Ning Li was so engrossed in the painting that she had not noticed who the artist was.
She had not expected it to be the fourth miss of the Gu family.
No wonder Shen Zhijin had come over…
Ning Li looked at the painting carefully and saw that it had been painted about twenty years ago. If she were to calculate, the fourth miss of the Gu family should have been in… in university?
“So, Teacher Shen’s wife was also a student of the Xijing Art School?”
Ning Li was a little surprised.
Most of the Gu family’s businesses were overseas. Most of the members of the family, including Gu Tinglan, had received their elite education abroad.
Who would have thought that they would see the fourth miss of the Gu family’s painting here?
Shen Zhijin could see her surprise.
He was so smart, how could he not guess what Ning Li was thinking?
In fact, it was not only Ning Li.
This question would appear in almost everyone’s mind after finding out that Gu Tingyin was actually from the Xijing Art School.
The only daughter of the Gu family, pampered by thousands.
Whether it was Hong Kong City or Bai City, all of these places had world-class fine arts universities.
That should have been her best choice.
Yet, she had not wanted it.
Without hesitation, she had applied to the Xijing Art School.
She had traveled thousands of miles for one person.
Shen Zhijin looked at the painting with an extremely calm and gentle expression.
The look in his eyes was unfathomable, as if he was immersed in some distant memory.
After a long time, he said, “Yes. This was her graduation work.”
It was also the only painting that remained in the Xijing Art School.
Ning Li looked at him.
Before this, she had never known that the cold and proud Shen Zhijin would also be capable of showing such an expression.
She looked at the painting again.
‘Mountain Tea’.
That’s right, this was the flower that Shen Zhijin often bought.
Sometimes it was white, but most of the time it was red.
It was for the fourth miss gu, his wife…
She paused for a moment and said, “The painting and the flowers are very good.”
The corners of Shen Zhijin’s lips curved slightly.
“Thank you. Yinyin loves to hear people praise her.”
Ning Li was slightly stunned.
Shen Zhijin was a young genius. Up until now, he had been blessed with many honors and was already standing at the peak of the physics world.
However, whenever he mentioned himself, he had never shown such an expression.
Instead, he would thank her for the simple compliment.
This time it was because the person being praised was Gu Tingyin, his wife.
“Sister Li?”
Wei Songze’s voice came from the side.
Ning Li turned her head to look.
Only then did Wei Songze see that there was another person standing beside her. Moreover, it seemed that the two of them knew each other.
He lowered his voice.
“Sister Li, aren’t you going to the oil painting section to take a look?” He had waited there for quite a while, but since Ning Li had not appeared, he had decided to come over.
Ning Li said, “I’ll be going over now.”
As she spoke, she looked at Shen Zhijin.
“Teacher Shen, then I’ll take my leave first, alright?”
Shen Zhijin replied with a “Hmm”.
Ning Li walked to the side and looked at the remaining four paintings.
It was probably because the Fourth Miss Gu’s painting “Mountain tea” was so strong that when she looked at the others after having seen that first, she felt that they were not that eye-catching. Thus, she finished looking at them very quickly.
Finally, she turned to leave with Wei Songze, heading toward the oil painting area.
After walking for some distance, Wei Songze lowered his voice to speak, unable to hide the curiosity on his face.
“Sister Li, who was that just now?”
“The vice-principal of Xijing University, Shen Zhijin,” Ning Li explained. “Shen Zhijin… Oh! It’s that physics big shot that you’re following right now!”
Wei Songze had very little interest in physics, so he did not know much about Shen Zhijin.
The reason he remembered this name was because of Ning Li.
He looked over and muttered, “I really would not have guessed that such an important scientific research bigwig would actually be interested in an art exhibition…”
Ning Li did not want to say too much, so she changed the topic.
“Didn’t you say that you were looking for Teacher Wang Yan’s painting? Did you find it?”
Wei Songze immediately perked up.
“It’s just up ahead! Let me show you!”
The two of them continued to walk forward. Suddenly, her heart skipped a beat, and she turned around to take a look.
Shen Zhijin was still standing in front of the painting. Her shoulders and back were straight, and he did not move for a long time.
The two of them came to another exhibition hall.
Wei Songze pointed at one of the paintings and said, “Sister Li, this is it!”
It was an oil painting of a young girl in spring.
The whole tone was warm and relaxed, clean and bright.
Wei Songze rubbed his chin.
“I didn’t expect Teacher Wang Yan’s painting style when he was young to be so different from now! But this painting is very popular. There were many people praising it just now.”
Ning Li looked at the painting and could not help but laugh.
“So, it’s actually this one on display… It looks like Teacher Wang Yan did not look at the list of works that would be displayed in this exhibition.”
Wei Songze was taken aback. “Huh? Why? Isn’t this painting good?”
As he spoke, he took another look.
It was pretty good! The composition, color blocks, and light and shadow processing were all pretty good!
Of course, Wang Yan’s current standard was definitely much higher than this.
However, a comparison like this could not be made.
After all, this was a painting from many years ago.
Ning Li said, “Not really, it’s just…”
“It seems like Ning has a lot of unique insights into Teacher Wang’s paintings.”
A female voice came from the side.
Ning Li swallowed the rest of her words and turned her head to look.
Sheng Ruxue stood a few steps away with a smile on her face, yet there was no smile in her eyes.
She had not expected that she would bump into Ning Li again when she came to this art exhibition.
Previously, she had happened to hear Ning Li criticizing her work. This time, it was Wang Yan.
V
Sheng Ruxue was unhappy and looked at the painting
“Or, is your standard of appreciation too high? Are we all not worthy?”
It was fine if Ning Li did not like her paintings, but now she even dared to judge Wang Yan’s paintings. Even if she was Ning, she was taking herself much too seriously.
Ning Li paused and said, “You misunderstood. I didn’t mean it that way.”
“Oh? So I misunderstood?” Sheng Ruxue obviously did not believe her words, “Wang Yan’s painting won a silver award in the National Oil Painting Competition back then. If you don’t even like it, then I think there aren’t many paintings here that are worthy of your attention.”
The corner of her mouth twitched.
“It’s better for you not to come to this art exhibition.”
Wei Songze frowned.
“Sheng Ruxue, please be more polite.”
Wasn’t this an obvious eviction?!
The point was that this exhibition hall was not owned by Sheng Ruxue. What right did she have to say such words?
Sheng Ruxue laughed.
“I’m just telling the truth. I didn’t mean to offend you. Don’t misunderstand. If you really don’t like it, why do you have to stay here? Wouldn’t you just be asking to be tortured?”
“You–“
Wei Songze was about to retort when Ning Li interrupted him.
“I didn’t mean to say that this painting isn’t good. I just said that it’s not suitable to be displayed here. There’s no other meaning. In any case, there’s really nothing else to see here.”
As Ning Li said this, she actually turned to leave.
When they brushed past each other, Sheng Ruxue looked at her.
“You know what? It’s better not to express too many opinions in an unprofessional field. Otherwise, you’ll always be laughed at.”