CEFYMA: Chapter 20

You Mian just lowered his eyes and said indifferently, “It has nothing to do with me.”

Qu Miao hissed. She thought that You Mian was good everywhere, but he was too indifferent.

She was one of the few classmates in the class who could talk to You Mian. She knew a bit about You Mian’s family background that others didn’t know, but it was only a little bit.

Since You Mian planned to ignore it, Qu Miao didn’t say anything else. She sat back in her seat with her phone in her arms, fiercely scolding every random fan.

By the time Qu Miao looked up again, she found there was already a simple clay model on the plastic platform in front of You Mian.

Qu Miao put away his phone and stepped forward. In the empty sculpture room, there was only the sound of You Mian pinching mud.

“Mian Mian, what are you doing?” Qu Miao remembered that the first draft shape of You Mian’s graduation project had already been finished. This definitely wasn’t it.

You Mian lifted the plastic wrap. He casually dug out a handful of mud from the mud bucket and smashed it on the small plastic in front of him.

The young man wore a loose and casual black sweater. His sleeves were rolled up, revealing the cold white skin of his arms.

The brown-red mud splashed on his wrists, but he didn’t care at all. Only the sculpture in front of him entered his eyes.

“The Star Cup.” You Mian frowned. He thought about things while answering Qu Miao’s question. “I am thinking about the theme of the preliminary round.”

Qu Miao was stunned for a few seconds before falling into a burst of ecstasy. “Mian Mian! Did you pass the preliminaries? I knew you could do it!”

Before Qu Miao had time to be happy, You Mian said flatly, “It is the mentor’s internal promotion quota.”

Qu Miao raised a hand and patted You Mian’s shoulder indifferently. She grinned and said, “Who among the dozen or so people in our class can get Teacher Qin’s referral? It must be you. No matter what, you are now preparing for the preliminary round of the Star Cup!”

The girl’s tone was full of sincere joy.

She asked, “What is the theme of the preliminary round?”

It must be known that the Star Cup was one of the top art competitions in the country. The topics had always been tricky and impossible to guess.

You Mian conceived it in his heart. He stood in front of the plastic platform and frowned. He replied, “Everything.”

The moment this word came out, Qu Miao’s face instantly became extremely complicated.

What was this? The event organizers were too strict! They were simply devilish.

Qu Miao claimed to be a newcomer and was a step-by-step academic sculptor student. She had never been able to understand the world of bigshots.

She was ignorant every time Qin Lan talked about the bursting colors of inspiration in class.

What color could a sculpture have, what spirituality?

It had been fixed in one position since it was shaped. In addition, Qu Miao felt that no matter how flexible sculpting was, could it be more flexible than animations?

But no matter how much Qu Miao couldn’t understand it, she knew that there was a type of innate talent in the world. They had the highest, most exquisite skills, and their color perception was different from ordinary people.

They could produce the most exciting works from any uninspiring material in front of them.

The You Mian in front of her was obviously included in this.

The points, lines, colors, light, shade, perspective, and composition of each of his works were very ornamental. He always received the highest marks in the class in terms of aesthetic evaluation.

Qu Miao stood behind You Mian, shorter than him by half a head.

Everything… everything…

Qu Miao stared at the clay on the plastic platform for a long time. Suddenly, she covered her head and hissed. She couldn’t think any longer. Thinking would make her brain hurt.

Right now, it was graduation season. The class of over a dozen people in the Department of Sculpting were doing internships and preparing for exams. Those working on graduation projects had been spending time in the professional sculpting rooms outside the school, so now the classroom was empty.

Qu Miao’s offer had already been received. Coming to the classroom today was just a habitual way to pass the time.

She immediately turned around, picked up her backpack, and smiled. “Since you are busy with such an important matter, I won’t disturb you.”

Qu Miao walked to the door and made a cheering gesture to You Mian. The punk girl with short, sharp hair turned around and pointed at You Mian with an index finger painted with black nail polish. She clenched her fist against her heart and laughed heartily. “Brother Mian, move forward.”

You Mian’s hands were stained with brown-red clay. Once he heard this, he looked up and smiled. “Yes.”

Qu Miao instantly blushed and covered her heart. Then she closed the door and left. The impact of this appearance hadn’t weakened even after seeing it for four years!

The wall clock in the classroom turned from 8 in the morning to 11 o’clock.

The area around the plastic platform where You Mian was standing had been splashed with clay. You Mian had already put on a plastic isolation suit after discovering that his creation would last a while.

The boy’s hair over his forehead was tied up by a black leather band. A small bun was tied on the top of his head.

The outline of his eyes and eyebrows was instantly exposed. His gentle demeanor was diluted a bit by his concentrated and serious expression. He was stern and reticent.

This scene provoked the photographer of the ‘Matching Heartbeat’ show, who wanted to knock on the door. He stood outside the door with a machine for a long time to film it.

The boy in the camera had a messy sculpture in front of him. It was impossible to tell what it was.

At first glance, it might seem like messy graffiti, but when looking closely, one would find that the direction of the light and shade settings of the sculpture were extremely tricky and ruthless.

Anything more would be excessive; anything less would be insufficient.

You Mian looked at the draft shaping that took three hours to do and finally let out a breath.

At the same time, inside a huge, cold-colored office on the top floor of the JL Building in the center of Huajiang, more than a dozen kilometers away.

Vivian, the chairman’s assistant, knocked on the door in stiletto heels and entered, holding documents in her hand.

“Chairman Pei, this is the information that I didn’t have time to give you yesterday. It is about the publicity guest that the show’s staff connected with us.”

Pei Huaiji raised his hand to sign his name on the last page of the contract. The flamboyant, big characters appeared, and the cap was placed back on the pen.

Pei Huaiji looked up at Vivian and asked, “Are you talking about You Mian?”

Vivian was stunned. Pei Huaiji had never asked about this type of thing before.

But she immediately replied with a professional attitude. “Yes, Chairman Pei. This is the risk assessment report given by the planning team. They think that if the publicity guest is You Mian, the risk in the later stage might be…”

Pei Huaiji directly interrupted without waiting for Vivian to finish speaking. “Put it here.”

Vivian paused before stepping forward to place the information in her hand onto the desk.

The woman in a red professional suit dutifully told him the results given by the planning team after taking a few steps back. “Maybe there is another more suitable choice among the guests.”

Pei Huaiji looked up silently, his eyes fierce.

The man asked coldly, “More suitable?”

Vivian answered, “Yes, it is that Bai Lin.”

Pei Huaiji tapped the information with his finger. He didn’t say anything and just let Vivian go out.

Vivian immediately understood that Pei Huaiji didn’t want to change the person. She stopped talking and turned away directly.

She never doubted any decision Pei Huaiji made.

There was the sound of the door closing. Pei Huaiji looked down at the documents in front of him and remained silent for a long time.

These documents contained everything he was confused about. You Mian’s background, his family lineage, and all his interpersonal relationships.

Pei Huaiji’s eyes lowered. His cold eyebrows furrowed.

Someone had warned him repeatedly.

The man tapped his fingers on the table. Then he raised his hand to put the unopened information into the cabinet.

This was really an exception for Pei Huaiji, who was always accustomed to fighting information battles.

—

You Mian returned to the house at noon and found no one else in the living room on the first floor. It seemed everyone had gone to work and hadn’t returned.

The moment he opened his bedroom door, he saw the task card placed on his bedside table by the show’s staff.

He saw the words ‘Matching Heartbeat’ written in cute pink font on the title page of the card.

You Mian opened it. Inside contained the date and time of the guests who chose the church picture.

The afternoon appointment was still more than two hours away. It was enough for him to take a good rest.

You Mian quickly took a shower. He was wiping his hair and sitting on the edge of the bed. He had just opened the Sudoku book when he heard Guan Tong’s voice coming from the stairs of the house.

Guan Tong seemed to be chatting with someone. The sound of their footsteps gradually left the stairs and headed toward the kitchen.

Suddenly, one of them paused slightly. He changed his choice of going to the kitchen. He instead turned around and walked straight to You Mian’s door.

Knock knock.

After knocking on the door, Yun Guanqing leaned against the doorframe with his arms folded, asking lazily, “You Mian?”

You Mian looked down at the Sudoku book and intended to respond with silence.

There was silence outside the door for a few seconds. However, Yun Guanqing didn’t leave as expected and knocked on the door again.

“I saw your shoes in the hallway,” Yun Guanqing snorted and laughed. “Are you deliberately hiding from me?”

Yun Guanqing leaned against the door and wanted to speak. Suddenly, the door in front of him was slammed open from the inside.

You Mian stood in the room with wet hair. His curly, chestnut hair dripped wetly.

The young man was wearing a loose, white t-shirt, revealing a cold white collarbone and a slender neck.

Yun Guanqing didn’t shift his gaze. He narrowed his eyes slightly and smiled. “No wonder why you didn’t open the door. Did you take a shower?”

You Mian asked coldly, “Why are you knocking on the door? I’m ready to rest.”

Yun Guanqing sighed. He tilted his head and leaned closer, his narrow eyes filled with bad interest. “It’s nothing. I just knocked.”

You Mian held the doorknob and was about to close the door. Who knew that Yun Guanqing would actually raise his hand and slam it against the door?

You Mian looked up at Yun Guanqing in surprise.

They were still recording a show. Was Yun Guanqing really not afraid that this section would be aired and cause a fan war?

Then You Mian thought about it again. The You Mian in the novel was originally a sharp-tongued person who was extremely proud. He had always done things based on his own liking. Presumably, the aura and scruples of a Best Actor were nothing to him.

Yun Guanqing asked doubtfully, “Is your hair naturally curly? I thought you did styling on it.”

You Mian looked a bit impatient.

“Hey, are you sure you want to show this attitude to a male star who just stayed up late to catch up on his schedule and then rushed back non-stop to see you?” Yun Guanqing clicked his tongue. “I’m so sad.”

You Mian didn’t give in and said in a cold voice, “Then you will die of coldness.”

Yun Guanqing laughed. His interest was obviously stronger.

Just as the two of them were deadlocked, the entrance of the house opened.

A tall figure passed by the door of You Mian’s room. Pei Huaiji turned his head. His eyes swept past You Mian’s wet hair and landed on the Sudoku book that was randomly spread out on the desk in the room.

Pei Huaiji stopped and stood outside the door.

“Did you have lunch?” Pei Huaiji asked the question very naturally like he hadn’t seen the confrontation between Yun Guanqing and You Mian.

Yet even such a simple sentence made Yun Guanqing relax and take a step back.

You Mian answered casually, “I ate at the school’s cafeteria.”

Pei Huaiji nodded. Then he gestured to the Sudoku book in the room with his gaze and gave You Mian a complimentary expression.

You Mian, who was inexplicably praised: “……”