"I really want to go."

Sakai Katsuko's eyes lit up for a moment, and then he said with some loss: "It's a pity that I can't go." ”

"I'm going to go to my mother's improvement class in the afternoon, and Komatsu and I are both teaching assistants in the improvement class, so we can't get out of it...... As soon as school is over, I have to go back to the Aman Hotel with my mother. ”

Shengzi looked at Gu Weijing: "My mother won't let me run around in Myanmar." I was also not allowed to hang out at night with the opposite sex other than Komatsu Senpai. ”

The security environment in Myanmar is indeed not good, although Yangon is already the most stable place, for a beautiful girl, it is still a good suggestion not to run around at night.

Of course, Mrs. Sakai's ban not to hang out with other wild boys that night was aimed at whom, and the answer is actually obvious.

Gu Weijing is obviously on Mrs. Sakai's blacklist, and belongs to the unstable factor that may arch their baby cabbage away at any time.

"By the way, I remember one thing, I went to the Shwedagon Pagoda for the weekend, and I haven't given this thing to you yet."

Speaking of this, Katsuko Sakai's tone became cheerful again.

She took out a gift box from the schoolbag on the side and handed it to Gu Weijing.

"A souvenir distributed by officials from the Yangon Department of Tourism was a copy for each artist involved in the Shwedagon Pagoda restoration project. I helped bring your share, and by the way, I also brought it. ”

The national cultural relics protection project led by a great master of painting like Cao Lao has attracted great attention from the government.

This is supposed to be a commemorative gift box issued by the government to the artists after the first phase of the restoration project is completely completed.

A young man like Gu Weijing was stained with light, and he also got a copy.

Sure enough, he saw that the sticky notes on the gift box had the words "Mr. Gu Weijing's Sincere Enlightenment" written on them, and the signature was the official government seal of the Ministry of Culture of Myanmar.

"Take it apart and look at it, there is a surprise." Katsuko Sakai said with a smile.

Gu Weijing opened the big envelope, and the first thing he wrote was a letter of thanks.

[On behalf of the Shwedagon Pagoda Management Committee, the Yangon Culture and Tourism Authority, and the Myanmar Government, I would like to thank the artist Mr. Gu Weijing for his outstanding contribution to the Shwedagon Pagoda Cultural Heritage Conservation Project......]

This thank-you note in English is machine-typed, and the language is relatively formulaic.

The highlight is that as a sign of respect and value for the artists, the signature is the autograph of a very high-ranking official of the current Myanmar Ministry of Culture.

Gu Weijing stayed on the payment for two seconds.

He estimated that the surprise that Miss Sakai was talking about was most likely not referring to it.

This kind of thank you letter handwritten by the national leader should be criticized by the local little painter, and he can't wait to frame it and stick it on the wall every day.

In Southeast Asian society, this kind of handwritten thank you letter from a high-ranking official is the thing that best reflects the painter's social status.

Not only do local painters look up to you, but the underworld also retreats.

Hanging on the wall, bluffing foreigners is not a big problem, and the business in the store can be several percent if it is not good.

However, Katsuko Sakai's personality shouldn't be too concerned about this.

Moreover, Miss Sakai came from a family of large artists, and she is a model who has seen the world.

Uncle Sakai painted a set of ukiyo-e for the Tokyo Olympics and worked on government projects in the field of culture.

Judging from INS, during the few years of the bid for the East Olympics, Katsuko may have to have double-digit heads of state and senior officials who have met with his father.

This kind of thank-you letter should be used to it.

Gu Weijing put aside the thank-you note, and there was also a set of painted calendars in the gift box, and the illustrations on each page of the calendar were entirely composed of murals painted during their restoration project at the Shwedagon Pagoda.

He turned to mural No. 17.

Even through the photos taken by the photographer, Mr. Cao Xuan's "Buddha Protector Map" is still as shocking as ever.

At the bottom of the calendar insert, it is written in beautiful floral letters - [Joint Restoration Artists: Cao Xuan, Gu Weijing].

Old man Cao Xuan was unwilling to take the credit of the child, so he added Gu Weijing's name to the most important mural registration form.

theoretically

From now on, as long as he is shameless, he can claim to have carried out formal joint artistic creation with Cao Xuan.

Even...... I can't talk about whether the skin is thick or not.

When the vast majority of young painters encounter this situation, they are eager to cut this photo out of the calendar and stick it on their heads, showing off wherever they go.

The great master of painting is willing to co-name with your children, and it is estimated that there are old-timers who want to promote young people, which is also a great affirmation of your level.

If nothing else,

If it weren't for Gu Tongxiang being his grandfather, and his age was too young, he would be able to co-sign this resume with Cao Lao.

In some local calligraphy and painting associations, Gu Weijing's name can be ranked in front of his grandfather.

It's like in physics, you and Einstein have jointly published a paper, even if it's just a small popular science article, because the status of the big guy is too high, your academic status will also rise.

On the cover of the calendar's homepage is a photo of a dark-colored gilded monument.

The monument, which has just been inaugurated in the tourist plaza outside the Shwedagon Pagoda, bears the names of all 47 invited artists involved in the project.

The top 30 or so painters are all veterans.

The first place is, of course, well-deserved Cao Lao, and the second and third are Kazunari Sakai and Professor Lin Tao respectively.

His grandfather, Gu Tongxiang, ranked 35th and sat at the end of the famous painter.

Contrary to Gu Weijing's expectations, he himself was ranked highest on the list of nephews and students who came to "gild" these artists.

Immediately after his grandfather's name, he ranked thirty-sixth, even higher than the name of Katsuko Sakai in thirty-seventh.

and Tsunamasa Sakai is only ranked forty-first.

"The order of our young lists is based on the amount of work done, the number of hours you have worked, and what the master artists say about you. Gu Jun is working hard, and our names are next to each other. Look at this—"

Katsuko Sakai stretched out her finger and picked up the last item in the gift box for Gu Weijing.

It was a small locket lined with dark velvet cloth with a delicate string of agarwood beads in the box.

The bracelet carries a slight smoke of plants and trees after the incense ash is burned, and the head and tail of the beads are inlaid with a small jade ring.

On the top jade ring, there are delicate jade craftsmen who use very fine carving knives to engrave the name of "Gu Weijing", and the bottom jade ring is engraved with the Buddhist blessing seal pattern.

"Bracelet of enlightenment?"

Gu Weijing looked at the bracelet.

Religious holy places all over the world, no matter which god they worship, from Tianzhu all the way to Jerusalem, have the business of blessing and enlightening.

FROM THE OPENING OF THE LIGHT BRACELET, BRACELET, CROSS, TO THE OPENING OF THE LATEST IPHONE, GRAPHICS CARD, XBOX GAME CONSOLE. Only you can't think of it, no one can't do it.

Shwedagon Pagoda is an important place for Buddhism, and Myanmar is a Buddhist country.

The Burmese government gave the artists a consecrated Buddhist bracelet as a gift, both unexpectedly and reasonably.

It seems that the Ministry of Culture has made a lot of money this time.

This kind of object blessed by a serious monk is not cheap. Not to mention anything else, agarwood is a precious wood, and just those two small jade rings, the texture looks very good.

An official from the Yangon Tourism Bureau said that the souvenir boxes of the artists presented this time were all the same, except for the jade ring on the bracelet. Although they are all old pit jadeite, the higher the ranking on the monument, the better the texture of the jadeite. ”

"Elder Cao, my father, and Professor Lin are all glass jadeite, and when they come to us, they have become ordinary ice species."

Sakai Katsuko raised his right hand, and Gu Weijing noticed that Miss Katsuko's wrist also had a string of bracelets that were the same as those in front of her.

The glass species is the most precious clarity of jadeite, followed by the ice species.

Don't look at the bracelet on the bracelet, as long as the size of a small fingernail, the international market also costs tens of thousands of dollars. If it's imperial green, it may have to be doubled again.

Even this kind of ice jade in front of Gu Weijing would cost thousands of dollars.

The government is quite reluctant.

Of course, on the other hand, all jadeite in Myanmar is state-run, and it is very easy to get good jadeite, and I also like to use jadeite as a national gift or various diplomatic gifts.

If it is given to a big artist like Cao Lao, it is not worth tens of thousands of dollars, and it is really impossible to get it, and it is not a loss.

A world-class art master who is willing to carry a string of jade bracelets with him.

In high-end art occasions where celebrities gather, the intangible advertising effect brought by it is much stronger than sending a string of garbage goods to the door of tourist attractions for one dollar and throwing them into the trash can.

"You are thirty-six, and I am thirty-seven. The official told me that the jade rings on the bracelets of the two of us happened to have been mined from the same pebble-sized piece of ice jade ore. Both the moistness and the color are almost the same. ”

Katsuko Sakai took off her bracelet and placed it with Gu Weijing's bracelet.

The sun shone in through the window, and the two strings of jade rings with almost the same color and clarity were as clear as ice, and the slight white cotton wool-like impurities in the jade rings were not ugly, like small stars solidified in ice crystals.

"It's exactly the same, next to each other."

Katsuko Sakai tilted her head and whispered, "That's good."

"I'll put it on for you."

Miss Sakai stretched out her hand, gently untied the silver buckle on the bracelet with a gentle expression, and tied it to Gu Weijing.

……

Afternoon

Dulwich College, Gift and Talented.

Mrs. Sakai is nearing the end of today's lesson.

"Miss Sandnu, this is your corrected homework." Katsuko Sakai walked up to a student with her mother's approved portfolio of students' work.

"Thank you, Ms. Sakai, what does Professor Cruz think of the portfolio I designed?"

Mona respectfully took her homework from the hands of the little princess of the artist, and said slightly.

Before Mrs. Sakai started the class, she took away the portfolio that all of them were preparing.

There were only six students in their class.

And counting Mrs. Cruz, Miss Sakai and Mr. Komatsutaro, the two assistant teachers, there are three teachers.

This kind of teacher-student ratio can achieve the biggest advantage of 1:2 boutique small class teaching.

That is, the professor can tailor different revision suggestions according to the work submitted by each student, judge the painting level of each student, and give different revision suggestions according to their own shortcomings.

It's only been a few lessons,

Mona rejoiced again and again in her heart how wise she had decided to visit Mrs. Sakai in advance.

A great artist is a great artist.

This kind of teaching conditions are not possible with the original Dulwich College in any case.

Mona took over her portfolio.

She was not in a hurry to flip through it, but set her eyes on the face of this young lady who was almost destined to leave her own page on the international art stage in the future.

"Miss Sakai, do you eat cake? I baked a little cake at home with a little honey, I don't know if you will like it. ”

While speaking, Mona took out a small Lock lunch box from her schoolbag, which contained a layer of cupcakes: "By the way, can I call you Katsuko like a friend?" ”

Mona has always wanted to make friends with this extraordinary Miss Sakai.

But she always had a vague feeling that this Miss Sakai had some opinions about herself.

There is a total of one teacher, two teaching assistants, and six students in the class.

When painting in the studio, one teacher can directly give detailed drawing instructions to two students.

Of course, she wanted Mrs. Sakai to take her with her.

Sadly, Professor Cruz chose the best student, Miao Anwen and another student.

Among the rest, there are only two girls, herself and another girl named Marley.

Everyone including Mona thought that according to the convention, Girls help girls, of course, Miss Sakai would choose two girls to draw together.

Unexpectedly,

When choosing a student, Miss Sakai stared at Mona for a moment, but avoided the other party and chose another student, intentionally or unintentionally.

Mona was a little disappointed, but she wasn't surprised.

She was a bit embarrassed to raise her status in the class, not only because Miss Sakai seemed to "look the other way" for her, but also because of the rest of Dulwich's classmates.

Even if they didn't know they had visited Professor Cruz in advance,

However, the students in the advanced class will always realize that Mona's ability to enter Mrs. Sakai's class is not entirely dependent on her drawing ability.

It's like the principal forcibly stuffing his nephew with average grades into the class of the top class.

Everyone won't say anything on the surface, but in private, they will inevitably point fingers at Mona and gossip.

Even Jerry's sunny smile on Mona seems to be a bit "condescending". This made Mona, who has always been a good student who worked hard, feel uncomfortable.

Discomfort is discomfort.

Mona has a good psychological quality and can pretend not to hear what people are talking about behind their backs.

What's that?

How long can you remember this kind of thing, a week or a month?

Even if it's talked about for a semester. When she enters a broader stage in the future and becomes famous, the trivial matter of how she entered the improvement class has long been hidden in the dust.

People will only remember her as a student of Mrs. Sakai.

Like decades later,

Gu Weijing may still be spending time in the small Yangon gallery at home, and no one will recognize him or remember how good he used to be.

If that's the price you have to pay for taking shortcuts, Mona is happy to pay.

(End of chapter)