Chapter 29 Dementary School Level
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Grandre suddenly had the ides to turn it into a painting and who knew he would win the gold medal for it.
Cheyenne thou to herself that the painting was indeed nothing much
Malaya til smiled warmly and said, “Oh my goodness, Mr. Edwards, you’re really modest. Your paintings are all masterpieces”
Grandpa smiled but didn’t say anything as he waited for her next words.
Sure enough that woman mentioned Nora with pride written all over her face as she said, “Mr. Edwards, my little daughter has been studying painting for over ten years now. She has always admired you and finally gets to meet you today.”
Why don’t you take some time out of your schedule to see how good her painting skills are?”
“She just won a youth art award last week and is planning on participating in a national college student painting competition next month.”
At Malaya spoke, she gestured for Nora to go and retrieve the artwork herself. Sean, who had been lacking in energy until now, perked up slightly with a twitch of his lips.
“Mom, my sister and Cheyenne’s grandfather aren’t painting the same kind of painting. How can he give advice?” The boy was blunt, showing no manners by referring to Layne as “Cheyenne’s grandfather“.
Layne thought he was so much older than Sean himself, so it would have been appropriate for him to be addressed as “old Mr. Edwards“. Malaya probably favored her son over her daughter, which is why her son was so impertinent.
Fortunately, Layne returned home in time and secretly trained his granddaughter, otherwise, she might have become a useless spoiled lady just like Malaya expected.
Caught off guard by her own son’s interruption, Malaya felt both embarrassed and annoyed as she glared at him.
What do you know? You’re just a kid!” She scolded angrily.
Sean still felt dissatisfied and muttered under his breath. I told the truth!”
Furthermore, he heard the conversation between his mom and sister just now. They were trying to curry favor with Cheyenne’s grandfather in order to gain access into the Royal Academy of Arts abroad.
He just felt they were so naive. He knew well Cheyenne was a selfish and vicious woman who had been jealous of Nora’s excellence since childhood, so there was no way that Cheyenne’s grandfather would help.
Besides, Nora could have gotten into a good school on her own merit. Their mother’s intervention was unnecessary.
Cheyenne caught his reaction and cursed under her breath, “Idiot!”
After a while, Nora finally came down.
After some deliberation upstairs, she finally found her favorite and proudest painting.
It was a Western–style portrait oil painting.
It looked somewhat like an 18th–century style, and the young girl depicted was herself.
She was attending a banquet, wearing a gorgeous strapless long dress in a bright yellow color, with delicate makeup.
The people around her were also well–dressed and were dancing, portraying a scene of luxury and extravagance at a high society gathering.
Malaya grinned as she pushed Nora towards Layne. “You’re here! Show your grandpa your painting… Isn’t this the one that won an award last week?” George was proud of his exceptional daughter and wanted to impress his father–in–law with her achievements.
He pretended to be helpless and said; “Didn’t you see your grandpa eating?”
Old Mr. Edwards smiled faintly, put down his cutlery, and looked at the painting.
“It’s okay. I’m old and don’t have a big appetite. Just looking at a painting won’t take much time.”
Cheyenne finished her meal and sat upright, looking at Nora’s painting.
With just one glance, she withdrew her gaze, thinking, ‘She has the courage to show off such a bad painting in front of my grandfather!
Layne thought for a moment and politely praised first. “It’s pretty good. The colors are accurate and saturated. The lines are smooth, and the layout of the picture is well thought out.”
Even top masters praised it, making Malaya even happier.
And George was afraid that his father–in–law would ask why Nora was much better than Cheyenne in painting, so he explained hurriedly, “Well, we wanted Cheyenne to learn how to paint with Nora together; we even paid for it.”
“Maybe drawing is too boring for Cheyenne, so she came back after only two days.”
“But Nora has good patience; she persisted until now.”
Cheyenne listened as her father praised his mistress’s daughter and depreciated herself. She looked over coldly.
“I disagree with what you said, father. I didn’t want to learn there because the teacher was incapable to teach me,” she said seriously in a declarative
tone.
Nora and her brother looked at each other as if they had just heard a joke. Nora, being the lady she is, kept her thoughts to herself and silently mocked Cheyenne for being crazy.
Sean, on the other hand, never held back his opinions and said what was on his mind.
1/2
Chapter 29. Elementary School Level
“You really know how to flatter yourself, he quipped.
“How old were you then? The teacher was at least twenty years older than you. How dare you say that she couldn’t teach you anything? What a vain lar you are!”
Layne couldn’t help but feel more disgusted with the Lawrence family after seeing Sean mocking Cheyenne in front of himself. He wondered how much grief Cheyenne must have endured.
Malaya started to lecture Cheyenne in a serious tone.
“I know that you don’t like that teacher and always cause trouble in class. But remember, she is still your teacher and deserves respect from her students.”
Her words painted an image of Cheyenne as someone who lacked respect for authority figures and was arrogant due to her mischievous nature Malaya deliberately said so to mislead Layne.
But her scheme didn’t work, because Layne knew better than anyone how skilled Cheyenne was in painting.
As the family continued to belittle Cheyenne, Layne couldn’t help but laugh at their narrow–mindedness.
“If Malaya thinks I’m lying, then let me prove it by taking a look at Nora’s painting, Cheyenne said lazily as she got up from her seat and walked over. Resting her chin on one hand, she looked at Nora’s work with a sneer. This is just my elementary school level. Is that really something worth showing off?”
Chapter 30: Reece, Are You Crazy?
The room fell silent as everyone held their breathe. Malaya’s smile from on her face as the realized just how foolish Cheyenne could be sometimes
Sean sioned in disbebel. Your elementary school level? I remember when you drew a watermelon that looked like a plate! You have some nerve talking big now
Nora’s expression turned cold as ice. “What did you say?”
“Am I wrong?” Cheyenne raised her delicate chin, hitting the nail on the head with every word. First of all, your visual center is off. The general visual center should be “wo thirds into the picture”
And you you occupy the entire frame alone.”
“Also, you want to highlight yourself as the protagonist of this banquet, so you went out of your way to depict your attire as luxurious.
“Unfortunately, lighting is paramount in portraiture! You only focus on color itself but neglect texture and contrast brought by light and shadow”
Your painting only stays at an imitative stage; that’s why I said it’s at a primary school level.”
Nora’s mentor had also told her these words before. However, she could never grasp what he meant by “texture“. This ignorant sister was just repeating his evaluation.
Cheyenne knows art!
The thought flashed through Nora’s mind. She felt a bit unwilling but then thought that understanding art doesn’t necessarily mean having exceptional drawing skills.
Right!
There isn’t a pencil in this ignorant sister’s room. How can she draw?
Sean also quickly snapped out of his shock and pointed rudely at Cheyenne. “Don’t think we’ll believe whatever nonsense you spout. My sister won an award for this piece! Go ahead and join the competition if you have what it takes. Bring back a prize to show us!”
Nora and Layne both knew that it was not nonsense.
*Just bring back one prize? Fine, I’ll do it. But on one condition: Sean, you have to learn how to bark like a dog.”
Malaya didn’t expect things to take such a sudden turn. She only wanted to help her daughter take a shortcut to be admitted to Royal Academy of Arts, but now all their focus was on Cheyenne. And Cheyenne even required Sean to bark like a dog. This was too much!
“Cheyenne, don’t argue with your brother. He’s still little,” Malaya said.
“Little? He’s turning eighteen soon and has his college entrance exams this year!” Cheyenne sneered.
At eighteen years old, she had married Kelvin. What had Sean accomplished in comparison? Wasn’t he always getting into fights or skipping classes or dating someone?
“Mom, don’t bother trying to convince me otherwise. I bet this loser can’t even draw!”
Layne’s expression turned cold as he threw a cold glance at the mother and son.
Then he said to Cheyenne, “Maybe you should enter a competition for some fun. The college art contest is starting next month and registration is still open.”
Even Cheyenne’s grandpa suggested that she should go have some fun, which made Sean convinced that Cheyenne just talked big.
He had a smug look on his face, “I lost and barked like a dog, what about you, Cheyenne? If you lose, what will you do?”
“I won’t lose!”
She replied confidently.
Even Nora chimed in with a sarcastic comment. “Don’t be too confident, Cheyenne. You might end up eating your words.”
Sean, on the other hand, seemed pleased with himself for coming up with the idea of a competition. “If you lose, Cheyenne, you’ll have to apologize and kneel down before my sister.”
Layne was furious at Sean’s audacity and wanted to leave in a fit of rage.
‘What kind of idiotic idea is that?‘ he thought angrily.
Just then, a delicate hand pressed the back of his hand. It belonged to Cheyenne, who had given her grandfather a reassuring look before agreeing to Sean’s terms with a bright smile.
“Okay, I promise you!” she said.
“Cheyenne…” Layne felt it was unnecessary to make such a childish bet with this ignorant boy.
But since Cheyenne wanted to do it, he decided not to stop her.
“Grandfather, I’m not a pushover. I won’t let anyone just step on me and rise up.”
“I see.”
In the end, the matter of Layne taking Nora as his apprentice ended without any joy or satisfaction for anyone involved.
Malaya watched them leave together and felt frustrated inside.
After sending her grandfather back home in Shedale safely, Cheyenne decided to stay here temporarily for one night. She needed time alone with all those antiques that she had just brought back so that she could sort them out properly one by one.
It took them the entire night to finish.
After washing up in the evening, she put on her pink cartoon suspender nightgown, let down her hair, and lay on the big bed playing with her phone.
Just as she logged online, she saw Reece’s Line avatar flashing.
The avatar was a husky rolling its eyes and his username was also unique – GiantDog!
