Volume 1: Breaking Ground Chapter 1 On the Progress of Painting
Ke Xun and Wei Dong sent the sleeping Mu Yiran to the hotel. They did not leave immediately. No one had slept well during the days in the painting, so they simply called another room and fell asleep on a bed, each of them.
When Ke Xun woke up and went to the next room to visit Mu Yiran, the big boss was still sleeping.
Ke Xun thought about it and agreed. Mu Yiran was a very cautious person. He was probably the one who slept the least in the painting during these days, and he had been wasting brain cells in the final stage. Although his face always looked calm and composed, Ke Xun thought that he might also be very nervous. After all, seven lives depended on his hands. With such a huge psychological pressure, anyone else might have collapsed long ago, but he had been silently enduring it all the time and finally succeeded.
From being nervous to relaxing one day, it would be strange if you don’t have a good sleep before waking up.
Ke Xun went back to his room and took a shower. Wei Dong was also sleeping on the bed, so he didn't wake him up. Instead, he went to Mu Yiran's room again, fearing that this big man would leave without saying a word once he woke up.
Mu Yiran slept until he woke up naturally, which was a rare occasion. When he opened his eyes, it was dusk outside. He had no idea how many days he had slept.
Mu Yiran lay on the bed without moving, just staring out the window with his eyes open.
He was somewhat surprised at how unprepared he was.
He actually gave himself to Ke Xun like this, and trusted him so much that he thought he would be able to arrange everything while he was sleeping unconscious.
In fact, he, who had never indulged himself in sleep before, actually slept so...relaxed and soundly right under Ke Xun's nose.
Obviously, that guy is the one he should be most wary of!
When Mu Yiran thought of Ke Xun, his face froze. He touched himself under the quilt and saw that his coat was gone, but his shirt and pants were untouched.
Realizing that he actually had such thoughts, Mu Yiran's face turned ugly again. He pushed the quilt aside and sat up. He saw the door was pushed open and someone walked in. It was a face he did not want to see at this moment.
"Did you get enough sleep?" Ke Xun greeted him unconsciously and pulled a dining cart in from behind. "It's just right. I just ordered it from the hotel. I thought you should wake up soon. Get up, wash your face and eat something first."
I wanted to let him out, but the words were stuck in my throat.
Mu got up happily and went to the bathroom to take a shower. When he came out, Ke Xun had already put the meal on the table and was calling Wei Dong next door to wake him up.
On the table were three trays of shrimp dumplings, four plates of vegetarian dishes, and three bowls of mushroom and corn porridge.
"They're all vegetarian dishes, no meat?" Wei Dong came over from next door with sleepy eyes, sat down at the table and expressed his dissatisfaction.
"Shrimp dumplings aren't made of meat?" Ke Xun handed the chopsticks to Mu Yiran. "Besides, you just came out of that painting, can you really eat meat?"
Wei Dong's body froze: "I can't eat, I can't eat. Stop reminding me." He quickly picked up the bowl of porridge and drank it all.
After dinner, it was already dark. The lights of the city shone through the windows, but to the three people who had just been separated from the world of the painting, they seemed less real.
After kicking Wei Dong back to the next room to take a shower, Ke Xun stayed in Mu Yiran's room.
"Are you leaving tomorrow?" Ke Xun asked him.
"Um."
"Then we'll have to meet again after the next painting?" Ke Xun said.
Mu Yiran ignored him.
"Hey," Ke Xun came over and sat next to him, resting his elbows on his knees and tilting his head to look at him, "Do you have a boyfriend?"
Mu Yiran's eyes sharpened and he stared at him coldly: "Ke Xun, I will not tolerate your offense again and again."
"My attitude is very sincere," Ke Xun smiled and raised his hand to make a swearing gesture, "You don't have to answer, I don't intend to do anything to you, I'm just curious.
"I understand that we are not from the same world. You are a big shot, surrounded by elite talents from the upper class, and you live a dream life that I can never imagine.
"As for me, I am just an ordinary citizen, a frog in a well. Apart from dreaming about you, a swan that I can see but cannot touch, I don't have any capital or strength to squeeze into the world of you people.
"That's me... I just want to know what kind of person you would like, how outstanding the person you like would be, and then secretly feel envious.
"Forget it, just pretend I never asked. I'm going back to next door now. I may not see you tomorrow. I wish you a bon voyage in advance. See you in the next painting."
After saying that, he stood up and left the room. When he closed the door, he turned back and waved at Mu Yiran with a smile.
The next morning, Mu Yiran decided to leave first and settle the bill for the three people. However, when he arrived at the front desk, the waiter told him that the bill had already been settled. At dawn this morning, two young gentlemen paid the entire bill before leaving.
Mu Yiran stood in the lobby for a while before leaving the hotel.
Back in City Z, Weidong goes home to find his mother, while Ke Xun goes home to stay in an empty house.
It turns out that the world in that painting is really like a series of horrific nightmares. Once you are involved, you can never get rid of it. You have to keep entering and trying to escape, and you don’t know when it will end.
Ke Xun has already accepted this powerless reality. Fortunately, since he became alone, he has been very open-minded about everything. After experiencing the life and death situations described in these two paintings, he has even become less concerned about life and death.
This way, everything seems even more meaningless.
Ke Xun rested for two days, went out to see a movie, made an appointment with Wei Dong to go to the night market to eat some skewers, and had a meal with a few buddies who worked in his gym. They ate, drank, sang karaoke and flirted with gays, and no one noticed that he was any different from before.
But on this day, a notification tone suddenly rang from my mobile phone. I opened it and saw it was a WeChat friend request from a person with the nickname "Sword-hearted Qin" and an additional message: I am Qin Ci.
Ke Xun added a friend.
Corgi: [Hello, it’s our first meeting, I don’t know what to say, let’s kiss first.jpg]
Sword-hearted Qin: …
Jiandan Qinxin: Ke Xun, I have created a group, please join us.
Corgi: [OJ8K.jpg]
The name of the group is "Enter the Paintings". I clicked on it to look at the members and saw that in addition to Qin Ci, there was also Sha Liu, and then Wei Dong also joined in. The last one to come in was Mu Yiran.
I don’t know when these people exchanged phone numbers and V signals.
Jiandan Qinxin: We can't just sit there and wait for death. Let's get together and think of a solution, whether it's exchanging clues or popularizing knowledge about paintings. It's better than nothing. What if the next painting we bring in happens to be one we've learned about?
Wenroulu: This is a bit like predicting the test questions. But when it comes to painting knowledge, Brother Mu should have the most say.
Wei Feng·Mang: Shit! We have a group now? [社會社會.jpg] But shouldn’t we change the name of the group? Changing the character “者” to “论” would be cooler, “进画论”, doesn’t it sound cool?
Corgi: [Are you a sand sculpture?
Wei Feng·Rang: [Damn it.jpg]
Corgi: [Believe it or not, I can kill you with one blow.jpg]
Wei Feng·Mang: [Why are you being so fierce? I’ll just go away.jpg]
Sword-hearted Qin: ...
Gentle Green: ...
Corgi: Where are the three members of the Geng family?
Jian Dan Qin Xin: I have sent an invitation to join the group, but there is no response yet. We can chat first.
Wenroulu: Is Brother Mu busy?
Mooney:
Corgi: [Don't let me see you, or I'll like you every time I see you.jpg]
Sword-hearted Qin: ...
Gentle Green: ...
Wei Feng·Mang: [Making trouble at the bottom line of morality.jpg]
Corgi: [Meow-style cuteness.jpg]
Jiandan Qinxin: I suggest that during this period of time we collect more information about the Rhino and Elephant Art Museum, which is our next destination. No matter what kind of information and clues we collect, we should send them to the group in time for sharing.
Gentle Green: Okay.
Wei Feng·Mang: [This touches upon my blind spot in knowledge.jpg]
Corgi: [Hands that are at a loss look OK.jpg]
Mooney: Okay .
Ke Xun put down his phone, went to the study, turned on his computer that he hadn't used for a long time, and searched the Internet for "Rhino-Elephant Art Museum".
The Rhino-Elephant Art Museum will hold an art exhibition on the day marked on the ticket. That day is the first day of the exhibition. The exhibition includes works by 18 painters from home and abroad. However, Ke Xun has looked through all the more than 1,000 search results and has not found any one that provides a more detailed description of the paintings on display. At most, it only mentions that the museum will exhibit more than 300 works, and points out the names of four or five of the most famous works.
Ke Xun casually sent the potentially useful clues to the "Jinhualun" group.
Wei Feng·Meng: More than 300 works? We only have ten days, how can we study them all?!
Wenroulu: Moreover, the works exhibited in the museum may not include all the works of the painters. In other words, we cannot be sure which works of the painters are on display. Therefore, we need to study not only these 300-odd paintings, but even all the works of these 18 painters.
Jiandan Qinxin: This is a huge project, but as the saying goes, something is better than nothing. It is better to be prepared than to be unprepared.
Corgi: [Everyone stop and listen to me: I am about to start embarrassing myself.jpg]
Sword-hearted Qin: ...
Gentle Green: ...
Wei Feng·Mang: [The smile gradually solidifies.jpg]
Corgi: It doesn’t matter if we draw too many. Let’s find a way to make electronic versions and put them all on our phones. We can then call them up and look at them when the time comes. What do you think?
Mooney: Not to mention that many of the paintings are protected by copyright and are not available online, as far as I know, some of the works on display in this exhibition are even being exhibited publicly for the first time, and it is impossible for us to find relevant descriptions and photos in advance.
Corgi: "You are right" WeChat red envelope
Corgi: "You are right" WeChat red envelope
Corgi: "You are right" WeChat red envelope
Corgi: "You are right" WeChat red envelope
…
Sword-hearted Qin: ...
Gentle Green: ...
Wei Feng·Mang: Can I get one quietly? Just one.
Corgi: [I'll beat you till you shit. I'll beat your anus.jpg]
Wei Feng·Rang: [grievance.jpg] [Dog, you have changed.jpg]
Jiandan Qinxin: Some bad news, I have been unable to contact Mr. and Mrs. Geng. No one answered the phone and no one replied to the WeChat messages. I don’t know what happened.
Mooney: Do they take their kids to counseling?
Jiandan Qinxin: No, my old classmate who is a psychologist never waited for them to come to visit.
Corgi: @剑胆秦心, do you have Geng's home address? Send it to me and I'll go check it out.
Jiandan Qinxin: Mr. Geng did not leave me his address, he only said I could contact him by phone or WeChat.
Mooney: Give me a call and I'll ask a friend to look up the address.
Corgi: [As expected of the man I like.jpg]
However, the result of Mu Yiran's inquiry was not good.
Three members of the Geng family went missing, and even though their relatives had reported the case to the police, their whereabouts have not been found yet.
Qin Ci told them the consequences of not entering the painting, but obviously, this was the final choice of the Geng couple.
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, it is time to move on to the next painting.
