The girl in the Louvre

"Alright, first off I will teach you how to hold your brush and some techniques to use when painting. As you advance and get better at the basics, like colour combinations and so on, I will be able to teach you more advanced techniques. For now, though, I think it would be best to stick with the basics." Walking over to the cupboard, Zhi Rou opened the door and pulled out some brushes and paint. After setting up a few pieces of paper she turned to Zhang Mie and held out one of the brushes in her hand. "Here, let's get started."

"Why am I using suck a little brush?" Looking at the small brush that was handed to him and observing Zhi Rou using a much bigger brush, Zhang Wie frowned. In a small voice that was barely audible, he whispered, "that's not fair, is it."

"You are just starting so you do not need to use a big brush, for now, I am going to be teaching you how to use the smaller brush." Not wanting to explain that she gave him a small brush on purpose, Zhi Rou continued on briskly. "Here, first what you need to do is take your hand and dab it into the paint gently, like this." As she started her demonstration she gently dipped her brush into the paint and lifted it out. "There should not be too much paint on the brush as we are going to also use some of this paint."

As Zhi Rou continued her explanation, Zhang Wies eyes slowly widened. As the light from outside shined in, you could practically see starts dancing in them. It was only when Zhi Rou finished dipping her brush into both the indigo and blue that he slowly pulled himself from the daze. 'To think that I would get lost in thought while participating in a lesson.' Zhang Wie was rather shocked at his newfound experience and after pondering for awhile he found an answer. 'It is definitely because my teacher is so bad.'

Although he usually had a foul temperament and did not get close to others easily, Zhang Wie was a top student. From birth till now he had always taken his lessons seriously. For him to have a lap in concentration like this was unusual and so, instead of trying to delve deep into the cause, Zhang Wie just simply put the blame on the one factor that was different than usual, Zhi Rou. "Isn't it just dabbing a stick in the paint? What is so hard about that?" Not bothering to see whether or not she cared, Zhang Wie walked forward and quickly dipped both sides of his brush into a different paint. "See, it is the same as yours right?"

'What is this fool doing.' Thought Zhi Rou, slightly in awe at his ability to mess up something so simple. 'All you have to do is dip it evenly on each side, actually, it does not even have to be even as long as you get a bit of each paint but... What did he do?' Staring at his brush astonishment, Zhi Rou took in the sight before her. Somehow, the man had managed to cover the entire brush in blue paint while bending all the bristles of the brush in different directions due to pushing them hard against the paint pallet. As for the indigo, it was practically none-existant. The only bit that she could make out was rubbed on the metal part of the brush.

"Sure, it is not... That bad, but let's try again, shall we?" Trying to not laugh, Zhi Rou grabbed another paint brush. "Okay, this time I control your hand and you watch and feel how it is supposed to be done, is that okay?" Fearing the destruction of another brush, Zhi Rou had decided to do all the work for him and hope that he did not mess up again.