Monster Apartment

No, not even primary school children use such naive methods to chase after someone anymore.

Some time ago, Gu Bai saw a little boy pulling a little girl past a flower shop and bought a rose for her with his pocket money.

No matter how bad, everyone knows it’s better to buy her a lollipop!

Gu Bai wanted to say something but looked at Zhai Liangjun holding the bottle and howling and finally swallowed back what he wanted to say in silence.

He didn’t know this gentleman well and really wasn’t in a position to say anything.

Gu Bai was pestered and grunted by Mr Zhai who, was madly drunk for a while, and he developed resistance to Mr Zhai’s subtle charms that suddenly appeared from time to time.

Carefully holding his painting, he walked around Mr Zhai, who was as tall as a man but as playful as a bear on the floor and headed upstairs.

Gu Bai is about to graduate from the Mural Painting Department of S City Institute of Fine Arts.

S City Institute of Fine Arts is the leading art institute in China. The graduation design exhibition of the school has just passed. As an unpopular mural painting department, Gu Bai can only watch his classmates sell their designs one by one and get offers. His paintings were indeed sold, but there was no company or team to take him in.

Gu Bai had two empty hands and pockets full of cloth patches, not a dime left.

His dad remembered to pay for the house, how come he didn’t remember to pay for living expenses.

Gu Bai fished out two hooks and a roll of steel wire from the cabinet in the corner on the first floor. He stepped on the cabinet to paste the hooks on the wall, strung the steel wire, and started to hang the pictures one by one with the clip.

These are Gu Bai’s practice pieces, and there are a lot of them. Two steel wires are hung across the two ends in this spacious studio.

Taking advantage of the perfect light, Gu Bai took out his mobile phone and started taking pictures one by one.

Even if it is a practice piece, it has value for Gu Bai, a poor student.

For example, if they are listed on a website for over two hundred yuan a piece, they will sell quite well.

When he was really short of money, Gu Bai would carry an easel with a small bench and sit on the side of the pedestrian street in the city centre and sell his watercolour sketches, fifty a piece.

He painted people and scenes with imagination. He would paint wherever he was paid, and when he was lucky, he could collect two to three hundred dollars a day by squatting on the roadside. With the scholarship, he has barely enough money.

After all, painting is a money-burning business.

Especially in the case of Gu Bai, who was in a traditional paper painting profession, the paper, paint and brushes are made of materials that cost money.

It’s not easy to find a job. Gu Bai had already submitted hundreds of resumes with his eyes closed, and only six of them called for interviews. Then, because of the fierce competition and his own inability to express himself, they all blew up.

The face doesn’t play a big role when looking for a job.

Especially when the interviewers are mostly men.

Gu Bai was a little worried about his future.

He took all these pictures and prepared to go back to school. To use the computer in the school’s computer room, and repair these photos with PS, so that they look more high-end and classy, and by the way, he gave a new one to a certain treasure shop of his own. (T/N PS probably means photoshop. It’s in English in the raws.)

Gu Bai pulled his slippers and went down to the ground floor and found that Mr Movie Emperor had already left. Before leaving, he also cleaned up the messy wine bottles and tissues on the table for him and even took away the garbage bags.

The only piece of tissue left on the table was flattened and spread out, with a bag of vacuum-packed snacks pressed on it.

Written on the top in a signature pen that Gu Bai had left on the coffee table was: Gu Xiaobai, the food is delicious. Here is the payment.

Signed by Zhai Liangjun.

The handwriting is gorgeous and smooth, and it looks quite accomplished.

Gu Bai looked at this tissue and couldn’t help smiling.

Although the IQ…no, although the means of pursuing his beloved is a little naive, Mr Zhai is still a good person after all.

He wonders how much money this tissue can make when put up on a certain website.

When Gu Bai thought of this, he couldn’t help but carefully pick up the tissues, stuffing the small snack packet into his pocket, crawl back to the second floor, and hung the tissues just as carefully and carefully as if it was RMB.

It’s a pity that there is his name on it and wouldn’t be easily sold.

Gu Bai regretted this and went back to the ground floor with some disappointment, tidied up a bit, and went out with his wallet in his hand.

S City Institute of Fine Arts Station is eight stops away from Shan Hai Road Station in Wu Cang District.

The subway is full, but not too crowded.

Gu Bai gave up his seat to an old man and took out the snacks in his pocket that Zhai Liangjun had given him.

Packed in a vacuum bag, it looks like it should be a small portion of a large bag, and there is no fancy logo. It just says Yiwang Mountain Chinese dried meat on the top.
Gu Bai tore open the package and inside was something like duck breast, which smelled particularly good.

It also tastes particularly good.

He was chewing on the meat with his face puffed up, holding the railing, wondering if he should buy a laptop, after all, he couldn’t dabble in the school’s computer room after he defended his license.

Gu Bai thought of his savings that were infinitely close to zero and felt that it was time for him to go out to set up a market stall again for the next half month.

The summer vacation is approaching, and business shouldn’t be bad.

When the time comes, he can buy a second-hand laptop from anyone. It shouldn’t cost too much.

He’ll have to ask the property manager about the cost of water, electricity and gas for that apartment.

The poor and budget-conscious student was struggling with small calculations in his heart. When he saw the bright sunshine again after leaving the subway station, he couldn’t help feeling sad that 80% of life’s troubles really came from the lack of money.

Without money, Gu Bai gave his shop a new look and went round to his teacher’s, eyeing the tutor of the fresco department and begging for work.

There are not many people in the mural painting department. Basically, they change careers after graduation. Those who don’t change careers are basically engaged in this industry at home, and there is no shortage of customers.

A poor and unsociable person like Gu Bai is basically starving to death if he doesn’t switch careers

“Haven’t found a job?” The teacher said, not surprised to see Gu Bai nodding his head.

He was very impressed with this well-behaved, hard-working and talented student, a youngster who was usually sullen but whose drawings were full of a lively spirit.

There are still two large works by Gu Bai hanging in his house; one is a sunflower under the sun, and the other is an imaginary painting of a sunrise over the sea.

The colours and composition are bright and warm, and there is a magical quality to the painting that is soothing to the mind and body, and when hung, it makes the home feel much brighter and more welcoming.

“Actually, I was going to contact you even if you didn’t come to me.”

The instructor opened an email and showed it to Gu Bai.

The email was short, to the effect that they had seen the mural work of a team led by their teacher and wanted to work together.

“Three hundred square meters, the exhibition hall wall of the newly built S City Art Expo Center, the work period is one month. It is made by a team. You will be given 100yuan per square meter. Do you want to do it?”

100 yuan per sq mt, so for 300 sq mt, it will be 30,000yuan.

Gu Bai’s eyes turned green when he was so poor: “Yes, yes, yes!”

The teacher caressed Gu Bai’s soft hair and smiled: “Work is next month…well, starting on July 15th. We’ll gather to go to the field first next Monday. The theme of this exhibition is inheritance. It will start in early September. You can prepare in advance, two big booths will be reserved for us internally.”

The implication is that the teacher will take you to the exhibition and take you flying!

Gu Bai was so touched that he almost cried.

Being able to get a big project like this is not just a simple matter of getting money from work.

The world of mural painting is not small, nor is it large, and teamwork projects are an opportunity for open communication to bring people closer together, in addition to private socialising.

Many people don’t just stay in one team, they often span two or more teams, one by one, so if you shine and make an impression, it means you’ll be recommended in the future.

After all, the number of people required for mural paintings is not necessarily determined. Basically, it depends on the needs of the project. One, two or three are possible.

What’s more, the teacher also intends to reserve a booth for his paintings.

More than that, Gu Bai did not dare to think about it. To be able to rub a booth at such a big show was already a huge surprise for Gu Bai.

This kind of Art exhibition is different from the school’s graduation design exhibition. At the Art exhibition, many big bosses and industry insiders will come to see them. While watching the art, they will also dig out seedlings suitable for their team.

Gu Bai is going to die of joy.

He wanted to give his teacher a 360-degree spin to the sky with a series of explosions.

He also wanted to give the teacher a huge muah.

The teacher was very moved. He rejected his(GB) muah and blew Gu Bai out of the studio.

Gu Bai resolved his serious heartache, and his steps on the way back were entirely different from the heaviness when he came.

The security guard looked at this little guy who ran back and forth several times throughout the day. At this moment, his face was red, and his whole body was happy. He pressed the alarm into his heart and asked him with a smile: “What’s the matter? So happy?”

Gu Bai swiped the access control card, and when he heard him say that, he pursed his lips a little embarrassedly, but in the next second, he couldn’t control the joy in his heart, showing a big smile: “I have a job!”

“Oh!” The security guard dawned on him, “Congratulations, where are you going again?”

Gu Bai was even more embarrassed as he said in a small voice, “I’m following the teacher to do odd jobs.”

“That’s pretty good too.” The little security guard expressed envy, “It’s nice to have a proper heritage like you guys. Who is your teacher?”

u Bai didn’t expect to be asked this question. Isn’t it usually about the school and work content?

He froze for two seconds but still replied, “Professor Gao from S City Institute of Fine Arts!”

The security guard showed a dazed face.

Which monster is Professor Gao?

But without waiting for him to ask, Gu Bai waved his hand and happily entered the community, his bouncing back oozing with vibrant energy.

The security guard came back to his senses, sniffed the remaining odour in the air, and couldn’t help showing an expression of envy.

The smell of Qiaoqi meat. (T/N There is a bird that looks like a crow with three heads and six tails and likes to laugh. People will not have nightmares if they eat it, and they can also use it to defend against evil. Its name is 鵸 (odd) 鵌 (figure).

This little guy’s teacher is so good to him.

The author has something to say:

Professor: ? ? I’m not. I didn’t. Stop talking nonsense.