A Sand Sculpture in the Red Dust - Chapter 12

Chapter 12 – Everybody Feels Sorry for Li Xiangfu

　　When Li Xiangfu came out after talking with the assistant director, it was already dark.

　　His phone had been on silent mode before, and when he got into the taxi, he found an unread message from Qin Jin: [The performance was very unique]

　　Unique?

　　After pondering the word, Li Xiangfu raised his eyebrows and replied officially, “Thank you.”

　　The journey was smooth and the taxi was driving very fast. Suddenly, the radio mentioned the time.

　　His ears twitched to capture the time. As expected, the part of the show about his performance had ended. Li Xiangbu checked the reviews online and found that he was on the hot search list.

　　#Masters come from ordinary people with masks#

　　It is positioned near the front because the title is long and eye-catching.

　　There are all kinds of evaluations——

　　”The dancing skills, leg skills, acrobatics, all of them are amazing.”

　　”That kick was amazing! At one point I thought he was going to twist himself into a knot during the spin.”

　　“It was a show of skill throughout, a little exaggerated, but the technical work was worth appreciating.”

　　•=|=•

　　Li Xiangfu is known as the Masked Man during his performances, and he registered a small account early on. So far, this account has only reposted a preview from the program team, and after adding the verification, the number of fans has increased rapidly.

　　It was exactly ten o’clock in the evening when he got home.

　　As soon as he opened the door, he could hear the noisy sound of the TV. The variety show was coming to an end, and an advertisement was inserted at the critical moment when the audience voting results were about to be announced.

　　Because it was a recorded show, Li Xiangfu knew the result early in the morning. Seeing that Li Huaichen and others were sitting in front of the TV with bated breath, it proved that he still cared a little, so he said directly: “The ‘master’ voted for this episode is me.”

　　No cheers, no congratulations.

　　After a moment of silence, Li Xichun was the first to stand up and turn off the power of the TV. The living room instantly became quiet.

　　”I’ll go first.” Aunt Zhang stood up. She should have gone home by this time, but she stayed to watch the show with everyone.

　　However, the talent show just now made her want to take a quick-acting heart-saving pill.

　　After Aunt Zhang left, Li Huaichen raised his eyes and glanced at him calmly: “When did you learn to dance?”

　　”I did flexibility training before in order to participate in extreme sports, and even joined a dance club in college.”

　　After throwing out a few random reasons, Li Xiangfu changed the subject: “How was the show?”

　　”Attacking the enemy unexpectedly and catching them off guard.” Li Huaichen described it in one sentence.

　　It’s like a song with only a climax, which makes people breathless from beginning to end.

　　While they were talking, Mr. Li had already gone upstairs. Being old, he could not stand the stimulation. Now thinking back, what Li Xiangfu had told him that day about “performing arts” was not an exaggeration.

　　Li Xiangfu looked around but didn’t see Li Shasha.

　　Knowing the target he was looking for, Li Xichun crossed her legs and played with her phone while saying, “As soon as your show was over, he went back to his room.”

　　Li Xiangfu nodded, turned and walked towards the second floor, but did not go to look for the system. He took a shower and went straight to bed to rest.

　　He slept extremely deeply that night. When he woke up the next day, he first checked his mobile phone and found that with the help of the TV station, the hot searches about the Masked Man had rushed all the way to the top ten.

　　The number of comments is currently over 15,000.

　　There were several popular comments that launched fierce criticism from a professional perspective, accusing the dance of having no soul and relying entirely on technical movements. The replies below were full of different opinions, and it eventually developed into a large-scale debate.

　　After a quick glance, Li Xiangfu lay on the bed and hummed vaguely. In fact, he quite agreed with the evaluation that his dance lacked soul.

　　The purpose of attracting traffic was successfully achieved, and he began to carry out the second step of the plan to demonstrate his painting skills.

　　Li Shasha is like a brick. He was reading a book when he was suddenly moved out of the room to be a photographer.

　　He was very professional in this regard, but due to his height problem, he temporarily moved a stool and stood on it.

　　After determining the shooting angle, Li Shasha avoided the other person’s upper body and reflective objects such as glass, and only perfectly recorded the painting process. Of course, for those who don’t know much about it, the focus may be mistakenly placed on the pair of overly beautiful hands.

　　Li Xiangfu is still painting the Sigga cactus flower. This time there are no dazzling dance moves, and his expression is particularly focused in every stroke.

　　The brushstrokes incorporated some dreamy elements, the petals were crystal clear, with a little bit of mottled color. Just when he was about to finish it in one go, the tip of the brush paused slightly, and a vague face appeared in Li Xiangfu’s mind.

　　At first he didn’t take it seriously, thinking it was just some kind of inspiration.

　　As he began to paint the stamens, the face in his mind became clearer. The outline was still unclear, but the eyes were as proud as a nightingale.

　　Legend has it that the nightingale has a very wide range of voice. At this moment, it seemed to take shape and appear in front of Li Xiangfu, moving its pointed beak as if it was about to sing its beautiful song.

　　”Welcome—back—”

　　At last the nightingale opened its mouth, and its almost tuneless voice was cold and mournful.

　　Li Xiangfu’s wrist trembled, and after being frightened, he lowered his head and found that the brush had been dipped in red ink at some point. Two long red blood-like threads extended from the stamen of the flower.

　　This way, the painting lost its mysterious elegance that a cactus flower should have. At first glance, the pistil looked like a human face with tentacles.

　　Li Shasha pressed the pause button and said, “You don’t look well.”

　　”Maybe I caught a cold. I feel a little dizzy.” Shasha took the phone handed to Li Xiangfu and checked the video content.

　　Li Xiangfu’s eyes darkened when he saw the movements when painting the stamens. Except for the slight tremor in his hand at the end, the whole process was very smooth. It was a kind of instinctive painting.

　　He subconsciously opened a drawer, and the card that was sent with the courier that day was lying quietly inside, with the writing side facing up:

　　||——Welcome back, my friend.||

　　When he first saw the card, the elegant handwriting gave him a refreshing feeling.

　　Now it felt inexplicably creepy.

　　Li Shasha asked rationally: “Should we continue with the video?”

　　After Li Xiangfu nodded, Li Shasha matched the music. Modern people’s patience is not very good, so he processed the middle part at twice the speed and made sure there was no problem before uploading it to the social platform.

　　After the video passed review, Li Shasha helped him make a cup of tea to calm his nerves.

　　Li Xiangfu sat on a chair, holding a cup in his hand, thinking about something. Suddenly, he rolled up the painting on the table. Without considering whether the paint had dried, he threw it into the drawer, leaving the painting and the card sealed in the dark space.

　　Li Xiangfu had a headache the whole morning and originally wanted to lie down in bed for a while, but when he opened his eyes again, it was already two hours later.

　　The slight tingling sensation was still present. Li Xiangfu sat against the head of the bed and began to read the feedback on the painting.

　　Li Shasha is very smart in marketing. The background music he chose is very gentle at first, and the instrument used for transition in the middle is the erhu, just like Li Xiangfu’s mood when he was painting, gentleness suddenly turned into fear, and the finished product also has a slightly magical color.

　　Compared to the effect presented on the stage, the level of this painting is much higher. Finally, the focus of netizens is not on showmanship, but on his own talent.

　　After lunch, Li Xiangfu rejected the assistant director’s suggestion of participating in the warm-up performance for the mysterious guest and began to prepare for the preliminary selection for the competition.

　　He was best at ink painting, but unfortunately he just couldn’t find the feeling when painting on a tablet, so he simply drew a sketch instead.

　　Before uploading the attachment, Li Xiangfu checked his resume one last time. The experience column only had a dry line: “Winner of the title of ‘Master’ in the 13th issue of “Masters from the Common People”.

　　Very shabby, but very eye-catching.

　　Li Shasha said: “It’s a hot topic, and the video also shows the painting skills, so the chance of success is very high.”

　　He paused and worried, “What if someone assumes the masked man’s identity?”

　　Li Xiangfu laughed: “Not everyone would take the ‘unconventional path’. Those who have won awards would never think of this.”

　　Even if they take a step back and say that such a weird person really exists, he has a signed contract with the program team, and it is easy to prove his identity.

　　While patiently waiting for resume screening, Li Shasha used his identity as a temporary photographer and asked him to make a dessert as payment.

　　Li Xiangfu’s mouth curled up when he heard this: “Strawberry pudding or…”

　　The message notification sound interrupted the second half of the sentence, and the hand that was about to open the door stopped:

　　[Your card with the last number *5800 transferred 50,000.00 yuan via mobile banking at 13:10 on June 13, and the balance after the transaction is 71,519.39 yuan.]

　　His first reaction was to download the mobile banking app to check his bank statements.

　　The download was just halfway done when a new text message arrived.

　　Same transaction reminder, same amount.

　　Li Shasha sat on a small stool behind him: “A new type of telecommunications fraud?”

　　“I don’t know.”

　　After finding out that he still had to register to open the app, Li Xiangfu decided to postpone it to later. He first decided to go make dessert to feed the greedy cat.

　　The attempt started off badly, as he just reached the stairs when he was stopped by Mr. Li.

　　”Come with me for a moment.”

　　Forced to go to the study, Li Xiangfu thought it was because of Li Xichun’s matter, so he lowered his head and listened to the teachings.

　　”I’ll give you another month to rest, and I won’t stop paying your living expenses for the time being.”

　　”Ah?”

　　Li Xiangfu raised his head to make sure he was not joking, and raised his eyebrows. The old man always kept his word, but this time he made an exception.

　　Mr. Li didn’t intend to explain anything, he just waved his hand, indicating that he could leave.

　　As he dragged his feet towards the kitchen, Li Xiangfu was still wondering why the other party had changed his mind.

　　Aunt Zhang was busy in the kitchen. When she heard footsteps, she turned around and saw that it was Li Xiangfu. She quickly wiped her hands, pulled him aside and whispered, “Xiangfu, if you really need money, I can lend it to you.”

　　”…” Li Xiangfu said after a few seconds: “Auntie, I have money.”

　　Aunt Zhang said distressedly, “Don’t be embarrassed to speak up. I also heard that your pocket money will be cut off.”

　　She had watched Li Xiangfu grow up, and now he had to risk his life to entertain the public in order to make a living. She felt very uncomfortable about it. Those side flips yesterday were so scary.

　　”No, I really am…” Li Xiangfu felt a headache when he found it difficult to explain.

　　However, Aunt Zhang’s words did serve as a reminder that the two sums of money were probably transferred by Li Huaichen and Li Xichun.

　　…because they felt sorry for him.

　　The author has something to say:

　　Li Shasha: Think about it, maybe they just don’t want to watch your performance anymore?

　　Li Xiangfu: …