled by the honour, she quickly accepted it with both hands and thanked him.
She was a lovely girl, with gentle manners and a quiet temperament, the kind of child elders were instantly fond of.
Grandpa Sun beamed kindly. “Tell me, little A-Yu, can you paint in oils?”
Jiang Yu nodded. “Yes, I can.”
At once, Grandpa Yang’s ears perked up.
“And do you know the Yipei technique?” Grandpa Sun pressed.
“I…”
“She doesn’t!” Master Cui cut her off hastily, blurting out, “She’s just a young girl, how could she possibly know impasto? Haha! You’re giving her too much credit.”
But in her heart, Jiang Yu thought, I do know it.
Jiang Yu silently swallowed back the words she was about to say and lowered her head to sip her tea.
“I was asking little A-Yu, not you. Why are you so annoying?” Old Sun shot a sideways glance at the old master, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. “You answering so eagerly, now that’s not like you at all. Usually, you’d die if you didn’t brag, desperate to praise little A-Yu to the skies. So how come you’re suddenly being so modest now?”
The old master: “…”
Cradling his teacup, the old master turned his eyes away, firmly refusing to meet Old Sun’s gaze. This fellow was sharp; what if he saw through his guilty conscience?
Steady, steady!
“Little A-Yu, do you know the Yipei painting method?” Old Yang suddenly asked from the side.
Old Yang was a man who looked very stern, dressed in a blue Tang jacket, never one to smile. Being questioned by someone like him, if you wanted to lie, the pressure was immense.
Jiang Yu opened her mouth, then instinctively turned to look at the old master.
The old master said, “Why are you all asking this? What if my A-Yu does know it, so what? Old Yang, don’t tell me you’re trying to steal my student?”
At that, Old Yang calmly patted his sleeves and said slowly, “Since you put it that way, that must mean little A-Yu does know the Yipei method. I once said, if I ever found a girl who could use the Yipei method, I would take her as my student. A-Yu, are you willing to be my student?”
Jiang Yu: “…”
“Old Yang, what are you doing? She’s my student!” The old master bristled instantly.
Compared to him, Old Yang remained completely composed. “There’s no rule that says a person can only have one teacher. I don’t mind sharing with you, why are you minding sharing with me?”
The old master blinked, feeling a little wronged. He had been hiding this and hiding that precisely because he was afraid these old fellows would try to steal his student, after all, geniuses were rare. Everyone wanted to teach one; no one wanted to miss out on a promising seedling.
But despite hiding it for so long, they had still found out. Of course he was upset!
Jiang Yu said softly, “I… I already have a teacher.”
Old Yang waved his hand. “That doesn’t matter. Old Cui is skilled in Chinese painting, but he can’t really teach you much about oil painting. I just don’t want you to waste your talent in oil painting.”
Instinctively, Jiang Yu turned to look at the old master. The old master shook his head and said, “Though I don’t like the idea of sharing my student, Old Yang is right. I really am not good at oil painting. If you want to learn, he’s indeed a suitable teacher, his oil painting is top-tier, even internationally.”
Hearing this, Jiang Yu couldn’t help but feel tempted. Her oil paintings were already quite good, but compared to Old Yang, she was still decades behind, naturally no match. Having him guide her would indeed be of great help.
“You two, enough with this talk of Chinese painting and oil painting. If a person can master just one, that’s already remarkable. Learn one thing well, don’t spread yourself too thin. Haven’t you heard that saying?” Old Lin frowned, worried.
A person’s energy was limited. To truly specialise in one field and reach mastery was already extremely difficult. Many people couldn’t even perfect one discipline, let alone two.
Old Lin worried that although Jiang Yu was indeed talented, dabbling in too many fields might actually waste her gift.
Hearing this, the old master raised his eyebrows. “You think my disciple is an ordinary person? I’m telling you, she’s a genius!”
Those four words, she’s a genius, rang out loud and firm. He had seen Jiang Yu’s oil paintings. To be honest, her foundations were solid, and her attainments in oil painting were no worse than in Chinese painting. Sometimes even the old master himself was amazed, how could a seventeen-year-old girl master so many styles of painting, all at such a high level, almost on par with them old men?
Then again, when he thought about it, they were decades older than her.
The old master couldn’t help but shake his head. Some things, if you think about them too deeply, just lose meaning. Geniuses are, by definition, different from ordinary people; otherwise, why would they be called geniuses?
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