Rebirth: He Decides to Lie Flat
Chapter 293 - 293 290 Master Mus Daughter

Chapter 293: Chapter 290 Master Mu’s Daughter Chapter 293: Chapter 290 Master Mu’s Daughter The father and daughter hastily left, their figures disheveled.

Song Qingping smirked, “It’s typical that one does not feel the pain until it hits home. With such a father, it’s not surprising Deng Tao has this kind of character.”

Huang Kai said angrily, “His own daughter does something wrong, and as a father, he doesn’t even educate her, much less apologize. Instead, he shamelessly makes excuses. What kind of person is that? Teacher, it’s fortunate that no matter how much he asked you to take Deng Tao in, you never agreed. Such a student would only bring disgrace upon you.”

Song Qingping did not accept Deng Tao at the time, not only because of her mediocre talent but mainly because she was too utilitarian in her approach to painting. People like her, even if they achieve some success, it will definitely be short-lived, and their path will certainly not be far-reaching.

So, he had never been optimistic about Deng Tao from the beginning.

“Alright, teacher, let’s not concern ourselves with them anymore. Jiang Yan and I won’t join you for breakfast; we’ve got to head to class.”

“Hurry on, hurry on. I’ve been to Beijing before; I don’t need you to accompany me.”

After that delay, it was already past seven thirty. Fortunately, Jiang Yan’s bicycle was parked at the school gate. He rode like the wind, making it into the classroom five minutes before eight o’clock.

…

On the other side, after Deng Tao and her father left the hotel, the two hailed a cab at the entrance. They rode in silence until they reached a gallery with the character “Mu” in its name.

Upon getting out of the car, Deng’s father turned and said sternly, “Deng Tao, do my words no longer matter to you? What did I tell you yesterday? Other people’s business has nothing to do with us, but what did you do? At such a young age, you stir up trouble like a market hag, and then you get confronted and humiliated on the spot.”

If one cannot do something cleanly, then it is better not to do it at all, to avoid losing face in front of Song Qingping.

Deng Tao, with her head lowered, remained silent, but her tightly pursed lips indicated she didn’t believe she was wrong and was very unreceptive to her father’s words.

“Defiant, are you? Alright, your allowance is cut in half this month.”

Deng Tao suddenly looked up, “On what grounds?”

“You’re asking on what grounds?”

“I did see the two of them coming out of the hotel yesterday, and I merely told others that much. What others say with their mouths is none of my business. You said it yourself, that’s beyond my control. So how exactly am I in the wrong?”

The mere fact that two people came out of a hotel together is bound to lead to misunderstandings, isn’t it? What’s wrong with commenting on it?

Moreover, are they really innocent?

“You…”

Deng’s father had not expected her to use his words against him. Anger flared within him, and he raised his hand, ready to strike, but Deng Tao stared wide-eyed, her head held high in defiance, not even trying to dodge.

Yet, the expected slap never came. His hand was raised high, only to be gently lowered; ultimately, he just couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“After you come out of the gallery later, you call each of your classmates over lunch and tell them you were mistaken yesterday—that it wasn’t Jiang Yan and Song Jiawen.”

“I won’t…”

“You won’t? Deng Tao, don’t you see? Whether it’s Jiang Yan or Song Jiawen, neither is someone you can afford to trifle with. Both of them have a ruthless streak, and they will follow through on their words.”

Thinking of Jiang Yan’s words, especially that last sentence “business is good,” made him so angry his lips turned blue!

Disgusting, shameless, lowlife—how can there be such people?

“Dad, think of something.”

Deng’s father frowned, “This is Beijing, not Yunzhou, got it?”

Deng Tao bit her lip and fell silent. Still, she was reluctant to call and explain to her classmates; having already spread the words, how would it look to take them back now?

Wouldn’t that lower her status in her classmates’ eyes?

Deng’s father was also at his wits’ end. Turning his head, he saw the doors to Master Mu’s gallery slowly opening and hurriedly said, “Let’s go to the gallery first, we’ll talk about it when we come out later.”

Father and daughter walked toward the gallery with the crowd, while people whispered behind them, “Let’s head straight for Master Mu’s daughter’s paintings when we enter. We can’t afford Master Mu’s work, but we can surely afford his daughter’s, right?”

“But I’ve heard those are hard to come by too, selling out as soon as they’re put up. Will we be able to get one?”

“Insider information, just yesterday Master Mu’s assistant brought in five new pieces. They’re said to go on display today along with the earlier ones; surely we can snag one, right?”

“Let’s hope so. By the way, do you know what her daughter’s name is?”

“Mu Jiawen!”

…

The crowd was bustling, and the two people who were just whispering behind them disappeared in the blink of an eye after entering the door.

Deng Tao turned her head to look for them, while others around her were talking about how Master Mu’s daughter’s paintings were this or that, but she didn’t hear the three words “Mu Jiawen” again.

She suspected that she was so nervous because of Song Jiawen’s threat that she had a problem with her ears and heard wrong, thus absurdly hearing the same two characters after the surname “Mu.”

How could that be?

Shouldn’t Master Mu’s daughter bear her husband’s surname Yu?

So she must have heard wrong.

“What are you dawdling for? Hurry up, over there they’re selling Master Mu’s daughter’s paintings, let’s take a look.”

Deng’s father had already walked ahead and turned around to find that Deng Tao had not kept up, so he had to stop and wait for her.

“Let’s look at the paintings first, and we can talk about the rest later when we go out.”

Deng Tao pursed her lips and didn’t make a sound.

Deng’s father glanced at her, sighed helplessly in his heart—this child, the older she gets, the harder she is to manage.

The gallery was divided into east and west sides; the east side was larger, filled exclusively with traditional Chinese paintings. The west side displayed sketches and calligraphy.

On the east side, the paintings on the left were not for sale, only those on the right.

Mu Chenyan did not separate her and Mu Jiawen’s paintings; mother and daughter’s works hung together, with an obvious difference in price.

During New Year’s, Mu Jiawen had painted a set of the twelve zodiac signs for their classroom, enticing Professor Li and Tang An, who had been itching to get their hands on that set of paintings until now.

Before the year’s end, when Jiang Yan returned to Yunzhou, Mu Jiawen, having nothing to do at home, painted another set for the gallery. However, this set was not for sale, thus it hung on the east side’s left.

As soon as the Deng father and daughter entered, they heard many people repeatedly asking the staff, “Are you really not selling this set of the twelve zodiac signs? I’ll offer three hundred thousand.”

“I’ll offer four hundred thousand, you can ask, right? Can’t the young lady just paint another set and hang it up again?”

The staff member glanced at the middle-aged man who spoke, thinking to herself, do you think this is mass-produced? Paint another set indeed.

She calmly shook her head, “Sorry, this set is truly not for sale. If you’re interested, you’re welcome to look a bit longer.”

Is that even a human response? Look a bit longer, as if I could walk off with it by looking more?

Deng’s father exclaimed in surprise, “Didn’t they say her daughter isn’t even twenty yet? And her paintings are selling for three hundred thousand a piece?”

Someone nearby heard his words and turned to reply, “That’s not one piece, it’s a set, twelve pieces, the twelve zodiac signs. But even offering three hundred thousand is useless, Master Mu has said her daughter is still young, and painting is just a hobby for her. She only charges twenty thousand per piece, not a cent more.”

So those raising the price were purely stirring up excitement, though they did indeed really want to buy the paintings.

Deng’s father understood, and peering over two rows of people on tiptoe, he saw there was a gap and quickly pulled Deng Tao towards it.

“This monkey is really well painted, Xiaotao, look at her brushwork, how does it compare to yours?”

They were children of similar ages, and even though Master Mu’s daughter was highly praised, who didn’t know the real reason why?

It’s all because she had a good mother.

Deng’s father could only gauge Chinese paintings on a very basic level, the real details he couldn’t discern. Just like the twelve zodiac signs in front of him, in his eyes, they didn’t look much different from the animals Deng Tao usually painted.

Of course, he wouldn’t dare say that out loud here.

He swept his gaze over the other paintings, feeling they all looked similar, then turned to ask Deng Tao, but found her eyes fixed, staring intently at some place…