Set the world on fi
1955 Words
Su Hua's heart was filled with mixed feelings, and she didn't know how to answer.
She slowly turned her head and looked at Gu Beixian.
He didn't smile often, but when he did, he really looked good. His smile was like the tender spring breeze stretching for ten miles, his eyes were pitch-black and clear, shining like the sea of stars.
He must be very happy since he was about to be with the person he loved.
Su Hua also smiled, a smile that came after her heart was broken.
"Wish you happiness too." After saying that, she turned around and got into the car.
As soon as the car door closed, tears streamed down her face. The new pain added to the old, hurting so much that she just wanted to curl up.
The driver picked up the suitcase and put it in the trunk, then got into the car and started the engine.
Watching the car speed away, the smile on Gu Beixian's lips froze straight there, and the light in his eyes gradually dimmed.
Back at the Su family's house.
Su Hua pulled her suitcase and entered the door.
Su Peilan saw her red and swollen eyes and then looked at the suitcase in her hand. She was shocked. "Girl, what's going on?"
Su Hua bent down to change her shoes and pretended to be calm as she said, "Mom, I'm moving back to live here."
Su Peilan jumped up from the sofa. "Are you and Gu Beixian separating?"
"Yeah, his ex-girlfriend is back."
When Su Peilan heard this, she immediately flew into a rage. "Three years ago, Gu Beixian had a car accident. The doctor said he would never be able to get out of a wheelchair for the rest of his life. His ex-girlfriend ran away right after that! It was you who accompanied him to seek medical treatment everywhere, at home and abroad. You massaged his legs, helped him with rehabilitation, and took care of him day and night like a nanny! Well, now that he can run and jump, that woman is back. How shameless! And Gu Beixian, for the sake of such a heartless and ungrateful woman, he actually dumped you! Is he blind?"
Su Hua bent down to take out the cheque from the suitcase and stuffed it into her mother's hand. "This is the compensation he gave."
Su Peilan stared at the long string of zeros on the cheque, and her eyes widened.
She counted them. There were eight zeros after the one!
Her expression softened a bit. "It's not about the money. Can he just bully people like this just because he has money?"
Su Hua slightly lowered her eyes and said softly, "How many couples get divorced and the man doesn't give the woman a penny and even tries to cheat her out of her share. Some men even kill their wives just to avoid dividing the property. Compared to them, Gu Beixian is not too bad."
"But can you swallow this?"
Su Hua gave a bitter smile. "What else can I do? Cry, make a scene, and threaten to hang myself? Making a fuss like that would be ugly. Is it useful? It's not. His heart isn't with me. It's meaningless to force him to stay, and I can't keep him anyway. Mom, I'm sleepy. I want to go and sleep for a while."
"Go ahead then." Su Peilan looked at her with heartache and sighed.
This child was too easy-going, so easy-going that it was heart-breaking.
Su Hua turned around and went to the bedroom.
She slept for two days and two nights straight.
It scared Su Peilan so much that she would come in from time to time to check her breathing.
Actually, Su Hua didn't really sleep much. She just didn't want to move, didn't feel hungry, and her whole body was weak and limp. It felt like a big piece of her heart was missing.
It was as if the sky had fallen, and she felt terrible.
On the third day, Su Hua managed to get up.
After washing and getting dressed, she called Gu Beixian: "Have you prepared the divorce agreement? When are we going to go through the formalities?"
Gu Beixian was silent for a moment and said, "I'm on a business trip. Let's talk about it when I get back."
"Okay, then I'll go to work. Call me before you come."
"You found a job so quickly? Where is it?" He asked with a concerned tone.
"At an antique shop. They've been calling me to come over before."
"Don't work too hard. If you need money, just let me know." His voice was low and gentle, as if mixed with moonlight, making people yearn for it.
Su Hua's heart ached, and she said distantly, "I don't need it. Thank you."
After having breakfast, Su Hua took a taxi to Gu Bao Zhai.
The person who received her was the young master of the shop, Shen Huai.
He was wearing a light blue shirt and khaki trousers. He was tall and slender, with a clean and gentle temperament, as smooth as jade.
After introducing Su Hua to the people downstairs, Shen Huai took her upstairs to introduce her to Cui Shousheng, the senior antique appraiser in the shop.
"Master Cui, this is Su Hua, the heir to the mantle of 'Restoration Master' Su Lao. She is good at restoring ancient calligraphy and paintings. From now on, she will be the antique restoration artist in our shop. If you have any doubts, you can consult her."
Cui Shousheng, who was nearly sixty years old, looked at Su Hua through his reading glasses.
A yellow-haired girl in her early twenties, what kind of antique restoration artist could she be?
When he was her age, he was still an apprentice.
The young master was praising her so highly and even asking him to consult her if he had any problems!
He promised on the surface, but in his heart, he was very unconvinced!
As soon as Shen Huai left, he asked Su Hua: "Little Su, how many years have you been in this business?"
Su Hua gave a faint smile. "More than ten years."
Cui Shousheng couldn't believe it. "How old are you this year?"
"Twenty-three."
Cui Shousheng thought to himself, this little girl is quite boastful for her age. Just wait to be slapped in the face!
In this line of work, it depends on real skills. Just talking big won't work!
Just as they were talking, a shop assistant downstairs came up to invite someone.
Su Hua and Cui Shousheng went downstairs.
They saw a man in his thirties, holding a dirty and old ancient painting, asking if it could be restored.
Cui Shousheng took a quick look.
That could hardly be called a painting anymore. It was a black, shabby, wrinkled, and full of wormholes mess.
For this level of damage, only the top domestic restoration artists would have some confidence to handle it.
He looked at Su Hua with schadenfreude. "Little Su, everyone is watching you. Don't let them down."
Su Hua walked over, picked up the painting and examined it carefully. Then she said to the customer: "It can be restored."
The customer was overjoyed. "Who will do the restoration? How long will it take?"
"Me. It will be done in three days."
"You?" The customer looked at Su Hua, who looked like a fresh and pretty girl in her early twenties, full of doubts.
"This is a genuine work by Wang Jian, one of the 'Four Wangs' in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties! The auction price starts at over a million. Don't mess it up for me!"
Everyone else also looked at Su Hua with doubtful eyes. Three days?
That was too arrogant!
Cui Shousheng smacked his lips and twisted his beard. "Little Su, you young people are fearless like newborn calves, which is a good thing, but you also have to know your limits. If you mess up the restoration for the customer, it will damage the reputation of our Gu Bao Zhai. For this level of damage, even the top restoration artists wouldn't dare to say they could finish it in three days. Which of them doesn't take months or even years to restore an ancient painting?"
In other words: Don't be overconfident!
Su Hua's tone was firm: "Three days is enough. If I mess it up, I'll compensate you double the market price."
The customer originally wanted to have the painting restored and then auction it. Hearing such a good deal, he immediately agreed. "Words are not enough. Let's sign a contract."
"Okay."
After estimating the price and signing the contract, Su Hua took the ancient painting to the restoration room upstairs.
She pushed open the door.
There were two half-human-height big red solid wood tables in the room.
All kinds of restoration tools such as flat brushes, hoof knives, towel made of sheepskin, writing brushes made of goat hair, and rice paper were all available.
The restoration of ancient calligraphy and paintings mainly involves four processes: washing, uncovering, patching, and completing.
Su Hua asked someone to boil a pot of boiling water and started to wash the ancient painting with a flat brush dipped in the boiling water.
She was extremely careful with each stroke.
She had to wash the stains clean without damaging the fragile paper fibers of the ancient painting with too much water flow.
It was easier said than done.
Fortunately, she had been following her grandfather to restore ancient paintings since she was a child, and she was already very proficient in such things.
Gu Beixian's grandparents also loved collecting antiques, and in the past two years, she had almost taken care of the restoration work of their ancient calligraphy and paintings.
Not to mention this level of ancient painting, she had restored even older and more damaged ones.
With the tight schedule, Su Hua was so busy in the next few days that she couldn't even lift her head.
Being busy was good.
Being busy could make her forget about Gu Beixian for a while.
Even the sadness was diluted.
Three days later, the customer came to pick up the painting.
Su Hua took the restored ancient painting to the first floor.
The customer looked at the painting that was completely different from before and was stunned. "Is this the painting I brought? Didn't you swap it for me?"
Cui Shousheng, the shop owner, and the shop assistants all walked over and were also shocked.
The mountains on the ancient painting were undulating, the peaks were steep and dangerous, the trees in the mountains were lush and vivid.
Was this still the same shabby and unrecognizable painting like a rag before?
Su Hua said calmly: "You can use instruments to test its authenticity."
After the test, the customer gave Su Hua a thumbs up and left satisfied with the painting.
Since then, word spread quickly.
Everyone on the entire antique street knew that a young and beautiful ancient painting restoration artist had newly arrived at Gu Bao Zhai.
She was only in her early twenties, but her skills were comparable to those of a national-level restoration master!
In the evening.
Gu Beixian called: "My car is parked right in front of your shop. Come out."
Hearing the familiar voice, Su Hua's heart throbbed with pain.
She looked at her watch and said softly: "It's almost dark. It's too late to go to the Civil Affairs Bureau now. Can we go tomorrow morning?"
Gu Beixian was silent for a moment. "It's Grandma who wants to see us. She said it's something very important."
- Writer
