Monster Apartment

Gu Bai returned home, rubbed his hungry deflated belly after a day running outside. He took some pork from the fridge to defrost and took out green peppers, garlic and baby Bok Choy.

Sautéed Baby Bok Choy and green peppers with fried meat.

And cooked a small half cup of rice.

Gu Bai was in quite a happy mood.

The vegetables in the fridge were all watery and tasted nothing like the vegetables that came out of the greenhouse.

Gu Bai had been in charge of his food since he was a child. He knew in his heart whether the ingredients were good or whether his own skills had improved.

Gu Bai thought about the butter he had just seen in the shelf and took a look at the kitchen with all the Chinese and Western cooking utensils. After thinking about it, he decided to make a few biscuits and bring them to the seniors tomorrow.

Gu Bai also thought of the ferocious big man he had just bumped.

He looked a lot calmer today than he did last time. At least he didn’t make Gu Bai feel intimidated anymore.

After stripping off the layer of skin that was frightened, Gu Bai vaguely felt that he had seen this face somewhere.

He definitely had no idea about that man, Gu Bai reminisced as he washed the dishes.

There weren’t many sources he could learn about the outside world. Gu Bai thought that he had probably seen it through media channels.

Gu Bai finished washing the cabbage and pinched off the green pepper stalks. After looking at the meat that hadn’t been defrosted, he thought about it and dried his hands and took out his phone to open *Qiandu. (T/N  I think the author doesn’t want to directly say Baidu, a popular search engine in China, and changed it to Qian Du. 千度. If anyone has a clear idea about it, feel free to comment.)

The name of this big man was mentioned to him by Zhai Liangjun. Although, he did not know which three words it was. However, if he was a big man, he(LC) might be able to search for it through a vague search.

As a result, Gu Bai did not use the vague search but had an associated name directly in the input approach.

Si Yiming.

One of the country’s top financial leaders.

His resume shows that he made his fortune in gambling. After his first bucket of money, his fortune rose geometrically at a bizarre rate.

He is a legend of venture capital in the country’s financial sector. In the venture capital industry, where people have a tendency to slip up and occasionally flop, this man’s investments have all been smooth sailing. As a result, he has been able to invest in people who are stable, and he has become a success in everything he has done.

Rumor has it that this big man walks down the road and picks up a penny to throw out and turns around to get a million back!

The Jianghu rumour is that this big man buys stocks and buys one up and stops one.

The Jianghu also rumoured…

Gu Bai: “…”

Well…picking up a penny, it’s better to give it to the police uncle.

No, no matter what, he really looked like a very powerful person.

Gu Bai finished reading Qiandu’s profile and put his phone down with a feeling of respect.

Awesome, he thought.

Gu Bai’s lifelong dream was to be able to get money even while lying at home. To be able to buy whatever he wanted and concentrate on his painting without worrying about money.

Next time, if I get the chance, maybe I can go ask the big guy which stocks to buy.

When Gu Bai thought of this, that eye-dagger from the first meeting flashed through his mind. Any courage that had risen because of the temptation of money instantly vanished into thin air.

Let’s not dream about it.

Gu Bai thought.

I might as well concentrate on selling my paintings for money. Now that I have a house and don’t have to worry about living expenses, selling one painting can be pure profit!

Gu Bai patted his face and turned his head to take out the meat that had been soaked in water and defrosted, and put it on the counter.

While Gu Bai was cooking happily, Huang Yining was terrified to death.

It was true that she had a small heart and a big temper and chased that vixen all day long. And she had made the whole building submissive, but that didn’t mean she dared to go head to head with the big man.

After all, he doesn’t usually do anything. When he does, he is in control.

It’s not uncommon for monsters to fight, and as long as it doesn’t go to his head like the last time. A fight is not a big deal.

The fact is that it’s not a big deal when it comes to his head. It is just the same as yesterday when she was beaten three quarters to death.

Possible workforce for this big man coming to the door…

Huang Yining thought hard, but could not think of anything she had committed recently.

Si Yiming stood in the doorway. He also did not mean to go in. Facing the increasingly delicate and beautiful woman in front of him, his tone was calm and waveless: “You changed your skin?”

“Ah.” Huang Yining froze for a couple of seconds and gave a dry response.

The painted skin monsters were very aggressive. Especially Huang Yining, who had lived until now, could bring calamity to her house. On entering someone’s house, she always had to break something to bring bad luck to its owner.

To change the skin of the painted skin monster, a scapegoat is needed to take the skin of the dead ghost.

Si Yiming remembered that this Painted Skin was reformed nearly three hundred years ago. She had lived here since the beginning of the existence of this colony in Shan Hai street and had never changed her skin since.

So Si Yiming changed the way he asked, “Have you killed someone?”

Huang Yining sighed in relief after hearing this, “No.”

Si Yiming looked at Huang Yining for a moment, nodded, and did not delve into it.

As the times progress, it is only natural that monsters have to adapt to the ever-changing times and develop new spells and ways of survival.

For example, cats and dogs are particularly fond of becoming prototypes and blending into human society. They find good people to be their owners and help them to protect their homes, thus surviving.

The monsters don’t even ask each other about their race without permission. After all, some exotic beasts are something like Tang Seng Monk’s meat, so if you tell them, they might be eaten by the other monsters.

The most important thing is that you will not be able to get into a place where there are a lot of big monsters, and there are not many who are stupid.

Of course, there are also people like Huang Yining who have no qualms about being strong and fierce. There are even people like Zhai Liangjun who go around with a big grin because he has a good face and can seduce people and demons.

As well as, a divine beast like Si Yiming steadily suppresses a group of big monsters without any weakness at all.

Si Yiming was ready to leave once he got his answer.

He inclined his head and had just turned around when his gaze swept over the thirty or so paintings Huang Yining had placed in the entrance hall.

The big man’s footsteps lurched and he pointed at the paintings, “These?”

Then the big man, who came with two empty hands, had more than thirty paintings in his hands.

As he passed Flat 666, he paused thoughtfully for half a breath. He looked down at the painting he was holding in his arms and lifted his steps to go back home.

Gu Bai finished his meal. He baked a few more plates of cookies, took a bath and got ready for bed.

The next day when they gathered, Gu Bai’s biscuits received a warm welcome from the group.

Of course, this was because not many of the freelance painters in this group of free-spirited artists had a regular routine.

Of the nine people, surprisingly, only two, Gu Bai and Professor Gao, came after having breakfast.

The others…were grateful that they weren’t late, according to them.

Gu Bai, carrying his backpack and notebook as usual, followed behind the seniors who were mulling over the first wall while munching on biscuits. He drew sketches based on the designs they were talking about.

A bearded and haggard senior next to him, who looked like he had been up all night, came over and pointed at Gu Bai’s sketch in the top right corner with a yawn: “The lines here aren’t like this, and with this curvature, you won’t be able to connect the first corner.”

Gu Bai froze and inclined his head to look at the other party.

“But it’s not impossible for you to design it that way.” He said, “But in that case, the whole of the second wall would have to be changed as well for it to work.”

Gu Bai looked down at his base draft and was a little uncomfortable, ” Senior, I’m just drawing to try.”

“Just call me Brother.” The man waved his hand, “We are also Professor Gao’s students.”

Bai took it in stride, “Brother!”

Having someone to teach and point out the wrong design points on a one-to-one basis is completely different from listening to someone else and figuring it out on your own.

This brother, who looked like he was going to sleep at any time, followed Gu Bai for two hours. After two hours, another chubby brother came over, and at the end of the morning, Gu Bai sat next to another tall, thin brother, looking with interest at the design drawings he had recorded in his notebook.

Even if Gu Bai was dumb, he knew that these brothers were trying to teach him.

He looked at the brother next to him who was looking through his notebook while he was holding his box of rice, feeling a little nervous and moved to the point where his nose was sore.

The senior brother whose eyelids were almost closed asked Gu Bai, “The professor said he would give you a chance to take part in this exhibition, has the picture been decided yet?”

“Not yet.” Gu Bai shook his head, then looked at the several senior brothers around him. A smile appeared on his face, “But there are some ideas.”

Hearing this, a group of people gathered around with boxed lunches enthusiastically, and they were giving advice on design ideas with a word or two from each other.

Most of them knew this junior brother through Professor Gao’s relay of his story.

Poor, hard-working, highly talented, introverted and unsociable, but exceptionally obedient and well-behaved, and also very good at looking after people.

A day spent yesterday had been enough for the group to get a clear picture of what kind of character Gu Bai was.

After a day of being a tail behind them, apart from them taking the initiative to talk to him, the number of times Gu Bai took the initiative to express himself could be counted in the palm of his hand.

The senior members of the team decided that this was no good, how could anyone fall behind in teamwork?

So today, they started to take turns to squat next to Gu Bai and brush up their presence.

One by one, they were able to get acquainted with each other, and once they had a basic foundation of communication, it was easy to join the group afterwards.

Just like now.

A group of people gathered around, exchanging design experiences and creative techniques. The group discussed feverishly while giving Gu Bai a mini-class.

Professor Gao sat next to them and watched them with a smile on his face, not interrupting.

Everyone has their own different habits and methods regarding design and painting.

Not all of the advice given by his brothers was applicable to Gu Bai, but Gu Bai had always been good at matching numbers to numbers.

He wrote down the suggestions that were very applicable to him, one by one.

What they got out of the day was the finalization of the design for the first wall and the sketches for the second wall.

This is the kind of efficiency that everyone was used to. Anyway, there was still half a month to go before the official start of work, which was enough time for them to complete the design and draw up the final draft.

On his way out of the Art Expo Centre, Professor Gao spotted Gu Bai’s head down searching for a computer.

“You’re buying a computer?” He asked.

“Yeah.” Gu Bai nodded, “I don’t know which one I should buy.”

As soon as he said that, Professor Gao shoved Gu Bai to a senior brother.

“He knows, let him take you to buy it.” Professor Gao said.

Gu Bai nodded and ignorantly followed his senior brother to the Electrical Appliance Store to spend eight thousand on a relatively cost-effective media-based work laptop.

Sitting on the sofa at home, Gu Bai looked at the newly bought computer and couldn’t help but giggle twice.

So this is what teamwork feels like.

Gu Bai thought of the goodwill he had harvested today, and then thought of the senior brother in the Electrical Appliance Store rambling on about computer models, configurations, brands and other things he couldn’t understand.

He couldn’t help but giggle twice more. He fell back onto the sofa, kicked his legs up happily, then rolled over and climbed up. He slipped on his slippers and climbed up to the big drawing-room on the first floor.

After spending time with his teachers and brothers today, he finally had a hint of inspiration for the theme of inheritance.

Art is born from life.

The theme of inheritance may not need to be embodied in high-end images.

The most simple and common teaching, passed down from one generation to the next, one stroke at a time, is the legacy.

Gu Bai spent three hours drafting four designs and rolled them up with pleasure. He was going to bring them to his teachers and seniors tomorrow to take a look and get some advice.

Just as he had put the designs away and was about to go downstairs to make dinner, the doorbell rang.

Gu Bai froze and ran to the door to take a look at the cat’s eye and was startled.

The person standing outside the door was none other than the super fierce big man that Mr Zhai had specifically instructed never to mess with.