Chapter 181: Mysterious Painter

Jiang Shuxuan and company had already arrived at the exhibition center, and upon seeing the aloof figure at the entrance, Tang Qingqiu gulped and felt his heartbeat speed up a little. He got off the car and waited for Gu Xiqiao to come over from where they parked their car.

Suddenly, he realized that there was a man right next to her and the two of them were engaged in a conversation, and it was a rare moment where Xiao Yun was so expressive.

Tang Qingqiu was stunned for a moment, and without waiting for Gu Xiqiao he marched over with a somewhat thunderous expression, which changed into a gentle one as soon as he entered Xiao Yun’s field of vision. “Ms. Xiao, who’s this?”

“Hello, Mr. Tang.” Xiao Yun hadn’t expected to see Tang Qingqiu here, but she still introduced the two men to each other. “This is my friend, Wu Hongwen.”

“Enough with the formalities, we’re all friends here.” Gu Xiqiao commented as she appeared behind Tang Qingqiu like a ghost.

Even though Gu Xiqiao was the only one who knew about oil painting, the others were quite interested in the exhibit too, while Xiao Yun even asked for permission to leave the studio.

There were a lot of paintings by well-known artists being exhibited, but everyone was attracted by the oil painting that was hung in the middle.

As if it were on purpose, this painting was placed directly in front of the entrance of the exhibit.

The painter had used oil paints and ultra-realistic methods to create this painting tenderly and delicately, capturing the essence of a regular middle-aged Chinese woman on the canvas. As they met her gentle gaze, everyone stopped there in awe.

It was quite clear that the painter poured their emotions into this painting.

“I thought my student was the one who would have stolen the show…” In the office at the end of the corridor, an old man with snowy white hair sighed.

Mr. Wu sipped some tea, his eyes not leaving the surveillance footage of the camera that was pointed at the painting hung up in the middle. “If one is gold, they will shine sooner or later. No rush, Old Woo.”

This old man was Professor Woo from B University. He was very skilled, but he hadn’t been lucky for the past few years, even though he had students that would have been considered the best at any other time.

One of them was Qiu Yang, and if it weren’t for Mu Yunfan coming out of nowhere, he would have become world-famous.

After a few years of silence, Professor Woo finally got another great student Meng Zihua, and he was finally going to have his grand debut after three years of teaching, but Professor Woo hadn’t expected the one to be astonished to be himself.

This was the sorrow of being born in the same generation as geniuses. If it were any other generation, Meng Zihua and Qiu Yang would have risen to the top, but now they were only accompaniments.

“Who is this ‘For A Millennium’? I should have heard of them before…” Professor Woo spoke suddenly. “Is it another one of Mr. Sima’s students?”

Perhaps Sima Jun was the only one who could teach a student with such talent.

“No, she’s not.” Mr. Wu replied. “This person refused to be Mr. Sima’s apprentice, and she’s unbelievably young. If we’re lucky, we might get to see her today.”

“She refused to be Mr. Sima’s apprentice?!” Professor Woo asked in disbelief.

Who was Sima Jun? He was widely acknowledged as the man at the top of the art world in the country, with the greatest techniques and tons of experience under his belt even compared with the entire world, and there was someone that didn’t want to be his apprentice?

Mr. Wu smiled. “You’ll see.”

Professor Woo felt as if there was a kitten pawing and scratching at his curiosity, and he almost shouted at the other for being so coy about it.

But all he could do now was suppress his curiosity and wait.

***

Meanwhile, Mu Yunfan stood like a statue in front of that oil painting. He hadn’t wanted to come here when the sponsors of this exhibition contacted him but agreed because Sima Jun said that it was a special case that he couldn’t refuse.

He hadn’t expected to see this painting here.

He stared at the painting with a thoughtful gaze, but if one looked close enough, his gaze was pointed at the name of the artist underneath—For A Millennium.

He stood there for a while before pursing his lips and turning to walk away.

There were many people in the exhibition hall, but it wasn’t noisy or rowdy in the least, and even if anyone talked, they would speak with a low voice as to not interrupt the others.

Many of the people were guessing the age of the painter, while others were guessing the painter’s gender.

The major consensus was that it was a man that was above thirty-five years old…

[Beauty Qiao, I give them a hundred points for this guess!] The system spirit didn’t fly out because it was scared of Jing Shuxuan, so it just stayed in the void and played games. [No need for any improvement!]

Gu Xiqiao only smiled and walked with the others.

“The person in charge of the exhibition is looking for you, do you want to see them?” Jiang Shuxuan accepted a call and asked.

“Who’s asking?”

“A chairman, and a professor from B University.” Jiang Shuxuan replied with a low voice.

Gu Xiqiao rubbed her ear before coughing and replying, “Let’s go, then.”

After the two of them left, Tang Qingqiu was left with Xiao Yun and Wu Hongwen. Socializing had always been his strong suit, and after a while, he got very well acquainted with Wu Hongwen, the latter even calling him bro after knowing that he was Yin Shaoyuan’s cousin.

He heard a notification ring from his phone, and because he wasn’t all that interested in art, he took out his phone to see a message from Qin Heng.

Qin Heng: Young Master, you have to recruit Miss Gu into our company if you have the chance!

Tang Qingqiu: … She’s a medic student.

Qin Heng: That’s not the point—Look at this!

[Qin Heng has sent you a photo.] [Qin Heng has sent you a photo.] [Qin Heng has sent you a photo.]

Tang Qingqiu created Tang Enterprise by himself, so it spoke volumes of his ability on its own. Different from everyone else in the Tang Family that was completely focused on ancient martial arts, he ran off to the outside world to create a company by himself, and back then it had almost given Master Tang a heart attack from anger.

The photos that Qin Heng sent were the documents that Gu Xiqiao checked, and after looking at the words written, Tang Qingqiu immediately straightened his posture and replied.

Tang Qingqiu: Are you sure she did this?

Qin Heng: Yes, and on every single document that was on your desk too.

Tang Qingqiu knew better than everyone that Gu Xiqiao had checked all these documents in just a few minutes. He had thought that she was just scribbling so he hadn’t thought much of it until he was sent these photos.

Tang Qingqiu: You aren’t tricking me, right?

Qin Heng: I know this is hard to believe, but you’ll understand when I send the documents to you later.

As his first secretary and confidant, Tang Qingqiu didn’t actually question Qin Heng’s words, but just found them a little hard to believe.

“Say, would Miss Gu agree if I tried to recruit her to my company?” Tang Qingqiu asked the duo.

“Of course not, she studies medicine.” Wu Hongwen replied without a second thought.

Tang Qingqiu knew this, but he didn’t want to give up on this. “But I feel she would be really suited for our company…”

“You should stop that line of thought, Mr. Tang. You should know that Brother Kun practically begged her for her to budge and enter the entertainment industry.” Xiao Yun replied as she glanced at him with pity.

Tang Qingqiu: “…”

Wu Hongwen pat his shoulders with an impish smile. “Condolences, Bro Tang.”

If it were another time and place, Tang Qingqiu would probably fight him right then and there.

Meanwhile, Professor Woo and Mr. Wu were still discussing when someone knocked on the door, and with a “Come in,” by Mr. Wu, the door was opened and two people walked in.

Mr. Wu immediately stood up and greeted respectfully, “Mr. Jiang, Miss Gu.”

He didn’t know of Jiang Shuxuan’s identity, but he was told to be completely cordial and respectful, as well as to be careful with his words.

Even though Mr. Jiang looked like a difficult person, he was still quite polite and wasn’t as cold as he looked.

Mr. Wu wiped away the cold sweat on his forehead before turning around and poking Professor Woo that was still spacing out. “Old Woo, didn’t you want to see the artist behind that oil painting? Meet Miss Gu.”

Professor Woo was stunned after Mr. Wu told him the surprising fact.

This girl was too young!

The girl that came in was wearing a pastel yellow cardigan that complimented her demeanor, and when she looked over at him, the light flickered in her eyes like a pool.

Right, it wasn’t surprising that such a person could have created that painting.

“Professor Woo.” Gu Xiqiao bowed and greeted politely, these old artists were the treasures of the country after all.

Professor Woo was even more taken off guard by her humility, having had expected her to be arrogant and proud like other geniuses of her age, and he had even been prepared to endure any bad behavior from her end because of her talent, but she was actually very respectful and polite.

“Miss Gu, it might be impolite to ask, but who is your teacher?” Professor Woo wanted to know who could teach such a splendid student.

Gu Xiqiao shook her head. “I don’t have a teacher, and I’m a medic student from A University..”

Professor Woo blinked dumbly at this reply.

Before he could say anything, a call came in from Xiao Yun, and Gu Xiqiao’s expression immediately changed when she picked up the phone. “Sorry Professor Woo, talk next time. My friend is in trouble.”

“No, no, it’s fine.” Professor Woo waved in a gesture that he understood, while his other hand clutched his chest as if he were about to have a heart attack.

After the two left, he immediately dialed up the phone number of a friend of his from A University.

“Old Jiang, I saw an unparalleled genius today, the most talented youngster that I have ever seen! She doesn’t lose to Mu Yunfan in the least, but she’s a medicine student at your university! No, this can’t do! I’ll have her transferred to our university immediately!”

On the other side of the phone, Professor Jiang continued to reassure and calm him down. Why was this scenario so familiar?

***

The reason why Gu Xiqiao went out in such a rush was that Yao Jiamu was hurt, and currently admitted into a hospital.

She clicked open her friend list, and thankfully Yao Jiamu didn’t have any other problems other than some loss on his chi and blood.

What perturbed Gu Xiqiao about the situation was that Yao Jiamu was part of the mafia, and a somewhat well-known one at that because of his fighting ability. Normal people wouldn’t be able to hurt him with his ancient martial arts, but he was suddenly hurt so badly that he was admitted into a hospital?

The car stopped in front of the entrance to the hospital.

Gu Xiqiao stood there and waited for Jiang Shuxuan to park as she discussed with the system spirit about Yao Jiamu’s condition, and she finally breathed a sigh of relief after the system spirit showed her his medical report.

Jiang Shuxuan still hadn’t come yet, but she saw someone that she didn’t want to see the most.

“Brother Mu, she’s the one that stole my chance! Daddy became like this all because of her!” Meng Yufan suddenly grabbed Mu Yunfan’s arm when she saw the girl standing at the entrance, her tone filled with malice and rage.

Mu Yunfan looked over, seeing the visage of the girl that would become the center of attention no matter where she went.

His expression turned from dazed to disgust in a moment as he furrowed his brows tightly, thinking of Meng Yu that was still lying on a hospital bed as he walked toward her and stood in front of her. “You’re the one that harmed Uncle?”