Chapter 25: Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Such A Painting

When lunch break came around, Gu Xiqiao took out her phone from the drawer.

Xiao Yun looked over to see what she was playing on her phone, but she only saw a bunch of red and green numbers like the stocks that her brother looked at all the time. “What are you doing?”

Gu Xiqiao looked up at her. “Enough about that, recite Teacher’s Theory by Han Yu from memory for me please.”

Xiao Yun had wanted to say that she couldn’t do that, but the moment she opened her mouth the words came out fluidly as if she had committed them to memory time and time again.

On Teaching was the first verse that Gu Xiqiao had written down in the notebook that she gave her, and she had only seen it a few times before the teacher had entered the class. How could she have memorized it in such a short time? How could she recite it so well, it was simply supernatural!

“Confused…Confused…” Xiao Yun finally got stuck on a sentence, but she sighed in relief at things returning to normal.

“Confused by a scripture, confused by a question; The former is consulted with a teacher, while the latter isn’t. Why pay attention to trivial things and leave out what’s important? I do not think that is wise.” Gu Xiqiao looked away from her phone, her tone somewhat disapproving. “Why haven’t you memorized it? Go home and copy this ten times.”

After saying so, she took out an exercise book from her bag and handed it to Xiao Yun.

WTF? Xiao Yun opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something.

Gu Xiqiao squinted. “Aren’t you supposed to thank me?”

Xiao Yun didn’t know what to say, this girl becoming more mysterious and strange in her eyes.

At the canteen, Xiao Yun who had never gone down to the ground floor canteen not only went there but even helped Gu Xiqiao get her meal and soup and even saving a seat for her like a lackey. The sight of the duo accompanied by Wu Hongwen who had made his way over as soon as he saw them attracted the attention of everyone in the canteen.

The three of them sat at a table that was closer inside the canteen, and right by their table was the bunch of students from the Rocket Class led by Gu Xijin.

They were all chattering about how Gu Xijin had been invited to join an art exhibition, and how she was chosen by a renowned art academy in the city at her young age. This matter had become one of the main topics of the students lately, and even the principal had praised her through the school broadcast.

She had even been interviewed by reporters and for a time, the name Gu Xijin became the talk of the town.

She was well known as a young woman that had great achievements at such a young age.

The students in First City High could only respect and admire her, her achievements too high to even be jealous of her.

Gu Xijin had been the center of attention, but as soon as the trio sat next to their table, their attention had been attracted over to them, and one of Wu Hongwen’s friends even went over to sit at their table.

Seeing this, Gu Xijin’s expression became colder and colder, her grip on her chopsticks tightening until her knuckles became white.

Since when was Gu Xiqiao so influential?

Zhong Yongsi saw Gu Xijin’s expression and followed her gaze to see Gu Xiqiao that was sitting at the next table. Immediately, his expression scrunched up as if he had seen something foul. “Since when did Wu Hongwen get involved with her?”

His tone was very obviously disgusted, and even a little spiteful.

Zhong Yongsi was quite popular in the Rocket Class too, and even though his influence wasn’t as great as Wu Hongwen, he still had quite the following. When they saw his reaction to Gu Xiqiao, their curiosity was aroused.

“Zhong, you don’t like Gu Xiqiao?”

“I’ve seen her in the art studio before, and she doesn’t even have talent! She probably went there to copy Jin who was nominated for an art exhibition. She’s the type of person to chase fame and fortune shamelessly, who knows what she’s thinking?”

“Hey, maybe she has potential?” When she heard Zhong Yongsi’s words, Gu Xijin’s expression defrosted.

She was the goddess of First City High that had been taken under Xia Zijun back in the day, so many of his followers saw her as their own. Her outwards personality was good, and she was from a decently rich family, so countless people idolized her. She was used to being the belle of the ball, and now that her attention had been taken away by someone else, she was naturally unhappily. Thankfully for her, Zhong Yongsi’s words seemed to influence her image in the eyes of the other students.

At most, rumors about her being shameless and fame-seeking would spread around First City High.

“Speaking of which, both you and that girl have the same surname, Jin.” One of the students observed.

Gu Xiqiao’s name was quite well known in N City’s upper society, but because the Gu family had never expressed that she was part of the Gu family, her documents in First City High still stated that she was an orphan. Gu Xijin herself didn’t want to get involved with Gu Xiqiao, so there weren’t many people that knew her true identity.

No one had ever compared this common girl with the goddess of First City High because there was too much of a difference between them, and no one had ever bothered to do so.

This was the first time that the two sisters were spoken of in the same conversation, and Gu Xijin was trying her hardest to keep the fake smile on her face from cracking.

Zhong Yongsi was one of the few people that knew the relationship between the two. “She brings shame to the Gu name.”

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Seeing his reaction to Gu Xiqiao’s name being merely brought up in a conversation, everyone changed the subject to Gu Xijin’s submission for the art exhibition.

Gu Xiqiao had been practicing ancient martial arts lately. Even though she couldn’t be said to be proficient, but it still had its effects on her. Not only had her body become stronger and healthier, her hearing had become enhanced too, so she naturally heard everything that the next table had to say about her, but she didn’t mind. She finished her meal quickly and returned to class together with Xiao Yun, and the girl that sat behind her who was just about to come to sit with them sighed and went over to another corner upon seeing them leave.

Lunch break still hadn’t ended, so Gu Xiqiao rested on her head on the desk while Xiao Yun memorized poems and prose.

It wasn’t that Xiao Yun didn’t want to slack off, but magically, every time she stopped memorizing and wanted to take out her maths papers, Gu Xiqiao would mutter a single word with her eyes still closed.

“Continue.”

Foiled of her plans to laze off, Xiao Yun could only continue memorizing because she was indebted to Gu Xiqiao. That being said, she wasn’t sure if it was just a psychological effect of memorizing like this, but did her memory become better? She had spent all her earlier years in foreign countries, and so she didn’t know Chinese all that well. She had always had a headache whenever she saw those ancient poems and prose, but somehow she felt somewhat interested this time.

For the next few days, Xiao Yun continued to walk around with a notebook in hand, and even the way she spoke changed, becoming more poetic.

Seeing this change, even her Chinese teacher that didn’t have any expectations of her renewed her hopes towards her, even praising her once in class.

Seeing Xiao Yun’s smug look, Gu Xiqiao knocked on the table a few times. “Hey, don’t look so accomplished just from a single word of praise, just look at your handwriting! You have the ugliest handwriting in class! Also, recite Encountering Sorrow for me.”

“You copied the entire poem, but the teacher said that we didn’t need to be able to memorize the entire thing!”

“As a Chinese, how can you not learn some poems? Do you really think you’re a foreigner?” Gu Xiqiao packed up her bag and started walking towards the door as she looked at her phone. “You stay here and study more for a while, I’ve told your driver to wait outside for you beforehand!”

Xiao Yun’s expression twitched slightly as she looked at Gu Xiqiao’s receding figure, and looked back at her notebook, starting to read it with a straight face.

Gu Xiqiao didn’t leave for the school gates, but the art studio instead.

There was no one there on that day.

Gu Xiqiao looked around at the empty art studio, before taking out a canvas that had a half-finished painting on it.

The painting was created using ultra-realistic techniques to construct the image of a simple and honest woman from the countryside with subtle and delicate strokes. There was a sharp contrast between warm and cold colors, and the contrast gave impact to the painting. The painting was dense yet elegant, the woman’s face slightly wrinkled and her gaze cloudy from her age, but still filled with a glint of warmth that made people feel her kindness and simplicity. Details like the needle and thread in her hands coupled with the beads of sweat on her head were painted painstakingly realistic, and such a woman wasn’t conventionally beautiful, but she seemed very real.

Gu Xiqiao stared at it for a while, before taking out her brush to complete the last step.

At this moment, the mobile phone in her bag rung, and she took it out. It was Xiao Yun.

“Gu Xiqiao, you left your maths papers in class, should I bring them home with me? You’re coming to my place tomorrow anyways.”

Gu Xiqiao thought for a moment. “Where are you now?”

“I just got down the stairs.

“Then wait for me at the junction of Building F, I’ll be there in a second.” Gu Xiqiao put down her brush.

It wasn’t that far away, and Gu Xiqiao had just gotten the papers before the system spirit chimed out in her head.

[Warning! Dangerous character Gu Xijin has appeared beside your painting!]

“Did she do anything to the painting?” Gu Xiqiao paused in her steps.

[She seems to be worshiping the painting, should I punish her?] The system spirit didn’t like anyone from the Gu family at all, and once it talked about punishing Gu Xijin, its voice even became a little louder, obviously keen with the notion.

“No need, that painting of mine isn’t finished yet, so she wouldn’t do anything.” Gu Xiqiao was quite calm, even walking slowly to give Gu Xijin enough time to observe her painting.

Gu Xijin was just curious about what Gu Xiqiao was doing that caused her to not return to Gu Manor for so many days so she stalked after her, but she hadn’t expected her to enter the art studio.

She had thought that Gu Xiqiao was an untalented and useless clown as Zhong Yongsi had described, but she had never expected to be so impacted by the painting in front of her.

Art appreciation was based on feeling and emotion, and this painting of Gu Xiqiao’s not only gave her visual shock but also gave her spirit an impact that was even greater than those renowned paintings that she saw in art exhibitions!

How could this have been painted by Gu Xiqiao? How could such a person create an art piece like this!

Gu Xijin’s expression was twisted as she continued to look at the painting, and suddenly, a single thought popped up in her mind.

Such a painting could only be painted by her, Gu Xijin!

Once she thought this, her thoughts started spiraling out of control.

Yeah, who wouldn’t believe that this painting was hers?