A Sand Sculpture in the Red Dust - Chapter 10

Chapter 10 – Participating In A Talent Show

　　The tone was so deep that it seemed to turn into an infinitely extending vine, directly dragging the person down from the upstairs.

　　Li Shasha was reading in his room. He knocked on the door and came in: “Dad.”

　　Li Xiangfu sighed and carefully put the guqin away.

　　”What did you do?”

　　Li Xiangfu shook his head, indicating that he did not know.

　　He hadn’t encountered such a big scene for a long time. The last time was a few years ago when the old man found him going hiking again during his holidays.

　　Thinking of this, he smiled self-deprecatingly: “I didn’t forget what I should have forgotten, but rather forgot what I shouldn’t have forgotten. It’s like a spell cast on me.”

　　He can’t remember the details of the group adventure, but he still remembers the feeling of being hit with a stick.

　　When he was going down the stairs, he saw Li Xichun winking at him helplessly. Before she could say anything, Mr. Li directly cut off any possible communication between the two parties: “Come here.”

　　They walked all the way from the back door to the courtyard.

　　The wild flowers growing naturally on both sides could not withstand the scorching sun and drooped their heads.

　　Li Xiangfu reminded himself to come over and water the plants later. At this time, the person in front of him stopped, widened his eyes and asked, “What did I tell you before?”

　　Looking away from the flowers and plants, he answered without even thinking: “To persuade my sister more.”

　　Mr. Li cast a sharp look at him: “Persuade? Well said! Not only did you persuade them to separate, you even elevated the theme.”

　　Li Xiangfu didn’t quite understand.

　　”Your sister has been worried about the conflicts that will arise after marrying Gao Xun. It is a fact that their personalities are incompatible.”

　　”Oh.” Li Xiangfu asked calmly: “So is she going to use love to influence the other person, or use love to change herself?”

　　From the angry words, he intuitively thought that the two sides not only did not split up, but were reconciled instead.

　　”Neither,” Mr. Li sneered, “She decided not to get married.”

　　Li Xiangfu was stunned for a moment, then asked in confusion: “What’s the problem?”

　　It is not certain whether it was said in anger. After all, people’s thinking patterns cannot be changed overnight.

　　Besides, if Li Xichun meets the right person in the future, or if she and Gao Xun get along well, she may start a family at any time.

　　Unfortunately, although Mr. Li does not have feudal ideas, he has some tendencies in his heart and hopes that his children can get married and have children as soon as possible.

　　After a moment of silence, his state suddenly switched from furious to unfathomable: “Think about it carefully, adults have the right to choose.”

　　Li Xiangfu shuddered and had a bad feeling.

　　”Just like adults should learn to take care of themselves.”

　　The scope of self-care is very broad. The next moment, the old man made the final decision and announced that his living expenses would be officially stopped from next month, then turned and left.

　　Li Xiangfu stood there alone for a while, silently scooping some water from the fountain to water the flowers. When he returned to the room, Li Shasha noticed the frustration under his calm appearance.

　　”We are out of money.” Li Shasha understood instantly.

　　”There are still tens of thousands of dollars left, but it won’t last long.”

　　He had a hunch that his sister’s incident was just a prelude, and the old man wanted to use the opportunity to force him to be independent.

　　Li Xiangfu took out his notebook and asked Li Shasha to operate it. He leaned on the edge of the bed and closed his eyes to rest. “Please help me search for any famous painting competitions recently.”

　　It takes too long to operate double-sided embroidery and is likely to go out of stock, while painting makes money a little faster. But he is not well-known now and is easily undercut by others.

　　”The 56th Children’s Painting and Calligraphy Competition; International Youth Painting Competition…”

　　Li Xiangfu interrupted: “There shouldn’t be an age limit.”

　　”Sunset Red Senior Art Accelerated Summer Camp.”

　　Li Xiangfu opened his eyes and looked at him steadily.

　　Li Shasha shrugged: “Indeed, there is no age limit, there is no upper limit.” After a pause, he said: “But there is a Xius folk song collection activity, which is quite valuable and has an entry threshold.”

　　Li Xiangfu became interested: “Tell me more about it.”

　　Li Shasha was about to speak when his eyes suddenly lit up: “This year’s special prize is one million yuan.”

　　For painters with some fame, this reward may not make them excited, and they are more concerned about the award itself.

　　This father and son are different, they have been blinded by money.

　　“…To apply for the competition, you need to upload your resume and past achievements. There are already many participants in the preliminary selection stage.”

　　Seeing too many good paintings will inevitably lead to aesthetic fatigue. There are thousands of works, and the reviewers simply don’t have the patience to carefully examine them. The award-winning experience on the resume is likely to create a preconceived impression.

　　Li Xiangfu: “Is there any room for maneuverability?”

　　He has no honors but only bad deeds in the past. It is unlikely that he can create a perfect resume, so he can only find another way.

　　Li Shasha: “There weren’t any in previous years, but this year the organizers seem to want to raise awareness. Two of the judges have a certain number of fans on social platforms, and there is a high probability that a few of these types of contestants will be selected.”

　　Li Xiangfu pursed his lips when he heard this, and looked like he was already deep in thought. Since he had decided to do it, he had to make sure that he would hit the target with one strike.

　　The gigolo found a way out in advance, and Li Shasha turned the computer screen around.

　　”‘Masters from the Ordinary’?” Seeing that it was a variety show, Li Xiangfu waved his hand and said, “I won’t debut.”

　　Once one becomes an artist, their past will be dug up. For someone like Li Xiangfu with a dark history in front of him, who would make things difficult for himself for no reason?

　　”It’s not a talent show, and it doesn’t force you to show your face. We’ll only participate in one episode, and we’ll make some money and then leave.”

　　Because of the wide variety of talent shows, both elegant and funny, the show has always had good ratings and is almost becoming a national variety show.

　　The problem is that it is too popular. From no one interested in the beginning to an extremely hot registration scene, after going through the whole process, even if he is selected, it will be Li Xiangfu’s turn to record the show after three episodes, and he will not be able to catch up with the registration for the field trip.

　　Li Shasha pointed out the key point: “Qin Jin is the sponsor.”

　　Li Xiangfu stood up and came over to ruffle his hair: “Why will he help us for no reason?”

　　As he was talking, he saw the URL collection bar at the top. His expression suddenly changed. He picked up the notebook and put Li Shasha aside. He clicked on the URL and his eyebrows jumped: “You actually used my computer to browse unhealthy websites?”

　　Li Shasha corrected: “It’s an online game, the producer was a bit too bold.”

　　LSP!

　　Li Xiangfu closed the website and deleted the history in front of him, then turned around and said sinisterly: “Don’t force me to turn on the child protection mode.”

　　Li Shasha rubbed his nose and stopped talking.

　　Li Xiangfu flipped through his contact list and sadly found that there was no one he could talk to.

　　When he slid up and down again, he saw Qin Jin’s name and pursed his lips.

　　The two of them are still a long way from being familiar with each other, but that doesn’t hinder normal human interactions. Even if the other party refuses, they probably won’t get angry over such a small matter.

　　After convincing himself for three or four minutes, he still couldn’t make up his mind.

　　Li Shasha gave a monotonous reminder: “No matter how hard life is, don’t let your children suffer.”

　　”That’s easy to say!”

　　The vicious tone of the previous second suddenly changed when the voice was sent, and it became very gentle and polite:

　　”Mr. Qin, I would like to ask you for a favor.” After a pause, he said, “As a thank you, I am willing to give you a painting with the potential of a future master.”

　　After confirming that he had sent the voice message, Li Shasha commented: “Flattering.”

　　”Whether he agrees or not indirectly affects whether I can gain fame and participate in the folk song competition.”

　　Li Shasha changed his attitude: “When necessary, I am willing to play the victim with you.”

　　“…”

　　Qin Jin replied half an hour later, and the content was concise: “I have time before 2 o’clock tomorrow, and I can take you to meet the director.”

　　Li Xiangfu frowned after hearing this.

　　”Any problem?” Li Shasha asked.

　　”Qin Jin is the biggest sponsor. Just say hello. There’s no need to waste time making a special trip.”

　　Li Shasha concluded: “Rich people have nothing to do.”

　　Li Xiangfu had nothing to say.

　　The next day was Saturday, and the weather forecast predicted that it was a good day to travel.

　　It was indeed a good day. Aunt Zhang also came back today, and Li Xiangfu finally didn’t have to do the housework himself anymore.

　　The meeting place was arranged to be outside Qin Jin’s company. He arrived first, with the traffic behind him and a skyscraper in front of him, with countless windows half-open, which looked like the scales of a dead fish.

　　After standing and looking at it for a long time, Li Xiangfu couldn’t help but think of the person who actually controls the building now. He is lonely and unapproachable, but also powerful and calm.

　　A black car drove out from the side slope and honked.

　　Li Xiangfu looked over when he heard the voice. The car window was half lowered, revealing half of his handsome profile: “Get in the car.”

　　After the car door opened, he first stuffed his backpack in.

　　Li Xiangfu didn’t know what he put in it, but the black bag was full and looked very heavy.

　　Enemies often meet on narrow roads. Today, Gao Xun was driving. When he saw Li Xiangfu, his fingers gripping the steering wheel tightened slightly. The content of the Moments he saw that day was still vivid in his mind…

　　Hee is good at washing clothes and cooking, and he is also good at taking care of children.

　　Thinking back to Li Xichun’s last post on WeChat Moments, he didn’t forget to summarize it in one sentence. Seeing him in person now, his head hurt even more because he didn’t sleep well after the fight with his lover.

　　Li Xiangfu didn’t say hello to him. He fastened his seat belt after getting in the car and only expressed his gratitude to Qin Jin for agreeing to help.

　　”It’s just a piece of cake.” Qin Jin’s expression was as cold as usual.

　　Listening to the conversation between the two, Gao Xun couldn’t help but frown. When he was with Li Xichun, both of them were very reluctant to talk about Li Xiangfu. After all, there was Qin Jin…his immediate superior…standing in the way.

　　He didn’t know why Li Xiangfu returned this time, but no matter from which angle, the boss seemed to be approaching the other party intentionally.

　　Gao Xun wondered whether he should bring up this matter with Li Xichun.

　　The TV station had been contacted in advance and someone was sent to lead them in.

　　Occasionally, one could see well-known hosts passing by. When they went upstairs, the director had just come out of the studio. He was stunned for a moment when he looked up, then took a few quick steps over and took the initiative to shake hands with Qin Jin.

　　After a few polite words, he looked at Li Xiangfu and said, “Is this your friend?”

　　In his heart, the director was actually reluctant to let the contestants drop in out of the blue. “Masters Come from Ordinary People” was his hard work, but then again, if Qin Jin had not been willing to sponsor it, the program might not have been successfully broadcast.

　　Li Xiangfu could feel that although the director was smiling, there was some contempt in his eyes when he looked at him.

　　”What talent are you going to perform?” the director asked tentatively.

　　Li Xiangfu: “Painting.”

　　The director’s heart immediately sank. The time for each program was limited, and he couldn’t let him take up half of it.

　　”I’m afraid…”

　　Before he could say no, Qin Jin looked over. He moved his throat and said as subtly as possible, “Our show only lasts for a little over an hour, excluding the commercial time.”

　　A high-quality work cannot be completed in a short period of time.

　　The assistant director noticed this and came over with a smile. He proposed a solution very skillfully: “We can arrange two contestants to work together, and he can just paint on the side.”

　　Anyway, just show the finished product.

　　Li Xiangfu shook his head: “I need an independent performance scene.”

　　The smile on the assistant director’s face immediately became stiff.

　　The director winked, meaning that this was the only way. In their line of work, the rich are often the bosses. The guests will be replaced every episode anyway, so just get through this one.

　　”If it’s convenient, I need you to draw a picture for us to review first.”

　　Li Xiangfu nodded: “Okay.”

　　The director breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that at least he was good-looking.

　　At this moment, Li Xiangfu suddenly said: “I will wear a mask during the show.”

　　“…” Very good, the only selling point is gone.

　　After standing for too long, Li Xiangfu felt sore in his shoulders, so he put his backpack on the ground. With a loud clatter, the ground vibrated slightly.

　　The director’s expression changed completely.

　　Are the things in here…really painting tools?

　　The author has something to say:

　　Director: I’m a little scared.

　　Qin Jin: Sure enough, you have more surprises that I don’t know about.

　　Li Xiangfu: I will leave after I finish installing. Don’t disturb me.