Qiao Xi raised her eyebrows and asked, “Miss Tang, are you going to say that you painted this yourself?”

“Well, let me tell you that this painting was made by two people, a man and a woman. The style of painting is especially similar to the artist, Han Ye. Could it be that Miss Tang’s style is very similar to Han Ye’s? Why don’t you show it to us so that we can broaden our horizons?”

Tang Ruge’s lips trembled, and she could not say anything for a long time. Of course, she knew that Han Ye was a famous painter, but she had never seen his work.

At this moment, a respected senior said, “It’s indeed not easy to imitate Han Ye’s style, but this rose garden painting is 70 to 80 percent similar to Han Ye’s style. The painters must have been taught by an expert. Even with my standard, it’s difficult for me to do it.”

Another person directly followed Qiao Xi’s words and said, “Miss Qiao is right. If you’re so skilled, why don’t you directly show us your ability and paint with Han Ye’s style?”

Hearing everyone’s questions, Tang Ruge trembled. Her face was pale, and her body was swaying as if she would faint the next second.

She was the eldest daughter of the Tang family and a socialite in the capital. Why were these people so overbearing?

Today was her apprenticeship banquet. She had already gloriously become Qi Zhong’s last apprentice and inherited his legacy. Her future was supposed to be bright. However, Qiao Xi and Li Xing’er had ruined her plans, causing her to be looked down on by everyone.

“Mr. Qi, Ruge must have remembered wrongly. She had just casually added two more strokes. This painting was originally done by Miss Qiao. Let’s cancel today’s apprenticeship banquet. We’ll be leaving first.”

Madam Tang forcefully endured the disappointment in her heart and gnashed her teeth as she spoke. When she looked at Qiao Xi, it was clear from her resentful gaze that she wished for nothing more than to hack Qiao Xi into pieces.

Miss Qiao snorted. “Madam Tang, why are you glaring at me? I’ll only say this. You can be forgiven for your sins, but you can’t live with the sins you’ve brought upon yourself!”

Tang Ruge stood on the spot, feeling very reluctant. She was only one step away from becoming Qi Zhong’s final apprentice. At that time, the entire high society’s socialites would have to respect her. However, now that her reputation was ruined and she had to run away, how could she raise her head in the future?

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Madam Tang did not give Tang Ruge a chance to react and pulled her away angrily. The Tang family also left awkwardly.

Qi Zhong sized up Qiao Xi and pondered. Although Qiao Xi’s painting skills were very outstanding, he heard that the Qiao family had already rejected her and she no longer had the support of a powerful family. Now that she had offended the Tang family as well, her future would definitely not be easy.

About ten years ago, Qi Zhong had already lost all inspiration. That was why he wanted to take in an outstanding apprentice and let them bring him glory.

Now that he knew that the creator of this painting had no background, perhaps he could…

Qiao Xi stared into Qi Zhong’s eyes as if she had already seen through his thoughts and could not help but sneer.

Qi Zhong was silent for a moment before he said gently, “Miss Qiao, I do admire you a lot. I’ve already decided to take you in as my apprentice. This apprenticeship banquet was originally prepared for Miss Tang, so let’s end it here. In the future, I’ll specially hold a grand apprenticeship banquet for you. For now, come back to my residence with me.”

With that, he instructed his assistant, “Immediately prepare a spacious studio for Miss Qiao. Get her to create two paintings for me to take a look at. What happened with Tang Ruge can’t happen again.”

Qi Zhong’s eyes were filled with a smile of success. After Qiao Xi completed the paintings, he would find an excuse to take them away and display them in his name. As his apprentice, Qiao Xi would definitely not dare to object.

When everyone mentioned Han Ye, Qi Zhong had felt a little jealous. 13 years ago, this painter appeared out of nowhere. His first painting shocked the entire oil painting world and he was treated as a god. However, he had been in the oil painting world for decades but had never achieved anything like Han Ye.

If a genius painter like Qiao Xi was taken under his wing, he would still have a chance to surpass Han Ye and become a top painter who could compare to him.

Qi Zhong suppressed the excitement in his heart and slowly said, “I must take in an apprentice today. Since you’ve chased Tang Ruge away, then you’ll become my apprentice! This is your honor.”

Qiao Xi turned around and sneered. “I didn’t say I wanted to be your apprentice. Whether you accept Tang Ruge or not has nothing to do with me.”

Qi Zhong immediately choked, then widened his eyes in shock. “What do you mean? You’re unwilling?”