At 3 a.m., the landmines in front of the station

Article 1—

[Ari: Wait, teacher, it's been a while since you sent me any targeted invitations. Is something wrong? Don't you have any needs lately?]

"?!"

[If you're feeling pressured about payment, I can send you a free copy. I'm planning to start writing soon.]

"no???"

Su Che's vision blurred for a moment.

He blinked hard twice, then rubbed his face with the back of his hand.

Even with blurred vision, I was certain I wasn't seeing things.

ID: Yari

Comment posted 2 hours ago.

"hiss."

He gasped.

I don't know what caused this to happen.

Theoretically speaking, artists who have collaborated once can contact the client privately at any time, that's correct.

But considering that the other party is Ari, who is a complete goddess, the probability of being privately messaged and receiving free gifts is no different from winning the lottery.

"Ari's free gift... with a guaranteed value of 10... is this really something that can be given away for free...?"

"..."

After calming down a bit, Su Che decided to figure out the situation first before doing anything else.

He typed a reply:

“Miss Ari, it’s true that I haven’t been able to get any commissions for the past two years because I couldn’t afford them… But regarding unpaid work… I still want to ask, why were you chosen for this…?”

The fact that the scenes from his dream were recreated in reality was something that Su Che found utterly unbelievable.

Thinking about it carefully, it seems that I accidentally squinted at my phone while in light sleep, and then saw the message on the article commissioning platform. I thought it was a hallucination, so I took it as a dream and didn't pay much attention to it.

Who would have thought that this thing is real?

"...Harbin people."

He sighed deeply.

It seems that Ari just finished working all night and was unable to reply immediately.

Su Che glanced at the time; it was only 6 a.m. He couldn't help but feel anxious, so he got up with mixed feelings and waited patiently.

Winning a big prize feels strange, and somehow, there's always a feeling that you're being watched.

Logically speaking, I did not harass the goddess. In the past few transactions, I was very cautious and dared not act like a god and boss her around.

After all, the artists on commissioning platforms are the most prestigious, and if you're not careful, you might never be able to commission them again in your lifetime.

Therefore, clients tend to keep a low profile and be more restrained. Even those who pay for projects will be more tolerant in consideration of future cooperation. Sometimes, even if they receive unsatisfactory manuscripts, they dare not ask the other party to revise them repeatedly, and instead consider themselves to have suffered a loss.

In Ari's case, the things he draws often don't require the subject to say a single word of nonsense; the subject only needs to kneel down and call him a god.

Because her approval rating is 100%.

“I can’t possibly refuse Da Hong’s free gift. Even if the sky falls, I’ll still keep the goddess’s painting… and even frame it.”

Su Che walked to the bathroom, stood in front of the mirror, and looked at himself in the mirror.

Thinking back, when exactly did my attention to the goddess gradually decrease?

So much so that when I suddenly received her letter, I was flattered as if she were a stranger.

[...it probably started after I met Hare.]

The house cat's hard work, cuteness, and even its twisted persistence and yearning yet restrained feline nature made him feel that even if the goddess was gone from the world, he could still walk together with the house cat and live together.

“She can replace the goddess. Even if she is not as good as Ari now, she will definitely be able to get close to Ari in the future.”

Su Che had great confidence in the girl.

But of course, he meant approaching, not surpassing.

The goddess's paintings are unsurpassable; that is an established fact.

However, my needs are not "best," just "very good" is enough.

Su Che didn't consider himself greedy.

"Ah."

"I'll go out this morning to see Gu Zhi, just to wait for her."

He placed his phone on the shelf below the mirror and began washing up.

Gu Zhi left a message yesterday saying that the new piano had finally arrived and she needed help with tuning it. It was an important matter, and I couldn't possibly refuse to go.

But then again, she could have asked Jiang Nai to fix it, but she didn't; instead, she went to herself...

It seems the master-disciple relationship hasn't been completely repaired yet...

Su Che shook his head, in a good mood, and made breakfast for An Qing, which was a cheese, ham and egg sandwich. Then he got dressed and went out.

The two of them have their own plans for today.

Su Che was going to see Gu Zhi and tune her zither, while An Qing was going to keep her appointment on Riverside Street to meet her goddess.

The two returned to their separate ways, their different biological clocks resulting in little communication in the mornings and going to bed one after the other at night.

The book "The Bad Water Method" mentions that this kind of lifestyle will leave each person with some private space, which is an essential part of breathing room in life.

If two people are always glued together, then one thing will happen—

The probability of the seven-year itch occurring earlier is low, since neither party has any secrets.

The more time spent together, the faster the demystification process will occur; the two are directly proportional.

-

……

9 o'clock in the morning.

Gu Zhi sat at home chatting with her younger sister.

Aunt Gu wasn't home, so Yuan Xiao came uninvited, saying, "Your new piano has arrived, I'm going to see if it looks good."

In truth, she deduced that Su Che would definitely go today.

Therefore, arriving early will give you an extra chance to get up close and personal with him.

The little guy may not have any other ideas, but he's incredibly clever in this regard.

At this very moment, in the living room, the two women's conversation continued as usual:

"What a white piano! Sister, the color is just like milk! What are you planning to do by buying this? Hmph... Tell A-Che, do you have a lot of milk?"

"What exactly is going on in your head?"

"So what! My sister's two-faced nature has been going on for a long time! Last time I found a strange little thing in your bedside table drawer..."

"Xiaoxiao, shut up."

"Ugh!? Ugh... cough cough!! Okay, okay... I won't say anymore, I won't say anymore!"

The two sisters each held their violins and spent the morning bickering while playing together.

There were several small plates of homemade desserts on the coffee table to serve my sister, but for some reason none of them were missing, and they looked as if they hadn't been touched at all.

Yuan Xiao isn't stupid; she would never easily eat something like that.

Shortly after, the doorbell rang.

The two women exchanged a glance, immediately stopped playing, put down their instruments, and ran to open the door.

With a click, the door opened.

"Brother Che".

"Ache!"

The two sisters' joint greeting startled Su Che. He wondered how he had come to tune a piano and ended up with a pair of twin beauties.

He nodded to the two women, "Good morning. Yuan Xiao is here too? Are you practicing the piano?"

"Yes! I was worried about you last time when you weren't feeling well! That's why I wanted to come and check on you!"

The child, like a little bird, darted into someone's chest and wouldn't give way until their head was patted.

"oh oh."

Su Che seemed thoughtful, then said easily, "I'm much better. It's okay."

He took the opportunity to comfort her, then changed his shoes and went into the room.

However, Gu Zhi frowned slightly, looking concerned. "What's wrong with your body? Last time... when was it?"

The feeling of being sneaked away by my younger sister was extremely unpleasant.

She realized that Yuan Xiao seemed to see Su Che on many other occasions, and at least twice as often as she did.

This is not OK.

"It's nothing. I think I drank too much after my part-time job that night, so I wasn't in the best mental state. I'll get used to it. I'm always like this."

Su Che has always been indifferent to his illness. He believes that in today's society, unless you are born into a wealthy family and have a head start in life, everyone would feel a little anxious.

Excessive pressure and a competitive environment have resulted in a scarcity of healthy, positive, and happy children in society.

Even someone as optimistic as Yuan Xiao would only secretly cry under the covers without making it public.

So, I'm not sick, I'm just stressed.

"Stress leads to somatization, nothing more."

He said something that was hard to understand.

Gu Zhi did not refute, but only glared at her younger sister, signaling her to come to the kitchen later and explain the whole story.