Now, at not even forty, her mother was at the most charming age for a woman, truly deserving of being dressed up beautifully.
Once her mother was all dressed up, she would go shopping with her, and everyone they met on the street would see how beautiful her mother was.
When her mother visited the Dahua Furniture store, everyone would surely envy Old Comrade Hua Zhaoyuan for marrying such a beautiful wife. Ha, ha, what a catch!
Later, she planned to take her mother to the photo studio more often, paint several portraits of her, and preserve the memories of her mother’s youthful beauty.
Just thinking about it made her so happy.
As she painted, imagining her mother in beautiful clothes, her brush unconsciously began to outline the female figure, then like playing with dolls, she added stylish clothes and shoes around the figure’s outline.
Lost in her work, she suddenly heard a snort beside her.
It was then she realized someone was standing behind her. Turning her head, she was surprised to see it was Ju Lei.
“Teacher Ju.” She instinctively greeted him politely, then remembered that he seemed to have snorted disdainfully just moments before.
Was he scoffing at her?
“All this fuss about looking pretty?” Ju Lei looked at the clothing designs on her paper, recalling the day of the Qingmei Biennale awards when she had made a splash in an outfit she designed herself, even making it onto the cover of “Visual 111.”
Humph, a good girl who should be focused on painting, wasting time on trivialities.
Designing clothes, a tailor’s job, and she takes pride in it? Such self-satisfaction?
Heh.
“Young girls mature early, and even if they seem smart and outstanding as children, later they can get bogged down by too many distractions and start to lose focus.”
“Boys who mature later often end up surpassing them. In many schools, this is evident during senior year when boys who weren’t great at studying suddenly excel, and their intelligence and talents greatly outshine the girls.”
“By around the first year of high school, girls start to show signs of stagnation and academic regression.”
“It’s the same with painting.”
“You’d better spend less time on these frivolous things. I’m saying this for your good, as your elder.”
His tone was very rude, filled with disdain and prejudice.
That last ‘for your good’ was clearly just a way to mask his own malice.
In that moment, Hua Jie felt a surge of emotion she could hardly contain. She had grown up hearing assertions like “once girls start developing, their intelligence will lag behind boys”, and in her previous life, it often made her feel inferior.
She thought her struggles with academics and slow progress in painting were because she was a girl.
She even used to fantasize about how much better it would be if she were a boy…
This kind of widespread societal gaslighting of women from her era was absolutely lethal, disgusting enough to make her, someone who had lived through future times, want to burst out in harsh criticism.
But before Hua Jie could organize her thoughts to speak, Fang Shaojun, who had been paying attention, suddenly put down her pen and walked over.
She spoke up first:
“Teacher Ju, Madame Curie was a woman, so was Empress Wu Zetian.”
“If it weren’t for most women having less access to educational resources, having to take care of families, and other realities like childbirth that inevitably distract them, it’s not certain whether men would be considered more capable than women right now.”
“In my family, my mother is the stronger one. I’ve never felt that her focus on dressing up or taking care of me has affected her intelligence or earning potential.”
“Teacher Ju, you should speak fairly and not just say whatever you like when you want to lecture someone.”
“We’re in the 21st century now, and your thoughts are too outdated.”
Fang Shaojun, usually aloof and prideful, spoke as if a model student making a public declaration—forceful and deliberate.
She sounded like a noble young mistress scolding a household servant, filled with an air of superiority and aggression.
Combined with her expression that seemed to look down on everyone else as insignificant, her words were incredibly impactful.
“How disrespectful! Is this how your teachers teach you to respect your elders? You ungrateful thing!” Ju Lei’s face turned red with anger. It had been many years since anyone dared to speak to him like this.
These past few days had been full of frustrations, especially anything involving Shen Jiaru, always driving him to rage.
Just as Ju Lei was about to explode further, Qian Chong, who had been eavesdropping from 2 meters away, suddenly stood up, turned, and shouted towards Teacher Bai Qingquan:
“Teacher Bai, Teacher Ju said that women are not as smart as men and are always caught up in trivial matters!”
“…” Ju Lei’s expression froze, his face turning awkward as he looked towards Bai Qingquan.
That woman was a firecracker herself, smoldering even without a spark, and ready to explode with an open flame.
Hearing the shout, Bai Qingquan glanced around to grasp what Qian Chong had yelled, and immediately strode over like a rooster ready for battle.
Seeing Bai Qingquan approaching, Hua Jie glanced at her, and before the woman could get closer, she pursed her lips and smiled, saying:
“Teacher Ju, does it take you time to eat in the morning? Does it take time to dress before you leave the house? According to your logic, should the most unkempt person be the best painter?”
“I notice that Teacher Shen dresses very meticulously, and he paints better than you, right?”
“It’s the 21st century, Chairman Mao said that women hold up half the sky. Your thinking is really quite outdated.”
“Society already scrutinizes women harshly, assuming that girls who dress well must be poor students, and that women who care about their appearance must not be professional, or they must have climbed the career ladder through their looks…”
“These are the thoughts of old men with outdated, regressive views, who harbor deep biases against women, leading many women to feel unable to dress well at work, afraid to overdo their makeup, and hesitant to express their personalities too loudly.”
“The old notions of ‘female virtue’ were buried along with the feudal dynasties. As a contemporary artist, shouldn’t you have more progressive thoughts?”
“No wonder Teacher Shen paints so well; he doesn’t think observing life, appreciating beauty, contemplating life, and thinking about how to express these in painting are trivial matters, nor does he prejudicially believe that devoting all time to refining one’s art is the only correct path.”
Every word was pointed, simultaneously accusing Ju Lei of being a biased, regressive old man and mocking him for not measuring up to Teacher Shen.
Despite her soft voice, her words were exceptionally sharp.
“You—” Ju Lei trembled with anger, stung by the continuous jabs and particularly aggrieved to be criticized by a junior in front of so many people. He was almost ready to slap Hua Jie.
“Hahahaha!” Bai Qingquan, having approached during the exchange, thoroughly enjoyed the takedown. She would have liked to kiss Hua Jie in her delight, and after laughing, she tilted her chin up and stared at Ju Lei, saying:
“Well said, Hua Jie, this young lady. With such thoughts and wisdom, it’s hard to see how she won’t become famous.”
“Now barely having set foot in the door, she’s already this audacious. Are you all rushing to spoil her, fearing that her artistic career won’t die young enough?” Ju Lei, driven to frustration, spoke without filter.
“Ju Lei, remember your position and your manners,” Bai Qingquan also frowned.
The tension between the two was palpable, leaving no room for the children who had been arguing with Ju Lei to interject.
“…” Standing to the side, Fang Shaojun stepped back, secretly glancing at Hua Jie from behind, suddenly feeling a strange new respect for her.
Her view of Hua Jie had gradually shifted, finding her appearance more and more appealing.
She even felt a warmth in her heart, wanting to praise Hua Jie, wanting to buy her gifts, wanting to use every method she knew to show her favor.
With her lips pursed, Fang Shaojun said nothing, did nothing, just quietly watched Ju Lei’s livid face and then turned to Hua Jie, who seemed quite pleased after her fiery tirade, her lips curling into a small, satisfied smile.
Shen Jiaru and others, hearing the commotion, strolled over and surveyed the scene before asking:
“What’s going on here? Why the argument?”
“Humph, some people are exploiting their seniority, showing no respect for their age, bullying the kids here,” Bai Qingquan spoke with particular sharpness, as if there was no one she feared offending.
“Finally couldn’t hold it in anymore? After all these years, you still lose your cool?” Shen Jiaru suddenly laughed, seemingly not taking Ju Lei seriously at all. After laughing, he looked over his four students and sighed:
“My students are all quite unruly, not one of them is a quiet, obedient child.”
“Some are rebellious, daring to defy their teachers, criticize and challenge them;”
“Others bully their classmates, curse the heavens and the earth like wild children.”
“Then there’s the arrogant girl who thinks she’s second only to God;”
“And the introverted boy who, apart from painting, doesn’t care about anything else and ignores what the teacher says.”
“I usually don’t bother with them much, yet you feel the need to come and teach them a lesson? That’s rather idle of you.”
“Haha!”
Shen’s four students all blushed, their proud and expensive heads bowed.
Bai Qingquan looked at the four students and then at Shen Jiaru.
How come it seemed that although Shen was harsh in his words, his tone carried a thick sense of pride and self-satisfaction?
And what about that deep, unmistakable affection? What was that about?
Moreover, Bai Qingquan noticed that Ju Lei seemed even angrier now, his complexion worsened, and his lips began to tremble as if he were about to explode right there.
Tsk tsk, when it comes to infuriating people, how could Shen be even more formidable than her, Bai Qingquan?