Ning Shaoyun's painting exhibition was held at the Red House Gallery, which is very famous in the industry. On the opening day of the exhibition, Ning Shaobai had to go to work, but Xia Mian happened to have no classes, so she took Xiaofeng and took Zhou Xuewen's car, and set off to the gallery with Ning Shaoyun and Chenchen.
Ning Shaoyun was the author of the exhibition, so they naturally arrived early. Even so, there were people waiting at the gallery door.
Ever since Ning Shaoyun's work fetched a high price of 850,000 yuan at auction four years ago, it has attracted the attention of industry insiders.
Now, as the youngest disciple of Mr. Qi Minghao, she is having her first solo exhibition after four years of dedicated creation. Many people are looking forward to it in every aspect.
Xia Mian smiled and said, "Congratulations, Sister Ning, it's the beginning of a successful journey."
Ning Shaoyun's eyes were bright, with a satisfied smile on her face, "Thank you for your good wishes."
Zhou Xuewen went to park the car. Xiaofeng and Chenchen could no longer hold back and ran towards the gallery.
Xia Mian and Ning Shaoyun were about to follow when a young man in his twenties suddenly jumped out from the side.
The two were startled. The other person's short hair was messy, his chin was covered with blue stubble, and there were bloodshot eyes. It seemed that he had encountered some difficulties.
Seeing Ning Shaoyun at this moment was like seeing a savior. He excitedly asked, "Teacher Qingyun, you are Teacher Qingyun, right?"
Ning Shaoyun nodded and said gently, "I am."
"Hello, Teacher Qingyun," the young man rubbed his hands excitedly and embarrassedly, as if he had difficulty in speaking what he was about to say. But he finally mustered up the courage to say, "Teacher Qingyun, could you please give us a booth?"
Ning Shaoyun tilted her head in confusion, obviously not understanding what he said, "I'm not responsible for the painting booth, and this is my personal exhibition." Naturally, it's not appropriate to display other people's works.
"I know, I know," the young man said, rubbing his face in shame. "I know this request is very abrupt, but I have no choice."
"My brother has a heart disease and we can't afford treatment. The doctor said he has at most two years to live. His greatest wish in life is to hold an exhibition at the Red House Gallery so that others can see his work."
"But we really don't have that ability. Seeing him getting weaker and weaker, I feel really sad," the young man pleaded to Ning Shaoyun with tears in his eyes, "So I want you to give us a place, even if it's in a corner, it doesn't matter, just a place will do."
"I want him to see his own work at this exhibition." He wiped his eyes and said, "It can be regarded as fulfilling his wish."
"Please! This might be his last painting." The young man bowed deeply. "I just want him to be happy for once in his final days."
Ning Shaoyun looked at him and sighed, "Bring the painting here. I'll go talk to the manager."
"Oh! Thank you!" the young man said excitedly, "Teacher Qingyun, you are truly our benefactor!"
"I will remember your kindness forever."
"Teacher Qingyun," Manager Hu, the person in charge of the art exhibition, came out to greet him. When he saw the young man beside Ning Shaoyun, he frowned slightly and asked, "Qian Fa?"
Ning Shaoyun was puzzled, "Do you know each other?"
"I know him, I know him!" The young man named Qian Fa shook Manager Hu's hand with gratitude, "Hello, Manager Hu, thank you for your continued help to our An Ran!"
"I may have to trouble you this time. Teacher Qingyun has agreed to give us a place. I'll go get An Ran's painting right away!"
After saying that, he bowed deeply to Ning Shaoyun, turned around, picked up the painting leaning against the wall, and handed it to Manager Hu, "It's already framed, thank you for your help!"
Manager Hu moved his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but Ning Shaoyun had already spoken to him, "Aren't there a few spare positions? See where you can put it."
Manager Hu had no choice but to take the money and send it to make arrangements.
When Ning Shaoyun and Xia Mian arrived at the lounge upstairs, Manager Hu followed in and hesitated for a moment before saying, "You shouldn't have agreed so rashly. Qian Fa might be a scammer."
Ning Shaoyun didn't seem surprised, she just asked, "Do you know him?"
"I know a little," Manager Hu said. "Didn't the Yanshi Evening News report six months ago about a fifteen-year-old talented painter who suffered a heart attack and whose doctors predicted he wouldn't live past eighteen? His lifelong wish was to hold an exhibition, saying he wanted people to remember him."
"It's Qian Fa's younger brother, Ye Anran," Manager Hu said. "At the time, several kind-hearted people donated money to him, and a gallery was even willing to sponsor his exhibition. They entrusted us with this task."
“So I’ve been in contact with Qian Fa.”
"But in the end, Ye Anran took the money, but the exhibition didn't take place."
"I heard from the gallery owner that he went to see a doctor and spent nearly 100,000 yuan in just six months. I guess his condition is getting better."
"So the heart attack was real, but it wasn't certain he'd survive two years," Manager Hu said. "But then no one donated."
"I also heard from colleagues that Qian Fa has been using his brother's illness to gain sympathy and has been running around in galleries to get booths."
"Just like today, if someone can sneak into an exhibition of a famous artist like you, even laymen with similar skills will spend a lot of money to buy the paintings."
Zhou Xuewen frowned, "Take the painting down, I'll go talk to him."
Ning Shaoyun thought of Qian Fa's red eyes and sighed, "Forget it. I just wanted peace of mind."
She looked at Zhou Xuewen's disapproving expression and smiled, "How could I be that stupid? I could tell he was an amateur the moment he spoke. Even if he was a liar, he wouldn't be able to cheat anything in the end. I still knew what he wanted to do by targeting me."
"If it's true, I'm just offering my position. It's worth it to fulfill the wish of a young man who doesn't have much time left."
"Now that Manager Hu knows about this, I can rest assured. Since the location has been promised, let them hang it," Ning Shaoyun said with a smile, "My art exhibition isn't that easy to get into."
Seeing that Ning Shaoyun understood everything, Manager Hu said nothing more. "I will try my best to arrange it in an inconspicuous place so as not to affect your exhibition."
Ning Shaoyun nodded, "Thank you for your help."
After a while, Ning Shaoyun's fellow apprentices arrived one after another. Xiaofeng and Chenchen, who were looking at paintings on the first floor, also ran up with Zhu Yuanhai. Behind them were several of Zhu Yuanhai's disciples, who were Xiaofeng's senior brothers and sisters.
Chenchen went directly to find Ning Shaoyun and Zhou Xuewen.
Xiao Feng was playing around with his senior brothers and sisters. They still loved teasing Xiao Feng, and several of them stretched out their hands as if to hug him, "Come, let the senior sister hug you."
"Let's let Senior Brother take a look!"
Xiao Feng twisted her body and ran two quick steps to avoid their clutches, but when she was safe she stopped and turned back to smile at them.
"Hey, you've learned to be naughty." Someone glared at Xiao Feng, and his eyes suddenly curved.
Someone else sighed, "The child is growing up so fast. Four years ago, we were all fighting to hold him, but now we can't even catch up."
One of the brothers finally took the child into his arms while he wasn't paying attention, and said, "Who said we can't catch up? Now we have caught up!" As he spoke, he rubbed his head hard.
The other senior brothers and sisters followed suit and kneaded and pinched it, making Xiao Feng giggle.
It was a rare occasion for all the seniors to get together, and the children were obviously very happy.
As more and more people came up to say hello, those who had finished chatting went downstairs to look at the paintings.
Xiao Feng followed his senior brothers and sisters. Now Zhu Yuanhai had some requirements for him. When appreciating a work of art, he could no longer just rely on his emotions like when he was a child. He had to explain the techniques and so on in detail.
Xia Mian naturally didn't understand, so she just followed them to join in the fun. However, she found that they could stay in front of a picture for a long time, which was really boring for an outsider like Xia Mian, so she simply left them alone to watch.
Soon they reached the corner and Xia Mian breathed a sigh of relief.
Although it was the first time to exhibit her works, Ning Shaoyun was obviously still very famous. In just a short while, the exhibition hall was already full of people, and only this corner was still relatively quiet.
Because the works hung here are those of the talented young painter who suffered from heart disease.
I'm afraid Qian Fa's calculations were wrong.
Xia Mian didn't understand painting. If he looked at the work in front of him alone, he would probably think it was good. But when it was placed together with Ning Shaoyun's work, it was simply a public execution.
No wonder Ning Shaoyun said it was hard to get into her exhibition. Now, let alone selling her works, there are very few people even looking at them.
She felt somewhat relieved that Ning Shaoyun had helped her to put her mind at ease, but it was never comfortable to have her kindness taken advantage of.
Just as Xia Mian was thinking, he heard a footstep sound behind him, and it was Xiao Feng's footsteps.
She smiled and turned back. Xiao Feng saw this and happily quickened her pace, "Auntie."
As a result, he accidentally bumped into a young man. Seeing that the other party staggered back two steps and almost fell, Xia Mian hurried forward and grabbed his arm.
Xia Mian was stunned for a moment. The arm under his palm was too slender.
She turned her head and saw that the boy looked no more than fourteen or fifteen years old, with a pale face and an extremely thin body, as if he would fall down with a gust of wind. No wonder he was knocked down by Xiao Feng.
"I'm sorry." Xiao Feng quickly apologized to the boy, "Brother, are you okay?"
Xia Mian also said, "Sorry, how do you feel?"
The boy's eyes were full of gloom. He didn't even look at them. He just pursed his lips, pulled his arm out of Xia Mian's hand, and turned away.
Xiao Feng looked at the boy's back, feeling somewhat helpless. "Auntie..."
Xia Mian patted his head and said, "It's okay. There are people in this world who don't like to forgive. Baby, just be careful next time."
Fearing that the child would feel bad, Xia Mian dragged him directly to the nearby painting and asked, "Have you seen this?"
Xiao Feng's attention was indeed diverted. She looked up at the painting and read, "Pure White Angel."
As he watched, he suddenly reached out and grabbed Xia Mian's hand.
This is the little action the little guy makes when he is happy or sad, and now his mood is obviously the latter.
Xia Mian couldn't help but look up and carefully look at the painting in front of her. The painting was of a little angel, but the angel's hair, eyelashes, skin, everything was snow-white. Although the angel was very beautiful, the use of color was a bit strange.
You can't see anything during hibernation.
A large hand placed on Xiao Feng's shoulder from behind and said with a smile, "Although I don't know why the artist chose this color, the light and dark colors in this painting are actually very good."
Then he jokingly said, "It seems that I am reluctant to use paint."
Xiao Feng raised her head, "Teacher."
Zhu Yuanhai smiled and said, "Xiao Feng should also start learning to draw figures. There are many aspects of this painting that are worth learning."
"I also think the paint is a bit stingy. It might be more beautiful if it were a little thicker."
Sun Shuming stroked his chin and thought, "I always feel that this author seems to have some strong emotions to express, but his skills are not enough..."
Xiao Feng immediately nodded like a chicken pecking at rice. One of the senior sisters teased her, "Brother, your eyesight is not good enough. Look at our Xiao Feng, she can see it."
Sun Shuming smiled, "Who can compare to Xiaofeng's vision? As usual, whoever can beat Xiaofeng in this area, I will treat you to a feast!"
"If you don't want to treat us, just say so. Don't use Xiao Feng as a shield."
Everyone was talking happily, and Xiao Feng forgot about the episode just now and followed his senior brothers and sisters to the next work.
Seeing that the child was fine, Xia Mian said goodbye to him and went out first, and would come back to pick him up at noon. She had already finished looking at the more than 20 paintings here, and it would be boring to stay any longer.
She didn't want to go to the lounge upstairs to disturb Ning Shaoyun, so she decided to go to the coffee shop across the street and wait for Ning Shaobai to come over at noon.
When passing by a thick tree on the side of the road, Xia Mian suddenly caught a glimpse of the thin boy who was leaning against the tree to rest.
Soon a young man brought two bricks and placed them on the curb, saying to the boy, "Sit here."
It was Qian Fa who had humbly asked for help that morning. However, he looked completely different now. He puffed out his chest and said arrogantly, "We're going to make it this time!"
"I just realized how amazing Teacher Qingyun is. Even though this is her first exhibition, many people are already planning to collect her works."
"One of her paintings sold for 850,000 yuan at auction four years ago. This is the first batch of works she created after her change of heart. They are very collectible. I estimate that each piece will start at one million yuan."
The young man suddenly asked, "Didn't you say you had an acquaintance to help you? Didn't your acquaintance know that Teacher Qingyun is so powerful?"
Qian Fa paused for a moment and said, "Is it not okay because I didn't ask? I just handed the painting to him and he said he would take care of it. I only realized it was unusual when I saw so many people coming today, so I asked and found out. What's wrong? It's not okay."
The boy lowered his head and said nothing.
Qian Fa didn't take it seriously and said happily to himself, "My God, the number of people visiting this day is almost as high as what other people see in a week. If you put your paintings there, maybe someone with a discerning eye will buy them for hundreds of thousands of yuan."
He laughed heartily, then said something more realistic, "It doesn't matter if it doesn't sell. This work is displayed next to Teacher Qingyun's paintings. If it's put in other galleries, it will definitely sell for three to five thousand."
The boy still didn't speak, but his eyes were gloomy.
"I almost forgot," Qian Fa pulled out an old glass canning bottle from his arms. It seemed to be filled with water. He then fished out a white paper bag from his pocket and handed it to him. "It's time to take the medicine. Hurry while the water is still warm, otherwise it will get cold soon."
The young man took the medicine expressionlessly, opened the paper package and poured all the dozen pills into his mouth. As if he was competing with something, he didn't even drink the water and just chewed them dry.
Xia Mian felt sorry for him and couldn't help frowning.
Qian Fa hurriedly handed him the cup of water and said, "Are you crazy? Don't choke on your medicine. Drink some water!"
Seeing the boy take the water and start to swallow the medicine, Qian Fa muttered, "You can actually sell those two scraps of manuscripts."
"From time to time, those wealthy people hold charity auctions. In those occasions, they don't care about the quality of the works at all. They just compete to see who has more money."
"I have a buddy who does this. Why don't you let him do it? We can split the money in half and make a profit of around 80,000 yuan."
The young man suddenly started coughing violently, his pale face flushed red, and he glared at Qian Fa and said, "I won't sell a useless manuscript!"
"No, no, no!" Qian Fa quickly calmed him down. "I was just saying it casually. Why are you so excited?"
Seeing the boy glaring, he changed the subject and said, "Then hurry up and draw the next one."
"Next month, a new artist will be holding a solo exhibition at the Shili Gallery. I can even get you a spot."
The boy lowered his eyes. "Why, do you have any acquaintances in that gallery?"
Qian Fa patted his chest and said arrogantly, "Please, I've been here for three years. With my tact and ability, there must be someone I know around here."
"Don't worry, if you can draw it, I can arrange it for you."
The young man tilted his head back and drank some water, swallowing all the medicine residue in his mouth. He stood up, looked in the direction of the gallery, and left.
Qian Fa was obviously used to his mood swings and was not surprised. He just said to his back, "Don't run around. Go home directly!"
Xia Mian looked at the boy's back and sighed secretly. She had never experienced the feeling of counting the days and counting down to life, and she had no right to comment on the other person's actions.
Some people would rather die than live with dignity, even if it is only for one day; while others choose to give up their dignity in order to live.
She herself doesn't know which is right and which is wrong.
Just when Xia Mian thought that their encounter was just a chance encounter, she didn't expect that she would see the boy again soon after.
And this time he is taking advantage of Xiao Feng.
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