Almighty painter

Chapter 901: When the heart is moved, you know what you love

"True love should have magic, which can make people become happier after the love ends."

Mrs. Sakai pinched the brim of her orange hat with her fingertips and issued her statement.

"It's not the sadder self."

The fat uncle didn't know how to answer.

He was looking at the multimedia screen on the side. Before the game started, the sports broadcast camera occasionally swept across the faces of fans of each team outside the sidelines.

No matter which team's cheering clothes they were wearing, everyone was smiling as they held up that driver's head board.

Kazunari Sakai couldn't help but look around subconsciously, and felt that according to his wife's theory, tens of thousands of people in the audience were immersed in the happiness of love after the 300-kilometer race.

Only one team and one driver will be first across the finish line.

For their fans, the joy in their hearts at that time was probably the feeling of love coming to fruition.

Many of the remaining people will have their hearts filled with regrets.

So what's the regret?
Does regret mean that love is not what it really is? Does the regret after the game mean that the smile on your face at the moment is an illusion?
Drawing water with a bamboo basket and catching the moon in the well.

The overflowing joy only occurs at the moment when you throw the basket in your arms into the well. When the basket rises, the dream is shattered.

Drops of water dripped down the bamboo strips.

It's just a waste of joy.

Uncle Sakai was touched by such bitter and depressing imagination, and he stared at the hat in his wife's hand.

He also thought that, just as his wife said, the child from the Komatsu family might be a better choice.

Some happiness.

It seems to be real happiness, but it is actually rootless duckweed, brewing sadness in happiness.

A bit bland.

It may seem ordinary and mediocre, but it is an evergreen plant. It is there all year round, spring, summer, autumn and winter.

For a long time.

When the uncle was young, he was a sensitive and sad person, and he almost subconsciously wanted to recite touching poems.

"I drank all the water of happiness, raised the cup to take another, and suddenly saw the knitted hat in my hand... Who knows——"

"My heart is sad?"

Uncle Sakai was making up a limerick in his mind.

This is a short poem from the book "The Story of Elegance" written in the Heian period of Japan. It is a book describing the life of the nobility. Among the 40 volumes, a small half of them are related to the deaths of various royal families and nobles. This poem was originally a sad song that the protagonist of the book, Fujiwara Michinaga, recited when he was burying his daughter, Yeonko, and suddenly felt that the world was impermanent.

Think about it.

It's even more tragic.

Kazunari Sakai, the sentimental, melancholy and handsome guy twenty years ago, might have started crying on the spot.

Unexpected.

Before Uncle Sakai's sadness fully welled up in his eyes, he was already amused by the imagery he had put into the short poem.

He burst out laughing on the spot.

Grinning.

Like a big cat being amused by its own tail.

The blonde aunt didn't like her husband's heartlessness at the moment, so she turned around and glared at him with dissatisfaction.

Uncle Sakai shook his head.

"Wife—"

He dragged out the last word and spoke slowly.

“I think true love is not necessarily something that can make people happier. But true love is definitely something that can make people better.”

“Love is both giving and receiving.”

From the crying and sad Kazunari Sakai twenty years ago to the happy and fat Kazunari Sakai today who finds life full of fun.

Uncle Sakai feels that this is the change that love has brought to him.

Fun and joy are all part of such a change.

But not all.

It is a flower, not a root.

"So which is better? Kenta Komatsu and Weijing Gu, a stable life or a helpless sadness, which one is better?"

The blonde aunt asked back.

Uncle Sakai didn't know how to answer, he couldn't answer this question.

The fat man could only shake his big belly and sway in silence.

"You've made me a better person."

Uncle Sakai thought to himself.

He took his wife's hand.

At this moment, he saw his fat face suddenly flash across the multimedia screen in front of him. The broadcast camera was sweeping across the team's P room and finally stopped on Kazunari Sakai's family.

"Wife, wife!"

Kazunari Sakai gestured towards the screen, tightening his belly and posing as if he was as still as a mountain.

The technician lowers the Formula One car from the stand.

The engine whirred.

The car drove out of the P room and onto the track.

……

That evening.

Singapore had a good enough race.

The Ferrari team, which had not started the race for a long time, had two cars starting from the front row at the same time, and they collided directly at the first corner.

Sebastian Vettel, the number one driver of the Prancing Horse team, watched in despair as his competitors drove away in front of him.

Brazil five years ago.

In the heavy rain at Interlagos, Brazil, Michael Schumacher, the racing king who was known for his ferocity and ruthlessness on the track, let his German junior Vettel pass tenderly on the straight in the last race of his career. Vettel regained the lead over Alonso by 1 point and was crowned the world champion again.

That was the third consecutive year he was crowned champion, and he was 25 years old that year.

At an age when Schumacher was still struggling for a world championship title, Vettel has become the youngest points-scoring driver in history, the youngest fastest lap driver, the youngest pole position driver, the youngest race winner, the youngest world champion, the youngest two-time champion, and has once again become the youngest triple champion in history.

That day.

All the sports media in the world will believe that this young German player will continue to win forever and ever.

Fifth world championship trophy.

The tenth world championship trophy.

forever and ever.

Rule this field until the end of time.

In that heavy rain, the silver Mercedes let the racing camera pass by, which became the most classic photo in sports history. The media excitedly told the world - "The King of Cars dragged the King of Cars".

When he chose to join the Ferrari team like Schumacher.

The media no longer even thinks he is the second Schumacher, he is not the second Fangio, not the second Senna, not the second Schumacher, he is the first legendary Sebastian Vettel. He will start his own legendary dynasty in Maranello, Italy.

Five years later, fate no longer favored him.

It was exactly the same scene. The accident happened the moment the race started and the car's head was knocked off.

Regrettably.

He had no other choice but to drive the damaged car back like a god of war, overtaking one car after another, and he retired directly from the race.

A silver Mercedes Benz race car whizzed past him.

Vettel, known as the king of the Singapore Street Race and having won the race here countless times, was the first to start and the first to leave the race on the track he is best at.

Singapore was the turning point for that entire year of competition.

Hamilton drove the Mercedes-Benz car and reversed the result in the second half of the season, winning the third world championship trophy. Vettel went from a winner to a loser.

People also say.

That year in Singapore was a turning point in Vettel's entire career.

years later.

Vettel retired, and an era ended. He was a talented legendary champion, a sports superstar, and a less successful winner. The legendary dynasty that people were waiting for, which should belong to Ferrari and Vettel, once showed a shadow like a flash in the pan, but never came.

It's like trying to draw water with a bamboo basket or catching the moon from the bottom of a well.

It's a pity——

"He failed to become the second Schumacher, nor the second king of drivers." Some media commented very maliciously: "If he had chosen to retire directly after winning the championship in 2013, he would be a truly legendary driver who cannot be replicated by others."

Uncle Sakai saw the news on TV during dinner.

Sakai Kazunari remained silent for a while.

He has never been someone who particularly loves sports events. He knows that he must be a very good and strong driver with countless fans around the world. It is a pity that he retired.

But what he thought of more was that night.

That game with joy and disappointment, passion and regret; that conversation about "love" between him and his wife with joy and disappointment, passion and regret.

Life is like this.

Happiness and disappointment, passion and regret are always there, they are all part of life.

No one claims to be the second so-and-so, even if they look alike, even if it seems natural and reasonable, life is always unpredictable.

But life also has some surprises.

The driver who took over Vettel's seat was Alonso, who was even older than him. Kazunari Sakai thought he was about to retire completely.

A former youngest world champion left the track as a tragic hero. Another former youngest world champion, a tragic hero in the eyes of others, returned to the cockpit a few years after retiring at the surprisingly old age of over 40 for high-intensity racing.

One last charge towards the third world championship trophy in life.

Who knows if he can succeed?
“That’s life.”

Kazunari Sakai held his wife's hand and said, "Before crossing the finish line, no one knows the result, and no one knows what kind of surprises or accidents will happen. As a parent, we hope that our children can be happy forever, but it is difficult to make choices for them."

“I can neither experience happiness for them nor avoid regret for them.”

“But life is far more than a game, and neither is art. Katsuko Sakai does not need to become the second so-and-so, the second Yayoi Kusama, or the second Kazunari Sakai.”

Kazunari Sakai picked up the bottle of fat-reducing milkshake next to him and took a big gulp.

"I remember that night, you asked me, Komatsu Taro and Gu Weijing, who are the better ones for Shengzi——"

"neither."

Uncle Sakai smiled.

He thought of his graceful daughter standing behind him that day.

"There are many choices in love, but I think that in life, being Katsuko Sakai is the best choice."

“Love makes us better.”

“Being the second person is a matter of others’ judgement, being yourself is something you can decide for yourself.”

“People don’t need to be vines that grow by clinging to others, or white florals on others’ clothes.”

"Katsuko is Katsuko. She can be a flower on the pond, an evergreen tree, a blade of grass or a reed by the water. She can be whoever she wants to be."

“That’s what love does, being who you are.”

"Then--"

"It doesn't matter who Shengzi wants to like or who she doesn't want to like. When your heart is moved, you know who you love."
-
Gu Weijing wiped away the water drops on the wine glass.

Just that moment.

He saw the figures of Kazunari Sakai and his wife appear in the TV broadcast on the projection screen, with subtitles written by the broadcaster below.

"The Sakai Kazunari couple."

The artists

On the TV screen, Kazunari Sakai was holding his wife's arm, standing still like a Pokémon that had just been released from a Poké Ball, well-fed and had just finished fucking a giant Snorlax that ate its daily ration of 40 kilograms.

The screen paused for two seconds.

Like a person climbing a snowy mountain, it trembled and struggled to pass over Uncle Sakai's shoulder and landed on the young man behind him.

Obviously the same as his parents.

Katsuko Sakai also stood with Tsunamasa Sakai, and the two siblings were holding hands.

The lens in the photographer's hand was so smooth that it ignored Tsunamasa's presence and locked onto Miss Katsuko, giving her a full-body close-up.

As for Gangchang?

promise.

But didn't it still show a few fingers and half of the arm?
"Sakai Takakura(Sakai Katsuko)"

She holds even more titles off-screen than her father.

In addition to the equally vague titles of “artist” and “daughter of Kazunari Sakai,” there is also “exhibiting painter of the Lion City Art Biennale” and even a line of notes saying “discoverer of the Impressionist oil painting “Old Church on a Thunderstorm Day”.”

It may be because Kazunari Sakai is famous enough that the audience may know who he is without any additional labels.

Greater possibilities.

It is about taking care of the recent hot topics.

The discussion about the painting “Old Church on a Thunderstorm” has gone beyond the Esplanade and even beyond the art industry, becoming a particularly popular social topic recently.

Also on a voyage.

See the person in front of you.

Gu Weijing was overwhelmed by a feeling as if it was yesterday again.

I took out the piano with bleeding fingers that I played yesterday from the piano case, plucked the strings, and when the illusory sound filled the air, I could feel the fragility of "beauty" and "love".

He wanted to immerse himself in this feeling.

However, the broadcast screen still cut off the picture and turned it into a series of happy and joyful faces.

Gu Weijing wanted to stare blankly.

Someone beside him patted his shoulder gently.

Gu Weijing looked back.

"Gu, it's your turn. Tell us a story? Or have a drink? Are you of legal drinking age?"

Someone nearby handed him the crown.

(End of this chapter)