Mask

  Gao Cheng put down his chopsticks and raised his head: "Low IQ is innate, poor memory is an acquired attribute." He looked at the person in front of him with a hint of curiosity. "If you weren't my apprentice, where do you think you would be right now?"

  ...at the police station! I have to admit, if it weren't for Gao Cheng's connections, I might still be being bombarded with questions by Detective Zhang Ji, and maybe I would have already collapsed from exhaustion. But the mastermind who got me into this situation just so happened to be him.

  "After some thought, I tried to speak in a calm tone: 'I'm just an ordinary illustrator, and I originally promised your mother that I would take care of you more. Your leg doesn't seem to be a big problem either, can... ' I hesitated for a moment, 'Let's just mind our own business, you continue investigating your case, and I'll draw my illustrations?'"

  Although he spoke with a straight face and a strong tone, under his dark gaze, he seemed to lose all confidence, staring at me for four or five seconds, his eyes piercing, until he calmly looked away, the corners of his mouth seeming to curve into a faint sneer: "Xia Zhu, you want to burn your bridges after crossing the river."

  Affirmative sentences, resolute attitude, make me feel uncomfortable.

  He paused for a moment, then threw over a sentence with a hint of a smile: "Do you think I would agree?"

  When the little ones came back, the atmosphere in the gallery was low. I and Gao Cheng sat separately at two opposite corners of the gallery, about eight meters apart, which is the longest distance in the gallery.

  The little boy looked at Gao, who was sitting in the back, and then looked at me with a confused expression. He finally asked me in a soft voice, "Xia Jie, is everything okay between you and Mr. Gao?" I replied softly, "Everything's fine."

  "Then I'll send the white coffee over to him? Oh, and Xia Jie, I brought you some pomelo honey tea from that street vendor."

  After I nodded, she put down the honey tea and walked in big strides. In my peripheral vision, Gao Cheng put down the album in his hand, raised his eyes to look at Xiao Tong with a warm smile, and slightly opened his lips when he took over the coffee. When Xiao Tong turned around again, the corners of his eyes and eyebrows were all filled with joy. When he walked to my side, he asked me excitedly: "Sister Xia, is Mr. Gao going to work at our gallery? He just said that from today on, he would ask me to bring a cup of white coffee from that restaurant every day."

  Looking at the child's expectant gaze, I am now in a state of wanting to cry but having no tears, and finally nodded with great difficulty.

  The afternoon was hard to get through, except for me, it seemed like the other two were enjoying themselves. Gao Cheng continued to sit there like a Bodhisattva, occasionally picking up his coffee and taking a sip, while Xiao Tong set up her easel again and seriously continued working on her sketch. From my position, I could already see the rough outline, and overall shape had taken form, I have to say, Xiao Tong had captured Gao Cheng's spirit very accurately.

  But she caught his current fake face, vicious, cunning and sinister side, which was completely invisible.

  Just before the little kid came back, he said to me in a light and extremely despicable tone: "It's okay to burn bridges after crossing the river, but I don't guarantee that as soon as I walk out of this door, the police will come knocking on your door. Oh, by the way, I'm currently the special consultant for that case, if I just analyze two sentences and you become a suspect, you should be locked up for at least ten days or half a month." After finishing speaking, he glanced around the gallery, "Or, this hiding place should also be temporarily closed."

  I'm so angry that my whole body is shaking, this is a naked threat! Not only did he threaten to frame me as a suspect if I didn't listen to him, but also threatened to shut down my art gallery. You know, the gallery is where my heart and soul are, I'd rather be taken away by the police myself than see it treated like this.