Chapter 24 - The soul of art

"Hello?" Yan Duo greeted uncertainly.

 Zhou Fan raised his head in surprise. He had no impression of the girl opposite him at all. Out of politeness, he suppressed the question "Did you admit the wrong person?" and hesitated for a moment before replying: "Hello. "

 As soon as the other person opened his mouth, Yan Duo was sure that he was indeed the illustrator he met in the library a few days ago. Although his hair was more disheveled and his clothes were sloppier, his voice would not change.

 "We met here a few days ago." Yan Duo said with a smile, "What happened to the album I bought with half a month's income?"

 Zhou Fan suddenly understood and smiled bitterly: "What else can I do? I have been eating instant noodles for the past half month, and my face has turned green. To avoid doing the same stupid thing again in the future, I have put the picture album on the stove Now that I'm offering it, whenever I see the picture album, I'll be reminded of the days when I ate instant noodles, haha."

 Zhou Fan is a person with no temper. He can laugh at himself and joke with people he has only met twice without any grudges.

 Yan Duo couldn't help but laugh. This person looked like an otaku on the outside, but surprisingly he had a cheerful personality.

 "My name is Yan Duo, Langhua Duoduo."

 "Zhou Fan, it's not that you're annoying, it's that you have a heavy workload. Sorry, I always felt that you were different from last time, so I didn't recognize you."

 Although it was the second time they met, it was the first time the two knew each other's names.

 When Zhou Fan learned that Yan Duo was still a middle school student, he said that he always thought that she was at least a college student.

 Yan Duo touched her chin, wondering whether it was because she had too much fat on her body that blurred her age, or because her mental age was actually that of an adult, which caused people to misunderstand.

 The two chatted casually for a few words, and then Yan Duo found out that Zhou Fan was still a college student, working part-time in a painting studio, specializing in helping people make illustrations, wall paintings, advertising paintings, etc., among which the illustrations were Zhou Fan's Expertise.

 Originally, he was unknown, but recently, because of a comic, he accidentally got the favor of a well-known female romance writer, and became the designated illustrator of her next book, and his reputation has slightly increased.

 This is Zhou Fan's second time working for this female writer. Unlike the first time he passed it successfully, this time the first draft has been rejected three times in succession. The repeated blows have made him a little distracted recently, and he actually made Doodles on library books.

 Out of professional ethics, Zhou Fan did not reveal the name of the female writer, but said that she required the illustrations to be romantic, aesthetic, dreamy, youthful and energetic, and preferably abstract and unreal. Anyway! Definitely not all handsome guys and beautiful girls.

 Yan Duo thought that the requirements were really high, because these days there are really many handsome men and beautiful women on the cover illustrations of romance. Unlike the illustration styles of more than ten years later, which have a wide range of styles, this female writer seems to be a very avant-garde person.

 However, after Zhou Fan revealed a little bit of the content, Yan Duo suddenly realized it and immediately guessed the author's name, and Zhou Fan could no longer hide it.

 Yan Duo had read this book before she was reborn. The author's name is He Xi, and she is indeed a very unique writer. Her books were very popular in the school when Yan Duo was in high school, and all the girls had read a few of them. her book.

 The illustrations in each of her books once amazed Yan Duo. The first time I saw Korean-style illustrations and ink illustrations was through her books. What surprised readers the most was that one of them actually used He Xi's own graffiti is used as the cover...

 The messy line graffiti proves that He Xi himself is indeed a person who doesn't understand painting at all. But the person who dared to use this kind of painting as a cover is really admirable.

 Although Yan Duo no longer appreciates that kind of ancient formatted love, Yan Duo was still a little excited when he suddenly heard the name of his idol again after so many years.

 Thinking of He Xiyan's passionate love back then, Yan Duo suddenly felt a surge of heat in her head, and had an urge to draw. She asked Zhou Fan for a piece of white paper and pencil, and started drawing in front of him. Sketch.

 In order to go to undergraduate school, Yan Duo originally prepared to take the art exam. Her family paid for her to learn painting. However, she suddenly came to her senses when she was about to graduate. She worked hard and her grades improved. After her college entrance examination, she barely managed to get into the first grade. In an undergraduate college that is neither high nor low, the matter of learning painting has been abandoned. So far, Yan Duo can only draw a few sketches.

 Fortunately, the foundation from back then was still there. She slightly modified some of the paintings she liked in her memory and mixed them together. After a while, a rough draft of a mixed illustration was completed and pieced together into a complete illustration.

 After finishing the painting, Yan Duo looked left and right. Although it was a bit mixed, the overall feeling was pretty good.

 She handed the painting to Zhou Fan, and Yan Duo, who was an outsider in illustration, roughly explained where to use which colors, where the colors should be rich, the faces of the characters should not be too clear, and the edges should not be processed too clearly. Finally, she asked the experts for advice very seriously: " what do you think?"

 Zhou Fan's first reaction when he saw the manuscript was: dizzy, it's too confusing, the overall effect is so blurry, the faces can't be seen clearly, it absolutely cannot be used. The other party is the picky queen He Xi. I don't know how she will pick on such a weird illustration that can't even describe its style.

 But seeing Yan Duo looking at him with glaring eyes, Zhou Fan really couldn't say anything to attack him, so he could only say that the painting was very personal and he would definitely show it to He Xi.

 But in my heart, I was thinking that this little girl must be a crazy fan of He Xi...

 Yan Duo was really a crazy fan of He Xi back then... Later, when she became an adult, she no longer liked this kind of little girl's love story.

 When Zhou Fan promised to show He Xi her sketch, Yan Duo was still a little excited, and it immediately showed on her face.

 Zhou Fan felt even more ashamed. It didn't feel good to lie to a little girl.

 ******Actually, I don't really want to show your painting to the Queen, I'm confused******

 Yan Duo, who had been concentrating on painting for a long time because of an inexplicable inspiration, realized that she had not seen Xi Yin for a long time.

 Her heart skipped a beat, remembering a time when Xi Yin fainted due to heatstroke during military training. The temperature today is as high as 35 degrees. From such a hot place to suddenly walking into an air-conditioned library, is it possible...

 After explaining it to Zhou Fan, he quickly went to find someone.

 Finally, in the romance area, Yan Duo looked silently at Xi Yin, who was leaning against the bookshelf while holding a book and practicing how a chicken pecks rice.

 How could I have forgotten that Xi Yin is the legendary God of Sleep!

 In junior high school, Xi Yin and Yan Duo sat at the same table for a long time. Yan Duo saw with his own eyes that she piled 40 centimeters high books in front of her every day, and spent at least eight hours a day hiding behind the books to sleep.

 However, she was not the only sleep god in the class at that time. There was also Dong Boyi, who screamed loudly every time he fell asleep and was the first person the teacher wanted to hit.

 However, Xi Yin is cute and sweet, and she hides well. Occasionally she is discovered by the teacher, and the teacher will only ask gently: "Did you sleep well last night?"

 So no matter what age it is, it all depends on your appearance.

 However, Yan Duo didn't like this, so he scolded Xi Yin unceremoniously on the way home, saying that she had made him worry in vain.

 Xi Yin nodded nonchalantly and said, "Yes, yes, Teacher Lin, Senior Lin, I won't dare to do that again next time."

 Yan Duo gritted his teeth and humbly admitted his mistakes but refused to repent. He was talking about people like Xi Yin.