Miao Angwen listened to the mutual praise of the principal and the female reporter around him, watched the shocked and envious discussions of the students around him, the constantly flickering spotlight hit his body, and the faded metallic collar clip at the shirt tie of the school uniform was coated with a bright glow.

He raised an eyebrow and took off the clip in his collar.

Placing this faded little accessory in the palm of his hand, he remembered in a trance that it seemed to be something his father had given him.

In order to do business for foreign tourists who have money.

Miao Anwen's father always tried his best to dress up and look well-dressed, and then went to the street to solicit customers.

Driving a three-handed Toyota, with silk white gloves, a copycat Armani tail, and a golden plastic tie clip with slightly paint off.

Whenever he stopped in front of the hotel gate, he would get down from the driver's seat, trot open the trunk to take out the luggage for the passengers, and then handed them a business card, bowed down and said in accented English: "Sir, thank you for taking my car, the next time you and your friends want to use the car, please call this number, 7 days a day, 24 hours a day, 7 days a year." Sir。 ”

The father's smug will call it "aristocratic service".

Miao Angwen didn't know where his father learned this set of things.

The eight generations of their ancestors should have nothing to do with the word "noble...... Dad only has a primary school education level, probably imitating the rich district driver in the Thai drama and a little bit of the emperor's golden hoe-like brain imagination?

Among the taxi drivers, many people thought Miao Angwen's father's strange appearance was ridiculous, and pointed fingers at their family.

My father was never dismissive of this.

"The tip I get for one trip is enough for them to pull five trips, and these crumbs are jealous. I can provide for my son to go to a private school and be a high-class person, and their son will have to continue driving in the future. ”

He once spat on the ground, patted Miao Angwen's shoulder hard, and said to him: "Do you know what animal is the most awesome in nature? ”

"It's an elephant. Elephants are the most powerful. He said.

The elephant is a national treasure of Myanmar and has the status equivalent of the panda of Eastern Xia. In the traditional culture of the people of Yangon, it is believed that seeing elephants will bring them good luck.

There are even old people who fear elephants as gods.

Miao Angwen thought it was a boring casual conversation, so he hummed casually.

At that time, he was thinking about how to manage the family and ask for money to change his mobile phone, and Miao Anwen was still using the old-fashioned key-button Nokia old machine until a few years ago.

Probably not bad among Myanmar students.

On the Dulwich campus, it was humbled straight into the dirt.

When the words came to his mouth, Miao Angwen didn't know how to speak.

The burlesque service process that my father had worked on was not for nothing, and many Yangon drivers didn't speak English at all.

Their family still has a lot of employees from foreign companies in Yangon as regular customers.

At his peak, his father could have a net income of 1,000 or hundreds of dollars a month, and many of them were directly foreign exchange, which made many peers red.

Otherwise, even if he had a scholarship, he would not be able to afford to attend such an international school.

In the blink of an eye.

Their family's income has been declining and shrinking sharply in recent years.

It's not that his father doesn't work hard in his sports car, or that his increasingly stiff waist and bowing are no longer standard, but that times have changed.

Foreigners are more accustomed to directly using ride-hailing apps like Uber, which is simple and convenient.

As long as you click twice on your mobile phone, you don't need to communicate a word, and any driver can easily do business as a foreigner.

No one bothered to introduce friends who came to the neighborhood to travel to the neighborhood anymore, and a taxi driver who could speak English and good service came to meet him.

Under the Internet, all beings are equal.

The struggle of the little people is very ridiculous when the wheels of the times run over. No matter how hard the rickshaw driver pulls the cart, he can't stop the fate of being replaced by a car.

Just like his father's "Sir" shouted sincerely, it can't change the fact that the number of people who book a car is decreasing.

"Son, you're going to be an elephant."

"Elephant, what do you mean?" Miao Angwen didn't understand.

My father didn't seem to be worried about the deteriorating quality of life.

Instead of telling him the folklore that elephants bring good luck from city to city, he handed him a cigarette.

Father and son stood under the eaves, each smoking a cigarette.

The two cigarette butts are like glowing fires in the summer, flickering in the night.

"Yes, elephants, African elephants. TV says that they are five times more explosive than tigers and twenty times more weight-bearing than horses. It is said that African elephants run and migrate all the time throughout their lives from birth to death, and an average herd can travel 16,000 kilometers per year, which is equivalent to crossing the African continent twice from south to north and from north to south. ”

The father exhaled a puff of smoke.

"Every tribe walks and walks under the leadership of the leader, and the day it stops is the day it dies. They march through the primeval jungle, through flowing streams, through muddy swamps, and watch out for lions and crocodiles by rivers and lakes, and even vultures in the sky. ”

"Adult African elephants have few natural predators, but they are a deadly threat to young calves. And the baby elephant is the hope of the herd. ”

"Only the smartest and strongest leaders. In order to lead their families to a habitat with abundant water and grass and a pleasant climate. This is the lifelong expedition of every elephant herd. ”

"My grandfather, my father, we have lived in this endless quagmire all our lives. I've only been studying for four years, and the best thing I've been able to do in my life is to drive for those rich people who look like dogs. But you're different, Miao Anwen, my son, you want to be a rich man like a dog. ”

My father chewed a cigarette, and his bloodshot eyes were brighter than burning cigarette butts in the reflection of the night.

"I heard those foreigners talk a long time ago. The most powerful and wealthiest upper-class families in Europe sent their children to study music and art. So I made up my mind right then. Either way, send you to the best local art school. ”

"Because I'm an elephant?"

"Yes, my son, you're the fucking elephant, the elephant that led the herd out of the swamp." Father shook his fist.

"I worked hard all my life, and by the time I was forty years old, I was nodding and driving for foreigners. And you have received the best education I can give you, and when you are forty years old, you will have a foreigner nod and drive for you. Artists are the most respected, you must be a good person. ”

Miao Angwen didn't know why he suddenly remembered this incident today.

He wanted to laugh a little.

I don't think I knew it when my father sent him to school.

Even in Europe, it is the rich and famous artists who are highly respected by society.

An artist who doesn't have money can become an art teacher or something.

"Father is probably only half right. It didn't take me forty years, but eighteen years to get all this. ”

Miao Angwen narrowed his eyes slightly and said to himself.

"I'm the elephant who finally got out of the quagmire."

Today was the time for him to walk through the jungle and trample that figure under his feet.

Miao Anwen thought that he would be so excited that he couldn't help himself, everything around him, the feeling of being a prominent figure in the crowd would make him go crazy.

From the moment he stepped onto campus, that's what his heart desires, isn't it?

But Miao Angwen looked at the camera, and suddenly felt a little excited.

Success that is too easy is always boring.

The invincibility of the lack of challenge is so lonely.

Miao Anwen once regarded chasing that person's figure as a milestone event in his life.

He thinks that he is very similar to each other, the kind of mirror enemies in Hollywood movies.

With the same inferior background and the same hard work, he and Gu Weijing are like two lost baby elephants that are both bumping into the primeval jungle.

The daughters of the sons are drunk and obsessed with gold, and the rich life under the moon is trapped in their hearts, making them inferior, and making them difficult to move an inch of the quagmire and bondage.

But when he actually crossed the jungle, he looked back and found that it was just a small grassy beach in the middle of the vast world.

The pattern is really too small.

With Brother Hao's help, the whole city is its own resource.

A person like Gu Weijing is not even worthy of being his opponent at all.

A casual force from behind.

Not only is it to let him catch up with Gu Weijing, but also to let the other party he stepped on never turn over.

"Miao-sang? Miao? ”

The reporter waved his hand and interrupted Miao Angwen's distraction: "We still have a few questions, are you tired?" We can take a break for a few minutes and pause for a while. ”

"It's okay, just ask."

Miao Anwen turned his head to look at the camera.

At this time, the principal had finished the interview and was looking at him with a peaceful face.

"What did you just say?"

It is understood that the website of the Three-dimensional Universe Modern Art Center and the official Twitter account issued a press release welcoming the youngest signed artist in history to join. The 'creativity, wildness, freedom, unrestrainedness and expression of ideas' that you have shown in the portfolio you have submitted to their gallery has made the gallery determined to invite you, a rising star, to be part of their family. ”

The reporter flipped through the prepared teleprompter card: "I would like to ask Miao Anwen, who do you think brought you creative inspiration and talented art talent on the road of art, is it the school or your own life and thinking?" ”

Miao Angwen thought for a moment.

Ignoring the crazy eyes next to him, his face cramped with a smile on his face, and he almost wanted to rush over and snatch the microphone and be the principal of the school's admissions promotion.

He raised the corners of his mouth slightly and said, "Maybe it's my father." ”

"Was your father also a wild painter?" Surprise for female journalists.

"Pretty much."

"Musician, photographer?"

"He's a wild driver." Miao Angwen smiled, and generously put the faded cheap plastic lavalier in his hand back to the tie in front of the photographic lens.

"I'm the son of a taxi driver, and I've learned a lot from him."

There are interviews.

He didn't bring his yellow gold watch and green jade brand outfit today.

Brother Hao thinks it's okay to play, but the taste of this dress is too earthy.

As a rising star of his own art, this nouveau riche looks on TV, Brother Hao feels ashamed.

He made Miao Angwen a little more simple and refreshing.

After two months, after graduating from high school, he was officially ready to debut as a young painter.

sent him to Seoul, South Korea, to a professional beauty street, and asked an expert to design a good look from head to toe.

After all.

The signing of the three-dimensional universe gallery is not the end, but just an initial stage for Miao Anwen's value to rise rapidly like a lit rocket.

Brother Hao even plans to spend a lot of money to hire a professional team of agents and stylists to serve him alone.

Miao Angwen also began to lose interest in locomotives, watches, jadeite, etc.

He didn't really like these things, he was rich and poor, and he didn't want to enjoy them. Second, in essence, he is still very insecure.

You need these things that directly represent wealth to support your confidence.

Right now.

When he gets out of the quagmire of inferiority complex and becomes strong enough, these vain foreign objects will become more intriguing, and it doesn't matter.

A $100,000 contract from a Korean gallery and the status of the new director of the Calligraphy and Painting Association can give Miao Angwen the confidence to hold his head high.

Brother Hao made a big bet on him.

He is no longer Gu Weijing's "replacement".

Miao Anwen believed that he was some kind of better being.

At this moment, although Miao Angwen is still dark and thin, the way he smiles at the camera camera does have a bit of the momentum of a new art star pouring out of his body.

It left a deep impression in the hearts of many onlookers of female students.

They felt that this senior was not handsome, but he was a little chic.

"The son of a taxi driver, what a touching answer. You should have a great father. ”

The reporter said in admiration.

"I'm getting a very big piece of news here."

She changed the inscription card in her hand and was deliberately silent for a moment, waiting for everyone present to focus on her with curiosity, waiting for the next speech.

The female reporter said in a solemn tone, word by word: "I don't know how happy this father will be when he learns that his son will be selected for this year's National Art Association, and he hopes to lead the country to participate in the next Venice Biennale." ”

The Dulwich students around were all envious or amazed just now, and they were talking about Senior Miao in the audience with great interest.

After this sentence.

It's as if a reporter has spat out some kind of spell.

Everyone looked at the young people in the field one by one, as if they had been petrified and lost their ability to speak.

All that remained was a series of gasps in the room.

"Venice Biennale?"

"Venice Biennale!"

"Is it the Venice Biennale that I imagined?"

"God, it can't be."

After a long time.

There was only a small volume of discussion in the venue, which sounded one after another.

I don't know if it was the principal, and all the onlookers.

This is like in a small county high school, when I heard that a certain classmate won the gold medal in the Olympiad, everyone had an expression of envy, jealousy and hatred to look at the fairy.

But if I read the news in the morning and see the names of my classmates on the news on the list of candidates for this year's Nobel Prize, and reporters rushed over to interview them.

Everyone's first reaction was definitely not envy.

But......

Just stupid.

Don't look at the gods, this guy is really an alien, right?

(End of chapter)