Chapter 63:
William was painting in the shade of a tree. Seeing her approach, he quickly set down the canvas to cover it, smiling, “Hello, Elara, we meet again.”
Meng Shuyou didn’t see what he was painting. “Are you sketching?”
“Yeah, just painting casually.” William asked, “Are you here alone taking photos? Want me to take a few for you? I’m pretty good at photography.”
“No need, I’ll just take some landscapes.” Meng Shuyou wasn’t used to having acquaintances take photos for her.
“Alright, then do you want to go visit the church over there? It’s an old site left over from last century, repaired twice later, but with such a long history, it’s still in ruins. The inspiration for one of the paintings you saw yesterday came from there.” William said, “I can take you over.”
He said this, and Meng Shuyou was quite interested. She hesitated and asked, “Will it delay your painting?”
William shook his head with a smile. “Of course not. I can continue painting later.”
Meng Shuyou: “Then I’ll have to trouble you.”
“No trouble at all.” William simply packed up his things and led her toward the church.
Along the way, it was William who kept finding topics to talk about. Both studied fine arts, one sketching and one oil painting, but they could still find plenty of common topics.
They chatted about favorite artists, artworks, and sources of inspiration.
Unknowingly, they wandered for a whole morning.
As noon approached, William naturally invited her to have lunch together.
Meng Shuyou felt it wasn’t appropriate and was even more afraid that Pei Yuzhou would be unhappy if he found out, so she made an excuse to refuse. “Sorry, I might need to go find my friend for lunch.”
William didn’t press. “Can we exchange contact info then? If there’s anywhere else you want to go, you can find me. I’m very familiar with this area.”
Meng Shuyou politely refused, “I’m going back to America tomorrow.”
“You’re leaving tomorrow? So soon.” William was a bit regretful but didn’t give up. “We should count as friends by now, right? Maybe we’ll have the opportunity to meet again in the future.”
Meng Shuyou couldn’t refuse, so she took out her mobile phone and exchanged contact info with him. “Thank you for taking me to visit the church today.”
William saved the number and smiled, raising his lips. “You’re welcome.”
After saying goodbye, he went back to continue finishing that painting, hoping to give it to her before Elara left.
–
In the afternoon, Meng Shuyou was playing at the farm.
The little goat, just one month old, was especially cute, soft and fluffy in her arms, impossible to put down.
She was on a video call with Winnie. “Its fur feels so comfortable.”
“No wonder cashmere feels so good to wear.” Winnie wanted to rub it through the screen. “Are you playing alone?”
Meng Shuyou sat down on the grass holding the little goat. “Mister Pei has something to do.”
“He can’t be busy every day.” Winnie applied a face mask and lay on the bed. “No wonder your progress is slow.”
Meng Shuyou smiled. “Weren’t you afraid I’d get hurt? How come you’re complaining our progress is slow now.”
“These are two different things. I told you not to fall for him, but that doesn’t stop you from doing other stuff. A handsome guy with a great body—sleeping with him is a good deal.” Winnie spoke as if she knew all about it. “And doesn’t Mia always say the best way to demystify a man is to have him? Maybe after you get him, you won’t like him anymore.”
“Especially if he’s no good in that department, run fast and don’t settle just because he’s handsome!”
Meng Shuyou paused.
That time in the car, she’d felt it—he absolutely couldn’t be bad at it.
Even thinking back now still startled her.
If she hadn’t touched it herself, she wouldn’t dare believe it really existed…
She stopped her thoughts in time and brought up another matter. “You haven’t explained yet what’s going on between you and Mister Zhao.”
