Almighty painter

Chapter 579 Chance Encounter
Because of the sudden emotion in his heart, Osborne did not call UBER on his mobile phone app. He remembered that there should be a fixed stop for sightseeing buses next to the taxi loading area at the airport.

He passed the traffic light, turned right, and followed the signs.

Just a few hundred meters out of the airport, I soon saw my target.

No special search required.

Different from the huge changes in the taxi market.

New York City tour buses are no different than they were ten years ago.

It wasn't even any different from the double-decker buses he'd taken to school in the San Francisco Bay Area.

On the reddish-brown base paint of the bus, the "BIGBUS" sightseeing bus logo was written in huge golden letters.

The only difference is that the place name following it changed from "San Francisco Tour" to "New York Tour".

Osborne took his final stand at the ticket booth.

In front of me, there was a pair of retired old couple standing next to each other, with milk stuck in their briefcases and wired headphones in their ears, sharing a bag of blueberry cookies with each other. It was obvious that they looked like they had a bamboo stick with "I am Japanese" on their faces.

Many people turned their eyes towards him unconsciously.

Osborne knew why.

Those who take the sightseeing bus are usually international tourists, retired couples, college students taking a gap year, or young couples on vacation.

Osborne looked neither old enough nor young enough.

His American-style suit from Brooks Brothers was the same as that worn by all the passengers in business or first class.

Being here is like walking into a corner grocery store wearing a medieval suit of armor.

but.

Everyone just glanced at him a few times and then looked away again.

An immigrant city like New York can accommodate all kinds of strange people and things.

Strange costumes are all too common.

Thirty meters away, the line of passengers that seemed to be queuing for the "Hippie Culture Retrospective Tour Bus" according to the billboard was really weird.

If Osborne really came over here wearing a set of medieval chain mail, maybe a girl would come up to you and take a photo with you and post it on Instagram.

This $7500 business suit will not attract more attention here than the sound of the retired couple chewing cookies in front of you.

She was not as good as the cool old man with round-framed glasses and Jesus-like curly hair (Osborne guessed that he was COSing John Lennon), and she was far inferior to the ones in front, the black woman who weighed at least 220 pounds but was still wearing fishnet stockings, with the fat on her legs squeezed out from the gaps in the socks (Osborne thought about it for a long time but couldn't guess who she was COSing).

There is a fat guy at the front of the other row of ticket offices on the right, whose huge butt you can only see half from this angle (wow, he is really round).

It's just that Osborne himself thought that he was just coming here to have fun, take a vacation, and attend the award ceremony.

We all took the sightseeing bus.

I was still there, replying to work messages while holding a business newspaper like The Economic Review in my hand.

Either it looks too pretentious, or it looks too pathetic.

Osborne did not turn on his cell phone which had been turned off on the plane. He thought for two seconds, then crumpled up the newspaper he had brought back from the airport after taking a shower and changing clothes, and threw it into the trash can a few meters away.

puff!
The newspaper ball bounced on the upper edge of the trash can and fell accurately into the bag below.

Osborne whistled inwardly.

Three point shot!
Don't be fooled by the fact that Osborne hums country folk songs all day long. He swings his baseball bat by the floor-to-ceiling window on the top floor of the European headquarters building and plays on the 20-foot indoor golf course.

He looks like one of those bored, fat, greasy old white men in Europe and America.

He was also a substitute and water dispenser boy of the second team of the famous American university basketball team which was full of wild beasts... and a subordinate amateur club.

Fine.

To be honest, he went to the basketball court mainly to sneak a peek at the cheerleaders performing on the court, although he failed to get a ticket to the buffet reception attended by the cheerleaders.

However, when Stanford and UCLA were playing against each other, he did manage to rush to the sidelines and get a jersey signed by Westbrook.

That dress still hangs in his closet.

If we round it off, I can be considered a basketball player to some extent.

Osborne hummed as he moved forward, passing the old couple next to him who were discussing in chattering English whether to buy a separate route package or a half-day ticket, and ran to the window.

"Charming and beautiful scenery, BIGBUS is dedicated to serving you."

“Broadway.”

Osborne knocked on the window with the giant donut poster.

"Sorry, sir."

The young man with dreadlocks at the counter said without looking up, "The bus runs every 90 to 120 minutes, along different routes, around New York City. We do not provide point-to-point service to a specific destination. You can buy a two-day free ticket that allows you to hop on and off any bus within 48 hours."

"However, in order to better appreciate the style of Broadway, I recommend that you purchase the 'Drama Night' package. The vehicle will depart from the airport station and pass by Lincoln Center, Rockefeller Center, Flatiron Building, Brooklyn Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art..." The young man recited the company's operating stations, and it felt like he was singing rap at a very fast speed.

"Two-day Freedom Ticket."

Osborne said.

"During the holiday weekend in June, there are discounts for purchasing company packages. Consider it," the young man advised.

"What kind of festival can there be on a weekend in June? There can't be a Queen's Day celebration in the United States, right?"

Osborn asked hesitantly.

The second weekend of June is the British National Day, which is also Queen Elizabeth's birthday. The Queen's birthday is actually in April, but the weather in the UK was foggy and rainy throughout the spring, and it was too bad. Therefore, the British government moved the official National Day event to June.

During the years he lived in London, he could hear the bells of Westminster Abbey in the distance at this time of year.

There will also be all kinds of celebrities gathering at Buckingham Palace, waiting for the Queen to tap them on the shoulder with the hilt of her sword to receive an honor.

President Hill, the boss of the European region, was awarded the MBE many years ago for his contributions to British finance and children's education. This rank is inferior to Sir Brown's OBE, and he is not qualified to add the title of "SIR" to his name on his passport.

However, in places like Europe where feudal remnants are quite strong, hanging something like this can still be quite pretentious, and many celebrities recognize this.

When you go to a cocktail party or something and learn that you have been honored, people may even raise a toast to you.

Osborne has always been looking forward to the day when he could get one.

He had only been joking.

Suddenly I reacted.

The Queen passed away last year, and in June this year, you probably won’t be able to hear the bells ringing even if you are still in London.

Another thing that has already been familiar in life has quietly changed.

What a change the world has seen.

"International Donut Day." The ticket seller neither felt Osborne's sadness nor got his sense of humor.

He pointed to the cartoon poster of donuts on the ticket window.

"If you buy a package, you can get a 5% discount and free donuts." The little dreadlock pushed a large bowl of inflatable donuts beside him and said, "You can take as many as you can grab."

"Free ticket." Osborne glanced at the ticket price and said simply.

"Okay, $75." Seeing that the donuts failed to tempt customers to buy the theme package, the little dreadlock shrugged, "Sir, cash, VISA or APPLE——"

Osborne handed over his bank card.

His eyes fell on the skinny Japanese couple who were still discussing which tickets to buy.

"Do the combined weight of these two people weigh 180 pounds? Just average it out with that black lady." The president thought absentmindedly.

really weird.

The Japanese he had met often had a rather contradictory temperament.

Ruth Benedict pointed out in The Chrysanthemum and the Sword: "The Japanese are extremely aggressive and yet very gentle; militaristic and yet love beauty; arrogant and self-respecting but also polite; stubborn and yet weak and fickle; docile but unwilling to be manipulated; loyal but easy to betray."

Therefore, Japanese culture is full of contradictions.

Is this philosophical duality right or wrong?

Osborne didn't know.

But in real life, it is easy to identify who is Japanese in social situations.

Firstly, the Japanese like to speak English in various occasions. The average scores of various IELTS and TOEFL are very high, but the English they speak is standard and unique Japanese English.

Syllable prolongation, syllable variations, and short pronunciation.

He pronounces OK as "O凯" and HOTEL as "好太撸". He also likes to mix a lot of native Japanese words into English and likes to use reduplication.

It's like a piece of music that mixes different styles of tunes.

Another is body shape.

Japan is a country that is really confusing. It seems to be a country that is extremely particular about food, and various promotional videos are always filled with delicious food.

But often they are extremely thin, with legs that are thinner than an ostrich, the kind that would be blown away by a gust of wind.

After all, it is the Three Kingdoms of East Asia.

Koreans don't sleep, Japanese don't eat, and Dongxia people don't get off work.

Weight loss experts on TV say that hunger helps people stay healthy and live longer.

But since the Japanese entered the New World, they have "starved" themselves, and the average height of the entire country has begun to show a downward trend.

This is a rare sight even among developed countries in the world.

But Japan has Sang Park.

We also produce big fat ones that are round like balls and are the size of sumo wrestlers.

Japanese style sports, in which fat represents honor, power and dignity, are an aesthetic sport that is not very common in the entire sports world.

“It’s a good deal to buy a free ticket.”

I saw this old couple discussing for too long.

Osborne couldn't help but want to remind the other party.

In his heart, he laughed at the sightseeing bus company's tricks.

Commercial companies always like to package products with higher profit margins and that can make customers pay more for added value, and then give them priority in selling them to customers.

Just do the math in your mind and you'll understand.

Freedom Ticket: You can ride however and wherever you want within the next 48 hours.

Free in time and space.

You can take your time to leisurely check in at each stop as the stations are paired on the package.

But with the "Drama Night" package, you can only ride along a specific route once, and it will be invalid after you get off.

What is the "International Donut Day" joint event?

How much are donuts worth, and you can only grab a handful?
Even if it's one of those fancy donuts that sell for $1.50 a piece in the supermarket.

Even if you grab six or seven at a time, it may not make up for the price difference between the two. "You have to love donuts very much to fall into such a trap, and you won't be afraid of eating yourself into a ball!" Osborne shrank his belly and showed a smile like a person with superior IQ.

He is a senior vice president.

How could a man with a Stanford MBA fall into such a crude capitalist trap?

Bang bang bang.

Right now.

The earth trembled slightly.

A fat man who was as round as a ball, like a sumo wrestler, rolled happily past Osborne's peripheral vision.

He was the guy who just stood out among the crowd with half of his butt sticking out.

At this moment, I am holding a mountain of donuts in my arms.

"——O Kai O Kai, the poster really didn't lie. Now I won't be so hungry that I can't sleep at night when I return to 'Hao Tai Lu'——"

"——Honey, honey, this is a free gift when you buy a bus ticket. They insisted on giving it to me, so there's nothing I can do about it. It's really good, enough for a week's worth of food, ahhhh——"

As he ran past Osborne.

He heard the excited hum of the Asian man, who weighed at least 230 pounds, coming from the wind.

Osborne's first reaction was to think with certainty.

This guy must be Japanese.

The second reaction is.

seem.

This man seems a little familiar!

No wonder I stared at the other person’s back for so long in the crowd just now. It turned out it wasn’t because his butt was too round.

Huh?
Such a big ass, and the smooth feeling of the flesh bouncing while running.

Could this guy be...

"Wait, I want to buy that package too."

Osborne turned his head suddenly as if he had been electrocuted and looked at the conductor and said.

"SORRY, the tickets have been issued. The two types of cars are separate." The man with the braid handed back his bank card and the free ticket.

Then he pushed the sign next to it that said "No refunds or exchanges after sales."

"Then buy another package ticket."

At this time, Osborne was too lazy to haggle over a hundred or eighty dollars.

He directly swiped another package ticket.

He got back the ticket and bank card, grabbed two donuts from the basket, and then quickly chased in the direction of the fat man's back.

"Mr. Sakai, Mr. Sakai Kazunari, is that you? Wait a moment, please wait a moment."
-
Kazunari Sakai was very happy.

Fat meets donut, like milk meets Oreo.

The natural ones go well with it.

Especially for a fat person who has been hungry recently, when he encounters a chocolate-flavored donut, the sense of satisfaction is completely doubled.

Unlike Uncle Osborne, who decided to take the bus because of a sudden emotion.

Kazunari Sakai was completely seduced by a poster on the wall at the airport that read "Buy a sightseeing bus ticket, get a free donut," and he came here all the way with his neck stretched and nose pouting.

Just like a giant pig that smelled black truffles.

Uncle Sakai has been having a miserable life lately!
When my wife left.

I held his ear and made three rules for him, and even went to open a joint account for the couple.

That is, for any changes in the account, the bank will send a text message notification to the couple's mobile phones, with the unit accurate to one cent.

The main purpose is to get Kazunari Sakai to pay the bill.

It doesn't matter if you spend more or less.

But every penny spent on food.

Must report to my wife.

It's okay to spend $300 on an M8 steak set at the high-end restaurant in the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the weekend, but it's absolutely not okay to spend $30 to order five steaks at a street stall.

Even what I eat while on the plane has to be accurately recorded and reported to my wife.

This really makes Uncle Sakai feel stomach-ache.

The pain that fat people go through during the fat loss period is something that only those who have experienced it know.

Green eyes that look like they want to eat people.

If Uncle Sakai wanted to secretly report his extramarital affairs to his wife, or if he really wanted to cheat on her, it would be very easy for him to do so.

Don't say anything else.

With this face, there are many gallery owners and art dealers in the world who are eager to invite him to dinner.

But that would be meaningless.

Kazunari Sakai is still very well behaved.

In principle, he was unwilling to cheat on his wife.

I would rather lose weight than make my wife sad.

The key is to find the right balance between deception and cleverness.

It's like taking away the disposable toothbrush, matches, and notes on the table when you check out of a hotel. This is called taking advantage.

But if you take away someone's cup, pillow or desk lamp, it becomes theft.

I told my wife that I was going to exercise, but I ended up taking a taxi and going straight to my favorite yakitori restaurant.

Kazunari Sakai would feel guilty.

I told my wife that I was going to exercise, then took a walk and jogged. I walked and walked, and "happened" to the door of a yakitori restaurant. While negotiating a contract with others, I stuffed two skewers of grilled chicken skin and oden into my mouth.

When Uncle Sakai returns home, he can lie down next to his wife with peace of mind and snore happily.

Another example.

At Kennedy International Airport, I saw that there were free donuts for those taking the sightseeing bus.

So he quickly waved goodbye to Murakami's personal assistant who came to pick him up.

In the name of exploring New York City with a "slow-paced eye".

I rushed over with all my strength, grabbed a handful of donuts and happily carried them back to the hotel. This week, every night before going to bed, I secretly put one in my mouth as a midnight snack.

It would make Kazunari Sakai feel the joy of having successfully cheated.

But if I were to take the bus here every day, during these few days in New York, I would buy a ticket every day and grab a handful of donuts to eat.

Or you can sneak in the early morning, take the elevator, sneak upstairs to the hotel's executive lounge to feast on high-end macarons.

This would make Kazunari Sakai feel ashamed again.

In this battle between the stomach and conscience, Kazunari Sakai has always felt a subtle sense of excitement like walking on a tightrope during all these years of marriage, feeling both painful and happy in the contradiction.

"Mr. Sakai, Mr. Sakai, is that you?"

Kazunari Sakai heard a shout from behind him and turned around.

Although both live under the spotlight every day, there are subtle differences between artists and stars.

Kazunari Sakai's net worth would make him a top star in Hollywood, but he is not always recognized by fans on the street.

Especially overseas.

In the eyes of many people, all Asians look the same.

Although Kazunari Sakai is so distinctively fat, the chances of being recognized on the street outside his hometown are not very high.

It's certainly not uncommon to run into a fanatical fan of yours on the streets of New York, but it's not very common.

"It seems that my influence has increased again!"

Kazunari Sakai shook his big belly, feeling a little surprised and a little nervous.

If you want a signature, there is definitely no problem.

But if I ask you to take a photo with me, would you agree or not?
Uncle Sakai turned around, struggling with the possibility of his wife catching him holding the donut and posting it on social media.

What comes into view is not the handsome young man, or the female fans who are wearing colorful designer T-shirts and denim shorts and look like artistic youths.

Instead, he is a business person who takes a sightseeing bus on vacation and wears a suit and tie there, looking very pretentious and pathetic.

"You are?"

Kazunari Sakai asked while feeling convinced in his heart.

"Daniel Osborne. Senior Vice President of Scholastic Publishing Company Europe." Osborne held out his hand. "We met in Cannes two years ago. Do you remember? Just call me Daniel."

"Oh, hello, hello."

Kazunari Sakai held the donut in his arms, stretched out his hand with difficulty, and shook hands with the other person.

"Are you also coming to Broadway to attend this year's Scholastic Centennial Awards Gala?" Osborne asked.

"Yes."

Sakai Kazunari nodded.

The high-end art world is a very small circle.

The global art market has an annual turnover of tens of billions.

There are only a few hundred or at most a thousand internationally renowned painters in the world, both living and dead.

Ninety-nine percent of this tens of billions of dollars in transaction volume is supported by these thousand or so names.

The remaining artists are on the brink of poverty and even starvation.

One thousand people minus more than half of the ancients.

There are only about three or four hundred people left.

Basically, the guest lists of various major art festivals, award ceremonies, and top biennials are all circled by the organizers on a list of three or four hundred people.

Who are the names in the avant-garde art circle? Who are the names in the classical art circle? Who are the names in the curatorial circle?

It was a coincidence that Osborne ran into Kazunari Sakai at this station.

But it is no coincidence that Kazunari Sakai will appear at the "Writing and Art Award" award ceremony, just as it is no coincidence that Gu Weijing met Tonks, the curator of the Singapore Biennale, at Mr. Sloth's art salon, and it is no coincidence that Kazunari Sakai met Rikiya Ameda, a judge of the Biennale, in the school gym.

(End of this chapter)