Almighty painter

Chapter 838 Gu Weijing's Decision
Gu Weijing has no experience.

He is smart and wise enough to create excellent works and to see through other people's minds.

But he has not yet mastered the art of conversation.

This is a kind of talent that needs to be forged repeatedly before it can bloom into a hard and brilliant talent. Anna cannot become a good artist, but she is born to be a little genius in arguing with people.

She is the master of this field.

Anna always thought that if she had been born two thousand years ago, she would have tried to be Socrates.

Socrates' philosophical teachings did not have much appeal to her.

But his death due to "contempt for religion and disrespect for God" gave Anna a burning and gorgeous imagination.

If she were the debater Socrates.

The little painter before him was just a baby who had just learned to babble, a clucking chicken who was trying unsteadily to peck at rice grains from the ground.

Miss Elena did not deny that perhaps one day, Gu Weijing would be able to handle such a situation calmly and well.

That's not today.

He still needs experience to grow better.

Even a genius needs time to get familiar with and get used to all of this.

The spotlight brings pressure.

Outsiders will also question it.

It wasn't the first day Anna entered school that she could use her eloquence to make her classmates cry when faced with a dispute... Well, it took her three weeks to have her first argument with a senior sorority member who laughed at her wheelchair, and the other party burst into tears. After all, there were not many people in that school who dared to have a dispute with her.

However, the intensity of the interview with Oil Painting magazine was a bit too high for Gu Weijing, a new painter.

"Oh. Get it, right? No matter what the occasion, I can just sneer and yell that so-and-so should go to hell and deal with it."

Anna glanced at Gu Weijing playfully.

"You still need me to rescue you."

At the last moment before he opened his mouth and put himself in the dispute, just like August grabbed the chirping chicken that the forester of the estate kept in the yard, and pulled Gu Weijing out of this chirping dispute with flying chicken feathers.

Miss Irina changed her mind.

She noticed Gu Weijing's expression at the moment -

His brows were slightly furrowed and he looked unhappy. No one would be really happy if he was accused of being a liar in person.

There was not much anxiety in his expression.

The sounds of laughter and discussion surrounded him like the tide surrounding a reef.

This feeling touched Anna.

She wanted to give Gu Weijing some time, give herself some time, and give the audience and guests present some time to see how this young man wanted to respond.

"It's a very intense accusation. If I were a judge, I would probably say innocent until proven guilty, but... this is not a court. This is just a live conversation."

The woman cast an inquiring look at Gu Weijing.

"In the face of such severe accusations, Mr. Gu, do you have anything to say to everyone?" Anna's tone revealed a hint of expectation. "When you were writing that paper, did you realize that you would face such sharp questions? How do you want to answer Mr. Rosings?"

"I can't answer, uh... I can't answer your question..."

To Anna's disappointment.

Different from what he appears to be.

Gu Weijing seemed a little awkward when he spoke.

"I don't know the answer." He said softly, and then there was another long pause.

as predicted,

Gu Weijing didn't expect Anna's clever response, so it's not his fault.

But he didn't even have the energy to continue discussing this issue seriously with Rosings in a friendly manner.

Rosings' aggressive posture, like a cobra with its tongue sticking out and raised high, may have frightened Gu Weijing and made him panic.

"I don't know the answer to that." - This answer is only slightly better than the worst kind of awkwardness of sitting frozen in your seat, speechless and at a loss for words.

A little bit as big as a fingernail.

A typical nervous and overwhelmed speech.

coax.

The audience was probably not satisfied with this answer.

The noise that had just subsided became agitated again.

Tangning said nothing, but closed her eyes and sneered, as if Gu Weijing's face was so cold that she lost interest in making a sarcastic remark. Lin Tao shook his head slightly, and Liu Ziming also sighed softly.

Cao Xuan, who was an excellent Qi-cultivating expert, sat calmly in his seat with no expression on his face.

Just now when Rosings was accusing Gu Weijing and Tangning and Liu Ziming were having a small verbal exchange, the old man had this attitude.

At this moment, it is still the same.

Like a stone statue of Bodhisattva.

Cao Xuan off the stage is like Anna on the stage.

No matter how the younger generations quarreled and how they had their own thoughts, as long as the old man was still sitting here, as still as a mountain, then it would only be a quarrel of words.
-
"You don't know the answer?"

Anna asked.

Her fingers wrapped in white velvet gloves tapped lightly on the back of her palms. People who were familiar with Anna would understand that the woman seemed a little anxious.

The only thing worse than adding the lemon juice too early is squeezing it at the wrong time—like when the steak is already burnt.

It would be better if Miss Elena just took the initiative to push Gu Weijing behind her and take the lead in the conversation herself.

She left the opportunity to show herself to Gu Weijing.

But the other party did not seize the opportunity.

Intellectually, Anna thought she should have sympathy or pity for Gu Weijing.

She had already thought about the fact that young people couldn't handle such a situation, hadn't she?
Handing the reins of a galloping horse to an impulsive young man and hoping that he will have the skill to tame the horse is a false expectation that is not in line with reality and is a mistake made by experienced old riders.

Emotionally, Miss Elena was still very disappointed.

She was not disappointed with Gu Weijing's poor performance.

It’s okay to not cope well.

She was disappointed with the calmness and courage that Gu Weijing had just shown.

Just like Anna felt a palpitation and impulse, standing in front of the drawing board, but found that she couldn't draw at all.

Each stroke was a pale one, and it was hesitant—“Sorry, I don’t know the answer.”

The woman's loss of Gu Weijing's tranquility is just like Anna's loss of the throbbing in her heart.

They all stem from the disgust of empty emotions.

His body promised her a good answer, but in reality it was just an empty promise.

……

"Mr. Rosings, let me say——"

Miss Elena finally spoke.

Gu Weijing had overcooked the steak, so what could she do? She couldn't just throw the steak into the trash can, so Anna could only clean up the mess for him, take over the position of head chef, and continue to cook the dish.

"Quiet."

Gu Weijing raised his head. He drew a circle in the air with his right hand, and then clenched his five fingers into a fist, just like a performer in a concert hall drawing a rest after conducting the orchestra.

Strong body posture.

Traditional opera halls have undergone special acoustic focusing designs to ensure that even audience members sitting in the last row can hear the subtlest sighs of the actors on the stage with the help of Mai Kaifeng.

His voice instantly drowned out the noise in the room.

This unexpected move caused a moment of silence in the venue.

then.

The opera hall, which had been quiet because of Cao Xuan and Anna, became silent again because of the young man's voice.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Elena, but please hold off and let me finish, okay?"

Gu Weijing turned and looked at Anna.

His silence was directed to the audience in the conference hall, but it also interrupted the woman's remarks that she was about to make.

Anna looked at Gu Weijing and realized that strong people don’t like being interrupted by others.

In art social occasions, it was always the art director of Oil Painting magazine who had the right to say "enough" to others, and no one else had the right to say quiet to Anna.

However, she was not angry.

The passion that had just faded away began to surge in her heart again.

That's it.

That's it.

Anna said to herself that she didn’t know what Gu Weijing wanted to do, but... this was the right thing to do.

"Go on." She blinked.

"I was just thinking."

Gu Weijing turned his head to Rosings, "When I said I don't know the answer, it doesn't mean I don't know what the correct answer is. It means I don't know what kind of answer can dispel your doubts."

"fraud?"

“No, I’m not a fraud. And this paper, needless to say, is certainly not a fraud.”

“But can such an answer satisfy the doubters?”

Gu Weijing answered himself: "Of course not, after all, you don't fucking care. Mr. Rosings, the only answer you want to hear is, oh, yes, I am a liar, this is a scam."

"But this is the only answer I can't give you, because it's not the truth, it never was."

Rosings leaned on the sofa, turned his head away, and looked indifferent.

"I was angry. Anyone who is accused of being a liar without reason will be angry. I wanted to yell in anger. I even wanted to punch Mr. Rosings hard in the nose."

Gu Weijing let out a breath.

"He can sue me, but I don't fucking care."

The entire audience couldn't help but laugh. Unlike last time, there was no malice in their laughter. They were simply amused by the humor in Gu Weijing's words.

"But there was a voice in my heart telling me that this was not good. This was a symposium at an art biennial, and the mission of art was precisely to tell people that waving fists was not the only way to solve problems. That voice even told me, hey, maybe I shouldn't be so angry, because his doubts were justified."

"Yes."

Gu Weijing nodded.

"Mr. Rosings, I understand you. You find all this suspicious. I am the owner of "Old Church in a Thunderstorm" and the one who proposed the argument that Carroll was the first female Impressionist painter. You think this looks more like a coincidence than a scholarly discovery, more like a carefully choreographed wealth marketing in the vein of "The Savior of the World". I understand your doubts."

"I do not accept."

said the young man.

"I wanted to answer you. If I were a liar, maybe I would take some more sophisticated means to let others know what good it would be for me to own the painting "Old Church in a Thunderstorm". I could also tell a different story. But then I gave up. I don't know if this statement can impress you, but I don't accept such speculation. This is my thesis. I can't say "If I am a liar" from my mouth. I don't accept it even if it is just a speculation."

“Compare your heart to your heart.”

"I understand your doubts about this matter, and please understand that I cannot accept your doubts."

……

Gu Weijing's words echoed in the opera house.

His voice was not oppressive, and he did not have any fancy words or debating skills, but it was unexpectedly moving.

The young man's calm voice echoed in the opera house.

Every word is clear.

He spoke in a calm tone.

Gu Weijing may not have been very successful in impressing the audience, but when a person speaks in such a serious tone and looks into the thousands of eyes on the stage without dodging, everyone always wants to pay some attention and listen carefully to what he is saying.

Even Rosings turned his ear slightly.

"Then let's try another way of speculation."

"Mr. Rosings, can you please answer a question for me? If this painting is real, and if Carroll is really the first female Impressionist painter in history, how much is this work worth?"

Rosings was stunned.

He still spread his hands.

"How do I estimate this? I'm not a financial expert."

"perhaps?"

"It's hard to estimate the price of art." Dr. Gustav said, "If I have to say, I know another famous female Impressionist, Mary Cosart's "The Moon," which is slightly larger than this painting, was sold for $72 in New York."

"That's about five hundred to one million dollars. That's not a small number. It could be even higher."

Gu Weijing glanced at Anna beside him.

“And the fame benefits.”

Rosings suddenly said, "At your age, being able to publish such a paper will bring you great fame and benefits...if your paper is true."

"That's five to a million dollars plus the fame benefits."

Gu Weijing nodded.

"These should all be mine. They should be mine, no matter if this painting is worth $5, $, $, $ million or $ million. No matter how much fame this paper can bring me, it should be mine. It was me, Gu Weijing, who bought it at the flea market and rediscovered it. It was not stolen, cheated or robbed. So it is natural and reasonable for me to own these things. There should be no moral burden."

"Right?"

Gu Weijing is a very humble person and he rarely makes such harsh remarks.

"The premise is that this is true."

Rosings nodded.

"very good."

Gu Weijing nodded again. "This is the basis for what I'm saying. I was just thinking, if I were a wealthy man, I wouldn't mind donating another half a million or a million dollars to prove my innocence. But I'm not, I still have my own life, I have my own family, I can't make such a promise easily."

"So, I can only announce that I will be donating the proceeds from this painting."

Gu Weijing suddenly said.

"I didn't have to make this decision, and I shouldn't have any moral burden, but I decided to do it anyway."

"Mr. Rosings, don't get me wrong. I didn't make this decision for you or because I was coerced by you."

"You don't deserve this decision from me."

"My decision is only for Ms. Carroll."

(End of this chapter)