The Versatile Master Artist

Mr. Charlie Hawke might already be ready to leave.

But there are always exceptions.

When the line in front of Waterstones didn’t shorten at all but instead looked just as long as it did at the beginning, it came into her view.

Maca’s mouth dropped open in shock.

The pile of shopping bags hanging on her arms almost fell to the ground.

”Holy moly!”

Maca placed her shopping bags on the white step in front of the Starbucks store and pointed at the crowd stubbornly lining up outside the bookstore during dinner time.

”Are all these people here to buy ’The Little Prince’ storybook or something.”

She said incredulously.

”I’m just as surprised as you are. Hungry?”

Kelly pushed a plate of blueberry pancakes, still half-full, toward Maca, indicating that she should sit down and wait: ”Have something to eat, judging by this situation, I think this signing event will take a bit longer to end.”

”Even with all the buzz online and the great influence of the translation maestro Mr. Hawke, it’s still a bit too much, right?”

Maca sat in the chair, stuffed a piece of honey-dipped pancake into her mouth, and pulled out her phone while chewing.

She took a photo of the crowd in front of the bookstore across the street, and unintentionally included a heap of shopping bags on the table and the fairy tale book Kelly had placed on the table in the camera’s viewfinder during the angle selection process.

Then she edited a tweet—[Dragged by my best friend Kelly to attend ’The Little Prince’ signing event. Still so many people queuing at 5 PM, hard to understand.]

”’The Little Prince’, the one illustrated by Detective Cat? It’s trending so much!”

”Bought the Saint Laurent Platinum Mirror customized floral perfume, probably 180 pounds, envy. Also, is the one on the table the new edition of ’The Little Prince’? Looks a lot prettier than I imagined. Doesn’t seem as bad as what’s being said online.”

”Hard to say, can’t really see clearly from the phone picture. When I return to school, I’ll come to your and Kelly’s dorm to take a look.”

”Confirm this photo is taken now, is there still such a long line in front of the bookstore at this time?”

”...”

As the number of views below the tweet increased, continuously more school friends started liking and commenting.

Maca watched the scene with a grin.

At this rate, it likely wouldn’t be long before this tweet became her most liked and retweeted post recently.

Kelly had already meticulously admired all the illustrations of ’The Little Prince’ during these hours, feeling thoroughly satisfied.

Especially the standalone illustration collection in the collector’s edition gift box.

Each page could be framed individually and hung on a bedroom wall.

The blond girl also saw Maca’s new tweet and knew her main purpose was to flaunt the newly bought cosmetics, but she still thought and said: ”Because of the poster.”

”What?”

”I mean, the reason why there are still so many people queuing in front of Waterstones is most likely due to the illustration poster on the promotional stand outside the store.”

Kelly took a sip of coffee.

These tourists were all attracted by the illustrations—even though it sounds unbelievable, this conclusion was the most likely answer she could think of.

Throughout these hours, the blond girl had always been sitting at the coffee shop opposite.

Everything happening at the bookstore happened under her watchful eyes.

Initially, when she first carried shopping bags out, the reader crowd did show trends of shrinking.

But there always were new tourists coming into the Shushi Bookstore.

People kept coming and going.

After a while, the number of visitors entering and customers leaving the store seemed to maintain a harmonious balance.

The shop wasn’t overly crowded, yet there was always a crowd of people waiting in line at the entrance, controlled by the staff.

Based on Kelly’s observations, the readers still waiting at the entrance now might not be the same type of reader group as those attending Dean Hawke’s seminar.

These people were more like that international student who wandered into the bookstore by chance.

Easter is the most important holiday on the Three British Isles, second only to Christmas.

Approaching Easter holiday, the daily foot traffic on Oxford Street surpasses 200,000 people.

Dense crowds constantly pass by the bookstore entrance, and almost every second someone is attracted by the beautiful promotional poster at the entrance.

In the Bible story, God destroyed the Tower of Babel, since then, language barriers have existed in the world. The continent’s people are divided by different scripts, ethnicities, and accents, and a universal language connecting everyone’s hearts can no longer exist.

Perhaps He overlooked painting as a method.

When beauty is elevated to a certain concentration, visual art can seep into everyone’s heart without any prerequisites or cultural deposit.

The crowd now waiting in front of the bookstore should be merely the tourists coming to shop.

Visitors might have never known today’s signing event would be held here, don’t care about online controversies, haven’t heard of Charlie Hawke and Detective Cat, or even are completely unfamiliar with Saint-Exupéry and ’The Little Prince’.

These kinds of people are the majority of the world.

Probably when they woke up this morning, sitting at the table having cereal for breakfast, it never occurred to them that at some point this afternoon they would walk into a bookstore to buy a fairy tale book.

The original intention of shopping was exactly like this.

During leisurely strolls, discovering items that make their hearts race and then buying them.