Chapter 137: Selling a Painting

The next day we caught a bus back to Kaifeng. Within a couple of days, He Yu packed his bags and headed back to his hometown. I was so busy with the start of the semester that my feet barely touched the ground. Initially, He Yu and I were worried that Lu A’yao would be bored staying by himself, but it turned out we were overthinking it.

Lu A’yao spent all day in his room tinkering with those diagrams of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. He was so focused that if I didn’t call him for lunch every day, I felt like he could sit there as still as an old monk in a meditative trance for an entire day.

I didn’t have much in savings. I had spent too much on equipment earlier, and things were tight lately. With the pittance I had left, I would definitely be bankrupt in less than a month if I tried to support two people. So, I had to come up with another plan.

Life is really just about three meals a day. As long as you don’t starve, there aren’t many major problems. To save as much money as possible on those three meals, I planned to take Lu A’yao to eat at our school canteen. Occasionally, when I had a bit of extra cash, I could treat him to a nice meal on the weekends.

I was finishing sharpening my pencil while making these plans, feeling like my ingenuity had reached its peak. I was listening to my MP3 player and imagining the scenery I had seen before. Just as I put pencil to paper to draw a line, someone suddenly appeared beside me. He bumped my arm, and the pencil poked a hole right through the paper.

“Tsk!” My mood soured instantly. Extremely annoyed, I began moving the clips to swap in a new sheet of paper, not even bothering to spare a glance at Liang Zicheng beside me.

This guy surnamed Liang was my former roommate. To put it bluntly, he was the person I hated most in the dorm. He was our major’s notorious “nice guy,” appearing kind to everyone on the surface while actually being a textbook egoist. He was the type of person who only responded to a firm hand rather than soft words.

“Gan Ji, Gan Ji, I’m talking to you.” Liang Zicheng huddled next to me and reached out to pull one of my earphones off.

“Can’t you see I’m busy? Go find someone else if you need something.” I replaced the paper and put my earphone back on, wanting absolutely no interaction with this person. Regardless of what project I partnered with him on, even if he did nothing, his name would always end up at the top of the list.

I wasn’t going to fall for that kind of stupidity a second time.

“Hey, you…” Liang Zicheng tugged at my arm persistently. “Are you short on money lately? I see you eating at the canteen every day.”

I ignored him. After drawing a few strokes, my phone alarm went off, followed immediately by a call from Lu A’yao. He was quite punctual and would call exactly on time. I quickly dropped my pencil, answered the phone, and stood up from my folding stool to go wash my hands.

Shaking off that malignant tumor Liang Zicheng, I headed straight for the canteen. Lu A’yao had already gotten the food and was sitting there waiting. I always felt he was a bundle of contradictions, possessing a mindset completely out of sync with modern society, yet able to hide perfectly within it.

“The food looks alright today.”

I picked up my chopsticks and sat down. Just as I had shoved a couple of mouthfuls of rice into my mouth, I saw that familiar figure pop up out of nowhere again. He came stumbling over and forced his way into the seat next to Lu A’yao. I cursed inwardly. This damn guy was like a ghost that wouldn’t leave!

“Let’s go, we’re moving seats,” I told Lu A’yao, preparing to stand up with my tray.

Liang Zicheng was panting heavily. Unable to grab me, he could only reach for the nearest person, Lu A’yao. He suddenly yanked on Lu A’yao’s sleeve, which made me even more irritated. I threatened him, “Let go. We’re in public, don’t make me hit you!”

Lu A’yao tugged his sleeve back. When Liang Zicheng saw the Porcelain Shards on his face, he was so startled he nearly jumped out of his skin.

Once he regained his composure, he quickly hurried around the table to find me. “Wait! No, no, no! Big brother, I really have serious business with you, I’m not joking. Last time was my fault, my fault. I shouldn’t have put my name first on that project. It was my mistake, I’m apologizing to you, alright?”

His voice wasn’t quiet, and it happened to be the busiest time in the canteen. I saw quite a few people casting curious glances our way. I had no choice but to suppress my anger and sit back down to see what this guy actually wanted today.

“What serious business do you have now? I’m not doing your projects, and I’m not entering your competitions. That’s it.” My tone wasn’t friendly at all. Just looking at him made me fume.

Lu A’yao remained steady as a rock, completely unaffected by the commotion on our side. He kept his head down, focused on eating his vegetables across from us.

Liang Zicheng gave a flattering smile. “No, no, no. I noticed you’ve been a bit short on cash lately. I happen to have a way to make some quick money. I can’t do this job myself, but you’d be perfect for it. Once it’s done, I just want a twenty percent referral fee. I’ll take that twenty percent and not a penny more.”

I shot him a sideways glance and replied without thinking, “I’m not doing it. Find someone else.”

“Hey! Don’t! Not yet! You haven’t even heard what the job is, don’t be so quick to refuse!”

I picked up a piece of wood ear mushroom and ate it, smiling as I watched him while chewing. “Look, man, do you really think you have any credibility left with me? You’re a bit too confident in yourself, aren’t you?”

Hearing me say this, Liang Zicheng immediately held up five fingers. “Five thousand!”

My train of thought paused for a split second as Liang Zicheng continued, “Five thousand. A boss wants to buy two of your drawings for five thousand. It’s that forest landscape sketch you did in the studio. I secretly took a photo of the half-finished version, and a boss took a liking to it. He’s willing to pay twenty-five hundred for that one drawing.”

My anger flared up the moment I heard that. I slammed my chopsticks down. “Wow, you’re something else. You secretly photographed my work to show others, and now you have the nerve to come here and ask me to sell it?”

“No, no, no, that’s not the point, my friend! The point is twenty-five hundred per drawing! The boss told me to find you. He’s in Kaifeng tonight and wants to see the drawings in person. He said if they’re good, the price is negotiable. Aren’t you tight on cash lately? I’m just earning a referral fee, really! I’m not lying to you!” Liang Zicheng pleaded repeatedly.

I thought about it quickly, remembering He Yu’s saying that only a fool turns down easy money. Besides, I had been eating this cheap fast food for nearly a month and was getting a bit depressed. If I didn’t improve our diet soon, I wouldn’t be able to take it even if Lu A’yao could.

Furthermore, it was just a landscape sketch, a practice draft at that. I had a pile of them in my room. If I didn’t sell them, they were just scrap paper. If some sucker was offering twenty-five hundred for one, I might as well sell it. If I took it over and the boss didn’t like it, the worst that could happen was I’d bring it back. I had nothing to lose.

But when Liang Zicheng came over and told me, I was a bit skeptical. “It’s just your word,” I said. “How am I supposed to believe you?”

Liang Zicheng pulled a bag from under the table and surreptitiously opened it for me to see. I peeked inside and saw a thick stack of hundred-yuan bills. “This is my referral fee,” he said. “If you don’t believe me, take this with you. Once you come with me to meet the boss tonight, you can give it back. That should be enough to earn your trust, right?”

I looked him up and down, thinking to myself that it was strange for this kid to be acting so reliable all of a sudden. Something felt off.

Without waiting for a response, he shoved the bag into my arms and handed me a slip of white paper with an address written on it. “Tonight. Bring the painting and wait for me at this location tonight.”

With that, he dashed out of the cafeteria and vanished.

I smoothed out the slip of paper. It had an address written on it: 18 North Bookstore Street.