During that time, due to the change of work content, the task of going to the office building every Friday afternoon to hand in data fell on me. I don't think it's that difficult thing in itself, and I can do it with ease. What was unbearable was the office employee I handed over, she was a stubborn middle-aged woman with short hair and a fat body, as if she was pregnant. When I first handed over to her, she asked me if my previous employee didn't tell me how to fill in these information, and her tone was tough like a stone jumping out, I felt that she was in power, and it was difficult to refute. I had to tell her that I thought the previous method was too time-wasting and affected work efficiency, and I thought my reporting form was clearer. Her expression of disbelief seemed to be that she couldn't believe her ears - that someone would dare to object to her face. She was furious and said that if I was still obsessed, let our leaders speak to her directly.

"You such a data file. She yelled, "It's only good for yourself." ”

I had to go back and redo it, three times to satisfy her. After that, I was always careful about the handovers, and I didn't go wrong with the results of my work, and when I found the trick, it was as easy as applying a mathematical formula. And she should be based on the first bad impression of me, each time she has to find a few places to point fingers, but in the end she will say: "There are flaws, but enough." Okay, here you go. ”

That's when I learned what the piano in the lobby of the office building was for. Every Friday when I get off work and have a holiday, the piano sounds, and the player is Hai Linlin. She told me that she had learned piano as a child, that her mother was a music teacher, and that she had switched to drawing. I always thought that the piano, as a tool for entertainment, should not be in the lobby of an office building, but a few times when I went out of the office building on a Friday, listening to the beautiful sound of the piano, it felt like the whole holiday was going to be good. The pieces she plays are simple and practical, they are all pieces that require little skill, mixed with some popular songs, and as Qiu Pei once said to me, it is not suitable to play too difficult and difficult to understand on certain occasions.

Soon after these two events ended, I reorganized my mailbox and found that the emails I received every year after graduation were not only about the alumni reunion, but also an email from Mr. Ou on June 22 every year. Although the content of the first three letters is similar, it can be seen that each letter is written separately, but the last three letters are directly copied and sent again every year, and even the date of payment is still stuck three years ago. In the letter, Mr. Ou encouraged me to keep drawing, and there are very few students who insist on painting after graduation. And let me pick out a work that I think is good every year, participate in more art exhibitions, and my work can enter a nationally renowned art award selection, and give me confidence and encouragement in the email, saying that I will definitely be able to paint well. When I started learning to paint, I knew that there were a total of nine award categories, including calligraphy, painting, sculpture, photography, etc., and each category had its own awards. The prizes are rich and eye-catching, and they are the vane of the art of the whole country. More importantly, it is of great significance to the winners, and many well-known painters in China have started to get ahead from winning this award and enjoy a high reputation in the circle.

As a student who didn't take this matter too seriously, I never paid attention to the selection of this award, and I felt that it had nothing to do with me. In addition, every year, there are rumors and scandals in the art world about unfair awards, bribes from judges, winning awards based on connections, and the first-place work is too bad, which makes me even more reason to pay attention to it. After leaving school, I didn't even watch the news of the so-called art world.

For these reasons, and because I had indeed given up painting altogether—and my own level—I replied to Mr. Ou in the same respectful tone as when I was in school. First of all, I apologized to him and told him that I really didn't pay much attention to my mailbox, so it was seven years later that I saw the emails he sent me every year. Then he explained that I had completely given up painting over the years and was busy with my life, and told him about the various things I experienced after graduation, as well as my current job, and my mother-in-law wrote more than 5,000 words. Mr. Ou replied to my email a week later, saying that I would be fine with my own decisions, but he still hoped that I would persevere. And said that buying my graduation work and that portrait when I graduated naturally had a deep meaning, which impressed me deeply, and in the days to come, because of Mr. Ou's words, I will always think about painting.