“And He Haoyan, who is Dong Yanzhen’s senior under the same master artist, is known to produce a purer form of art than his junior despite the latter being more famous. Dong Yanzhen produces art that aims to be marketable, while He Haoyan actually focuses on the art itself and isn’t interested in fame or fortune.” Tan Wenci sighed. “Seriously, both of you, do you think chances like this fall from the tree every day? Get a grip and get serious!”
“Dad is right.” Tan Jinqi nodded his agreement. “Liu Shengtai did say that he wasn’t going to accept any more apprentices. I can’t imagine what it took for President Mu to be able to change his mind. I also wonder how the President managed to convince He Haoyan, who is known to have a very complicated personality, to accept you as his student.”
The eldest brother paused and continued, “Even though President Mu is doing this because Momo won the Ancient Text Competition, finding two of the best in their fields to teach you two seems a huge favor. We definitely owe him a favor now.”
“Don’t worry. All I have to do is to continue to win more things for the school, and it’ll be fine.” Tan Mo smiled.
Tan Jinsheng and Tan Jinyi nodded happily.
“It’s been months since I’ve last seen my big brother. That’s why I want to go with him.” Tan Mo was trying to cheer her two brothers up. “Since big brother started to work with this director, he has never been home when I’ve come back on the weekends. I haven’t really had the chance to spend time with him. Even if I go to the set with him, I can only watch him from the sidelines. I don’t really get to spend a lot of time with big brother compared to you two…”
Tan Jinsheng and Tan Jinyi thought about that and realized their little sister was right. They immediately felt better.
…
It didn’t take long for the Lunar New Year to arrive.
The family was so busy during this festive event that the days passed by in the blink of an eye.
It had been a long time since the whole Tan family had visited Old Madame Xu during the Lunar New Year. Xu Mingzhen was the one who suggested that they not go.
She would visit her mother from time to time, but that was pretty much it. She decided not to take her husband and children with her to her old home during the Lunar New Year.
The reason was that whenever she did, Old Madame Xu would get angry at them for no reason and look down on them.
Xu Mingzhen was angry at her mother for despising her husband and children, who meant the world to her.
The situation got a little better once Old Madame Xu found out that the family was acquainted with Wei Zhiqian, but that only angered Xu Mingzhen more.
On one hand, the old lady wanted to get acquainted with Wei Zhiqian through Tan Mo, but, on the other hand, she still despised Tan Mo.
She acted as if being nice to Tan Mo would cost her a few years of her life.
The biggest problem was that Old Madame Xu was really bad at faking things, so she would insult Tan Mo from time to time without even realizing it.
And the only reason the old lady bothered to put up with Tan Mo was because she wanted Wei Zhiqian to support Yuan Zhengwen.
Xu Mingzhen found the whole situation annoying and absurd at the same time.
She wasn’t going to let Old Madame Xu look down on Tan Wenci and her four children, nor was she going to let the old lady use Tan Mo as a stepping stone so that she could get acquainted with Wei Zhiqian.
That was why, in the end, the mother decided not to take the whole family back to her old home on the second day of the Lunar New Year.
Since they weren’t doing that and had visited the Wei family on the first day of the Lunar New Year, the whole family decided to visit Qin Muye and her family instead.
Tan Mo had called Qin Muye the day before, and, in the middle of their conversation, Tan Mo decided to visit the Qin family the next day.
When Xu Mingzhen left the house, she noticed Tan Mo playing in the snow in the garden.
Since only a thin layer of snow had piled up in their garden, the three brothers were busy gathering all the snow scattered around the garden to one spot so that Tan Mo could sink her feet into it.
Tan Mo was having a lot of fun while her three brothers were starting to sweat even in the cold weather.
As soon as they’d gathered a small pile of snow, Tan Mo would jump into it and splatter the snow all around.
She looked so happy, and a huge grin was plastered on her face.
It reminded Xu Mingzhen of how Tan Mo would always step in snow when they visited Old Madame Xu in the past.
The only difference was that there had been no smile on her face in the past, unlike now, when she was smiling happily.
Tan Mo’s mother couldn’t help but gasp at how fast time had passed.
The children had all grown up, and she and Tan Wenci had gotten old.
Xu Mingzhen quickly recovered her wits and walked down the stairs into the garden with a smile. “Come on, kids. We are leaving.”
The Tan family then departed to visit the Qin family.
On their way there, Tan Mo was chatting with Qin Muye on WeChat. Thus, the Qin family knew that they were going to have visitors soon.
When Tan Mo told Qin Muye that they were about to arrive, the latter quickly put on her shoes and ran outside to wait for them.
As the Tan family pulled up to the Qin family’s driveway and noticed Qin Muye waiting by the gate, Xu Mingzhen frowned. “Why is that girl waiting outside?”
After they had parked the car and gotten out, Xu Mingzhen scolded Qin Muye, “Young lady, why are you waiting outside?”
“Because I’m the youngest. It’s my responsibility to welcome the guests,” Qin Muye said and quickly ran to Tan Mo, who had just stepped out of the car.
As soon as they entered the house, they were all surprised to find Wei Zhiqian there as well.
“Uncle!” Tan Mo’s eyes lit up, and she quickly ran over to him.
All Qin Muye felt was a gust of wind that swooshed past her, and Tan Mo was gone.
By the time she realized it, her friend was already standing in front of Wei Zhiqian.
Qin Muye pouted. At first, she had been as important as Wei Zhiqian to Tan Mo, but slowly she had begun to lose out to this man as the years passed.
No matter when or where, as long as Wei Zhiqian was around, Tan Mo would run to his side without any second thought.
“Mr. and Mrs. Qin, Happy New Year!” Luckily, Tan Mo had not forgotten to greet Qin Muye’s parents first.
Yet, she didn’t wait for Qin Zhenglu and Dong Hanbi to respond, but quickly turned to Wei Zhiqian. “Uncle, why are you here?”
“Same reason as you.” Wei Zhiqian nodded and moved a little so that Tan Mo could sit next to him.
Before the Tan family had arrived, Wei Zhiqian had been sitting on the end cushion of a three-person couch. Now, he had moved from the end to the middle seat so that Tan Mo could sit next to him.
He had another motive also. By doing this, no one else was able to sit next to the young lady, neither the Tan family or anyone else.
Everyone was glaring at Wei Zhiqian speechlessly.
They could immediately see Wei Zhiqian’s intentions and mocked him for that in their heads.
