Si Mobai lightly bit her fingertips and looked at the portrait while he said, “Let’s go. I will paint a portrait of you.”
The tingling feeling and warmth in her fingertips made Feng Tianlan flush in embarrassment. She held the small grease paper packet in her arms and glared at him. “I’m not going to give you any to eat,” she said.
He had actually bit the hand that fed him.
Si Mobai chuckled softly and walked toward the table to take out some fine writing paper as well as color pigments. He lifted the brush and glanced at the portrait. Then he began to put the brush to work.
Feng Tianlan stood opposite the table and blinked as she watched him paint. Then she ate one sugared chestnut while she fed him another. Such a scene looked very warm and happy…
She watched as he slowly painted. But why was it the back of the woman in red and not even a side profile? Furthermore, it did not seem like he had finished the painting.
Si Mobai was off in another world as if no one was around. He moved the brush enthusiastically and painted what he had in mind. Even he did not know what was being painted at this time.
An hour later, after Si Mobai painted the last stroke, he put the brush down and his train of thought also retreated from that world. He smiled and looked at Feng Tianlan to say, “It’s done.”
“Mobai, do you… know what you painted?” Looking at the finished portrait, Feng Tianlan’s face turned pale. She looked up at Si Mobai.
Si Mobai lightly nodded and said, “Isn’t it…”
Before he could finish speaking, he looked down at the painting he had just finished. He was immediately dumbstruck, and his face was also a little pale.
There was a small clear river next to the enchanting red spider lilies, which were all over the painting. There was also a bridge. The woman in red stood on the side of the bridge so that only her back could be seen in the portrait.
And there was another person on the other side of the bridge, clad in white clothes like a deity. The other person’s eyes looked over to this side of the bridge, full of longing. In addition, this person’s face was shockingly similar to Si Mobai’s.
With the red spider lilies leading to the underworld, the red spider lilies next to the Bridge of Helplessness, and the river, could it be true? Did this setting and the atmosphere mean that it was the boundary between living and afterlife and that the bridge was the Bridge of Helplessness?
The two people were clearly looking at each other, but because of how they were separated by the river and bridge, they could only look at each other from afar.
It was a tragedy!
“I’m going to tear it up now,” Si Mobai said with a white face. He reached to pick up the portrait and was about to tear it apart but was stopped by Feng Tianlan. She smiled at him and said, “No, this painting is beautiful.”
“But…” Si Mobai looked at the portrait and could only feel the tight pain in his chest. He would never let anyone stop him and Lan’er from being together.
Feng Tianlan smiled and took the portrait in her hands. She said, “The red spider lily is just a legend. There’s no need to take it seriously. Besides, this is the first portrait I have from Mobai, so I want to treasure it.”
She rolled up the painting and put it in the Pill Scroll Realm. She paid no mind to such taboos.
Si Mobai’s face still did not look particularly good. After all, such a painting was not considered lucky. And he did not know the reason why, but when he fully threw himself into it, it was as if he could see the scene. So, he was only aware that he had been moving the brush and painting. If Lan’er had not said something, he would not know what he painted.
Feng Tianlan pressed both hands on the table and then moved her head over to lightly kiss Mobai on the lips. She said, “Mobai, our future is not dependent on fate.”
Therefore, he should not develop other ideas because of such a painting. It was just a painting. There was nothing to worry about.
“Lan’er.” The softness on his lips slowly dissipated the tight pain in his chest.