Chapter 24: Spring Day (7) I will run as hard as I can and never give up...
Lin Xia and He Chuan had previously said that many girls in their class had a crush on Ren Zijian. This was half true, as he was indeed the most talked-about person of the opposite sex in the girls' dormitory after lights out. As far as Lin Xia knew, several girls had a crush on him. However, everyone was busy, too busy to have time to like anyone. Everyone had come all the way to Beijing for the art exams and for their future. All their energy was spent on practicing, improving themselves, and working hard for their dreams.
During every class, Lin Xia would sit together with Yang Yang and Lao Sun to paint. After Ren Zijian came, he chose the same group of models with them several times. Over time, the four of them became familiar with each other.
The more familiar she became with him, the more Lin Xia discovered his strengths.
People like Lin Xia, when sketching, would just glance over the composition and then dive in. Ren Zijian, however, was different. He would observe for a long time beforehand, walking around the classroom to see how others were drawing, and then he would start painting himself. He painted quickly and calmly, and after finishing, he would walk around the classroom again to compare his own work with others.
The teacher said that everyone draws with their hands and eyes, but Ren Zijian draws with his brain.
Lin Xia tried secretly, but found that she couldn't imitate it at all. Could this be the unique feature of top students learning art?
Ren Zijian's initial statement about treating Lin Xia as a competitor was just a joke, but Lin Xia and Lao Sun really felt a sense of crisis. After all, getting into Tsinghua University is a one in ten thousand competition, and they must be good enough and surpass many, many people.
So the three of them didn't say it out loud, but secretly they began to compete with each other. Every drawing class was like a competition, competing to see who could draw faster, who could draw better, and no one would admit defeat. Yang Yang drew with them for a while, but he couldn't keep up with their pace. He shouted that he couldn't stand it anymore and refused to sit with them anymore.
Days are like paint applied to a canvas, layer upon layer, and in a blink of an eye, it becomes a thick layer.
One day in mid-November, the temperature plummeted, from around 10 degrees Celsius the day before to below freezing. A light snow even fell that evening. Beijing's autumn and winter aren't typically cold, so heating comes on much later than in Northeast China. Since most of my classmates were from the south, and this was their first time in the north, they were unprepared. After just one night, seven or eight of us had caught colds.
Lin Xia also sneezed several times. She was only wearing a thin pair of fleece pants, and the thick clothes that her family mailed to her had not arrived yet.
The teacher had no choice but to give them a day off so they could go out and buy clothes.
Although the cold was unbearable, this sudden day off was really a blessing. You know, after October, their day off went from one day every two weeks to one day every month.
Yang Yang has a cousin who studies in Beijing. After asking around, she learned that there is a good place to buy clothes at low prices and good quality. So with her leading the way, Lin Xia, Lao Sun, Ren Zijian, Qian Shanshan and the other five people went there together.
After a long bus and subway ride, they got off at the zoo.
Qian Shanshan rolled her eyes at this:
"I thought you were talking about something else, but it turns out it's 'Dongpi'."
The Beijing Zoo Clothing Wholesale Market consists of several large shopping malls. It is the largest clothing wholesale distribution center in the northern region. It has low prices and a wide variety of styles. Tens of thousands of non-local merchants come here to purchase goods every day. It is also the only choice for young people who are studying and working in Beijing and have limited funds to buy clothes.
I randomly picked a shopping mall and went inside. It was like a vegetable market, crowded with people and noisy. Shops were next to each other, selling men's and women's clothing, shoes and hats. The whole building was full of wholesale and retail stores. It was spectacular.
Yang Yang loves shopping and is an expert at bargaining. Under her leadership, everyone rushed in and started shopping.
Lin Xia was too shy to bargain. Every time she saw Yang Yang and the boss going back and forth, performing one trick after another, like the "Drawing the Sword" scheme, the "Empty City" scheme, the "Golden Cicada Escape Plan," and turning the tables, she felt terrified. But the final price was indeed cheaper, much cheaper than the clothes she'd bought at the Wangchun underground mall. If the store still made a profit, Lin Xia had to start thinking about the exorbitant profits in the clothing industry.
In the end, Lin Xia bought a pair of warm cotton pants, a sweater, and a thick coat, while Lao Sun still carefully selected his usual tattered and literary style. Yang Yang bought the most, and almost everyone helped her carry two bags. Even so, she had not bought enough and wanted to go to another mall to continue shopping.
Qian Shanshan was very impatient:
"These cheap clothes look cheap. They'll fall apart after just two days of wearing them. Why buy so many? You might as well save up your money and buy some real good clothes! If I'd known we were going to come here, I wouldn't have come with you!"
Yang Yang was immediately furious when he heard this: "If you don't want to come, then don't come. Miss, hurry up and go to the noble places where noble people should go. Who asked you to follow us? What a bummer!"
"I really can't get along with you."
Qian Shanshan snorted, turned around and left, and before leaving she asked Ren Zijian:
"Hey, I'm going to Xidan, do you want to come with me?"
Ren Zijian followed them all the way, but he only bought a hat as a token of appreciation. It was clear that he didn't think much of the clothes here. Although he never said it, everyone knew that his family was well-off, because he always had the best and most complete painting supplies in his studio.
Ren Zijian smiled a little embarrassedly and said to others:
"Then you guys take your time to look around. We're leaving first. See you in the studio later."
Then the two of them left together.
Old Sun sneered: "Rich people are just pretentious."
Lin Xia looked at Old Sun, then at the angry Yang Yang, and asked cautiously:
"Are we still going shopping?"
Yang Yang stamped his feet and yelled, "No more shopping! I'm not in the mood anymore!"
It was a rare opportunity for Lin Xia to go out, so she was unwilling to just go back like this. So she suggested:
"Why don't we go to the zoo across the street? I've never been to a zoo before."
"Oh, there's a zoo in Changsha, very close to my home. I'm tired of it." Yang Yang said, "Let's go to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. You can't come to Beijing without visiting these two places, right?"
Lin Xia thought it made sense, but Old Sun had his own thoughts:
"When you come to Beijing to attend university, you can come as many times as you want to the zoo or the Forbidden City. Our priority now is to go to another place."
"where?"
Old Sun lifted his bangs, his expression cold:
"Let's go to Lama Temple. The joint entrance exam is coming up soon, and we need to go there to worship."
.
In the end, Lin Xia and Yang Yang followed Lao Sun's advice, and the three of them went to Yonghe Palace together. It was definitely not to engage in feudal superstition, but on the contrary, they were just doing nothing anyway. Well, definitely not.
Lin Xia had heard of the Lama Temple, but had no idea what this place was. Before today, she even thought it was an ancient monument like Prince Gong's Mansion. Now she knew that it was actually a temple.
Although it was Old Sun who suggested coming here, he didn't quite understand the procedures and rules for worshipping Buddha. Lin Xia and Yang Yang were even less so. After buying their tickets, they were each given a box of incense. The first room they entered was the Yonghe Gate Hall, decorated with glazed tile roof ornaments, flying eaves and brackets, and carved beams and painted buildings. It enshrined the Buddha Budai and the Four Heavenly Kings. Lin Xia and the other two, following the example of the other worshippers, lit incense, kowtowed, and bowed repeatedly, silently praying for blessings from the gods and Buddha.
However, this was just the beginning. After leaving the temple, there was another temple. They worshipped Buddha and another Buddha. They had no idea where to seek academic success and where to pray for wealth. If they asked, they would seem to be laymen and insincere. So, with the mentality of not being able to show favoritism to sinners, the three of them kowtowed and burned incense all the way.
Lin Xia had been to the temple with her grandmother before. In her memory, temples were very small, but the Lama Temple was really huge. In the end, she couldn't count how many Buddhas they worshipped and how much incense they burned. Later, she found that they seemed to have even prayed for fertility and marriage that day, but they kept repeating the same words:
Pray to God and Buddha to bless us so that we can be admitted to the university of our dreams.
This is the greatest expectation for the future for these eighteen or nineteen-year-olds.
That night, Lin Xia sent a message to He Chuan:
I don't think worshipping Buddha is illusory. If someone truly wants to achieve a goal and is willing to use every possible means, even praying to the gods and Buddhas, it shows they are sincere and working hard enough. As the saying goes, do your best and leave the rest to fate. I must try every avenue to avoid regrets!
He Chuan told her:
You are absolutely right, and I believe you already have a clear enough goal and a firm belief. All that is left is to run as hard as you can.
Lin Xia took a deep breath:
[Yes, I will run as hard as I can and never give up! ]
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In the blink of an eye, it was December, the joint entrance examination was approaching, and it had entered the final sprint stage. The atmosphere in the studio became more tense, their schoolwork became more intensive, and the practice became more demanding. After evening classes every day, many people still stayed in the studio to practice on their own, racing against time and not missing any opportunity to improve.
For art students, starting from December, they will have to return to their respective provinces to take the joint examination. Only by passing the joint examination can they apply for art majors in the college entrance examination, or further participate in the school examinations held by major art colleges in March and April of the following year. This is a "small college entrance examination" for them, which is a matter of life and death.
Hunan's joint entrance examination was the earliest. In early December, Yang Yang's group of students from Hunan went home. Then in mid-December, Lao Sun and Ren Zijian's group from Guangdong and Chongqing also went home. In the end, there were only less than 10 people left in the studio, including Lin Xia and a few scattered classmates from other provinces. They had to wait until the end of December to take the exam, which gave them the most time to prepare and was the most tormented.
After the evening class, Lin Xia stayed to practice for a while, then returned to the dormitory with another girl from the same class. Now, all the eight people in the dormitory except her and Qian Shanshan had gone home. Qian Shanshan had returned from class a long time ago, but she hadn't slept yet and was applying a facial mask.
The unpleasantness that day was just a minor friction. They were all simple students and forgot about it in a short time. It did not accumulate any conflicts. After that, they still painted and ate together as if nothing had happened.
However, Lin Xia realized one thing from this: it is really difficult for people with different consumption levels to go out and play together, and whoever compromises will only be a burden to the other.
After Lin Xia washed up and was about to go to bed, she suddenly heard Qian Shanshan ask:
"You paint so late every day after class. Aren't you tired?"
Lin Xia was a little confused, but still said honestly:
“It’s tiring, but I have to persevere even if I’m tired.”
Qian Shanshan sighed for no reason and said quietly:
"Sometimes, I really envy those of you who like to paint."
"Don't you like it?"
"I don't like it, not at all. My parents forced me to come here." Qian Shanshan sneered, "They don't care what I like at all. They just want me to follow the path they arranged."
"So, what do you want to do?"
“I want to be a model!”
Qian Shanshan sat up straight:
"International supermodels like Liu Wen and Du Juan all say I look a bit like Du Juan!"
As she spoke, she even stood up, put her hands on her hips in her Chanel pajamas, and walked back and forth in the narrow dormitory.
"How about it?"
She stood in front of Lin Xia and raised her chin proudly and coldly.
Unfortunately, she had a volcanic mud mask on her face, which was completely black. Lin Xia had to try very hard not to laugh, and she gritted her teeth and squeezed out two words:
"Good."
Apart from anything else, Qian Shanshan is indeed very tall, so it is not impossible for her to be a model.
"Maybe you can study fashion design and then switch to modeling later."
"Come on, I have no talent for drawing, and I won't be able to pass any exam."
Qian Shanshan was discouraged and sat back in her chair. She looked at her face in the mirror and said vaguely:
"The only thing I can do now is to get through this period quickly. If I fail the exam once, I will fail a few more times. Let my parents know that I am not cut out for this. I will give up and then I can do what I want to do."
She treated the training opportunities that others had worked so hard to get as if it were a piece of cake. Lin Xia sighed in her heart. The world is indeed full of differences.
"But you have to study hard," Qian Shanshan turned around and said to her seriously, "When you go to Tsinghua University and Central Academy of Fine Arts in the future, these will all be my connections in the art world."
Lin Xia couldn't help but chuckle, nodded, and solemnly promised her:
"Okay, don't worry, we will pave the way for you!"
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