Shiraishi can carry out certain transformations on the copied fragments.
In order to save energy, he took the place of Asahi Sugie. Asahi Sugie was classmates with Aya Manaka and Aoi Ochiai.
The time in the virtual world was still when Asahi Sugie—now Shiraishi—was making picture frames.
Although Shiraishi doesn't know how to do carpentry, he is the creator of this virtual world. It's no problem to build a mechanical picture frame or a bamboo dragonfly door.
A few days ago, Manaka Aya also asked what gift to give. After arriving at school, while Manaka was not around, Shiraishi found Ochiai Aoi and politely asked: "Is your birthday coming soon?"
"Yes." Aoi Ochiai put down her pen and looked at him with a sly smile, "Aya asked you to ask."
Shiraishi hesitated for 0.1 seconds and nodded.
"You're too decisive in selling him." Aoi Ochiai held her chin in amusement and thought, "As for gifts, don't give expensive ones. I'm short of money now and can't afford to repay the gifts. Hmm... it's best to be handmade.
!”
Zhen Zhongxuan still struggled with asking such a simple question for a long time. It was really difficult for a young literary and artistic young man to deal with it.
Shiraishi nodded to Ochiai Aoi, ensuring that it would be conveyed.
…
Days passed by, and when the first frame was halfway done, Shiraishi went to attend Aoi Ochiai's birthday party.
It was said to be a banquet, but it was actually just a simple dinner at the house rented by Aoi Ochiai.
This should have been an excellent opportunity for the relationship to progress, but until the end of the dinner, except for Ochiai Aoi "accidentally" touching the back of Manaka Aya's hand when receiving the gift, the two of them had zero communication during the whole process.
Seeing Aya Manaka, whose face turned red after being touched, and rushed into the kitchen to compete with two girls to wash the pots, Aoi Ochiai sighed: "I thought he would definitely take advantage of my birthday to say it, but I didn't expect it.
…”
Shiraishi wanted to laugh a little, but considering that it didn't fit Sugie Asahi's image, he held it back.
"You can laugh if you want. It's not like you to hide your temper." Aoi Ochiai sighed and brushed the broken hair beside her ears:
"It would be nice if Xuan could be half as straightforward as you. He always does those little roundabout tricks, but he just won't seriously say, 'Come and date me', which makes it impossible for people to agree."
After a moment of silence, she suddenly asked again: "You and your wife...who expressed their feelings first? Did you confess directly? Or did she find a way to hint to you first?"
It seems that it was said by Asunao Sugie.
Shiraishi replied calmly: "She confessed her love to me directly. Fortunately, it was like this, otherwise we would have missed it."
"!" Ochiai Aoi was stunned, as if the door to a new world had opened.
After a long time, she nodded thoughtfully:
"Originally, I was still thinking whether I was too bold, but since your wife also made the same choice, this behavior should not be out of line.
"It seems that we no longer need to toss a coin to decide which painting should be hidden under the painting."
…
Shiraishi, who has experienced this virtual world once, understands many situations.
At this time, Manaka was just an ordinary poor boy.
On the other hand, the father-daughter duo, Director Ochiai and Aoi Ochiai, look like the protagonists who came out of a novel.
Aoi Ochiai is now very poor, and the trigger was that she ordered a picture frame from Shiraishi at a high price. But the fundamental reason is that she did what her father did when he was young - ran away from home.
She rented a house, bought painting tools, and supported herself all by herself with her part-time job and scholarship. She has been able to persist for so many years, and she has excellent survival ability.
In comparison, her father's running away from home was not so smooth.
Twenty or thirty years ago, Ochiai Eisuke entered painting with a passion for painting. After being discouraged by his parents, he abandoned his hundreds of millions of family fortune and ran away in anger. While still studying as a teacher, he found a gentle and considerate wife.
It's a pity that although the family is happy, there is no success in career.
To make matters worse, when his only daughter was almost ten years old, his wife unfortunately became seriously ill.
Ochiai Eisuke had been struggling to make ends meet by advertising and working as a tutor, and his savings were as meager as a piece of paper. He borrowed money everywhere for medical treatment, but he couldn't borrow it at all.
In desperation, he finally returned home and inherited a rich family fortune. Unfortunately, at that time, due to delaying the best time for treatment, his wife still died of illness.
After that, Ochiai Eisuke completely gave up on the path of art. He even felt disgusted from the bottom of his heart when he mentioned "art". Ochiai Aoi was also not allowed to continue studying painting.
It's a pity that his daughter is smarter than him - usually at home, Ochiai Aoi never mentions learning to paint. When her father goes on a business trip, she sneaks out and uses the pocket money given by her father to find someone to learn painting secretly.
With the foundation in place, after she was admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts in college, she quickly packed her bags and ran away from home.
…
Shiraishi finished the painting frame within a short period of time, and on the day when the work was completed, he helped Aoi Ochiai transport the things to her studio.
The house Aoi Ochiai rented was not big, and the studio was certainly small.
Shiraishi put the picture frame in place and took two steps back. Suddenly there was a sound of sand under his feet and he stepped on something.
He moved his feet, looked down, and saw two pieces of paper thrown on the ground, with simple drafts written on them.
One of them is painted in a style very similar to Aoi Ochiai, with the sun pointing upward.
The other one is a bit bloody, which is the prototype of "Heavenly Punishment".
Shiraishi tilted his head to find the right angle and took a look: "Do the judges like this style?"
"That's right. The winning entries in the past are all this kind of gloomy, Western-style, and 'meaningful' paintings." Aoi Ochiai has obviously done a lot of homework for the "Spring Miao Award".
Speaking of this, she looked at somewhere on the draft and suddenly laughed:
"My dad can meet the first two conditions, but unfortunately he can't draw the 'meaning'. The result is that he participated in six Spring Seedling Awards and was not selected once."
This "troubled girl" who has been away from home for a long time can actually talk about her family so naturally.
Thinking of Director Ochiai who was watching everything from Ochiai Aoi's perspective, Shiraishi said: "I thought you two had a bad relationship."
"It's not as stiff as it seems. If he was really determined not to let me study in the Academy of Fine Arts, how could I live as comfortably as I do now."
Without knowing it, Aoi Ochiai raised her fingers and flicked the carefully drawn draft of "Heavenly Punishment":
"Actually, I don't like painting that much. It's just that my enlightenment knowledge came from him, my inspiration came from him, and even the basic painting skills were taught by him - in other words, if I can succeed, it will prove that I am
Dad can't just rely on the trash at home.
"When I think of it this way, I really miss him... Regardless of whether I win the prize or not, after this year's Spring Seedling Award, I should go home."
Having said this, Ochiai Aoi stood up and hammered her numb legs, looking at Shiraishi expectantly.
Shiraishi looked back at each other.
After two or three seconds, Aoi Ochiai thought the signal connection failed. She sighed and looked away:
"Well, just... you can convey my last words to Xuanye. I don't expect him to figure it out immediately. However, I still hope that he can be more straightforward like your wife!"
It seemed that he still wanted to be confessed. Bai Shi nodded: "I will try my best."
Having said that, after Aya Manaka heard this, she didn't follow Aoi Ochiai's script at all.
He pulled Bai Shi and kept asking: "Did her father cut off her part-time job? Or did she find someone to destroy the place she rented? This is illegal!"
"You've watched too many TV series, right?" Bai Shi held the picture folder and brushed his hand away, "Rather than asking me, wouldn't it be faster to ask her directly?"
"Oh!" Manaka Aya also walked towards Ochiai Aoi like she was enlightened.
I don't know what the two people said specifically, but judging from the twitching corners of Ochiai Aoi's eyes, she didn't hear what she wanted to hear.