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◎Painting◎

Ouyang Zhu was slightly surprised. The scene before him was quite shocking: a man with a very perfect appearance stuffed an insect into his mouth.

Mu Heqing was already used to it, and she said to Ouyang Zhu, "The matter is resolved."

Ouyang Zhu nodded; the solution seemed slightly alarming to her.

She asked, "Now that the problem is solved, would you like to stay in Qingcheng for a few days? Qingcheng is a nice city."

Mu Heqing shook her head and refused. She was tired, and there was nothing fun to do in Qingcheng.

All she wants now is to go back to her little nest.

Sifei was not satisfied with this answer. She grabbed Mu Heqing's arm and said, "You have to stay here. You promised to see my painting."

"Then let's go see it now, and after we've seen it..."

The word "go back" was swallowed by Mu Heqing as a flawless hand swept past her in the corner of her eye.

Li Shi could easily tear apart the hands of live cattle and sheep; now his target was Si Fei's delicate neck.

They were bound to fight eventually.

Facing Li Shi's sudden attack, Si Fei was prepared. She released Mu Heqing's arm, bent over, and dodged Li Shi's first attack.

A cool breeze brushed against the fine strands of hair around Mu Heqing's neck, and Mu Heqing quickly stepped aside.

Li Shi and Si Fei engaged in a fierce fight. Li Shi was unarmed, but his physical strength was formidable, as Mu and Qing had already witnessed back at the Li family. Si Fei's abilities lay not in physical combat; her eyes gleamed with a strange light. Li Shi's movements were affected by Si Fei, but he still held the upper hand.

Seeing this, Ouyang Zhu became anxious and immediately made a phone call: "Where's the security guard? Come here!"

Li Shi approached Si Fei again. Si Fei casually threw a chair, and Li Shi swept his hands across it, sending the chair fragments scattering like petals from a fairy's shower.

Several tall, burly security guards in black uniforms quickly arrived, armed with stun guns and wearing black sunglasses, and confronted Li Shi.

Li showed disdain, dodging the stun gun swung by the security guards, and casually grabbed the wrist of one of the guards.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhh!"

The security guard cried out in pain, his hand fell limply to the ground, and the stun gun also fell to the ground.

If it weren't for the excellent equipment of the Guihui Group, these security guards would all be dead here today.

Secretary Fen brought out an advertising projector from somewhere. Mu and Qing had seen this projector at the entrance of the mall before; it usually had the words "So-and-so Hot Pot Restaurant" on it.

However, this advertising projector was somewhat different from the one Mu and Qing had seen; it seemed to be able to change direction at will.

The secretary turned on the advertising projector with a "snap," and intricate, flowing images were immediately projected into the entire room, including onto Li Shi.

Mu Heqing closed her eyes; she now understood why the security guards wore sunglasses. However, Ouyang Zhu was far too adept at exploiting Si Fei's abilities.

Li Shi stood frozen in place, colorful lines flowing across his body. Even the security guards, who were wearing sunglasses, were affected and staggered as they tried to hit him.

Li Shi still suffered from the disadvantages of modern technology.

He's trying to kill someone's protector on their own turf.

But the security guard's stun gun didn't have much effect on him either.

After a few muffled thuds, Li Shi came to his senses. He closed his eyes, but the projector's lines were still on his body; he still couldn't leave this place.

Sifei chuckled softly in the room. She walked past Li Shi, kicked him angrily, and then approached Mu Heqing.

Sifei said, "Heqing, let's go."

Mu and Qing were not able to predict this outcome.

With her eyes closed, she was being led by Sifei. Before she could even leave the room, another person entered.

The man cried out anxiously, "Shi! What's wrong? Ah! What is this?"

"Close your eyes and turn that thing off!" Li Shi said succinctly, a rare occurrence for him to speak to others.

Mu Heqing heard a slight sound, guessing that the person had turned off the projector, and she opened her eyes again.

A group of dazed security guards were lying in the room. Ouyang Zhu and her secretary Fen were not there; they probably left as soon as the projector was turned on.

As for the man who spoke, it turned out to be Li Shi's blood brother—Li Yu.

After not seeing him for a while, Li Yu had become even thinner and looked much more dejected. He was panting heavily, as if he had been frightened by the scene just now.

"Shi, are you alright?" Li Yu asked with concern.

Li Shi ignored her and instead turned to Si Fei, reaching out to grab her neck with one hand.

This is never going to end.

Mu and Qing knew that if they didn't stop it, things would probably escalate further.

Does Li Shi even realize that he's on someone else's turf? No matter how strong he is, they can bring out four or five projectors. If that happens, he'll be crippled, if not killed.

Mu Heqing raised his hand to stop Li Shi and said, "Alright, Li Shi, don't get agitated. If you don't die here, who will take me back to Ancheng?"

She also planned to hitch a ride back with him.

Li Shi stopped what he was doing, then kicked the projector on the ground, smashing it to pieces.

Li Yu nodded to Mu Heqing. This time, he acted as Li Shi's driver, taking him from Ancheng to Qingcheng. He waited outside for a long time but Li Shi did not come out. When he went in, he caught a glimpse of strange lines.

He didn't dare to continue watching. After hearing Li Shi's instructions, he could only close his eyes and grope for the switch. He was lucky and found the switch immediately, turning off the projector.

Several security guards, still trying to rush forward, were stopped by Mu and Qing, who advised, "We won't fight anymore, gentlemen. You should go to the hospital to get checked out."

The security guards looked at each other, still hesitant, after all, Mu and Qing were not their bosses.

Sifei didn't seem to care about these people either.

Fortunately, Ouyang Zhu and her secretary reappeared. After having the security guards treat the patient, she took Mu Heqing, the two anthropomorphic creatures, and Li Yu to the art studio. This was their original plan.

Ouyang Zhu really treated Sifei like a daughter, feeding her well, dressing her well, and even setting up an art studio for her in the group.

Unfortunately, her gentle approach didn't have much effect on Consort Si. Like Li Shi, Consort Si also treated Ouyang Zhu as a useful tool. She helped Ouyang Zhu, and Ouyang Zhu helped her in return.

It's just an exchange.

Sifei's studio was inside Chairman Ouyang Zhu's office, accessible through a hidden door. When Mu and Qing entered, they didn't see any of her paintings, but they did see a pile of various cosmetics and makeup tools, as well as a large mirror. They guessed that Sifei usually did Ouyang Zhu's makeup here.

After leaving No. 13 Middle School, Sifei and Ouyang Zhu actually got along very well, and could have developed a relationship similar to that between Li Shi and the Li family.

Li Yu's expression was still not good. He knew they were going to see Si Fei's paintings, so he asked, "She's strange. She gives me the same feeling as Shi. Are we going to see her paintings now? Wasn't that her painting projected on the projector just now?"

“It’s alright,” Mu Heqing explained. “Once Sifei’s paintings have an actual subject, that situation won’t occur.”

The painting that Mu and Qing came to see this time was a portrait of her by Si Fei.

There are many paintings in the studio, all covered with cloth, and no one else will lift them here.

"He Qing, look here." Si Fei walked to a row of paintings and lifted the white cloth covering several of them.

Before them were paintings in somber colors, the only bright spot being the figures at the center of each painting. In Sifei's paintings, there seemed to be more than just Mu and Qing; several other figures surrounded her.

From Mu Heqing's own perspective, the figures in these paintings do not resemble her.

“This doesn’t look like you,” Ouyang Zhu commented. “I’ve seen these paintings before; they are rare works by Sifei that I’ve never seen before. She said it was you. But when I actually saw you, I realized that these paintings don’t resemble you at all.”

Mu and Qing looked at one of the paintings. In the center of the painting was a person painted with light-colored paint. The appearance was not very detailed, but what caught the eye most was the person's expression.

His eyes were wide open, with a speck of blue paint at the corner of his eye, like a tear. His lips were slightly parted, as if in terror.

"Does it look like me?" Mu Heqing asked Li Yu.

Li Yu shook her head. "This painting doesn't seem to capture your appearance. It's more like a paper doll. I can't quite put my finger on it."

"Does it look like me?" Mu Heqing asked Li Shi again.

Li Shi pinched his chin, looked at the painting for a while, and then nodded. He pointed to the painting that Mu Heqing had just looked at and said, "This one looks like the first time I saw you."

Mu and Qing suddenly looked up. Si Fei was standing next to the painting, her hands behind her back, a smile playing on her lips.

ah.

Mu Heqing suddenly realized that these paintings were not depicting her appearance, but rather her expression and emotions.

She suddenly lost interest in looking at the next few paintings.

No wonder Sifei kept wanting her to see these paintings.

It turns out that I wanted her to recall her past self.

It's a pity that while Sifei's works have a magical power to control and influence other people's emotions, she doesn't realize that to get someone to analyze their past self, you have to see if they can accept that past experience.

"How about it, Qing? Isn't it interesting? Look, I remember our past." Sifei was as happy as a child showing off her achievements to an adult.

Mu and Qing remained silent; Si Fei's words truly struck a chord with her.

…………

"Li Yu, why did you come with Li Shi too?" Mu Heqing stuffed a large piece of butter biscuit into her mouth; she had only eaten breakfast today.

She didn't want to stay in that studio any longer, so she went to the group's common lounge area with Li Shi and Li Yu.

While Sifei was still admiring her paintings in the studio, Ouyang Zhu also had other things to do.

So Mu and Qing were free to move around. They had originally planned to stay in Qingcheng for a few days and bring back some things for Tang Ruxing and Deng Qian, but now she had no interest in doing so at all.

After experiencing so much today, it's already evening, and there are still quite a few people in the company. It seems that Ouyang Zhu's talk of humane management is complete nonsense.

Li Shi's appearance was attractive, and Mu and Qing were worried that people passing by the public rest area would stare at him and disturb their rest, so they sent Li Shi aside and ate some free snacks from the group with Li Yu.

Li Yu had little appetite. He gave a bitter smile and said, "Shi won't talk to us. I came here to ask you to help me ask him how much longer our family can live?"

Mu and Qing had a biscuit stuck in their throats, unable to swallow it down.

Despair appeared on Li Yu's face, and his complexion turned ashen.

"My father passed away not long after you left the manor last time."