Almighty painter

Chapter 1006 Life with Coco
“You are Picasso, and everyone in your life is saying ‘yes’ to you. But I am saying no to you.”

French artist Francis Gilot's "Life with Picasso"
-

"You have to scheme against the old Latina lady who sells vegetables, and chatter away with your roommates in the dorm." Gu Weijing thought for a while, "...It sounds like a lot of work."

"Don't say stupid things."

Coco replied.

“That’s the joy of life. There has to be a life outside of being ‘a dancer,’ right?” The woman breathed playfully into the microphone and asked rhetorically, “What else did you expect? I live in a convent-like environment, where I just eat, sleep, and prepare for performances every day.”

Coco paused for a moment.

she asked rhetorically.

"And what about you? It's always been me talking, how's it going on your end?"

"well enough."

Gu Weijing thought for a moment, "You should have seen the news reports about what happened in Singapore."

“Of course, but that’s the life of artist Mr. Gu, not Mr. Cat,” Coco said with a smile.

Gu Weijing shrugged.

On the day they parted at the airport, Coco left a note saying that the detective cat incident was a secret between them.

The woman smiled and commanded—

"Come on, tell me everything again. You should be able to afford the phone bill anyway. Also, how's Awang doing? Scratch its belly for me a couple of times, I miss it."

Gu Weijing sat in his chair, looked up at the sky outside Hamburg, and began to reminisce.

……

"When it comes down to it, going to college is really just that."

The young painter recounted everything in chronological order, one event after another, and then concluded.

“My life is similar to yours. Eating, sleeping, preparing for art exhibitions. Oh, I’ve recently learned the viola,” Gu Weijing said. “Currently, I mainly play some 19th-century European folk songs and such.”

"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?" Coco asked.

"how do you know."

"I've studied violin. I know most of the basic pieces," the woman said casually. "Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock... Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. But my skill level is just enough to produce a few sounds; it actually sounds pretty bad."

“Then you must not have heard me play the violin,” Gu Weijing said sincerely. “So far, my only regular audience is a Dutch cow.”

"Well, the cows have worked hard," Coco expressed her sympathy from afar.

“Since Awang isn’t here, let me rub the cow’s belly for you.”

Gu Weijing stepped forward, raised his hand and gently touched the forehead of the black and white livestock. The cow raised its head and gave a very rock-and-roll "moo".

"Anyway, I think it's only a matter of time before Awang eats himself into the size of a dairy cow if he keeps eating like this."

"Awang has no fatty liver to this day, which is truly a miracle of life."

"That's what Coco commented."

Gu Weijing thought for a moment: "Who says otherwise?"

Conversations with Coco are always so relaxing, reminding me of lakeside docks, strolls through markets, quiet drives on highways at night, smiling faces painted on car windows by condensation, and the music of "Love Story." There's also that intense, dry scent, like sun-warmed sand.

After a full year and a half of brewing, all the emotions came together.

The flavor that it creates.

It was like a dream.

Gu Weijing recalled the morning at the Xihe Guild Hall, the words Coco spoke while looking into his eyes, and the question in the notebook. Gu Weijing felt that, regardless of whether it was love or friendship, he should have an obligation to give the most direct and clean answer.

A formal answer, just like a man's.

What other answer could he possibly give?

Hey, Coco—

He paused, then spoke softly.

"Hey, Gu Weijing."

Coco interrupted him.

"Don't spoil the fun," she said, her voice sounding like she was eating a cherry tomato.

Gu Weijing shook his head and continued, "I think I understand—"

“Me too.”

Coco said it directly.

“Me too,” she repeated.

“But no.”

Coco added.

"I'm happy, but my answer right now is No."

The woman chewed on fruit. "Because you're not good enough, and this answer isn't good enough for me either."

Coco was proud and confident; if something didn't truly belong to her, then... she wouldn't want it.

"I love you."

She would only accept such an answer once—in that morning kiss, the two young people embraced passionately. She said that regardless of whether the answer was sincere or not, it was love, or perhaps gratitude.

If you said "I love you," then she won't regret staying with you until the end.

just now.

Gu Weijing wrote a hundred reasons to fall in love with Coco.

Coco—Coco also needs a reason to accept it.

Coco didn't want it to be just a recollection of the past, or a compromise.

She hoped that the rest of their lives would be filled with a moment of fulfillment.

"You need to make yourself better, okay? I don't care how many exhibitions you've held, or what the life of artist Gu Weijing is like in the media. But... I hope that you have a clearer understanding of your own life, whether it's your life as an artist or your life outside of being an artist, before answering my question."

Coco said, "Love makes me a better person than before."

"You must do the same. Otherwise, you have no right to say that."

People say that the elderly Picasso kept professing his love to young girls one after another, hoping to escape his fear of aging.

"Love should be courage, not an escape from life."

"Me too, but the current answer is 'No'."

"Koko said."

"Remember to pat Ah Wang's belly for me."
-

As dusk fell, Gu Weijing took a bottle of water from his desert tent, lifted the curtain, and went outside.

A barbecue party is being held at the camp.

Yang Dekang had signed up for a luxury desert safari tour in Dubai. At this moment, they were in a designated desert off-road camp. A campfire had been lit in the open space, and a chef was preparing the main course for dinner—roasted camel, a classic Arabian dish.

This is the grandest and most complex dish Gu Wei has ever seen in all his years. The specific preparation process is somewhat similar to that of Russian nesting dolls.

Bake an egg until cooked.

Stuff this egg into the belly of a fish and bake it.

Stuff the fish into the belly of a chicken and roast it.

Stuff the chicken inside a sheep and roast it.

Finally, stuff the sheep into the belly of a camel with tender meat and roast it.

Each time the animal is re-roasted during the preparation process, its abdominal cavity is stuffed with a large amount of spices, sauces, dried goods such as raisins and cashews, as well as some staple foods, and finally roasted with date palm branches.

Mr. Yang, the all-knowing magical little conch, told Gu Weijing that this Arabian feast takes several days to prepare, and one dish is enough to feed everyone in the entire desert safari camp. Currently, the final processing is underway, and the camp is filled with the irresistible aroma of roasted meat and seasonings mingling together.

Gu Weijing saw Lao Yang.

Yang Dekang was like a whirlwind, circling around the campfire, holding up his phone to take a photo with the Arab cook next to him, while giving a thumbs up.

"Te-ye-, te-ye-! (Arabic: It's delicious, my family, it's delicious...)"

Gu Weijing could see from afar the diamond-encrusted gold watch on Teacher Yang's wrist reflecting the setting sun.

Really domineering.

Gu Weijing waved to Yang Dekang in greeting, but instead of walking over, he changed direction and headed towards the off-road vehicle.

A long row of various off-road vehicles was parked outside the campsite.

The black and white Mercedes-Benz G-Class, the new Land Rover Defender, the Toyota Land Cruiser, and the Lexus LX570. In Mr. Yang's words, these are the cars driven by true tough guys and good older brothers, each one tougher than the last.

Man in Man.
After analyzing his driving skills and looking at the sand dunes, Gu Wei assessed the survival rate of someone who actually flipped over them.

He personally felt that he was a bit too manly.

So he chose to carry his small backpack and hike towards the large sand dune outside the camp that looked dozens of meters high.

The off-road campsite is well-developed commercially, with rope ladders laid down from the sand dunes for easy climbing on the smaller dunes nearby, but the largest dune does not.

Even as the sun was about to set, the weather remained extremely hot.

With each step, the sand slid down from all sides, catching the shoes and submerging up to a third of the forefoot.

several times.

Gu Weijing almost gave up halfway through, thinking he wouldn't be able to climb the sand dune. But then he remembered Yang Dekang's words and his grandfather's beloved Old Man and the Sea.

Gu Weijing persevered.

“Superman doesn’t need courage to climb such sand dunes; it’s ordinary people who sweat that need it.”

After about 25 minutes, Gu Weijing, covered in sweat, finally climbed to the top of the sand dune. The city lights in the distance were bright, and Gu Weijing could see the huge glass buildings on the city skyline shimmering in the setting sun.

Even though I don't know much about this city.

Gu Weijing still knew that it was the famous Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, a landmark of Dubai and even the entire UAE. It was so tall that, when the air quality was good enough, the spire of the Burj Khalifa could be seen from as far as nearly 100 kilometers away.

It has been less than a year since Hollywood's top male star, Tom Cruise, released "Mission: Impossible 6".

In many places, you can still see movie posters featuring Tom Cruise climbing the Burj Khalifa without any equipment.

Love is the courage to face things.

Love is not about running away.

True geniuses do not escape from this world.

Gu Weijing wanted to bury himself in his art studio, in those memories, and live freely in his own world.

But it seems that each time, it will cause new problems.

Gu Weijing wanted to hide in the "mission" and paint porcelain in the porcelain art classroom, but he just couldn't complete the mission.

Gu Weijing wanted to put an end to things, hiding in sweet memories, just watching the sunrise and sunset.

Coco said "No."

Gu Weijing has a systematic skill called "Real World". He can use an exquisite watercolor technique to paint the most subtle light and shadow, such as sunlight, air, and water flow, with exquisite detail, just like pressing the shutter of a camera.

As we grow up.

Gu Weijing felt increasingly confused about what the real world was really like.

He thought life in Germany was good; it was a long-established developed country with a beautiful environment, a slow pace of life, and most professors were friendly. Even the few like Kozens had their own endearing qualities.

His roommate Victor bumped fists with him and said, "Take care of yourself. This world is very hypocritical."

Gu Weijing has arrived in the UAE. He is currently in Dubai. He has heard too much about how incredibly wealthy this city is, how international superstars come here to film movies, how it is filled with displays of luxurious lifestyles, and how supercars are used as police cars.

It seems to be full of rich imagination.

After Kele arrived, Yang Dekang casually told him that there were often high-paying jobs offered as a cover. He said that people here were very rich and it was easy to get rich. As a result, some people came with dreams of getting rich, only to find that the park would make them engage in fraud and money laundering.

Confiscated cell phones and all means of communication with the outside world.

They will be beaten with sticks and shocked with electric shocks.

They would be bound hand and foot and buried alive in the sand under the sun. The more "merciful" approach was to bury them completely, or up to their chest, which usually resulted in rapid death by suffocation. Even worse was being buried only up to their stomach; legend has it that the scorching sand could cook them alive, leaving them covered in blisters.

It is said that within just one day, the corpse will eventually turn a near-charred black.

There's also the buying and selling of organs.

Sexual exploitation of women within the park.

WTF?

Yang Dekang was mainly reminding him to be careful, but Gu Weijing was completely stunned.

Why does this sound so familiar?

Why is it so.

Gu Weijing felt a sadness that could not be described in words.

Such a thing had happened to someone close to him before. To be honest, Gu Weijing was well protected by his grandfather. He was a relatively lucky person. He was isolated in a small crystal ball.

He knew that those moments of suffering were happening all around him.

most of the time.

He could still live a relatively peaceful life as long as he closed his eyes, until the bald man knocked on his door.

But now, he's gone. He's having a solo exhibition in a major art museum, and his agent is rich enough to open his own Louvre.

But as long as you open your eyes.

These things still seem to be happening around him.

Deception, violence, despair… the most sordid things in the world. The Middle East doesn't seem to be a safe place either; turn on the news, and right here, Palestinian refugees are still displaced.

Why is the world the way it is?

Why is it that no matter where he goes or how far he escapes, when he opens his eyes, he always feels that the shadow of the Xihe Guild Hall is just around the corner of the next street?

(End of this chapter)