Exclusive Model for the Top Painter Chapter 72

Practice in the Art Museum

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On their second day in Madrid, the pair began to visit art galleries to collect material for the paintings.

The city's 1,962 ancient buildings are filled with a wide range of cultural performances, exhibitions and festivals; it's a vibrant example of a city where history meets modern life.

In one of the art museums, a story is told:

Spain's greatest poet of the twentieth century, Federico Garcia Lorca, known as the "Son of Andalusia", had a passionate homosexual affair with a young painter of his time, Salvador Dali.

In the spring of 1923, after graduating from university, Lorca travelled to Madrid with his brother. It was here that he first met Dali.

They met through art and aesthetics, and were deeply attracted to each other through their wild rebelliousness. They were inseparable, appearing as a pair in Madrid's museums, bars and concert halls.

Soon, friendship grew uncontrollably into passionate love. Lorca wrote poems for Dali, and Dali painted for him, praising him as "the only genius of our time".

This history is a perfect fit for the subject of the painting requested by Samuel, but the museum hasn't given it much space.

In order to gain a deeper understanding of the subject's background, Ji Xiuyuan was guided by the museum's staff to the archives to search for relevant information.

The archive was on the top floor of the building, and as he stepped on the wooden staircase, the sound of creaking rang in his ears from time to time. Liang Jin was simply afraid that the stairs would not be able to bear the weight and would suddenly break like in the film scenes.

Ji Xiuyuan seemed to have guessed his thoughts, and gently held his hand: "Xiao Jin, this museum is a heritage site and has preserved its appearance from the fifteenth century; although it is old, the safety is absolutely fine. If something really happens, don't worry, I will catch you."

Liang Jin was instantly very relieved: yes, even if it collapses, isn't there still my Ji Shen to cushion me from below?

The staff led them to the archive, and after explaining a whole lot of details to Ji Xiuyuan, they left.

Liang Jin asked, "Ji Shen, isn't the archive a very important place? How did you convince him?"

Ji Xiuyuan said, "It wasn't me, it was Mr. Samuel. Although he is a famous art investor in Washington, Madrid is his hometown; therefore, he is quite famous in the local art circle. He helped me to communicate with the person in charge here about the creation of the painting, and I can consult any art museum in Madrid as I wish."

"Awesome! Then why aren't the staff keeping watch here? Isn't he afraid we'll steal the treasures?"

Ji Xiuyuan pondered for a while, "Maybe it's because of laziness, do you know why we have to come here after five o'clock?"

"Because the sun is going down and it's cool?"

"No, because in Spain, lunch breaks are from two to four-thirty in the afternoon."

"With such a long break, does this still count as work?"

"Five to eight in the evening is work time."

"Oh, that doesn't seem so lazy."

"They have a system called bridge holiday, which means that whenever a holiday falls on a Thursday, the whole country defaults to a holiday on Friday as well. That way, it's paired with the weekend for exactly four days, like a bridge."

"That's too blissful, isn't it?"

"The Spanish are known for their confused sense of time. You can be late for a meeting, leave early, or even come back after it's over. If a Spaniard says later to you, it can be an hour, a week, or a year."

Liang Jin: ... How the hell does this country maintain normal operations?

While Ji Xiuyuan was reading the literature, Liang Jin was bored and found a collection of paintings to look through.

It wasn't like you needed to be literate to read paintings anyway.

After he had finished flipping through this collection of paintings, Ji Xiuyuan was still standing in front of the ancient and solemn dark brown bookshelf, holding a book in his hand and studying it.

From this angle, he looked tall and handsome. It was as if he was an elegant scholar from the European Middle Ages, working tirelessly in his field of expertise.

Liang Jin curiously said, "Ji Shen, I remember you told me that your Spanish is not good. Are you lying to me again?"

"Xiao Jin, I have never lied to you."

"You can even read literature, you call that bad?"

"I am indeed good at reading Spanish, but listening, speaking and writing are only at a very basic level. And my mastery of French and English, which is practically near-native, it's certainly not good when compared to that."

"... I don't want to hear about your superiority."

"Xiao Jin, are you bored?"

"A little."

"Come over here."

Ji Xiuyuan wrapped his arms around him and held the book up in front of him, reading it while translating it to him softly.

In his ears were the gentle whispers of his lover, and the dry literature was instantly as pleasant as poetry, so intoxicating.

The museum closed at eight o'clock. Anticipating that the staff might leave early, Ji Xiuyuan purposely rushed to finish the material collection work before seven thirty.

When the two left the archive, they returned to the ground floor, but suddenly found that the entire hall was empty, and even the lights were all switched off.

It seemed that the staff here was not only lazy, but also very forgetful.

After carefully checking the north and south exits, Ji Xiuyuan sighed and said, "Xiao Jin, we're locked in here."

"No way? It's only seven thirty now, right? Besides, don't they keep an eye on where their visitors go?"

"The archives aren't usually occupied, so maybe they forgot."

"Would a phone call help?"

"After hours, work phones usually don't connect."

"Call the police?"

"Spanish government agencies are extremely inefficient, unless it's a serious life-threatening accident. For a small matter like this, the other party will advise you to discuss it tomorrow."

Liang Jin couldn't help but internally complain once again: ... How the hell does this country keep running normally????

"So, we'll be sleeping on the floor here tonight?"

"It's still early, we can wander around some more."

This art museum had four floors: a lobby on the ground floor for reception and displays, a concert hall, meeting rooms, and office areas on the second floor, a huge variety of art experiences on the third, and a semi-loft-style archive on the fourth.

The two of them wandered from the ground floor to the third floor. Without the illumination of the lights, the exhibits of the art museum showed a different kind of beauty in the silence of the night.

Next to the sculpture experience area was the art screening experience area, and although the name sounded lofty, in Liang Jin's opinion, it was just a small cinema.

He excitedly said to Ji Xiuyuan: "Ji Shen, we have a place to spend the night! There's a cinema here! There are sofas and a big screen! That's great, let me look for the switch and see if we can arrange for a bedtime movie."

"Xiao Jin, this is an art experience area, not a cinema."

"What's the difference?"

"The video resources shown here are all private creations of artists, not commercial films of the world."

"When it comes down to it, it's all a place to watch films. I think it's a cinema, you're not allowed to argue with that."

"Okay, do you want to see the work here?"

"What else? It's not even nine o'clock now!" Liang Jin turned on his phone's flashlight and explored around, "Ji Shen, quickly help me find where the electricity meter is."

Liang Jin was always extremely excited about this kind of exploratory fun. He walked a full circle around the screening room and finally found the electricity meter behind the air conditioner, "I found it!"

Opening the cover of the meter, there were switches of different colours inside, marked with tiny Spanish words.

The fact that he couldn't read the writing didn't stop him from snapping the thing on.

Since he didn't know which one to turn on, it would be no problem to turn them all on.

After the operation was completed, the lights suddenly lit up. Liang Jin happily said, "Great, I'm going to pick a disc now!"

On the display shelf on the side, there were many discs neatly arranged in different categories.

Liang Jin couldn't understand the meaning of the categories, and relied solely on the appearance of the discs to pick what he was interested in.

Ji Xiuyuan watched him pick up several discs in a certain category and said with a soft smile, "Xiao Jin, you like this kind?"

"Is there a problem?"

"Why do you like this kind?"

"Because the cover looks ambiguous, it feels like it will be exciting, you should watch something like this at night!"

"Do you know what you're holding?"

"Isn't it a work of art?"

"Indeed, and it's a work of art that analyses and instructs the movements of human love."

"Why does it sound like that sort of thing when you say it?"

"What kind?"

"The kind that can't be shown in China."

"Xiao Jin, this is Spain."

Liang Jin was shocked, "Is it really that kind?!!!"

Ji Xiuyuan nodded and asked softly, "What? Don't want to see it?"

"Want want want want want want!!! Definitely want to see it! Such a precious artistic treasure! I'm already eager to try it out!"

Liang Jin held the pile of discs he had chosen in front of Ji Xiuyuan: "Ji Shen, why don't you pick one?"

Ji Xiuyuan took one of the many discs that had a light grey hue, "Let's watch this one."

"Okay!"

Liang Jin took the disc and walked over to the projector, undaunted by the pile of Spanish operating instructions. Wasn't it just a matter of playing a disc, there was no need to be literate, weren't projectors pretty much the same all over the world?

Human potential can be stimulated, just like when shopping at the Washington Pride Parade, Liang Jin actually turned on the projection equipment with a smooth motion.

The opening credits began to appear on the big screen.

The lights suddenly went out. Liang Jin was startled, and turned his head to see that Ji Xiuyuan had turned off the lights in the hall.

The room was filled with silence, with only the light emanating from the screen and ambiguous murmurs in Spanish.

The two sat side by side on the sofa, Ji Xiuyuan wrapped his arms around his waist, and occasionally dropped his head to kiss him.

Liang Jin originally thought that the content of the film would be men and women, but in the end, after watching for ten minutes, not a single girl appeared, so he asked, "Ji Shen, how come there are no girls in this film?"

Ji Xiuyuan's tone was threatening, "Xiao Jin, do you want to watch that?"

Liang Jin subconsciously denied, "How could I! I don't want to! I'm just curious about where this plot is heading."

As soon as his words fell, the two male protagonists began to roll together, and Liang Jin was relieved: I wondered why there were no girls, but it turned out to be a gay film!

Wait, a gay film???

Ji Shen definitely did it on purpose!!!

The picture on the screen was getting more and more powerful, Ji Xiuyuan held him on his lap and started to unbutton his shirt.

Liang Jin pressed his hand and said, "Ji Shen, we're studying, you should be more serious."

"Learning can't be separated from practice," Ji Xiuyuan's hand slipped into his shirt, causing a wave of numbing shivers, "The position that's playing right now feels pretty good, want to give it a try?"

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: September 18, 2023