The CEO’s Substitute Wife Is A Genius
Chapter 173: Is Painting Also a Kind of Couple’s Interest?

Chapter 173: Chapter 173: Is Painting Also a Kind of Couple’s Interest?

This question, Lu Xingzhou had asked before, but his tone was very different now.

Before, it was delivered in a cold and stern tone.

Now, it carried a softness, and even a hint of ambiguity.

"I’ve looked into you, but I couldn’t find anything," Lu Xingzhou admitted, his starry eyes clear.

Jiang Man hadn’t expected him to be so direct.

"Where’s the fun in me just telling you the answer?" She quirked up the corners of her mouth, laughing with a mix of arrogance and wildness.

"Don’t you want to play the game for real? You’ll have to discover me bit by bit, like peeling an onion. Just be aware, it might sting your eyes and bring tears."

"A few tears are nothing," Lu Xingzhou laughed unrestrainedly, his eyes misted over with a hazy layer.

"Do you have any idea, Jiang Man, how lethal it is to look at flowers through the fog? The more you half-conceal yourself, the more I want to disperse the fog and see you clearly."

"Mhm," Jiang Man raised her eyebrows: "I don’t mind waiting, go ahead and disperse."

At her words, Lu Xingzhou’s gaze fell on her heaving chest, his slender fingers teasing the button on her clothing: "It’ll take a lot of time on a spiritual level, but physically... it’ll be quick."

His words had an underlying message.

Jiang Man smiled, feeling good, and thus took hold of his large hand: "I’m hungry, let’s eat first, then you can continue to disperse your fog."

"Alright!" Lu Xingzhou said loudly, and then he settled back into his seat and buckled his seatbelt.

The car slowly drove off, quickly disappearing into the night.

Not far away, in a Bentley, Han Shuo retracted his gaze, looking embarrassed.

"Brother Feng, I told you not to come, she’s already married to Lu Xingzhou... why put yourself through this?"

Nan Juefeng smiled bitterly, holding a bouquet of fresh flowers in his arms.

He didn’t have any other intention; he simply wanted to celebrate Jiang Man’s completion of her exams, to see her and talk to her.

Even if his feelings were unrequited, being friends was still worthwhile.

"Let’s go," he retracted his gaze.

Being able to look at her from a distance was already enough.

...

In the hotel, Jiang Man was enjoying a table full of rich dishes.

She could tell that these dishes were freshly made, not leftovers from lunch.

"Lu Xingzhou." As she ate, Jiang Man suddenly became interested.

Lu Xingzhou stopped eating, leisurely watching her.

Jiang Man glanced at him and smiled: "You’re the second person willing to cook a full table of dishes for me."

"The second?" Lu Xingzhou furrowed his brows in surprise: "Then who’s the first?"

"My foster father," Jiang Man lowered her head, her lips smiling, but her eyes were downcast.

"My foster father didn’t want me to go looking for my birth parents, but I couldn’t let it go and snuck away, which is kind of heartless when you think about it."

Jiang Man laughed at herself: "The reason why I wanted to hide my identity is that I didn’t want my foster father to know, I was afraid it would hurt him."

This was the first time Jiang Man had opened up to Lu Xingzhou.

Lu Xingzhou was taken aback, no longer cared about his meal, and poured half a glass of wine, placing it in front of Jiang Man.

"So, do you regret coming back to the country?" he asked softly, his voice feigned calmness but hid a trace of unease.

Jiang Man paused, furrowing her delicate brows.

After a long moment, she tugged at the corner of her mouth: "No regrets."

Lu Xingzhou was immediately joyful but kept his emotions under control on the surface.

"This trip back home, I recognized a godfather and godbrother, met such a lovely grandmother, and made some friends as well; it’s been good," Jiang Man said lightly, lifting her head and falling into thought.

Lu Xingzhou waited anxiously for her to mention him, his hands clenched into fists.

He gazed unwaveringly at her.

Until she spoke again: "And, meeting you."

Those four words, spoken without much fluctuation, but they pierced right through his soul.

"My current life is nothing like before, I find it very interesting, constantly experiencing different things."

"Is that so?" Lu Xingzhou picked up his glass and drained it in one go.

Jiang Man, having spoken so much, felt parched and also picked up her wine to drink.

When she set down the glass, she caught sight of the man’s eyes, reddened, displaying a hint of inebriation.

"Jiang Man, I want to paint," he said.

"Sure, let’s see what you’ve got." Jiang Man smiled and raised her eyebrows, standing up from her chair, "What pose should I strike for you?"

"Anything is fine." Lu Xingzhou’s gaze softened as he got up and walked towards the balcony.

It was then that Jiang Man realized that at some point, an easel had appeared on the balcony.

Lu Xingzhou carried the easel in, and brought in all the other painting tools as well.

"Wow, quite the full set of tools you have here," Jiang Man couldn’t help but tease, noticing that the easel, brushes, and paints were all brand new.

Immediately, a fun memory popped into her head.

When she first started to learn painting, Wu Yingfan also, on a whim, said he wanted to learn.

He bought tools worth tens of thousands but ended up painting very abstractly, always scoring 52 on his tests.

The lowest score in art grading was 52.

Sometimes, his painting was so bad that the teacher couldn’t resist giving him a 52 minus 2.

There’s a saying that goes, "A poor student has many tools."

She only needed one pen to paint, and could even manage without a pen.

Whenever inspiration struck, anything could serve as paper and pen.

Lu Xingzhou now reminded her a bit of Yingfan from those days, well-prepared with painting tools. As for his painting skills, she remained skeptical.

"I’ll just sit like this."

Jiang Man casually took a seat on the sofa and started to flip through a book she picked up from the coffee table.

Lu Xingzhou set up the easel and a small stool and began to draw the outline methodically.

At first, Jiang Man could maintain her pose, engrossed in reading her book.

But he took so long to paint, unlike her, who could finish a painting in a minute or two.

Eventually, she propped her chin on her hands and got so bored that she fell asleep.

After an indeterminate amount of time, a rich and magnetic male voice resounded beside her.

"Jiang Man, the painting is finished."

Jiang Man frowned slightly and lazily opened her eyes.

"Let me see how it turned out?"

She braced herself, expecting Lu Xingzhou to have painted her as unattractively as a Kappa.

But when she saw the painting, she was stunned into admiration.

The colors were vibrant and made a strong visual impact.

The depiction of the person was very lifelike, almost spitting images.

Especially under the dim light of the table lamp, the atmosphere conveyed by the painting grew even more intense.

"The color scheme is very bold," Jiang Man couldn’t help but exclaim.

The more she looked, the more she felt the color combination was familiar.

"Ze Tui is a famous painter from the Nordic countries, right? You’re imitating his style, aren’t you?"

"You know about Ze Tui?" Lu Xingzhou’s eyes lit up, glowing with excitement.

"I do, a very niche artist, but I think his paintings are very spirited, and the colors he uses are bold! I’ve tried that kind of bold color scheme myself but never achieved harmony," Jiang Man explained, pulling out her phone and scrolling for her past works.

"To tell you the truth, I studied painting for a month. My sketches were great, but my use of color always left something to be desired."

"As for colors, I can teach you," Lu Xingzhou said nonchalantly. "With your talent, it would be easy to become quickly famous in the field of painting."

"Fame doesn’t matter to me," Jiang Man raised her eyebrows playfully. "My painting is all about inspiration, and I only paint for those I wish to."

"Oh?" Lu Xingzhou was good at picking up on key points.

"For those you wish to? How many people have you painted for?"

Jiang Man paused, a mischievous look in her eyes, "Just you and my foster father."

"Is that so?" Lu Xingzhou had been restraining himself all day.

Perhaps it was this couple’s suite that made him feel especially eager all day long.

"Jiang Man, we had an agreement during the day, we should stick to our words."

"Hmm?" Jiang Man knitted her brows.

An agreement?

What did we agree on?

Before she could recall, the man’s fervent kiss descended upon her...