The woman surnamed Zhong should have been divorced, with a bloated body, a ruddy face, and a very diligent person, always looking around in the studio, and when she found that there was something to do, she immediately pounced on her like a hungry tiger. In the studio, wipe a table and sweep the floor, help people get some water or something, needless to say, she has all done it. Especially when she goes out to buy something for the studio, she is even more active. Lu Yinhuan bought something with her once, and under her temptation, embezzled a sketch exercise book. It's a pity that there are too few things that can be done for her, so she often runs to the kitchen to help, and then runs back to the studio to report to everyone what to eat at noon today.

Dong Ling's chin was once covered with a piece of gauze, and for some reason, she said that she had an abscess there, and it was always bad. I guess it's because of overnutrition. She talked a lot, most of which were about war, probably because her father was the deputy head of a certain army, and the purpose of saying these things was nothing more than to show off that she belonged to the army. "You know what? Recently, the army is going to be downsized, which is the largest in history, and the document has been transmitted to the regiment commander level cadre, I saw it from my father......" "There was another flood in Henan, and many people died, and my father's guard was from Henan, and his family also died, and my father specially approved him to go home and see ......" "Last night I went to the house of Deputy Commander Du of the Pacification Office to play ......"

Yingge is short, a little loop-legged, with a round face, a crooked nose, and a red nose. Lu Yinhuan later learned that he used to have a normal nose, and then he got into a fight with a woman for some reason, but was smashed on the bridge of his nose by the other party and collapsed. He went to the hospital for surgery, but the results were not very successful, and now the bridge of his nose is still crooked, and the tip of his nose is still as red as if he had suffered from chilblains. He doesn't like to show people in front of people when he talks to people, he always turns his face sideways, and from time to time he reaches out and touches his red nose, hoping to slightly block the sight of others on this red nose.

Li Peony has pale skin, dark eyebrows, and a fox face, she doesn't like to talk much, and likes to hold this Saturday's magazine when she goes to work. Lu Yinhuan was inexplicably surprised that her parents gave her this name, generally painters choose names more elegantly, and I didn't see Li Mudan ask Master Xu for a new name.

At that time, Lu Yinhuan was not familiar with anyone, and she had nothing to do, so she was quite bored at work (she had not yet met her future fiancé Yu Peng), so she was anxious to find someone to establish a friendly relationship. Soon, she became interested in Ai Zhongxin, who often came to their studio to play, and for some reason, this big man with a melancholy temperament made her very relatable.

At noon, Ai Zhongxin especially likes to come to their studio for dinner. He took the food from the kitchen, sat down at an empty painting table, opened a bottle of Yibin special brewed liquor, and poured himself a drink, usually drinking two or three taels and not drinking it. The bottle of Yibin special brewed liquor is always on a desk, and it seems that it can't be drunk, it seems to be a well that never runs out, and Ai Zhongxin can pour the wine at any time. It took a little longer for Lu Yinhuan to discover the secret, it turned out that whenever a bottle of wine was drunk, the girl named Li Peony in the studio would buy another bottle and put it on the table, waiting for Ai Zhongxin to drink it. Although Li Peony doesn't like to talk much, as long as Ai Zhongxin comes to eat at noon, she will sit opposite him and eat with him, and she talks more. Slowly, Lu Yinhuan guessed the relationship between the two, and everyone in the studio seemed to know that they were a pair of hidden lovers, but no one ever talked about it, and no one dared to joke about their relationship.

Sometimes in addition to the food from the kitchen, Ai Zhongxin will also buy some braised vegetables from the street to eat, that is, a pack of pig ears or a pack of salted duck, at this time he will drink a little more wine, a lot of wine, a lot of talk, talking and talking, Li Peony became impatient, shouted at him: "Okay, you, don't drink." ”

Ai Zhongxin showed his gold-inlaid front teeth and grinned: "You can also take a sip." ”

"Who drinks your stinky wine." Li Peony stood up and walked out of the studio.

Ai Zhongxin continued to eat and drink, and talked to people, but others were not interested in his rap, so they gave him a few perfunctory words, or took a nap on the table, or walked out of the studio under the pretext of excuses. At this time, only Lu Yinhuan neither took a nap nor left, and listened to him willingly. This made Ai Zhongxin very happy, and every time he drank too much in the future, he would pull Lu Yinhuan to chatter. Gradually, the relationship between the two became closer and closer, and he had almost nothing to say to Lu Yinhuan, and Lu Yinhuan's understanding of many situations around Master Xu basically came from him. He especially likes to tell Lu Yinhuan anecdotes about Master Xu Beihong, Lu Yinhuan sounds relished, and whenever he mentions Master Xu, he always likes to use the word "tiger" to refer to him specifically. Lu Yinhuan didn't know why before, but later he figured out that it was Ai Zhongxin who said that he was afraid of his wife. But how can the fear be referred to as a tiger, this Lu Yinhuan has always wondered.

"When Tiger went to Shanghai on a business trip, he stayed at the Jin Jiang Hotel, and one day he got drunk and painted on the wall of his room, and he drew two big black horses on the snow-white wall......"

When the time came for the end of the afternoon, Ai Zhongxin's wine was also drunk, and he put the glass wine glass on the mouth of the bottle. Every time he drank wine, he never washed the glass, just buckled it on the mouth of the bottle, and the next time he picked it up and drank it, the glass glass was full of faint oil marks. Lu Yinhuan asked him: "Why do you never wash the cup and don't feel dirty?" ”

He said: "Wine is sterilized, dirty whatever. ”

Lu Yinhuan noticed that whenever Ai Zhongxin drank too much, at the beginning of the afternoon, he would find an opportunity to look at Li Peony, but Li Peony pretended not to see it, and then Ai Zhongxin left first, and after a while, Li Peony would definitely leave. Then they will not be seen again in the afternoon. I guess they went to the street to play, or found a place to sleep. After eating and drinking, go merry and happy, this painting is really speechless.

Ai Zhongxin's wife came to the company to look for him, it was a short and fat old woman. is much older than Ai Zhongxin, like he is in his forties, and he is only about 1.5 meters tall, and the two are very incompatible when they stand together. She came to Ai Zhongxin to ask for money, Ai Zhongxin gave her the money, she didn't say a word, turned around and left. Later, I heard that his wife used to be a nurse in the army, but she was stabbed with a knife by a wounded soldier, and she didn't look for a job when she went home with a pen, and she didn't do anything all day, just playing mahjong. As long as Ai Zhongxin gives her money on time every month, she never cares what Ai Zhongxin does, and she rarely sees her shadow at home, she soaks in the neighbors to play mahjong day and night. Sometimes when she loses too much, she will pester Ai Zhongxin to ask for money, and if she doesn't give it to her, she will cry and make trouble. Ai Zhongxin mentioned her like an ignorant child, she was indeed like a child, not only did she do nothing, but even her own clothes, including underwear and socks, were washed by Ai Zhongxin. Ai Zhongxin is married for the second time, and he and his ex-wife also have a daughter, who is eight years old and has lived with Ai Zhongxin's parents.

Ai Zhongxin often went to his parents' house to see his daughter, and sometimes stayed at his parents' house for several days in a row, but he never let his daughter come to his own house. "Ai Zhongxin's relationship with his wife is very strange, he always comes home in the middle of the night, then takes care of the housework, makes a side dish or two, drinks half a catty of old wine alone, and goes to bed in a daze. In the early hours of the morning, before his wife got up, he had already left again, and he couldn't even talk to his wife every day. This Lu Yinhuan doesn't understand, his feelings are pinned on him to have a daughter, and he has Li Peony to be merry and happy, so what does he want such a wife for? But he never said that he didn't like his wife, which was a bit inexplicable.

After getting in touch with Ai Zhongxin a lot and getting to know him a little better, Lu Yinhuan found that he was not as idle as he seemed on the surface, but in fact he kept painting people outside. He is very capable, knows how to write art and stucco, can also help people engrave mimeographs, and suffers hard, often takes some small jobs outside to do, and earns a lot of money. Every time he received a job, he would not come to the studio for a few days, or he would come and show up and leave, and no one would dare to care about him anyway. He once asked Lu Yinhuan: "Do you want to make some money?" The next time I get a job, you come with me to do it. Lu Yinhuan said that he didn't know what to do. He said, "You just have to do what I say, it's not difficult." Lu Yinhuan still refused, firstly, because there was a difference between men and women, and he didn't want others to gossip more, mainly because he was lazy, and he didn't want to take advantage of him. He also took the initiative to propose to Lu Yinhuan: "If you are short of money, tell me, and I will give it to you." He obviously didn't say it casually, of course, Lu Yinhuan wouldn't open this mouth to him even if he was short of money. She never wants to owe favors easily, and that makes her uneasy. Her view is that it is good for people to have a good relationship with each other, but it is not beautiful to put it into practice.

Ai Zhongxin is really good to Lu Yinhuan, but in fact, she hasn't done anything for him, at most, he drinks too much to listen to him, and chats with him when he has nothing to do, and in her heart, she doesn't see him as the same person as herself, at best he is just a boredom partner when painting, so after work, he asks himself to eat and drink or something, Lu Yinhuan never shirks, and he doesn't mind.

Another point is that Ai Zhongxin is different from the vast majority of people around Master Xu, he did not enter this academy by connection, he has no relationship. In fact, he was kind to Master Xu, and when Master Xu was in exile, Ai Zhongxin had already set up a studio to do some military business. Master Xu was short of money, so he provided a lot of emergency help. But the reason why he was able to get mixed up in the academy to this day is definitely not because the master misses the old, because the earliest elders of the academy have long been driven away by him, and only Ai Zhongxin is left. So how was Master Xu able to tolerate Ai Zhongxin? It is not an exaggeration to say that it is "tolerant", because the most disrespectful master and wife in the company is Ai Zhongxin. Naturally, Ai Zhongxin still respects Master Xu in person, and he doesn't say anything when Master Xu scolds him, but behind his back, he dares to scold the master and his wife in front of anyone, not only that, but the trivial things when the master was down and down in the past are also passed out from Ai Zhongxin. For example, the master once went to the countryside to sell ducks...... All of this, there will undoubtedly be people who report to the master, and there will always be a lot of people who want to pat the master's ass, but I haven't seen what the master does with Ai Zhongxin. Although the master definitely doesn't like Ai Zhongxin either, he usually ignores him when he sees him, why is this? Later, by chance, Lu Yinhuan finally knew the answer to this question.

One day at noon, Ai Zhongxin drank too much again, I don't know why Li Peony was not there that day, just after the lunch break in the afternoon, Ai Zhongxin asked Lu Yinhuan if he would like to accompany him out to catch up on a small job, Lu Yinhuan thought about it and agreed.

It is not far from the art academy, and it takes more than ten minutes to walk. It turned out that they were drawing a secret map for someone. The people inside told him what facilities should be painted, such as deer villages, hidden castles, city walls, firepower points, etc., Lu Yinhuan was frightened, if this happened, at least he would be imprisoned, and he would be killed. But Ai Zhongxin was like a nobody, and it was done in three or five clicks, and the other party was overjoyed, paid the remuneration and left.

Ai Zhongxin got the money, and when he saw that it was still early, he took Lu Yinhuan to the teahouse to set up a dragon gate array. There were few people inside, they found a seat, first ordered a pot of hair tips, soaked and poured it, and ordered some snacks, Lu Yinhuan was not hungry, within a few minutes, Ai Zhongxin suddenly ordered wine, and warmly invited Lu Yinhuan to accompany him to drink a few cups. Lu Yinhuan refused, and under the pretext of going back to the academy, Ai Zhongxin did not force it anymore. They lay on two adjacent bamboo couches, drinking tea and smoking cigarettes. In addition to the two of them, there was an old man in the teahouse, who had a towel on his stomach, shirtless, already asleep, snoring softly.

The afternoon sun shone through the window above, and the room was quiet, except for the slight snoring of the old man and the buzzing of a flying fly. At this moment, Ai Zhongxin's strength had passed, his face was slightly red, and he looked refreshed, he was lying on his back with his face facing the sky, his mouth was pinched into a trumpet shape, and he was spitting smoke rings upward, looking contented. Lu Yinhuan asked him, "Big brother, what are your plans in the future?" ”

"Intended?" He glanced at Lu Yinhuan, got up and took a sip of tea, and said, "I don't have any plans, but I still want to have a child in the future." ”

"Don't you have a daughter?"

"I also want a boy."

Lu Yinhuan thought of his short, fat and ignorant wife, who he probably raised for this. "Why not now, wait later?"

"I'm drinking too hard now, and it's not healthy to have a baby like this. I want to wait until I quit drinking for a while before having children. ”

Oh, I didn't expect him to be so careful.

Originally, Lu Yinhuan wanted to talk to him, but he stretched out, closed his eyes, and fell asleep after a while.

After a long time, Lu Yinhuan and the painters in the academy got acquainted with each other. The relationship here is very easy to get along with, everyone has no stakes at all, they are all confused, no one can hinder anyone, saying that it is a painter, where is there any painting to paint, it is better to call a painter more accurate. Even except for Lao Mi who has a fixed painting table, others don't even have a fixed painting table, usually just get together to play and chat, what do you want a fixed painting table? You sit wherever you like, and no one cares about you anywhere else.

After Dong Ling learned that Lu Yinhuan's father was also a soldier, he introduced her to the same way, and talked to her at every turn, "our military children" are how they are, and once told her: "Our military children are different from others wherever they go." Lu Yinhuan asked her, "Why is it different?" She thought for a while and said, "Temperament, temperament is different." Lu Yinhuan originally wanted to ask her: "What is temperament?" Thinking that it was not very friendly to ask such a question, and that it was too profound for her poor brain, I didn't ask any more.

Comparatively speaking, there is still a bit of content in talking to Yingge. He probably thinks that Lu Yinhuan is quite literate and likes to talk to her very much, especially like to talk to her about abstract things, such as, why people live, why do people get married, do you believe in feelings, and so on. As soon as there was a lot of this kind of conversation, Lu Yinhuan understood him a little, obviously his life was a little empty, and his body also longed for it. Lu Yinhuan has only sympathy for this. She had considered reasoning with him at length, trying to enlighten him, and at the same time, gradually she began to think about whether she wanted to really help him. Lu Yinhuan said this, not because she was amorous. Yingge does trust himself quite a lot, not only does he like to talk to her, but he also asked her to go to his house for dinner alone, and he lives alone. In addition, although it didn't work out in the end, he also asked Lu Yinhuan to give her a staff officer, as if she was some close friend of his. One day in the art academy, his face was not very good, and he looked aggrieved, Lu Yinhuan casually asked him if he was not feeling well, and he did not answer her immediately. After a while, when only the two of them were left in the studio, he whispered to Lu Yinhuan that his mother was seriously ill and forced him to go back to get married, and asked her to keep it secret for him and ask her opinion. A man must not say such a thing casually to a person of the opposite sex.

Of course, helping him is not too difficult for Lu Yinhuan. His appearance is not ugly, and his status as a painter even adds a certain charm to his round face. The question is, if Lu Yinhuan helps him, what if he sticks to himself, and what if he wants to fall in love with her? Sometimes it is dangerous not to be able to fully pin your hopes on his understanding, compared to Lu Yinhuan, although she does not yet have a heart, she has never thought of playing with feelings. However, they see each other almost every day, and they are full of food and drink, and they are idle and have nothing to do. As the saying goes, "full of warmth and lust", so the idea of wanting to help him is still a bit tempting to Lu Yinhuan, and as a result, just like "live or die" bothers Hamlet, helping her or not helping him has always troubled Lu Yinhuan. This kind of troubles accompanied her until she left the academy, so that Lu Yinhuan's attitude was always uncertain in her dealings with him, far and near. It's close, it's a little scared, it's far away, it's a little unwilling. Like the time when he asked her to go to his house for dinner alone, Lu Yinhuan claimed to be bold and agreed without hesitation, but as soon as she finished eating, as soon as it was dark, she ignored his retention and found an excuse to slip away.

Maybe it was Lu Yinhuan's attitude that also made him anxious, and he also wanted to help her and help her take that crucial step. At first, he thought that Lu Yinhuan and Ai Zhongxin had an ambiguous relationship, but after figuring it out, he was relieved. Therefore, he once told Lu Yinhuan like this, and now he has a very light view of marriage, isn't it just a piece of paper, what is it? In fact, as long as the two of them have feelings for each other, it doesn't matter what happens. But the more he said this, the more Lu Yinhuan was afraid that he would set himself up, so the more he cowered. In short, their relationship is becoming more and more awkward and delicate.

Yingge's dissatisfaction with Lu Yinhuan is certain. Later, the woman surnamed Zhong told her privately that she had heard Yingge speak ill of her from his wife, saying that she was using the phone of the art institute to make private calls. Only then did Lu Yinhuan remember that his wife had indeed mentioned it to her, saying that if there was nothing important, try not to use the phone of the art academy to chat. At that time, she wondered how her wife knew about this, she had suspected Lao Mi, but it didn't look like it, that guy didn't ask anything but to draw horses and sketch. Now things are finally clear. But despite this, I don't blame Yingge, on the contrary, Lu Yinhuan has a deep self-reproach for him in her heart, she knows that he is hating because of love.

When Lu Yinhuan left the academy, there was a period of time when she had a very bad time: she couldn't find a job, and her parents, who were expecting her to be successful, were angry that she was useless. During that time, Lu Yinhuan was in a very bad mood, and one night she accidentally remembered Yingge and remembered his affection for her, and she didn't mean anything else, she just wanted to see him. Later, she regretted her impulsiveness.

Lu Yinhuan hired a rickshaw to go to his house, and she remembers that he lived in a small courtyard house in the city. After arriving, Lu Yinhuan called his name in the courtyard, and he came out, and there was no exciting scene as Lu Yinhuan imagined, which was very unexpected for her. He should be able to guess the purpose of his visit, and he should be looking forward to the arrival of the person he loves. But his attitude was lukewarm, as if he was not too reluctant to let Lu Yinhuan into the house, and only talked to her outside the door.

At that time, Lu Yinhuan was in a bad mood, and she didn't care about this, and without waiting for his invitation, she almost broke into his house with a cheeky face. As soon as she entered the room, she understood why he treated herself like this: Dong Ling, who was known as a child of the army, was sitting on the edge of his bed nervously.

At first, the three of them were quite embarrassed and didn't know what to say. Dong Ling probably felt that it was not appropriate for him to sit on the edge of Yingge's bed, so he stood up and changed to a chair to sit on. Yingge poured her a cup of tea and asked her where she was working now, and I said that she hadn't found a job yet. He said that she left the academy in a hurry, and that she should have found a place to go before leaving. The three of them talked about each other, but when Lu Yinhuan asked about the current situation of the art academy, the atmosphere improved slightly. Dong Ling said that it is getting more and more sluggish now, and many people have left, she said that Lu Yinhuan is right to leave the academy, and sooner or later she will have to leave.

"By the way," Ying Ge said suddenly, "do you know about Ai Zhongxin?" ”

"What's wrong with Ai Zhongxin?"