The Girl In The Louvre - Chapter 26 Tutoring 3

Shaking off her uneasy feeling, Zhi Rou followed Zhang Wie into the studio. Her first impression was of the light. The walls were made from glass and roof were made of glass which allowed the golden sunlight to flow onto the canvases, walls, and floor. For Zhi Rou, it was like entering a paradise. Plants of all different varieties adorned the space, and a cabinet to store paint was placed against the wall that was connected to the door that she just walked through.

“I am not sure what you would like to start working on, so how about I see some of your paintings and access your skill level?” With the open space, Zhi Rou found that she wasn’t as nervous. Seeing Zhang Wie nod in acceptance before going to get one of his paintings, Zhi Rou let out a relaxed smile. ‘Maybe this wasn’t so hard after all’.

After going to the back of the room and rummaging around for a bit, Zhang Wie came back with one of his paintings. As he was handing it to her, his hand gently brushed hers. The cold feeling had unexpectedly reminded Zhi Rou of Julian’s soft touch and caused a blush to appear on her cheeks. Seeing Zhi Rou blush over the small brushing of hands, Zang Wie smirked inside. ‘To be this excited from just brushing hands…’ Ticking slightly without ending his thought, Zhang Wie walked to the side of Zhi Rou who was studying the painting.

Zhi Rou was oblivious of the thoughts of the man right next to her as she continued to study his painting. As she looked down on the painting her lips slowly pursed together. ‘Why… Is this so bad?’ She had not had high hopes for her new student, but she had at least expected that he would have learned the basics. Spectacularly destroying her expectations, the man showed her a painting which would have been cute if a five-year-old had painted it. Dashes of red and green created what could have been an apple, if only it didn’t have a weird lump on the side. Glancing at the man who, until just a moment ago, was brimming with confidence but was now looking like he wanted nothing more than to jump into a hole. Zhi Rou Slightly raised one eyebrow. “So… Do you want to start on the basics? Perhaps on how to draw a circle?”

“*Caugh* I know I am bad, but I do know how to draw a circle.” As Zheng Wie answered her, his eyebrows scrunched closed together. ‘Could it be that I am really as bad as my friends say?’ The only reason that he decided to hire a tutor was that one of his friends had found one of his paintings and burst out laughing. After finally calming himself enough to talk, he friend had proceeded to ridicule Zheng Mie’s artistic talent. Not believing that he, the great Zhang Wie could actually be bad at something, he had decided to hire a tutor so that he could wash himself of his one blemish. But now, hearing from his own tutor that he couldn’t even draw a circle, he really started to dought himself. ‘Could it be that this is my one flaw? My kryptonite?’

Receiving his response, Zhi Rou did nothing other than pointing at the strange deformity on the canvas. “So, did you mean to do this?”

“That, I mean, that was an accident. I do know how to draw a circle though.” After slightly faltering, Zhang Wie continued to insist that he knew how to draw a circle. If he, a sixteen-year-old man did not know how to draw a circle, what had he been doing with his life?

After staring at him in scepticism for a while, Zhi Rou turned around and set the ‘painting’ on a table. “Well, we don’t have to start with just circles.” Smirking slightly, Zhi Rou continued. “We could also touch on straight lines and curved lines.”

“What is the difference?” Pouting slightly from being mocked, Zhang Mie looked slightly angrily at Zhi Rou. As he stared at her, he noticed her eyes crinkling in laughter at his childish behaviour. “Whatever, as long as you make me into an amazing artist I don’t really care what we do.” Turning his head to the side, Zhang Mie pretended to look out the window while trying hard to ignore his pounding heart. ‘Humph, so insufferable. I really should have picked another tutor.’