Almighty painter

Chapter 717: Cicadas and Frogs
According to the tone of the salon program in the past, such questions and such asking methods seem a bit sharp.

After a brief hesitation, Miss Elena asked.

Since the beginning of the conversation, Katsuko Sakai's answers have been too steady.

High mountains and flat lakes.

The blue waves reflect the moon.

No matter how the sloth bear was on the lakeshore, it slapped the water with its claws.

All from the gurgling water.

The interview will continue in a lukewarm and steady manner, and in the end... you will only get a lukewarm and steady answer.

Maybe yes, maybe no.

Thesis may be true.

The paper may also be fake.

This is not the result Miss Elena wanted.

She herself didn't want to open the Lotto ticket.

She hopes that this conversation will at least allow her to make a relatively objective judgment on the paper.

Use paintings to reflect people, and use people to reflect paintings.

Anna imagined that she could use Katsuko Sakai's reaction to poke a hole in the corner of the Christmas gift box with "CAROL" written on it in front of her to see if there was a "cat" inside.

Miss Elena actually knows Gu Weijing.

Didn't meet.

But I know.

Cao Xuan, Liu Ziming, Wei Yunxian, and even Yang Dekang. Anna had heard Gu Weijing's name from different people, and... between the lines of different people's words, he showed completely different faces.

A kaleidoscope of people.

A kaleidoscope-like appearance.

That vague imagination - the profile of Gu Weijing in Miss Elena's mind, just like her opinion of "The Forgotten Female Painter", is ever-changing.

Sometimes, from the words of some people, she felt that that person must be a very simple and young person.

Sometimes, from the descriptions of other people, she felt that the other person was slick and scheming.

There was a moment when Miss Elena even felt that the other party was a little bit close to her imagination of the "detective cat".

The young man, a painter from a small place, suddenly walked into the spotlight, feeling immature, confused and at a loss.

Oh, right.

His grandfather... the old painter named Gu Tongxiang, was signed by the Ma Shi Gallery.

months ago.

Miss Elena traced the cat hair that the detective cat had dropped, searching and groping with a magnifying glass, and finally reached the few bald hairs on Gu Tongxiang's forehead.

The young lady pulled it hard several times.

I heard a "woof woof" sound coming from the other end, and caught an old, hairless dog posing in a coquettish manner from behind the scenes.

Instead of the cat lady who meows.

She gave up with regret.

Anna has always been paying attention to this coincidence.

But sometimes, Miss Elena felt that Gu Weijing's image as a graceful young man from a noble family was closer to Ole or... Katsuko Sakai.

He is a far cry from Detective Cat, the “poor cat” who was oppressed by Sir Brown.

The fog is thick with doubts.

Just like treating this "paper", the more Anna is looking forward to something, the more vigilant she will be.

In any case, women feel that anyone who is highly praised by Cao Xuan may be scheming or slick and good at self-marketing.

But simple...it will never be simple after all.

The 18-year-old young man was able to draw a picture that made Anna, who had little knowledge of Chinese painting, think of the melody of "Waltz of the Flowers" with falling petals and light music the moment she saw it.

The level of art appreciation should definitely be online.

Gu Weijing was not the high school student who lacked professional qualities as she said.

Such a person can rely on his keen eye to discover a hidden masterpiece in a place like a flea market by chance - Anna actually believes it.

But Miss Elena is such a difficult person to get along with!
She is also super sensitive.

Sensitive people will hide their true feelings deep down and express them to others in a joking way or by speaking sarcastically.

She clearly believed it in her heart, but she was afraid of making a mistake.

She has to ask others to prove it to her themselves.

Her words sounded a bit harsh and a bit unfair to Gu Weijing, but the painting "Church in a Thunderstorm" and the paper published in "Asian Art" were really too important in Anna's heart.

Therefore, she could only quietly say sorry in her heart.

I am sorry.

Anna had heard of Gu Weijing's name.

Mr. Sloth doesn’t know you, “Gu Weijing”.

Facing Katsuko Sakai's gentleness and tranquility like lake water.

The little sloth decided to pick a "big coconut" from the tree and throw it into the lake, so as to take a look at the fish at the bottom of the lake amid the splashes of water.

She seemed to be looking through a hole in the box.

Can you see the cat's wagging tail through the crack in Katsuko Sakai's heart that opens in an instant?

silence.

silence.

Still silent.

Gu Weijing listened to the long silence in the headphones.

Mr. Sloth did not make any edits this time, and preserved the conversation between the two people, including Ms. Sakai's silence when facing sharp questions, in its original form.

He listens to a podcast.

Thinking about Katsuko Sakai in my mind.

It feels like looking at someone through the keyhole in front of a door.

Gu Weijing seemed to catch a glimpse of Sakai Katsuko's shallow eyebrows from this deep silence, and the way they frowned little by little.

There was steam rising from the steamer of seafood on the table.

"Do you want to eat? Do you want to eat? Do you want to eat? Just smile at Brother Yang, and Brother Yang will give you some! Come on - meow."

Lao Yang put the pet carrying box on the table.

He was standing there, head down, constantly testing the edge of death, teasing the tabby cat in the box with a leftover chicken bone.

This was probably because Katsuko's lips were very close to the microphone and no very professional recording equipment was used.

In this slightly long silence.

Gu Weijing could clearly hear Shengzi's breathing sound from his lips.

The girl seemed to be lying on his shoulder, blowing gently.

The memory was filled with the familiar sweet scent of strawberries, which dispelled the dampness and water vapor floating in front of me and vaguely transformed into the face I had once gazed at.

"I can't give you any other answer, Mr. Sloth."

a long time.

More than ten seconds of silence and thinking.

It lasted so long that if it wasn't for recording, the audio software would prompt that the connection was still going on. Anna even wondered if her questions were too sharp and angered the other party.

When Katsuko Sakai had already left in anger.

The girl finally spoke.

"So, the answer you can give is still that this is just a coincidence, a perfect...lottery ticket."

Mr. Sloth asked playfully.

"Of course it's a coincidence, I don't disagree with that," Sakai replied, "but I wouldn't describe it as a lottery ticket."

"It seems that there are many unreasonable things, many coincidences, and many things that we can't explain. If you ask me the reason, then the reason is very simple, because it is really a coincidence."

The girl's voice was delicate and peaceful.

"It's irrational because it's a coincidence. It looks like a coincidence because it's a coincidence."

“Life is inherently disordered. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow, especially for artists.”

"Today's nobody, tomorrow's master. Today's master, tomorrow bankrupt and homeless. These things happen every day. Today they are strangers, tomorrow they are in love. Today they are inseparable, believing that they will become each other's anchor in the chaos of life, every minute and every second, until the end of time. Tomorrow, because of some unforeseen things, they will suddenly separate..."

Katsuko Sakai said quietly.

Mr. Sloth listened quietly.

As Katsuko Sakai spoke, she was thinking of Gu Weijing, imagining them hugging and kissing in the ubong boat drifting in the botanical garden on that long afternoon, and imagining the figure of the young man getting farther and farther away in the rearview mirror of the car driving away on the bank of the Yangon River.

As Mr. Sloth listened, he was thinking of Kara, of the evening in Paris in which she was described in the letter, of the colorful clouds in the sky, of her burning dream, and of the gloomy ending in the basement of the manor.

"These are all disordered, and they all happen suddenly without reason. They are the true nature of our lives. When you were a girl, you heard a frog croaking by the pond in the cool summer breeze. You thought it was just an ordinary thing, but in the years that followed, you heard many frog croaks, but you could no longer find the glimmer and thrill of that moment."

“A painting or calligraphy lost to the world by a famous impressionist is no different in essence from the croaking of a frog in a pond.”

Katsuko said: "In Japanese aesthetic philosophy, there is a strong emphasis on the concept of ichigoichie, which means once in a lifetime. This kind of thing will only happen once in your lifetime, so you need to treat it with the utmost care."

"You pick up a painting at a flea market and discover that it is a hidden gem. Just like you said, this kind of thing needs to be repeated a thousand times, ten thousand times, a million times before it happens again. Countless people will visit countless flea markets and never encounter such a thing again."

Katsuko Sakai spoke softly.

"But you heard a frog croaking by the pond that moved your heart. This was also a once-in-a-lifetime event. In the years that followed, you went to many, many ponds and met many, many frogs. They croaked in your ears a thousand times, ten thousand times, a million times, but they could no longer call you back then." "Famous paintings and frog croaking are the same thing. They are unexpected and destined. If this was a fake scam, then it should have been designed to be more thrilling and dramatic. Gu Weijing had to go through all kinds of intrigues to get this oil painting. This process seems to be more in line with the public's imagination of 'treasure hunting'."

"But this isn't an elaborate hoax, this is life."

"Life has turned that page. All you need is to pick it up with your hand and listen carefully. Famous paintings unfold and frogs croak - all you need is a heart that can discover beauty."

Shengzi finished speaking.

Mr. Sloth did not respond immediately. He was thinking and judging whether Ms. Sakai's answer was convincing enough.

Feel whether it can really impress you.

"But - I have to say again, this is definitely not the Lotto. In your rhetoric, the Lotto is used as a symbol of getting something for nothing. It's like you only need to spend two dollars to buy a bowl, and the rest is to put the bowl in front of you, waiting for the gold coins to fall from the sky, waiting for the goddess of fate to naturally show mercy."

Ms. Sakai did not give Mr. Sloth any time to be silent.

In headphones.

She spoke again.

"Then I disagree with you."

"Gu Weijing... If it was him sitting here today and talking to you about this paper, then you probably wouldn't ask why he said that."

Katsuko Sakai's tone was calm yet firm.

"I can't guarantee that you will like him, but I guarantee that he will leave a deep impression on you. There were countless people in that flea market, countless people walked past that dusty painting, but only he unfolded it, and only he bought it."

“There are countless people in this world who have encountered countless frogs. Frogs are croaking, cicadas are chirping. But only the right person hears the right sound at the right time.”

“It becomes touching.”

"Glimmers and tremors will only move those whom they are able to move, just as impressionism can only move viewers who feel the same impression in the sunlight."

Katsuko Sakai concluded.

"Gu Weijing is such a person who can be easily moved by paintings. He has a delicate and sensitive heart."

“It should not be said that this paper is full of coincidences, but because he is a person who can be moved by coincidences, so this paper was written.”

"He is young, and he doesn't have a backyard with a thousand or ten thousand paintings. But in terms of spiritual acuity, he is no less sensitive to "Old Cathedral in a Thunderstorm" than the Princess of Naples is to Pompeii, or Champollion is to the Rosetta Stone."

"An 18-year-old is not destined to be inferior to a princess, a scholar or Mendesson, not at all."

Gu Weijing was listening to Katsuko Sakai's story in the headphones.

While drinking a local specialty called "Teh tarik" in his hand.

It is a bit like the foaming eggnog that Westerners drink at Christmas, but the color is darker. It is made by repeatedly pouring tea wine and milk into two cups and mixing them by hand. A thick layer of foam floats on the surface of the tea.

He stirred the drink in the glass with a spoon.

Gu Weijing took a metal spoon and squeezed the foam floating in the milk tea.

There are so many thoughts in my mind.

"If...if this answer still doesn't satisfy your audience, you still need some solid evidence." Katsuko Sakai continued, "Then, let me share another story about the discovery of this painting."

“At the beginning of the year, I went to Yangon with my father to participate in an art collaboration project in Asia.”

"Before Gu Weijing found this painting——"

"My father also noticed the painting 'Old Church in a Thunderstorm' when he was browsing at a flea market," said the young girl.

"Oh?"

Mr. Sloth was instantly intrigued by the topic.

She asked softly.

"Mr. Kazunari Sakai, did you also notice this painting? It doesn't make sense that he didn't buy it."

"My father has a lot of people around him, and he... he is quite conspicuous." Shengzi considered a suitable euphemism.

When Kazunari Sakai, whose body is the size of a rolling octopus dumpling, appears in front of people, it is really difficult not to be noticed.

"Art vendors may not know all the famous artists, but I'm not bragging." Ms. Sakai smiled, "It's unlikely that they don't know my father."

"My father didn't know the origin of this painting. He just thought it was a dazzling old painting that day. You should know that if my father bought it on the spot, it would be difficult to negotiate a reasonable price. So - after he left, he turned around and hoped to make a deal through a middleman."

"And then?" Mr. Sloth asked.

"Then, my father hired a local buyer and took his check all the way to the calligraphy and painting auction... She was told that the work had been bought by Gu Weijing... So, at my father's suggestion, we decided to complete the thesis on this Impressionist oil painting together."

Katsuko Sakai recounted the entire story of how they discovered the painting.

"This story sounds even more legendary."

Mr. Sloth exclaimed.

"Two different people, in different places, were attracted by the same old painting. One of them was an internationally respected master artist, and the other was only 18 years old."

Mr. Sloth probably thought of something.

He paused for a moment.

There was a slight smile in his tone.

"A beautiful work of art does not need to be told, it speaks for itself. A beautiful soul cannot be bound, it will seek freedom. Ms. Sakai, you tell this story to tell our audience and all those who question the authenticity of your paper online—"

"Not only are you lucky enough to have met the painting, but the painting is also lucky enough to have met you. Its voice has met someone who can hear it. This is what you call the fate of meeting someone unexpectedly, right?"

“This is the charm of good art.”

Mr. Sloth said with a smile.

"Do not."

Who knows.

Katsuko Sakai actually denied the other party's interpretation.

"You just asked me, why is it Gu Weijing? Why do you want others to believe that this is a true coincidence, and not that Gu Weijing himself is faking it."

"I tell you this, and that is my answer."

"Two different people, in different places, were attracted by the same old painting. One of them was an internationally respected master artist, and the other was only 18 years old."

She repeated Mr. Sloth's words in a calm tone.

"The reason why this kind of thing could happen is that there is no possibility that he faked it himself."

"There are only two possibilities - either it is a really lucky coincidence."

"Otherwise, we are deceiving people together. From the beginning to the end, everything is a lie. It is a joint crime between the two of us."

Katsuko Sakai said coldly.

Miss Elena has never given face to countless masters and famous people in her life. When she should publish "Anna's Sharp Comments", she will publish "Anna's Sharp Comments". When she says she will make people cry, she will make people cry.

Very rare in life.

On her own talk show, she was choked a little by an 18-year-old girl.

For a moment the Countess was unable to respond.

"But you're right, Mr. Sloth."

Miss Sakai is a very gentle girl after all.

“Beautiful works of art have their own voices. Paintings sing songs to the world, and Gu Weijing just happens to match its frequency.”

Shengzi in the show took the initiative to speak.

"No matter what, no matter what doubts there are, that "Old Church in Thunderstorm" is a very, very good Impressionist work. Everything else may be faked, but this one thing cannot be faked, don't you think?"

Gu Weijing drank the milk tea in the cup in one gulp.

Pulled tea is made from tea and wine. For people who drink alcohol regularly, this thing is just like a beverage or pineapple beer.

It is unclear whether this is because Gu Weijing almost never drinks any alcoholic beverages.

A little bit of alcohol made him feel tipsy.

Lao Yang opposite me - Singapore's drink driving standards are quite strict, and according to unreliable urban legends, those caught will be whipped on the buttocks, so Lao Yang only ordered the most ordinary fruit tea for himself - although he didn't drink any alcohol, he looked dizzy.

He didn't know whether to live or die, but he actually opened King Awang's cage.

Meow!
The tabby cat almost started with a catapulting motion. The 29-pound cat hit Lao Yang's face heavily like a 29-pound field artillery shell.

After scratching Lao Yang Youwangwang's cheek with his cat fist.

It turned around and took away the delicious steamed fish head in front of Lao Yang.

Old Yang let out a short and sharp roar and fell backwards in fright.

"I agree with you."

Gu Weijing heard it and Mr. Sloth replied.

The other party seemed to nod slightly.
-
Anna nodded slightly.

In the Esplanade, Miss Elena was matching the program she was listening to through her headphones with the scanned version of "Grandma Kara's Diary" displayed on the tablet in her hand.

in the program.

Mr. Sloth was chatting with Ms. Katsuko Sakai about various issues regarding the painting style of "Old Church on a Thunderstorm", occasionally asking about specific details.

In reality.

Anna flipped through her diary.

It's just a small notebook as big as the palm of your hand.

It's impossible for Kara to record every detail of her life.

There is very little content in the diary. Sometimes, there are only one or two entries every two or three months, and there is even less content related to painting.

Fortunately, a rough chronology of life can still be compiled.

European courts and noble families often have the tradition of "Grand Tour" - that is, a grand tour, where adult noble sons ride in the family's luxurious carriage, traveling from Western Europe to Eastern Europe, or from Eastern Europe to Western Europe, attending social balls along the way to broaden their horizons.

Another important function of the Grand Tour is blind date.

It is inevitable that marriages among nobles are political marriages. When it comes to the level of Elena's family, the children in the family actually still have a certain right to choose.

(End of this chapter)