Chapter 61: The Scenery in the Heart of a Young Painter

  Shen Beiqiu had already found a location and arranged all the utensils, even the seasonings were ready, just waiting for Su Yisou to arrive.

  Su Yisu stood beside Shen Beiqiu with a confused expression, looking at the painting board and then back at him, saying vaguely: "Shen Beiqiu, what should I do? It seems like I'm really not professional at all!"

  Shen Beiqiu smiled lightly, "It doesn't matter, as long as you don't move around it's fine. You have to trust my painting skills."

  "Oh..." Su Yisu nodded as if she understood, then asked again: "Where do I stand? What pose should I make? Ah, I'm so nervous!"

  "What's so serious?" Shen Beiqiu smiled helplessly, pointing to the triangular plum blossoms behind her: "Last year on this day in front of this door, human faces and peach blossoms reflected each other's red glow. Without peach blossoms, triangular plums are not bad either, you sit next to them, it will be a very beautiful scene."

  "I'm afraid that beautiful flower will be ruined because I'll trample it, and its beauty will be affected!" Su Yisu said, but immediately took three steps forward, sat down on the stone stairs under the Rhododendron tree, turned her head back and smiled brightly.

  As Su Yisuo suddenly turned her head, Shen Beiqiu couldn't help but feel a little absent-minded. He stared blankly for a moment before shaking his head vigorously and picking up his brush to focus on painting. After a while, Su Yisuo started to feel tired, even her smile became stiff. The wind blew past her ears, lifting the hair on both sides of her head. Su Yisuo's eyes rolled around, sometimes looking at one strand of hair, sometimes staring at another, and sometimes she couldn't help but raise her hand to tie up the mischievous strands that were blowing in the wind. She completely forgot what she was supposed to be doing, until finally, she simply picked up a nearby flower branch and played with it by herself.

  Fortunately, Shen Beizhen's painting skills were good enough, and he was not affected by this unprofessional and irresponsible model at all. On the contrary, he was deeply infected by Su Yisou's unintentionally revealed natural innocence, and was greatly inspired to abandon his mediocre style, quickly sketching out a vivid and lively picture of a flower-picking girl, using bold colors and strong contrasts, yet perfectly capturing the spirit of the girl in the painting.

  Unintentionally, Shen Beiqiu stopped his brush and frowned at the canvas. Su Yisou suddenly remembered her duty and rushed to Shen Beiqiu's side, anxiously saying: "Shen Beiqiu, I'm sorry! I was blowing wind over there, got carried away for a moment, and completely forgot that you were still painting... why didn't you remind me?"

  After finishing, she glanced at the painting board and couldn't help but exclaim, "Ah! Shen Beiqiu! This is not me!" Clearly a naive and innocent girl... How mature they've become...

  Shen Beiqiu didn't care what Su Yisuo was thinking in her heart, and added another bold stroke to the paper. Only then did she smile with satisfaction, clearly very pleased with her work. "I just paint what I see," she said.

  Su Yisu couldn't help but roll her eyes, "Is there something wrong with your eyes?"

  Shen Beiqiu didn't respond, but instead smiled lightly.

  At this time, Su Yisu suddenly heard the sound of children's happy laughter coming from the artificial lake, and couldn't help but move in her heart. She turned back to quietly ask Shen Beiqiu for his opinion: "Do you want to keep painting? I think I'll go for a walk over there."

  Shen Beiqiu nodded and started packing up his things, saying "Let's go for a walk, maybe we'll come up with some inspiration."

  "Ah, artists, everything is a source of inspiration." Su Yisu said this with a shake of her head and a slow drawl, looking like a scholar from ancient times.

  Shen Beiqiu couldn't help but chuckle, "If you wear those scholar's hats and put on a white long gown, you won't even need to pretend, you'll be a complete bookworm."

  Su Yisuo said discontentedly: "Who loves being those silly and stupid bookworms." As she spoke, she ran excitedly towards the direction of the lake.

  Shen Beiqiu smiled again and left his painting box with the old man who was in charge of taking care of things, then followed along.

  When Shen Beiqiu felt sad, he found Su Yisou crouching in the corridor in the middle of the lake, playing with water flowers with several 4 or 5 year old children.

  Shen Beiqiu couldn't help but sweat, and involuntarily deeply doubted his own eyes. He said he had matured a bit? How did he become more immature the older he got? Was this really the almost nineteen-year-old Su Yisou? It seemed that the painting just now was indeed not wrong.

  Those kids probably accepted Su Yisuo as one of the big kids, and soon they were playing together. One of them took advantage of Su Yisuo's carelessness, scooped up a water flower and splashed it on her body, then laughed "heh heh" at her. Su Yisuo wiped off the water droplets from her face, turned around with feigned anger and said: "You little scamp, how dare you launch a sneak attack on me? Just wait and see how I'll deal with you!" And she also prepared to splash back.

  Shen Beiqiu saw that she was having a bit too much fun and hastily stepped forward to stop her, "Alright, Yusu, aren't you always boasting about being mature and steady? Now the true face is revealed?"

  Su Yi Su's mouth was slightly pouting, and she stood up with some reluctance. She scolded the few children lightly: "Sister will let you off today, but next time you must come to avenge your grievances."

  The little kid wasn't afraid of her and instead smiled and replied: "I remember! I've been waiting for you!"

  Su Yisu walked away with a hum. Shen Beiqiu bypassed the few children and followed Su Yisu to the small island in the center of the lake.

  At this moment, Su Yisu suddenly exclaimed and slipped under her feet. She was about to lose her balance and fall backwards into the lake. Shen Beiqiu's heart skipped a beat as he hastily ran over, one hand supporting her waist and the other holding her right hand, steadying her upright.

  Su Yisu turned around to look at the rippling lake water, still frightened and patted her chest, saying repeatedly: "Scared me to death scared me to death."

  Su Yisou slowly came back to her senses and lifted her head to glance at Shen Beiqiu, only to find that he was also looking down at her. She suddenly realized the awkward position they were in and quickly freed her right hand, taking a few steps back without leaving any traces. Lowering her head, she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and said awkwardly, "Thank you."

  Shen Beiqiu also felt a bit awkward, his hands stiffly hanging down, "cough cough" lightly clearing his throat twice, saying: "Next time be more careful, it's not every time that you have such good luck and there just happens to be someone beside you to hold onto."

  "Got it!" Su Yisu raised her head, deliberately ignoring the somewhat awkward atmosphere between them, smiled and replied with a sentence, then "heh heh" laughed and ran far away.

  Shen Beiqiu stood there in a daze, staring at Su Yisou's figure, somewhat absent-minded. After a while, he let out a soft sigh and shook his head, slowly following behind.

  Behind them, a leisurely tourist held a camera in his hand, taking pictures of the scenery everywhere. When Su Yisou and Shen Beiqiu's figures disappeared into the dense flower trees, the tourist also fiddled with his camera, pressed down on the duck tongue cap on his head, lowered his head and hurried away.