Forty minutes later, accompanied by Yu Nian, Qi Wang arrived at an art supply store hidden in an alley.

This store was nestled deep in the alley, easy to overlook if not paying attention, but Qi Wang was familiar with it. He had obviously been here many times.

The owner was a middle-aged man, clearly familiar with Qi Wang as well. When he saw him, he greeted him, “Here you are.”

Then he noticed Yu Nian standing beside Qi Wang and exclaimed, “Oh, there’s a little kid here too.”

Yu Nian adjusted his shirt collar, wanting to retort that he was an adult now.

But considering his height, explaining it was pointless, so he silently shut his mouth.

He followed Qi Wang closely, observing the art supply store.

Different from the clean and well-lit stores in expensive malls he had been to before, this art supply store resembled a large warehouse. The rough gray-white walls, black floor, high ceiling, and shelves filled with paints, brushes, papers, and sketchbooks crowded together.

Although it looked rough, everything needed was available.

After browsing for a while, Yu Nian couldn’t help but pick up a few items himself. However, he didn’t have a specific purpose in mind and just placed a few colors he often used into the basket.

On Qi Wang’s side, he quickly picked out what he needed.

The two of them checked out together.

Yu Nian remembered his bank card in his pocket and immediately straightened his chest, intending to pay, but before he could take out his card, Qi Wang stopped him and handed over his phone instead.

As the owner packed their items, he chatted with Qi Wang, “By the way, the fridge at Old Li’s store broke down. He refuses to buy a new one. If you have time, help him repair it. He’s becoming more and more stubborn, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Qi Wang nodded. “Okay.”

He took the shopping bag from the owner and saw that Yu Nian was still in a daze. He patted his head. “Let’s go.”

Only then did Yu Nian come back to his senses, and he followed Qi Wang out.

After leaving the art supply store, Qi Wang checked the time. It was getting late.

He saw a clay pot restaurant by the roadside and asked Yu Nian, “Do you want some supper?”

Yu Nian hesitated for a moment. He had originally planned to maintain his figure and not eat too much supper, but when Qi Wang asked, he found it hard to resist.

“Okay.”

In just three seconds, he abandoned his previous pledge.

Sitting in the warm and cozy restaurant, he ordered a beef clay pot, while Qi Wang ordered a mixed seafood one, dissipating the slight chill of the autumn night.

Yu Nian curiously looked at the newspapers posted on the wall. The shop was small and old, with stainless steel tables that seemed to have been in use for many years.

It seemed that all the customers were regulars, chatting with the owner as they came in. The walls of the shop were covered with newspapers, collaged by year and framed in glass, forming a unique decoration.

Yu Nian bent down to study a news article from 1998 about a department store holding a lottery with a bicycle as the grand prize, while Qi Wang watched him from across the table.

Although Yu Nian had spent some time out and about, he still seemed out of place in this cramped little eatery.

Even though he didn’t show any discomfort, he actually found these small eateries quite interesting.

Qi Wang didn’t know about Yu Nian’s family background, but Yu Nian’s manners and demeanor indicated he came from a well-educated family.

He looked around the small eatery with curiosity, displaying the demeanor of an observer, like a child entering a new environment, full of curiosity.

Qi Wang wondered how Yu Nian’s siblings had actually agreed to let him stay out for another six months.

If he had a brother like Yu Nian, he probably wouldn’t bear to let him go. He was too obedient and naive. If he hadn’t coincidentally landed in Song Yunchun’s restaurant, he would have been easily taken advantage of.

As he was thinking, Yu Nian had already finished studying most of the newspapers on the wall and turned to him curiously, asking, “When did you learn to paint, Qi Wang?”

Qi Wang leaned back in his chair, not eager to answer the question. “What’s up?”

“It’s nothing,” Yu Nian said, absentmindedly crossing his chopsticks. “I just think you paint really well.”

He genuinely praised, “I used to take drawing lessons with a teacher, but I didn’t have much talent in painting. After a few years of practice, I didn’t make much progress. It’s just that my siblings thought drawing could cultivate my character, so they didn’t stop my lessons until last year.”

As he spoke, he stuck out his tongue at Qi Wang.

Amused, Qi Wang asked, “So why did they suddenly stop your lessons?”

Yu Nian scratched his cheek, feeling embarrassed. He wasn’t particularly interested in painting, unlike design.

Before he moved with his siblings, the person responsible for teaching him painting was a middle-aged female teacher who always wore beautiful long skirts, spoke softly, and was patient. They got along well.

But later, he transferred to a stricter male teacher who clashed with him, causing him to skip classes and even put bitter herbs in the teacher’s cup.

After a few times, his siblings couldn’t handle it anymore, so they stopped the lessons altogether.

But Yu Nian couldn’t say this. He mumbled, trying to downplay his lack of skill.

“It’s just that there were some changes at home, so they temporarily stopped my lessons. We moved again, and it wasn’t easy to find a suitable teacher.”

Qi Wang didn’t press further.

The hotpot arrived, and he added chili to both Yu Nian’s and his own pot.

He said, “I learned painting from a retired art teacher who lived near my old place. He was a very good person. Sometimes when he saw my random doodles, he said I wasn’t bad and offered to teach me for free since he was retired and had nothing to do. I went to his place every week for an afternoon.”

Qi Wang’s face showed a hint of nostalgia as he recounted. He remembered the appearance of the art teacher, a bespectacled old man who always smiled and was very patient. His children were abroad, so he lived alone in a small apartment.

Those few hours spent with the art teacher every week were the only happy times in his bleak childhood.

He remembered the roses on the teacher’s balcony and the birdcage with sparrows. When they painted, the teacher would give him round candies, which he initially refused, but the teacher insisted.

He thought, perhaps it was because of this teacher that he didn’t completely succumb to his surroundings and become a troublemaker. He might still have a shred of a soul left.

Yu Nian slurped a spoonful of beef soup and asked curiously, “Oh, so how old were you back then?”

He remembered Qi Wang mentioning that he was an orphan, so this art teacher must have lived near the orphanage.

Qi Wang recalled, “Around ten years old. I studied with the teacher for four or five years. After that, I had to figure things out on my own.”

In the beginning, he wasn’t particularly interested in painting. It couldn’t provide food or shelter for him, nor keep him warm.

But he was willing to learn from that teacher, not so much because he wanted to learn but because he wanted a temporary refuge.

But in the many years that followed, he never gave up this skill that didn’t offer him much in return.

“Why did you stop later?” Yu Nian guessed, “Did the teacher get too old to teach?”

He quite liked this gentle and understanding old man. If the teacher was still in City C, he would like to visit him with Qi Wang. He wanted to hear about Qi Wang’s childhood.

But he quickly noticed Qi Wang shaking his head.

“No,” Qi Wang said, his eyes downcast and expressionless. “He passed away.”

At the age of fourteen, the kind and elderly teacher passed away.

The last refuge that briefly welcomed him had also disappeared.

But in the many years that followed, as he wandered alone outside, occasionally touching a paintbrush again, watching other students learn to paint outside the glass window, he would still think of this teacher.

He remembered his rough hands, the old wooden smell at home, the family photo on the chest of drawers, and the persimmons drying in the sun.

Qi Wang blinked his eyelashes.

He hadn’t thought about this for a long time, deliberately avoiding it, cutting off the past from the present. He didn’t want to think deeply about whether this teacher, if still alive, would be pleased or disappointed to see him now.

The steam from the hotpot rose up, almost forming droplets on their eyelashes in this early autumn chill.

But Qi Wang quickly snapped out of it. When he looked up, he saw Yu Nian wearing a puzzled expression across from him, as if feeling he had asked the wrong question again, feeling distressed.

Qi Wang chuckled softly and urged, “Go ahead and eat, it’s getting cold.”