CH 046

TL: Moonlit

A chill ran up Qi Fenghua’s spine as he stared blankly out the window. Previously ignored details suddenly played over and over in his mind.

Before that, Qi Fenghua and Yi Wusheng were not familiar with each other. Their relationship was merely an acquaintance, with Qi Fenghua unilaterally appreciating Yi Wusheng’s talent.

It wasn’t until one day when Yi’s parents and Yi Wusheng visited their home that Yi Wusheng saw his own painting… Qi Fenghua still remembered Yi Wusheng’s praise at that moment.

“Fenghua, you have more talent than I imagined.”

It was this sentence that made Qi Fenghua’s fondness for him multiply.

Later, the two became more familiar with each other. Yi Wusheng gently guided Qi Fenghua in painting techniques. They painted together, learned together, and discussed their favorite styles and artists. Two months later, Yi Wusheng confessed his feelings.

Qi Fenghua thought their relationship was based on shared soul resonance. Now, he couldn’t be certain anymore.

Countless thoughts flashed through his mind, yet it was like a vast expanse of whiteness. After an unknown amount of time, Qi Fenghua remembered something. He suddenly lowered his head, picked up his phone, and opened the Qi family’s video surveillance app, scrolling through the past history.

He quickly found the day when Yi Wusheng came to visit, a date that Qi Fenghua would never forget. He dragged the timeline to the afternoon, his eyes fixed on the person in the video.

Yi Wusheng, accompanied by his parents, entered the Qi family’s home. Both families sat in the living room, chatting. During the conversation, Father Qi mentioned his son’s painting career and asked Yi Wusheng to give some guidance to Qi Fenghua.

Qi Fenghua, who was hiding in his room, oblivious to socializing, was unaware of this. He didn’t see that when Yi Wusheng went upstairs, he mistakenly knocked on the wrong door and entered Qi Yuyu’s room.

At that time, Qi Yuyu had already moved out of the house. Yi Wusheng knocked on the door for a while but received no response, so he opened the door on his own.

There were no surveillance cameras in the bedroom, so Qi Fenghua couldn’t see Yi Wusheng’s expression. He could only see that Yi Wusheng casually looked through Qi Yuyu’s art supplies, then picked up Qi Yuyu’s painting.

After picking up the painting, he silently gazed at it, standing there for a long time.

Yi Wusheng’s figure in the video remained motionless. Qi Fenghua subconsciously looked at the time displayed above the video and noticed that more than ten minutes had passed before Yi Wusheng finally walked out of the room. His expression seemed somewhat strange.

Everything that followed was exactly as Qi Fenghua remembered.

Yi Wusheng returned downstairs and called out to Qi Fenghua as he was going downstairs to fetch something, praising him as “talented”…

From the third-person perspective, Qi Fenghua didn’t see his own proud and slightly surprised face from back then. He stared intently at Yi Wusheng’s expression.

He also saw clearly the coldness hidden beneath the gentle facade and the calculating glimmer in Yi Wusheng’s eyes from beginning to end.

Yi Wusheng was initially attracted to Qi Yuyu’s paintings. His original target was Qi Yuyu, but he mistook himself for Qi Yuyu. This shattered Qi Fenghua’s pride more than anything.

The pride and self-satisfaction of the past decade had become nothing but a joke. He wasn’t the genius; Qi Yuyu, who went unnoticed before, was the true genius.

No one in the Qi family had noticed Qi Yuyu’s talent. They believed he was painting to obtain the same treatment as Qi Fenghua, and no one paid attention to his art. Everyone revolved around Qi Fenghua like stars around the moon.

But Qi Yuyu wasn’t the moon; he was the sun.

Qi Fenghua exited the video surveillance app, unsure of what he was feeling. The mix of sourness, sweetness, bitterness, and spiciness blended into a bittersweet concoction that was both laughable and heart-wrenching.

Tears fell drop by drop onto the phone screen, and Qi Fenghua felt as if he had returned to the time when Yi Wusheng had just had the accident. The world was dark, without sound or color. Everywhere he looked, there was suffocating grayness.

The similarity was that both times it was because of Yi Wusheng.

Qi Fenghua blinked, crudely wiping away the water stains on the screen, and dialed a phone number.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

The phone message played coldly, “The user you are trying to reach is currently busy…” No one answered.

The difference was that last time when he was sad and upset, someone had been with him the whole time, leading him out of the darkness in their own way. Now, he had lost that person.

Although Yi Qinglou was the one who had been good to him, he became obsessed with the false illusions others had woven for him and failed to see the people around him. Only after Yi Qinglou found out the truth and left did Qi Fenghua, in hindsight, discover the whole truth.

Qi Fenghua couldn’t control himself any longer. He sobbed softly, like a small creature betrayed and heartbroken.

Yi Wusheng had deceived the feelings of several people during those years, stealing their talents to adorn himself. These people were also proud and arrogant artists in their daily lives. How could they endure being treated like this?

Except for one or two victims who didn’t want to publicize the matter, the rest of the victims joined forces and created an account. They posted everything related to the incident.

It didn’t take long for the official account of the Spring Breeze Art Exhibition to like their posts, confirming the authenticity of the event.

All the parties involved were young and talented artists in the art circle. With so many people involved, the incident quickly spread throughout the entire art community and the internet, filled with sensational love, hate, and vendettas.

When Qi Fenghua had posted a video criticizing Qi Yuyu on the video platform, it had only caused a stir within the art community, with just hundreds of thousands of views. But now, this video had surpassed one million views within a short period, and the number of clicks was still rising.

⌈”Damn, is the art world this exciting? I’m mind-blown from just watching.”⌋

⌈”This Yi Wusheng is so venomous and evil. Luckily, he died early.”⌋

⌈”As expected, one’s actions will be seen by heaven. Wrongdoings come with consequences.”⌋

⌈”Deceiving someone’s feelings is bad enough, but plagiarism is a much more serious issue! It’s a matter of morals and laws. Thankfully, he died early; otherwise, not only would he be infamous like a rat running through the street, but he would also face investigation and legal proceedings.”⌋

⌈”By the way, wasn’t there a well-known V artist who stood up for Yi Wusheng? It was him who first exposed this incident, which led to the discovery of the truth…”⌋

⌈”It’s Qi Fenghua. I also followed him initially and criticized Qi Yuyu. I sincerely apologize to Qi Yuyu.”⌋

⌈”Although the outcome of the situation is good, Qi Fenghua slandered Qi Yuyu. Shouldn’t he come forward and apologize publicly?”⌋

Comments and onlookers all expressed their opinions, ultimately agreeing that Yi Wusheng was despicable to the point of festering sores, and Qi Yuyu had suffered unjustly this time. Qi Fenghua needed to apologize.

All the accusations Qi Fenghua had made against Qi Yuyu had now turned into boomerangs, returning to him.

“I’m loving this,” Yue Hong brushed through the comments, smiling happily. “These onlookers are reasonable. Whoever is in the wrong deserves criticism. They see it clearly.”

No one paid him any attention.

After the truth of the incident was revealed, Qi Yuyu’s painting was confirmed to be selected for the final evaluation. Lin Hanchuan planned to open the gallery and get it on the right track as soon as possible during this time.

He was certain that Qi Yuyu would win the gold award.

After the national and international exhibitions, the painting would be returned to the artist’s hands. At that time, the value of this painting would double, and it would be perfect to hang it right in the center of the gallery.

Time was too short. Although Lin Hanchuan had made some money through stock trading, he didn’t have a channel to purchase paintings. Apart from Qi Yuyu’s collection, he could only fill the gallery with paintings hastily produced by Qi Yuyu and Yue Hong in these few days. Fortunately, both artists were quite talented, and they managed to create excellent works despite the rushed timeframe.

Qi Yuyu continued to paint without lifting his head. “Stop slacking off.”

“I’m not slacking off,” Yue Hong protested. He had just taken a break midway, but how could that be considered slacking off?

For the umpteenth time, Yue Hong regretted entering this den of wolves, where he had actually signed a contract with Lin Hanchuan for the sake of Qi Yuyu’s painting skills.

Entering this gallery, he was no longer an artist or an art creator; he was just a color filler without emotions. Yue Hong had never signed with any other studio or company, but he knew that other studios would never be like this!

Feeling extremely aggrieved, Yue Hong played with his phone and stumbled upon a video that made him laugh after watching a few seconds.

Not wanting to disturb Qi Yuyu, who was painting, Yue Hong brought his phone closer to Lin Hanchuan, who was busy “playing” on the computer, and said, “Quick, take a look at this!”

Yue Hong strongly recommended the video, and from the corner of his eye, he noticed the colorful lines on Lin Hanchuan’s computer screen, so flashy that it made his eyes dizzy. He couldn’t help but think sarcastically, “I’m here working so hard as a laborer, while the boss is reading sheet music. It’s ridiculous.”

Lin Hanchuan furrowed his eyebrows slightly and shifted his gaze away from the stock market chart to the video that Yue Hong was passionately recommending.

In the video, there was a woman with purple-dyed hair. In front of her was a stainless steel basin on the table.

In a state of confusion, Lin Hanchuan saw the woman take out several paintings and then open the frames, igniting the paintings and throwing them into the stainless steel basin.

Black smoke rose slowly, reddening the woman’s eyes. Her voice was hoarse yet resolute. “I used to be a fan of Yi Wusheng. I bought several of his paintings, but I never imagined that these paintings were colored with the blood of others.”

As she spoke, the woman’s eyes turned even redder. “I am also a creator, and I know how serious and despicable plagiarism is. So I can’t forgive Yi Wusheng’s actions, even though I’ve liked him for many years.”

“Today, in front of everyone, I am burning these paintings as a warning to all plagiarists. Regardless of the industry, plagiarism should never be forgiven.”

The video ended there, and the last comment on the screen happened to be, ⌈”Yi Wusheng’s fate shows everyone that plagiarists will not have a good ending.”⌋

“This is absolutely great!” Yue Hong felt extremely satisfied and replayed the video. “Destroying an artist’s works, and it was done by his own fan. It’s the best punishment for him.”

Lin Hanchuan withdrew his gaze, feeling neither happy nor sad about Yi Wusheng’s fate. He calmly said, “What goes around comes around. Yi Wusheng brought this upon himself.”

The woman in the video repeated what she had said earlier, and Yue Hong clicked his tongue. “I never expected there would be someone with such a righteous view among Yi Wusheng’s fans. She burned a painting worth hundreds of thousands just like that… This girl is amazing.”

On this point, Lin Hanchuan quite agreed. With just her courage alone, she had surpassed the majority of ordinary people.

The three of them were busy with their own tasks, and although the atmosphere was calm, it wasn’t awkward. Lin Hanchuan glanced at Qi Yuyu, who remained calm and unaffected by these events, completely focused on painting, unperturbed by honor or disgrace.

Lin Hanchuan curved his lips and lowered his head to continue with his work.

In this peaceful atmosphere, someone stormed in and shattered the tranquility.

Mother Yi forcefully pushed open the door, her eyes blazing with anger. As soon as she entered, she shouted at the top of her lungs, “Yi Qinglou! You heartless scoundrel!”

Lin Hanchuan looked up in bewilderment, and the other two present were also startled as they turned to look at Mother Yi.

“Why did you conspire with outsiders to harm your own brother?” Mother Yi had been exhausted mentally and physically these past few days. Her once partially white hair had turned completely gray, and she seemed to have lost all vitality, aging rapidly.

Qi Yuyu didn’t know when he had stood up, and he walked up to Yi Qinglou, watching Mother Yi warily.

Mother Yi’s arrival was within Lin Hanchuan’s expectations. Both Yi’s parents had held high expectations for Yi Wusheng, believing that he would leave his mark in history and become a contemporary Van Gogh or Picasso.

After Yi Wusheng’s untimely death, their dream of leaving a lasting legacy was shattered. They faced a devastating blow. Now, not only had Yi Wusheng lost his reputation as a talented artist who died young, but his name was also associated with infamy. Whenever people mentioned Yi Wusheng, they would only shout that it was good he was dead.

Yi Wusheng’s notorious reputation was a heavy blow to Yi’s parents, no less impactful than his death in the car accident.

Shielded by Qi Yuyu, Lin Hanchuan watched Qi Yuyu’s back and felt a strange emotion stirring inside him.

During this brief moment of silence, Mother Yi thought that Lin Hanchuan was feeling guilty and became even more furious. “Both of you must publicly apologize to Wusheng, restore his innocence, or else…”

Lin Hanchuan snapped back to reality and asked with a smile, “He was never innocent, so why should we restore his innocence?”

“Since he has done these things, he should pay the price,” Qi Yuyu coldly added.

“He didn’t plagiarize! He started learning art since he was young. At the age of ten, he won first place in a children’s art exhibition. His talent has been unquestionable from childhood to adulthood. Why do you accuse him of plagiarism?” Mother Yi now hated both Lin Hanchuan and Qi Yuyu to the core. With a stern face, she questioned firmly, “If it weren’t for you two causing trouble and tarnishing his reputation, how could outsiders misunderstand him!”

Lin Hanchuan’s gaze flickered as he carefully observed Mother Yi, lost in thought.

He used to believe that Yi Wusheng had kept all of this a secret from his family. But judging by Mother Yi’s current reaction, it didn’t seem like the shock and anger of discovering the truth suddenly. Instead, she seemed more concerned about Yi Wusheng’s reputation…

Interesting. The Yi family was even more intriguing than he had imagined. Lin Hanchuan narrowed his eyes, his interest piqued.