Chapter Twenty-Four: Unexpected Event

  Su Yifan's smile made Chen Xin feel a little sentimental. Just a few days ago, he was sitting calmly in the literature club, reading Tagore, and felt that several girls from the club were staring at him straight. In this era, being a cultured youth is worthless; only rich cultured youths are welcomed. At that time, Chen Xin especially hoped that Cheng Shuijin would also focus her attention on him, but he knew in his heart that if she could be attracted by such superficial things, then she wouldn't be the Cheng Shuijin he wanted to pursue.

  Watching Cheng Shui Xin walk towards the next painting, Chen Xin stood still on the spot, letting the crowd surge forward around her.

  "No matter how you put it, we're still on different levels." Chen Xin said to Su Yifan, "Do you really think I'm at a loss with you?"

  Su Yifan's heart skipped a beat as he recalled Su Xiaqing mentioning some things about himself yesterday, and he readily admitted: "I know you have it, and there are many others like you who are called young masters. You can sell favors to them and use them to deal with me."

  He paused, and Su Yifan stared at Chen Xin, his eyes with a light he had never had before, looking fearlessly at this self-righteous guy: "I'd like to know, you've been shouting alone all the way here, but in the end it didn't have any effect. What would your mood be like by then?"

  "I'm not fighting you today, not because I'm afraid of you, but because these paintings are too expensive and I wouldn't be able to afford it if something happened." Su Yifan looked at Chen Xin coldly, the two school team henchmen behind him seemed completely harmless in his eyes. "If you think this is another area where I'm inferior to you, then you're truly pitiful."

  After finishing speaking, Su Yifan ignored Chen Xin and went straight after the team to see the next painting.

  Chen Xin stood there for a moment, unable to deny that Su Yifan had also hit on some of the concerns in his heart. What if finding friends really didn't work either? Chen Xin was actually a little afraid, fearing that he would start doubting his own life.

  Cheng Shui Xin has become the most outstanding commentator this afternoon, Su Yi Fan has retreated two steps back and no longer followed the crowd to join in the excitement. As Su Xiao Qing said, Cheng Shui Xin's heart yearns for flowers and applause, attention and pursuit. In Cheng Shui Xin's view, those things between men and women are still too light and small, not worth being treated as the most important thing.

  The visit lasted for a long time, and the Literary Society didn't necessarily have everyone interested in this painting exhibition. Cheng Shuiying's on-site performance was enough to keep them going. Su Yifan also did some homework before coming, checking out the introduction of this master's works and so on, and walking alone at the back of the team was also enjoyable.

  As the exhibition was halfway through, more and more people came to visit. In addition, the French side sent some staff to assist with the exhibition, who took turns staying in the exhibition hall to communicate with security personnel and Chinese translators, making the spider web-like exhibition hall even more crowded.

  Su Yifan started to feel bored, the works of the same painter have different contents and themes, each with its own highlights, but the works of Master Du Weike all have similar expressive intentions. After looking at many of them, he couldn't help feeling tired of it. Just as he was starting to feel bored, a Frenchman wearing a black suit suddenly walked up to Su Yifan and asked in fluent Chinese, "Are you Mr. Su Yifan?"

  Su Yifan was stunned for a moment, and he felt the situation was strange. He had never been interrogated by foreigners before. The front was surrounded by a large army continuing to move forward with Cheng Shui'an, and when he fell behind, a Frenchman with high eyebrows and deep eyes came over and shouted his name in Chinese. What's going on?

  Hesitation and surprise only lasted for a moment, as Su Yifan immediately realized that this gallery exhibition hall was not a place where just anyone could enter, let alone an ordinary student like himself with no particular value. This Frenchman probably didn't have ulterior motives.

  "What's wrong?"

  That tall Frenchman burst out laughing, his smile was as warm and to the point as if it had been professionally trained, immediately making people lower their guard.

  "Hello, I am the Chinese assistant of Master Jean Arp's. The tall French man smiled again with a hint of shyness and shook hands with Su Yifan, "We are honored to invite you to attend Master Jean Arp's farewell dinner party tomorrow night. Here is the invitation, you can bring one companion to attend."

  Very official tone, and very restrained. Su Yifan felt that even if someone was playing a prank on him, the cost of such a dignified Frenchman was a bit too high.

  Then a name flashed through Su Yifan's mind, and he felt that he knew the answer very easily.

  This answer made Su Yifan even calmer, he took over the invitation handed over by the French man and put it in his pocket.

  "Thank you, I'm also honored to be able to attend."

  The tall Frenchman smiled: "We've been expecting you. Well, enjoy yourself then, I won't disturb you."

  Su Yifan still had a young heart, he knew that since the Frenchman came to talk to him earlier, Chen Xin had been staring at him intently. Now that he had received the invitation, Su Yifan walked straight up to Chen Xin and let out a sigh.

  "Not a superior person at all, I also have an invitation now, what can be done?"

  Su Yifan's words were spoken in the tone of Tagore's poem, full of sarcasm and very effective. If it weren't for the fact that they were in a public place, Chen Xin would have wanted to jump up and hit someone by now.

  "It must be fake!" Chen Xin glared at Su Yifan with a scowl.

  "We'll know when the time comes." Su Yifan imitated Chen Xin's tone, "You think if we both go to invite Cheng Shuiyan, who will she be willing to go with?"

  This assumption is too powerful, and Chen Xin knows he will lose even without asking for evidence on the spot.

  Chen Xin felt that she couldn't see through Su Yifan anymore, and the foreigner's polite and respectful smile seemed somehow unreal.

  After what happened yesterday, Su Yifan felt that he had matured a lot. If he were to follow the usual temperament of a young man, he should have directly punched Chen Xin in the face. Su Yifan now deeply understands a truth: sometimes having a reason or excuse is more important than anything else. Chen Xin has never admitted to being the one who found him, and even if he had said something similar to admitting it just now, it wouldn't be considered evidence. To make Chen Xin feel defeated and sad, he must be struck down in public, just like what Chen Xin had done to him before.

  Su Yifan simply gathered his emotions and continued to watch the painting exhibition. This opportunity might not be a big deal for Chen Xin, but as an ordinary person's child, he thought it was extremely rare.

  On that side, Cheng Shui was saying something about "the breakthrough in form plays a decisive role in the development of the art field" on this somewhat dry topic.

  Even a dull topic sounds attractive when spoken by a beauty, and everyone listens with rapt attention. Su Yifan looked at those colorful but strongly contrasting works and couldn't help but think deeply about them.

  The environment has a huge impact on people, and Su Yifan can't help but imagine the painful and difficult process that such works go through from creation to being recognized by others.

  Especially in the art collection market, out of 10,000 artists, only one or two can make a good living. The likes of Picasso and Dali, who are not only famous but also live a very comfortable life, are extremely rare throughout the history of fine arts. Most artists die in poverty while pursuing their art. When Van Gogh was alive, how could he have imagined that his "Sunflowers" would be sold for $120 million? At that time, he would write letters to his brother and friends to share the joy whenever he sold a painting.

  Chen Xin saw Su Yifan starting to enjoy himself again and felt even more uncomfortable in his heart.

  Unlike Su Yifan, Chen Xin really had a hard time liking these things. Hanging out with Leica and beauties to take some fresh photos by the sea was okay for Chen Xin, but if he really wanted to calm down and experience something, it would be too boring. From an early age, Chen Xin had been exposed to strong entertainment - deafening music, a life of luxury and extravagance, etc. Asking Chen Xin to put his heart into feeling something, he didn't have that much free time, his family environment and education also determined that he could ignore many insignificant details, which would be a waste of energy.

  The more she was like this, the more Chen Xin felt that Cheng Shuiyan was a rare girl, with talent and beauty. There were many girls who were talented and beautiful, but none of them could be as elusive as Cheng Shuiyan.

  Elusiveness means being hard to conquer, which is the biggest weakness of self-righteous excellent men. Countless people have died and been reborn only to die again, and it's not worth pitying them.

  Su Yifan was more and more at ease, while Chen Xin's mind was filled with more thoughts, and the annoyance on her face became more concentrated.

  "Chen Shao, shall we teach this kid a lesson?"

  As Su Yifan walked away, one of the two followers who had been quietly following Chen Xin finally spoke up. Chen Xin and Su Yifan were talking, they didn't want to interrupt, but were afraid of saying something wrong that would anger Chen Xin, it was quite awkward.

  The day Su Yifan was surrounded and beaten by a few young people, these two also followed Chen Xin to watch the whole process. As experienced participants in some school fights, they could see that Su Yifan, this honest kid, had a fierce temper when forced, but if it weren't for their usual dependence on Chen Xin for food and drink, they wouldn't have wanted to take the initiative to get involved in this matter either.

  "No need, this matter can't be made a fuss about in school." Chen Xin thought for a while, he had always wanted to learn from his father's demeanor of not showing any emotions, but unfortunately, he only learned the surface. "I have ways to deal with that kid, let him enjoy himself for two days first."

  Under Cheng Shui's persistent efforts, the awkward exhibition finally came to an end, and the whole process took only about three hours, which was much earlier than usual after school. Su Yifan still followed silently at the back of the team and walked out of the exhibition hall, picked up his own backpack and phone from the storage area, and saw that there was a missed call and a text message on it.

  The only person who can make this call is Su Xiaqing, and the only person who can send a text message is also her.

  Su Yifan picked up the phone and hadn't even had time to carefully read the text message when his shoulder was tapped. He looked up to see Cheng Shuijin smiling at him.

  This caused a considerable flow of people to walk out of the exhibition center, most of whom were those who had just listened to Cheng Shuiying's wonderful explanation, and some bold young men wanted to come over and chat. Seeing Cheng Shuiying pat Su Yifan on the shoulder, several people stopped in their tracks.

  "Why so silent? Don't you like this painting exhibition?"

  Cheng Shui Xin's smile was always relaxed, she only looked like a normal little girl when facing Su Xiao Qing's intangible aura. At this time, Cheng Shui Xin with a confident smile on her face looked just like a real adult, without a hint of shyness and unease in her eyes.

  Su Yifan saw Cheng Shuiyan taking the initiative to talk to herself, and after glancing at Chen Xin who was walking in front of her and frequently turning back, said: "No, I was thinking about the creative motivation behind that 'Desolate Land'."

  "The Waste Land" comes from Thomas Stearns Eliot, commonly abbreviated as T.S. Eliot in China. Duvek has a painting with this title, but he never explained why he did so, as he never talks about his creative intentions.

  Cheng Shui's face still had the excitement of just walking out of a lively scene, with a faint blush on her pale face, making her skin look even more translucent. She looked at Su Yifan and smiled invitingly: "Anyway, after disbanding, let's go have a cup of coffee?"

  It was undoubtedly tempting, and the distance between the two was close enough for Su Yifan to smell a faint scent. Just as he was about to respond to Cheng Shuihan, his phone rang again.

  Su Yifan, who had answered the phone, looked at Cheng Shuihan with difficulty: "Qing Jie asked us to go find her."

  Cheng Shui Xin nodded without any hesitation: "Alright, I'll reorganize the team and we'll set off immediately after disbanding!"

  Su Yifan shrugged, a gesture he had never made before. This gesture was extremely hateful to Chen Xin, and it was simply worth being dragged out and shot for ten minutes.

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  Some people suggested changing the cover, it's really hard to find a good picture...