Ji Xia readily agreed, and Rong Ruoshi, seeing that the two had reached an agreement, took Ji Xia directly to the Fu family's painting studio.
Rong Ruoshi had been studying under Fu for several years and felt completely at ease and at home in the Fu family.
I took Ji Xia inside, found her a drawing board, sketch paper, and a 4B pencil, and then replaced the sketching materials on display with geometric plaster casts.
She picked up her pen and demonstrated for Ji Xia, explaining the key points. Then she told Ji Xia to choose a seat and start sketching.
Ji Xia had never tried sketching from life before; she had always copied from books. With a touch of trepidation, she began sketching.
...
Chen Jing followed behind them, found their location, and then turned and went out.
Although it's not confirmed yet, judging from Rong Xiaorou's expression and meaning, he felt that Ji Xia had a good chance of staying here.
Even if things are uncertain in the future, there is still a month between now and the re-examination. It's impossible to stay in a guesthouse for an extended period of time.
So, since he had nothing else to do, he decided to look around for a yard to rent or a house to buy.
After wandering around for a while, Chen Jing could only sigh in amazement at how vast the capital city was.
His second thought was that if he wanted to rent a house, he could probably only find one with a yard.
Most of the apartments are housing allocated to workers by the state. If they leave their jobs, the state will take them back. It's really unlikely that you can find an empty apartment to rent.
After wandering around for half a day and several streets, he found that almost all the courtyard houses he saw were occupied.
He thought to himself, "The population of the capital is really huge."
After wandering around for a while, it wasn't without its rewards. Chen Jing is a very good friend-making person, and after wandering around for a while, he even made two friends who agreed to help him find housing.
At noon, Chen Jing checked the time and went to the alley outside the Fu family's house to pick up Ji Xia.
Ji Xia came out with Rong Ruoshi. They stayed at the Fu family's house for three hours and only drew a geometric sketch, which received some feedback from Teacher Fu.
However, to Ji Xia's delight, Teacher Fu said that she had good talent, but lacked formal guidance, and agreed to take her on as a student.
Ji Xia now only needs to prepare her drawing board, sketch paper, and pencils.
Because of the short time, Teacher Fu asked her to focus on sketching for the next two weeks and try to improve her sketching skills, especially her life drawing skills, before the preliminary exam.
As they walked out of the alley, Rong Ruoshi smiled and invited, "Where are you going for lunch? Why don't you come home with me for lunch? Your aunt said you could come over at noon."
Ji Xia glanced at Chen Jing, shook her head, and politely declined: "You and Teacher Rong have helped so much, we should be the ones treating you to a meal. However, I plan to go to Xinhua Bookstore to buy art supplies at noon, so let's have a simple lunch together in the afternoon?"
Rong Ruoshi thought for a moment and agreed: "Okay, I'll tell my aunt where we should have lunch this afternoon."
"We're not familiar with Beijing, so you guys decide. Should we go for Peking duck or hot pot? It's up to you."
The two agreed to have lunch together in the afternoon, and then parted ways when they went to see Teacher Fu.
Chen Jing led Ji Xia to a nearby restaurant, and Ji Xia followed behind him, enthusiastically sharing her insights from the day.
"Having a teacher to guide me makes all the difference. I used to be most afraid of sketching, never knowing where to begin. But today, after her guidance, it's like everything suddenly became clear—"
"Teacher Fu said I have a high aptitude for learning. If I study systematically for half a month, passing the preliminary exam shouldn't be difficult. After passing the preliminary exam, I'll need to systematically study sketching, color theory, and design—"
Looking at the beaming Ji Xia, Chen Jing thought to himself: This kind of art exam requires not only taking the college entrance exam and academic subjects, but also an art exam. How many students can they recruit?
They come from other places to register two or three months in advance, and then go through one preliminary test and another. Their families have no financial resources and simply cannot afford to support them, unless they are locals.
Moreover, even if you pass the art exam, there are still academic score requirements. According to the score requirements of the Academy of Fine Arts, it is estimated that you need to score around 200 points more.
Two years after the resumption of the college entrance examination, the total score was 400 points, and a score of just over 200 points was enough to get into an ordinary university.
Taking a three- or four-month break from school to participate in the art exam, and then having to go back to take the college entrance exam and score over 200 points, is actually quite demanding.
Since they still needed to go to the bookstore, the two of them casually ordered two meals at the restaurant and ate them.
Prices in Beijing are high. Even a simple meal of two dishes and rice cost more than three yuan for two people. Staying in a guesthouse for two rooms a day would cost more than eight yuan.
After doing the math, Ji Xia sighed inwardly. Fortunately, she had earned some money in the past six months. Otherwise, relying solely on her old salary from the supply and marketing cooperative would not have been enough to support her through the art academy entrance exam.
The Xinhua Bookstore in Beijing had a much more complete selection of materials. Ji Xia not only bought a drawing board, easel, sketching paper, and several pencils ranging from 3B to 6B, but also some books on sketching, color painting, and gouache.
Later, I looked at the college entrance exam review materials and bought one for each subject.
I draw during the day, but I still need to take time to review my academic subjects in the evening, so that I don't lose too many points in my academic subjects if I stop attending classes for too long.
Perhaps due to her innate love for art, Ji Xia's sketching skills improved rapidly after receiving systematic instruction, and she also adapted quickly to her daily routine.
Chen Jing continued searching for a house, visiting Chaoyang District, Haidian District, and Xicheng District. He also visited Tiananmen Square, witnessed the sacred moment of the national flag raising, and made a few friends.
A few days later, a new friend told Chen Jing that there were rental properties available and took him to see them.
Chen Jing happily agreed upon hearing this. Although he had prepared a savings account with 100,000 yuan, he only had 400 or 500 yuan of pocket money on him. He would stay in a guesthouse and eat at restaurants every day, and he couldn't keep it up for long.
In the afternoon, after taking Ji Xia to the Fu family's house, he found a small alley according to the address.
A young man with medium-length hair stood at the alley exit, a cigarette dangling from his lips. He saw Chen Jing and waved to him flippantly.
"You're Chen Jing, the one looking for a courtyard house? My name is Wang Yuan, come with me."
Wang Yuan flicked the ash from his cigarette and led him into the alley: "You guys are lucky. It's not easy to find a place to rent in the capital. This place only became available yesterday."
Chen Jing followed him into the second gate of the alley, where several sharp cries and the sound of children crying could be heard.
Wang Yuan ignored him, pushed open the door, and four or five people inside looked out.
Chen Jing stood in front of the door and looked at the messy yard. The spacious yard had four or five iron sheds, leaving only a narrow, winding, muddy path about a meter wide.
Around the shed, seven or eight bamboo poles and ropes were haphazardly strung together, with clothes of adults and children hanging from them.
This doesn't resemble the clean and tidy courtyard of the Rong family at all; it's practically a slum-like tenement.
Seeing them enter, the two young men stood up happily: "Wang Yuan, another new tenant?"
These two men were actually the same two young men who had been infatuated with Ji Xia on the street a few days ago.
Chen Jing stood on the threshold, frowning as he looked around: "Brother Wang, there are quite a few people living in this courtyard."
Wang Yuan turned around impatiently: "A lot? Such a big courtyard, and only thirteen families live here. It's not a lot. Come in. The empty rooms are in the back building. They're over sixty square meters. It's enough for two people."
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