48: Chapter 48 Hidden Quest: The Rose Rendezvous!

After Wang Gang's opening remarks were broadcast throughout the venue via simultaneous translation, a high-transparency crystal glass cabinet was slowly brought out—inside was displayed the first of Zhao Yang's paintings.

As the crowd saw the painting clearly, a chorus of astonished murmurs immediately rippled through the audience.

"This painting is of an incredibly high standard! Such a rich Baroque style—could it be the work of a famous French master?"

"Although it's Baroque in style, it seems to incorporate the compositional approach of ink wash painting. Perhaps it comes from a domestic master."

"But which domestic master could render the Baroque style so authentically?"

Amidst the heated discussion, there was one consensus—this painting was a masterpiece among masterpieces, possessing extremely high artistic quality and inestimable collection value.

In the crowd, Huang Yimei's expression was somewhat strange.

She knew this style! It was Zhao Yang's painting, one hundred percent!

Over the past few months, she had repeatedly studied and analyzed it. Although she couldn't master Zhao Yang's unique techniques, she would never mistake his style.

But… why did Zhao Yang want to remain anonymous? Isn't it better for an artist to be as famous as possible?

Wang Gang's voice rang out, and Huang Yimei felt the world go dark before her eyes.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you have seen it. The starting price for this painting is 80,000, with bidding increments of 5,000. Bidding begins now!"

80,000?! Before she could even recover, something even more despair-inducing followed.

As soon as the starting price was announced, people began raising their paddles.

"85,000!"

"90,000!"

"100,000!"

"105,000!"

"110,000!"

The price soared all the way, finally stopping at 130,000.

Wang Gang brought down the gavel. Sold!

The prices of the next three paintings were even higher, selling for 140,000, 150,000, and 180,000 respectively. The four paintings totaled 600,000.

From the moment the first painting was sold, Huang Yimei had been clutching her chest, her face pale, her ears ringing, with only one thought left in her mind—it was over.

She couldn't afford the painting Zhao Yang gave her, even if she sold her own blood.

"Huang Yimei, what's wrong?" Lin Wantang noticed her abnormality and asked with concern, "Are you not feeling well?"

"I… I'm fine…" Huang Yimei forced herself to stay calm. "I was just scared by the price of the paintings."

"It is scary!" Lin Wantang exclaimed. "I can't believe an anonymous auction could fetch such high prices! But the level of these four paintings is truly high, and each one has a different style. It's incredible."

Shen Du looked serious and spoke sincerely: "I take back what I said earlier. There are indeed masters in the country. Those four paintings are simply masterpieces! I admit, I was a frog in a well."

A strong curiosity surged in Huang Yimei's heart—how much was the painting Zhao Yang gave her actually worth? Once this thought emerged, she couldn't suppress it any longer.

She looked around and happened to see a woman with a Qingting employee badge on her chest talking in a low voice with Wang Gang. Huang Yimei immediately walked toward the podium.

"Huang Yimei, where are you going?" Lin Wantang asked.

"I'm going to ask about something. You guys go ahead and look at the exhibition."

Huang Yimei walked straight up to the Qingting employee.

"Hello, sorry to bother you. I'm a student from the Central Academy of Fine Arts named Huang Yimei. I'd like to inquire about the artist information for those paintings just now."

That Qingting employee happened to be Su Gengsheng. She looked at Huang Yimei—hmm, very beautiful. How biased must the heavens be to give her such a face?

Su Gengsheng said in a serious tone: "I'm very sorry, but we have promised never to disclose any information about the artist."

"I'm sorry, it was presumptuous of me." Huang Yimei quickly leaned into Su Gengsheng's ear and whispered a name in a volume only the two of them could hear: "Zhao Yang."

A flash of surprise crossed Su Gengsheng's eyes. After a moment of contemplation, she greeted Wang Gang and took Huang Yimei to an empty corner.

"Are you a friend of Zhao Yang?"

"I… suppose so." Huang Yimei nodded. "He gave me a painting before. Seeing his work at auction today, I wanted to know how much the painting he gave me is worth."

Su Gengsheng was stunned for a moment: "You mean you have a painting by Zhao Yang?"

"Yes! I want to know the price. I guarantee it's his work; I watched him paint it with my own eyes."

"Please wait a moment, I need to make a call." Su Gengsheng walked to the side and dialed Jiang Xueqiong's number.

Jiang Xueqiong immediately ordered: "Bring her and that painting to the office immediately."

Hanging up the phone, Su Gengsheng returned to Huang Yimei: "This matter needs to be decided by our President Jiang. Did you bring your painting? Let's go see her."

"The painting is at my home. I can go get it right away."

"I'll accompany you."

Su Gengsheng drove Huang Yimei to pick up the painting, and the two went straight to Jiang Xueqiong's office.

After some small talk, Huang Yimei carefully took the portrait out of the art tube and displayed it before Jiang Xueqiong and Su Gengsheng.

"It's Teacher Zhao's work." Jiang Xueqiong blurted out, "It's actually a portrait! It's too beautiful—the composition, lines, layers, scenery, it's flawless. Look at her eyes, how vivid! The emotion of that moment is captured perfectly; it's practically comparable to the Mona Lisa's smile."

She turned to Huang Yimei: "You really are a lucky girl to have entered Teacher Zhao's painting. The level of this painting is even higher than the four auctioned today; the spirit of the character and the scenery are blended perfectly, so its artistic and collection value is even greater. 300,000, Qingting will buy it. If you feel the price isn't suitable, we can discuss it further."

Huang Yimei felt like the sky was collapsing.

Her face turned red, and it took her a long time to squeeze out a sentence:

"I just wanted to know how much it's worth. I don't want to sell it yet."

Huang Yimei didn't know how she got home.

As soon as she entered the door, she saw her father Huang Jianzhi and her older brother Huang Zhenhua. Her nose soured, and tears fell down: "Dad, Brother! Wuwuwu!"

These two, one a doting father and the other a doting brother, immediately panicked when they saw Huang Yimei crying.

"Daughter, what's wrong? Who bullied you?"

"Little Sister, what happened?"

Huang Yimei said through teary eyes, "It's Zhao Yang! It's his painting! I've always wanted to save up money to pay him back… but… wuwuwu… that painting is worth 300,000… how can I ever afford to pay that back? But that painting is of me! I don't want anyone else to buy it… wuwuwu…"

She told them about what happened today while crying. Huang Jianzhi frowned and was silent for a while, then suddenly said: "Zhenhua, go call your mother. We need to discuss this as a family."

At this moment, Zhao Yang, far away in Handong Province, was discussing his doctoral thesis topic with Vice Chancellor Sun Shuxin.

The continuous System notifications made his heart skip a beat—emotion points surging?

From Huang Yimei?

All resentment?

Why does she have so much resentment toward me? I haven't seen her lately!

Just as he was wondering, the System notification sounded again.

[Ding! Because the host's actions caused Huang Yimei to enter the Architectural Design Institute for an internship early, the main plot of "the story of rose" has been activated, and the fates of the main characters in the show will change accordingly.]

[Reward obtained: Physical Body + 1, random upgrade of an already mastered skill]

[Automatic selection: Mathematics skill level + 1]

[Mathematics: Level 5]

[Physical Body: 8]

[Hidden Task activated: Rose's Appointment]

[Rose's Appointment: Make Huang Yimei happy for a lifetime]

[Task Reward: Personal space volume doubled]