"What's wrong, Xiaotao?"
Deng's father had called several times before Deng Tao snapped out of her dazed state. She turned to look at her father, her face devoid of any color, frighteningly pale.
Seeing her like that, Deng's father was momentarily stunned.
"Are you feeling unwell? What happened?"
Deng Tao raised her hand and pointed to the bottom right corner of the Zodiac's Monkey, where two words were inscribed in cursive: Xiaosi!
Below it was a red seal: Mu Jiawen!
Song Qingping's Shanshui Gallery also featured paintings by Mu Jiawen, which Deng's father had heard of from Deng Tao and had seen once while accompanying a friend to select paintings.
But he had only glanced at them and hadn't looked closely, so he wasn't aware that Mu Jiawen was accustomed to signing her paintings with the two characters for "Xiaosi."
But Deng Tao was aware.
