Time passed quickly. In my second year at the Academy of Fine Arts, my paintings won a few awards in schools and communities. I didn't feel too panicked to catch up on all the courses. I fell in love with oil painting. My favorite expression was still nude painting, but the nude subject was not suitable for most occasions, so the characters in my paintings were first naked and then clothed or wrapped in something.
The nude painting was a required course, and it had become fashionable for students to praise and depict nudes. However, it wasn't easy to find nude models in the school. Most of the students were copying other artists' paintings. So far, I had only seen one nude female model in the class. She was the daughter of our foreign teacher.
One day, Tianxue and I came out of the female model sketching class, and she suddenly said to me, "I want to be the first female nude model in China. What do you think?"
I didn't know how to respond. Maybe it was time that the first Chinese contemporary female nude model should emerge, but I couldn't imagine that she was the one for this historical moment. I pictured that she would be put on a giant cross – Nude?! Her parents would jump into the Pacific Ocean!
"Are you having fun on a whim, or will you sacrifice yourself to art?" I asked her.
She said, "That foreign girl is so beautiful. How brave she is to take off her clothes so magnanimously. But why can't I?"
I didn't have an answer, and I just told her a story about the tragic ending of the first female nude model in the early years of China that I read in an old newspaper. Then, I never heard Tianxue mention this idea again.
Yalan and I had visited each other a few more times, and each time there was nothing new, no goals – we just got together, found something interesting, and had an enjoyable time. Yalan was a gorgeous girl. My classmates thought she was my girlfriend. Especially Tianxue. She wanted me to admit it. I said, "My relationship with her is like my relationship with you, except that she is my hard-core fellow, and you are my hard-core buddy."
Tianxue looked at me, "I don't believe any fellow or cousin could get along so well as you two."
I had to say in the language Tianxue understood, "I never had the urge to kiss her. Is this love?"
"Then I understand. It's not yet time! You have to hurry up. I heard from her last time that she is about to graduate."
I had to admit. I liked Yalan now. I admired everything about her, from her looks to her personality and interests. It's hard to explain how I felt about her. It's a familiar and warm, sincere, and romantic mood. If my first love wasn't Donna, Yalan might be… I didn't allow myself to think about that path.
I hadn't mentioned Donna to Tianxue; understandably, she had such a guess about Yalan. Among my classmates, Tianxue and I had the closest relationship. I liked to sketch in the wild with her or talk about various life topics. I could get along with her freely and without any taboos. She was the type that didn't need you to protect her, and she did whatever she wanted to do boldly and never changed her mind for others.
On Tianxue's birthday, she invited me to her house to do an oil painting for her as a souvenir. Her parents went to the South for vacation, and she and I were the only ones in the house. I brought her a bouquet of roses, and she gave me a big kiss on the face followed by an exaggerated hug. I accompanied her to finish the cake and asked her how she wanted to be drawn. She asked me to wait for a while and then went into her bedroom. I was waiting for her in the living room. The painting tools were already there. She came out wearing a purple nightgown, came up beside me, gave me another kiss, and asked if I was ready. She walked over to the couch, turned her back to me, untied the nightgown, and let it slide down to the floor. There was a naked back full of provocation. I was almost frightened, and I shouted, "My eyes!" She turned slowly, smiling as she faced me, and said, "I thought you'd seen the world, but you're actually timid. I'm your free model now!" She laid down on the sofa, posing in a sexy half-sideways pose.
Under her provocation, I picked up the paintbrush. I quickly entered a working state. I captured every beautiful curve and moving gesture of her and used color to interpret my warm feeling.
I finished the last stroke, picked up the nightgown, pulled her up, and helped her put it on. She stared at my new work and said, "You made me discover my beauty. Only men understand the beauty of women."
She poured two glasses of red wine, handed me one, and told me that she had a small gift for me as a treat. She brought an envelope from the bedroom and gave it to me, sat beside me, and waited for me to open it. It turned out to be the sketch of Donna in the waterfall, and I thought I'd never see it again. Tianxue told me that she liked this sketch very much and thought it was the most special, so she stole it from her father's file. Initially, she wanted to keep it all to herself, but now she was happy to have her own. I looked at the sketch, my eyes filled with tears, and my thoughts flew to Donna far away.
Tianxue hugged me for a long time and comforted me, and she asked me to tell the story of this sketch. After listening to the story, she also wept with me. It was late at night, and I got up to say goodbye, the envelope in my grasp. Tianxue took my hand and said, "If you want, you can stay." I thanked her, went back to my dormitory, and stared blankly at the shadow of the sketch.