Chapter 65

Zhong Miao seemed to feel his burning gaze, turned around and saw him, and the pen on the palette stopped.

She noticed the emotion in Pei Ze's eyes that he hadn't had time to hide, and smiled, "Are you here?"

"Yeah." Pei Ze paused, walked towards Zhong Miao with a smile, and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

"Help me turn off the fan, let's go home." Zhong Miao turned around and painted the color he had just mixed.

"Um."

In the blink of an eye, it was the day of school. An An's preschool class started at 7 o'clock and ended at 3:30 in the afternoon, so both the start and end time were relatively early.

Zhong Miao's school starts at 8 o'clock in the morning. Pei Ze just sent An An to school and then sent his wife there. In the afternoon, Zhang Weilan went to pick up her grandson from school.

The family members have a clear division of labor, so no one is tired.

"Mom, why are they crying?"

All around me were children sending their children to school on their first day. Some children couldn't bear to leave their parents and couldn't help crying. It was hard to comfort them after they started crying, as if going to school was a painful thing.

As long as one child cries, the surrounding children will be affected and start crying too. This will eventually turn into a domino effect, with one child crying after another. At this time, no matter how well you coax the child at home, it will be useless.

It was An An's first time to go to preschool. He looked around curiously at the parents and children. The multiple cries came into An An's ears from all directions. He almost wanted to cry. This scene was so tragic.

This reminded Zhong Miao of the time when she first went to elementary school and cried to her father.

"The kids are having trouble adapting to the new school year, but An An is grown up, so he'll definitely be able to adapt, right?"

"Yeah, Mom, I won't cry."

Seeing that the situation was not good, Pei Ze quickly picked up his son and said, "An An, when grandma picks you up this afternoon, she'll just pass by the market. Isn't that your favorite beef pie there? Ask grandma to buy it for you then."

When An An heard that there was beef pie, tears flowed from the corners of her mouth and she couldn't wait to get out of school.

"Yeah, I want to eat."

Beef pie is a large beef pie. How big can it be? It is almost as big as An An's face. It costs fifty cents a piece. It has a thin crust and a large filling. One bite will fill your mouth with the aroma of beef. The crust is a little crispy and has an oily aroma. It is especially delicious. Not to mention An An, even Zhong Miao loves it.

"I'm already craving this when you mention it. An An, don't forget to bring me one this afternoon too. I'll come back and eat it."

"Okay, Mom, what else do you want to eat?"

"No more, can you help me get some of the things grandma buys?"

"good."

"Pei Ze, take a picture of An An and me. This is An An's first day of school."

"Okay." Pei Ze picked up the camera hanging around his neck, pointed it at his wife and children, adjusted the focus, and pressed the shutter.

In front of the yellowed exterior wall of the bungalow, Zhong Miao and An An faced the camera. The mother and son made a scissors hand gesture with happy smiles on their faces.

The photo freezes this moment forever.

A beef pancake successfully calmed the child's nervousness. After all, An An had never been to school. If he really started crying, Zhong Miao might not be willing to take the child home directly, or simply stay and accompany the child for a while to help him adapt.

Although An An was emotionally stable, she was still worried. Watching An An skipping into the school with her little blue schoolbag on her back, she asked, "Can our An An do it?"

"Our son will definitely be able to do it. He used to be the most naughty and well-behaved boy in the village."

Pei Ze comforted his wife. He had an inexplicable sense of loss in his heart. An An had grown up and could go to school. In the future, he would go to elementary school, middle school, and university, and would get married and have children. This was a process of getting further and further away from his parents.

"Why are you unhappy? Are you heartbroken?"

"It's not that I feel bad, but the child has grown up and I feel a little lost."

"A mother once said that when she was pregnant, the child and she were one and the same, very close. But once the child was born and left the womb, she felt that the child was a little distant from her."

Zhong Miao was thinking of her best friend from her past life who became a mother early. "When the child grows up a little, has self-awareness, can run and jump, then he will be even further away, not to mention going to school. The process of a child growing up is the process of getting further and further away from his parents."

"Whoever said that, it makes a lot of sense."

“I read it in a book.”

"What great writer would write a book like this?"

Pei Ze had been fooled by Zhong Miao so many times that he developed an instinctive defense mechanism, the kind with a rebound attribute. This was reflected in his actions, where he got used to asking questions in return. Of course, asking questions in return would not produce any serious results.

"A foreign writer." Zhong Miao made it up casually.

"You can understand English?" Pei Ze was surprised.

"I don't understand. It's translated."

In fact, Zhong Miao had received an elite education, so it was easy for her to communicate with a foreigner. She had even held art exhibitions abroad. However, English was not a subject in the college entrance examination in those days, so she could not speak it.

Although she doesn't have English, math is quite difficult. She can't understand calculus and other things. Fortunately, math scores are not included in the art exam, otherwise it would be very difficult.

Zhong Miao got off topic while thinking about it.

"Let's go, your husband will take you to school." An An has already entered the classroom.

"Wait a little longer, wait until An An goes to class before leaving." Zhong Miao looked at the watch on her wrist. There were still five minutes left. She secretly looked through the window at An An, who had been assigned a seat by the teacher.

"Like a thief." Pei Ze was speechless.

"Our An An is so well behaved, there are still children crying."

"His mind is full of beef pie now, so of course he's well-behaved. Our son really takes after you, greedy." Pei Ze joked.

“It’s called a shared hobby.”

"Well, you two should develop more hobbies. I'll have to send my two little pigs to school in the future."

"Hmph, class's in session. Let's go! Aren't you afraid of getting cervical spondylosis from carrying such a heavy camera around your neck all day?"

Zhong Miao weighed the camera; it was heavier than a brick.

This is an imported product bought by Pei Ze. I don’t know where he got it from. It looks no different from the professional digital camera in his previous life, except that it is a little heavier.

This thing uses film. Zhong Miao doesn't understand why Pei Ze has become obsessed with photography recently. He even made a light-proof space in the empty room and got a lot of tools. Every time he finishes shooting a roll, he has to develop the photos by hand. Doesn't he find it troublesome?

Zhong Miao still felt a little emotional. No matter what era, learning photography is so damn expensive.

"Oh, wife, my neck hurts, please rub it for me." Pei Ze took the opportunity to act like a rogue but failed. Zhong Miao ignored him and got into the car directly.

Zhong Miao started school a few days earlier than An An. She has already attended classes for two days. In the morning, she has modeling classes where she paints plaster, and in the afternoon, she has cultural and humanities classes. When she doesn't have classes, she continues to work on her creations.

Although these courses were not difficult for her and she could pass the final exam even without attending, she wanted to graduate a year early and planned to stay in school, so she naturally had to study more attentively.

Recently, her creation has been getting better and better, and her speed has increased a lot.

She has excellent grades and is the most popular among her classmates. What's more, she is also a beautiful academic master.

The seniors who had just returned to school, as well as the newly enrolled freshmen, would pass by the door of Zhong Miao's classroom when they had nothing to do. Sometimes they would meet him by chance and be approached. Zhong Miao would respond happily and quickly became a celebrity in the school.

At the opening ceremony, Zhong Miao, the top student, was appointed to give a speech of more than ten minutes. She did not write a script. Is it necessary to write a script to talk about painting? She just needs to sort out the order in her mind.

As soon as she gets on stage, all she has to do is brag, from classicism to contemporary art, and she can talk about the style of a certain painter from a certain European country in the 18th and 19th centuries. With her many years of knowledge, she can talk about the Renaissance with her eyes closed. The more unpopular the painter she asks, the more unfamiliar he is, the more awesome she is.

Not to mention the classmates, even the teachers were stunned. I have studied the Renaissance, but how come she has studied it more deeply than me? Which church is that mural placed in? Oh, why don’t I remember it.

Zhong Miao made all the artists and future artists in the audience want to visit a small church in Europe in person.

Zhong Miao became famous overnight in school. She can be low-key in her artistic life, but she cannot be low-key in art. Otherwise, who will she sell her paintings to in the future?

After school started, Zhong Miao's seven classmates all followed suit, saying, "I'm in the same studio as our top student, the school beauty. Hey, buddy, are you envious? Do you regret not coming to our Second Workshop?"

There are eight freshmen in the second studio this year, two of whom have repeated a grade. One of them, Zhang Hang, repeated a grade for four years before being admitted to Qingdao Academy of Fine Arts. He ranked second in the school entrance examination and his painting skills are also very good. In a short time, the reputation of this class of freshmen spread throughout the school.

Pei Ze picks up Zhong Miao every day, but he drops her off early and picks her up late. He doesn't know how popular Zhong Miao is in school, otherwise he would definitely be jealous.

Pei Ze originally wanted to go to the opening ceremony, but Zhong Miao was embarrassed to let him go because she thought she would have to brag and talk nonsense on stage. It would be so embarrassing to brag in front of acquaintances.

After this speech, the mentor Li Qiumo regarded Zhong Miao as a senior fellow in the same field and would ask him questions whenever he had the chance.

Zhong Miao had never expected that the opening ceremony was actually recorded. Because she participated in the speech, she was given a copy. The moment she got the videotape, she felt like she had gotten a piece of her own dark history and was speechless.

She went home and put the videotape in the most inconspicuous place on the bookshelf. There was no VCR at home, and she couldn't watch it anyway.

But she didn't expect that in the morning, after Pei Ze sent An An and her away, he went home to pick up the videotape. The videotape box was labeled "88th Qingqingzhou Academy of Fine Arts Opening Ceremony". He was curious when he saw it before.

He has a tape recorder in his shop, which he usually uses to play TV commercials in a loop.

In the afternoon, Pei Ze went to the store to pay.

The store was closed. As the store manager, Li Hongmei had to reconcile accounts with Pei Ze every day. She was about to turn off the TV when Pei Ze came in.

"Don't turn it off yet, I'll need it later."

"Okay, Brother Ze, business is very good today." Li Hongmei immediately ran back to the counter, took out the account book, handed it to Pei Ze, and took out a dozen banknotes that she had just counted from the drawer and placed them on the side of the counter.

After checking the accounts, Pei Ze put the videotape into the VCR and pressed the play button.

It was Zhong Miao's opening ceremony. Within a few minutes, Zhong Miao appeared on TV and began her speech.

Li Hongmei was sitting behind the counter and watching as well. When she saw Zhong Miao appear on TV, she became interested and watched with great interest. Although she didn't understand what Zhong Miao was saying, judging from the reactions of the students and teachers in the audience, she thought it was definitely quite good.

The more Pei Ze watched, the more upset he felt. His wife wouldn't let him attend her speech. Looking through the camera at the guys in the audience, all of them excited, he felt jealous, especially jealous.

However, his wife has a very wide range of knowledge. When she talked about the murals in a certain church, she described it vividly, as if she had actually been there.

In fact, Zhong Miao had really been there. That piece of land and the faded murals on the church had given her a great shock, and they were still engraved in her mind.

Her bookshelves used to be piled with picture albums from art galleries around the world, as well as some from small restaurants and churches. Each book represented a piece of land she had passed by.

At the end of the speech, there was applause from the audience and Zhong Miao showed a beautiful smile. At that moment, her eyes were full of love and expectation. Her future must be dazzling, just like now.

Li Hongmei was so moved by Zhong Miao's speech that she got goose bumps all over her body and her scalp was numb. Although she didn't understand art, Zhong Miao's passion, enthusiasm and love infected her, and tears welled up in the corners of her eyes.

"Brother Ze, I now feel that you are a little unworthy of our Miaomiao."

Li Hongmei wiped her tears. Zhong Miao's radiance was so bright that it moved people.