Chapter 9 Chapter 9 Warmth from Northern Europe

Via Trentino near the Vatican is a typical Italian-style street. The houses here are mostly light yellow and milky white, with green shadows and flowers blooming in front of the windows of every house.The afterglow of dusk flows on the long and narrow shutters, shining a layer of light golden light, creating a somewhat lazy and leisurely artistic conception for this place. In the city of Rome, homeless wild cats can be seen everywhere, and this street has become a paradise for wild cats. They swaggered past in front of passers-by, wagged their tails and jumped onto the trash can with pride. He stared at this complicated and difficult world with indifferent eyes.

At this time, Camilla was carefully stepping over two wild cats sleeping soundly on the steps, and stopped in front of one of the pale yellow apartments.She looked at the address stored in the phone again, and after confirming that it was correct, she walked into the apartment and rang the doorbell of the last room on the second floor. After a while, someone slowly came over and opened the door.What appeared behind the door was a handsome, haggard face. The waist-length chestnut hair was not tied up as usual, but was loosely loose, and slid over his shoulders like flowing water, exuding an artist Unique decadence temperament.

Camilla smiled and made an apologetic gesture, "Mr. Julio, I'm so sorry, I came here rashly without calling." The moment he saw her, there was a trace of surprise on Julio's face, "Camilla, how do you know that I live here?" Camilla burst out laughing, "Professor, have you forgotten? When we had coffee together last time, you specially saved your address in my mobile phone, and you said that you would invite me to your house to try it when you have time." Your unique coffee." Julio snorted, as if remembering something, smiled and stretched out his hands to brush the hair that was hanging down on his forehead, "Look at my memory, I'm really old..."

"Then—professor, how long do you want me to stand at the door?" Camilla blinked playfully, "Aren't you going to invite me in?" "Of course. The door of my house is always open for beautiful girls." Julio invited her into the room with a smile, and he still did not forget to reveal the romantic nature of a Latin man in his words. "By the way, are you feeling better? Did you go to the hospital?" Camilla put the gift she brought -- a piece of red wine on the table. Giulio shook his head meaninglessly, "It's just an old stomach pain attack, it's not a big deal."

"Stomach pain?" Camilla glanced at the food he hadn't finished eating. "Then you still eat such dry bread? This kind of thing will only aggravate your stomach pain." "Isn't the life of a bachelor like this? It's as simple as possible." Julio got up and poured a glass of Coke and handed it to Camilla.Then he poured himself a glass of Coke, poured out a handful of medicine from the bottle next to him, and swallowed it with the Coke. "If you continue to eat these things, I think you will take more than three days off." She raised her eyebrows slantingly, "Can you lend me your kitchen for an hour?"

He bent the corner of his mouth and drew an inexplicable smile, "It doesn't matter the whole night." Twenty minutes later, Camilla was already in the kitchen fiddling with the ingredients she had just bought from the supermarket downstairs. Looking at the back of her busy in the kitchen, Julio only felt that there seemed to be a moment of trance in front of him, and some vague memories began to flood his mind, almost overlapping her figure with that person's figure... How long...hasn't revisited such a scene?For a long time, he thought that he had forgotten that person...

After about half an hour, Camilla served a huge bowl of salmon and potato soup.The milky white soup is stewed thick and smooth, and the deliciousness of the fish and the texture of the potatoes are perfectly blended together, which makes people's index fingers move. "This looks really good." Julio sniffed, not hiding his praise, "I thought pretty girls couldn't cook, but there are exceptions." "That's because you haven't met enough beautiful girls." Camilla smiled generously. He smiled and fell silent after taking a sip. "How does it taste...?" she asked tentatively.This soup has always been her specialty, so it shouldn't be a problem.

He just sighed slightly worried, and then stared at her eyes tenderly and intently, "You know what? This soup--may make me fall in love with you." "This puts me in a difficult situation." Camilla didn't seem surprised by such a joke, and made a distressed expression very cooperatively, "If you will fall in love with me because of a pot of soup today, then you may fall in love with me tomorrow." Because a frozen ham is in love with someone else. So what am I going to do then?" Giulio laughed a few times, and continued to drink the soup on the plate. "This soup...is really delicious." He once again praised sincerely.

There was a gentle look in Camilla's eyes, and she seemed to be caught in some distant memory, "You know that Sweden is located in Northern Europe, and it is a very cold place. Every winter, it is covered by long darkness and cold. So we stayed at home most of the time. At that time, my mother often made this soup for us to drink. We drank hot soup together by the warm fireplace and enjoyed the snow scenery outside the window. The feeling was really warm and true. Nostalgic..." When he heard her say that, his movements seemed to falter a little. I don't know if it was a psychological effect, but after drinking a few mouthfuls of fish soup, his stomach did not seem so uncomfortable.The originally painful and swollen stomach seemed to be gently surrounded by a sense of warmth, which seemed to make him vaguely feel the warmth she described...

Maybe... this girl is also special... After a long sleepless night, Liu Xia went to school the next day with a normal expression.She didn't tell Camila about this, and Shizuka is naturally not a talkative person, so Camilla didn't see any clues, she just thought that the young couple were simply arguing. When they were waiting for the arrival of the substitute teacher in the studio with other students, what they didn't expect was that the person who pushed the door was actually Professor Julio.After everyone was stunned for a while, they cheered in unison. Although Professor Julio is harsh and poisonous, he does have capital that others cannot match.Even swearing, everyone is scolded into obedience.

After all, it's the ability to learn something that counts—even if it's in a "special" way. As soon as Julio entered the studio, his eyes seemed to be looking for something intentionally or unintentionally. He didn't look back until he fell on Camilla.This subtle detail happened to be noticed by Liu Xia.In fact, from Camilla's usual words and deeds, she can also detect her outspoken affection for the professor, and there seems to be an inexplicable ambiguity between the two. If the two can develop further, it would be a romantic thing.However, after so many things happened between herself and Toto, she seemed to become suspicious of certain things. Professor Julio---is he really a reliable man? Thinking of this, she glanced at Camilla again.What puzzled her was that the smile in Camilla's eyes disappeared after Julio's eyes left, and was replaced by an incomprehensible strange look.There are helplessness and contradictions, more like a story that no one can interpret. Perhaps because the body has not fully recovered, Professor Julio did not get angry this time, but reiterated some details about the Margherita competition.After all, for the Rome Academy of Fine Arts, this is also an important opportunity to prove its strength to the outside world. Listening to this, Liu Xia suddenly felt that someone was watching her, she immediately raised her head and looked in that direction, just in time to meet Aflona's sight.The other party's eyes were full of confidence, as if they had already prepared for this competition.Not to be outdone, Liu Xia stared back into her eyes, clearly telling the other party with her own eyes, who is the real genius, let this competition decide. She will not lose.I will definitely not lose. Because she loves this wonderful art so deeply. Although so many unpleasant things happened in her life, they did not affect her love and enthusiasm for painting at all. This kind of love is different from the love between men and women, and also different from the love between relatives. It is a love that has surpassed many loves. ----It is the love that can only be produced if you want to work hard to realize your dreams. She checked her timetable after school and realized that Margaret had tutoring lessons tonight.Since the other party didn't call to cancel, she still had to go to teach the Countess as usual. After experiencing the kidnapping incident, Margaret's attitude towards her was completely different, and the previous unhappiness seemed to disappear with this incident, and the tutoring class became much easier because of this. The three-hour tutoring class ended quickly in a harmonious atmosphere.Liu Xia naturally didn't stay for too long, she packed up her things and prepared to leave here.I don't know if it's because too many things have happened recently, but she always feels a little tired physically, especially her teeth are often aching. When Liu Xia walked to the door, he happened to see Earl's Silver driving into the door.The car stopped beside her silently, and a stunning face was revealed under the slowly rolling down window. The impeccable facial features can only be described as perfect, and the deep and elegant jet black hair color is even more beautiful. It makes him mysterious and unfathomable. "Mr. Alfonso, are you back?" She also stopped to say hello. Alfonso nodded, "By the way, Liu Xia, don't go back, come to my study, I have something to give you." His expression was very gentle, but there seemed to be a hidden coldness, and absolute Strength that cannot be resisted. Liu Xia seemed to want to say something, but after hesitating for a while, she turned around and followed in silently.Who told the Earl to have saved her... The earl's study is neatly and elegantly arranged, and every detail contains a conservative and elegant aristocratic style.Whether it is the 18th-century French bronze mirror hanging on the wall or the large number of European ancient edition books on the bookshelf, they are quite in line with the noble status of the Earl himself.If it weren't for a modern laptop on the desk, Liu Xia would almost have the illusion of traveling back to the Middle Ages. Alfonso searched on the bookshelf, and took out a rather thick one from the pile of ancient books and handed it to her, "This may be helpful for your painting." Liu Xia glanced at the words on the cover, and her heart jumped wildly. She couldn't believe her eyes, this is actually an ancient book about painting art in the Renaissance period! "This... Lend me? Really? No, no! It's too precious." Her voice became a little out of tune because of being too excited. "No matter how precious a book is, if it cannot be read and given knowledge, then it is worthless." He smiled, "When books are reduced to decorations in museums, that is the saddest moment." "But..." Liu Xia naturally wanted to read this book, but she knew that it was very inappropriate to borrow the earl's book like this.But if the earl's good intentions were ignored in this way, it seemed too disrespectful to the other party.Alas, this is really embarrassing... Her mind was spinning rapidly, hoping to quickly think of a way to get the best of both worlds.All of a sudden, her eyes lit up --- there is! "Mr. Alfonso, thank you very much for your kindness, but I can't bring this book back. Because it is too precious, it is a kind of pressure for me. But as you said, if these books cannot be read That's the saddest thing. Then every time I come to class in the future, can you allow me to come two hours earlier and read these books at your home?" Alfonso seemed a little surprised when she finished speaking these words in an unassuming manner, but soon laughed, "This is indeed a good way. Then it's settled, you can come and read these books at any time." He pointed to the bookshelf again, "Besides this, I have many books about painting here, like this one should be an ancient book from the Roman period..." Liu Xia was involuntarily attracted to it, and began to look at the catalog of titles of those precious ancient books with full concentration. Her profile looked so soft under the light, her beautifully curved phoenix eyes seemed to contain the warm luster of jade, so beautiful that people couldn't look away.The lips, which are softer than roses, are sometimes slightly bent, and sometimes slightly compressed, inadvertently revealing the temptation of innocence, and teasing every nerve of Alfonso invisibly. A certain desire hidden in his heart, like a shadow on the bottom of the sea, emerged faintly. At this moment, a pleasant mobile phone rang untimely.Liu Xia hurriedly took out the phone, saw the calling number, although he hesitated for a moment, but still pressed the answer button. "Toto...what's the matter?" Alfonso's eyes flashed coldly the moment he heard her say the name. "Liu Xia, now... can you come to my house?" Toto's voice sounded a bit strange, and it seemed that something was in his mouth, which was vague. "Tuoto, have you been drinking?" Liu Xia immediately sensed his abnormality. "...Did you hear what I said? Liu Xia, I want you to come here, now... right now!" He raised his voice uncharacteristically, and his speech seemed incoherent, so he was a completely different person in peacetime. What kind of attitude is this?Liu Xia was also a little annoyed, and replied angrily, "Toto, you drank too much. It's useless for me to come here now. I'll wait for you to calm down..." Before she could finish speaking, the other party actually hung up the phone with a click. Liu Xia was stunned for a moment, holding the phone and texting for a while.It wasn't until Alfonso spoke that she managed to recover. "I'll take you there." Alfonso's tone was still the same, only a decision, no question. Although Liu Xia was so angry just now, after calming down and thinking about it, she felt something was wrong. Toto is not the kind of person who has no self-control, and it is indeed a bit strange to get drunk like this.It's not like Toto would act, even if he's bothered by what's going on between them. This guy... is really worrying... "No, I'd better go there by myself." She shook her head.Forget it, let's go and have a look at him, otherwise I feel like I'm blocked by something and feel uncomfortable. "It will take a lot of time to go back to the city center by bus." He said lightly. Although he didn't want to owe the count any more favors, he was really worried about Toto.Liu Xia was entangled in this contradictory mood, and soon made a decision, "Then I will trouble you again, Mr. Alfonso." "Then you go downstairs and wait for me. I'll go to the bedroom to get a coat and come down." Alfonso said and left the study. Liu Xia sighed softly, and hurried downstairs. The night sky was shrouded in thick black, and the bright moon and stars seemed to have been lost in the dark place.The light projected from the shop windows intertwined with the lampposts of the street lamps, dimly illuminating this seemingly unreal world. When Alfonso's car was driving near the Plaza de España, it suddenly began to rain without warning.This undoubtedly made Liu Xia, who was already restless, even more disturbed. A rainy day is never a pleasant day. Liu Xia got off the car some distance away from Toto's apartment, thanked Alfonso and hurried forward.Turning around, she could no longer see the strange look of tenderness and coldness on the other party's face.