Chapter 336: Meeting Xia Mimi and Xia Jiji

As soon as he returned to the courtyard, Su Mingzhe received a call from Tang Yun:
"Hello, Mr. Su, I'm Tang Yun."

"Hello, Tang Yun."

Tang Yun heard Su Mingzhe's voice and asked quickly:
"Mr. Su, I just contacted my teacher. He can send the painting out today. It will probably be delivered on Monday. Is there a time that would be convenient for you to come and take a look?"

"Next Monday..."

Su Mingzhe thought about it and decided to take Jiang Jiao back to Dongshan Island on Monday.

However, Su Mingzhe thought of the painting and couldn't help but ask:

"Does your teacher have many works? If so, I can come to your house to see them. I don't need to bother him sending them back and forth."

Tang Yun was shocked by Su Mingzhe's words:
"Mr. Su, do you buy paintings in bulk?"

Su Mingzhe was afraid that the other party would think he was a "calligraphy and painting wholesaler", so he could only explain:
"I just bought two courtyard houses and have renovated them, but the walls are bare, so I thought of hanging some paintings to add some ancient charm."

"Oh, is that so? Then I need to contact my teacher again."

Tang Yun knew that her teacher had many paintings, but she needed to ask again how many of them could reach the level of "Turbulent Waves".

After hanging up the phone with Su Mingzhe, Tang Yun called her teacher again.

When Xia Te heard Tang Yun's question, he didn't know how to answer for a moment and could only reply "a lot".

There is no need to say much about his works before he became a teacher.

In the nearly twenty years that he has been a teacher, Xia Te has continued to create every day.

On average, one work is released every month.

Calculating in this way, two hundred pairs is an undercount.

However, although he has a large number of works, only a small part of them are ink paintings, and most of them are oil paintings.

Tang Yun got a reply from Xia Te, confirming that Su Mingzhe could come over, and then she hung up the phone.

Afterwards, Tang Yun called Su Mingzhe again and told him the situation again.

"Okay, send me your contact information and address. I should have time to go over next Tuesday or Wednesday."

Su Mingzhe asked for Xia Te's contact information and hung up the phone.

When he listened to Tang Yun's introduction in the morning, he knew that the author of "Turbulent Waves" was an unknown painter.

There are many such painters in reality, and he often hears similar situations when chatting with some bigwigs.

Generally, after the death of such a painter, his works will be purchased by some "art dealers", and then through various hype, they will become famous all over the world.

To be honest, this kind of hype is not particularly clever, and Su Mingzhe can also do it.

It was around four o'clock in the afternoon.

Only then did Li Bala bring Jiang Jiao back.

The two women seemed to get along fairly well.

Until Monday.

In the early morning,
Su Mingzhe then took Jiang Jiao back to Dongshan Island on a chartered plane.

Dongshan Island originally had no airport, and Su Mingzhe spent nearly 1 billion yuan to build a commuter airport.

Su Mingzhe dealt with company matters on Monday and drove to the city where Xia Te was on Tuesday.

Haicheng, where Xia Te is located, is in Guangdong Province, not far from Dongshan Island.

Haicheng is not well-known.

I guess apart from the locals, few outsiders know about this place.

When Su Mingzhe arrived in Haicheng, Xia Te was still teaching students at school.

After receiving Su Mingzhe's call, Xia Te went to his leader to ask for leave and hurried out.

"Hello, Teacher Xia, my name is Su Mingzhe."

Su Mingzhe took out his business card, which only had his name, mobile phone number and landline number on it.

Xia Te took the business card and was a little surprised at Su Mingzhe's age. He couldn't help but ask:
"Mr. Su looks so young, what business is he in?"

"The business is a bit mixed. The family business is a restaurant, but I also have a fish farm of my own."

Su Mingzhe chatted casually with Xia Te and invited him to get in his car.

Before coming here this time, Su Mingzhe searched the road and knew that there were several mountain roads, so he drove a Land Rover off-road vehicle here.

This is the legendary million-dollar luxury car.

Xia Te looked at the black luxury car in front of him. He was forty years old, but this was the first time he had ridden in such a million-dollar luxury car.

Luxury cars comparable to this one are quite rare in the entire Haicheng.

After getting in the car, Xia Te was silent. He pointed the way to Su Mingzhe and arrived at his home.

Haicheng has a large area and is divided into four urban areas: ancient city, east city, old city and new district.

The Xiat family lives in an old-style villa in the old city. It can be seen that the Xiat family used to live a wealthy life.

Think about it, how could a family that allowed their children to learn ink painting thirty years ago be poor?

However, the walls of this villa have not been maintained for a long time and look particularly dilapidated. The originally red wall paint has fallen off by 50% to 60%. Ivy has also covered the entire wall, covering the windows on the first and second floors.

Although the Xia family was once prosperous, it is obvious that they are now in decline.

The two got out of the car, and Xiat opened the door with the key. There was no decent furniture in the living room on the first floor of the house, and it looked empty.

Xia Te led Su Mingzhe upstairs directly:
"Mr. Su, please follow me."

The wooden floor creaks when you walk on it.

Su Mingzhe didn't say much and followed Xia Te to a studio on the second floor.

Haicheng is close to the sea and the air is humid.

Ink paintings are difficult to preserve, so Xia Te wrapped each painting with layers of oil paper.

"Mr. Xia's work is well preserved."

Su Mingzhe took the first painting and slowly opened it. It was the painting "Turbulent Waves" that he had seen on the flyer. Although there were waves in the painting, there were not many waves. There was only a fishing boat tilting forward. The sailor had a firm face, holding the reins and throwing them towards a rope pile in the distance. He looked struggling, as if he was trying to stabilize his body's center of gravity.

"Mr. Xia, I like your painting very much."

Su Mingzhe took a quick look at it and couldn't help but admire it. He wrapped it in oil paper again and asked:

"I wonder if I can see Mr. Xia's other works?"

Xia Te did not hesitate and opened several boxes behind him, revealing scrolls of paintings, and said to Su Mingzhe:

"These are all of them. There are about fifty pairs."

When he said these words, he looked a little nervous and was hesitating whether to show his oil paintings to Su Mingzhe.

He has a terminal illness.

The doctor said that surgery would be expensive and have a low success rate.

If conservative treatment is used, one can only live two to three more years.

If not treated, he may only live for a year.

He wanted to sell a few more paintings, not to pay for his medical treatment, but to leave some assets for his two underage children.

Su Mingzhe didn't know about Xia Te's situation, but after asking for Xia Te's consent, he began to examine them one by one.

From a business perspective, when he comes to buy a painting, he will definitely inspect the goods carefully.

Then he marked each work and took notes in a small notebook with a pen.

Su Mingzhe had just checked more than twenty pairs when the sound of a piano suddenly came from the first floor.

A smile appeared on Xia Te's nervous face, and he said to Su Mingzhe:

"Mr. Su, my daughter is back from school. How about we go downstairs to eat first, and then watch it?"

"no problem."

Su Mingzhe has checked more than twenty works in a row and is a little aesthetically fatigued, so it would be nice to take a break.

The two walked out of the studio, the piano music still playing.

Su Mingzhe looked in the direction of the sound out of curiosity and saw a girl of about twelve or thirteen sitting at the piano, playing the piano as if no one was around.

"Excuse me, Mr. Su, this is my second daughter, Xia Mimi, who has been obsessed with piano since she was a child."

Xia Te thought that the piano sound disturbed Su Mingzhe, so he took two quick steps and came downstairs, and said to his daughter: "Mimi, there are important guests at home, can you please not play the piano at noon today?"

I have to say that when Xia Te spoke to his daughter, his tone was particularly gentle, full of fatherly love.

When Su Mingzhe was wondering why the girl's name was similar to the heroine in Zuo Er's novel, after the girl turned her head, he couldn't help but say when he looked at her delicate and pure face:

"Mr. Xia, it's okay. Miss Xia should be self-taught. It sounds very good. I can tell that your daughter has a talent for music."

"This child is self-taught and has never had any music lessons."

When Xia Te talked about this, his face was full of guilt.

A music tutor costs thousands of dollars a month.

He is just an ordinary high school art teacher. He has always been short of money and cannot afford to pay so much money.

"Do you know what I play?"

The girl suddenly interrupted Su Mingzhe's conversation with his father, and asked with a twinkle in her eyes, "How do you know that I'm self-taught?"

"You played the Shepherd's Flute."

Su Mingzhe smiled and said, "The reason why I know you are self-taught is because I can hear that your fingering is very flexible, but there are a few common sense techniques that are wrong."

Go ahead, Su Mingzhe walked over and asked the girl Xia Mimi to stand up, and he played it himself.

The young girl Xia Mimi had been paying attention to Su Mingzhe's fingers, and her eyes suddenly became particularly bright, just like in a martial arts novel, when suddenly all the martial arts skills were mastered.

"Please let me try."

"it is good."

Su Mingzhe moved aside, and the girl Xia Mimi sat back and started playing again.

I have to say, Xia Mimi's musical talent is really amazing.

After just watching Su Mingzhe play it once, I memorized all the techniques.

Su Mingzhe waited for her to finish playing before he could not help but praise her:

"Little sister, you have such a great talent, you must grasp it well and never waste it."

"I will."

Xia Mimi smiled back at Su Mingzhe confidently.

She doesn't care much about anything other than the piano, and it is this simplicity and concentration that allows her to perfectly display her musical talent.

At this moment, another girl's voice suddenly came:
"Dad, little sister, the meal is ready."

Su Mingzhe came to the restaurant with Xia Te and Xia Mimi.

Xia Te’s eldest daughter is not very old, probably only about fifteen or sixteen years old. She is wearing a school uniform and it is hard to tell what her figure is like, but her temperament is very pure.

In addition, both Xia Mimi sisters are very slim. Sister Xia Mimi seems to be about the same height as Jiang Jiao. Although Xia Mimi is still young, she is almost catching up with Li Bala.

At this time, everyone was sitting at the dinner table. Xia Te suddenly remembered and introduced them to Su Mingzhe: "This is my eldest daughter Xia Jiji, and this is my youngest daughter Xia Mimi. They are Dad's guests, you can call them Mr. Su."

Su Mingzhe waved his hand quickly and said:

"Don't be so polite. My last name is Su, and my given name is Mingzhe, which means bright philosophy. You can call me 'Brother Su'."

"Hello, Brother Su."

Xia Mimi was the first to show a sunny smile, and Xia Jiji beside her could only smile gently: "Hello, Brother Su."

Su Mingzhe was just lamenting that he had met the two heroines from the world of "Left Ear" again. When he heard the Xia Jiji sisters greet him, he quickly said:

"Hello."

(End of this chapter)