Rebirth: He Decides to Lie Flat-Chapter 45 - 42 Disappearing Painting
Chapter 45: Chapter 42 Disappearing Painting
Chapter 45 -42 Disappearing Painting
On their way back to the classroom, Song Jiawen turned her head to look at Xu Yan, who was still cradling the torn painting like a precious treasure.
She hadn’t expected her to value that painting so much.
“Xu Yan, I’ll draw you another one next time,” she offered.
It wasn’t difficult for her to paint another one, but that depended on whether she was willing to do so.
Xu Yan turned her head with tearful eyes and looked at her, “Song Jiawen, but I haven’t mastered the artistic conception of this painting yet.”
Song Jiawen: ….
Artistic conception? What artistic conception?
Her words left Song Jiawen at a loss for how to respond, as she always painted casually, without thinking too much.
So, to respond with some inspired guidance for Xu Yan wasn’t really something she could do.
Even so, her promise comforted Xu Yan, at least for her next painting, she could ask Song Jiawen to draw her another one based on her own ideas.
This was a privilege no one else had.
At that thought, Xu Yan’s mood instantly went from cloudy to sunny, her tears turning into laughter.
The three of them returned to the classroom, where their classmates had already heard about the commotion Xu Yan had caused in class six. Some of the students from class six even came over to scoff and mock, unaware of the role Deng Tao had played, simply assuming it was a quarrel between two students from their own class that had spilled over.
So, everyone was too indignant to speak out.
Now that Xu Yan, one of the people involved, had returned, everyone was curious and asked what had happened.
Xu Yan didn’t hold back and recounted the whole story. She was naturally a good speaker with an even better ability to express herself, and considering her dislike for Deng Tao… Even though it was Meng Qing who had started the trouble, who the instigator was became crystal clear to everyone after her recount.
There were a few boys in the class who had liked Deng Tao, but after listening to Xu Yan, several girls looked at them with contempt.
A few boys: …..
Wait, what does this have to do with them?
The boys secretly grumbled to themselves and the image of the lofty, saintly beauty inside their heads collapsed in an instant, their budding affection vanishing never to return.
Jiang Yan, after listening for a while, finally asked Xiao Qi, “Is your school beauty really that pretty?”
Xiao Qi looked at him, quite speechless, “Man, your focus is pretty odd. Ever since our Sister Jiawen came, can that face of hers still be paraded around as the school beauty? To say otherwise would be a loss of face for our Beijing No.1 High School. And is this really about whether Deng Tao is pretty or not right now?
It’s about her harboring malicious intent and stirring up discord in our class.”
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A bunch of little kids, harboring malicious intent and stirring up discord.
Jiang Yan snickered inwardly, but kept a straight face, “Isn’t it strange? I’ve been here so long and haven’t seen a true beauty, so I was curious as to how someone could be called the school beauty? It turns out it’s a case of choosing a general from among the lame, now I get it.”
Xiao Qi: ….
Why did he feel a hint of mockery, as if implying their Beijing No.1 High School didn’t have any good-looking students?
……
Meanwhile, after leaving the office, Deng Tao didn’t return to the classroom, instead, she went downstairs to find Teacher Fang.
“What? You also want to participate in the provincial city’s painting competition?”
Teacher Fang felt dubious. She knew that Deng Tao wanted to participate in Beijing’s traditional Chinese painting competition, but registration for such a competition wasn’t easy, so this was…
With an unchanging expression, Deng Tao explained, “Teacher Song is currently not in Beijing, and without his recommendation, I can’t participate in the Chinese painting competition. I’d like to prevent missing out on both, so Teacher Fang, may I first register my name for the painting competition in the provincial city?”
Song Qingping had agreed to guide her in traditional Chinese painting. In a sense, she could be considered half a student of Song Qingping, and this was no secret at the school.
Therefore, when people heard that she was going to participate in Beijing’s traditional Chinese painting competition, everyone thought it was a sure thing.
Now, suddenly coming over to say she wanted to participate in the provincial city’s painting competition, Teacher Fang knew just by thinking about it that Deng Tao must have failed to register for the big competition, but the young girl had her pride and was too embarrassed to say it outright, so she made up an excuse for herself.
Teacher Fang didn’t expose her but simply said, “If you want to participate in that, you need to hurry up and create a sketch. You see, these paintings will be sent to the provincial city the day after tomorrow, and only those approved can go for the final contest at the end of the month.”
While saying this, Teacher Fang patted a few sketches laid out on the table next to her. At the very top of the pile, the lower right corner clearly displayed Song Jiawen’s name.
Deng Tao’s gaze lingered on that painting for a moment before turning to Teacher Fang, “I’ll try my best to finish it by today or tomorrow and give it to you the day after tomorrow.”
After Deng Tao left, Teacher Fang admired Song Jiawen’s painting for a while longer. It depicted an old, quaint house with a garden in front, where a little girl, about three years old, was chasing butterflies.
Although only the little girl’s back was shown, the sense of liveliness, playfulness, and innocent charm was overwhelmingly apparent.
Based on this painting alone, Teacher Fang was one hundred percent certain that Song Jiawen would make it to the shortlist.
As for the others, it was purely a chance for them to participate.
A day passed, and on Monday morning, Deng Tao arrived on time to hand in her painting.
Teacher Fang looked at it, keeping her gaze and expression utterly calm, without the slightest ripple.
She had Deng Tao fill out the registration form, and then she let her leave.
Before Deng Tao walked out, she caught a glimpse from the corner of her eye of Teacher Fang stuffing her painting into a large paper bag, which already contained other people’s works, clearly ready for shipping.
After putting her painting in, Teacher Fang sealed the bag.
A week later, Teacher Fang received a notification from the provincial city, and to her utter surprise, among the students who passed the registration, there was neither Song Jiawen nor Deng Tao, only Xu Yan and Deng Tao.
This seemed utterly incomprehensible to her.
At the same time, the first thought that popped into Teacher Fang’s mind was that Song Jiawen’s painting, after being sent to the provincial city, had been taken by someone else and passed off as their own.
This was not without precedent. Some students with connections but no talent would sometimes use paintings from students of ordinary families to gain a spot in the competition.
Although they wouldn’t win any awards in the final contest, at least they participated, and just making it to the finals was noteworthy enough to add a point to their resumes when applying for arts programs.
It was contemptible behavior, yet it happened repeatedly.
A fierce anger rose within Teacher Fang’s chest. She knew people at the provincial Calligraphy and Painting Association, and if they didn’t give her an explanation for the day’s events, she would not let it rest.
But instead of contacting someone she knew immediately, she first called the Association’s competition office to confront them, only to have the person on the line express surprise after checking, “We didn’t receive a painting from student Song Jiawen. Although we have her registration form, there is no painting.”
Teacher Fang thought they were shirking responsibility and said angrily, “I submitted the registration form. How could there be no painting?”
If they needed an excuse, they should come up with a decent one—why would someone fill out a registration form if they weren’t going to participate?
The other party was suspicious. Could it have been their mistake?
All he could do was reassure Teacher Fang for the moment and turn to reinvestigate. They searched the office thoroughly, rechecked the rejected and approved paintings twice, and finally confirmed that there was no painting from Song Jiawen.
