Episode 53 Light Bulb
Pierre was held hostage by Shen Lan for a whole week during his visit to Shanghai. Not only was he not allowed to move freely, he was also required to accompany him to meet with various directors of investors and even other art galleries.
Only on the last day, Friday, was he released by Shen Lan and allowed to move freely. On such a precious day, he actually chose to ask Jiang Shu to come out to see his art exhibition.
When Jiang Shu arrived at the western-style building, Pierre was waiting outside the courtyard, wearing a mask and sunglasses. Covering up so tightly, Jiang Shu could even imagine the typical Caucasian smile beneath the mask, revealing two rows of neat teeth...
He went up to her and just said "What's wrong with you!", but the offended Pierre pointed to the QR code in front of the courtyard - "Scan the code to buy tickets and enter"
He said shamelessly: "Brothers, let's settle accounts clearly."
…
Jiang Shu was too lazy to argue with him, so he just scanned the ticket and before paying, he didn't forget to mock her: "It's still not popular enough, the ticket price is only 80 yuan."
"Tengchun only exhibited three of my paintings this time; the rest were just 'filler pieces'."
He particularly likes to use idioms and colloquialisms in Mandarin to appear cultured, but only Jiang Shu knows that his Mandarin is terrible and he is simply an eccentric. Today, as a creator, he is "going incognito" not to visit the exhibition, but just to vent some complaints to Jiang Shu -
"You know I'll have to replace Shen Lan sooner or later. He's been absolutely insane since this year. I've always authorized him to be my agent, just to have fewer unnecessary social constraints and more vacation time. But over the past few months, he's become a completely different person, requiring me to show up for every event, big or small. It's really frustrating..."
His complaints were like marbles, switching back and forth in three languages. Shen Lan was scolded so much that he couldn't even count the number of hairs he had... It was no wonder, because Pierre hated being constrained the most. As an extremely shrewd art agent, Shen Lan didn't really let him do whatever he wanted.
But without him, there would be no Pierre today.
At that time, his fame in the Hong Kong circle was just beginning to emerge. Shen Lan took the initiative to negotiate and hype up his paintings with carved railings and painted buildings, which enabled the paintings to pass through several rounds of bidding and enter the secondary market in one fell swoop. As a result, the value of both him and Pierre soared.
Naturally, this cooperation with the mainland was also led by Shen Lan. A leisurely young man like Pierre would not bother to sort out the twists and turns of their business. Being willing to cooperate with him to attend the event and fly back and forth can be said to be giving Shen Lan a lot of face.
Jiang Shu couldn't help but think of Yan Yiming.
If he were still alive, I'm sure Tengchun would have modeled him after Pierre, right? After all, from their personalities to their painting styles, the two of them were incredibly similar—but Pierre was much smarter than Yan Yiming. Although he had a high opinion of himself, he was at least able to bend and stretch, unlike Yan Yiming, who only had a high opinion of himself.
This is also the reason why Shen Lan is willing to cooperate with him for a long time: he is talented and has a temper, but overall he can handle it well.
On Friday afternoon, there was a constant stream of visitors.
The receptionist handed each visitor an exhibition overview brochure. Pierre waved his hand to indicate that he didn't need it, but Jiang Shu took it and opened the brochure to browse. His eyes did not fall on the densely packed text about the aesthetics of the paintings, but turned directly to the last page and found the inconspicuous name hidden under the organizer's layout on the page.
Forest shadow.
When his fingertips touched here, he couldn't help but feel his heart soften.
It was Pierre who brought him back to his senses, forcing him to admire his most proud masterpiece, which was currently displayed in the hall, occupying the absolute centerpiece - "Heavy Rain"
Although named "Heavy Rain", the picture is not dull and gloomy. It uses lake blue as the background color, and the water gradually turns grayish white as it spreads to the edge. The center of the picture is dotted with gradient light and shadow, and you can roughly see the traces left by the rain, dead branches and leaves, and the mud gradually disappearing.
It is such a masterpiece that makes outsiders exclaim "I don't understand" at first glance, but is praised by the industry as "seeing the big picture from the small", "seeing the essence from the subtle", and "using stillness to contrast with movement". It was bought by Mrs. Song at a huge expense. Because her daughter had a very good relationship with Pierre, she agreed to lend the copyright to the painter himself when necessary for exhibition promotion. This operation increased the popularity and valuation of Pierre and his other works several times.
In short, the industry media praised this painting to the skies, piling up all sorts of unrealistic rhetoric. But the outside world couldn't understand it, and the industry didn't care.
Even Jiang Shu couldn't come up with any advanced words except "sophisticated" after reading it.
Pierre was so disappointed that he could not help complaining:
"You're such a jerk! No wonder Lin Ying doesn't like you..."
"What a coincidence, Pierre?"
Speak of the devil, and he will appear. Lin Ying's voice suddenly rang out from behind the two of them. She had obviously noticed that Pierre was keeping a low profile today. Jiang Shu beside her made a gesture to silence her, and she immediately understood and lowered her voice:
"I'm here today to tour the exhibition and take the opportunity to show the newcomers some information about the exhibition. I didn't expect it to be such a coincidence that I'd run into the original owner of the exhibition as well."
Xu Yiwei behind her nodded at the two of them and smiled awkwardly.
Pierre, on the other hand, was humble and directly accused Jiang Shu of being unromantic. He even asked Lin Ying, "You don't agree with those empty compliments, do you?"
After listening to this, Lin Ying smiled calmly:
"Well, but I find the painting's quite...clean, don't you think so?"
Yes, it was this simple word "Clean" that instantly struck the creator's heart. Pierre snapped his fingers at Lin Ying - "Oh, you really got me! But how do you pick up the word 'clean'?"
Lin Ying did not keep anyone in suspense and continued to tell the story:
"This is solely my personal opinion. You paint in an Impressionist style, and industry insiders have previously dubbed you a modern-day 'Little Paul Signac.' While you excel at macroscopic composition, you, as a more modern artist, enjoy capturing the details of life. This painting is titled 'Heavy Rain.' Heavy rain has always been associated with bustling, chaotic, and destructive power, but in this painting, aside from scattered raindrops reflecting the light and shadow of the storm, there seems to be nothing else that evokes the image of 'rain.'"
I guess this is a scene you observe during a rainstorm, the process of soil in a certain place being slowly washed away and dissolved by the rain, so I think... it's very 'clean'."
Pierre was relieved and immediately started talking:
"Actually, I originally drew this painting as a casual doodle. That year, I attended the Avignon Art Festival and was sitting outside a café when a sudden downpour hit. A flower pot from a second-floor balcony suddenly fell, destroying a corner of the café's sky-blue shelter. The drop landed on the ground, reflecting on the grey tiles. The rain continued to fall. You have no idea how chaotic the scene was, but I only noticed the image of mud soaking into the sky-blue awning, which was eventually washed away by the torrential rain. I thought it was so novel and clean!"
At this moment, the four of them had already merged into the crowd of visitors. Pierre was explaining with great enthusiasm and chatting happily with Lin Ying. The two of them walked side by side to the front without realizing it, while Jiang Shu and Xu Yiwei fell behind.
"Boss Jiang, I'm sorry to bother you with Boss Wei's matter last time."
Xu Yiwei suddenly mentioned this, but he didn't look at him, perhaps just to delay the embarrassment.
"Nothing, I just saved you a couple of words."
Xu Yiwei nodded again. She thought Jiang Shu would remain silent, but she didn't expect him to speak again, and there seemed to be some concern in his tone.
“Are you adapting to the new job?”
"Well, Mr. Lin brought me here today to tour the exhibition and teach me some industry knowledge. Mr. Lin is a very nice person, patient and gentle..."
She kept her composure and said, "Of course! Without you, I wouldn't have such a good boss."
Jiang Shu had seen the girl's eloquence before, but it wasn't the first time he had heard such flattery. He just gave a nonchalant reminder:
"Just don't let her down, or you'll be letting me down too."
As soon as these words fell, Xu Yiwei's heart stagnated. She was sure that she had come up with some clichéd ideas like those in idol dramas...
But Jiang Shu didn't care. As soon as he finished speaking, he reached forward and patted Pierre on the shoulder, teasing him that he had talked too much today and made him look like a light bulb...
The four of them walked through the exhibition in a subtle and harmonious atmosphere. During the tour, Lin Ying also showed Xu Yiwei which parts of the gallery were involved, the purpose of doing so, and the directions she needed to consider. She used her phone's memo and camera to record them one by one...
But if you ask who gained the most today, it was the painter Pierre himself - he visited his own exhibition with the intention of chatting and complaining, but he actually discovered another side of Lin Ying.
He had always heard about Lin Ying from Jiang Shu in the past, and knew that Jiang Shu was thinking about her. But after this unexpected deep talk today, he didn't expect that Lin Ying herself would make him feel like he had met a soulmate...
Lin Ying had never expected that, with the purpose of bringing newcomers to the exhibition tour, she would actually run into the artist himself and Jiang Shu. It was the first time that she had such a fantastic chat with Pierre. One must know that the previous meetings were somewhat utilitarian. Although this encounter was a coincidence, now that the agency rights have been obtained and the exhibition has been held, both parties are no longer under pressure to test the bottom line on their own behalf. Instead, they can openly talk about "meaningless" things - art is sometimes the inspiration derived from meaningless ideas.
Lin Ying has always felt this way, but she rarely speaks about these thoughts openly, because in the eyes of the world, meaningless things are not worth discussing, even in the art industry, which requires so much sharpness and insight.
This world always teaches people to use their eyes to discover all kinds of beauty, but ultimately it urges people to only see benefits in various ways.
Lin Ying's spoken English was relatively limited. When she encountered some professional vocabulary that she was not sure about, she would repeatedly confirm with Pierre. Sometimes she would get stuck on some adjectives. Fortunately, Jiang Shu could help her at any time.
After the tour was over, Pierre enthusiastically suggested that they have dinner together tonight, and this time he would treat.
Lin Ying readily agreed, and took the opportunity to pull Xu Yiwei over to help her get closer to Pierre:
"Pierre, do you remember that international art exhibition in Shanghai three years ago? She was the youngest volunteer in the group back then, and we even took a photo together..."
Pierre raised his eyebrows and looked at the silent girl. Unexpectedly, Xu Yiwei started to feel shy. After a few awkward Chinese-English conversations with Pierre, she was completely defeated and began to retreat from Lin Ying.
"Boss Lin, I won't be joining you tonight, okay? My English is terrible, and I'll end up in jail if I go..."
Seeing her so unconfident for the first time, Lin Ying was about to comfort her not to feel too stressed and just treat it as a free meal, but before she could finish her words, she had to cancel the appointment first.
Wang Duo suddenly called. Lin Ying said "excuse me" to them, went to a quieter place and answered the call.
Jiang Shu was in a great mood at the moment, completely immersed in Lin Ying's generous conversation with Pierre today, as well as the meticulous and capable arrangements made by the exhibition organizer. He would have dinner with her later, and the day after tomorrow he would go to Disneyland with her and her daughter...
Thinking about it this way, it was worth spending 80 to get Pierre to do it today.
However, this worthwhile experience was quickly broken by Lin Ying hanging up the phone.
"I'm sorry, Pierre, I can't have dinner with you later. Mr. Wang has to go back to Hong Kong this weekend and has some work to hand over to me, so I need to rush over right now. So... I'm sorry, can we make an appointment next time you come to Shanghai?"
Her expression was somewhat helpless, and Pierre could only express that it was a pity, but he understood and respected her.
After receiving their approval, Lin Ying said goodbye to the two of them, and Xu Yiwei had no choice but to follow. They left the building eagerly. Jiang Shu couldn't help but want her to stay, but he couldn't find a reason to ask her to stay. He could only let her go like a wisp of wind, weaving through the crowd, drifting in a direction he couldn't catch...
A good private dinner was disrupted by a phone call from Wang Duo.
He couldn't help but immerse himself in an emotion that was completely opposite to what he had just felt. The "fear of gain and loss" that he had always scoffed at was now fully realized in him.
Snap——
Suddenly, Pierre's fingers snapped in my ears.
"I remember now. She was the girl who always went out with Alan. Her English was only so-so, but she was very enthusiastic!"
Jiang Shu was stunned for a moment before he realized that he was referring to Xu Yiwei, but the name Alan made his memory resurrect for no reason -
"Who is Alan?"
"That's the boy I met last time when you treated me to local cuisine. Oh, that was also the day I first met Lin Ying."
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