Chapter 19

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Jiang Sheng wasn’t 100% sure, but he trusted that his judgment wasn’t wrong. He continued scanning the illustrations on his phone while the image of the girl emerged in his mind. He had a hunch—the girl was Isi.

Thinking that he’d never meet someone like her ever again, disappointment fleeted across his eyes. Yet, it was too early to give up hope. He had to keep looking, but there were too many. Each of them was renowned and came with a narrative story.

His gut feeling told him he was missing something.

But what was it?

While he got distracted in his thoughts, he resumed his search for the needle in the haystack, making no leads.

At the same time—

Ning Xue lingered in Central Park. She planned to finish three sketches that day, and she still had one more. The previous episode didn’t bother her. She found somewhere quiet in the park and continued working on her painting.

Behind her was a pair of eyes boring onto her back.

“Stop following me, mister.” Ning Xue turned around, having known he was tailing her all along.

Michael smiled.

“Hello again. I’ve told you—I don’t want a mentor,” Ning Xue explained with a cold tone, her patience almost exhausted.

Michael chuckled, “The view here is captivating. I knew you’d stay.”

“Heh,” grunted Ning Xue, her eyes turning fierce. “Since you’re unwilling to leave, you can stick around. But I expect you not to become a nuisance.”

“Okay, don’t worry. I won’t. It’s a land of peace, and there’s no way I could’ve disturbed you anyway.”

Ning Xue sneered, turning away from him to stare into the distant scenery. Michael no longer spoke, and he stood wordlessly next to her. Appreciative of art, the view in front of them moved him, magnificent.

As time quietly slipped away under the quiet atmosphere, it was soon evening. The glorious sun’s afterglow shone over the land, its radiance dyeing the entire land gold.

“Remarkable,” Michael exclaimed. The sunset view and the surrounding nature reminded him of another place—it was even more mesmerizing than the one before his eyes. “I’ve seen an extremely incredible place once. The mountain range that reaches into the clouds, the everlasting unidentified flora, the countless precious medicinal herbs, and…”

The words trailed away.

Though Ning Xue’s focal point was still at the outlying sundown, her mind was in a tranquil place. It was as if she had traveled through space and time to another world—a fairyland. There, she had a clear vision of her painting: the mountains, the woods, the river, and the large rock on the peak. A humongous python coiled its tail as it lay on the rock.

She gave up sketching and drew the image from her head instead. Michael watched from the side.

After she had finished her last touchup, she got up and stretched, relieved from her entrapment.

Michael was excited. Too excited. What a genius! He had never thought that there would be someone as talented as him in this world. Surprise and joy flooded him over that he threw himself on the ground and cried, scaring anyone who’d witnessed his overreaction.

The air around Ning Xue seemed to boil as she grew impatient. Had it not been for the manners her family had taught her, she’d have taken action. “Excuse me, mister. I told you, I’m not looking for a mentorship, and neither did I want to be anyone’s apprentice!”

Michael couldn’t hear a word she was saying, wailing in amazement at her incomparable talent..