Old Mr. Collins glanced at Janet and Emily indifferently before he smiled and said to Jade, “Jade, I heard that you received a special gift today.”
Hearing this, Jade smiled and replied, “Yes, I did. Look, this is a gift that my granddaughter gave me. As a teacher, what do you think?”
Old Mr. Collins didn’t plan to hide his intentions so with a smile, he said, “I’m not going to lie. The only reason I came over today was to look at this painting.”
“Really? How are you so well-informed?” Jade asked jokingly.
As Jade pulled out the painting Janet gave her, she warned, “Old Mr. Collins, you have to be careful. This is a gift from my granddaughter so you must not damage it!”
With a curious expression, Old Mr. Collins wondered, What kind of a painting would make her feel so nervous?
When the guests heard Jade praise and protect her granddaughter, all of them mocked her. “Grandma Jade, don’t show him Janet’s painting! It’s embarrassing!” “He’s right. Old Mr. Collins doesn’t really care about it. Why are you treating it like it’s treasure?” “What a joke. Old Mr. Collins’s painting skills are much better than Janet’s.” “If I were him, I wouldn’t even bother looking at it. After all, it’s only a copy so how great can it be?”
Shirley joined them and said, “Mom! Don’t take it out and disgrace the Jackson family! If I were you, I would’ve directly thrown that painting into the trash can.”
However, Jade was unbothered by their words. Instead, she said to Old Mr. Collins, “If my granddaughter’s painting is not that good, please don’t be too rough on her!” “Jade, you’re being too serious!” Old Mr. Collins said politely. Even though he knew that Janet had a bad temper and character, her painting skills were definitely not inferior to any of the students in his art academy. With that, Old Mr. Collins carefully laid out Janet’s painting. As soon as he saw the style of the painting, he was completely taken aback.
Whether it was the use of colors, the layout, or the poem in black ink, all of them were similar to Master Nato’s style. No wonder Leroy was so anxious to let me appraise it. However, when his gaze moved toward the bottom right of the painting, he felt slightly disappointed because it didn’t have Master Nato’s exclusive seal.
Everyone in the art industry knew Master Nato’s style. Whether it was a small or large painting, Master Nato would always stamp on his exclusive seal at the bottom. However, the style and level of painting skills was no different from Master Nato’s.
Moreover, it wasn’t possible for it to be a copy. After all, no matter how hard a person tried, they could only copy the painting but not the painting style. Every person had a different and one-of-a-kind painting style so Old Mr. Collins could only think of one possibility…
“Janet, are you Master Nato’s apprentice?” Old Mr. Collins asked Janet in shock. Janet shook her head with a blank expression but she smiled inwardly. As soon as Old Mr. Collins finished his sentence, everyone present burst into laughter.
Shirley sneered, “Oh my, it seems that Old Mr. Collins’s standards aren’t that high after all. Can’t you tell that it’s a copy? Are you blind?”
“Shirley!” Jade sternly shouted at her. How can Shirley speak to Old Mr. Collins like that? Everyone looked at Jade and Old Mr. Collins with mocking smiles on their faces. “Shirley’s right. Can’t Old Mr. Collins see that this painting is a copy?”
“It is such a simple copy that even my three-year-old son would be able to do it!” “Hahaha, Old Mr. Collins is probably getting old and confused!” “No wonder he’s in such a hurry to look for apprentices. Perhaps in a few years, he won’t be able to accept apprentices anymore!”
Old Mr. Collins was not annoyed by the ridicule of the crowd. Instead, he calmly said, “It seems that all of you are professionals in painting! Laymen like you can’t tell the difference. Even though it is possible to copy the shape and colors of the painting, it’s impossible to copy painting styles! Have you ever seen two people with the same painting style?” Upon hearing this, the voices around him instantly stopped and nobody could rebuke him. Jade stood up and with a shocked expression, she asked, “Old Mr. Collins, are you saying that this painting was painted by Master Nato herself?”
