People are singing in the tide, but there is no crown

The closer it gets to the Moon-Chasing Festival, the more lively Taoyuan Village becomes.

It will still take time for Xiangli to solve the third unusual wish, so Ling An and Chao Mei will stay in Taoyuan Village.

After all, it is rare for Jinzhou to be so lively.

It is worth mentioning that the girl named Zhezhi, whom they met on the way to the research institute, sent them a message today.

Long before, Ling An had made an appointment with her to draw a picture for him and Chao Mei. Now that they had some free time, the two of them decided to let Zhezhi draw the picture while they had some free time.

When Ling An and Chao Mei arrived at the agreed stall, they saw Zhezhi standing next to the stall with a frightened look on his face, talking to the stall owner.

"Zhezhi, we are here!" Ling An greeted her from afar.

"Ah, ah! It's me!" Zhezhi seemed to be startled and responded quickly.

Just as she said, she is really not good at socializing.

"Um...what kind of painting do you want?" she muttered softly.

"Well, this place doesn't look appropriate. Let's go talk nearby." Chaomei said.

"Okay... By the way, my studio is nearby. If you don't mind, you can come to my place. If you don't want to, that's okay..." Zhezhi said while waving her hands, her cheeks turning red again.

"No problem." Ling An agreed decisively. It just so happened that what he and Chao Mei wanted to draw was not the current body.

It is indeed not suitable for others to see, it is better to keep it private.

Zhezhi led the way in small steps and soon stopped in front of a small house. She seemed to have thought of something and said anxiously, "Well, it might be a bit messy inside. You guys wait here for me, I'll clean it up first!"

After she finished speaking, she rushed into the room as if escaping, and even tripped on the way. She almost died in front of Ling An and Chao Mei again.

In the midday sun, Ling An and Chao Mei stood in front of the door, listening to the chaotic noises and footsteps from inside, and Ling An began to feel confused.

He leaned close to the crack in the door and peeked inside.

"Isn't this a bad idea?" Chaomei asked curiously.

"Shh, don't talk. I'm a patrol officer, don't I know that? This is my duty."

Ling An spoke in a low voice, and through the crack in the door he saw Zhezhi's figure running back and forth in the room. She seemed to be carrying something.

Ling An watched her carry a stack of drawing papers to the wall, then pick up a drawing board to cover it.

Doing all this was not enough. She seemed still a little worried, so she picked up a pile of drawing paper and put it on top. Only then did she wipe the sweat off her forehead with relief.

"It looks like he's packing up." Ling An analyzed, feeling a little curious. As a painter, is there anything that he and Chao Mei can't see?

They had to be left outside and hidden in a hurry.

Seeing Zhezhi walking towards the door, Ling An quickly stood still.

Sure enough, with the sound of the door opening, Zhezhi stood at the door and said to the two of them in a naive manner, "Hey, everything is ready, come in."

Walking into the room, Ling An looked around.

The decoration in the studio is very simple, and there is even very little furniture, revealing a faint atmosphere of poverty.

There is a wooden table in the middle with a piece of drawing paper on it. It seems that this is where Zhezhi usually works.

She walked to the table and patted her chest as if to encourage herself: "Do you have any requests?"

This is when you get into work mode.

Chao Mei pulled a chair over from the side, hugged Ling An and sat down, and said gently: "In fact, I have seen some paintings signed by you at the booth before, so we are very confident in your level."

"Phew, that's good." Zhezhi seemed relieved. It seemed that she had encountered many difficult customers in her daily life.

Chao Mei nodded and continued, "So, we only have one request for you."

Hearing this, Zhezhi also quickly said seriously: "Please speak."

"Don't be scared for a while." Chaomei said every word seriously.

"Don't be... scared?" Zhezhi was a little confused for a moment.

"That's right, you just need to focus on painting, and don't worry about or talk about other things." When Chao Mei becomes serious, she is indeed quite intimidating.

"Okay." Zhezhi nodded obediently. Although she was a little confused, the customer is God, so she could only do as she was told.

Then, she intertwined her white fingers again and asked tentatively, "Then what about the reward..."

"Do as you normally would."

"That might be a bit expensive..." Zhezhi said worriedly, and then she stretched out her palm and showed two fingers.

"Two hundred thousand shells?" Ling An was puzzled.

"No, no, no!" Zhezhi was panicked and was about to explain when he was interrupted by Ling An's next words.

"It's OK, not expensive."

"Huh?" Zhezhi was stunned. She wondered if she had heard it wrong.

Isn’t two hundred thousand shells too expensive?

Seeing her attitude, Ling An thought it was insufficient, and then asked, "Why, not enough?"

"No, no, no, that's enough, that's not right, that's too much!" Zhezhi hurriedly explained.

"too much?"

"Yes, twenty thousand cowrie shells..."

"Twenty thousand?"

Ling An and Chao Mei were both stunned and looked at each other.

Are the charges for Zhezhi paintings so cheap?

Both of them are the type who don't know how expensive food and daily necessities are.

Chao Mei has taken on quite a few commissions. Although Ling An doesn't know how rich she is, it is certain that she has a private stash of money, but the amount is unknown.

As for Ling An, it goes without saying that although he had exchanged a photo with Yin Lin for the 100,000 shells he used to conquer the Liaozhao Cavalry a long time ago, the reward that Xinyi promised to give for defeating the Treading Light Power at Chengxiao Mountain last time included not only the photo of his youth, but also a considerable amount of shells.

Broken branches...are they so cheap?

On the opposite side, Zhezhi looked at the surprised expressions of the man and the cat, and suddenly a sense of inexplicable grievance flashed through his heart.

She glanced around her studio which had an air of poverty, and thought about the fees she charged for her paintings, and about the clients who wanted to change here and there, and drew three or four sketches but still chose the first version. She felt a sense of sadness in her eyes.

You have to know that last time she promised Bian Ting to paint a huge painting of the Moon-Chasing Festival, she only received 20,000 shells...that's all.

It took her five full days to paint that picture!

Opposite the broken branch, Ling An unabashedly muttered to Chao Mei: "The fee is so cheap, isn't it a bit too good?"

Chao Mei also touched her chin in confusion: "That makes sense."

Zhezhi was anxious and kept explaining: "I...I can do it!"

Seeing her face flushed, Ling An no longer wanted to tease her and said seriously, "How about 50,000 shells?"

"Fifty thousand!" Zhezhi stood up suddenly, and then seemed to realize that he had lost his composure, and said quickly:

"Okay, then I'll start!"