Shao Heng heard singing coming from outside the door, paused for a moment, and looked out through the peephole. He only saw a woman carrying a tray entering the house.
He pursed his lips, feeling somewhat annoyed, and clenched his fist against the door.
His phone rang, and he answered it as he brought it to his ear.
After a while, he grabbed his keys and left the house.
Li Zhi arranged to meet Li Xutian’s assistant at a coffee shop. The assistant seemed impatient and immediately asked upon sitting down, “Why couldn’t we discuss this over the phone?”
The assistant was a man in his thirties who usually followed closely behind Li Xutian and was used to being flattered. If it weren’t for Li Xutian’s instructions, he wouldn’t bother dealing with this seemingly foolish woman in front of him.
Every time she brought paintings to them to sell, the value would increase manyfold in their hands, yet she appeared ignorant and clueless, even worse than a village woman.
Li Zhi detected the contempt in the assistant’s tone and naturally became angry. “I want to tell you that from now on, the price for each painting needs to be renegotiated, and we’ll need to sign a new contract.”
Previously, they had only signed a confidentiality agreement. She didn’t understand art, so she accepted whatever price was offered. However, last night, she had checked on Li Xutian and learned that he had not only made money from those paintings but had also gained considerable fame.
That’s why she wanted to renegotiate the contract. Before, she had been selling Shao Heng’s paintings cheaply, but this time, she intended to sell Shao Heng himself.
The assistant’s expression changed, realizing that she was about to make an extravagant demand. He became a bit nervous. “How do you want to renegotiate? Don’t forget, the previous confidentiality agreement is still in effect. Don’t cause trouble for me.”
“Don’t worry, before, I sold artworks. Now, I’ll be selling a person. What do you think?”
Li Zhi planned to keep Shao Heng as Li Xutian’s proxy forever, ensuring that he would be trapped in this role for the rest of his life.
After she said this, the assistant looked at her suspiciously, unsure of her intentions. “Can you convince your brother to agree?”
In fact, Li Xutian had considered signing the artist as a permanent proxy, but he had hesitated due to various concerns. He didn’t expect Li Zhi to bring it up first. She should be aware of her brother’s talent in painting and the value of those artworks, so why was she willing to do this?
“My younger brother has social anxiety, he doesn’t like to interact with the outside world. I can make decisions for him,” said Li Zhi.
The assistant, after listening, also breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay, I’ll go prepare and we’ll discuss the details later. How does that sound?”
Li Zhi nodded. “As soon as possible.”
The two of them then discussed some general terms, their voices not hiding their excitement.
Behind a potted plant, Shao Heng played with an antique phone expressionlessly, the lowered brim of his hat hiding the emotions in his eyes.
He was never foolish.
For the past five years, he had been avoiding.
A state of numbness allowed him to forget the pain of falling from heaven to hell.
Whenever he thought of the despair and helplessness of being alone in his parents’ graves, his whole heart trembled. For him at the age of thirteen, it was almost a disaster.
Li Zhi’s appearance, to some extent, allowed him to find someone to rely on.
This was also the reason why he willingly allowed her to control him for so many years.
Rather than saying it was control, it was more like he hoped to regain the warmth of a family, to be cared for by his family.
But at this moment, he realized very clearly that what he needed was not someone like Li Zhi.
Li Zhi and the assistant had already left, and Shao Heng was still sitting there in a daze.
Outside the coffee shop, Wan Tong, who had arrived late, watched Shao Heng’s figure through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows.
Shishi had detected Li Zhi’s actions, so Wan Tong rushed over to see what more Li Zhi intended to do to torment Shao Heng.
But Wan Tong hadn’t expected to find Shao Heng here.
So, had he already noticed something?
Shao Heng answered a phone call and then continued to sit in his place. Wan Tong brought two cups of hot cocoa and sat down in front of him.
“Why are you here?” Shao Heng frowned at her and removed his baseball cap.
“Just came out to relax,” Wan Tong pushed the cup toward him. “Want to try?”
Shao Heng obediently took a sip, and then his clear and fair face revealed a touch of disdain, “Too sweet.”
However, Wan Tong enjoyed the overly sweet taste very much. After taking a sip, she squinted her eyes in enjoyment, like a… tipsy little fox.
Suddenly, Shao Heng remembered last night’s dream, and his gaze began to drift again, his whole body tensing up.
“You’ll get fat.”
“Having it occasionally is fine; sweets can make people happy,” Wan Tong scolded him with a glare, finding him quite a killjoy.
Shao Heng pursed his lips, feeling the air around him becoming sticky and sweet, making his previously gloomy mood a bit brighter.
The two of them sat there for a while, and a tall, slim guy walked in.
The guy wore black-framed glasses and had semi-long hair tied up at the back, giving him a somewhat artistic look.
But he seemed a bit anxious, and upon seeing another person in front of Shao Heng, he became even more reserved, standing to the side without taking a seat. “Shao Heng…”
“It’s alright, please have a seat,” Shao Heng said in a low voice.
Only then did the guy sit down to the side, and his gaze also briefly fell on Wan Tong.
With just one look, he was astonished, his breath becoming somewhat erratic.
This woman was too stunning, and it was the kind of aggressive beauty that exuded sensuality and allure from head to toe. However, her eyes emitted a sharp brilliance that made it impossible to underestimate her.
“Have you seen enough?” Shao Heng didn’t realize how displeased his tone sounded.
The guy quickly snapped out of it, blushing and apologizing, then whispered to Shao Heng, “Regarding what I told you on the phone, have you considered it?”
The last time he bought a painting from Shao Heng, it had passed the preliminary round. However, the final round had a set theme, and he couldn’t come up with a satisfactory work, so he had come to Shao Heng again.
“I can help you, but I can’t guarantee what will happen later,” Shao Heng replied coldly.
The guy nodded hurriedly, “I’ll pay whatever you want. I need to submit the work in a few days. Can you make it in time?”
Shao Heng nodded and then noticed Wan Tong’s expression.
Wan Tong picked up on something but didn’t interrupt.
After the boy left, she finally asked Shao Heng, “Are you helping someone as a proxy?”
“I’m helping myself,” Shao Heng replied cryptically.
Without further questioning, Wan Tong saw determination in his eyes.
However, Shao Heng hadn’t even started working on his final piece when news came from the boys’ side.
His work was accused of plagiarism and the judges disqualified him.
This incident made the news, and Wan Tong had been keeping an eye on the art world lately, so she naturally saw it.
One of the judges had seen Li Xutian’s latest work, ‘Chase,’ and found the boy’s painting too similar in composition, creativity, elements, and colors to ‘Chase.’
When Wan Tong compared the two paintings, it indeed looked like they were painted by the same person, with the same sprawling colorful clouds, shimmering water surface, one depicting the back of a girl in a white dress, and the other a boy in backlight with an unclear face.
In fact, both paintings were done by Shao Heng and were part of the same series, so the resemblance was expected.
Wan Tong found the news laughable and quickly looked for Shao Heng.
This was probably the situation he wanted to see.
This time, Shao Heng didn’t stop her at the door. He had seen the news too and had originally thought that it would only take effect in the finals, but he didn’t expect the judges to have already seen Li Xutian’s ‘new work’ at his solo exhibition.
Meanwhile, in a certain villa, Li Xutian impatiently smashed a glass, “What’s going on? Have you asked Li Zhi? Is that art school student really her brother?”
His assistant replied quickly, “I asked her, and she said he’s not. Her brother is still in high school, always at home, and hasn’t participated in any competitions. So, it’s possible that the student really plagiarized, and the news is out, saying he copied you. Now he’s been disqualified, so don’t worry, it’s not a big deal…”
Despite the assistant’s words, Li Xutian remained uneasy, “You said that woman asking for ten million and a five-year contract?”
“Yes, I think that woman’s brother is a fool, and she probably doesn’t know much about marketing, so she wants to take ten million upfront and be done with it. I think it’s feasible. Or maybe we should find an opportunity to meet her brother?”
Li Xutian waved his hand, “No need to meet him. You handle it. If possible, sign a contract for ten or twenty years.”
After all these years, Li Zhi hadn’t caused any trouble. He didn’t think she would dare to cause trouble in the future. He had experienced the feeling of being looked up to from a high place and didn’t want to fall back into the dust.
So, he doesn’t mind nurturing a genius as his proxy.
Li Xutian originally thought this matter would quickly come to an end, but he didn’t expect that the young man couldn’t withstand the pressure from the school authorities and actually confessed to finding a proxy.
Now, in the industry, many people are curious about what kind of proxy could mimic Li Xutian’s style almost perfectly.
And the most important point is that Li Xutian’s new work was recently showcased at a solo exhibition, but this proxy had already submitted his work half a month ago. Could it be that he had seen Li Xutian’s paintings in advance? Could he be someone close to Li Xutian?
Because of these speculations, Li Xutian received numerous calls from the media and friends, and he found it quite troublesome to explain.
His assistant had already quickly located Li Zhi, who also became uncertain after hearing about this.
Didn’t Shao Heng mention before that he had sold some of his paintings? Could it be that he sold them to that art school student?
In her anxious state, Li Zhi called Shao Heng, but all she got from him was a nonchalant “Hmm.”
Li Zhi was furious. “Shao Heng, have you lost your mind? Do you know he entered the competition with those paintings?”
“Once I’ve sold a painting, I don’t care anymore,” Shao Heng replied and promptly ended the call.
The assistant standing nearby clearly overheard their conversation and immediately turned pale. “Your younger brother created a series of paintings and sold them to someone else. Do you realize how big of a problem this could become?”
“We just signed a new contract, and previously, I was only selling paintings. Regardless, we’re not at fault here. You have a big reputation; handle this on your own!” Although Li Zhi was angry, she didn’t think she was in the wrong.
The assistant understood the situation as well and could only swallow his frustration. He said firmly, “Keep an eye on your brother and make sure he doesn’t sell his work recklessly. Ten million won’t be enough to sustain your lavish lifestyle forever!”
“I’ll take care of it, you can relax about this,” Li Zhi’s heart was already starting to panic.
She had clearly suppressed a significant portion of Shao Heng’s luck, but for some reason, his luck seemed to have improved recently. Could it be because of these paintings?