Silver Leaf Whale Chapter 10

Old memories (3)

Chapter 10·Old Memories (3)

Throughout the summer, except for a few days when he went to the mountain city, Qi Zhixuan met Liang Yuansheng twice. One time was a few days after Qi Zhixuan came back, when Liang Yuansheng came to sincerely apologize and smooth over the turmoil, and the other time was today.

Today is Liang Yuansheng’s birthday. Qi Zhixuan booked a place to eat early and DIYed the cake himself. Even as an art student, he spent a whole day making a cake that was not too exquisite but full of heart. It was in the shape of an apple, and there were two chubby little buttercream figures squeezed next to it. It was him and Liang Yuansheng.

I waited and waited, but after a while, no one showed up. Just when I was thinking about making a phone call to remind me, someone came.

Liang Yuansheng appeared, but there were several unknown people behind him.

“I’m sorry, Xiao Xuan, I’m late. These…are a few friends. They heard about my birthday and said they wanted to celebrate it for me, so…”

Several people greeted him one after another, “Hey, hello, you must be Teacher Qi’s son. I heard Yuansheng mentioned that you two have a good relationship.” Qi Zhixuan responded politely, smiled and said nothing more.

While waiting for the food to be served, I listened to their conversation and realized that these people were all seniors in my school. Recently, they and Liang Yuansheng took on a project to tame an AI model from an off-campus company.

Qi Zhixuan didn’t know what it was. He felt a little disappointed now. He hadn’t seen Liang Yuansheng for a long time. Every time he asked him, he said he was busy. When he saw him today, he discovered that he had lost a lot of weight. It seemed that he was really working hard. He thought that he could finally spend some time in peace today.

But after a while, he figured it out on his own. Liang Yuansheng didn’t have many friends, so it was good to have so many people celebrating his birthday.

“Oops! Do we have to buy a cake?” Halfway through the meal, someone realized that there was no cake at the birthday party.

“There’s no cake shop nearby. How about ordering takeout?” Several people discussed in murmurs.

Qi Zhixuan thought of the cake he asked his boss to put in the refrigerator. These people probably didn’t know that he and Liang Yuansheng were in a relationship, so it was hard to take out such an obvious cake. He thought it would be better to wait until it was over before eating it alone with Liang Yuansheng.

At this time, Liang Yuansheng interrupted everyone: “No, trouble, the cake is too sweet and I don’t like to eat it. I’m very happy that everyone can come. Let’s have a drink together and treat it as a celebration for me.”

He reached out to hold up the wine glass in front of him. Hearing this, everyone also raised their glasses and toasted Liang Yuansheng together.

After three rounds of drinking, the few people seemed to have endless things to talk about and kept talking about work. Qi Zhixuan looked at the time and saw that it was already very late. If it didn’t end, it would be too late to have cake with Liang Yuansheng on his birthday.

“Yuan Sheng…” Qi Zhixuan quietly pulled Liang Yuansheng’s sleeve and moved to the side to ask him when he was leaving.

Before he could ask the question, Liang Yuansheng’s cell phone suddenly rang. He answered the phone with a hurried expression, as if it was a work problem today and he wanted them to rush back to deal with it.

After hanging up the phone, Liang Yuansheng greeted everyone, “There is a problem with the model data collected today. Please clean up and follow me back to the company.”

After arranging these, he turned back and asked warmly: “Xiao Xuan, what did you want to say?”

“Oh, it’s okay, I just want to give this to you.” Qi Zhixuan took out a scroll from his side and handed it to Liang Yuansheng’s hand. “You…go and do your work, but make sure to rest early. You have lost a lot of weight.”

People around him began to pack their things one after another, lowering their heads to call for a taxi on their mobile phones. Liang Yuansheng took the things handed to him and asked with a smile in his eyes, “Is this your birthday gift for me?”

“Well… I originally wanted to add some details, but it’s too late, so don’t dislike it.” It was that painting, painted on the day they left the mountain city. It had been polished during this period, and it was a memory that only belonged to them.

“No way, thank you Xiaoxuan.” Liang Yuansheng came closer, his voice was very low, with a coaxing softness, “I have been very busy during this period, and I haven’t spent much time with you. Don’t be angry. If you are really angry, just save it and punish me together.” He rarely spoke like this, and Qi Zhixuan blushed a little.

“I’m not angry, you…”

“The car is here.” Someone shouted. Liang Yuansheng couldn’t say more, touched Qi Zhixuan’s head and said goodbye in a hurry.

In the evening, when Qi Zhixuan got home and took a shower, he suddenly remembered that the cake was still in the refrigerator of the restaurant. He called and the store was closed, so he had to ask them to get rid of it tomorrow.

Maybe he was almost out of luck, Qi Zhixuan comforted himself, thinking that the next birthday must be celebrated by two people together.

Birthdays passed by one after another, and in a blink of an eye, it was the busy senior year, and the graduation project was about to be submitted. Those who had finished wanted to do better, and those who had not done well were even more worried. In short, everyone who was about to graduate exuded a sense of resentment…

“Xiao Xuan, have you finished painting? Why didn’t you reveal anything about what you painted? Come on, show me and let me breathe in the spiritual energy…”

Sun Guo stayed up late every day revising her graduation project. Now she looked like she was possessed, with messy hair, dark bags under her eyes, and absent-minded eyes.

“Of course I finished the painting and I won’t show it to you! But I can tell you that I didn’t choose freehand brushwork and the painting was meticulous~”

Qi Zhixuan didn’t want to tell anyone what he painted yet, but he could share which form he chose. Logically speaking, he was best at freehand painting, but Bi had other things he wanted to paint this time, so it didn’t make sense.

“All-rounders are great. They are good at everything. Bi She also has a choice. Unlike me, a little girl, who is born as a boneless man and dies as a boneless ghost. I spend my whole life painting boneless paintings…”

Sun Guo originally wanted to ask Qi Zhixuan to have dinner with him after class, but he was already sitting on the Diaoyutai, and his paintings were still in a state of severe damage. He suddenly lost the intention to eat, drove Qi Zhixuan away, and continued to practice.

Qi Zhixuan had no choice but to go eat by himself as Fan Taozi concentrated on practicing. But before he left the teaching building, he received a WeChat message from Liang Yuansheng asking where he was.

Liang Yuansheng is busy every day. In the past, he could take advantage of the time to fall in love with him after class. Now that he has fewer classes in his senior year, his time in school has plummeted.

A piece of paper announced: “”Getting ready to go to the canteen.””

Liang Yuansheng said: “Then you wait for me at the door and we will eat together.”””

Are you at school today? It’s really rare. Liang Yuansheng and his seniors were doing AI painting model domestication before, but now they have made great progress, and they have even invested in some advertising design and product graphics planning and design, so they spend most of their time outside of school busy with company affairs, and the chances of seeing him are really rare.

“Xiao Xuan!”

Liang Yuansheng walked over from a distance. It may have been a while since I last saw him. I felt that his shoulders were broader and his body was taller and straighter. In the past, his brows were always frowning, but now they are completely relaxed. There is a calm and unhurried determination between his brows and eyes. He looks like a very comfortable adult.

It was meal time, and there were many people in the cafeteria. Liang Yuansheng queued up to get food, and Qi Zhixuan found a good seat. The two of them shared their recent life while eating.

Liang Yuansheng shared some of the contents of his project with Qi Zhixuan, and he spoke vividly. Seeing his brisk expression, Qi Zhixuan could feel that he had gained a lot from this job.

However, seeing the AI ​​drawings he shared, Qi Zhixuan always felt an inexplicable discomfort in his heart. Those pictures are indeed beautiful, but if you look at them more, you will find that all the pictures are like a still pool of stagnant water, without any emotion, let alone anything else.

Modern society pursues efficiency, and Liang Yuansheng seems to have plunged into this roaring efficiency machine and become a cog in it. Qi Zhixuan cannot completely deny this approach, but deep down, he cannot fully accept it. What he longs for more is still a world with a soul and breathing.

“By the way, Yuansheng, the deadline for Bi She’s submission is coming soon. Have you finished the painting?” Qi Zhixuan suddenly remembered this important thing while picking the garlic in the dish.

Speaking of Bi She, Liang Yuansheng, who had been in high spirits just now, suddenly became quiet, and his tone paused, “Well… that’s about it.” Qi Zhixuan felt something unusual about him and couldn’t help but look up at him.

“Xiao Xuan, actually I came today because I have something to tell you.” Qi Yuansheng suddenly became serious, and the gentleness in his eyes was gone. Qi Zhixuan was stunned, feeling uneasy and not knowing what he wanted to say.

“I…I want to study abroad at Japan University of Arts…” Liang Yuansheng said.

Qi Zhixuan was pleasantly surprised, “Really! That’s great! You have good grades, so you should be fine.”

In fact, Qi Zhixuan had wanted to ask him a long time ago about his plans for graduation, whether to study abroad for postgraduate studies or to work directly. He hoped that he could choose to study abroad with him or even sponsor him. He mentioned it once, but Liang Yuansheng didn’t agree and was still a little angry, so he didn’t dare to ask again. He kept delaying it for a while. Now he said it himself, and Qi Zhixuan thought it was great.

“Well, you know, my family is not very well off…it might be a little difficult to study abroad, but my boss will provide a funding quota, so I really want to try.”

After he explained it carefully, Qi Zhixuan realized that it turned out that the owner of Liang Yuansheng’s AI company was Japanese. Every year, he sponsored outstanding students from art colleges around the world to study at his alma mater. The condition was that they would work in his company. Now Liang Yuansheng was fighting for this place. There were many people who wanted the opportunity. He had to get an excellent graduate degree and become an outstanding graduate.

“That’s great. Once you make the choice, we will go to Japan together!”

Liang Yuansheng can study abroad through his own efforts, so he doesn’t have to worry about how to get him to receive funding from his family.

Seeing Qi Zhixuan so happy, Liang Yuansheng also held his hand tightly: “Xiao Xuan, you are willing to help me too. If we go to Japan, we will not be as busy as now. I will definitely accompany you well.”

“Of course.”

Liang Yuansheng worked hard on almost everything by himself. Although he didn’t know what else he could do to help, Qi Zhixuan still agreed. He was very happy, as if the two of them had arrived in Tokyo, and couldn’t help but look forward to a better life in the future.

*

The weather suddenly darkened in the afternoon, and the blazing sun made the thick dark clouds disappear. The wind blew loudly, and the leaves of the burnt sycamore trees beside the road rustled.

Sun Guo was not afraid of the approaching bad weather and insisted on going to the store. He walked leisurely to the classroom with a popsicle in his mouth and a bag of snacks in his hand.

From the time he handed in the set to now, this man has gained ten pounds in less than two weeks.

“Guoguo, eat less, kid. She’s gaining weight at an alarming rate. It’s not healthy.” Qi Zhixuan looked at her like she was blowing up a balloon, fearing that she would explode.

“What do you know? This is called a trace of happiness, and if I don’t save some meat to resist the pressure, what will I do during the defense? I won’t be alive.”

Qi Zhixuan heard this and thought it was reasonable, so he took out a pack of red bean-flavored Wangzai milk candies from her bag and put it in his pocket.

“Hey! Please leave two for me!” Guo Guo reached out anxiously to take them out.

“There are only a few in total… Hey you… Men and women don’t have sex.” Qi Zhixuan held his pocket tightly and took a few steps back, but was immediately caught up again.

The two of them were fighting and fighting, chasing each other to grab the bag of candy.

“Who is Qi Zhixuan?” Someone knocked on the door, and Qi Zhixuan happened to escape with red bean milk candies.

“I am, what’s wrong?”

“The teacher is looking for you, the Political and Education Office.”

After saying that, the visitor left. Qi Zhixuan wondered why the Political and Education Office wanted him. Could it be that his father had something going on while he was giving lectures at a friend school?That’s not right. I called yesterday and didn’t hear anything.

With doubts, Qi Zhixuan came to the political and religious office.”Hello, Teacher Wang, you are looking for me.”

Teacher Wang nodded and greeted him: “Xiao Qi is here, sit down.”

Sit down obediently. Teacher Wang is their department head, and he usually has a good relationship with Qi’s father.

“Your father, when will he come back?”

“I’ll be back in two or three days.”

Answering some unintelligible questions, Qi Zhixuan still hadn’t figured out what happened. Just when he was about to ask, his mentor Gu Feng also came.

“Teacher Gu.” Qi Zhi called out, Gu Feng nodded and sat down aside.

“Okay, I called you here today because I have something to say.” Teacher Zhang suddenly looked serious, and Qi Zhixuan’s heart skipped a beat, and he had a bad feeling.

“During the initial review, we found, Qi Zhixuan, that your graduation project is highly overlapped with that of another classmate. We now suspect that one of you has committed plagiarism.”

“What?” Hearing this, Qi Zhixuan’s eyes widened in shock. How is this possible?The completed work must be checked for plagiarism and archived. Who dares to risk not graduating from plagiarism? The gain is simply not worth the loss.

What’s more, his graduation project was a mountain scene painted in a mountain city.

I finished the painting and gave it to Liang Yuansheng as a birthday present, but it was too rushed and he felt dissatisfied, so he spent several months polishing and redrawing it, and finally finalized it and made it into a graduation project, ready to be given to him again on his birthday this year.

This is a memory that only belongs to them, hidden in the painting.

“Xiao Qi, don’t panic. I haven’t decided yet. I mainly want to find you to understand the situation.” Teacher Wang saw that his face was pale and comforted him a few words.

Unless…unless…a terrible idea pops up in his mind…

“Such a situation is rare. We really need to check carefully.” Gu Feng also found it unbelievable how someone would dare to do this.

Qi Zhixuan clenched his fists, his fingertips turning white. After hesitating for a long time, he still spoke with difficulty:

“Teacher…the other classmate…is his name Liang Yuansheng?”

His voice was unusually dry, with a slight tremor that he didn’t even notice.

There was a brief silence in the office. After getting the affirmative answer, he seemed to have lost his hearing and his ears were roaring. He couldn’t figure out how this could happen, how could it be Liang Yuansheng…

He listened to what Teacher Wang and Teacher Gu said intermittently, and he only vaguely knew that he needed to provide evidence such as the creative process, sketches, and timelines as soon as possible to prove his innocence.

Walking out of the political and religious office with frivolous steps, the sky became darker and gloomier. A thunder exploded directly, and the roaring sound became blurry in his ears. He slowly squatted down against the cold wall, his mind was in chaos, and he didn’t know what to do.

After an unknown amount of time, he raised his numb legs and thought of calling Liang Yuansheng, maybe there was some misunderstanding.

They were picked up quickly there

But no words were spoken.

Qi Zhixuan wanted to say something, but couldn’t.

It was quiet for a while, so quiet that only the breathing of both parties could be heard. In such a depressed mood, it was Liang Yuansheng who spoke first: “Xiao Xuan, come to Huxin Pavilion, let’s talk.”

Qi Zhixuan was still holding on to some luck. Could it be that both of them had been to that mountain and saw the scenery from a similar angle?Could it be that he saw the painting he sent and was inspired by it unintentionally, resulting in a similar style of work?Could it just be an own goal?

But as soon as Liang Yuansheng spoke, he knew in his heart that there was no excuse.

It is really going to rain. The air is like water-soaked cotton wool, which is stuffed down from the nose and blocked in the lungs. It makes people uncomfortable.

Because of the bad weather, there were not many people along the way. When he walked to the Huxin Pavilion, Qi Zhixuan saw a vague figure in the distance. He approached step by step and stood in front of the person without saying a word.

Liang Yuansheng met his gaze, but Qi Zhixuan had no expression on his face, which made him feel a little panicked, so he had to tentatively speak: “Xiao Xuan… I… I’m sorry… I didn’t know… I didn’t know things would turn out like this…”

“I didn’t know you would also use this painting for your graduation project. I’m really sorry.” His voice was a little trembling, “I…I never thought…how it would end up like this…I thought…I thought you could draw freehand paintings for your completion…haven’t you always done freehand painting…”

What he didn’t say was that during this period, all his energy was devoted to debugging the AI model, and he had no time to calm down and conceive of the graduation project. However, the quota for outstanding graduate students was related to the opportunity to study abroad. He wanted that quota so much. In desperation, he remembered the painting Qi Zhixuan gave him…

He thought that Qi Zhixuan would be angry and make trouble, but this was all for their future. He originally wanted to wait until later to explain to Qi Zhixuan and coax him, but he did not expect that Qi Zhixuan also painted this…

“But that’s my painting.”

Listening to his repeated “I’m sorry”, Qi Zhixuan only felt sad and tired.

“Yes, that’s your painting, Xiao Xuan.” Liang Yuansheng hurriedly took Qi Zhixuan’s hand, “But… didn’t you give it to me? I thought… I thought I could use it too… Xiao Xuan… I just want the opportunity to study abroad so that we can have a better life, right?”

“So, what do you want me to do, Liang Yuansheng.”

Qi Zhixuan stood there without moving, feeling that Liang Yuansheng in front of him had become so strange, so strange that it made his heart tremble.

The air was as stagnant as ice, and there was no sound for a long time.

Suddenly, with a “dong” sound, Liang Yuansheng knelt down in front of him, still holding his wrist tightly, and kept saying sorry.

Qi Zhixuan took a step back in shock, but his wrist was clenched tighter, and he couldn’t break free.

“Xiao Xuan, I can’t help it. I really can’t help it. Xiao Xuan, I’m sorry, I can’t… I can’t…” Liang Yuansheng’s voice sounded broken.

“If I admit it, I will be doomed, Xiao Xuan… You help me… You help me… Your family is so well off… Your father is a professor. Even if you fail this time, you still have countless opportunities, but I am different. If I lose, I will have nothing.” Liang Yuansheng was crying, with a rare look of fear on his face. Qi Zhixuan looked down at him, but he only felt terrible.

Before Liang Yuansheng knelt down, he was still thinking that if he admitted it, he must ask his father to help him. Even if their relationship was made public or he was scolded, he would at least let his father help him for his own sake and not let the school punish him so harshly…

But this kneeling completely crushed all thoughts.

That proud, talented, always self-disciplined and gentle person seemed to have suddenly died in the Pavilion in the Heart of the Lake, and suddenly disappeared without a trace. It turns out that for fame and wealth, dignity and bottom line are nothing… It turns out that people can still be like this. It’s really… ridiculous.

Qi Zhixuan didn’t look at him again, and tried hard to break free from the painful hand. All Liang Yuansheng’s words gradually blurred behind him. He stepped out of the lake pavilion, and suddenly felt a cold feeling on the top of his head.

Look up

It’s raining.