Chapter 239

A teenage girl, when writing, had a strong aura about her.

Sitting in the car, Jin An thought back to that scene. Looking out at the tall buildings, she suddenly felt very envious.

She didn't envy the plain old backpack the girl had on. Rather, she envied how even with such a plain backpack, the girl still shone brilliantly.

Jin An herself held a small handbag that cost over 30,000 yuan.

Yet in the reflection of the car window she saw a heavily made-up woman, with an expression that seemed calculating or tired.

Youth is so wonderful!

She envied the girl's youth, envied how without a trace of makeup on her face she was the center of attention.

Xiao Yu drove Jin An, and he was quite the gentleman.

Although he had first offered to drive Su Xiaoqi, she declined.

After the calligraphy association event ended, little seven had left with President Li Luanliang.

It was reasonable for President Li Luanliang to take the young student out, so he couldn't just abandon her midway. He took her to a shop where he often bought paper and writing brushes.

Xiaoqi bought quite a lot, her backpack bulging. She was very happy.

She also felt the calligraphy she had produced in front of everyone was better than when practicing alone in her dorm. It must have been because of the superior paper and brushes here.

So she was delighted to have found brushes and paper to her liking.

Since the shop also sold painting brushes and paper, Xiaoqi bought some of those on a whim too.

Li Luanliang safely dropped off Xiaoqi at the school gate, then drove off as he had a date.

Xiaoqi felt quite embarrassed, as she hadn't wanted the President to send her back. But Li Luanliang felt it was his duty not to abandon a young girl out alone, so he had insisted. This made Xiaoqi even more eager to get her driver's license, as that would make trips to the city alliance more convenient.

There was the birthday banquet for Xiao Bao'er tomorrow that Xiaoqi felt strange about attending, but Xiao Bao'er simply hadn't given her an opportunity to decline.

Also, when Xiaoqi had accepted the little gift last time, a hairclip that Xiao Bao'er had given her - she took it back to her dorm and Yunshu had surprisingly said it was quite expensive, over 1,000 yuan...

That gave Xiaoqi a shock. What family has a little girl with a whole pile of hairclips in her bag, only to casually take one out worth over 1,000 yuan?

So Xiaoqi was a bit worried about what gift to bring the little girl tomorrow.

If buying a gift, she felt that given Xiao Bao'er had casually pulled out such an expensive hairclip, and her brother Xiao Shengzhou even owned a ranch - the more she got to know them, the more she realized a ranch was clearly just a money burning venture, basically unprofitable. So she knew money was likely no object for this girl. Even an expensive gift probably wouldn't be that special to her.

Giving gifts, you should give something the recipient likes. That's most suitable.

But what exactly did the chubby little girl like?

Xiaoqi pondered...she probably really liked food, otherwise she wouldn't have grown so fat and heavy. But food items weren't great gifts.

As for bamboo woven bags, Xiaoqi felt the soft little honey bee bag Xiao Bao'er carried suited her well, and it was drop-proof too. She might not appreciate bamboo items.

Little girls liked soft, plush things.

Xiaoqi pondered this the whole way walking back to her dorm.

Surprisingly, no one else was in the dorm.

Everyone else was out. It was quite peaceful.

There were always club and student council events on weekends.

Xiaoqi took out the new brushes, xuan paper, and also the drawing paper and paints she had picked up on a whim. Her desk was covered.

She really wanted to try out the new items. After organizing the brushes and xuan paper properly, she laid out the drawing paper, paints and brushes. It looked quite fresh and interesting.

She often saw paintings by the great masters that seemed to just be watercolor haphazardly splashed on. Just frame it up and it could sell for a tremendous amount, apparently.

Xiaoqi didn't know if she had the discernment at her current basic level to appreciate such things...most likely she didn't.

But painting did feel great. She quite admired her marketing professor Shi's paintings of landscapes and waterscapes. Just a few sparse strokes evoked a lifetime of feelings and reflections - very profound.

She could likely relate more to those feelings due to a similar difficult upbringing.

For her own art though, Xiaoqi preferred bold, bright, vibrant colors.

Because the world was colorful.

Though an ability to outline this colorful world in black and white was impressive, art itself was quite an emotional endeavor. Xiaoqi felt vibrant colors were more beautiful. She had actually loved painting when young and was pretty decent at it, producing recognizable scenes. But a rural family's child didn't eat by painting. Just getting a proper education was already an accomplishment.

So after growing up Xiaoqi actually stopped painting.

But now looking back, lying on paper just messily painting whatever, mixing her own colors - that feeling seemed quite pure and beautiful.

Anyway, with no one else in the dorm, Xiaoqi first practiced calligraphy for a bit with her usual supplies, settling her mood.

She then spread out the drawing paper. She wanted to paint.

What floated into her mind to paint was a scene of chubby Xiao Bao'er riding the tall Taylor. She wanted to capture that.

But she still felt somewhat hesitant to start.

Glancing at her interface, she saw she still had two unused cards - one was a sincere blessing, the other was a study improvement diamond card (effective for one course). Xiaoqi had originally planned to use it for her computer courses, as she felt those were more difficult for her. But that seemed too pragmatically self-serving.

Speaking of personal interests...painting was one of hers. But it seemed unlikely for a poor country girl to treat it as a serious pursuit.

She hadn't heard of people eating by painting.

Xiaoqi felt she had already gained so tremendously in life. She wanted to indulgently treat herself just a tiny bit sometimes.

So she used that study improvement diamond card, designating painting as the course.

The mechanical voice in her mind sounded: "Host's painting skill has advanced from basic level to entry level. Host should continue working hard. Painting at least 100 hours, or host making a qualitative leap in skill that system recognizes, will allow further upgrade."

Xiaoqi sighed lightly. Indeed, even her own feeling that she painted wonderfully with lots of talent - that was still just basic level.

Diamond cards were hard to obtain because they allowed skill upgrade, but usually only by one level relative to current level. Most important was still one's own sustained effort after using the card. Even diamond cards were useless without one striving in an area.

She still had to resign herself to being average, without special talent.

But despite acknowledging all this, her mood rebounded quickly.

Picking up a brush she first started sketching outlines.

Then she began mixing watercolor hues.

Taylor was a pure black young stallion, quite handsome. Near his hindquarters was a scar on his back where the hair and texture differed slightly from the rest of his glossy, sleek coat. His gaze seemed melancholy at times.

As for Xiao Bao'er - she had thick brows and big eyes below her little round face. Such round, full faces seemed favored by Western oil paintings of women.

Xiaoqi pictured the skirt, stockings and shoes Xiao Bao'er had worn that day.

Before she even realized night had fallen, and she'd forgotten to turn on the dorm lights...the only illumination was from some window light streaming in.