Silver Leaf Whale Chapter 1

Foot brake

Chapter 1·Foot Brake

At the end of August, the sun is scorching the earth, a heat wave rolls down from the horizon every day, burning from the feet to the heart, and the cicadas on the scorched trees scream endlessly like a chainsaw.

This noisy sound continued along the wilting leaves on both sides of the road, until it was drowned out by the louder noise, which even Cicada could not compare with, and made her throat hoarse.

There are two universities bustling in front of them. The left side is very simple. “Beijing Academy of Fine Arts” is engraved on a large piece of granite, with only a few bushes dotted around it.

On the contrary, on the right is the archway-style school gate, with cornices and corners, three openings and five floors, red columns, blue-green plaques, and six golden characters “Beijing Sports Institute” shining brightly in the middle.

These are two famous universities in the city and even in the country. Today is the first day of school. It is very lively. There are parents escorting their children through the school, and there are also lone rangers. They are being cared for by seniors holding small signs and wearing colorful vests, like NPCs in a novice village warmly welcoming new players of the school.

“Help, it’s too hot. Is it also this hot in the north?”

“What are you doing? School starts today, and the traffic control doesn’t allow you to drive to the school gate. My dad and I moved all the way. We’re really exhausted…”

“I heard that the nearby shopping mall opened and schools started here again, causing congestion. We were afraid of traffic accidents, so we had no choice but to stop them.”

In front of the simple school gate on the left, there are a group of handsome men and beautiful women with colorful hair. They are carrying various painting tools and huge luggage and chattering.

On the right side, there is another group of people under the school gate with big golden characters. They seem to be competing to see who can catch the sun faster. The tall men and women standing up from the ground account for more than half of the total number of people.

“I understand, Mom, just stay at home with my dad. We don’t have much luggage. Who will look after the store when you are here?”

“Everyone has signed up, now go buy some daily necessities.”

Pang Whale held up his mobile phone and moved left and right through the tall sun-catching reserve team. The heat of the crowd surged up, and beads of sweat kept pouring out from his forehead.

“Hmm…Okay…I have money…I can take off the protective gear in the next two days.”

“I know, I know.”

His left hand was wearing a protective gear hanging around his neck, and his right hand was holding the phone while answering. His brows were slightly furrowed, looking a little impatient.

In fact, Pang Whale was not impatient with his mother. He had never been impatient with anyone in the past six months since his injury. Even the dog on the roadside barked twice and wanted to fight with it.

He looked down at the injured hand hanging around his neck, and felt even more upset. The words of the coach during the last review kept echoing in his ears, saying that if the recovery situation was not good, he might have to change projects.

He is a member of the provincial swimming team and had already participated in the national team training. Unexpectedly, he injured his hand at a critical moment. Not only did he miss the competition, but his future training may be greatly affected.

He sighed inwardly. He could take off his protective gear in the next few days. Pang Whale was very anxious and hoped that he could recover, preferably back to his previous level.

“Ah – be careful!”

Just as he was thinking about something, he suddenly screamed and Pang Whale turned his head.

The two universities in Beijing are built on a large slope. If you have four wheels, two wheels, or even a wheelbarrow, as long as there are brakes, you will have no problem driving here.

But at this moment, a hand-push car with a lot of things and no brakes was carrying its owner directly towards the giant whale due to gravity.

Pang Jing’s left hand was handicapped, and he still held his mobile phone in his right hand. If the man in front of him rushed down again, he and the car would probably have to turn several somersaults before breaking his head.

In desperation, he had no choice but to throw his foot up to block the intruder. After a moment of chaos, he was able to stop.

“Are you… okay?”

Pang Whale put his cell phone in his trouser pocket and looked at the kneeling person in front of him in surprise.

“No…it’s okay…cough…thank you…”

The round chestnut head in front of him was raised, and a sweaty red face made a sound of suppressed pain.

The movement here attracted many people to watch. The things on the trolley were scattered everywhere. Everyone helped to pick them up. The colorful boxes were piled up diagonally. It turned out to be several boxes of drawing paper and painting tools.

“Hey, let it go, let it go, Brother Xuan!! Are you okay?”

A boy wearing a small vest, with long arms and legs, pushed aside the crowd and ran over to hold up the maroon head.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, thank you… thank you all… and thank you, classmate.”

The chestnut head patted the black footprints on his belly and stood up. He looked miserable, but he still thanked the classmates and Pang Whale for helping.

Pang Jing saw that his clothes were dark, and the knees of his pants were somewhat damaged, with traces of blood still seeping out. It seemed that he had fallen really hard, but he could still stand up, so he didn’t say much. I guess his kick… shouldn’t have caused much harm?

After standing and watching for a while, he made sure that nothing happened, and then he dispersed with the people around him.

“The traffic control vehicle can’t come in today! Didn’t I tell you to wait until I pick up the new students and move them together? This thing is heavy!”

“I saw that there weren’t many goods today, so I just thought I’d finish the moving so I wouldn’t have to put the things in the sun to dry.”

The round head and the little vest worked together to push the cart and walked toward a store opposite while talking.

Pang Jing glanced at it and saw a red sign like a triangular roof, which read – “Little Painter”.

*

“Okay Xiaolong, just leave it alone. You go pick up the new students and I’ll sort it out myself.”

Qi Zhixuan was sweating hotly. When he entered, he picked up the cup on the cashier and drank a few sips of the brewed tea. When he saw Yang Xiaolong packing up the cart, he drove away for fear of delaying the matter.

“Is your stomach okay? Brother Xuan, I just saw that big man pushing his foot against you. I thought he was bullying someone, which scared me.”

Qi Zhixuan took out a few pieces of paper to wipe his sweat and shook his head and said, “No, no, it was me rushing down the slope. I saw that he was hanging by his hands. He must have stopped me with his feet as a last resort.”

“Okay, brother, please put your things away and rest for a while. I’ll be here after picking up the people.”

Yang Xiaolong was assigned to pick up new students today. It was really inappropriate to come to his part-time job before the task was completed, so he used his long hands and feet to move under the big golden signboard and continue to be an NPC.

Qi Zhixuan stood in front of the air conditioner to cool off for a while, then went around to sit down at the cashier. Only freshmen had started school in the past two days, and they must be busy with dormitory matters. There was no one in the store for the time being.

“Hiss——”

Qi Zhixuan took advantage of the opportunity when no one was around to check the injury on his knee. The wound was stuck to his pants, and it was painful to tear the flesh.

He endured the pain and cleaned it briefly, applied some iodine, and then picked up his shirt and took a look at his stomach. The sky was full of blue.

“He’s so strong.” Recalling the tall man, who was almost a head taller than him, and thinking about Yang Xiaolong with long arms and legs, he shook his head. I really don’t know what children eat to grow these days. For such a long person, no wonder it hurts so much when someone kicks him.

After smoothing out his clothes, Qi Zhixuan decided not to wait for Xiaolong and started to pack things by himself.

The Little Painter is a painting supplies store he opened. As soon as you enter the door, you will see neatly arranged shelves. However, each row of aisles is separated by a person’s width, which is very unfriendly to fat people. Regardless of whether you are full or not, you have to hold your stomach when you go here.

Fortunately, Qi Zhixuan was so thin that it was not difficult to curl up and put the paint inside.

This shelf is filled with paints of various brands and packages. They are divided into categories. To add the colors that are not available, you have to dust them off.

On the shelf next to it are markers with stacked color blocks. He replaced the dry ones for trial use and pushed them neatly according to the color number. The colors gradually changed and spread out. Qi Zhixuan nodded with satisfaction.

Following Qi Zhixuan’s actions, we can find that the “little painter” is really maximalist.

There are partitions piled up against the wall with papers of various sizes, and there are piles of raw, Xuan, and familiar drawing paper. The walls are also used to their fullest, and various ancient and modern Chinese and foreign paintbrushes are hung in rows. Even in the corner, there are easels and drawing boards squeezed together, which looks a bit pitiful.

But in fact, the “little painter” is not small at all. With more than 100 square meters selling painting materials, it could have been less crowded, but Boss Qi forced a “framed room” in the middle and back of the store.

He hasn’t painted his own works for a long time, but he always wants to appreciate beautiful things. The students’ well-painted works will be sent for mounting, so whenever he has time, he will take on some mounting work.

The framing room is just behind the cash register, with a row of workbenches in the middle, a window on one side, and hanging paintings on the opposite wall. Every framed work waiting for the owner to pick it up will be hung there. Pedestrians on the road look through the windows as if they are admiring an art exhibition.

Well, Qi Zhixuan really loves painting.

This painting supplies store has been open for more than a year. In the past few years, he traveled around, from south to north, and saw many scenery but never stopped.

On one of his trips, he originally planned to go to the Beijing Academy of Fine Arts to appreciate the outstanding works of art and then continue his journey. However, as soon as he left the school gate, he saw this small shop with a red door under the locust tree…

At that time, “Little Painter” was not called “Little Painter”. It was still a painting training studio. The owner was not doing well and was selling it, so Qi Zhixuan took over and became a painting supplies store.

From decoration to layout, from purchasing to publicity, he did it all personally.

After wandering around for so long, he didn’t dare to stop. He was always afraid that if he stopped, he would start thinking endlessly again.

Only when he saw this small shop, his heart seemed to be suddenly hit. It was just like the stories his parents told when they were young. There was a big locust tree, tall and thin, straight, with scattered branches. There was a small red house below, and a happy family lived in it.

So he chose to stay in this place to take a breather. Maybe he didn’t know that everything that followed would start from here.