Almighty painter

Chapter 874 Anna's Trial

I will not forgive you.

God forgive me?

I won't forgive.

——Anna Elena.
-
The sea breeze blows gently, and the sunlight blows through the gauze curtains.

Alexander stared at the words written by Miss Elena's pen and was overwhelmed by a deep feeling of powerlessness.

As soon as he heard the first suggestion, he smelled an embarrassing smell on his nose, and Alexander could not accept such an outcome at all.

At this moment, he suddenly realized that what he had just smelled was just some aftertaste.

The difference between the two is like the difference between having the scent of perfume smudged across a room and soaking in a bathtub filled with Chanel No. 5.

now.

Alexander was truly overwhelmed by intense fear.

"Ms. Elena, I understand that you want to punish me and send me to a project under the Elena Foundation, but..."

"punish?"

Anna teased, "I have provided you with a long-term and stable job. And please note that I am not sending you to a subordinate project of the foundation—"

"No?" Alexander fancied.

"No, it's related to the Foundation, but they are two different systems. You are just an assistant."

Anna nodded affirmatively.

Many of the projects under the foundation are located in third world countries and the positions are either remote, low-paid or have harsh conditions.

Miss Elena originally wanted to throw Alexander into a "remote place".

However, Gu Weijing reminded that as the owner of a large family foundation with many employees, the woman regarded such a project as a place to punish those who made mistakes, which was unfair to other staff members in the project and disrespectful to the project itself.

Charity projects have their own particularities.

It is different from ordinary profit-making companies.

It should not be treated as a prison. Even if the environment is like a prison, and even if they work in a prison, other relevant staff members are not here because they have made mistakes.

On the contrary, many people do it out of kindness.

There is an essential difference between the two.

Gu Weijing's words convinced Anna.

"I'm offering you an internship assistant position at Oil Painting magazine. It's a collaboration between Oil Painting and the Irene Family Foundation, tracking the foundation's art projects in Africa and conducting joint investigative reporting." - And the position she offered Alexander happened to be located in a remote area, with harsh conditions and a meager salary.

Anna looked at the man standing at the door——

You see, Mr. Alexander, this is the real punishment.

As a major private shareholder and senior manager of a commercial company, she certainly has the power to send younger brothers who make her unhappy to "exile to guard the imperial tomb", and she also has the power to cancel all special overseas assignment allowances as a warning to others.

"It should be a long-term public welfare work in the field of psychology, providing art education to prisoners in women's prisons to reduce the incidence of potential secondary crimes in the future. I hope you can assist the staff there and collect some sufficiently exciting and touching reports, Mr. Alexander."

"You can take this as a punishment, but I think this is a rare opportunity. The position at Oil Painting magazine is very tight, and with your original qualifications, it is actually quite difficult to interview for a position at Oil Painting magazine. I think you should seize it."

Miss Elena is always very good at being sarcastic to others.

There was no fluctuation in her tone, she was just stating the facts, but she sounded so venomous.

"If you want to contribute to the industry, writing books is not the only way. Instead of doing something you are not sure whether you can do well, it is better to do something that you can do well within your ability. You also said on stage that you don't care about wealth, and you are even willing to donate all the income from research."

"That's really noble, isn't it? I don't need you to donate anything. I will also pay you a salary. Believe me, I promise it will be higher than the local minimum wage."

Anna launched another sharp review.

Needless to say.

She didn't hear the answer "Thank you for your recognition, Director Elena." This would have choked her. Instead, Alexander's face turned pale and blue, and he looked like he was about to be choked.

She smiled smugly in her heart.

It’s not that her dog is not doing well, nor is it that her sharp comments are not powerful, it’s just that those were all special circumstances!

"The foundation will regularly summarize the operation status of various related projects, and so will Oil Painting magazine. If you do well, I will also give you the opportunity to increase your salary." Anna said that she was not a devil.

"I'm sorry, Miss Anna, I'm sorry..."

"Stop, don't apologize. I don't want to hear your apology. There are right and wrong things in academic research. We have already addressed these issues in the interview. I won't say that I don't have any thoughts in my mind, but I won't blame you for this anymore."

"For you, this is not a punishment, it's a reward. Why should you apologize for being rewarded?"

"Based on what you said on the stage, I think now is also a good opportunity. I encourage brave people, I provide the platform, and you provide the energy. What is there to apologize for?"

Anna didn't listen at all and directly blocked Alexander's words of begging for mercy.

"You didn't do anything wrong, so please don't say sorry. I don't want to hear it either."

She didn't want Alexander's tearful apology.

She just wanted Alexander to carry out what he said meticulously.

Two ways.

Want to continue career.

Gu Weijing asked him to repent deeply.

Miss Irena asked him to perform corresponding penance.

These are all things Alexander claimed to have done, and if he had done so, he would not have needed to apologize to her and could have just walked away.

Anna gave him this opportunity.

"Considering the integrity of the project, even if you regret it halfway and want to leave, I hope you will stay at least until the end of the relevant project cycle in three years. Of course, the choice is yours."

Alexander stared at the two notes in Anna's hand. Otherwise, Miss Elena should let the dog bite him instead?
Being bitten by a dog can make a woman calm down.

He would rather feel bad for his calf. After all, it was only a temporary pain, not a dull ache that lasted for years.

"Where is the workplace, Kenya or Johannesburg?" Alexander sniffed and asked softly, as if he had made up his mind.

It’s just three years.

He can do it.

"The African office of Oil Painting is in Kenya, but the current focus of this project is on the underdeveloped areas of Northeast Africa. If you leave now, you should fly to Kenya first, and then -"

"I'd better finish the relevant research work." Alexander felt that he should not make up his mind yet. He made the decision immediately before Anna finished speaking.

"Didn't you just think that you were incapable of completing such a work?" Anna continued to slap his face.

"Although, uh, although so...but the writing about Camille's life, although the level is limited, but with the documentary material of "Oil Painting", think about it, I am still looking forward to it." Think about working for three years with a very low salary in a place without water and electricity, and with infectious diseases that are more severe than the other.

Alexander felt that the act of mentally slapping himself in the face could be considered a comfortable head spa.

Miss Elena shook her head.

No.

Mr. Alexander, it's not up to you now.

"A Study in Scarlet is Conan Doyle's first story. Although he later wrote many stories full of ingenious logical reasoning, my favorite is still A Study in Scarlet. As I said, I am not very interested in those detective stories. Many detective novels seem to me like a specially designed word game, but A Study in Scarlet is different. It has a bleak and solemn beauty."

Miss Elena picked up two pages of notes on the table with her fingers.

"It is a detective novel, but it has a fatalistic beginning. When Sherlock Holmes and his partner Watson met for the first time, they were attracted by a case. The body of an American man was found in an apartment in London. There were no obvious signs of a fight at the scene, only the five letters 'RACH-E' written on the wall in blood."

"rache."

"It's a German word," the woman said. "It means revenge."

"This is a story about revenge. The Mormon elders used their families as bargaining chips and demanded that the girl Lucy must marry them. Lucy eloped with her lover Hope and fled. Then her father was killed and Lucy died of depression. Then this story was submerged in the long river of history—"

"Until thirty long years later."

"My favorite part of the story is the end, when revenge finally comes, and Hope corners the Mormon elder in a room, puts a knife to his neck, and then pulls a glass vial from his pocket."

"There were two identical pills in the bottle, one made of starch, one filled with deadly poison, and one that was harmless and would cause a person to die painfully. Thirty years later, Hope stared calmly into the eyes of the Mormon elder and told him to make his choice."

"You eat one, I eat one. He said, let's leave everything to God to decide. If one eats the pill, he will die, and if the other eats the pill, he will live. Let's see if there is still justice in this world and whether evildoers will be punished."

Anna read aloud.

The woman's voice was clear, firm and crisp, like the sound of metal colliding.

"Hope stood there, watching the other man swallow the pill, and then died with a distorted face. Then he wrote five letters on the wall with blood. Rache, which represents revenge, also hints at Lucy's name."

"That's great."

“This is a tragic sense of fate,” Anna said. “My impression of this story is actually better than all the detective stories after Sherlock Holmes.”

Anna folded the two pieces of note paper in her hand twice each, and then crumpled them into two paper balls the size of fingernails in her palms.

She poured the paper balls into the jewelry box that had just been vacated on the table and handed it to the man.

"Mr. Alexander."

Anna stared into the other person's eyes and asked calmly: "Excuse me, do you like detective novels?"

At this moment, Miss Elena really looked like the king of the art world. She sat there and let the guilty subjects pray to God and choose their own life or death.

……

Alexander watched all this in a daze.

At this moment.

A silent tremor enveloped him. He wanted to speak but couldn't argue. The young woman in the wheelchair had arranged everything the moment he entered the door.

When she just asked herself whether she was willing to continue to "perfect" her research, that was Alexander's last chance to choose her own destiny.

He hesitated.

So the choice left Alexander.

At this moment, he could only accept the judgment of fate in fear, judging his present, past, and future. It seemed that the art director of Oil Painting magazine had anticipated the scene at this moment as early as when Alexander pushed the door open.

Therefore, the other party would ask himself in the first sentence just now——

Do you like detective novels?

Anna did not really take out a sharp knife from her pocket and put it to Alexander's neck as described in detective novels. If he wanted to, he could turn around and leave immediately.

However, there was an invisible force controlling and restraining him, forcing Alexander to stand where he was.

Because there is something sharper and more deadly than a blade, pressing on the neck of his career, his professional life, the neck of the imaginary "Alexander", that is the majesty of the Irina family and the art director of "Oil Painting" magazine.

He knew full well that he had no choice at all.

Turning around and walking away would mean immediate suicide of one's career, so reaching out and trying one's luck seems to be a smarter approach.

Alexander's body movements were as stiff as a machine without lubrication.

Slowly, slowly, he reached his hand into the jewelry box and touched a paper pill. He hesitated for a moment, but did not dare to take it out. He replaced it with another one. After thinking about it, he changed it back again.

I kept struggling with this.

Anna didn't rush and waited calmly.

finally.

Alexander gritted his teeth, took out a paper ball from the jewelry box, and peeled it off with trembling fingers. After more than ten seconds, his palms were still full of sweat.

at last.

The text inside was revealed -

"Monet & Camille".

OMG!

Alexander almost laughed out loud. He had never seen these two names look so happy in his life. He was always afraid of comparison. The choice that was unacceptable to him just now seemed like a comfortable paradise against the backdrop of the other note.

"It seems you have made your decision."

Anna said.

"Of course, of course, I will continue my previous research—"

"You will be reporting from the Kenya branch of Oil Painting."

Alexander was stunned.

He felt that he had heard wrongly.

He held the note in his hand and looked at Miss Elena in disbelief... Didn't they say that God would judge, or just draw lots?

This is written clearly in black and white.

He showed the note in his hand to Anna: "Ms. Elena, it says Monet & Camille."

Miss Elena tilted her head.

She looked at the note carefully for several seconds, as if studying the words over and over again, and then nodded.

“It says to go to Kenya.”