Chapter 118 - 109: Surprise

Chapter 118: Chapter 109: Surprise

Besides, the family didn’t lack good ingredients at all.

But for some reason, Li Beixing couldn’t help but feel that it was somewhat lacking compared to the cold-tossed beef she had eaten that morning.

Seeing that she was barely touching her chopsticks, Jiang Ziqin asked, "What’s wrong? Is the food not to your appetite today?"

Li Beixing shook her head. "I probably just had something around ten o’clock, so I’m not very hungry."

"Then just eat a little less," Jiang Ziqin said, not suspecting a thing.

Li Beixing was still thinking about the cold-tossed beef, so she could only suppress her cravings and wait for dinner.

In the afternoon.

After Chen Jingle woke up, he wasn’t in a hurry to finish the sketch he had left incomplete at noon. Instead, he watched some educational videos, letting his mind slowly wake up while absorbing new knowledge from the outside world.

At this time, Chen Qiyun came over to do her homework, just like every other weekend.

Chen Jingle didn’t bother her. After turning off the video, he first went to finish the rest of the sketch.

After drawing for about twenty minutes, he finally completed the artwork. Whether it was the overall composition or the handling of the details, it could be called perfect. Chen Jingle couldn’t pinpoint exactly what level it was at, but it was certainly no worse than the top entries in national sketching competitions.

Unfortunately, he had little interest in participating in competitions. He just thought sketching was interesting and a rather convenient way to express artistic emotions. As a gift, it should be more than enough to satisfy Chen Qiyun.

Once Chen Qiyun finished her homework, Chen Jingle graded it for her and explained her mistakes as well as the parts she didn’t understand.

Today, she had done an English test paper.

"You made quite a few mistakes with the vocabulary," Chen Jingle noted. "It seems you’ll need to seriously memorize them later. Only with an adequate vocabulary can you ensure you won’t lose too many points in reading comprehension and essay writing."

Chen Qiyun replied with an "Oh." Although her grades had improved, she still felt that English was very difficult.

"If I give you a random word, would you know its pronunciation and meaning?" Chen Jingle wrote down "desperate" in the blank space next to it.

Chen Qiyun shook her head.

"What if it’s in Chinese?" Chen Jingle wrote down the corresponding Chinese characters for "desperate."

Chen Qiyun nodded.

"Why do you know the Chinese one, but not the English one?"

Chen Qiyun blinked. "Because I’ve learned the Chinese one."

"Exactly. You’ve learned the Chinese one and memorized it, but you haven’t learned the English one, so you don’t know it. This means that when you encounter a word you don’t know, you have to memorize it, and you have to remember it. That way, the next time you see it, you’ll know what it means."

Chen Jingle wanted her to understand the importance of memorizing vocabulary and to develop a habit of doing so, rather than just relying on rote memorization only to forget it the next moment.

Chen Qiyun frowned in distress. "What if I can’t remember that many?"

Chen Jingle laughed. "Apart from a very small number of geniuses, the vast majority of people have to learn step by step. Don’t expect to achieve everything overnight. It doesn’t matter if you can’t remember that many at once. Just memorize a few every day. Over the months and years, you’ll know a lot. I can see that your hard work recently has been very effective. Keep it up."

"Got it," Chen Qiyun said, her expression relaxing a bit. She had been a little worried that Chen Jingle would scold her for not working hard enough.

For dinner, the two of them had cold-tossed beef and Suoyi cucumbers.

The cold-tossed beef was finished today; if they wanted more, he would have to make it from scratch again.

This was his first time making Suoyi cucumbers.

Though it was called a "yellow cucumber" in the dish’s name, he actually used a green cucumber. People in Jiangbei simply called them green cucumbers. The term "yellow cucumber" mostly referred to the type that turned yellow upon ripening. Compared to green cucumbers, they were thicker, shorter, and had smoother skin, making them ideal for pickled cucumber strips. Pickled cucumber strips, whether paired with plain rice porridge or scrambled eggs, were always a good choice.

Chen Jingle felt that green cucumbers had a better texture, so he almost always bought green cucumbers. They could be used for cold dishes or vegetable salads. Crisp and sweet, they tasted even better than the mini fruit cucumbers sold in supermarkets when washed clean and eaten raw.

Chen Qiyun also really liked them. She was extremely interested in the knife technique used for the Suoyi cucumbers, acting as if she had discovered something extraordinary.

"Wait!" After dinner, Chen Jingle called out to stop Chen Qiyun as she was about to leave.

Chen Qiyun turned around, asking in confusion, "What is it?"

Chen Jingle turned and took out a paper scroll secured with a rubber band. "Here, the gift you wanted."

"Huh?!" Chen Qiyun’s eyes widened in surprise. "It’s ready already? What is it?"

Chen Jingle smiled. "Open it and see."

Chen Qiyun took it and carefully unrolled the paper scroll.

When she saw there was a drawing inside, her heart skipped a beat, and she subconsciously held her breath. As the paper fully unfurled and she saw what was drawn on it, she was stunned for a moment before letting out a gasp of surprise.

She kept her voice low to prevent herself from screaming, but her voice trembled with excitement, and she stomped her feet on the spot. This surprise had come far too suddenly.

"Do you like it?" Chen Jingle asked with a smile.

Chen Qiyun abruptly lifted her head, her small face flushed with excitement. "I love it so much! When did you learn how to draw?"

Chen Jingle smiled faintly. "I learned it in my spare time."

He could reach this level just by learning in his spare time?

Chen Qiyun was highly suspicious, but she didn’t say anything. Her attention had already been completely captured by the drawing.

The more she looked at it, the more she liked it. She wanted nothing more than to hug it tightly in her arms, yet she was afraid of wrinkling it. A little overwhelmed, she just carefully held it in her hands. It took quite a while before she slowly calmed down.

Chen Qiyun cleared her throat and rolled the sketch back up. "Ahem, good job. I’m very satisfied."

She seemed to be feigning modesty, but the corners of her lips were practically curling up to the heavens.

Chen Jingle smiled faintly. "Keep working hard. Try to grow to 1.55 meters soon, and there will be a mystery gift for you later."

Chen Qiyun felt incredibly pleased. Hearing this, her lips curled into a smirk as she cast a sidelong glance at Chen Jingle. "Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing! Just go ahead and start preparing the next gift!"

Tsk.

That expression was exactly the same as the one in the portrait.

Chen Jingle chuckled. "Alright, I’ll start preparing it on my end, waiting for you to come and claim it."

Chen Qiyun happily left. With such a wonderful gift, she would probably wake up laughing in her dreams tonight.

Back at home.

She couldn’t wait to hide in her room and use her Xiaotiancai smartwatch to take pictures of the sketch from every angle.

First, she sent it to Li Beixing. "Teacher Li, my brother drew this for me. What do you think? Does it look good?"

Then, she posted it to her Friends Circle.

When Li Beixing received Chen Qiyun’s message and tapped to open it, she was instantly astounded.

When Chen Jingle said he was skilled at sketching, he actually wasn’t joking.

This level of sketching could already be considered the work of a master. It really was drawn beautifully. Especially the eyes—they were simply shocking. Even though it was just a photo, and even for someone who had never studied art, one could understand it and feel the emotions rushing at them.

So this was the effect that art sought to express.

"Hiss... so amazing!"

The level of shock this time was far stronger than the last time when she saw the big rooster Chen Jingle had painted for Liu Deqiang. The size of the piece was one aspect; another was the feeling that his fundamental skills in portrait sketching had already reached a masterful level.

To be honest, Li Beixing felt a bit sour at this moment.

They were both receiving portraits, so why did he draw Chen Qiyun’s first? Could it be that Chen Qiyun had asked for it before she did?

However, when she remembered that Chen Qiyun’s was a sketch, and sketches were inherently faster to draw, she instantly felt relieved.

"It’s fine. Traditional Chinese painting has always emphasized taking time to produce meticulous work."

Li Beixing comforted herself, looking forward even more to the portrait Chen Jingle had promised her.

Undoubtedly, Chen Qiyun’s post on her Friends Circle sparked amazement among her classmates.

"Wow, it’s drawn so beautifully!"

"So realistic!"

"Sister Yun, where did you get this? Did you pay someone to draw it? How much was it? Do you have their contact info?"

"Lifelike!"

"It practically looks like it was printed on."

"..."

If anyone was the most shocked, it was actually Sister Xiu.

Chen Xiuyun commented and asked, "??? Who did you say drew this for you?"

Chen Qiyun replied, "Brother Le drew it. What’s wrong? Are you super jealous?"

What’s wrong?

What did she mean, what’s wrong?

Chen Xiuyun’s face was filled with disbelief. When did Chen Jingle learn how to draw? How could she not know? Suddenly, it felt like the world had become so unfamiliar.

As for whether she was jealous or not...

Alright, she really was jealous. She was so jealous she was about to burst.

"Chen Qiyun definitely pestered Chen Jingle shamelessly to draw this for her! Otherwise, how would Chen Jingle ever have the time to draw this for her!" Chen Xiuyun muttered through gritted teeth.

It definitely had to be!

She decisively sent a message to ask, "How did you convince Chen Jingle to draw this for you?"