Rebirth: He Decides to Lie Flat

Chapter 33: Chapter 030 Song Qingping Chapter 33: Chapter 030 Song Qingping Following the address given by her art teacher, Song Jiawen walked down a quiet alleyway and came upon the entrance to a four-courtyard house.

She stood in front of the pitch-dark door, slightly shocked, and after hesitating for quite some time, she finally raised her hand and tried knocking on the door.

With a creak, the door was opened from the inside, and a young man in his twenties with a round face stood there. First, he scrutinized Song Jiawen from head to toe, a flash of astonishment in his eyes, then he asked, “Can I help you?”

“Is Teacher Song here?” she inquired.

“You’re looking for Teacher Song? Do you have an introduction letter?”

An introduction letter?

Song Jiawen went silent for a moment before she spoke, “Teacher Liu Meng referred me here; she has previously taken my paintings to Teacher Song to help with selling them.”

“Selling your paintings? Teacher Liu Meng?”

The young man with the round face was taken aback for a moment, then as if recalling something, he said with full surprise, “Are you Song Jiawen?”

Now it was Song Jiawen’s turn to be surprised. Was she that famous? Why did mentioning selling paintings make them recognize her?

What’s going on?

Though puzzled in her mind, she nonetheless nodded slightly, “Yes, I am Song Jiawen.” There couldn’t possibly be another with the same name?

“Ah, after such a long time, it’s finally nice to see you in person. Please come in.”

Upon confirming her identity, the young man with the round face immediately wore an enthusiastic smile, opening the door wider and gesturing for her to enter.

However, this suddenly excessive enthusiasm made Song Jiawen feel even more suspicious.

She stood outside the gate, hesitatingly looking at the round-faced young man, wondering whether or not to go in?

As she was indecisive, a middle-aged man about fifty years old came out from inside the house. With his hands clasped behind his back, he stood in the courtyard dappled with light and shadow, looking towards Song Jiawen.

Hearing the conversation between the round-faced young man and her, he showed a soft smile on his stern face. “Young lady, don’t be afraid, come in. You should trust Liu Meng; she wouldn’t hurt you.”

Song Jiawen and her art teacher, Liu Meng, were akin to both teachers and friends; they learned from one another and shared a very good relationship.

But what she didn’t know was that without her, Liu Meng’s painting skills wouldn’t have improved so rapidly over the past two years.

She didn’t only help sell Song Jiawen’s paintings; she sold her own as well.

Stepping into the courtyard, Song Jiawen looked at the middle-aged man and asked tentatively, “Are you Teacher Song?”

“That’s me, Song Qingping, and I am also Liu Meng’s teacher. Unfortunately, she wasn’t very gifted. Teaching her nearly drove me mad, and I wanted multiple times to kick her out and tell her to put down her brushes and do something else. But she was stubborn, insisting on learning to paint, and even volunteered to be an art teacher in a rural middle school. I was worried she might mislead the students…”

As Song Qingping rambled on about Liu Meng, although he complained continuously, Song Jiawen could still sense his fondness for Liu Meng in his tone.

She had not expected Teacher Liu’s mentor to be this kind of person.

If she were to go by the traditional titles, Song Jiawen would have to call Song Qingping “Master,” but…

“With her poor skills, she certainly couldn’t teach you. In fact, you’ve taught her quite a bit, so don’t call me ‘Master.’ Like she does, just call me Teacher,” he said.

Song Jiawen had no particular reaction to this, but the round-faced young man beside her eyes sparkled with envy.

Teacher Song had wanted to take Song Jiawen on as a closed-door disciple ever since he first saw her paintings. However, Liu Meng kept saying that her strengths were not in painting and told Teacher Song not to set his sights on Song Jiawen and just to honestly help her sell her paintings.

Liu Meng had previously refused to let Song Jiawen meet Teacher Song, but look, wasn’t she here now?

“Teacher Liu has taught me a lot. Before, I only learned traditional Chinese painting from my grandfather. Sketching was taught by Teacher Liu…”

“You really can do traditional Chinese painting!”

Without waiting for Song Jiawen to finish explaining, Song Qingping immediately excitedly hurried her inside, “Come, come, come into the house to paint one, I have all the brushes and ink ready here.”

Before even getting a good look at the courtyard, Song Jiawen was seated behind a long table, her backpack taken off, and a brush thrust into her hand.

To paint now?

But aren’t traditional paintings supposed to be more expensive than others?

Song Jiawen blinked, didn’t contemplate much, and started to paint.

Regardless, she had to demonstrate her ability, a painting had to be worth a good price to sell for one, it must have its own value.

She wasn’t someone who lacked perception and wouldn’t start thinking highly of herself just because she heard Teacher Song and the round-faced man saying a few good words about her upon entry.

She was aware of her own limitations, even a casually hung painting on the wall of this studio was better than hers. And the reason she had managed to sell her paintings for two hundred each before was probably because Teacher Liu was Teacher Song’s student.

Teacher Song was merely fond of anything associated with his own people.

Although it had been a long time since she painted in the traditional Chinese style, Song Jiawen’s brush holding posture was not the slightest bit rusty, and a peony blossomed onto the paper in a few strokes of ink.

Today she could only paint peonies, as her grandmother had planted a few of these things in the yard, she’d seen them so often that even the lines on each petal involuntarily imprinted themselves in her brain.

“Not bad, not bad…”

Teacher Song picked up the peony picture with wet ink from the table and praised it enthusiastically.

The round-faced man’s eyes also brightened at the sight of the painting, no, it should be said that his eyes had not dimmed since he learned of Song Jiawen’s identity.

“Junior sister, your casual stroke is sheer brilliance. Indeed, talent like this cannot be envied.”

Remembering his own years of studying traditional painting and barely reaching half the level of his junior sister, he sighed, feeling melancholic!

“Who did you say taught you traditional painting?”

Song Qingping put down the peony picture in his hand and looked at Song Jiawen with an especially affectionate gaze.

This student, he had decided to take her under his wing.

Thinking of the elderly man who had always been infinitely patient and tolerant with her, Song Jiawen’s eyes dimmed slightly, and she said softly, “My grandfather. He enlightened me on both calligraphy and traditional painting.”

Unfortunately, her grandfather had passed away from illness five years ago, and since then, she had seldom touched a brush.

Song Qingping, reading Song Jiawen’s expression, guessed that her mentioned grandfather was probably no longer alive, and the girl was grieving.

He cleared his throat, a bit awkwardly, “Well, Song Jiawen, I’ve heard all about your situation from Liu Meng. You’re currently studying at First Middle School, and it’ll be convenient for you to come here in the future. So… in order to make it easier for you to sell paintings in the future, what do you think about accepting me as your teacher?”

The round-faced man nearly stumbled and fell at the side, disbelievingly looking at Teacher Song and thinking to himself, Are you serious with that offer?

Just say you want to take someone as your disciple, but to do it under the pretense of making it easier to sell paintings… That’s quite the excuse!

At the moment, the round-faced man viewed Teacher Song with great disdain.

Song Jiawen was somewhat confused, how come she had to find a master just to sell a painting?

If she didn’t accept, would that mean her paintings wouldn’t be sold?

Although she was highly intelligent and could grasp anything with just a little effort, she didn’t understand much about the ways of the world. After all, she was young, without her biological parents around to teach her, relying only on relatives and her own understanding, sometimes there were things she just couldn’t see clearly.

Like now, she didn’t realize that Teacher Song really wanted to take her as a disciple.