PPS Chapter 154

Chapter 154: Chu Zhaoyi’s Unattainable Obsession

Chu Zhaoyi opened the door to the studio, a place absent from his memory.

Li Yurong had never initially prepared a studio for him. He always painted in his cramped bedroom, the easel and paints taking up all the available space. Even twelve-year-old Gu Yusen had no room to stand, forced to sit on the bed, watching Chu Zhaoyi with longing, occasionally reaching out to touch the boy’s soft hair.

This studio didn’t exist in Chu Zhaoyi’s memories, yet he knew exactly where to find the brushes, where each color of paint was kept, and even that his finished paintings had been meticulously stored in a specially made cabinet.

“This is your studio, A-Yi,” Gu Yusen said from behind Chu Zhaoyi, slowly approaching him.

Chu Zhaoyi didn’t resist.

He walked over and placed a brush in Chu Zhaoyi’s hand. “A-Yi, can you tell me what your Brother Sanmu looks like?”

Twelve-year-old Gu Yusen would squat longingly beside Chu Zhaoyi.

He often served as Chu Zhaoyi’s model.

In the Chu family’s bedroom, a drawer was filled with portraits of twelve-year-old Gu Yusen.

Each one more detailed than the last.

Chu Zhaoyi, as if compelled, didn’t refuse. He painted portraits quickly, and before long, a face appeared on the paper.

Twelve-year-old Gu Yusen leapt to life on the page, a few strands of his tousled chestnut hair curling and gleaming with morning dew, the tips bouncing with tiny rainbows as he hopped about, reminiscent of a puppy’s downy fur just shaken free of water droplets.

The small, light brown mole at the corner of his left eye hovered at the end of his eyelashes, like a mimosa seed dislodged by a sudden summer rain, falling into the dimple’s vortex as he smiled.

This was how Chu Zhaoyi remembered twelve-year-old Gu Yusen.

Gu Yusen looked at the familiar portrait, gaining a new appreciation for Chu Zhaoyi’s skill.

This time, he didn’t put the painting away.

Instead, he took another blank canvas and placed it on the easel.

“A-Yi, can you try to build on this painting and depict what Gu Yusen would look like grown up?”

A painter very familiar with human anatomy can do it after reaching a certain level.

Chu Zhaoyi could naturally do it too.

When the final touch of crimson was added to the peak of the lips, the entire studio fell silent.

The portrait of twelve-year-old Gu Yusen and the face of the adult Gu Yusen mirrored each other on opposite ends of the canvas, separated by the chasm carved by six years.

The brush in Chu Zhaoyi’s hand fell vertically, splattering star-shaped ink marks on the teak floor.

The adult man in the painting was almost identical to the Gu Yusen before him. Deep-set eyes, a high, straight nose, the slight upward curve of his lips, even the small mole at the corner of his eye was perfectly rendered.

“This… is impossible…” he muttered, his gaze shifting back and forth between the painting and Gu Yusen, as if unable to believe his own eyes.

Gu Yusen bent down, picked up the brush from the floor, and gently placed it back in Chu Zhaoyi’s hand. His fingertips brushed the back of Chu Zhaoyi’s hand, the warmth passing through his skin, carrying a certain comforting power.

“A-Yi,” his voice was low and hoarse, with a hint of barely perceptible tremor, “The one you painted… is me.”

“I am your Brother Sanmu.”

Twelve-year-old Gu Yusen stood by the window, the usually boisterous boy uncharacteristically silent.

Chu Zhaoyi had grown up, but he was still stuck in his twelve-year-old self.

Twelve-year-old Gu Yusen could no longer protect eighteen-year-old Chu Zhaoyi.

He couldn’t even do something as simple as picking up an apple.

Twelve-year-old Gu Yusen stood quietly by the window, gradually fading into nothingness.

The sunlight fell on him but didn’t cast a shadow on the ground.

“Pretty little beggar.”

“Forget me.”

Twelve-year-old Gu Yusen was Chu Zhaoyi’s unattainable obsession.

Trapping him in the same place, unwilling to move forward.