My Exclusive Dream World Adventures

Chapter 112: 112 Sketch

After breaking up with Chen Xu, Cao Ningning returned home, unlocked the front door, entered the house, and carefully closed the door behind her, switching to her slippers.

The living room floor was a mess, with various items scattered all around. Near the dining table, there was an overturned bucket of noodles, its sauce spilled everywhere.

She ignored the chaos and walked straight to her bedroom door, pushed it open, and closed it behind her.

The room was tidy. She picked up the remote control for the air conditioner, turned on the heat, hung her small backpack on the hook behind the door, and sat down at her desk.

The desk was stacked with textbooks and various study guides. In the center, there was a mirror. She looked at her reflection and gestured with her finger.

As the air conditioner hummed, the temperature in the room gradually increased.

She took off her coat, opened the drawer, took out a piece of paper, and spread it out on the desk. It was a half-finished sketch of a face, with only the basic outlines visible.

She took out her phone, opened the gallery, and entered a folder full of photos of faces, each annotated with handwritten names.

She scrolled to a photo of a young woman labeled “new English teacher.” After examining it closely, she placed the phone upright on a stand.

“It doesn’t seem quite right.”

She pulled a pencil from the holder, tilted her head, and compared the half-drawn sketch with the photo, murmuring to herself. She crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it into a wastepaper basket in the corner.

Then, she pulled out a fresh sheet of paper.

Biting her lower lip, she lightly tapped her nose with the pencil tip, staring at the photo for a while before shaking her head. She swiped her finger across the phone screen, changing the photo.

A middle-aged woman appeared, labeled “auntie from the first floor.”

She swiped again, revealing a man in a security uniform, labeled “new community security.”

Another swipe brought up a young man, labeled “Chen Xu.”

Her finger paused, she stared at the photo for two seconds, then nodded slightly, “It’s going to be you.”

She stood the pencil upright, measured the proportions from the photo, and began sketching on the paper.

Time passed without her noticing until her phone suddenly rang.

As she continued to outline the features, she glanced at her phone. It was a WeChat message showing, “Ningning, I’m going out for a bit, you can…”

She took her eyes off the message and continued drawing.

She was focused on her drawing until a strong wave of hunger made her stop. She stretched, took her phone, exited the photo, opened WeChat, and read the earlier message.

“Ningning, I’m going out for a bit. Take care of your own meal.” Then, a red envelope followed.

She accepted the money, which was two hundred yuan. She exited WeChat, opened a food delivery app, ordered some food, and then pulled up the photo again, picking up her pencil to continue drawing.

…

After eating lunch, Cao Ningning was about to resume drawing, but her phone rang. She was going to dismiss the call, but seeing the caller’s name, she answered, “Lili, what’s up, calling me at this hour?”

“Are your parents home?”

“No.”

“I’ll come over then.”

“Okay.”

After hanging up, she picked up her pencil and resumed drawing.

Soon, the doorbell rang. She carefully finished shading the nose area before putting down her pencil and going to open the door.

Lili, her classmate with plain looks, entered and, seeing the state of the living room, quietly asked, “Did your parents fight again?”

“Yeah,” nodded Cao Ningning.

“What was it about this time?”

“My dad didn’t come home the night before last.”

Lili looked at her sympathetically and suggested, “How about we go out instead?”

Cao Ningning said, “I bought new headphones last week and used up all my pocket money. What about you?”

“I also just bought a new piece of clothing.”

The two exchanged a glance, both feeling somewhat helpless, as they were both broke, and suddenly they lost interest in going out.

After entering the room, Lili looked at the sketch on the desk, walked over to take a closer look, and asked her, “Who is this?”

“Chen Xu.” Cao Ningning walked over, “Don’t touch it, it’s not done yet.”

“Hmm?” Lili was initially perplexed and thought for a while, couldn’t recall anyone they knew by that name, and asked, “Who is that?”

Cao Ningning didn’t look up and said, “A kind-hearted passerby.”

“Huh?” Lili was even more confused. “If he’s just a passerby, why would you remember his face?”

“Hmm.” Hearing this, Cao Ningning supported her chin with her hand, thought for a moment, and said, “Because he looked rather pleasing to the eye.”

Lili leaned in, looking from left to right—though not ugly, he wasn’t exactly handsome either. How could he be pleasing to the eye? She felt utterly baffled by her friend’s taste.

“By the way, you’ve been studying sketching for a few years now, and you’ve drawn several hundred sketches, right? How many people can you remember?”

Cao Ningning said, “About twenty or so.”

“Only that few? Then isn’t your sketching in vain?”

“Not really, after I draw them, I can remember them for a while. But I forget those who I don’t often meet.”

Lili said, “I just can’t understand it. You have such a good memory, and you memorize words faster than I do. Why can’t you remember people’s faces?”

“The doctor said it’s a partial dysfunction in my brain, so it’s kinda like a condition. Mine isn’t too severe, anyway, I’m used to it.”

Lili sympathetically said, “Ah, you can’t even appreciate handsome guys. That’s so pitiful.”

“That’s enough.”

Cao Ningning added the final touches, satisfied, put the pen back in the holder, picked up the sketch, and displayed it in front of her.

“Wow, this is really well done. Your years of studying sketching weren’t wasted.” Lili looked at the sketch somewhat surprised and said, “Especially these eyes, it really looks like they are sneaking a peek at you, wow, this is great. Ningning, I think you should consider studying fine arts.”

“Hmm, I think so too. This is the best piece I’ve done.”

The more Cao Ningning looked at it, the more satisfied she felt, and said, “I’ve decided, I’m going to hang it up, right there.”

“No way?” Lili was somewhat shocked, hanging a sketch of some random man in the room was indeed weird—it was not like he was a celebrity or an idol.

Cao Ningning had already taken out the tape and asked her to help.

“People usually hang posters of celebrities, and you, even if you wanted to hang one, should choose someone handsomer.” Despite her words, Lili still stepped forward to help.

The two quickly finished hanging the sketch.

Feeling thirsty by now, Cao Ningning asked, “What would you like to drink?”

“Let’s see what’s in your fridge first,” Lili said, not too hopeful.

They went to the kitchen, opened the fridge—which was quite full, but the only beverage was soda water. Each took a bottle and returned to the room to chat.

“Let’s watch TV. There’s this dating reality show recently, it’s quite interesting,” Lili suggested.

“Sure.”

Cao Ningning picked up a tablet and handed it over. They sat shoulder to shoulder on the bed and started watching.

During a commercial break, Lili suddenly remembered something, “That guy from class six who’s good at basketball, Zhou Yang, didn’t he ask you out to a movie? What happened with that?”

Cao Ningning thought for a moment and said, “You mean that tall guy who smells strongly of sweat?”

“…”

Lili opened her mouth, hesitated, and finally said, “Let’s just watch TV.”

PS: Strong recommendation next week, official launch on May Day. Speaking of which, after dropping off the new book list, I haven’t really asked for votes, but everyone seems quite enthusiastic about voting. Thanks for that. Also, I would like to ask for some recommendation votes to see how much we can increase in the last week before launch. If you have votes, feel free to cast them.