Chapter 617: 【Chapter 24: Painting】Request for Monthly Pass_2
"Haha..." Li Yan was amused by her antics. Although she was joking now, wasn’t this also her attitude towards love? If she didn’t like someone, even childhood friends wouldn’t change her mind, but if she did, she’d love bravely and take the initiative to pursue it! "To spare you the trouble of coming all this way, I’ll make sure to come to you. I’ll think of how to celebrate your birthday this week!"
Xiao Di said with satisfaction, "As long as you come to accompany me, everything else is just details."
"Really? In that case, we’ll just book a room at the hotel and chat then."
Upon hearing his suggestion, Xiao Di flashed an ambiguous smile, "Hotel? Book a room? And just chat?"
Li Yan pretended to be shocked and covered his chest, "Then what else do you want to do?"
Xiao Di was speechless. What am I supposed to do? Force myself on you? "Can we at least watch TV?"
"Haha, of course we can watch TV."
"Alright, stop teasing. I’m here to draw your portrait, but ended up playing the piano." Xiao Di stood up and headed over to the art studio on the other side.
The art studio and piano room were in the same space, since it was spacious enough and well-kept, it didn’t seem cluttered at all.
"Did you used to sketch the sea every day like this? Haha, you don’t even have to go out to do it." Li Yan looked at the sea outside and then glanced at the distant beach.
"It’s actually quite boring." Xiao Di set up the easel, canvas, and other things, and started mixing paints.
"Are you really going to draw a portrait of me?"
Xiao Di had already taken a painter’s stance and pointed to a sofa for resting, "Lie down there, in this position, like this."
Li Yan was a bit sweaty as he sat on the sofa, then lay on his side in the suggested pose, "Are you trying to paint me as a reclining Buddha?"
"Hee hee... Have you seen ’Titanic’? When the protagonist painted the heroine’s portrait, he had her pose like this. Look at you, what kind of attitude is that? Play along a bit more, alright?" Xiao Di commanded the ’model’ from afar.
"I’m dizzy. I’m going to be an art model today... Teacher Yu, do I need to take off my clothes?" Li Yan joked.
Xiao Di clapped her hands and said, "I was going to ask you to take them off, but I was worried you’d be shy. Since you don’t mind, I won’t be polite! Take them off!"
Li Yan broke out in a cold sweat. Wasn’t I just asking for this?
"I think... let’s not. The weather’s getting cooler; if you catch a cold again, it’s over."
If he had just said it was embarrassing and he didn’t want to take his clothes off, Xiao Di would have insisted. Though it’s not cold indoors, when he said he was worried about catching a cold, she let it go. She hadn’t fully recovered from her cold either, so she certainly didn’t want Li Yan to get one.
"Alright, stay still. I’m going to start drawing..."
Xiao Di carefully sketched out the outline on the paper, then began refining the drawing and coloring it step by step...
...
Being a painter shouldn’t be boring, right? Li Yan couldn’t answer this question. Maybe painting for interest while having none of life’s worries wouldn’t be boring if you were immersed in creation.
But being an art model? That was definitely boring!
Although Li Yan was initially planning to pass time for this afternoon, lying on the sofa motionless to avoid distracting Xiao Di, speaking only in brief sentences was truly dull and boring.
Xiao Di’s painting skills aside, her pace was genuinely slow. Maybe it’s just that it felt too slow to Li Yan, but it seemed she finally finished a long time later.
"Finally done. If this went on any longer, I would’ve turned into The Thinker’s sculpture." Li Yan sat up, stretching his limbs.
Xiao Di, who had just finished painting with a smile on her face, suddenly frowned, "Sigh... I’m not very satisfied with this one! I won’t show it to you. I’ll paint you another one next time!"
Next time? Li Yan felt a chill, quickly got up, and approached, "Let me see, maybe you’re just being too hard on yourself."
As he came over, Xiao Di leaned forward to block him, looking at him pitifully, "If you think the painting isn’t good, you can’t get mad, and you can’t tear up my work. Only then I’ll let you see..."
Li Yan laughed, "It’s fine, even if you drew me as hideously as a Picasso abstract, I wouldn’t mind it."
Xiao Di giggled at his analogy, "Once, when I was with my mom at an art exhibit, there was this chubby woman looking at Picasso’s portraits, shaking her head saying ’ugh, so ugly’, ’ugh, so ugly’. Eventually, she said ’ugh, so ugly’ again in front of a piece, but felt something off and then someone quietly reminded her: there’s no painting here, it’s a mirror, haha..."
"..."
"Why aren’t you laughing? Isn’t it funny?"
Li Yan broke into a slight sweat. "Not funny, but the way you tell it is."
"You’re awful, so you’re laughing at me? Here! Take a look at your portrait, and no tearing it up. Ta-da..."
As she spoke, Xiao Di moved aside, revealing her newly completed work to Li Yan.
Given her slow pace and her recent attitude, Li Yan had mentally prepared himself. Even if it was indeed as abstract as a Picasso, he was ready to accept it with a smile. However, when he finally saw the painting, he couldn’t help but tear up! His eyes got moist, just a slight nudge away from tears streaming down his face!
It wasn’t because she made him look too ugly; on the contrary, it was because she painted him so beautifully! Beautiful in a way that didn’t look like a man but a woman. If it was just slightly effeminate, that’d be fine, but not only was it beautiful, the gaze was also teasing! Sort of like a flirty wink. If it was just the eyes, that’d be fine, too, but it was also bare chested! And if it was just bare-chested, that’d be okay, but the image depicted, wasn’t a man’s, it was genuinely a woman’s bare chest...
Seeing his expression, Xiao Di couldn’t hold back her laughter any longer. She had been suppressing it for quite some time, and telling the joke earlier was partly to release some of the laughter she couldn’t keep in. Initially, while drawing Li Yan, she’d mischievously decided to depict him nude even though he hadn’t undressed. After the drawing was completed, she felt the prank wasn’t quite enough, so she further developed it — but only revealing the upper half. After all, she couldn’t very well imagine what he’d look like and draw the lower half, so she "enhanced" his chest, turning him into a woman.
"So you merged me with Rose, huh?" Li Yan turned to Xiao Di, who was laughing hard, and said softly.
"Hee hee, brilliant, right? Not everyone can pull it off!" Xiao Di saw he wasn’t angry and replied with a smile.
"Brilliant. You might as well add a ’Star of the Ocean’ necklace to me!"
Li Yan shrugged and then raised his hand, "Please have Teacher Yu sign it, so I can frame this and hang it in my office!"
Xiao Di was a bit taken aback, "You can’t be serious, right?"
"If not in the office, hang it at the entrance of Heaven Mansion; I guarantee it’ll be more effective than a Gate God. A Gate God wards off evil, but this... should also prevent pregnancies."
Xiao Di giggled, "Are you mocking me? You’re being petty, you promised not to be angry!"
Li Yan laughed as well, "Just kidding, but it was really creative. But I’m a bit curious, when you were drawing, did you imagine my body? Or were you imagining your own body?"
Xiao Di blushed, "Neither! I just merged you with Rose and drew you based on her in Titanic."
"No matter how you messed with it, I’m not taking this with me. I feel nauseous just looking at myself. If you keep it and your parents see it, tsk tsk..." Li Yan said with a grin.
"Uh..." Xiao Di was also troubled. Yeah, if her parents saw it, it would be serious. Drawing a nude portrait wasn’t the issue, because at least at eighteen, it’s no big deal. But the head being Li Yan, while the body was female, that ’transformation’ effect from male to female! Her parents might even suspect she was some kind of pervert! (To be continued, to know what happens next, please log in to www.qidian.com, more Chapters available, support the author, support legitimate reading!)
