[Beep! First step completed. Progress on adjusting your body: 1%.]
“Rowr!”
Starting today, she should enjoy their couple time today while she got ready!
After she was done, she blushed again while she was looking at the points that she had jotted down. She rolled around a couple of times in bed and finally summoned up enough courage and give the recommended food list from doctors to Mr. Chef.
Even though Mr. Chef had always been good with his combination for all meals, she still emphasized the key points to him.
“Uncle, I would also like to bring lunch when I head to the studio in the future ~ Can I let you know the night before?”
She could no longer eat the outside junk food.
“Of course, Madam. The kitchen will meet your need.”
Everybody changed their ways they referred to Gu Shishi quickly.
Even Mr. Chef, who had the most contact with her in the past, had never once slipped and referred to her as Miss Gu.
“Thank you~”
Gu Shishi returned to her bedroom feeling somewhat shy.
When Huo Sishen, coming out of the exercise room on the second floor, saw that very scene, he paused instantly.
After a little while, he “casually” walked inside the dining area.
“Madam told us that she would like to bring lunch with her when she goes into work in the future.”
Mr. Chef offered it up.
“Also she had also asked me to make some adjustment to the menu.”
Huo Sishen glanced over at it: beef, lamb, chicken heart, fish, oyster, egg yolk, sesame, walnuts, beans...
All of them rich in Zinc and protein.
In particular, the sesame and walnut immediately reminded him of the thick bowl of black sesame paste.
He rubbed his nose immediately.
It would seem that she was really traumatized by Xie Dingyi’s resume.
The corner of Huo Sishen’s lips twitched.
“Ahem.
“Do as the Madam has asked.”
Oh, whatever. As long as she was pleased.
Gu Shishi didn’t goof more since she returned to her room.
She added bald manager, ahem, Xie Dingyi to her WeChat.
They had a quick work call, talking mainly about the future goals and development for the art studio.
He was, indeed, well experienced and was able to point out the crux of the problems immediately.
“An artwork itself has no status attached to them. Its status is usually determined by the background of the artist.
“As such, if we can have a couple renowned artists at our shop such as someone who had won awards in the past, or had works auctioned off, or belonging to certain artwork association, or even the disciple of some grand master, that will allow our art studio to rise above our other competitors.
“And also meet our claim that we are an elite art studio.”
And he was able to earn Gu Shishi’s respect just like that.
A master’s ability was very important when one was picking out who to learn from.
Only if the master was well versed in the field would the students willingly learn from them and willingly offer up their tuition. And to follow this said master all the way and not switch to a different sect.
And her art studio obviously did not possess this qualification at the moment.
With the exception of high tuition and it being located in the middle of the city, it had nothing to do with the word “elite”.
Many of their teachers were only mediocre on their skill level, which also explained why the students that they were able to attract merely came for casual learning.
Xie Dingyi, noticing that his new boss lady was not rebutting what he was saying, carried on tentatively.
“As such, I think that we should at least have one mastery level art teacher. Even if they don’t actually teach any classes, but having such a person associated with our shop will greatly improve the ups and downs in our current trend.
“We can also hire a few other masters and launch online sessions. That way we can capture potential students both online and off.”
Gu Shishi nodded as she listened attentively. This was much easier said than done.
“For the mastery-level individuals, I’m afraid it won’t be too effective if the person we use are just average. But if we want a true guru, someone renowned, they won’t be easy to hire.”
To put it bluntly, those who were in it for the art didn’t need money.
Those who needed money would not have enter into the art field at all. They would have gotten a real job a long ago. There was no guarantee that one could make money even after dozens of years in art.
As such, those who would go down this path all the way and to the point that they were reputable were the ones who were disciples of grand masters or from prominent families. There were also those who could go on with life without needing much.
Either one of those types were not the kind who could be easily moved with money and for hire.
“Yes, this is the biggest problem. Boss Lady, I know a few students who studied under teachers of art associations or art colleges. I can reach out to them. As for the compensation, would you like to provide me with an idea of what you have in mind?”
Gu Shishi paused a little. “Art associations?”
She quietly pulled out her Ink Painting Guru cellphone from the drawer and glanced over at the top group in her WeChat with 99+ unread messages – Ink Painting Association.
She casually scrolled down a little and saw that the 30 or so old comrades were hedging their bets again.
All of them have to do with their gathering a week from now.
A few more stubborn ones almost got into a spat.
Gu Shishi blinked.
“Wait.
“Have you heard of Ink Painting Association?”
Xie Dingyi paused immediately. “Yes, I have heard of it. The president of Ink Painting Association in our city, also double as the vice president of the General Association of Fine Art, is also the Head of the Chinese Painting Department at Fine Art College of City Shen.”
He was very familiar with the fine art circle. He would not otherwise had been picked by Huo Sishen into the second round of interview.
Hearing what he had said, Gu Shishi couldn’t help but glanced over at her WeChat group again.
She poked at it and sent out a message.
[Ink Painting Guru: If I won at the gathering next week, can I ask for a good luck token gesture in return from you?]
A group with 99+ unread at all times always had someone lurking there.
Not to mention that most people there were retired elderlies who didn’t need to go to work.
Even if they have grandchildren to entertain them, their grandkids would be going to school on a weekend and this was the time that they were home alone with nobody to talk to.
Immediately a few of the surfaced and let out a cry.
[Lei: This is a ballsy newcomer alright.]
[Taishan: If you can crush our president, never mind about one token gesture, we can scrounge up ten for you!]
[Juntian: We have ourselves a ballsy one. @President]
[Grandpa Di: @Ink Painting Guru. What kind of token gesture are you looking for? Just say it.]
Everybody was open and cheerful.
There was never “the best” in literature.
And that was definitely the case with fine art.
Nobody in this group believed that others were better than them. The only purpose was to see who had better muses or ideas or were in better condition during these gatherings.
None of them would truly dare claim the title of being the best one of them all!
Even the competition was more something that they said for fun. They had, after all, knew each other for years and very well each other’s level and their schools they were from.
Now when a newcomer was being braggy, these old folks couldn’t sit still anymore!
All of a sudden, all of the starting rubbing their fists and hands together, they had all been stoked!
[Huang Chuan: What is it that you are looking for? We are open for discussion.]
Even the head of the organization had spoken up.
Gu Shishi’s eyes beamed. [Oh, no rush. I will share when I win.]
[Grandpa Di: Wow, she is teasing us now!]
[Juntian: Make sense. If s/he can’t win, it’s all moot. Show us your best, newbie. Let me see what you got!]
Gu Shishi posted an exploding_little_universe.JPG immediately and quickly closed out of the chat window.
“Manager Xie, you can reach out to your friends first and see how that goes. As for compensation, I don’t have previous experience in this area. Do you have any suggestions?”
She truly had no idea.
A true guru could not be hired no matter how much one offered. And if the amount was set too high, the art studio might never break even and ended up hurting its bottom line.
“Depends on the individual. If they are master-level disciples and had already debuted and were well-known on their own, then each session should at least be in the 1,000 yuan range.
“If they are just nominal and don’t actually teach any classes, then 300,000 to 800,000 yuan a year should be sufficient.”
Xie Dingyi couldn’t say for sure either.
When Gu Shishi heard that, she felt that they were just burning through money!
She might as well become a guru herself, have herself a few disciples, so they could be the nominal artists of the art studio.
Why let the income go to outsiders!
Nevertheless, that would not happen overnight. She was too young. She needed more time and chance happenings.
“Okay. We will stay in touch. Thank you for your hard work, Manager Xie.”
Gu Shishi hung up on the phone politely.
Stroking her paintbrush on the table, Gu Shishi went into a deep thought.
It would seem like she needed to take the gathering next week more seriously.
Touching her painting paper, she sat down quietly and closed her eyes.
She was in no rush to start.
She cleared out her had and started brainstorming.
Inside Dex Hospital, Gu Wushuang, who had already been resuscitated once immediately after her surgery, was crying with her hands over her face.
It had been three days since the anesthesia had worn off and she had awoken completely.
Her incision wound was still very painful and she needed to rely on pain killers in order to stay calm.
To make matters worse, her doctor had told her clearly that she needed to perform physical therapy in the next six months; otherwise, her chest could very well resemble a chicken’s chest, with her bones protruding and looking awful!
In addition, even though the surgery was successful, her body was still fragile.
She could not consider any kind of vigorous exercise or having a child within a year. She would even need her doctor’s clearance for intimacy between a couple.
She couldn’t start preparing to have children until her follow up visit a year from now and the doctors had confirmed that her heart would be able to handle it.
The doctor had come to her room and repeated that to her three times.
Once in front of her. Once when her mother was there. And the third time, when Huo Wencheng was there with her. They had stressed the importance of the recovery and that under no uncertain terms should she give birth right now.
As much as she had known about this in advance, Gu Wushuang still felt very devastated!
A year. Another whole year...
Normally, she could wait. She would even feel that a year wasn’t a big deal, as long as that would buy her healthiness for the remainder of her life. What’s a year’s wait?
So what is she was fragile and had to spend a year to recover??
But now – everything had changed.
“Mommy, are you still unable to get ahold of Daddy?”
Gu Wushuang could puke blood.
It had been three days and the thought of Gu Jiangxin would get a divorce then disappeared altogether, Gu Wushuang still felt stuffiness to her chest, nervousness, and difficult breathing!
Zhang Wen, Mother Gu, already started noticing that something may have gone wrong.
Her look stiffened when her daughter brought it up.
“I’m sure he was just busy with some urgent work stuff.”
When her daughter’s life was still an uncertainty, all she could think of was praying. In the empty corridor in the dark of night, she had even wished that it would be okay to never remarry Gu Jiangxin as long as her daughter could safely recover and be like any other normal and healthy girl.
It was a chastise and a self-torturing form of praying.
She strongly believed that Gu Jiangxin would maintain the family with her.
Whether they were married to each other would not change the fact that they would continue to look out for each other!
She had never inquired Gu Jiangxin about anything work-related, she never caused him troubles, nor did she ever set a curfew for him.
She was the perfect wife for her!
To put it bluntly, even if he had an occasional lady companion, or just having fun out there when he was with other friends, she could still pretend that never had happened.
It was only normal that girls would try to approach a rich man.
All these years, she had never been his ball and chain. Quite the contrary, she had always made him look good. She had been his harbor!
How many elegant ladies from prominent families who would just allow him to go on business trips and not come home were out there?
And she understood him!
It was simply impossible that he would take this divorce as the opportunity to dump her!