Return to the Road of God

Ian: "Why?"

Kevin: "Because, SAFale's painting reminds me of a person."

Ian: "Who?"

Kevin: "An artist with a sad life experience, his name is Xia Xiaochuan, who was... my teacher."

It was a chaotic era that had just ended, and everything was coming to an end. Many once powerful families were torn apart by the chaos, and the Tao family was not spared.

His father's family declined, and Tao Sifei grew up with the blessing of his mother's family. At the age of eight, under the recommendation of his cousin Guan Lin Yun, he became a teacher of an artist who had just returned from studying abroad. That person was Xia Xiaochuan.

"...Sifei, the Xia family never accepted outsiders. Due to some accidents, Mr. Xia is willing to accept a student who is not related by blood. He is a talented artist. It is your blessing to learn from him..." Guan Lin If you are lucky, it seems to be still in your ears.

Xia Xiaochuan is an extremely quiet person, because he has never taken care of students before, and he doesn't know how to communicate with Tao Sifei. The only interaction between the two is assigning and grading homework.

For example, Xia Xiaochuan asked Tao Sifei to draw a pot of camellias in the garden. When Tao Sifei finished the painting, he would show it to him and he would revise it for him. This was considered teaching.

A piece of homework can't be finished in a few hours, which is simply a torture for the eight-year-old boy. After the initial novelty, Tao Sifei began to skip class.Xia Xiaochuan doesn't care about him. Sometimes when he comes back from playing all afternoon, Xia Xiaochuan still maintains the same appearance when he left, either sitting in front of the drawing board and drawing his paintings like no one else, or staring blankly. If Tao Sifei didn't ask him for advice, he would never Take the initiative to ask Tao Sifei to do something.

But Tao Sifei knew that Xia Xiaochuan was not indifferent, he would smile at him, greet him gently, and take every homework he corrected seriously, but he just didn't know how to get along with him.

Such a quiet Xia Xiaochuan gradually attracted Tao Sifei's attention.He was very curious why Xia Xiaochuan could stay in the studio for a whole day, day after day, without ever feeling bored.

"Sir, do you like painting very much?" Tao Sifei remembered asking him like that.

Xia Xiaochuan was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "I don't know if I like it or not."

He asked: "Huh? Since you don't know, why do you draw every day?"

Xia Xiaochuan answered him: "Because I have been painting or doing things related to painting since I was sensible, it has become my instinct, just like eating and sleeping every day, people have to eat. Therefore, Painting is the same for me.”

The young Tao Sifei didn't fully understand that passage, he just felt ignorantly that Mr. Xia is a very powerful person.The definition of "great" is that the person has done something that he couldn't do. Yes, it is really amazing to be able to treat painting as eating and sleeping!

Tao Sifei began to observe that person from time to time. The expression of that person was so serious when he was painting, and the attitude of forgetting to eat and sleep when he was devoted to it made people yearn for him. That person never felt tired, unlike other adults he had seen.

Most of the children are rebellious. The elders say you should go west, but he wants to go east. Tao Sifei at that age is the same.If someone forced him to stay in the studio, he would think of escaping, but once no one cares about him, escaping would not be any exciting. At that time, instead, he hoped that Xia Xiaochuan could take care of him, whether it was criticism or education, he would Hope to be noticed.

Students want to be noticed by teachers, and the only thing they can do is to study hard.

Tao Sifei impatiently spent several days drawing on the drawing board, and each time he spent more than half a day, but the minute hand only made a half-circle on the clock dial.Most of the paintings I draw are also anticlimactic. I was very serious at the beginning, but they always ended hastily in the end.

Once, he became impatient when he was halfway through the drawing, and started to scribble with a brush. At that moment, Xia Xiaochuan stopped him suddenly.

"Don't worry..." Xia Xiaochuan walked up to him and said, "If you can't continue drawing, put down the pen, go for a walk, and continue when you feel in the mood."

Tao Sifei looked at him confusedly: "Stop drawing halfway?"

Xia Xiaochuan: "Of course, look at me, a painting, sometimes it takes several days, or even several weeks."

Tao Sifei followed his advice and stopped forcing himself to draw when he didn't feel like drawing. Sometimes he only drew a few strokes before stopping to look at Xia Xiaochuan's paintings.

The longer I pay attention to that person, the more I wish I could be closer to him, I hope I can be the pen in his hand, the painting he draws, the world in his eyes... What is he thinking?Why can he paint such beautiful colors?Why is he always so calm and unhurried, even a blade of grass can be painted patiently for a whole day?

Sometimes, education does not necessarily have to be preaching, and the actions of teachers may touch children more, or set an example.

Once upset and irritable, just looking at Xia Xiaochuan's back will calm him down.

Gradually, he began to get into shape, following Xia Xiaochuan, and he studied for five years.From eight to 13 years old, from an ignorant child to a high-spirited teenager.

Few people know that he is Xia Xiaochuan's student, and Xia Xiaochuan has never brought him to any communication occasions with colleagues.

He asked why, Xia Xiaochuan said, painting is a personal thing.

He said that someone saw his painting and thought it was very beautiful, so he wanted to ask himself for one; Xia Xiaochuan said, Xia’s paintings are never spread outside the public, and I will not stop you from giving your paintings to others as gifts, but if you give them , please don't tell others that I am your teacher.

He asked, Mr. Xia, you paint so well, why don't you hold an exhibition so that others can appreciate your works; Xia Xiaochuan said with a smile, there is no need to show off when it comes to eating and sleeping.

……

Five years of painting has smoothed Tao Sifei's frizzy personality, and he has learned a lot from Xia Xiaochuan, which has formed an indelible influence on the establishment of the Three Views.

During the process of learning painting, Tao Sifei also learned a lot about Xia Xiaochuan.

Xia Xiaochuan was brought back from abroad by the second son of the Bai family, Bai Changqing, six years ago, and his family members passed away while he was abroad.Soon after returning to China, Bai Changqing went to another country on business, and entrusted Guan Lin Yun to take care of Xia Xiaochuan who was alone. Therefore, Xia Xiaochuan lived in the villa that Guan Lin Yun rented for him.

After Bai Changqing left, Xia Xiaochuan's personality became more and more withdrawn, and he didn't want to see anyone. Guan Linyun worried that he was too closed, so he persuaded him to take in a few students to adjust his mood.

But Xia Xiaochuan was afraid of the noise, and originally he didn't even want to accept Tao Sifei, so Guan Linyun brought him over on his own initiative. Xia Xiaochuan was embarrassed to send him back, so he stayed, but after accepting Tao Sifei, he was unwilling to accept others.So, he became Xia Xiaochuan's only student... After learning the truth, Tao Sifei didn't know whether he was lucky or depressed.

He also heard that due to the sudden death of a relative, Xia Xiaochuan was mentally stimulated and became abnormal, but he saw that Xia Xiaochuan didn't behave strangely except for being in a daze from time to time.

In the five years, the only time Tao Sifei saw him lose his temper was one evening in the late summer of the fourth year.

He remembered it very clearly, because the next day was Guan Linyun's wedding day, and the wedding banquet was held in an extremely low-key manner. He got the news from his mother the night before, and was told not to mention it to Mr. Xia.

Young and ignorant, he asked why. In his impression, Guan Linyun and Mr. Xia were very good friends. There was no reason why a friend should not be informed of their marriage.

Mommy replied in a dazed manner: "You are still young and don't understand adults' affairs. Anyway, don't mention it in front of Mr. Xia. Your cousin will tell you later."

Sure enough, he received a call from Guan Linyun that night, telling him not to go to the studio for two days, saying that Mr. Xia was unwell.

The next day, after thinking about it, he felt that the teacher was ill and he should visit him, so he took two tea eggs and went out.

In the evening, Tao Sifei started to rain not long after he went out. Fortunately, the two houses were not far away, so he quickly ran to Xia Xiaochuan's residence.

He called "Mr. Xia" loudly at the door, but no one answered.Xia Xiaochuan gave him a key, he opened the door and went in, searched the whole building, only found the nanny dozing off in the kitchen.

"Isn't Mr. in the studio?" The nanny was also very strange.

The two searched separately, thunder roared outside, and the drizzle poured down in a blink of an eye, Tao Sifei was extremely anxious.

After searching for an unknown amount of time, Tao Sifei finally saw him in the garden—the man was sitting alone on a stone chair in the garden, his slender body wrapped in thin clothes, drenched in the rain, and his hair Sticking to his forehead and ear temples, the rain slid down his cheeks. He didn't seem to notice it, just sat there in a daze, those hands in Tao Sifei's eyes were like magicians, tightly grasping the cold water. Stone chair surface.

His lips were as pale as his face. It was obviously the rain in midsummer, but it felt like a layer of ice was covering his body.

What worried Tao Sifei was the man's eyes, a pair of unblinking red eyes.

...he was crying...

After a long time, when Tao Sifei thought of that moment, he would be so distressed that he could not breathe.

And when he later learned many hidden truths and secrets, he became even more uncontrollably sad for that person, and even developed some terrible obsessions.

Although he is his only student, to him, he probably doesn't even count as "inadvertently inserting a willow", so naturally he doesn't care whether he is shady or not. A few drafts.

But what kind of feelings do I have for that person?

teachers and students?No, it's definitely not that simple!If it was just a teacher and a student, he wouldn't leave that place where everything changed after that person passed away, and he didn't want to go back.Even after that, he almost never had anything to do with the Guanbai family, and only had vague connections with some juniors who were not involved in it...

"What happened next?" Ian asked impatiently. He was very curious about the "secret" that his brother didn't tell, and it was the first time he heard his brother tell this story.

Kevin stood by the window, thinking in a daze——Tao Sifei, which is his Chinese name, "I will tell you about the later things when I have a chance later."

Ian yelled, "It's too much to eat!"

Kevin was silent, and Ian complained and sighed: "Hey, I really envy you, such a good person, I am lucky enough to learn from him."

Are you lucky? Kevin smiled wryly, is it luck or disaster?

... He will never know that he admired him, but in his life, he will never have another chance.

"When I learned painting from Mr. Xia, you were still in Mama's baby." Kevin teased.

Ian asked: "Why didn't you learn to draw after that?"

Kevin paused, and said, "Even if I paint all my life, it's still not one-tenth of that person."

What's more, he knew very well that he only painted to be able to stay by that person's side, since that person was no longer there, why would he continue to paint, it would only cause sadness.

Kevin sighed: "Let's get back to the topic, I want to fund SAFale because his painting style is very similar to Mr. Xia."

Ian asked: "But why do you doubt that Ye Yufan is SAFale?"

When the Royal Academy of Art was still holding a theme exhibition, Ian knew that his brother was paying attention to SAFale. The mysterious identity of SAFale made Kevin very troubled, and he inquired through various channels to no avail.Later, seeing the official announcement that SAFale was open for funding, Kevin submitted the letter of intent for funding almost immediately, but unfortunately it was rejected in the end.

Afterwards, Kevin investigated through private channels and narrowed down the possible identity of SAFale to a smaller range, and deduced that he was most likely a Chinese student. Ian also read those materials and saw Ye Yufan's name on the list.

A few days ago, Ian rescued Ye Yufan, saw his name in the corner of the sketchbook dropped by the other party, and told Kevin about it.

"I only met Ye Yufan once, when I went to MR for the annual inspection during the New Year, and I learned that his English name is Shotray," Kevin said quietly, "Mr. Xia's English name is also called Shotray."

Ian was puzzled: "...there are too many English names with the same name, which doesn't explain anything at all."

"I didn't pay much attention to it at first, but," Kevin said, looking at Ian, "I saw his sketchbook today, and I can almost confirm that Ye Yufan is SAFale, especially the "Green Leaves in Midsummer", which has a similar style of painting. Same thing with SAFale."

Ian is powerless to refute, yes, the painting is the best evidence, but, "I have a little doubt... If Fan is SAFale, it means that Fan's painting style is similar to that of Mr. Xia, but at Yifan's age, it is impossible to see Mr. Xia, I heard that he is from Ningcheng, and his ancestral home is not in the same place as Mr. Xia, so it should be a pure coincidence that he is called Shotray."

Kevin: "Hmmm..."

Ian: "That is to say, you included him in the scope of suspicion because of a coincidence, but you just found out that he is the right person. In this way, even the 'coincidence' becomes suspicious."

"..." Ian was absolutely right. This is exactly what Kevin couldn't understand. From just now, he felt that Ye Yufan had many stories to hide from them, not only the identity of SA Fale...but also the official Hongze who gave him a special message at the beginning of the year. The fact that he called himself and asked to meet with Shotray at the restaurant meant that the young master of the official family had also noticed him.Ye Yufan has such a talent, it is difficult to hide himself - but why did he hide himself?

Ian said again: "Now I think again, you asked Mr. Xia that question when you were a child, and I asked Fan a similar question in the morning."

Kevin: "What's the problem?"

"I asked Fan if he liked painting very much," Ian recalled. "Fan's answer was almost exactly the same as Mr. Xia's. He said that painting has become his instinct, just like eating and sleeping."

Kevin: "..."