1 Year Of Beginning

Zhang Yi managed to call his friend as he walked out of the house. As he had expected, Old Su was quite angry because he was not at home.

"Hahaha, you know me, Old Su, I'm visiting my son."

Old Su, Zhang Yi's friend, frowned when he heard his friend's word. "Have you berated him when he stood up to my granddaughter?"

Eh, granddaughter?

Zhang Yi's brain spun hard when he recalled that he tried matchmaking Zhang Yi and Old Su's granddaughter. He didn't remember which one, though, since Old Su had so many granddaughters.

Well, he always called his son to berate him whenever the date failed.

"Of course, Old Su."

"That's good then. When will you come here?"

"I'm on my way."

"Good, then I'll enjoy the snack first."

"Wait! Don't finish all the…."

Tut! Tut!

Zhang Yi's face turned ugly. Just yesterday, Zhang Xue sent him some snacks made of fruits that Zhang Xue experimented with to create new recipes. They all used moderate amounts of sugar since it was for the older generation. After all, Zhang Yi couldn't eat too much food that has sugar.

Knowing his friend, he knew that the snack in his refrigerator would disappear at lightning speed.

'Nevermind, I'll just ask Xue for more. For now, I need to call him.'

Browsing his phone, Zhang Yi found the name of his old friend that he was looking for. He noticed that his driver had arrived, so he got into the car while holding his phone, waiting for his friend on the other end of the world to answer the call.

Click!

"It sure takes you a long time."

"What time do you think this is, Old Pal? You're going to drive me sleepless like this."

What time?

Zhang Yi calculated the time and nearly face palm. Right, he had completely forgotten that the time in that place had 12 hours' difference. It should be still 5 AM in that place, which was truly an unfriendly hour to be awake.

"Sorry, I forgot."

"This better be important."

"When will you return back to the country?"

"Huh?" His friend yawned. "It should be in two to three months if I'm not delayed. What is it?"

"You should hurry and return back to the country. I found a gem in painting. You wouldn't believe what I saw just now….."

Zhang Yi's friend put the phone slightly further as he frowned. It was not the first time Zhang Yi called him, telling him that he had found someone who could paint well. In the first place, Zhang Yi was not much of an artist, a trait which he passed down to his son.

Of course, Zhang Yi would never admit it.

Even though he had good taste, the 'good' here could vary. He wasn't sure about the quality since Zhang Yi would be a bit untrustworthy about it.

"I'll see it when I return back."

"Don't take so long, you know how…"

Tut! Tut!

The call was cut. Zhang Yi's friend knew how talkative Zhang Yi could be when the latter was excited. Rather than suffering that torment early in the morning, he would be better off returning back to sleep. As for that interesting painter, he would just call Zhang Yi in the future if he could remember.

Well, even if he couldn't, Zhang Yi wouldn't let him off.

"Uh, this is the nth time he hung up on me," Zhang Yi glared at his phone screen in annoyance. He glanced out of the window and realized that he would arrive back at his house soon. Rather than thinking about his friend who was staying in other countries, it would be better for him to think about how to please Old Su first.

'Ugh, I hope he didn't eat all my snacks.'

Somehow, the one he felt worried about was only his snacks.

…

- Zhang Liang's House –

Feng Mian stayed in the room and took a bath. She spent her time browsing the recent news until it was time to eat. When she came to the dining room, she could see Zhang Liang's complexion looked much better. He must have gotten himself some sleep just now.

"The pictures are ready. Come with me to my work room," Zhang Liang said after they have finished their dinner.

In the workroom, Zhang Liang opened social media through the web. Afterwards, he uploaded the photos that Butler Lou sent to him through his email. Seeing the picture beautifully taken from multiple angles, Feng Mian blinked her eyes in disbelief. That didn't look any worse from pictures taken by a professional photographer.

Zhang Liang pointed to the page. "You can set the picture here and your pricing method for different commissions. Do you want to take on commission in digital arts, too?"

"Yes, I can do that too," Feng Mian replied.

"You should prepare some examples later. I'll keep this empty and just add the pictures on the one marked with oil painting."

Thinking about her design back in university time, Feng Mian knew that she could use them. They were all just her homework most of the time because she didn't really like using digital arts, but it would be more than enough. After all, she was not sure that there would be anyone who would be interested in buying real paintings.

"For oil painting, what's your price?"

"I'll use a line based pricing method and multiply it with 8 dollars," Feng Mian replied after thinking for a bit.

Zhang Liang arched his eyebrows. "Wouldn't you take losses if you price it that low?"

"Not really. I'll slowly increase it in time. At first, it'll only cover the material's price and some profit but later, it'll be enough for me to feed myself."

Feng Mian knew that many people wouldn't want to use newcomer's art because they didn't trust them. Because of that, Feng Mian had to start with a low price, but not too low too. This should be good enough.

Zhang Liang arched his eyebrows. "You speak as if I didn't feed you enough. Should I ask Chef Lu to cook more?"

"No!"

Just this afternoon, she had already suffered under Zhang Yi's gaze. If Chef Lu increased the portion, she would have no choice but to finish it all, being overate once more. After all, she disliked leaving food on the plate.

Zhang Liang smirked. "Come pick the theme."

Feng Mian glared at the man, but she followed his instruction. It took her some time before it finished and Zhang Liang taught her what she needed to do and how requests work.