Chapter 386 – The truth hurts too much. (2)
"Ahem. Nobody said a mighty general can't also be scholarly," added Gu Shishi softly.
"Some people are just multi-talented."
Huo Sishen had just picked up the bottled water and his slender fingers almost crushed the bottle.
Was she complimenting him through the painting?
It was the elderlies who avoided him the most back then.
And, all of the grandchildren had no choice but to listen to their elderlies and kept their distances, or was afraid of him.
He never thought that the day would come when he was complimented by a group of elderlies.
Without the rumor, he, too, could be praised by the elderlies.
Something stirred within him.
His black eyes flickered a little and he could see the girl's face that was delicate and slightly pink.
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It was getting close to winter and leaves were flying in the air.
Inside the car, however, it was warm like summertime still.
***
They waited for another 1.5 hours and Gu Shishi even needed to go to the bathroom half way through. Huo Sishen went with her to look for a bathroom at a shopping mall nearby.
He even bought a sandwich and coffee, worrying that she might be hungry while they waited.
Gu Shishi had finished eating and drinking and even all of the manga that she had brought with her before the debate from Siyi's end was finally over.
Ever since President Huang Chuan had arrived, they had opined on each piece of work and voted anonymously.
This group of old naughty children would fight so adamantly when they did not see eye to eye on things.
It took Huang Chuan a lot of work before they got to the voting portion of the event.
Finally, Gu Shishi took first place with just two extra votes.
"We will be nice to the newcomer."
"It's something fresh. I am getting bored of all styles of all the regulars already."
"The newbie has some good ideas and had enlightened me a lot. Some of her skill could still use some work on and the caption was not original, but it is still pretty good overall."
"Mmm. I've hedged my bet against President Huang Chuan anyway so I have no problem voting for the newbie."
The group was stubborn till the very end.
None of them would admit that any of the other members were better than them.
At least, they could just lose to the newbie by a little and they would be able to beat her next time around.
Gu Shishi, sitting in the car, smiled so much that she had to cover up mouth.
"I am going to head upstairs then."
She scooted over to the door but was stopped by the man.
"All this so you can have an instructor for your studio?"
Huo Sishen frowned.
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He no longer wanted her to go upstairs by now.
There was a kind of beauty that was meant to be hidden away from others.
Just like the slender girl in the painting, with her look cleverly covered up by a furry hat.
"Yeah, Manager Jie said we will need a master from the field," replied Gu Shishi truthfully. Everybody upstairs was a master of the field.
Huo Sishen nodded. "If you don't like to show your face, you can have Siyi relay the message."
Gu Shishi puffed up her cheeks a little. It wasn't that she didn't like showing her face; it was just that her age was a big distraction.
"That's not very nice, no?
"They would feel that I have deceived them when they find out my identity one day..."
"It is your painting that they appreciate, not the artist herself."
Huo Sishen narrowed his eyes.
"What kind of expert will it make them if they are to overturn their comments on your work when they find out about your age later on?"
Gu Shishi somewhat agreed with what he had said but also felt that something was off at the same time.
She couldn't quite place her finger on it for the time being.
Gu Shishi was starting to get a little sleep now that she was full.
Huo Sishen sent Siyi a message right away.
Siyi, upstairs, immediately reflected his boss's idea to the elderlies. "My boss had asked for a token gesture from the fellow members of this group prior to this exchange."
The elderlies looked at each other and said, "Alright, what is it?"
Their chat was logged. It wasn't like they could deny it now
Chapter 387 – The truth hurts too much. (3)
"We have a teaching art studio and we want to promote ink painting so children and young people will learn about the beauty of ink painting. The only thing that we need right now are quality instructors..."
"Oh? So the Ink Painting Guru shares the same thought as our president?"
"They want us to go and be instructors there?"
"That's the token gesture? No wonder they wouldn't say it out loud earlier. It is quite a big ask!"
Siyi was interrupted before he was done talking.
President Huang Chuan truly appreciated the Ink Painting Guru so he stopped the others right away.
He turned to Siyi and studied him up and down.
"Your housemaster has such incredible skills. They must have some disciples of their own over the years?"
It would take more than just one or two, or even dozens of people to promote ink painting.
By the time they've got to their levels, they must have disciples and disciples of disciples.
How to Restore Vision Without SurgeryiFocus
Over the last dozens of years, Huang Chuan had over 100 disciples and his disciples were already in their forties and fifties. Now that his disciples had been accepting their own disciples, there were countless of those.
In addition, he taught at the art institutions. He had quite a few students as well.
Had he decide on opening up his own art studio, he had no shortage of quality instructors .
As such, Huang Chuan was somewhat curious.
This reminded the other elderlies in the room as well.
"Yeah, did they not have enough disciples of their own?"
"Why would he need us for that level of teaching?"
Siyi rubbed his nose.
That was because his boss lady was too young and just about the age of a college graduate herself.
Even if she was to have disciples, they wouldn't be teaching for a while.
While he was struggling how to explain it further, he received more instructions through his Bluetooth headset.
"Please remain calm, fellow seniors. My boss will explain to you herself."
***
After Gu Shishi had agreed to not go upstairs, Huo Sishen reminded her that she could communicate with these people over the phone.
Her voice being exposed was still acceptable to Huo Sishen.
He was in a good mood today and decided that he could be nice for a change.
It didn't matter to Gu Shishi one way or another. She has won the competition already. It would be alright if some of them refuses to mingle with her because of her age afterward.
"Hi, everyone," said Gu Shishi politely after she had cleared her throat.
"Hello? Can you hear me?"
After she had spoken up, it was a sea of silence from the other end of the phone.
She thought perhaps it was her signal.
After a long while, she heard the familiar voice that belonged to President Huang Chuan. "You are... ?"
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His usually sonorous voice was quivering a little.
And there were rustling noises from around him.
"Ink Painting Guru's descendent, perhaps?"
"No, it's a voice changer, right? The kind that they use when they stream videos?"
"Have I misheard?"
There were all sorts of speculations coming from the group.
Gu Shishi felt that she was being a truly pretentious person right now.
She has a halo over her head and she was glowing!
Grandma Chen was startled last tie as well.
"Ahem. I am Ink Painting Guru."
Gu Shishi tried very hard to make her voice sound more compelling and commanding!
But, truth was, it was still quite soft and delicate.
She was, after all, a young girl in her twenties, age-wise and physiologically. There wasn't much she could do there.
"Everyone, I hate to impose but..." Gu Shishi blushed a little as she talked. "Truth was. I didn't have too many disciples. The only few that I have had just started learning under me."
Having said that, it was another awkward silence from the other end of the phone!
The length of silence wasn't quite as long as last time. Shortly, someone gasped loudly!
"How old are you?"
"You are Ink Painting Guru?"
"You painted the Visiting the Mountain with the Wife and Son today?"
"That's, that's impossible! The painter should have been a man!"
Gu Shishi knew that the perspective of her painting could be misleading, particularly allowing men to be immersed in the feeling of having a delicate wife and a young child around them.
Then there was the caption, a poem from Du Fu, that described lives in the farms with one's wife and child.
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It was, indeed, more of a man's perspective.
But it was all a big a misunderstanding!
___
Chapter 388 – One needs beverages to go with the melons! (1)
"I apologize. I am not well versed in captioning so I borrowed the poem from a famous poet."
And that added to the confusion of the gender of the artist.
It was silence from a cold winter night again after she finished saying that.
Gu Shishi pondered a little and responded to a question from earlier.
"I am 23 years old.
"Going on 24 after the new year."
BAM! – came the sound of a chair flipping over from the other end!
24...
Siyi, being there in person, witnessed first hand how stunned these elderlies were.
He found it very entertaining.
How to Restore Vision Without SurgeryiFocus
Even the youngest one here was at least three times of 24 in age!
The boss lady was so not being nice!
All of the members of the association were of grandparents' age.
But Gu Shishi's techniques earned her first place today and convinced everyone else!
Revealing her age at this point made this group of grandpas and grandmas wanted to drop onto their knees and sing "conquered".
Correction, the song to sing should be "heartache".
Everybody knew that the path of art was a difficult one.
Not everyone can have great accomplishments just because time and energy had been spent.
As such, seeing a youngster with skills that could rival theirs and her composition arguably better than theirs really gave them a feeling the students had now excelled the master.
And there was even more shock.
"Who is your master?"
"How did you come up with the idea for this painting?"
"You are so young yet your mountains are so majestic, your waterfalls come straight down from the top, and the fog over the empty area is so natural!"
"You have a deep understanding of the emotions involved and also left a lot of room for your audiences' imagination..."
What the group were saying had all turned into compliments.
Before they found out her age, they were just casually praising about her work. They would even pick on how some of her areas that were not mature enough and had room for improvement. But all of those turned into the precious feeling of youth for a 24-year-old painter!
The mountains and waters were no longer what they were.
Each artist, depending on their background, their age, and their personality, would see sceneries differently.
For an artist in her twenties or thirties, if her lines were mature and perfect, that in and of itself would be a flaw. It would lack vigor and vitality.
All of a sudden, they took back what they have said earlier about why they had lost.
Nothing that they had said earlier was legitimate!
Now that they had learned of her age, she was practically a genius!
How to Restore Vision Without SurgeryiFocus
"My master... had already passed away."
Gu Shishi lowered her head regretfully.
"And I am his only disciple."
Many masters nowadays teach classes. They would have a lot of students instead of their own designated disciples. They would have students and disciples all over the world.
Her master, on the other hand, treated her as though she was his daughter. He had poured so much time and effort into her that he could not spare any more for anyone else.
Granted, he was also very indulged in pursing his art and didn't have the extra time to teach.
"As such, I am not going to mention his name."
Gu Shishi felt a little sad when she thought about this.
Noticing that she was feeling blue, Huo Sishen reached out and massaged her on the back of her neck.
Gu Shishi looked up, lifted the corners of her mouth at him to gesture to him that she was alright.
The elderlies on the other end of the cellphone, on the other hand, were making all kinds of ruckus.
"Child, would you like to learn captioning from me? Your poems is your weakness and the failure on the entire painting. You can't use others' poems when you are famed."
"Hey! Old Man Lei, are you trying to snatch someone else's disciple? That is so unbecoming even for you! Shut up already. Even if she is to study poems, she should learn them from me! I have a degree in Chinese with archaic Chinese as my specialty."
"Lao Bi, step aside already. Your poems? The ones that you can only come up with when you have alcohol in you? She should study under me. Three years. I guarantee she would at least be able to write lyrics if not poems."
"Silence!"
Finally, President Huang Chuan stood up and cleared his throat.
Chapter 389 – One needs beverages to go with the melons! (2)
"It is the Ink Painting... Guru's token gesture that we are talking about here. What does that have to do with learning poems and lyrics?"
Hearing that from the car, Gu Shishi wiped off her sweat.
The president was surely a wise man.
The very next second, Huang Chuan said very matter-of-factly, "As for my work, my specialty is lyrics and the lyrics fuse with the painting. If she could use any help in that area, naturally I will be the best person for that job.
Gu Shishi, "... ..."
Siyi, "... ... em, should we talk about the token gesture?"
Gu Shishi quickly nodded while holding her cellphone. "Yes, yes."
She quickly explained her intention. As she was still inexperienced and didn't know too many people, the managing of the art studio had a lot of room for improvements.
Unfortunately, she was just one person. Even if she was to become an instructor herself, she would only be able to carry very limited number of classes.
She blushed when she was talking.
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It was very unreasonable for her to ask these elders for favors the very first time that she met them.
Lo and behold, a loud scolding came over from the other end of the cellphone.
"What a waste of talent! With your talent and being able to produce such amazing work at your young age and you are telling us that you are wasting your time on managing an art studio to enlighten others?"
"No way! That is such a waste of your time!!"
"What art studio is worth you wasting your talent like so? You can count on old folks like us who have not had any improvements in years to help you promote ink painting!"
"Exactly. We have been stuck at our bottlenecks for years. Which was why we are attending these exchanges and having disciples. Hoping that will somehow help us breakthrough. There is no reason for someone you age to do something like that!"
"Ai ai ai, let me know what kind of help you need and I will send my disciple there. He had been stuck the last few years on how to continue to improve himself, which was why I had him take on some students to revisit the basics."
"Mmmhmm, I have a few disciples who had been teaching classes as well. I can have them go to your art studio. You have the address for us?"
Gu Shishi's idea was very well received.
Siyi was an efficient one and immediately provided Manager Jie's contact information to the elders.
They could reach out to him for compensation, etc.
Naturally nobody there could be bothered by earthly matters like that. All they did was snapped pictures of the contact information and promised that they would be sending people over.
Even Huang Chuan, the vice president of the General Association of Fine Art, voluntarily asked Siyi for his number. "I have many students including some who graduated a few years back. They have been creating at home but reality... can be difficult."
Only very few individuals could make a living with art.
One would need timing, opportunity, and other human factors.
Among talent, luck, and network, many people only need an opportunity to become famed. Nevertheless, that opportunity never happened for most.
Siyi nodded.
"I shall bid my farewell now. We appreciate all the helps from you seniors."
Before he actually took off, he hung up on his call with Gu Shishi.
And walked in front of her painting.
"Fellow seniors, my big boss would like to retrieve this painting.
"Nevertheless, he did not want to break the rule of the art association's exchange so he will be donating 50 million yuan for the development of the art association as a trade for this painting."
How to Restore Vision Without SurgeryiFocus
Huang Chuan's mouth dropped open.
The others were taken aback as well.
"Big boss? Boss?"
"Em, how many bosses do you have?"
Siyi grinned and his white teeth could be seen. "Our big boss is ... the man in this painting that you have discussed passionately earlier. He is also the husband of our little boss."
"... ... ... ..."
Why was it that the Ink Painting Guru was able to incorporate such harmony and passion in her painting at her young age?
Don't even bother asking.
If one must ask, there was only one answer — "dog abuse"!
Chapter 390 – One needs beverages to go with the melons! (3)
Gu Shishi hasn't even arrived home when she received the pleasantly surprised call from Manager Jie.
"Boss, I just received quite a few calls from disciples of various ink painting masters; a few of them were even their direct disciples.
"They all said that they were referred by you... Ink Painting Guru?'
Hearing that, Gu Shishi felt that these elderlies had kept to their words and were very efficient.
"That's right. Talk to them and, depending on our budget, don't slash the too much."
Manager Jie acknowledged her and wanted to ask more about Ink Painting Guru.
Gu Shishi wasn't quite ready to reveal her identity yet so she chose not to engage further.
Manager Jie had no choice but to hang up the call.
After the conversation and, still with her phone in her hand, Gu Shishi smiled at the man next to her and said, "Big Huohuo, I felt a little bad. Should I thank the elderlies?"
Her nickname for him made his heart rocked.
How to Restore Vision Without SurgeryiFocus
Big Huohuo.
Did that mean there would also be... little Huohuo?
His mind went very far away.
"Mmm.
"Sure."
"Oh yay. Let me see if I should prepare some gifts or just to post a few high-dollar amount red pockets in the chatroom to show my appreciation."
Gu Shishi pondered happily.
Siyi, sitting in the passenger seat, could start crying.
The boss had already spent 50 million yuan to show his appreciation. Did they really need to show more?
The painting that he had taken with him was, right now, sitting inside the trunk.
Gu Shishi did not notice it as she was on the call with Manager Jie.
That night, the light in the study stayed on for a long, long time.
The three feet long scroll was unfolded on the desk in its entirety.
Huo Sishen sat on this leather boss chair and stared at it, for the entire night.
The characters in the drawing looked like they could leap right out of the paper.
He was dazed!
Perhaps, having a child of their own wasn't a bad idea after all?
One that was as smart and attentive as she was.
Even though her parents' characters have a lot of room to be desired, she had still grown up nicely and shone brighter than a lot of wealthy girls.
She could be a very good mother for their child.
There was a very determined tone from this painting.
And he was the only one who got it.
How to Restore Vision Without SurgeryiFocus
"Sier, sent Mother Gu Gu Jiangxin's current address."
Huo Sishen pressed down the talk button on his phone sitting on the desk.
There was something else that he needed to take care of before that.
The new instructors reported to the art studio shortly and they even remodeled the place some.
In addition, Gu Shishi received a call from the Liu Zhichao, the factory owner, whom she had always forgotten all about.
The testing on the balancing lotion had been completed and they have received the appropriate licenses. They could start the production any time now.
Gu Shishi was pleased immediately.
In came an alert from the system!
[Research on the balancing lotion completed. Formula for hair-growing element now available for trading.]
[Hair-growing shampoo: 24 hours of health for 100 mL.]
[Trading for formula: 1,000 hours of health.]
Gu Shishi was very generous now and decided immediately to trade for it in installments.
She turned around and handed the formula over to Factory Owner Liu and had him carried on with his research.
In her busy and salted-fish days with some occasional painting, Gu Shishi quickly learned about Gu Wushuang's return.
"Huh? Huo Wencheng ran to beat up his father-in-law's lover?!" said Gu Shishi as she listened to Sier's report from afar.
She reached out her hand and stopped him excitedly.
"Pardon me. Hold on for just a second. Allow me to go get myself a banana milkshake!"
It wouldn't be proper melon-eating without a beverage!!
She was one who took every task seriously!