TangShi had a very small blog run by Linlin with occasional artist updates, videos of her painting, and the last posting had been her farewell to China as she ventured to California. She hadn’t updated it since because she didn’t want to share her failures and sadness with her art fans or admit she had given up on her dream. No one knew her real name or how she looked so no one would connect her to the public TangShi Lei, new girlfriend of Lengs heir. He had obviously recognized TangShi’s painting and known it was an Alice Lin.

“I did go but my personal life had some changes and...