Gu Shishi was being all round doted. It was a mixture of both joy and pain. Naturally, she did not have time to pay any attention to her Ink Painting Guru cellphone.

  She had failed to noticed her series of texts and calls for Huang Chuan.

  Huang Chuan had no choice but to give up regretfully and gave it his all in framing her three paintings, worried that they would be damaged accidentally or that something would go wrong in the framing process and subsequently ruining even just a little bit of the artistic concept.

  Yes, artistic concept.

  It wasn’t technique or experience that he was getting from the paintings but a kind of artistic concept that was on the top of the world and strongly conveyed the author’s strong faith in life.

  With the help of the system’s ability, Gu Shishi had spent the equivalent of 100 times the amount of time in the images to get her feel.

  There was nothing else in her mind at that moment in time and her faith was so strong that it could leap out of the paper!

  “Be careful. Be gentle during the transportation. Do not damage them.”


  Huang Chuan told the workers carefully.

  He let out a sigh and sat down on a chair for a break.

  Nevertheless, when he took off his bifocal lens and closed his eyes, the images of the paintings filled his mind!

  “That was… truly magical.”


  The next day, Huang Chuan was disappointed to discover that Gu Shishi has yet to get back to him.

  He had no choice but to head toward the exhibition venue sadly.

  “Mayor Liu, Secretary Zhang.”


  The two official who were there for the ribbon-cutting ceremony had arrived on time.

  Huang Chuan quickly went to greet them.

  The budgets of Ink Painting Association, Fine Art Association, and for the encouragement of young artists all came from high above.

  The purpose of having exhibitions periodically was to show the government officials their accomplishments during the year.

  “President Huang, you look good today.”


  Secretary Zhang went up to him and shook his hand affectionately.

  “Mayor Liu, this is Old Mr. Huang Chuan. He had hosted many of the cultural events in this town in the last few years.

  “Old Mr. Huang, your reputation precedes you.”


  This was Mayor Liu’s first time participating in an event like this since his transfer.

  “You must help interpret for us today and improve Secretary Zhang and my sense of aesthetics. And do introduce us to any up-and-coming artists.”


  Huang Chuan was too intimidated to comment on that. He exchanged some pleasantries with them before bringing them over to the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

  The entire exhibition would run for 15 days and was free to the public.

  It would commence this afternoon and reception to only government officials, reporters that befriended them, and also other accomplishing figures in the field.

  Huang Chuan, as the president, naturally accompanied Mayor Liu and Secretary Zhang the entire time.

  Ever since they had stepped foot inside the door, he explained to them many ink painting technique. The three of them walked all the way over to the three large paintings arranged in a triangular shape in the middle of the exhibition hall.

  “Mayor Liu, these three paintings…”


  Mayor Liu didn’t say anything but he looked tired half way through.

  People have different sense of aesthetics.

  From the art perspective, he had always appreciated oil paintings where both colors and emotions tend to be more intense.

  He was 39 years old and his career was just starting to take off.

  After spending an hour looking at paintings, being surrounded by reporters taking pictures of him, and listening to Huang Chuan’s introduction, his mind had long since went over to matters about his dinner with some real estate entrepreneurs tonight.

  The new policies that just came from above was to limit the amount of commercial buildings within the city.

  “Mmhmm, mmhmm.”


  Mayor Liu didn’t really hear what Old Mr. Huang was saying. He was merely nodding and smiling.

  He had just been transferred here. It was vital for him to establish good relationships with the entrepreneurs in town. On the other hand, he needed to follow the orders from above and lay down the rules.

  The best approach for him was work with a couple of reasonable ones and pick a trouble maker and use him to set an example for the others.

  But what criteria should he use?

  ___