“Xiao Feng, would you like to try?” Ning Shaoyun offered him the brush.
Xiao Feng looked up at Xia Mian, his eyes bright with excitement.
Xia Mian nodded encouragingly. “Go ahead.” In this life, Xiao Feng’s talent would be his own shining beacon, and he would be free to paint whatever he wanted.
The shy boy took the brush almost reverently, and Ning Shaoyun pulled him into her arms, guiding his small hand across the paper in a gentle stroke: the beginning of a flickering flame…
Ning Shaoyun continued to guide Xiao Feng’s hand, dipping into the paint, mixing colors, and switching brushes. With each stroke on the paper, the light in his eyes grew brighter. When the flames were finally complete, the boy gazed at them as if witnessing a miracle, his eyes full of wonder. He turned to Xia Mian, his eyes shining like stars. “Auntie!”
“Yes, it’s amazing!” Xia Mian smiled.
Not wanting to be left out, Chenchen squeezed into his mother’s arms. “Mom, I want to paint too! I want to paint too!”
Noticing the Mao sisters’ gazes, Ning Shaoyun simply set out more easels and drawing boards. “Come on, let’s all paint together!” She handed out brushes and paper to everyone.
Xiao Feng came running over to Xia Mian with a piece of drawing paper, his adorable face glowing with excitement. “Auntie,” he called out.
Xia Mian smiled. Taking the child into her arms, she suggested, “How about Auntie and Xiao Feng draw a starry sky together?”
Xiao Feng’s big, grape-like eyes lit up with anticipation.
Xia Mian was once again feeling grateful for the magic of the future internet. Surely, all those fancy tricks she had learned online would help her maintain her image as an omnipotent aunt in front of Xiao Feng. Once, she had seen a simple and fun watercolor technique for painting a starry sky on a short video platform, and it had stuck with her. It was now a perfect time to recreate the trick!
Xia Mian quickly clipped the paper onto the drawing board and, instead of mixing the paints like Ning Shaoyun, squeezed different shades of blue directly onto the paper, arranging them from darker shades to light, from top to bottom. Then, holding Xiao Feng’s small hand, she dipped the brush in water and began to brush across the colors horizontally, blending them together.
Once the entire paper was covered in a night sky, Xia Mian dipped a brush in white paint, put it in Xiao Feng’s hand, and said, “Ready for some magic?” With that, she tapped the brush, causing the white paint to scatter, creating sparkling stars across the sky.
“Wow!” Xiao Feng’s eyes widened in amazement.
The other kids had the same look of awe as Xia Mian did when she first saw the video. Xia Mian looked at Xiao Feng proudly and asked, “What do you think? Isn’t Auntie amazing?”
Xiao Feng stomped his feet, full of excitement, “Amazing! Auntie is so amazing!”
Xia Mian burst into laughter. “Soon, our Xiao Feng will be even more amazing than Auntie!”
“Huizhu?!” Mao Huimei suddenly exclaimed.
Everyone turned to see that Mao Huizhu had already started squeezing out paints, copying Xia Mian’s technique.
Mao Huimei looked at Ning Shaoyun apologetically. “Sister Ning, I’m sorry.”
“What’s there to be sorry about?” Ning Shaoyun was in a great mood. “If you like it, go ahead and paint! I have plenty of paints that are about to expire, so let’s use them up and then get new ones!”
Shortly after, the small studio saw a crowd of people, big and small, each one facing an easel and painting. Huizhu, who was rather impatient, soon found it too slow to use a small brush, so she started smearing the paint with her hands. Chenchen, thinking this method was great, quickly followed her example…
The result?
A room full of little ‘painted’ faces. Even Ning Shaoyun ended up with a smudge on her cheek when Chenchen, asking for a hug, accidentally brushed against her face.
Chenchen, who had never seen his elegant mother in such a state, was both startled and guilty as he apologized, “Mom… I’m sorry.”
Ning Shaoyun bent down, cupping his head in her hands, and playfully rubbed her cheek against his. “No need to apologize, I’ll just give it back to you!”
Chenchen struggled, laughing, “Haha, Mom, have mercy!”
The sound of laughter filled the studio, reaching even the onlookers outside. Rong Xin, noticing the warm smile on Ning Shaobai’s face, remarked, “I’ve never seen Sister Yun this happy before.”
Ning Shaobai nodded and then turned to leave, saying, “Let’s go. It’s time to get down to business.”
“Do you really think the old lady will give away the other courtyard houses?” Rong Xin was a bit curious.
Ning Shaobai replied calmly, “They like to please others, don’t they? Let them continue doing so.”
“Using the Huo family’s ancestral home to curry favor?” Rong Xin sighed. “If the old man Huo finds out, he might go mad for real.”
“Anyone else might not know how valuable these places will become, but he certainly does,”
Ning Shaobai wasn’t concerned, “That’s their problem, not ours. They’ve ruined other people’s hard work—isn’t it only fair when their turns finally come?
Rong Xin chuckled, “True enough. He has no one to blame but himself. Since he couldn’t be bothered to control his wife, now he has to deal with the results of her overreach.”
Having said this, the cheerful young man added with mock seriousness, “Brother Ning, I will absolutely obey your orders from now on. If you say east, I will never go west, I promise!!!”
Ning Shaobai rolled his eyes. “Get lost!”
Rong Xin, feigning surprise, exclaimed, “Brother, did you just roll your eyes? Who did you learn that from? It’s so out of character… Ah, no, I mean, it really changes your usual aloof image—it actually makes you seem very approachable!”
Ning Shaobai quickened his pace, not bothering to respond to this silly guy.
…
The group continued to have fun until Ning Shaoyun’s newly ordered paints and brushes arrived. Once they heard how expensive these items were, the Mao sisters wisely decided to stop playing with them.
Xia Mian, on the other hand, felt almost as if she had been granted a reprieve. She never imagined that her thoughtless show-off would result in a competition against Ning Shaoyun!
All she could say was: Being a parent is surely not easy! At a certain age, children began to develop a strong desire to compete, and Xiao Feng was no exception.
After Xia Mian’s starry sky painting garnered public admiration, little Chenchen wasn’t happy. He tugged at Ning Shaoyun and said, “My mom can draw me. Can your auntie do that?”
Without hesitation, Xiao Feng nodded eagerly. “She can!” Then, with eyes filled with anticipation, he gazed at Xia Mian.
Xia Mian: “…”
Could she say no? Of course, she couldn’t. So she racked her brains and nervously drew a chibi-style figure.
Fortunately, Xiao Feng always viewed his auntie through extra-thick rose-tainted glasses. As soon as Xia Mian drew the big head, curled the hair, and added a cute little tuft, the boy immediately clapped his hands in delight. “It’s me! Xiao Feng!”
Chenchen immediately urged his mother, “Mom, hurry up and draw me too.”
…
So, when Xia Mian heard that the paints and other tools had arrived, she quickly scooped up Xiao Feng and ran off, saying, “Let’s go see what’s there! We’ll set up a similar studio for you, too.”
Xia Mian wasn’t just saying this casually. She never forgot that Xiao Feng had a natural genius for paintings. Her plan was to let him begin exploring the art once they were settled, and he could decide whether to continue or not.
Today, thanks to Ning Shaoyun’s unintentional encouragement, it was clear from Xiao Feng’s expression that he would likely continue painting in this life. Once they successfully bought the courtyard house across the street, she planned to set up a studio for him just like Ning Shaoyun.
Speaking of which, Ning Shaobai had apparently given Old Madam Huo a seven-day deadline, and he promised that the purchase could be finished within that time limit. Before that could happen, however, Zhou Qianqian would need to move out first.
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