Almighty painter

Chapter 646: Prelude to Evacuation
『Time: Early morning of June 2023.6.25, 』

"Time remaining until departure of flight to Singapore: +136 hours, 5 minutes and 17 seconds"
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Gu Weijing woke up to the sound of rain.

It's raining outside the window.

Not big.

The leaves in the yard rustled in the rain. Water droplets dripped from the eaves outside the window, splashing onto the mossy windowsill into millions of smaller droplets, and finally merging into a shallow pool of water.

The peace knot hanging at the head of the bed was spinning gently in the breeze blowing in through the gaps in the screen window, like a flaming red wind chime.

From childhood to adulthood, this scene has appeared around Gu Weijing countless times.

Swaying leaves, dripping raindrops, spinning peace knots...Gu Weijing grew up in this bedroom and spent his childhood and adolescence.

He lay in bed like this countless times, the sounds of wind and rain pouring in from the window, drowning him.

Back then, he only felt it was noisy, and felt that this kind of sound was endless all year round, with no end.

Now I'm finally leaving.

Gu Weijing realized that such voices had become an integral part of his life.

Even with eyes closed.

He could also clearly imagine such a scene in his mind.

It is clear in my mind without having to think about it.

Gu Weijing sat up from the bed, turned sideways and looked out the window. He saw the shadows of the trees swaying and drops of rain shattering on the small pool of water on the windowsill that reflected the daylight.

The only difference from what I had imagined in my mind was that there was no knot hanging by the window.

Only then did he remember.

We are about to leave Yangon.

He is going to Singapore to participate in an art exhibition, and his grandfather is also going to the British branch of the Marsh Gallery to become a "great painter".

The family was moving, and the peace knot had been taken down by him. It was packed into a box along with many furnishings and ornaments that would not be taken away, and was stored in the storage room in the backyard by his aunt.

He got up from the bed, took a sip of water, and lowered his head to simply make the bed.

The water cup hit the mouse on the desk.

The computer screen automatically lights up, and the widget bar on the screen saver interface displays recent travel reminders.

「Singapore Airlines SQ761，B38M（宽体机），2023年7月1日22:00」

"You have (5) days left before your trip."

"On the day of the weather forecast (rain), there may be traffic congestion and flight delays. Please plan ahead when you arrive and remember to bring rain gear."

Gu Weijing folded the towel blanket.

Staring out the window absentmindedly.

He woke up particularly early today. The sky outside the window was still blue and not completely bright.

Even King Awang had not yet arrived for his morning patrol and mealtime, as he was sleeping soundly on the mat beside him with his legs spread out.

Human beings are sometimes very contradictory creatures.

When you get used to something, you often feel that it is filled with unbearable oppression and boredom, and you try every means to escape from it.

But the moment when you really leave for a long journey.

Instead, I will miss its good points.

Yangon is a city struggling with problems, with a sense of desolation far away from the center of the world.

War, turmoil, refugees... and also plagued by various health diseases.

All of this seems to make the students in school eager to travel far away to a more prosperous place.

For many people in the world, there are thousands and tens of thousands of bad things here.

At least for this moment.

While countless tragedies are happening at this moment, the scenery outside the window is as beautiful as a peaceful and tranquil oil painting.

Gorgeous.

This kind of scenery even carries a sense of absurdity that "the laws of nature are constant, they do not exist for the sake of Yao, nor do they die for the sake of Jie."

If you live in a modern city like New York.

You will naturally feel that humans have conquered the land and nature, and the drastic urban transformation has left behind some kind of eternal lines, allowing the city to extend along the development of human will, just like the infinitely extended sketch lines in the hands of a painter.

And living in some cities.

You will feel that it doesn’t matter whether humans exist or not, nature is the master of everything.

The old era of colonization, hatred and killing, chaos and fraud.

All ugliness, of course... must also be accompanied by the brilliant brilliance of humanity that shines against it.

But nature remains unmoved.

It is still as beautiful, as peaceful, and as still as a mountain.

Raindrops slid down the windows like watercolors flowing on paper.

The paint will always spread along the slope of the paper, succumbing to the fiber texture in it, just like water droplets will always succumb to gravity and drip from top to bottom.

It will make personal heroism seem small and powerless in the face of some grand contrast.

Yangon is such a city.

No matter who grows up and where, everyone's childhood will more or less leave an indelible mark in a person's life.

Gu Weijing didn't know that his father, whom he hadn't seen for a long time, was a bank clerk in Lyon, France.

A long time later, when the other person started a new life in a new country, a new city, and a new family.

Will he suddenly wake up on a rainy morning?

Listening to the sound of rain outside the window.

It was as if I was back in my childhood, lying on the bed in this bedroom, with the peace knot hanging on the window beside me spinning and swaying.

……

Gu Weijing turned off the laptop and e-books on the table, as well as the Singapore Biennale VIP guest badge with his name and headshot in the drawer, packed them all into his backpack and threw them on top of the 30-inch suitcase in the corner, ready to take them with him on the plane when the time comes.

Awang rolled on the ground, sleepy-eyed.

Seeing that little Gu Zi had no intention of holding food in his hand to give it a snack, he fell back regretfully and continued to lie flat on the mat.

"Well, you have a ticket on the plane, but you have to behave, or you will be locked in a cage."

Gu Weijing raised his eyelids and looked at Awang, wondering if Awang could stay obediently beside the seat on the plane. He casually sorted out the "Animal Quarantine Certificate", "Rabies Vaccination Certificate" and Singapore Airlines' "Cabin Transportation Pet Agreement" that he had obtained from the Health Bureau yesterday.

In the past, Singapore Airlines was one of the few airlines that allowed pets to enter the cabin and fly with their owners.

Because of management difficulties and passenger complaints.

On April 1 this year, the airline revised its regulations and cancelled the policy.

In theory, unless you go through a series of complicated application procedures, when traveling with your pet, you must check it in separately in the oxygen cargo hold, and the service of selling "pet tickets" is no longer available.

but.

Singapore is a very small country, and it is also a very efficient country in a good way, and a very capitalist country in a bad way. The social hierarchy is actually quite strict.

Take immigration, for example.

The Philippines, Malaysia, Dongxia, India and even Myanmar have all imported a large number of workers to the Lion City, with a total of between 70 and 120 million people, almost accounting for one-sixth of Singapore's total population.

There are nephews and nephews from our neighborhood who work as servants in Singapore all year round.

Gu Weijing had heard about some of the situations.

The working class at the bottom actually have a hard time.

They do the hardest, most tiring, most dangerous, and low-end jobs that no locals are willing to do, and they get paid very, very little (of course, Singapore's minimum wage is definitely much higher than the average wage in places like Myanmar or the Philippines), and all social welfare, education, and medical care have nothing to do with them.

In theory, Singapore provides low-income workers with the opportunity to become naturalized immigrants, but this is like a pancake hung in front of you with a rope. There seems to be a door, but you can never reach it.

No matter whether you have dedicated half your life to this city, lived in a small attic of a few square meters or even in a balcony, and worked as a Filipino maid for twenty years, picking up and dropping off children for the locals, cooking, and washing clothes.

They definitely don’t want it from you.

Lion City only wants the cheap labor you provide, not your people. When you get sick, old, and can no longer work, you should quickly get out of here and return home.

Internet programmers, engineers, lawyers, doctors, business representatives... If you are such a white-collar worker, technician or employee of a multinational company.

So what Singapore looks like in your eyes is actually a standard small developed country.

There is no particularly big difference between China and Japan, South Korea, and some European countries.

Not enthusiastic, but not overly indifferent either.

Although Singapore rarely publishes the details of its immigration application review, making it a semi-black box, if you have worked locally for three to five years and don't have any major problems, it won't be difficult to submit an application to the Immigration Department for permanent residence.

And if someone is the real upper class, they are celebrities, rich people, factory owners, top technicians, etc. who can bring in a lot of wealth.

For example, if your personal assets exceed S$3 million and you are the largest shareholder of a listed company, you can enter the country with a special visa exclusively for entrepreneurs.

Then Singapore is one of the friendliest cities in the world.

Maybe you are just here for a trip, a meeting, or just a casual stroll, and you will receive a visiting call from the Lion City government, who will enthusiastically introduce you to Singapore's customs and the city's appearance, and ask you about your impression of the place, whether you had any unpleasant experiences during your stay in Singapore, whether you had any difficulties in doing things, and whether you have any needs that they can help you with.

For all your questions, there will be dedicated staff to contact you.

From the perspective of interests, there is probably nothing wrong with the Lion City government's approach, it's just... quite realistic.

Gu Weijing is definitely still far from the true concept of "upper class" now.

But as an exhibiting artist at this year's Lion City Biennale, he is considered an official guest invited by the Singapore government, so he also enjoys the treatment of half the upper class.

When he was discussing the air ticket exchange with the curatorial assistant on social media, he casually mentioned the pet check-in.

I actually received an "Agreement on Cabin Transportation of Pets" from a Singapore Airlines staff member, which directly defined King Awang's identity as "an emotional support companion pet that artists must carry with them" and he enjoyed the same treatment as special working dogs.

You can accompany them on board the plane.

The only request to Gu Weijing was to take good care of Awang during the flight and ensure that the pet would not affect the normal flight order due to stress reaction.

otherwise.

They will be locked in an aviation cage in the cabin.

Awang is a very noisy cat.

Fortunately, as long as there is food to eat and they can make a living, they are still willing to give Gu Weijing some face.

It only takes about three hours to fly from Yangon to Changi International Airport.

It shouldn't be a big problem.

After Gu Weijing collected all the visas, documents and personal information cards required to go to Singapore to attend the art exhibition, he picked up the mobile phone on the table and looked through the messages.

In the message column, there were only a few chat messages in the classmates’ group at midnight last night.

Most of them were discussing the closure of the school.

Gu Weijing shook his head.

Throughout one's life, one will be powerless in the face of many things, and the ups and downs of one's fortunes will be swallowed up and defeated by the greater changes of the times.

Including him and Shengzi, Fitz's Myanmar campus has achieved the best enrollment results in recent years.

But there is something.

It's never something that can be changed by a transcript.

It cannot be changed by Gu Weijing's paintings, or the quality of his paintings.

In Japanese school comics and club comics, as long as the boys kick the ball well, play the tuba well, and hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning, they can win the grand prize in the national competition.

They can save a bankrupt club, revive a school that is about to close, or even win the world just by lifting the trophy.

The reality is never like this.

Even international schools do not need Gu Weijing's rescue at all.

It is neither necessary nor meaningful.

Not even worth it.

This is a small world surrounded by wealth, which is completely separated from the lives of ordinary people around it.

Even if it wasn't arrogant, it was certainly out of place.

If there are things that are indispensable to life in a city, international schools are definitely not one of them. If there are children in a city who are most in need of help and most worthy of sympathy, they are the children of the Good Luck Orphanage, not princesses and young masters.

Capital is always profit-seeking.

When there is no profit to be made, it will of course withdraw. Rich people will also find their own way out.

that is it.

Gu Weijing didn't even feel sad.

In his past school life, he met all kinds of people.

There are teachers who always smile at you and tell you "Great!" no matter your grades are good or bad, but deep down they have the kind of leniency and arrogance that is unique to white people.

There were also sketching professors like Wattelle who seemed strict but would call him over after class to teach and encourage him privately.

There is Miao Aung Win.

There are also Koko and Mona.

There were students who took advantage of his misfortune when faced with doubts, and there were also students who were willing to applaud and cheer for him.

A person's life is never defined by a school, but by the people around you.

There are people who are good to him, people who are bad to him, and there are many more people who are neither good nor bad to him, and are indifferent to him, and they will never see each other again after graduation.

In the last week of eighteen.

Last week before leaving Yangon.

Gu Weijing looked back on his past life and felt no anger or resentment towards those who had treated him badly.

He is grateful to those who are willing to be kind to him.

That's all.

He quit the class group and sent a message to Katsuko Sakai.

(End of this chapter)