304 An Amazing Example of Chinese Culture (1/2)

Brother Shuang… No, Sister Shuang's human photocopier technique surprised everyone again. Edward had originally been there for fun, and when he pointed out the location of the arts and crafts store for Ye Shuang, he had thought that the girl was going to attempt some petty tricks like purchasing some oil paintings from the owner that were left behind by art students…

However, to Edward's surprise, Ye Shuang really did buy a canvas and some oil paints. She did not ask about anything else and then led Su Zheng and him to a more secluded location. In the next ten minutes, Edward personally witnessed the birth of a scenery painting—Paul Signac's painting style was not through lines or palettes but through the use of tiny dotting of the paint brush. The small dots overlapped each other to form a lively painting that had light and shadow effects.

This was a human version of an oil painting copier!

Ye Shuang's 'painting' was not only fast—the quality was high as well. This kind of art style was right up her alley; as long as she could arrange the coordinates of all the painting points, then nothing was a problem. Edward almost swallowed the chewing gum in his mouth. Even Su Zheng could not help but cheer after watching for three minutes. When Ye Shuang finished the last stroke, the scenery that appeared on the canvas was a replication of the street before them.

The coagulation of paint completed the picture, and the combination of color and light perfectly increased the painting's reflectivity. The colors were not prematurely mixed on the palette but were arranged next to other colors on the canvas, and the direct contrast and complement were observable by the viewers.

The difference of brush stroke, the difference of thickness and lightness… this kind of complicated painting style required extreme patience and focus, but for Ye Shuang, it was just nice.

”All done!” Ye Shuang put down the paint brush and used the pencil to write her name on the lower right-hand corner of the canvas. Then she marked down the time as well—the date she put was ten days ago.

”What is the meaning of this, Sister Shuang?” Su Zheng slowly recovered from her shock. She saw that series of actions, but she did not quite understand their purpose. ”Sister Shuang, do you plan to use your artistic talent to endear yourself to the old man and then fight for his affection from the thief?”

Ye Shuang turned to look at Su Zheng with a speechless expression. ”I've told you to stop watching those imperial drama flicks. All those concubines fighting for a man's affection… Watching too much of those will lower your IQ. What's the point of winning the emperor's affection anyway?”

Su Zheng pouted unhappily. Ye Shuang smiled. She tossed the pencil away and picked up the eraser. ”Look, this is the key!” Then she erased the name. Since she had used quite a lot of strength when she signed the name, and there was a layer of linen on the surface of the canvas, even after the application of the eraser, there was still a carbon trace of the signature on the surface.

It was not observable unless someone was paying close attention. She tossed away the eraser and grabbed a pencil with a thinner core. Ye Shuang signed another signature on the same spot, but instead of Chinese characters, she wrote down in cursive 'Cedrick'.

”Now, this is really completed.” On the surface, it just looked like a very good painting. Ye Shuang blew away the trace of pencil and eraser dust.

She held the painting in her arms and felt like some spots were still not up to par. She blotted some spots or scratched at them… until she could not find anything wrong with it anymore. Then Ye Shuang handed the painting to Su Zheng, who was losing her patience. ”Don't tell me you can't do this. This is 53 x 38… It can definitely fit into the double-strap backpack that Cedrick is carrying, but to shove this in without being discovered, that will be a test of your skill. After all, this is not something that is doable by just opening a small mouth on his bag.”

Su Zheng was confident. ”Leave it to me, what is this little challenge? I'll show the guy the terror of our Chinese bag-stealing… No, wait, the skill of our master thieves!”

Ye Shuang was too lazy to correct her. ”…Well, have a good time. We'll depend on you to propagate the glory of Chinese culture!”

Su Zheng did not mind Edward, the fat foreigner who was in their presence. She lifted up her blouse to show her stomach and shoved the canvas under her shirt. She put the blouse down, nudged about, and then with some adjustment, the canvas that was still poking out earlier had completely disappeared into her skin. From the surface, no one could have told the difference, just like there was nothing underneath that thin blouse…

”Wow…” Edward whistled lightly, and his beady eyes that were made smaller by the fat on his face were particularly salacious. ”The skin of Eastern ladies sure is fine, and due to the slender frame, the curve of the waist is also soft and pretty…”

Su Zheng looked at Edward with suspicion and asked Ye Shuang, ”Sister Shuang, what is the man saying? I feel like it's nothing good!”

”He's complimenting you,” Ye Shuang answered vaguely.