Chapter 22: Not as pretty as you think

When he returned to Villa No. 1, the sun was about to set. Gao Xing stood in front of the yard gate, but his foot could not step in.

She didn't know whether she should tell Shen Xingjian or not. How should she tell him? Should she tell him directly or indirectly? Or should she just pretend she didn't know, since he couldn't verify it anyway. She would only live here for a year at most, and after she moved out, she might never see him again. Why bother?

My mind was so confused that I was so happy. Countless thoughts were fighting in my head and I couldn't tell who was winning.

In the living room on the first floor, when Shen Xingjian saw her come back, he immediately operated his wheelchair to come over and asked, "How is it? Did you see Xu Jiakai?"

Her happy fingers twisted the bag strap unconsciously, avoiding his expectant gaze: "No."

She wasn't lying, she just wasn't telling the whole truth.

Shi Yunran's words were ambiguous, and it was impossible to conclude that Shen Xingjian was definitely dead ten years later. Her relationship with Shen Xingjian was not good to begin with, and it even seemed like there was some love-hate relationship. It was said that a breakup was equivalent to a death. What if this was what she meant?

Gao Xing tried every possible excuse to make amends for what happened today, but no matter how much she tried, she couldn't even convince herself.

Shen Xingjian didn't show too much disappointment when he heard this. The purpose of the Auto Expo was to try his luck, so it was normal if he didn't come across it.

"By the way, did you receive the money?" he asked.

Gao Xing was confused: "What money?"

These past few days at home, Shen Xingjian has been thinking seriously for a long time. Since everything tangible and intangible cannot transcend time and space, if we start to change it from the source, can it have an impact on the future?

To this end, he conducted an experiment.

He found a friend who had previously helped his grandfather with trust and bought a 10,000 yuan financial product for Gao Xing, with a term of ten years. In Gao Xing's time and space, the money should be due today.

On the way back to Mingjing Lake by subway, Gao Xing received a text message saying that a financial investment of 10,000 yuan had matured, and the accumulated returns over ten years had reached more than 13,000 yuan.

Ten years ago, she was only twelve years old, and her family's total assets barely amounted to ten thousand yuan. She immediately recognized the message as a scam and deleted it expressionlessly.

"So that wasn't a scam text message?" Gao Xing reacted and was surprised.

Upon learning that Gao Xing had deleted the notification as a scam text message, Shen Xingjian choked, but was mostly delighted.

Gao Xing really received the money, which means his experiment was successful? This is truly the biggest progress in the exploration of space-time overlap in the past two months!

"Great! I finally found a pattern!"

Shen Xingjian was still immersed in the joy of the successful experiment and did not notice the corners of Gao Xing's mouth suddenly curled up.

"Cancel this financial management tomorrow."

Shen Xingjian didn’t notice anything unusual about her and was still delighted: “Why?”

She avoided his gaze. “Replacing the screen won’t cost that much.”

"It's a good opportunity to replace your broken computer as well, so you don't have to use it to blackmail others in the future." Shen Xingjian said casually, "Besides, don't you still have to help me find Xu Jiakai? The extra money can be regarded as your hard work fee!"

It would have been fine if he hadn't mentioned Xu Jiakai, but once he got excited, he felt he couldn't accept the money. She had no confidence that she could help him find Xu Jiakai. Even if she did, would the outcome be different? Everyone loved good news, but what if it was bad?

"I..." Her throat tightened, "I probably can't help you."

“What do you mean?” Shen Xingjian’s expression slowly calmed down.

Gao Xing didn't know how to describe this feeling. Whether Shen Xingjian lived or died in the future was not caused by her, but if she told him what Shi Yunran said today, she would invisibly become the "executioner" of the execution.

He might become devastated, lose his goals, and lose hope in life...

This psychological burden, which was almost "murderous", suffocated her.

"I... I still have a lot of things to do. I have exams and I need to find a job. I don't have time!" Gao Xing ran upstairs quickly. "Anyway, cancel it as soon as possible."

It is not wrong to let go of the desire to help others and respect the fate of others.

I'm happy to tell myself this.

Shen Xingjian couldn't understand why she suddenly changed her attitude. She lived a stingy life every day for a little money. Shouldn't she be happy with money?

At the same time, on the other side of the city, Qian Chuan brought several contracts to Zhou Jinkai to sign an authorization agreement.

He parked the car on the side of the road where no one was around, his shiny black leather shoes stepping on the ground which was a mixture of grass, dirt and gravel.

"I say, can't you live somewhere else? Renting a studio in the city is better than here, right?" As soon as he entered the door, Qian Chuan held up his pair of limited edition leather shoes and chattered non-stop, rubbing them on the carpet at the door with disgust.

"You're not broke, why are you going through this?"

Inside the room, Zhou Jinkai was painting by the window, but his gaze was not on the paper, but on the layers of green mountains in the distance.

Qian Chuankou's "studio" is actually an abandoned factory building, which is about two to three hundred square meters in size. Because the ceilings are too high, any louder speech will cause an echo.

This area was originally a development zone, and according to the plan a few years ago, it was to convert industrial land into residential areas. Unexpectedly, the developer suddenly made a big mistake in the first half of the year, and the boss was directly arrested. The demolition of this area was halfway done, and it became an unfinished project.

No one knew what Zhou Jinkai was thinking, but he rented a factory building that had not yet been demolished to use as a studio.

Qian Chuan walked over, looked at the extremely destructive lines and colors on his drawing paper, and sighed to himself.

Zhou Jinkai is a genius, an undoubted genius. Qian Chuan knew it the first time he paid attention to him.

At the time, he was still working as an art dealer at a well-established gallery, while Zhou Jinkai was just a student. When he boasted to collectors about the masterful artist behind the painting, its masterful technique, and its immense collectible value, Zhou Jinkai, then only 20 years old, sneered.

He thought to himself, what a foolish boy, how ignorant and fearless, to mock the works of Master Li Siping! You know, "Tang in the South and Li in the North" are the two great masters of the domestic oil painting world!

Tang Yanfu, needless to say, is the founder of contemplative painting in China, a pioneering figure whose painting "Fire" is world-renowned. Meanwhile, Li Siping specializes in Impressionist oil painting, and his early painting "Morning" immediately hushed the public.

Although his paintings became worse and worse over the next decade or so, he suddenly made a fresh start at the age of fifty and released the painting "Twilight" in front of us, proving that age is still the best and fifty is the right age to make breakthroughs!

In order to highlight the collection value of this painting in front of the collector, Qian Chuan deliberately asked the young man: "Do you have any other opinions on this painting?"

Zhou Jinkai asked, "Are you sure you want me to tell you?"

Although now thinking back, the boy must have done it on purpose, Qian Chuan was immersed in his own cleverness and felt proud of himself at the time. So he said, "When it comes to art, everyone has their own opinions. That's normal. Even if you're wrong, it's okay. After all, you're still so young and you still have plenty of time to grow."

Qian Chuan quickly portrayed Zhou Jinkai as a restless, impetuous young man, thinking, "Brother, I've been in the industry for seven years, and I can't handle you?" Furthermore, "Twilight" was the featured work in that exhibition, and he'd already memorized tons of information, just waiting for this naive young man to fall into his trap and get slapped in the face!

Zhou Jinkai seemed to understand the painting very well. He meticulously analyzed its lines, colors, light and shade, and artistic conception, saying it followed the style of this master, then borrowed from that master's expression. The more Qian Chuan listened, the more he felt something was wrong. Wasn't this guy here to pick a fight? Why was he saying something nice?

However, before he could be happy for two seconds, the young man in front of him suddenly turned cold and said with a smile: "So, the person who painted this picture is not an artist at all, at most a... tailor."

As soon as these words were spoken, the collector who had originally intended to buy the piece suddenly changed his expression, saying he had something else to do and ran away. Qian Chuan was still unwilling to give up and wanted to chase him, but was stopped by the bodyguard five meters away.

The big order that he had worked hard to prepare for for more than a month was just a failure. The gallery owner was so angry that he almost beat him up and asked him to pack up and leave.

When he just lost his job, Qian Chuan asked around to find out who the young man who appeared in the gallery was, and vowed to teach him a lesson!

Then, he heard a rumor from a former colleague: Master Li Siping had secretly recalled the painting, claiming it was an assistant who, for personal gain, had resold the work of his disciple to a gallery without authorization, thus causing the misunderstanding. Because it was considered a family scandal, it was kept secret.

After hearing this news, Qian Chuan didn't know how others felt, but he was so gloating that he wanted to buy two strings of firecrackers to set off. Because of this incident, his former company suffered huge losses and lost its reputation, becoming a laughing stock in the industry!

Damn it! Who told them to fire him?

As for his later decision to "put aside past grudges" and actively recruit Zhou Jinkai to open a studio together, that's a story for another time. His main point was that with Zhou Jinkai's ability, he didn't need to compete with online artists for a position; if he wanted, it wasn't impossible for Li Siping's position to be his in a few years.

"I'm serious. Mingtai Mountain is right above your head. Don't you feel creepy living here every day?" Qian Chuan stood behind him. He felt uncomfortable all over after just a few glances at the lush green forest in the distance.

Zhou Jinkai retracted his gaze, put down his paintbrush, took off his apron, and went to wash his hands in the sink next to him. He said in a calm tone, "What do you want to talk to me about?"

Qian Chuan then remembered the important matter and took out a stack of folders he had prepared. "The copyright for the previous round of 'A Hundred Aspects of All Living Things' has expired. Xinghai wants to take it over. The price is good, and I agree. Here is the contract."

"There are also several authorizations for other paintings, including commercial promotions and film and television posters. The contracts have been reviewed by the legal department. There's no problem. Just sign them directly."

Qian Chuan might not be very good at other things, but he has always been conscientious and responsible at work, which Zhou Jinkai acknowledges.

He wiped his hands, took the folder, found a pen with only ink on it, and sat down at the table to sign.

He usually turned to the last page and signed the contracts sent by Qian Chuan directly. Occasionally, he would glance at the few that he couldn't turn through immediately.

"What's this?"

Zhou Jinkai was signing when he realized something was wrong. Above the signature where he had only half signed his name, the contract amount was actually 3,000?

Qian Chuan leaned forward upon hearing this, and seeing the words "Cover Collaboration" written in large letters in the terms and conditions, he hurriedly said, "Wrong, wrong! This isn't it, I got the wrong one!"

At this time, the author's name on the contract caught Zhou Jinkai's attention.

Happy?

He thought of happiness without much effort. He glanced at the editor's name again and saw, as expected, it was "Jianni".

Qian Chuan was about to reach out and take the contract that had accidentally slipped in, but Zhou Jinkai took it out first and put it aside: "I'll take care of it."

After signing the contract, Zhou Jinkai asked about the Prism Auction again.

Qian Chuan got a headache whenever this matter was mentioned. In order to help Zhou Jinkai get an invitation letter, he tried every possible way and asked everyone he could for help. However, they were not from the same class as the other party, so how could it be easy to get it?

Since legitimate methods didn't work, he could only turn his attention to devious means. He said with a smug look, "Do you remember Shi Yunran? She's the one Xinghai just poached. I heard her father used to be the mayor, and her husband is now the head of Guanya..."

Zhou Jinkai had an impression of the person Qian Chuan was talking about, and she also had an impression of her husband who was also at the meeting, but it was not a good impression.

To be more precise, the gossip he'd heard about these two was that old-fashioned example of a business-official alliance, a couple in name only. The man had used his wife's family to rise to power, and after his prosperity, he kept the red flag flying at home while the colorful flags fluttered outside. The woman's father, after losing power, could only turn a blind eye, and the two lived their own lives.

"I heard from a friend that her husband is a regular at Prism. Maybe he has an invitation. How about... you go and try to seduce her?"

"Why don't you go?" Zhou Jinkai asked back.

Qian Chuan laughed and rarely belittled himself: "Isn't it just that I'm not good-looking enough? If I looked like you, I would have gone there long ago without you telling me!"

Zhou Jinkai didn't bother to pay attention to him, put away the paint and teased: "If you don't have good looks, you have to make up for it with your face."

Qian Chuan: “…” Okay, I knew this crooked way wouldn’t work!

Forget it, let’s see if there is any other way.

After returning the contract to the company, Qian Chuan hesitated for a long time on his way home, and finally, reluctantly, called his former boss. He used his flattery skills, which he had not used for many years since he went solo, to flatter the other party to the skies, and finally earned the opportunity to treat the other party to a meal.

His former employer nominally ran a gallery, but in reality, they specialized in networking within the elite circles. While their influence was diminished, they still retained some connections. Qian Chuan secretly thought, "Hopefully, I can get the invitation this time. Otherwise, I'll have to file for workers' compensation!"

Thinking of this, Qian Chuan casually glanced outside while waiting for the traffic light in the car.

You don't know until you take a glance, and your eyes almost pop out.

On the crosswalk in front of the car, Xinghai’s young editor named Jinian was crossing the road arm in arm with a beautiful lady, and the person following behind them was actually Xie Xunwen, the CFO of Huayao Real Estate?

What’s even more outrageous is that Xie Xunwen seemed to be holding an umbrella and carrying bags for them???

What’s going on? What’s going on? What’s going on?

For a moment, Qian Chuan suspected that he was blind.