When she went upstairs, she met Lin Yaohui in the corridor.
“Mr. Lin?”
Ye Ci smiled and greeted the man.
Lin Yaohui was Yu Pingchuan’s assistant, he practically arranged all of Yu Pingchuan’s schedules and plans.
He was in charge of liaising with the organizers and the exhibition committee on behalf of Yu Pingchuan, so he knew Ye Ci as well.
“Ah, Ye Ci, you’re here too?”
Lin Yaohui was a little surprised to see her here.
Ever since the Huatsing Cup, Ye Ci had barely had any contact with the exhibition committee. She claimed that she was busy with her studies and wanted to focus on her entrance exam.
He had not expected to see her at the art exhibition today.
“Yeah, I heard Mr. Yu Pingchuan had some artwork on display here, so I thought I’d come here to have a look and learn a little something.”
Lin Yaohui pointed at the first floor.
“Didn’t you see it? It’s in the southeast hall on the first floor.”
Ye Ci was slightly surprised.
She had come here in a hurry and was not here to look at paintings, so she had not even noticed Yu Pingchuan’s artwork on display.
Fortunately, she was able to recover from her surprised look.
“Thank you, Mr. Lin. I saw it earlier. I also heard that Mr. Yu is here today, so I thought of seeing and greeting him myself. I wonder if Mr. Yu is available for a meeting?”
Lin Yaohui looked a little troubled. “Ah, I see… It’s not too convenient now. Mr. Yu has a guest with him.”
A guest?
The people from the exhibition committee were organizers, not guests, so it must be someone else.
Ye Ci thought of a particular someone.
Could it be Lu Huaiyu?
She had a glance at the room where Lin Yaohui came out from.
The door was tightly shut. She could not see or hear anything.
She smiled and said, “If that’s the case, I’ll excuse myself then.”
Lin Yaohui nodded. “Vice-president Zhang and the others are in B206, you can go meet them there.”
“Thank you, Mr. Lin.”
Lin Yaohui then went downstairs.
Ye Ci had one last glance at the tightly shut door before she went to B206.
She planned to linger on the second floor a little longer which might allow her to wait for Yu Pingchuan to finish his meeting with his ‘guest’.
…
“I didn’t expect to see you here.”
Yu Pingchuan poured a cup of tea for himself and said with a smile.
Lu Huaiyu was sitting opposite him.
“How’s the artwork here? Did you find anything interesting?” the man asked.
Lu Huaiyu grinned softly. “No.”
“Hehe, you are as harsh as ever.” Yu Pingchuan had expected the answer and was not overly concerned.
Lu Huaiyu was a person with high standards. None of the artworks on display today had been able to catch his attention.
“Did you get bored with the exhibitions in Jingcheng? Yunzhou is just a tiny province, I don’t think there’s anything here that can catch your attention.”
Lu Huaiyu smiled. “I’m here to talk to you about something else.”
“Go ahead.”
“I wonder if you know the name Tree’s Shadow.”
Yu Pingchuan’s hand froze for a moment. The hand that had been holding his cup of tea stopped in mid-air.
He had a quick glance at Lu Huaiyu and started wondering.
“Are you talking about that Tree’s Shadow? The mysterious person who sends paintings to me once in a while?”
“Yes.” Lu Huaiyu anticipated the look on Yu Pingchuan’s face.
“Uh…” Yu Pingchuan carefully thought of what to say.
“The paintings were sent to me anonymously. The committee doesn’t have that person’s contact or information. They just helped that person to display the artwork and sell it. The committee takes a portion of the profit as commission and that’s it.”
“So you don’t know the painter?”
“No.”
Yu Pingchuan sighed.
“Actually, Zhang Qing and the others are in charge of this. I haven’t even been in Yunzhou for two months in the past year, so I’m not sure about this. The committee tried many ways to contact the mysterious painter but all the invites were rejected.”
He then glanced at Lu Huaiyu.
“You should already know about this. I thought you were over it. Why are you asking me now?”
The others might not know about this. They simply thought that some mysterious buyer had bought the mysterious painter’s work at a ridiculously high price.
However, as president of the committee, Yu Pingchuan knew every detail behind the deal.
At first, Lu Huaiyu had expressed that he wanted to meet the painter but had been rejected.
Lu Huaiyu continued to buy the paintings but did not try to make contact with the mysterious painter any longer.
“Nothing in particular. I’m just asking.”
Lu Huaiyu did not seem disappointed at all.
Then, he suddenly thought of something and said, “Oh, there’s also one more person that I found out more about. I wonder if you have heard of the name MGYUB?”
Yu Pingchuan looked at his cup of tea and slightly blew on it.
“Who’s that? I’ve never heard of that name before.”
Lu Huaiyu saw the man’s reaction and felt that it was authentic.
He smiled. “It’s okay if you’ve never heard of this person before. It’s not someone important either.”
He got up and wanted to leave.
“I believe you have a lot of things to take care of, so I’ll be taking my leave.”
…
Ye Ci spoke with Zhang Qing and the other person for a while but she kept an eye on the door.
Just then, a familiar figure came out.
She quickly excused herself from Zhang Qing and the others before striding out.
“Second Master Lu.”
Lu Huaiyu turned around.
He did not react at all when he saw Ye Ci.
Ye Ci’s heart was pounding.
She took a deep breath and smiled. “What a coincidence. Are you here for the exhibition as well?”
Lu Huaiyu replied nonchalantly, “No.”
Ye Ci felt slightly embarrassed.
He was here at the exhibition center yet he said he was not here to look at paintings?
Then why else would he be here?
Lu Huaiyu did not have the patience to talk to her. He turned around and went downstairs.
Ye Ci tucked her hair behind her ear and ran after him.
She said, “I didn’t expect to run into you here.”
Lu Huaiyu paused all of a sudden.
Ye Ci felt nervous and her face started to turn red.
Then, Lu Huaiyu asked, “Is she at home today?”
