"Ma'am, all you want is a nice portrait, right?"
Xu Ruantang smiled at the middle-aged woman, her expression calm and completely without any tension.
The older woman was momentarily taken aback by her question, then nodded, "Yes."
"Okay, I'll draw it for you. Once it's finished and you're satisfied, we'll call it even, okay?"
After a moment's thought, the woman realized she had come specifically for the painting, so of course she was happy to oblige.
But this girl in front of me looks to be only in her early twenties. How is she any different from that female student from before?
She had already sat there for hours waiting for the painting, and she wasn't sure she could endure sitting for another few hours.
"Are you sure you can do it? Don't make me sit for hours and your drawing is still not as good as hers. My body can't take it!"
"Then you two won't need to take me to the hospital, just take me straight to the crematorium!"
The woman was still shaken, so she quickly took out her medicine and swallowed two pills.
Xu Ruantang smiled slightly, "Don't worry, please sit down."
She helped the elderly woman sit down under the big tree, then turned to the dazed female student and said, "Go buy some food and drinks and bring them over for the elderly woman."
The female student blurted out, "Why? I haven't even earned any money yet, and I have to pay out of my own pocket?"
Xu Ruantang was speechless. "Fine, then you should just give the old lady fifty yuan."
After saying that, she turned and left.
The female student panicked and quickly grabbed her, saying, "No, no, I'll go buy it, I'll go buy it, okay?"
She ran away quickly.
Xu Ruantang righted the overturned easel from the ground and took a blank sketch paper from the side to clip it onto the easel.
"Auntie, please sit however you are comfortable, don't worry about me."
Xu Ruantang's attitude was too good. The middle-aged woman was not an unreasonable person. She was just angered by the female student who spoke rudely, so her attitude became a bit tough.
Hearing Xu Ruantang say this, he relaxed and nodded with a smile, "Okay."
Xu Ruantang picked up a pencil, and as soon as she started using it, she automatically shut out the surrounding noise.
When you truly love something, you won't be disturbed by external factors.
She discovered that the painting style of art students in that era was very different from that of modern painting styles.
Once a portrait sketch acquires commercial value, it becomes the same as taking a photograph. To satisfy customers, you can't tell them, "That's how you've always looked."
Otherwise, why would there be so many photography studios and photo editing services online these days?
The goal is to ensure that the finished painting is accurate and that people can immediately recognize that it is by that person.
We should also downplay her shortcomings to make the customers more satisfied.
Most people have normal aesthetic sense and certainly wouldn't edit themselves to have a shoehorn-shaped face or be a celestial being.
If this middle-aged woman wants to be a keepsake painting, then her appearance must be preserved so that her relatives can see it and remember her voice and smile.
Xu Ruantang focused intently on her pencil, her hands growing increasingly black, but she didn't care.
The female student who had bought steamed buns and soda returned without saying a word. She handed them to the middle-aged woman and then quietly walked behind Xu Ruantang to watch.
The more she looked, the more amazed she became.
This painting style was something she had never seen before, and her teacher had never taught her!
She studied quietly behind the scenes, not feeling tired of standing for a while.
The sketching process itself is quite tedious, and many onlookers couldn't wait any longer and dispersed.
By the time Xu Ruantang finished painting, only a few idlers remained to watch.
Everyone couldn't help but exclaim in amazement, "Amazing, absolutely amazing! It's exactly the same!"
"What?! She's even prettier than in real life!"
"You can't say that. I just saw the old lady smile, and that's how she looks when she smiles."
The middle-aged woman was intrigued by what she heard and craned her neck to look over, but Xu Ruantang didn't let her move, and she didn't dare to move either, for fear that the animation would be ruined.
"Auntie, it's all done, come and take a look."
Xu Ruantang put down her pencil and finally had time to look at her grimy hands.
She didn't mind; she was just thinking about where to wash herself later, since she was carrying a cloth and couldn't let it get dirty.
"Oh, your hands are so dirty, quickly wipe them clean."
The female student took out toilet paper from her bag and handed it to Xu Ruantang.
Xu Ruantang stood to the side wiping her hands, while the crowd pointed and whispered around the statue.
She glanced at the female student's hands, which were spotless and without a speck of dirt, and asked, "How come your hands are so clean?"
"I...I'm afraid of getting dirty, so I always hold my hands up while drawing."
Xu Ruantang glanced at her, her tone somewhat cold, "Are you afraid of getting your hands dirty when you're drawing? Didn't your teacher say that if you're afraid of getting your hands dirty, you won't be able to learn to draw?"
The female student lowered her head shyly. "I...I understand, thank you. My name is Liang Xuemei. What's yours?"
Xu Ruantang quickly wiped her hands, picked up her cloth, and said, "Xu Ruantang, let's go."
After she finished speaking, she left behind the crowd.
Liang Xuemei wanted to express her gratitude, but the woman left too quickly, so she gave up.
She figured that someone of that level must be from their school, and she'd run into them sooner or later; she could thank them properly then.
"So beautiful! So lovely." The middle-aged woman looked at the portrait, her eyes slowly welling up with tears, and she kept praising it.
She also took photos, but she just wanted a painting like this. She always felt awkward taking photos, and when she stood in front of the camera, she didn't know where to put her hands and feet.
I took several photos, but none of them were satisfactory.
"Girl, your hands are truly amazing!"
After the praise was uttered, everyone looked again, but the girl who was painting had already disappeared.
The middle-aged woman stopped Liang Xuemei, who was packing up her painting supplies, and asked, "Where is that girl?"
"She left while you were looking at the paintings," Liang Xuemei said while tidying up. "Auntie, can I leave now?"
"Okay, okay, give me the painting."
Liang Xuemei reluctantly took it off and handed it to the old lady.
She had only ever seen such beautiful portrait sketches from her seniors and teachers, and she was reluctant to part with them, wanting to take them home and study them carefully.
The woman took the painting and left satisfied, without taking the two yuan.
Seeing that there was nothing exciting about it, everyone dispersed.
Liang Xuemei was halfway through packing her art supplies when two people came and stood beside her.
She looked up, somewhat angrily, and said, "Seniors, teachers! I've been made to suffer like this, and none of you are here to help me!"
Li Shuyang smiled brightly, "If we come out here and you still don't touch paper next time, what's the point of this practical experience?"
Liang Xuemei blushed. Her senior was just too handsome, with perfect smiling lips, clear contours, and full lip peaks.
The girls in the lower grades talked most about Senior Li's beautiful mouth in private.
Some classmates even described it this way, saying that when he smiled, all the gloom in the world dissipated and all desires vanished.
Senior, you are truly a sunny, handsome, and bright young man of the new era!
"Fortunately, that female classmate helped me. Teacher, seniors, did you see the portrait she just drew? It's simply amazing!"
Liang Xuemei, who had been crying just moments before, spoke of Xu Ruantang with great enthusiasm.
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