The Art of Teasing - Chapter 33
Chapter 33
After supper, Ye Ling drove Wen Zhengyu to her front gate.
The driver got out and opened the door for Wen Zhengyu.
"Zhengyu."
Wen Zhengyu had just stepped out when she heard Ye Ling call her. She turned back to see Ye Ling casually pick up a handbag from beside her and pass it over, saying, "Happy New Year."
The first lunar month was nearly over. Hearing "Happy New Year" so abruptly, she couldn't help but pause for a moment, only then realizing this was her first meeting with Ye Ling in the new year. She casually fished a red envelope—one she hadn't finished distributing during the holiday—from her handbag and handed it to Ye Ling, saying, "Happy New Year!" She didn't know what Ye Ling had given her and didn't accept the New Year's gift Ye Ling was offering.
Ye Ling accepted the red envelope with thanks. She could see Wen Zhengyu's hesitation and said with a light laugh, "Just a little trinket I picked up on a whim. I hope Zhengyu won't disdain it."
Wen Zhengyu cast a sidelong glance at Ye Ling, thinking to herself, I'd believe that if I were an idiot.
Ye Ling gave a helpless laugh and said, "I happened to come across it and thought you could use it for your painting, so I bought it."
Things usable for painting were mostly brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones. Judging by the size of the handbag, she guessed it was an inkstone. Based on the market price of inkstones given as gifts and the depth of her relationship with Ye Ling, Ye Ling wouldn't be giving her an expensive antique inkstone.
Only then did Wen Zhengyu feel at ease enough to accept the handbag, saying, "Thank you, CEO Ye."
With a soft laugh, Ye Ling said, "Goodnight. Get some rest early."
Wen Zhengyu replied, "Goodnight." She took out her keys and unlocked the courtyard gate. After entering, as she turned to close the gate, she saw Ye Ling's car still parked outside. Ye Ling was sitting in the back seat watching her. When she saw Wen Zhengyu look over, she smiled and made a goodbye gesture. Only then did the car slowly pull away.
Exhausted and weary, once inside, she set the gift box down casually on the living room coffee table before heading upstairs to her room to wash up and rest.
By the time she went to sleep, it was already past four in the morning.
Seeing the time displayed on her phone, Wen Zhengyu hesitated briefly, debating whether to turn off her alarm and catch up on sleep, waking naturally tomorrow. Although the studio had no urgent matters to attend to, there were still routine affairs. Her finished painting was still drying in the studio, uncollected. She could catch up on sleep in her office after handling the daily business. After a moment's hesitation, she decided against turning off the alarm and got up at her usual time.
The consequence of going to bed too late was that waking up the next day was exceedingly painful and left her utterly listless.
Wen Zhengyu was so drowsy she couldn't keep her eyes open. Coming downstairs, she called out to Sun Yuan, who had already prepared breakfast and was setting it on the dining table, "Aunt Sun, I need an extra-strong coffee. Thank you."
She'd eaten supper the night before and still wasn't hungry. She drank a small half-bowl of congee at the table, then carried her coffee over to the living room.
After settling on the sofa, her gaze fell on the gift Ye Ling had given her yesterday. She picked up the handbag and removed the gift box inside.
It was an antique-style box made of rosewood, the lid carved with an ancient pine pattern, its front, back, and sides carved respectively with plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum motifs. The carving technique indicated it was hand-carved. With rosewood prices climbing year after year in recent years, neither the craftsmanship nor the material of this box would have been inexpensive.
Inside the brocade-lined box lay eight ink sticks neatly arranged, each impressed with a different figural design.
Looking at the eight ink sticks with their aged, heavy patina, Wen Zhengyu couldn't help but pause. She leaned in for a gentle sniff and caught a very pleasant fragrance. The scent was elegant, subdued, and simple—an aroma born of traditional Chinese medicinal ingredients blended with ink, mellowed through years of aging.
She picked up one of the sticks and saw on its reverse side the inscription: "Supervised by Cao Sugong of She County."
Cao Sugong was one of the four great ink-makers of the Qing Dynasty. His ink was antique ink from the Kangxi period.
She placed the ink stick in her hand back, examined a few of the others, then returned them all to the brocade box, closed the lid, placed it back in the handbag, and called Li Bin to come drive her to work.
She brought the New Year's gift Ye Ling had given her to the studio. After she finished her routine daily inspections, Ye Ling arrived.
Wen Zhengyu took the antiques to Ye Ling's office and returned them.
Ye Ling looked at the handbag, then lifted her gaze to glance at Wen Zhengyu. Leaning forward slightly, she asked, "Zhengyu, you're not thinking of returning a New Year's gift to me, are you?"
Wen Zhengyu said, "This gift is too valuable. I can't accept it."
Ye Ling smiled. "It was simply fortuitous timing. I happened to encounter someone selling this ink, thought it suited you, and bought it."
Wen Zhengyu only half-believed this. She placed the antique ink on Ye Ling's desk and said, "CEO Ye, I still have matters to attend to," then turned to leave.
Ye Ling called out, "Zhengyu."
Wen Zhengyu looked back, her expression skeptical.
Ye Ling said, "I already gave the New Year's gift, and now you bring it back to me. That seems rather unfortunate. How about this: you help me paint a portrait. Would that be acceptable?"
Wen Zhengyu swept her gaze over Ye Ling. A thought turned in her mind, recalling Ye Ling's Ghost painting. She agreed. "You keep the ink. I'll paint one for you."
Ye Ling hadn't expected Wen Zhengyu to agree so readily, and her eyes couldn't help but brighten. Then she immediately added, "Then consider the ink both a New Year's gift and a token of thanks."
Wen Zhengyu did not acknowledge this remark. She left the ink on Ye Ling's desk and turned to leave without further comment. On her way out, she closed the door behind her. She then went to the painting room, retrieved Phoenix Falls from the Ninth Heaven, and sent it off for scroll mounting.
Compared to painting the demons, spirits, and monsters of the Kunlun Divine Mountain, Ye Ling's Ghost painting seemed remarkably simple.
Late at night, all was still.
In the painting room, with its transparent glass walls and bright lights, a well-dressed woman with long hair sat silently in a chair by the doorway.
The bright lights illuminated her shadowy figure. Paired with that pair of eyes staring fixedly at a person, Wen Zhengyu felt this painting could just as well be titled Vengeful Spirit Demanding Life. With a little added chilling wind effect, it could even serve as a promotional poster for a horror film.
The painting was a gift for Ye Ling, so Wen Zhengyu couldn't very well paint Ye Ling to look like a horror movie poster.
No chilling wind. A quiet, tranquil painting. The figure's beautiful, delicate features. An aura of restrained composure...
Wen Zhengyu's brush halted just above the eyes.
The eyes, windows to the soul, were also the soul of this painting.
If the eyes weren't painted well, the entire picture would be lifeless, a tableau of dead silence.
Wen Zhengyu knew perfectly well whom Ye Ling had been looking at that night. That evening, Ye Ling had sat at the doorway, waiting for her for over eight hours.
A silent night, yet emotion flowed within it.
Wen Zhengyu set her brush down and dotted the eyes for the figure in the painting.
With the eyes dotted, the entire painting seemed to come alive. That gazing look was deep and stirring, as if fixed upon her beloved for a very, very long time.
Looking at the eyes of the figure in the painting, Wen Zhengyu even had the fleeting illusion of a single glance spanning a thousand years.
She gave a self-deprecating laugh and set down her brush. An indescribable, unidentifiable emotion flickered through her heart, then was released just as quickly.
Whether Ye Ling liked her or not, the intersection between them was limited to just this.
After having the mounting master complete the scroll mounting, she delivered it to Ye Ling.
Ye Ling looked at the scroll Wen Zhengyu handed her with considerable surprise. She paused for a moment before reaching out to accept the painting. Rising, she moved over to the sofa, inviting Wen Zhengyu to sit as well. Then she slowly unrolled the painting.
Her gaze rested on the painting for a long time.
Wen Zhengyu felt rather uncomfortable.
Though her initial intention was to paint a Ghost, what ultimately emerged was the night Ye Ling had waited for her. Ye Ling's thoughts and feelings toward her were all expressed within this painting.
The corner of Ye Ling's mouth curved upward, her smile gradually spreading across her face. She set the painting down and looked at Wen Zhengyu, saying, "Zhengyu, you understand me."
Wen Zhengyu nearly broke out in goosebumps from how saccharine it was. She said, "CEO Ye, if you've looked at the painting and find no issues, then I'll take my leave."
A smile still hung at the corner of Ye Ling's mouth. "There is something," she said. "The eyes Zhengyu paints are always remarkably expressive. Whether painting people or demons and monsters, you can always capture the emotions and feelings."
Wen Zhengyu replied politely, "CEO Ye flatters me. I truly dare not accept such praise."
The smile lingering on her lips, Ye Ling lifted her eyes to look at Wen Zhengyu. Wen Zhengyu understood her feelings, but that politeness of hers already made her stance clear. This Wen Zhengyu suddenly reminded her of the little sprite in the Kunlun paintings. The joys, sorrows, partings, and reunions of all those demons and spirits on the Kunlun Divine Mountain—the little sprite witnessed them all, depicting them through the brush of the Kunlun sprite. Yet the little sprite was like a passerby, or a bystander, standing outside their stories.
Wen Zhengyu met the gaze Ye Ling directed at her. That look seemed as if it wanted to see right through her, or as if it were looking through her toward somewhere else entirely.
Ye Ling said, "Zhengyu, I wonder if anyone has ever told you that you're very much like the little sprite in your paintings."
Wen Zhengyu shook her head. "No." Only in the paintings that Ye Ling owned had anyone ever noticed the little sprites hidden within. Only after Ye Ling bought her paintings had people spotted them. She didn't particularly like the look in Ye Ling's eyes right now. Ye Ling's words also made her feel somewhat uncomfortable, a sense of being spied upon. She stood up and said, "If there's nothing else, I'll be heading back." She made a goodbye gesture and then got up to leave.
Ye Ling watched Wen Zhengyu walk out, closing the door behind her, and couldn't help but laugh softly. She then leaned in close to the painting again, to admire the version of herself that Wen Zhengyu had painted.
Wen Zhengyu possessed a profound spirituality, and this spirituality was something she brought into her paintings, effortlessly stirring resonance and emotion within her.
From the look in the painted figure's eyes alone, she knew that Wen Zhengyu knew.
Wen Zhengyu was just like the little sprite—experiencing all of this, yet simultaneously extracting herself from it.
Wen Zhengyu's paintings contained too many joys and sorrows, too many life-and-death separations. She didn't know whether these things had an impact on Wen Zhengyu, nor whether they were a reflection of the deepest recesses of Wen Zhengyu's heart.
All Ye Ling knew was that she didn't want to become merely a fleeting scene passing before Wen Zhengyu's eyes. She didn't want to become just a transient passerby in Wen Zhengyu's life. She didn't want to be merely someone who, for a brief moment, once appeared in a painting. She wanted to keep Wen Zhengyu by her side, wanted to grasp her hand and not let her leave.
She took out her phone and sent Wen Zhengyu a text message: "I like the painting very much."
Hearing her phone's text alert, Wen Zhengyu took it out. Seeing it was a message from Ye Ling, she read it and then deleted it.
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