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When I Met You (Web Novel) - Part 2
When I Met You - Part 2
It was two months later when I met Jia Han again. My close childhood friend and I came to Beijing to try to make something of ourselves. However, one night in late autumn, she killed herself after making a last phone call to me. She had been confiding to me that her superior in the office would inappropriately touch her from time to time. When she was telling all these, sometimes helpless and sometimes sad, I would always console her and say, if she couldn’t take it anymore, let’s just change jobs……who would know that she was gone without turning my words into reality.
I was blaming myself and determined to find out the truth. I was in and out of her company trying to find any witness or anyone who knew anything. The result of my endless rushing about was that I got fired from my own company. And there’s no company in my field would dare to hire me anymore, because my reputation was--- ---terrible.
I read in the newspaper that there was girl who put on her contract with the hiring company clearly stated that sexual harassment was not allowed. Then, this girl was ridiculed by the company and no company would interview her for the next three months. If I had read this before, I would probably laugh it off disapprovingly. But right at this moment I could deeply felt how difficult it is to cry out for help for a female in this male dominating society. Even so, I’m still willing to fight for the justice that my departed best friend deserved.
To make a living, I was forced to do odd jobs. I had some fine arts training back in college and had volunteered as a docent at museums, therefore, I decided to try my luck at art galleries in Beijing to work as an art dealer.
I took a deep breath and walked into the Zi Xiao Gallery at the Xintiandi shopping district. After some observation, it seemed that there was only one person working there. The gallery was decorated in an elegant light blue tone. About a dozen paintings densely hung inside a space of roughly 200 square meters. I carefully looked around, there were no price tags around the paintings. I knew, either the owner of the gallery was arrogant or he was playing some tricks. I decided to give it a try. When I was in college, I had had this “excellent performance” of auctioning off a painting appraised at $20 for $2,500 at a mock auction. These kind of paintings without a price tag were just right for me to unleash my talent. Furthermore, I needed money to file a lawsuit for my friend.
While I was pondering, Jia Han came right next to me without me noticing it. I just felt a shadow under my right hand side. I hastily lowered my head.
I was somewhat startled. This time he was wearing a fitting black suit with a fashionable black framed glasses on his face. I didn’t know why but felt that his aura was quite in tune with this location. He seemed to have an innate sensitivity for arts. If my impression of him at the Zhao Yang Park was a boy next door, then at this moment he was a capable professional. I decided to show off a bit.
“What a coincidence, Mister., we meet again!”
He smiled gently.
“I’m here to see the paintings, you too?”
He nodded.
“Are you here to buy painting? Is it alright to let me talk about my take on this painting?”
He looked at me with great interest, which made me quite happy. I started to blurt out words.
“The style of this painting is somewhat imitating Monet……look at that line, that composition, and the use of colors. But it still has its own characteristic, because the natural scenery is Chinese, haha!” I blurted out without thinking, after seeing the little house in the painting looked like a Chinese pavilion. At that moment, it was impossible for me to think that I would come upon an expert.
He looked at me with a faint smile and then glanced behind my back. A little while later, a staff handed over a pamphlet. My face quickly turned red after I looked at the pamphlet. It turned out that this painting was a reproduction of Monet’s “The Basin at Argenteuil”.[1]
It’s too embarrassing. I had better go~~was what I was thinking, he handed me a piece of paper. “You have good eyesight. At least you can tell it’s Monet.”
I took over the piece of paper with shaking hands. I stared at him quietly. Why did he write it to me, not say it to me? There’s only one reason, he--- ---is a mute.
All of sudden, I was dumbfounded. I didn't know what kind of attitude I should use to face him? At the same time, a strange idea came to my head; he actually didn’t hear a thing when I was pouring out to him at the park. There’s no doubt that, as a confidant, he’s very reliable……Bah! I despised myself. I stopped this train of thought and straightened myself up to say goodbye to him.
Right at that moment, he pulled my hand and put another piece of paper in it. I opened it and saw, “I need an arts salesperson, are you willing to come?”
This was how I became the salesperson at the Zi Xiao Gallery. Jia Han gave me a very good rate for commissions. I was happy that I could work here.
Jia Han wrote his name to me. I curled up my lips. “But, what’s your last name?” I suddenly realized that he couldn’t hear, so I was looking for a pen in my bag to write it down for him.
He shook his head, pointing to his own lips, then looked at me again. I thought for a while then asked, “You can understand what I’m saying by looking at me?”
He nodded, then shook a bit.
“You can only understand some?”
He sticked out his thumb to show his agreement. It seemed that Jia Han didn’t want to stay on this topic too much. He just pointed to the name “Zi Xiao Gallery” on the pamphlet and tapped on it.
“Zi Xiao, Zi Xiao……”, it suddenly clicked, “Could it be that your last name is Sun?”[2]
He showed his white teeth; there was more approval than happiness on his face. After a while, he handed over one more piece of paper. “I like having a smart employee.”
Note:
[1]: We tried to look up what Monet’s “秋日景色” (Lit. autumn day scenery) was exactly and google seems to suggest that it’s Claude Monet’s “The Basin at Argenteuil.” Though we think maybe “Autumn on the Seine, Argenteuil” would be a better fit? Well there’s no pagoda in either of them.
[2]: This is a play on Chinese characters so let me try to explain. The name of the gallery, Zi Xiao, in Chinese is 梓晓 which is the same pronunciation as 子小 which when combined together makes the word 孙 which is pronounced “sun”. (Note: This only works in simplified Chinese.)
