Chapter 116 - [MeowMeow: … don’t block me from chat…]

Plus, the condition of her skin, now half a shade lighter in skin tone, looked to be full of moisture. Even she wanted to pinch herself!

After she had fully appreciated her entire look in the mirror, the ink on the fan mount had dried.

She flipped it over. Using her goat hair pen, she wrote two words over two lines in cursive script vertically in the middle of the back.

“Gust”

“Strength”

And that's a wrap.

The back of the fan mount was also completed.

“Not bad, not bad. Even my writing had improved.”

Gu Shishi was quite pleased with her own work.

“Everything went so well today. Must be the bath that put me in such good condition!”

Lucky that she had already turned off the streaming now; otherwise, MeowMeow, who had been lurking for over an hour, would probably start screaming right about now.

Gu Shishi’s technique in calligraphy was every bit as good as her painting.

Calligraphy and painting come hand in hand.

Both of them were lines formed from ink.

And their approaches -- hook, lift, pause, and file – also overlapped a lot.

In order to be able to add fitting captions without ruining the overall painting, Gu Shishi had spent a lot of time in the past to practice her calligraphy.

In particular the characters that she had written today, they had well exceeded her normal level.

As she had experienced the rhythm and strength of bamboos in the dimension, her two words were particularly full of lofty ambitions, uninhibited, and rhythmical.

It was completely void of any feminine feel to it.

The two words in cursive script were wild, unrestrained, smooth, and eclectic. It was dynamic between strokes and full of rhythmic beauty between its masculinity.

One could say that the words perfectly complemented the windy bamboo painting on the fan mount. Its vigor almost bleeding through the paper to the other side!

Even though the fan fibs and mount were both from Taobao, costing less than $100, the ink she had added to it at least increased its value tens of times!

Finally, Gu Shishi skillfully put the fan ribs and mount together and even added handmade fringe to it with irregular tridacna Stones.

And then it was completed!

“Done!”

Gu Shishi’s bar was very high.

Let it be its color, or the painting, they were both esthetically pleasing.

After she was done, she even propped the black hand fan up on her pen mount and took pictures of both it’s front and back.

After just one second, she had posted it to her friend’s circle.

[Hand painted black bamboo fan: Relishing The Bamboos In the Night Rain]

[This was made as a gift for a friend. Not for sale.]

She didn’t even need to use any filter on it. The black and gold duo colors were grand enough to speak for themselves. The moment that the post was sent out, she immediately received instant praises and comments.

[King of the Hill: Are you selling any more hand drawn fans? The kind with nature painting plus calligraphy!]

Gu Shishi smiled and was just about to reply to him when her phone started buzzing non stop.

She was ecstatic when she switched over to the chat screen.

[MeowMeow: … Are you really Gu Shishi in the flesh?]

[MeowMeow: I don’t get it. Why do you want to keep your identity a secret?]

[MeowMeow: … Are you there? Are you really not putting the fan up for sale?]

[MeowMeow: Then can you paint me another one? Price is… negotiable.]

[MeowMeow: … don’t block me from chat…]

This girl was too funny!

Gu Shishi pursed her lips. Her eyes filled with smiles.

[This one is not for sale. You can preorder fan mounts next time.]

Gu Shishi smiled as she typed.

She hasn’t yet given it a lot of thought on how to make Chen Kexin break away from Team Gu Wushuang.

But the way it was going, she probably didn’t need to do much anyway.

Sure enough, more words came from Chen Kexin before Gu Shishi even put her phone down.

[MeowMeow: I’ll preorder. How long will it take?]

Gu Shishi flipped through her calendar.

She needed to go to work the week that followed. She didn’t have today off originally either. She had switched her schedule with Ling Xiaomei.

Plus, she needed to buy the fan ribs and fan mount from Taobao. She wasn’t certain when they would arrive.

[Probably next week. I will let you know the details.]

###

Chapter 117 - But she couldn’t possibly say that!

After her text, Chen Kexin spent a lot of time mulling over it. Her response speed was half that of normal.

[MeowMeow: … Are you holding grudges? Because I invited you over to the banquet with malicious intent…]

Gu Shishi laughed out loud. She didn’t want to type anymore, so she sent her a voice message.

[You are overthinking this. Other than acquiring the raw materials, I also need to get into the right mindset. I will draw when I have some ideas. Unless you want the mass production kind. That I can do over 100 a day.]

[But I am guessing that you are looking for quality work?]

Small ink painting didn’t take long to do, especially for a skillful artist. As they had copy-painted so many times, they could just keep on drawing without giving it much thought.

Naturally, painting like that would never be spectacular.

At her current level, the limitation on her work was no longer her skills, but the effort required to be poured into a painting as well as the accumulation of her artistic conception.

Just like the windy bamboo that she had drawn today. She spent two and a half hours within the system to observe the bamboo in person.

If it wasn’t the system, it might take her several months or even several years to get to that point though her daily life.

That painting had taken almost all of her mental and physical capacity. She could barely hold up her pen right now.

For the next few days, she could at most do some practice work to slowly recover to her usual mental stage.

[Do you have any specific requests for the fan mounts, fan ribs, and fan pendants? If so, just leave me a message.]

[I am going to rest now. Chat later. Bye!]

Gu Shishi closed out of WeChat after she was done leaving the message and collapsed onto the couch.

Many of her practice work that she streamed she either kept for herself or they were free gifts for others. With the exception of her Little Chicken Eating Rice, she would never use her casual practice work for sale.

That was because it was the emotional release of her frustration toward the boss. It came spontaneously and was a pretty good quality work of hers.

Any other work of that caliber would have to rely on fate.

Gu Shishi collapsed onto the couch as she shook her wrist.

***

As Gu Shishi was relaxing, Chen Kexin, on the other end of WeChat, was very troubled.

“How did it go? What did the guru say? I have to go to a tea party over at Lao Zhao’s next Wednesday. Do you think she will be able to paint another fan before then?”

The kind and sincere voice came from none other than Old Mrs. Chen.

Chen Kexin rubbed her throbbing head.

This was all her own fault!

Why did she ask her to let her know the next time she streamed?

Great. Once she got her message, she couldn't help but went into her streaming channel.

She was then stunned by the bamboo painting on the fan and couldn't help but reach out to Gu Shishi over WeChat. One thing after another, she flipped through her friend’s circle, saw the picture of the fan, and, low and behold, it was also seen by her grandmother who happened to stick her head over!

Her grandmother immediately praised it with every phrase that she could come up with and raved about the guru’s talent.

Lastly, she said, “I want to buy it!”

Chen Kexin sighed and said, “She said she needed to adjust her condition before she could paint it and will contact me next week. Mostly likely it won’t be done before your tea party.”

It wouldn’t make it in time for her grandmother to show off again next week.

Old Mrs. Chen felt very regretful upon hearing that but quickly nodded with a smile.

“I have heard in the past that in order to produce a truly spectacular work, the artists need to first gather their qi. They’d need to gather their qi for a while before they start on their work. That way they could pour all of their qi into the work in order to make it spectacular.”

Chen Kexin pursed her lips.

She didn’t see any gathering of qi. She saw her streamed for an hour and painted her entire work in one sitting. And that was after the banquet in the morning…

But she couldn’t possibly say that!

###

Chapter 118 - Gu Shishi offers to cook

“Xinxin, add that guru’s WeChat for grandma also. That way I can browse her work in her friends’ circle in the future as well,” said Old Mrs. Chen as she handed Chen Kexin her cellphone.

Chen Kexin almost jumped up into the air.

Her grandmother wanted to add Gu Shishi’s WeChat?

Even Gu Wushuang and her lot didn’t have her grandmother’s WeChat!

“Grandma, I can help you with whatever paintings that you want to buy. The doctor has also said that you shouldn’t be spending so much time on your cellphone…”

“Don’t worry about it. I won’t spend that much time on it. You won’t have that much time to mind my business anyway,” said Old Mrs. Chen with a smile. “Is Ink Painting Guru her alias? Quickly, introduce the two of us.”

Chen Kexin, “……”

She couldn’t handle the pressure anymore so she did what she was asked.

Yet, after she had forced herself to send the friend’s request for her grandmother…

“Grandma doesn’t have her glasses with her. Why don’t you say hi to the Master for me?”

Old Mrs. Chen was always a polite person.

“And that emoji that you sent me last time. The one that has the admiration look to it with large, starry eyes. Send that one over too.”

Chen Kexin, “… She hasn’t accepted your friend’s request yet, grandma.”

Give me a break, grandma!

***

Inside the mansion, Gu Shishi had already put aside her “work phone”.

She put the black bamboo fan inside a box, tied a pretty red ribbon around it, and was about to take it to the boss.

Right after she walked out, she could hear Butler Lin talking to someone in the hallway.

Gu Shishi didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but the voice sounded very familiar.

She couldn't help but peek and found out to her surprise that it was the chef.

The chef wanted to take time off over the Mid-Autumn Festival?

Oh, no delicious food then?

Gu Shishi felt a bit regretful.

But, come to think about it, the chef seemed to work even harder than her.

This body still has four days off a month, but the chef cooked for them daily. She had never seen him taken a day off.

Now that it’s a festival, he should take a few days off and get some good rest.

Gu Shishi nodded with compassion.

“Five days? That’s a bit long, don’t you think? Why are you just now telling me? I won’t have enough time to find a replacement to stand in for you. You know, Young Master is used to your cooking and your disciples aren’t quite ready to step up in your place yet.” Butler Lin was a bit troubled as well.

The chef sighed as well and was very apologetic.

“It’s my daughter. She didn’t tell me in advance that she had booked travel for me. I never had that much time with them and she really wanted me to spend time….” He stopped suddenly in the middle of his sentence.

Gu Shishi raised her brows.

The next second, the air chilled around them.

“Young Master.” Butler Lin was the first to recover.

Gu Shishi walked over to the end of the staircase. Sure enough, she saw the tall and slender Boss Hao walked over to the living room – where the discussion was taking place.

He didn’t say a word, but scanned over the two people with his black eyes emotionlessly.

The poor chef immediately froze in place and didn’t even know what to do with his hands.

“Well, I guess… I won’t take any time off this time. I’ll let my daughter know to cancel the trip.” The chef changed his tone right away.

Gu Shishi blinked.

She looked over at Boss Huo and noticed that his back was even straighter than usual.

Perhaps, she was being overly sensitive but she felt that the cold air radiating from him had gotten worse from what the chef had said.

Huo Sishen didn’t look at them again. He just walked past them.

Gu Shishi looked at the distressed chef and then at the bleak back of the boss…

“Ugh… perhaps I can cook over the mid-autumn festival,” she blurted out all of a sudden.

As soon as she finished saying that, she wished she could submerge her head under water to cool down.

Her? Cook?

What could she make?

What was she thinking?

Her master was mostly drawing when he wasn’t reading in bed.

She started cooking when she was seven, but she only knew how to make common household dishes. They were fine for her master, who didn’t have much expectations when it came to food and all he ever wanted to do was to paint, but the boss…? He has such a high standard.

Ugh!

Butler Lin had just said that the boss didn’t even care for the chef’s disciples’ cooking. He must be picky when it came to other chefs as well, which was why it was difficult to find a replacement when the chef was out.

The boss would probably hate her!

What if he didn’t like the food and starve himself for five days?! His bad temper would be even worse!

“Oh, hahaha. Listen to me talk. I really only know how to make a few regular dishes…”

Gu Shishi tried to save what she had already said, but she was interrupted before she could finish her sentence!

“Okay.”

Okay what?

Who said that?

Gu Shishi was about to start sweating!

###

Chapter 119 - The boss was being a Tsundere again!

She didn’t know how to make salmon omelet, seafood rice, nor cream of mushroom soup…

The most she could do was maybe tomato with scrambled eggs!

She looked over to where the voice came from and saw that Boss Huo, standing at the top of the stairs, was also looking at her.

He has his back to the light, so she couldn’t even see his look from where she was.

“Just let Butler Lin know what kind of special ingredients you need during those five days.”

His tone was mild, as though he was talking about something that couldn’t be more normal.

Nonetheless, Gu Shishi shuddered violently.

The boss was the one who just spoke? The boss said it was okay for her to cook over the five-day period?

Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Did she just inadvertently dig her own grave?

But the chef, standing next to her, looked ecstatic!

“But, Miss Gu… would that be too much to ask of you?”

Gu Shishi bit her lips. She would be cooking with her life. Yes! It was a lot to ask of her!

But… she looked at how happy the chef looks and couldn’t bring herself to say anything.

He hadn’t taken a day off in so long that even his daughter had been complaining. And all he asked for was measly five days.

And the boss had already agreed to it. So how could she deny that?

Fine! She would do it!

At the very minimum, just make sure the food was cooked through and wouldn’t get him sick!

“Yeah, no worries. I can handle it. You enjoy your time off,” said Gu Shishi with a smile.

“I will take care of the boss’s… um, Mr. Huo’s three meals a day. I guarantee that he’d thoroughly enjoy your cooking when you come back!”

From starvation!

The chef couldn’t help but bust out laughing.

Even Butler Lin tried very hard not to laugh out loud.

Huo Sishen scanned over them with his dark eyes.

The chef paused for a second and wasn’t fast enough to wipe away his smile.

He quickly said, “Thank you, Mr. Huo.” His hands rested nervously pressed against the side of his pants.

Huo Sishen squinted, looked at him for a long while, before he said, “No need to thank me.”

A cold awkwardness filled the air all over again.

Gu Shishi looked from one of them to the next.

The boss was being a Tsundere again!

But neither the butler nor the chef knew that about him…

Once his room door closed behind him, he was lonely and cold. And when he walked out of his room, nobody in this humongous mansion really talked to him. Over time, he became awkward and expressionless.

CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!

Gu Shishi was the first to applaud.

“That’s right. There’s no need to thank Mr. Huo. We should thank the [communist] party daddy, thank our country daddy. For letting us take time off over mid-autumn festival. Daddy is tender, loving, handsome, elegant, kind, and altruistic. He is super awesome!”

(T/N: Daddy” – Chinese internet slang usually refers to anyone that’s very wealthy and/or with high status. i.e. Daddy Ma (Jack Ma, found of Alibaba), Daddy Starbucks (don’t ask me why). Or you will read in web novel when one friend would tell another to refer to them as their “daddy” if they lose a bet… you get the idea.)

“…Haha, yes. Miss Gu is right.” The chef paused for a second but immediately chimed in to play along with her. But, he looked at Huo Sishen appreciatively.

Huo Sishen’s mouth twitched.

When he looked down, he saw a silly smile on the girl. Even the usually distant-looking Butler Lin has a hint of smile on him.

The way the chef was looking at him was no longer the usual fear…

Surprisingly, the relaxed chuckling echoing within the mansion wasn’t as irritating as they normally were.

Huo Sishen was at a loss for a little bit.

He parted his thin lips and said, “Old Lin, just go ahead and hand out the mid-autumn gifts that you have prepared.”

“I shall,” replied Butler Lin respectfully.

Gu Shishi’s eyes lit up immediately when she heard that there would be gifts.

CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! – Another round of applause from the bottom of her heart!

“Thank you, Daddy Huo!” She blurted out.

Huo Sishen turned around and almost stumbled.