Silver Leaf Whale Chapter 11

Old memories (4)

Chapter 11·Old Memories (4)

After being caught in the rain, Qi Zhixuan fell ill.

Zimmer was giving a lecture outside. As soon as he learned the news about Qi Zhixuan’s completion from his colleagues, he immediately canceled all arrangements and hurried back home. When he got home, Qi Zhixuan was curled up in a thick quilt with a high fever and fell asleep.

He has been dreaming, and the dreams are all about the past with Liang Yuansheng, painting together at home, reading together in the library, sharing the same bag of snacks, kissing under the fireworks on Christmas Eve. Every scene was so hot, but the scene turned, Liang Yuansheng’s back was turned to him, and he walked away alone, walking non-stop, and never looked back no matter how he called…

All the images I had experienced suddenly burned up. It was so hot, so hot, and my heart was aching. I felt like I could hardly breathe, when my father’s voice came to my ears.

“Xiao Xuan, Xiao Xuan, good boy, wake up.” Zimmer gently helped the person up, holding warm water in one hand and antipyretic medicine in the other, and coaxed softly, “Take the medicine first, and then go to sleep after eating.

Qi Zhixuan took the medicine in a daze and fell back on the bed. He was not very awake yet, but fortunately the temperature gradually dropped. Qi Mo touched his son’s soft hair, told him to have a good rest, and went straight to school.

After a day trip, Qi Zhixuan was completely awake when he returned home at night. He looked wilted, but fortunately he didn’t have a fever.

“Dad…” Qi Zhixuan looked at his dusty father and felt a little guilty.

“Be hungry.”Zimo didn’t mention anything about completing the project, but brought a bowl of warm vegetable and lean meat porridge, “Eat slowly, don’t burn it.”

The temperature of the porridge warmed his stomach and made Qi Zhixuan’s chaotic mind clear up a lot. He knew that this matter could not be avoided and had to be solved no matter how uncomfortable it was, so he proactively confessed to Qimo how he was in love with Liang Yuansheng, went on a trip, gave him the painting as a birthday gift, but in the end was plagiarized by him for his final project.

“Xiao Xuan, why don’t you tell dad that you are in love? Am I not worthy of being trusted?”After hearing this, Zimo didn’t blame him at all. Instead, he asked such a question. He kept looking into his son’s eyes, his eyes were very gentle. Qi Zhixuan lowered his head in shame, opened his mouth, and was speechless.

Zimmer did not force him to answer, and continued softly: “You know, Xiao Xuan, when you were born, your mother and I felt happy just looking at your little hands and feet. At that time, we thought, as long as this child is healthy and happy, we don’t ask for anything else.”

His tone paused and became gentler, “So whether you like a boy or a girl, it doesn’t matter. As long as you truly love each other, we will feel equally happy.””

After being silent for a few seconds, Zimmer sighed softly: “This time it’s still my problem. Dad was negligent. You are in front of me every day, but I didn’t notice. If I knew it earlier, I might be able to give you some experience to check. Maybe then you wouldn’t be so wronged.”Zimo touched his son’s head lovingly. The top of his hair was as soft as his wife’s.

“But it’s okay, Xiao Xuan, dad will definitely help you, don’t be afraid, you know.”

Qi Zhixuan raised his head. The worries, guilt and grievances that had accumulated in his heart all collapsed with his father. His nose was sore, his eyes were instantly red, and he was crying silently.

He didn’t dare to confess every time the words came to his lips before. He was worried that his father might not understand, that the relationship would deteriorate and become estranged, that he would lose his father’s unreserved love. Later, he was completely hurt by love, and his studies were messed up. His worries became more and more serious. He was afraid of being scolded, afraid of facing him alone, and even more afraid that his father would look at him with disappointed eyes.

But he forgot that his parents’ love is like the biggest house in the world. He can live in any corner of it. Every room opens to love you and love you so much, and this house will always open the door to him.

Qi Zhixuan fell ill and rested for several days before his health gradually recovered. Zimo has been busy following up on Bi She’s affairs and explaining everything he learned to him.

He looked at the two paintings and found that they were almost exactly the same. The composition, prominent positions in the line drawings, and even the colors were all highly overlapping. It was just that Qi Zhixuan’s “Mountain Colors and Sounds of Water” had two more virtual and real figures, while Liang Yuansheng’s “Qingshan Yuan” was obviously copied and reprocessed by him. He was already good at fine brushwork, and his techniques were more skillful than Qi Zhixuan’s, and the picture was more refined and perfect.

Moreover, Liang Yuansheng’s submission time was earlier than Qi Zhixuan’s. The most terrible thing was that Qi Zhixuan had no one or manuscript to prove it, and his original version was in the hands of the other party.

What we can do now is to sort out the relevant materials used in the creation and submit them to file an appeal.

Qi Zhixuan charged up his mobile phone that had not been turned on for several days and turned it on. His messages exploded, including concerns from teachers and friends, questions from classmates, and… Liang Yuansheng’s apology.

He seemed to be apologizing all the time.

Qi Zhixuan’s grievances came back to his heart. He was the one who made the mistake and apologized, but why was he always the one who was sad?

It couldn’t be like this. Qi Zhixuan wiped his face, ignored the pain in his heart, deleted all the messages, and decided not to think about it.

The next time is to appeal, be rejected, appeal again, and be rejected again.

“Liang Yuansheng, this little brat, you have been very sincere to him over the years, asking for help, and Teacher Qi has also given him a lot of guidance in private. He is a well-raised dog, and he actually bites him!!How dare he copy your paintings!!We should sue him and put him in jail!!Book that!”Zhu Mingyue learned the news in France and wished she could fly back immediately.

Qi Zhixuan calmed her down for a while, and then her mood gradually calmed down.

“What should we do now? Is there any progress at the school?”Zhu Mingyue asked.

Qi Zhixuan sighed, his voice a bit weak, “Dad went to see Teacher Wang again today. I have written letters of appeal in the past two days, hoping that they would hold a hearing, but I feel… it may not have much effect.”

Zimmer has been running around a lot recently, contacting colleagues and even consulting lawyers, but there is still no good news. They have insufficient evidence and are running into obstacles everywhere.

After hearing this, Zhu Mingyue wanted to curse again, but then a call came in from Qi Zhixuan’s cell phone. It was Sun Guo.

There were a lot of discussions in the school during this period. Qi Zhixuan just happened to be sick, so he didn’t go to the school to find out the trouble. Sun Guo told him any news. He was afraid that something would happen, so he hurriedly said goodbye to his senior sister and picked up the phone.

“What’s wrong, Guoguo.”

Sun Guo didn’t say anything, he just urged anxiously.

“Xiao Xuan!Quick, quick, quick!Go to WeChat!Check out the link I sent you!”

Qi Zhixuan’s heart sank and he quickly agreed.

It was a link to their school forum. When I clicked on it, I saw the title with a few big words hanging on it.

“The second generation of teachers copied poor students, and their professor father protected them”

Qi Zhixuan froze and suddenly stood up from the chair.

The whole text was in black and white, and it said that the professor’s son was found guilty of plagiarism, and that the professor was giving gifts and eating, trading power and money. What followed were a few blurry pictures, and the faces could not be seen clearly, but Qi Zhixuan could tell at a glance that they were pictures of his father and his teachers having dinner together, some of them were recent, and some of them were unknown when.

There is even a comparison between his and Liang Yuansheng’s paintings in the post. Now everyone has finalized the drafts. Although they will look at each other privately, they will have to be archived before being put on the public platform. I don’t know who took so much trouble to get these things.

There have been a lot of comments below.

hcljas: Decoding, this professor pointed me to the one who is very good at fine brushwork in traditional Chinese painting.

Feng Xing: The Celestial Dragons are so powerful. It would be best for us to wait for the common people to kneel down and beg for mercy.

NGTT-: These two paintings are exactly the same, okay? The one on the right is obviously better. No need to say who plagiarized it.

Jiang Jiang: It was revealed that this professor had guided this poor student to participate in an art exhibition and was criticized, but the professor’s son was in the exhibition, and he had a bad record.

food: I seem to know who the poor student is, and I feel sorry for him~

Red Berry: I have reported all of KY’s work. The professor is very nice and his son is also very powerful. How can you just pretend to copy!

momo: I agree with the person above. This professor is very careful and very capable. His classes will be taken away. Anyone who spreads rumors will die.

Don’t eat coriander: eat melon and wait for a reversal.

How could this happen… Qi Zhixuan looked at these dazzling comments. Several malicious comments had already been given high likes. He clutched his phone tighter and tighter, and his face turned pale.

Although the forum post was deleted soon after, and the person who posted it was permanently banned, people were talking about it in groups, private chats, other external networks, and offline, and malicious speculations poured in like a tide.

Not just talk, but things developed far beyond his imagination. As public opinion fermented, this incident was not only a disaster for him, but also dragged Zimmer into it. The school was worried about the impact, so it also asked Zimmer to temporarily suspend classes. However, Qi Zhixuan’s application for a notarization has not been responded to.

“Xiao Xuan, you haven’t eaten yet, dad brought you a burger from outside.”

A familiar voice came from the door. Zimmer stopped school himself. He was also worried that others would maliciously slander his son, so he refused to let Qi Zhixuan go to school. He ran out alone every day. It rained outside again today, and his wrinkled suit pants were still wet.

“Dad, have you eaten?”

Zimmer nodded and began to bend down to change his shoes. The light at the door was very dim, barely able to outline his profile. The traces of time in the corners of his eyes were particularly clear in the shadows. The red bloodshot eyes under his eyes showed tiredness. The failure of the past few days cast a shadow of depression on his graying stubble.

Zimmer went to take a shower, while Qi Zhixuan sat silently at the table, holding a burger and eating it bite by bite. Last night, when he got up to drink water, he heard Zimmer talking on the phone. His voice was very low, but he still heard him. He was asking for help.

Originally, his case was difficult due to lack of evidence, but now coupled with the malicious rumors spread on the Internet, everyone was even more afraid to avoid it, so they had to call one after another.

His father, such a powerful person, was never humble or overbearing. Professor Qi, who was respected in the industry, was now asking others to help his son.

Qi Zhixuan chewed the lettuce in the burger hard, making a crunching sound, and his tears were mixed in the salad dressing, making it very salty.

The next morning, Zimmer got up early. Last night, a friend from the Artists Association contacted him and said he wanted to help, in the name of the Art Association, to support their communication with the school’s academic association. He wanted to go over and discuss it in detail.

“Dad will definitely come back today to make dinner for you, and then make you a pot of red bean paste, okay?”With the good news, Zimmer finally relaxed.

Qi Zhixuan watched his father put on his shoes at the door, just like when he was a child, he held up the door frame to send him out to work. Now even though he is about to graduate from college, Zimmer always treats him as a child. This is a kind of sourness of happiness and guilt. He should obviously be at the age to take care of his parents… but he is always… always favored…

Qi Zhixuan choked up a little, but he still swallowed his surging emotions, hugged his father and said, “Well, okay, thank you, Dad, and be safe on the road.”

Not long after, Qi Zhixuan also changed his clothes. Today he had to go out to find Liang Yuansheng.

The plagiarism incident has not only hurt himself, but also ruined the reputation of his father. His father treated his students conscientiously and taught and educated people for decades, with a clear conscience, but he was being rumored because of himself.

Not only did he spread rumors, but he also made his father worry about him every day. Seeing his father running for him every day, tired and worried but still having to cheer up in front of him, this was simply worse than cutting his flesh. He didn’t want to hide in the small house his father loved forever, so he had to do something.

The two made an appointment in a private room of a restaurant. Since the incident, Liang Yuansheng only called a few times and sent a few text messages full of apologies and excuses. Seeing that he didn’t respond, there was no further news.

Qi Zhixuan thought that he would always be a coward and even prepared to come to visit him. Unexpectedly, he actually agreed to meet.

Sitting across from each other, Liang Yuansheng ordered a table full of dishes. The aroma was lingering, but Qi Zhixuan had no appetite at all.

“Xiao Xuan…” Liang Yuansheng tried to speak cautiously, but he swallowed the words when he reached his lips, grinding his fingers unconsciously.

Qi Zhixuan looked at his hesitant appearance and broke the silence first: “Liang Yuansheng, it’s not just about the two of us now.”

He took a deep breath, suppressed the turmoil in his heart, and his words became particularly clear: “You should have seen those rumors. You know what kind of person my father is. He takes care of you, teaches you, and supports you. He was so busy back then and guided your paintings to be exhibited in exhibitions. You still found your job through my father’s friends. You can’t do this.”

Liang Yuansheng listened silently until he finished speaking, then slowly raised his head and asked with complicated eyes: “Then what do you want me to do, Xiao Xuan?”

Qi Zhixuan also asked him this question at the Huxinting Pavilion, but he never expected that one day he would ask him…

Qi Zhixuan did not hesitate at all and directly stated the condition: “Liang Yuansheng, I want you to take the initiative to admit plagiarism. This will not only clear my father’s name, but also give an explanation for the matter.Your grades have always been very good, and the school also understands your family situation. There is a high probability that the school will not expel you, and will only postpone your graduation at most. If you still want to study abroad in the future, my family can help you bear the expenses privately, and it will definitely not delay your future.”

After he finished speaking, Liang Yuansheng didn’t respond for a long time, and Qi Zhixuan kept waiting for his reply.

The heat of the dishes on the table was particularly noticeable in the air-conditioned room, and occasionally the lively sounds of clapping and drinking from other tables could be heard outside the private room, but time in this room seemed to have been frozen. After an unknown amount of time, Qi Zhixuan looked at the gentle face in front of him and suddenly twitched the corners of his mouth, his eyes sharp.

“Qi Zhixuan, you are still so naive.Liang Yuansheng’s tone was full of sarcasm, “I admit it?”What do I admit?Why should I admit it?Whatever evidence you have, ask me to admit it!”

Seeing his sudden change of expression, Qi Zhixuan’s heart sank to the bottom of his heart. He could only ask in a different way: “Then tell me, what do you want, do you want money?You make a price.”

“money?”Liang Yuansheng stood up suddenly, walked to Qi Zhixuan and laughed, his laughter full of sarcasm.

“Hahahahaha, Qi Zhixuan, you have always looked at me like this, right?He suddenly leaned forward and stared at Qi Zhixuan almost crazily, “In your eyes, is it okay for poor people like us to just throw away some things?”You never, ever look down on me!”

“I didn’t!”Qi Zhixuan hurriedly retorted. He thought about Liang Yuansheng’s refusal for the sake of his future, but he didn’t expect that he would say such a thing. Qi Zhixuan wanted to say something more, but Liang Yuansheng turned around and returned to his seat.

“Yes, you didn’t.” Liang Yuansheng’s lips curled up into a smile, but his eyes were full of hatred. “You are a superior and good person. You are a good person who gave me money to study abroad without asking for anything in return! How could you understand what I am thinking.”

“The paintings you draw casually can be put into exhibitions. I can’t catch up with you no matter how hard I try… You get whatever you want, but I can only rely on your charity and pick up what you don’t want. Your friends all look at me and see me wagging my tail like a dog begging for mercy. Isn’t it funny?”

His voice suddenly rose in pitch, and veins popped out on his face, “Have you really loved me, Qi Zhixuan?!”

He asked in disbelief, and his face became more ferocious. Qi Zhixuan looked at the strange man in front of him, but he couldn’t picture his former appearance in his mind…

“You have never worn the scarf I knitted for you. You haven’t told my family about it for several years since I fell in love. You have refused to even go to bed…and now, I just used a painting you gave me, and you turned your back on me! Didn’t you say you would always help me?”

Liang Yuansheng’s questioning was like a handful of ice picks, pricking him with bloody holes. Qi Zhixuan thought of the words he asked in the cafeteria that day. It turned out that everything had been traced…

Qi Zhixuan was pierced by an ice pick, and every blood vessel in his body was so cold that it hurt. It turned out that in Liang Yuansheng’s eyes, their love was just a charity with a sense of superiority.

“Liang Yuansheng… aren’t you afraid that I will sue you?” Qi Zhixuan exhausted his last bit of strength and said these words that even he felt pale.

“As long as you have evidence.” Liang Yuansheng looked at him, half-smiling but not smiling, then turned and left. He knew that Qi Zhixuan didn’t have any leverage to threaten him.

Qi Zhixuan sat in silence for a long time. When the dishes on the table were all cold, he stood up and walked out in a daze.

This conversation was a joke, and I naively thought I could save something.

He felt that he had really failed. What he thought was his true love criticized him, and his concern for others was misunderstood as charity. He had been growing up under the protection of his parents for more than 20 years. He had no ability, and he didn’t recognize people when he met people. He harmed his family and was helpless when encountering problems. He was simply… the most useless person in the world.

Qi Zhixuan was walking on the road. The weather was very hot and the sun made people feel dizzy. He didn’t know how he got home. He sat dejectedly on the floor. The phone in his pocket vibrated again and again before its owner took it out.

“Hey…” His voice was unusually hoarse.

“Hello, are you a family member of Mr. Zimmer?” The voice on the other end of the phone was strange and serious.

“This is the Haicheng Traffic Police Brigade. Your family member, Mr. Zimmer, was involved in a car accident on the G235 highway. Please——”

Qi Zhixuan didn’t hear a single word of what was said next. As the phone fell to the ground, Qi Zhixuan’s mind buzzed, and everything went blank…