Silly Bride

Chapter 181

man, young man, teenager, and the newborn baby lying beside her are all related to her. My painting symbolizes the connection of bloodlines, as well as the cycle of life.”Then, she continued, “My artwork is a painting with line art, and I’ve painted seven people. I admit that my strokes became rougher and rougher throughout the process. Besides, my coloring skill is slightly lacking too. Nevertheless, I’m confident that my painting is much better than Winnie’s.”“Oh?” Flashing a faint smile, Winnie said, “Please, tell me more about it.”“Your painting is lifeless! The houses are in shambles, and the plants are all withered. You must’ve only finished half of your painting, right? I have a question for you. What are those that are floating on the water? Dead bodies of shrimps?”“Ms. Xander, are you sure you can see the painting clearly? Why don’t you come closer to take a look? Why would shrimps have wings on their bodies? They’re mayflies.”“Mayflies?” Yolanda understood what was going on. “Mayflies have an incredibly short lifespan. They are able to mate and reproduce in that short period of time. Is that what you understand about life and death? A lifeless place and a short lifespan? Wait a minute. Why are you laughing? Did I say anything wrong?”“No. In fact, you’re right. But then, you only managed to understand half of my painting.”“Really? What about the other half? Where is it now? Is it in your imagination?”Winnie smiled, saying nothing. Immediately, she turned her painting upside down.As soon as everyone fixated their gaze on the inverted painting, they were stunned. After all, no one expected that painting to look exactly different when it was inverted. Every creature in the artwork showed signs of revival and vitality.For example, the rising sun, growing grass, budding branches, blooming flowers, and flying mayflies.Everyone in the room was so shocked that they couldn’t make a sound, especially Yolanda.After everyone fell silent, Winnie started introducing her painting, “The title of my painting is ‘Endless.’ Apart from the meaning behind my artwork, I think I’ve completed it better than you, Ms. Xander. What do you think?”Yolanda was speechless for a moment. She couldn’t believe that Winnie managed to include both the situations of life and death in her painting in just an hour. Moreover, Winnie’s artwork was so perfect that Yolanda couldn’t find any flaws in it.Following that, Sebastian started commenting on both paintings, “Yolanda, your artwork, ‘The Cycle,’ is a painting about the continuation of lives. Your understanding of this theme is indeed correct. However, your understanding is too superficial, as you only included humans in your painting. We all know that every creature in the world will go through life and death. Besides, you chose to draw a painting with line art when you already know you’ll have insufficient time to complete it. You lack self-awareness. That’s why your painting is barely completed. Hence, this becomes your shortcoming in this competition.”After saying that, he turned around and looked at Winnie’s painting. “As for Winnie, her ‘Endless’ has included everything in this world in the painting. She used only a few strokes to illustrate the signs of death and lifelessness. We can see that by observing the person in the house, the animals, and the plants. However, when we turn the painting over, we’ll see a painting that symbolizes the resurrection of lives. Everything comes and goes, and there’s only a thin line separating life and death. She didn’t violate the rules and theme of this competition. As we look at the flying mayflies in the painting, we can tell that they have no complaints, even though they can only live for one day. Moreover, they are enthusiastic about their life when they have the chance. Isn’t that such an elegant attitude to deal with death? With that, I announce Winnie as the winner of this round. She has won two out of three rounds in this competition. Yolanda, you lost. In that case, you have to keep your promise and let me accept Winnie as my student. You’re convinced now, aren’t you?”Yolanda fell silent. She stared at Winnie’s painting for a long time.Suddenly, she took her painting over and tore it into pieces. Finally, she crumpled it hard.“I admit defeat! Grandpa, congratulations on finding such an impressive student. Winnie, I’ll always keep an eye on you when you’re learning medicine skills from my grandpa in the future. If you upset him, even for a little, I’ll make you pay for it a hundredfold.”“Don’t worry. I won’t give you the chance to do that.”“You’d better keep your promise.”After saying that, Yolanda headed back to her room straight. It was as if she didn’t even want to spare Winnie another glance.As soon as she went back to her room, she shut the door and window tight. Upon making sure that no one would hear her talking, she dialed Nate’s number.However, Nate didn’t pick up the phone. Instead, he disconnected the call instantly.Yolanda was infuriated.Instead of giving Nate any chance to explain anything through text messages, she started spam-calling him.It was hard for Nate to hang up her call one by one. Left with no choice, he could only pick it up.“Why didn’t you pick up my call?” With a grim expression, Yolanda asked.Nate tried to suppress his anger. “The entire crew is waiting for me. It’s almost time for me to shoot my part. Can you be more reasonable?”“I’m not here to reason anything with you. It’s just that I have something to inform you.”“Hurry up and tell me, then. Everyone’s waiting for me.”“My grandpa has treated Xavier. He also prescribed some medicine for Xavier and gave him an acupuncture treatment. Besides, Winnie is now my grandpa’s disciple.”“What do you mean? Your grandpa’s disciple?”“That means my grandpa is going to start teaching her all of his medical skills. In the future, not only will my grandpa treat Xavier, but even Winnie can also treat him herself. That woman is actually way smarter than I thought. You should’ve known that too, right?”“Then, why didn’t you stop your grandpa? I thought he already has you as his disciple.”“Nate Fraser…” Yolanda found that hilarious. “You treat me with such an attitude, yet you still expect me to complete everything you want me to do perfectly?”“What do you want, then?” Nate started losing his patience. “I’ll give it to you!”“You’re the only thing I want!” Yolanda roared, “Don’t you think we should at least meet? When was the last time we saw each other? One year or two years ago?”“Fine, Yolanda!” Xavier compromised for the time being. “I’ll go and see you after this. However, Xavier shouldn’t get cured! You’ll have to think of a way to do something with your grandpa’s treatment.”“Sure, but let’s make one thing clear first. When are you coming to see me? What’s the exact date? Which flight are you taking?”“Yolanda, I’m rather busy recently. I just joined this crew, so it’s hard for me to apply for a leave.”Yolanda scoffed, “You’re not sincere at all. I think we should forget about our plan.”“Wait!” Nate tried to win her back. “How about I send you my schedule? I promise I’m not lying. I’m really busy. If you don’t believe me, you can look at my schedule. It’ll tell you everything. All right. I’ve sent it to you. You can take a look at it.”Yolanda glanced at her phone. As expected, she received a picture from Nate.It was, indeed, his schedule. Moreover, he was packed almost every hour in the schedule. It seemed like he was really as busy as he said.“Fine. Got it. I’ll try my best. I’ll let you know after picking the meet-up date, and you’ll have