Almighty painter

Chapter 713: Passing of Spring

"So according to you, there is no itinerary arranged today. We can just rest after arriving at the hotel? We can talk about the exhibition tomorrow?" Gu Weijing asked.

"Well... there is indeed something."

Old Yang thought about it.

Originally, he was not optimistic about Gu Weijing's performance in dealing with the public media, and suggested that he take the "turtle flow" route, shrink when possible, hide as much as possible, and don't hang around in front of people normally.

It is better to complete the exhibition safely and securely than anything else.

The rest comes.

If young people cannot handle it, they should not get involved. Don't try to do things under the lamp. If you do things that will only add icing on the cake, you will not only fail to accomplish them, but will also bring trouble to yourself.

The brief conversation just now made Lao Yang change his mind.

No matter whether it is a mule or a horse, it will be led out by the "Oil Painting" magazine and shown in front of people.

Maybe... moderate advance exposure is not a completely bad thing for the other party. After all, it is always good to become familiar with everyone.

Gu Weijing's public image does seem to be pretty good.

"It doesn't matter whether you go to the art exhibition in the afternoon, but it is still necessary to go to the social cocktail party in the evening. Do you have formal clothes in your luggage?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Bring it."

"Bingo, then Brother Yang will take you to see the world. In this kind of occasion, Brother Yang is still very capable. I will take you to meet some big shots, real big shots."

"Is it important?" Gu Weijing asked.

"Anna Elena is currently ranked first on the Forbes list of most powerful people in the arts. Is she important enough?" Old Yang raised his chin.

"Just now I said that the Ma Shi Gallery has the power to connect you with Miss Elena. Humph, unfortunately, I, Brother Yang, also have it!"

The middle-aged man pouted proudly and threw a piece of calfskin out casually.

"We are old friends!"

"If you are very lucky, or very unlucky...it is possible that she will be the one to host your forum. It is necessary to meet her in advance and leave a good impression on her. Remember, don't talk nonsense, especially don't stare at her. It's mainly about the latter. I'm not worried about you talking nonsense."

"A little boy like you."

Old Yang said with disdain.

"When you meet her for the first time, you will probably be so nervous that you can't say a word. Not everyone is mature and stable enough to chat and laugh in front of such a lady, and tell jokes to liven up the atmosphere, but it doesn't matter. She certainly won't care who you are."

"Just be a quiet background NPC behind Brother Yang, and I'll take care of the rest. Please don't talk nonsense! And don't be so useless as to stare at others."

He gave another warning with concern.

Old Yang looked into the rearview mirror and gave a greasy, flattering smile like a Chihuahua giving a meat bun.

"Come, Brother Yang will teach you how to smile. Yes, when the time comes, don't worry about anything else, just smile silently."

"Laugh along with Brother Yang. Don't be shy. Practice now. Otherwise, when you get to the forum and he shows up, you will forget even ABCD. Yes, laugh. Keep laughing. Don't be shy. Laugh openly. Lips should be upturned, eyebrows should be cute, and eyes... eyes should not be charming and enchanting enough. Eyes are very important. Come... experience Brother Yang's smile again and feel the inner essence."

Old Yang trained Gu Weijing in the rearview mirror for a long time and almost hit a street electric pole.

Still a little dissatisfied.

I always feel that young people’s smiles are too... too faint, like the feeling of sunlight shining on a clear spring. Unlike Teacher Yang’s smile, it seems like it is shining and reflecting light.

immature!
There will be so many people at the party, everyone will want to get close to Anna and talk, everyone will smile at her. How can a nobody like you, with such a faint smile, not reflective enough, not signature enough, let Miss Elena remember you!
Old Yang looked at Gu Weijing's slender and thin body.

He looked down at his belly again.

"Are we going to the hotel now?" Gu Weijing asked.

"Well, let's go eat first. Brother Yang will treat you. I know a stall here that sells good Hainanese chicken rice, curry fish head and chili crab. When the time comes, don't forget how to smile or be too nervous. I'll tell you a secret. Don't look at Anna. Just imagine that you are smiling at the Hainanese chicken rice and chili Dungeness crab, and that'll be fine—"

In the voice of speaking.

Lao Yang was driving the car and turned around at the intersection ahead.
-
The swaying Singapore slides past the car window.

On the rear seat.

Gu Weijing restrained his smile, took out his mobile phone from his pocket, and the message from the girl at the airport flashed on the screen.

"There's a party tonight, do you want to join us? Friends I met in Singapore, they formed a band. I'll play the base on it, haha. It doesn't have to be very professional, anyway, if it's a little noisy, people won't be able to hear the base sound. They said just pluck the strings casually."

The words revealed the Italian girl's frankness and enthusiasm.

Gu Weijing heard that the other party was studying in Singapore during the summer vacation and had just arrived in Singapore not long ago. He didn't know how he had formed a band so quickly.

This is a racial gift that people like him cannot understand.

band.

song and dance.

party.

Many of the grandfathers of this generation of young Westerners spent their youth like this.

They travelled by bus, caravan and Eurostar train from London to Istanbul, from the United States or Western Europe to Asia, West Asia, and even Southeast Asia, all the way to India, Sri Lanka, and even Myanmar or Thailand.

Airplanes, ships, RVs.

They travel the cheapest way they can find and go wherever they can.

Airplanes, ships, RVs.

The team will go wherever they can, even if it's just a patch of grass.

It seemed like the peak of some kind of hedonism, with a yearning for a utopian life.

This lifestyle continued into the 1990s, when the parents of this generation of young people were young, but the music played on the car radio changed from John Lennon's "Imagine there's no heaven" to "In the cold November rain" by Axl Rose, the lead singer of Guns N' Roses.

Now, the shadow of this lifestyle seems to continue to this generation.

Gu Weijing comes from a country in the midst of an ongoing civil war.

Coming from a place where if you casually accept an invitation from a stranger to go out and party, you might disappear from the world.

His cousin Gu Lin was kidnapped just because she went out hanging out with someone.

Until more than a week ago, before he actually walked out of Xihe Guild Hall, the shadow of death still hung over his head.

Just a thought from Brother Hao.

He will die, without any struggle, cleanly and quietly, in obscurity.

But now, he was sitting in the back seat of a luxury car in the bustling city of Singapore, with a "party invitation" from a girl he met at the airport displayed on his mobile phone screen.

And all this.

It's just separated by an ocean and less than three hours' flight.

Three hours ago.

He was still thinking about Brother Hao, thinking about life and death, good and evil, angels and demons. He watched the news on TV that Brother Hao surrendered to the China-Laos-Myanmar-Thailand Joint Investigation Office, and wondered if the world would become a better place because of it.

He witnessed war, unrest and death in Asia's poorest country.

And three hours later.

Gu Weijing was in the country with the highest average income in Asia, thinking about becoming famous overnight at the art exhibition and meeting Anna Elena, a wealthy woman who was as rich as Hao Ge but far more wealthy than him.

of course.

Miss Elena is the cloud, and Brother Hao is the mud.

She is a queen born above the white clouds, and Brother Hao, in comparison, is just a devil in the mud.

Three hours later.

He looked at the party invitation on his phone.

He knew that the blonde girl had no ill intentions and that there would be no danger to her personal safety. It was really just a party with a band and unlimited alcohol.

It's just such a contrast.

Three hours, from poverty to prosperity, from turmoil to stability, gave him a strong sense of illusion, as if they were not in the same world at all.

It's a PTSD-like sequelae that is incompatible with happiness.

Some young people are having a happy party, while some, like Anna Elena, are born to be trained by others to give them a "decent smile".

There are also some young people who are dying and are born facing the gun.

"Thank you, but I'm not very free tonight." Gu Weijing replied tactfully.

"What about Wednesday? It's going to be fun, you can bring your cat, it's so cool! I took pictures and several of my friends wanted to hug such a big cat in person, it must be super fun."

There was a childlike innocence and happiness in the girl's tone without any impurities.

"Well, I'll contact you when I have time?"

Gu Weijing sent a smiley face and replied.

"No—I see."

Suddenly, the tone between the lines of the literary young woman at the airport changed from childlike happiness to philosopher-like profoundness that sees through everything.

"You won't have time."

she asserted.

……

Gu Weijing exited the chat page silently.

There is really no need for Lao Yang to worry that he will lose himself in the glamorous world of the metropolis.

For the girl from Italy, Singapore is like Shanghai or Seoul, with the strong business elite style of the major financial cities in Asia.

Everyone is busy at work, busy with work, busy with life.

Life may be a bit stressful, and it may not be considered a glamorous world.

But for Gu Weijing.

The towering skyscrapers, the various luxury stores on the streets, the advertisements of the Art Biennale on the giant billboards, and the portraits of Red Bull driver Verstappen and Ferrari driver Leclerc holding racing helmets serve as a warm-up for the upcoming F1 Grand Prix track. The Singapore Grand Prix in the second half of each year marks the official entry of the competition for the world championship into a white-hot stage... However, Lao Yang casually said that the Red Bull team is too strong this year, and the probability of Verstappen losing his third world championship title is about the same as the probability of the Chinese national football team winning the world championship.

"It's almost the same as you. You participated in an art exhibition after graduating from high school. She signed with the Toro Rosso team at the age of 16 and won the Spanish Grand Prix at the age of 18." He said enviously.

Gu Weijing had no idea about any of this.

But all of this, in the eyes and ears of young people from small places, can be regarded as an unprecedented colorful world.

The colorful world is charming to the eye.

But they are all like looking at the moon in the water and flowers in the fog. The interactions and joy between people are just like the smile that Lao Yang taught him.

The smile is on the face, but not in the heart.

In his heart...

There is no joy.

Gu Weijing quit the chat, but did not quit the social software. He looked at the friend who was originally pinned to the top of the chat - "Sakai Katsuko"

Miss Sakai in the avatar still has a gentle smile on her face.

As always.

But that long and brilliant spring finally passed away.
-
"If I should see you, after long year. How should I greet, with tears, with silence."

[If we meet on the road someday, how will I see you? ]

【In silence?】

【Or with tears? 】

—George Gordon Lord Byron, The Passing of Spring
-
"No, Gu Weijing, you are very grateful to me, but you like Miss Shengzi. However, since you said you love me, no matter what the ending is, I will not regret staying with you until the end."

Miss Koko's bright face appeared in front of him again.

Yes.

Gu Weijing has never been able to hide his feelings in front of Miss Koko.

She always guesses right.

She always hits the bull's eye.

and so.

She dumped me and ran away, leaving me with only a hundred-page notebook for me to write down a hundred reasons why I liked her.

We never feel regret for things in this world until we have not obtained them.

The snowman melted when the spring came and the flowers bloomed, leaving behind crystal tears.

A real pity.

It's not about not getting what you want, but about losing it helplessly after getting it.

The plane took off, across the ocean, across the sea.

You will meet some people from the past again in a foreign country.

Some past events remain forever in the gradually shrinking city behind us, becoming the old light and shadows frozen in the photos.

Ms. Sakai is so great.

She will hug you and tell you it's okay when you cry. She will put a lollipop in your mouth when you subconsciously want to lick the paintbrush.

She'd say, "I'm your girl."

How could you not like someone like this?
Miss Koko is also very good.

She will dance for you, she will teach you how to drive, she will sing for you, she will watch old movies with you in the theater.

She would say, "Don't be afraid, it doesn't hurt at all, it doesn't hurt at all, it's just like falling asleep... I'm right next to you."

When there is such a person, on the eve of what you think is the end of the world, on the last morning of the last day of your life in your heart.

When the sun rose from the horizon for the last time.

When the whole world is gradually dissolving into thin air.

She asks you, do you love her?

What other answer can you give except love?

(End of this chapter)