Lanni was still shocked about her mory fragnt when another appeared. She was wearing the sa clothes as before and it was late at night; it must be a continuation to the previous mory fragnt. She crept into the house as though being cautious of being found out.
But Just as she passed by the living room, she heard a rustle and the lights went on.
"Where are you from, young lady?" An upset Li Yuming asked. She must have been sitting on the couch all this while, waiting for Lanni’s arrival.
"I..." Lanni stuttered. "I went out with my friends."
Li Yuming stood up and walked towards her, closing in the distance between them. "I know where you went, young woman. You don’t need to lie to ."
"Mother..." Lanni was nervous.
Li Yuming placed a finger on Lanni’s red lips, shutting her up. "Lanni, I don’t have anything against what you are doing but... why do you insist on ruining your life over things that might not even matter?"
"What do you an things that don’t matter mother? This is..."
"Shush." Li Yuming interrupted her defense. "You are only eighteen. What do you know? You have been brainwashed and..."
Lanni didn’t wait for her mother to finish her statent before interrupting. "And nothing. Mother, my age doesn’t equal to my level of knowledge and understanding. I know what I want with my life, mother." She walked off as soon as she was done.
...
Lanni stared into space as the mory fragnt faded off. "I had a fight with mom? I can’t believe it..."
Not just that, why did the Lanni from both mory fragnts seem so strange? It was as though she was a different person altogether! Instead of answering the questions she had always asked herself, those mory fragnts only made the puzzle more complex.
With a mind full of questions, Lanni went to sleep.
___
The next morning, Lanni woke up quite late. Her head hurt.
Last night, she had a strange dream. She actually dreamt that she was at a bar with a young man and that when she ca back ho, she argued with her mother before she walked off.
Stretching her limbs, she walked out of her room. As though her legs were being controlled by a different force from her brain, she walked mindlessly and was in her art studio before she realized it.
Her gaze landed on the balls of paper on the floor. She frowned, rembering what she was doing last night and why she had crumbled so much paper.
"Hopeless." She mumbled in her croaky voice. Realizing that her throat was sore, she coughed a little and decided to get herself a glass of water or breakfast.
She was about to leave when sothing caught her eye. She turned back to look at it.
On the canvas was the sketch of a young woman holding onto the railing of a balcony. Although it wasn’t complete, she could tell that the woman was herself. Now she rembered it. What she thought was a dream wasn’t actually a dream. It was sothing that happened in the past and she had rembered it the previous night. She must have absent-mindedly sketched out what she saw in her mory.
So it really happened. She was really at a bar at that ti. But why? And why was Li Yuming so mad at her later?
"Lanni, are you alright?" Li Yuming’s worried voice brought her back to her senses.
"Mom, morning." She said and hugged her mother. Only after feeling her mother’s warm hug did she realize that she had been scared.
"I called you several tis but you didn’t hear . What are you thinking about?" Li Yuming asked as she patted her daughter’s back fondly.
"Mom..." Lanni was about to ask about what she had rembered from her past. However, she thought about how her mother had seed to be hiding sothing the last ti she asked about her past. She was probably just going to brush her off with a mild lie again. So she shook her head and said, ���It’s nothing. I just... I miss Xiehan."
Li Yuming laughed heartily. "Look at you missing him already when you were together just last night. Who was it that said that they didn’t want anything to do with that pervert’ just a few months ago?"
"Mom, don’t tease now. I’m hungry." Lanni was embarrassed thinking about how fiercely she had rejected Ji Xiehan in the past.
Li Yuming tousled her hair. "Okay, okay. I will not tease you anymore."
"Mom, what are you looking at?" Lanni asked when she saw that her mother had stopped and was staring at sothing. She followed her gaze and found that Li Yuming was actually staring at the sketch on the canvas. "Erm... that was just doodling last night. I was bored so I wanted to paint myself."
Li Yuming looked at lanni as though trying to confirm her words and when she saw nothing but a blank expression, she nodded. "Let’s go downstairs now. Breakfast is ready."
Lanni was relieved and went downstairs for breakfast with her mother. She didn’t know that she could be such a good liar. When she actually hated liars and every word that ca out of their mouths-how ironical. But she didn’t an to lie either. It was only because she knew that the truth wouldn’t give her answers. Urgh... that sounded like forced logic too.
"Are you okay?" Li Yuming asked again. Why was Lanni so absent-minded?
"I’m alright mom. I’m still alright." She insisted and continued to eat her breakfast.
What she didn’t know was that Li Yuming was studying her expressions. Her mind went back to the sketch she had just seen in Lanni’s room. Although it was just a blank sketch, the image Li Yuming got was the sa one from Lanni when she was eighteen and rebellious. Was it a coincidence that Lanni’s so-called mindless sketch could bring that out, or had Lanni started to recover her mory?
If it was the latter then... it was tragic.
___
Later.
As expected, Lanni got a scolding from her tutor once again. It wasn’t exactly a scolding per se, but he still expressed his disappointnt.
"Lanni, you know fully well why Star Art International recruits young artists. It is because we want to groom them. In your case, we want to groom you and your classmates into comic artists. In the end, Star Art International is aiming for profit. If you cannot do a simple sketch, then, how will you be of use?"
Lanni was slightly taken aback by the sudden sharp words. However, he was right. Which company wasn’t aiming for profit? Jiang International was no different and that was the reason why they would start a subsidiary in the field of art. She only looked back at her tutor and said nothing.
"Think about it Lanni," The man continued. "You can take lessons from soone else. I heard you are Li Yuming’s daughter. Why don’t you ask your mother to teach you a few tips when she is not too busy? If you cannot then you can also..."
"I quit." Lanni said.
"...you can ask so of the best students in the class to help you out. You might understand them better since you are of the sa age bracket... what did you say?" Lanni’s two words sunk in only a mont later and he was shocked.
"I said I quit." Lanni repeated the words. "Sir, I have done all I can but I just can’t get anything right. I hate to lag everyone behind so..." Lanni sighed before saying the two words again. "I quit."
"Wait." The man shot from his seat and stopped her from leaving his office. "You cannot just quit. You have co a long way. If it’s because I was too harsh just now then pardon . Just don’t be so hasty."
Lanni could tell from his tone that he really didn’t want her to give up. He must have said all he did because he was under pressure from his superiors. After all, everyone else in the class was now way ahead of her, the so-called champion. Even Cheng Yu had improved trendously after becoming Li Yuming’s student. She was the black sheep now. Which was why she thought she should save everyone the trouble and leave the class.
"Why don’t you think about it?"
Lanni nodded and left, even though she had no intention to think about it. She had already made a decision and she was not going to change her mind.
Everyone else had already left the institute so after grabbing her things, she entered her car but didn’t know where to go. She let the chauffeur go back ho and drove around aimlessly for hours. She was tired and she knew that the car would run out of gas soon. She was hungry as well, so she chose to go and eat and rest. But before she realized it, she was at the entrance of Feng Ji International.
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