Sakai Katsuko turned around, gently tightened the belt of her nightgown, and closed the window.
She kicked off her slippers, climbed to the head of the bed, and picked up her phone.
"Shengzi, do you want to come and paint together tonight?" Gu Weijing's invitation flashed on the screen.
"Now, are you going to the school's studio at this hour?"
Sakai Katsuko blinked and glanced at the bedroom door, feeling a little moved but also a little hesitant.
"Go to the Good Luck Orphanage, which is the original site of "The Old Church on a Thunderstorm" that I mentioned to you, and the place where the painter Carroll created his work."
Sakai Katsuko bit her lip and stared at the phone screen.
"Gu Jun, were you looking at the rain just now? Then you thought of the senior female painter, right." She typed softly.
"right."
Messages on the screen are answered quickly.
"I stared at the thunderstorm outside the window, and suddenly I felt that it might be a precious opportunity to feel the atmosphere of the female painter's creation. The old church will be renovated soon. This opportunity may be just this one. Do you want to follow me? Mom, tell me, are you here to pick up stories?"
Sakai Katsuko stared at the message on the screen and murmured softly: "It turns out we are all watching the rain... It's great."
Under the same sky, someone is thinking the same thing as you.
This kind of connected feeling made Sakai Katsuko feel that a soft place in her heart was touched.
She held the phone in her arms, her eyes slowly turning into crescent moons as she smiled.
"If it's really inconvenient, forget it. It's still a bit late after all. If you want, I'll show you the finished painting tomorrow."
Seeing that no one had responded, Gu Weijing thought that Sakai Katsuko's time was not convenient.
He had heard about the ban that Mrs. Sakai placed on her daughter not to run around at night.
"No, my mother has agreed. I want to go."
Sakai Katsuko glanced in the direction of the bedroom door and quickly replied on her phone.
For the first time, the bold idea of "home" came to her mind.
When typing,
She felt her heartbeat speeding up slightly, and a strange rosy color slowly appeared on her porcelain cheeks.
I have been a good daughter for eighteen years,
Compared to her peers, Katsuko Sakai has traveled to many places and participated in various art exhibitions and youth art competitions around the world. Her life is undoubtedly rich.
But when other girls are chasing K-pop stars, falling in love with boys on campus, watching concerts at Tokyo Dome, and strolling slowly in the shopping streets of Ginza with their boyfriends.
Painting, watching exhibitions, taking classes...
Katsuko Sakai's life is always occupied by an organized schedule, which goes back and forth, living the same rhythm all over the world.
She actually didn't think there was anything wrong with it.
The fast-paced modern entertainment is nothing more than the pleasure brought about by the secretion of dopamine that will dissipate in a moment, but the profound and eternal beauty of art can penetrate the soul.
Art has become a part of her life, and she has grown up slowly with it.
until,
She met Gu Weijing.
The rebellious thought of secretly going out with a boy at night without telling adults had even appeared in Sakai Katsuko's mind before.
Even if she just went to draw, it was still exciting and made her mouth dry.
Sakai Katsuko is very nervous now, but very determined.
The moment this idea jumped into her mind, it occupied Sakai Katsuko's mind uncontrollably like a torrent that broke a dam and could not be stopped.
The girl made up her mind without even a second of hesitation or hesitation.
You have to be bold several times in life.
"It's a little dark and it's still raining heavily. Would you like me to have someone drive to the hotel to pick you up?" Gu Weijing asked.
"It's okay, no more trouble. I'll just ask the concierge of the hotel for a special car. I also know the location of the old church. Please wait for half an hour."
Sakai Katsuko made up her mind.
She immediately took off her pajamas, hesitated for a moment in the wardrobe, and picked out a dark red skirt that looked more youthful.
After packing everything, I quietly prepared to slip out of the room.
When she passed by the big dressing table in the living room, the girl hesitated and stopped again.
"Hmm...maybe you have to wait for me ten more minutes?"
Sakai Katsuko took out her mobile phone again and sent a message to Gu Weijing.
She glanced at her sleeping mother, sat in front of the sandalwood round stool on the dressing table, quietly turned on a small LED makeup light behind the mirror, and took out her mother's foundation and eyeliner from the drawer.
She decided to tidy up her makeup carefully before going out.
While Katsuko Sakai was still painting the corners of her eyes with an eye gel pen, which seemed a little awkward, there was a call on her cell phone.
She thought it was a message from Huan Gu Weijing, looked at the phone number, and frowned slightly.
"Hello? Senior Komatsu."
Afraid of waking her mother, Katsuko Sakai walked back to her bedroom and asked expressionlessly.
"Shengzi, invite your aunt to have a midnight snack together. Tonight, the housekeeper of the Aman hotel said that there will be folk artists performing a puppet show in the banquet hall."
From the other end of the microphone came Taro Kosomatsu's invitation, as well as the string dubbing of Myanmar's characteristic puppet show.
"My mother has fallen asleep. She may be a little tired today."
"Oh, then Katsuko, do you want to come?" Komatsu Taro's tone was still gentle and polite.
"Actually, I'm a little tired too. And just as it happens, Xiaosong-kun, when I returned to the hotel, I was hesitating whether to call you or not."
Speaking of this, Sakai Katsuko seemed to have thought of something.
She took her mobile phone and walked to the gift box on the coffee table in the bedroom, opened the package, and revealed the jewelry inside.
This is a gift that Komatsu Taro asked his mother to give him on the treasure ship today.
A jade bracelet with excellent water quality.
She tilted her head and looked at the price tag on the jade bracelet, "The bracelet is very beautiful, thank you..."
"Katsuko, as long as you like it."
"...But this gift is a bit too expensive. There are many people in the afternoon. I think rejecting it in person may hurt your face, senior, so I will transfer the money to you later."
Sakai Katsuko said softly.
This bracelet has an extremely high price tag.
However, the Sakai couple were very assured of their daughter's character and adhered to the principle of raising their daughter richly. They bound her to the supplementary card of Professor Kazunari Sakai's Citibank charge card.
The monthly contract signing limit is capped at US$150,000, with a temporary limit of US$100,000.
Katsuko Sakai doesn't spend much money on a daily basis, but if necessary, it's a small expense to exchange a bracelet.
"Katsuko, why are we so clearly separated? It's just a small gift." Komatsu Taro's tone on the other end of the phone was very helpless.
"I don't think it's appropriate." Sakai Katsuko shook her head.
"Is the gift inappropriate?" Komatsu Taro's tone was unpleasant, but he still remained patient.
Sakai Katsuko shook her head slightly.
She is a well-educated girl and is unwilling to refute the good intentions of her seniors.
If it were the past,
For the sake of her mother, Ms. Sakai might consider using a more tactful expression.
But today she thought for a moment and suddenly wanted to talk completely.
"The gift is inappropriate and neither are we."
She sat on the bed, looked at the line drawing that she had framed in an exquisite photo frame by the bedside, and said softly: "I'm sorry, Komatsu-senpai, I'm very sorry, but - I won't marry you."
As the layer of window paper was completely opened, both parties on the phone fell into silence for an instant.
Only Komatsu's heavy breathing could be heard from the other end of the phone.
"Katsuko, you were not like this before."
Xiao Song was on the other end of the phone, speaking word by word.
Sakai Katsuko had previously had an indispensable attitude towards the elders' efforts to match her and Komatsu Taro.
In the Japanese upper class society, everything is like a gear running according to a specific program.
When a girl grows up, she always has to choose a husband to marry.
There is a high probability that it is people in the circle. The two powerful companies will join forces to become bigger and stronger and create greater glory.
It sounds like the operating logic of a business company, rather than the union between a boy and a girl.
In fact, that’s how it was originally,
Whether it is tea ceremony, art, or Go, everyone has been marrying each other in small circles since the Edo period when Tokugawa Ieyasu ruled Japan. This has been done for hundreds of years.
In the past, this method was called the "Iemoto system".
The "big patriarch", who is jointly recommended by several famous families in the industry, manages and rules the industry like a strict father, and everyone marries each other to consolidate their status.
For example, Japan's large tea ceremony consortium today, the generation of tea ceremony "jiayuan" leader elected in 2000, comes from a family of three thousand.
Sanqianjia has been a master of tea ceremony since the era of the Yuanping War 400 years ago, and is still the industry leader today.
No matter how good or bad the tea is, just nine drops of the new tea cooked by the owner at the tea ceremony every year can sell for millions of dollars.
This is identity.
This industry management mechanism changed its name after the war and became a certain association. In fact, it is still essentially an old set of operating thinking.
In terms of financial resources, Komatsu-senpai's father runs the Komatsu Gallery, which is making a lot of money every day. In terms of status, he is the current chairman of the Painting and Calligraphy Federation, and he has real power within real power.
During the Warring States Period, local celebrities would sweep their couches to greet them when they met.
Thinking about it this way, it is indeed a good match. It is understandable that Mrs. Sakai hopes to make Taro Komatsu her son-in-law.
Sakai Katsuko never objected.
Senior Komatsu seems to like him quite a lot, but I don't really like him, and I don't have any reason to reject him.
At least compared to marrying those political Chinese people, you might have to go home to raise your husband and children from the moment you get married. It would be much freer to be responsible for managing the family's connections every day and be a graceful, decent and boring "Gong Qing's wife".
Sakai Katsuko didn't care at all about the rumors about Kosatsu Taro outside.
It's good to break up after marriage,
He continued to play outside...and she let him go.
There are really too many such things in the art circle, and Sakai Katsuko has been used to it since she was a child.
Modern artists and rock singers generally have chaotic private lives that are hardly news.
Picasso, a great master, was still keeping beautiful underage female students as his mistresses all day long when he was fifty years old. He also laughed at the scene where his lover and his wife, who had just given birth to a child, were fighting and biting in front of him. This is complacency, this is fun.
Compared with this kind of scumbag behavior that should be made into a gun target paper and dragged into shooting every day, Kosomatsu Taro is just a flirt with a few TV actresses, and it is not even a moral black spot. He can be considered a model husband.
Because there is no talk of love,
So don't care at all.
I give him a child, he gives me a painting exhibition, everyone gets what they need, it's fair.
Sakai Katsuko had long since accepted this result calmly and calmly. This was also the life that countless people yearned for, and she couldn't say no.
But now, Sakai Katsuko has completely changed her mind.
She had a thousand reasons to choose to marry Komatsu Taro, but unfortunately, she only liked this kind of thing without giving any reason.
"I'm sorry." Sakai Katsuko apologized softly.
"Why?"
Komatsu Taro's tone was completely incomprehensible.
"Because you can't watch the rain with me."
Sakai Katsuko hung up the phone and walked out of the hotel room.
…
"Jerry, you don't have to save money for me, do you want to add some hoof flower soup?"
In a good local restaurant near the Dulwich campus, Mona dipped her mouth with a napkin and waved to call the waiter.
"No, Miss Sandnu, I'm really full. Let me treat you." Jerry put down the silver spoon and looked at the dancing candlesticks and roses in front of him.
This is a candlelight restaurant he specially selected that is frequented by local petty bourgeoisie couples. It is not as good as the Italian restaurant in the embassy district he went to before, but it has a good atmosphere.
Rain, piano, roses, and a couple of foreign tourists kissing silently at the next table.
Everything is very romantic,
Unfortunately, the female student union president across the street did not show any signs of love.
Miss Sandenou has been silently dealing with the tea in front of her, and she has rarely even spoken.
"No, I insist that I will treat the guests. This is what we agreed." Mona smiled and then signed on the screen of the POS machine.
"Wait a minute, please take a picture of us."
Jerry handed his phone to the waiter on the side and motioned for the waiter to take a group photo.
Mona hesitated.
"Just to commemorate." Jerry shrugged.
"All right."
After accepting such an important gift, Mona didn't want to appear too impersonal. After politely taking a photo with Jerry, she picked up her handbag and stood up.
"It's raining really hard today. Is it safe to go home soon? Do you want me to ask the driver to take you off?" Since Jerry showed his gentlemanly demeanor, he was ready to show it to the end.
"No, I'm calling our driver. He should be here too."
The guy from Mumbai was sitting in a Volvo XC60 across the street from the restaurant, reading a beauty magazine out of boredom.
After receiving the call from the lady of the master's family, she immediately ran over from the car holding an umbrella.
"Miss, this guy looks much richer than Master Gu. You guys used to eat together, but you wouldn't go to such a good restaurant. Have you stopped interacting with Master Gu recently?"
The boy from Mumbai saw Mona waving goodbye to a blond young man he had never seen before. He opened the car door for the young lady and asked curiously.
In the past, I didn't go to high-end restaurants because I had to take care of Gu Weijing's face because his family had limited financial resources. Today, it was to express his gratitude to Jerry, which had a different meaning.
This thought came to Mona's mind.
She was in no mood to explain too much to her valet, so she just frowned and asked, "Why did you say that?"
"I haven't seen Young Master Gu Weijing come to play at home for a long time recently. You used to be together often." The boy from Mumbai said.
"Yes, he probably won't come to our house again in the future." Mona looked not in a good mood and said a little irritably, "I have nothing to do with him anymore."
She noticed the brief look of regret that flashed across the Bombay boy's face.
"Why, do you like Gu Weijing very much?" Mona asked with a slight frown.
"Oh, Master Gu often smiles at me, and..."
The guy from Mumbai really liked Mona's former boyfriend.
In his impression, Gu Weijing was a young man who was always polite to his servant and had a gentle smile.
"... He often hired my car last month to deliver things to a local orphanage, and I got some labor money every time."
The guy from Mumbai was a little embarrassed, but he said honestly: "I can make some money from him."
(End of chapter)
