CEFYMA: Chapter 45

The moment You Mian finished speaking, he was about to get up and leave. Just as he turned around, Bai Peilan stopped him anxiously. “Wait!”

You Mian didn’t look back but stopped.

It took a few seconds in the quiet private room before Bai Peilan’s patient and restrained voice could be heard saying, “The preliminary round of the Star Cup is just a few days away. The competition process for the three groups is the same. How are you preparing?”

You Mian frowned. He turned around and looked at her coldly.

Due to his posture, he once again looked at someone from the You family from this top-down perspective.

Bai Peilan raised her chin slightly and looked up at him. She seemed to know that what she was doing was a bit ridiculous, so she asked in a roundabout way, “The Star Cup is indeed one of the best art competitions. Even you might have worked very hard to prepare, let alone Linlin. He has recently…”

You Mian directly interrupted without waiting for her to finish, “If you have something to say, talk directly.”

The young man’s beautiful amber eyes, usually full of a warm smile, were now full of cold alienation. It made Bai Peilan look away after just one glance.

“There is no need to care about face between us,” You Mian said carefully. “I have seen ugly behavior before.”

Bai Peilan’s elegant face distorted for a moment, but she could only endure it for Bai Lin’s sake.

Bai Peilan clenched her fingers and tried her best to put on a gentle smile. “I heard Jiyuan say that he has made an agreement with you to paint some oil paintings for Linlin to participate in the competition. It is now this time. Do you still want to delay it?”

The date of the preliminary round was approaching. Bai Lin retreated into the oil painting studio at home and refused to come out.

Bai Peilan saw his pain and could only come to You Mian as a last resort.

You Mian was silent for a few moments after hearing this. His cold eyes looked at Bai Peilan with a bad expression and he denied it. “You Jiyuan has never ‘talked’ about this with me. I have never agreed to this matter.”

Bai Lin knew that You Mian couldn’t agree so easily. Then she heard You Mian sneer again and say, “What’s wrong? Bai Lin, who makes you so proud, can’t even paint an oil painting that can pass the preliminary round in a competition?”

Bai Peilan paused suddenly and her anger started to boil.

You Mian just lowered his eyes and glanced at her lightly. He said with a smile, “Are you angry? Ms Bai, this isn’t the attitude of asking for help.”

The moment Bai Peilan heard this, she suppressed her anger under his smile.”

“Then tell me, how should I ask for help?” Bai Peilan looked at You Mian. You Mian had an indecisive, weak, and easy-to-manipulate personality who cared about family ties. She didn’t believe he would really dare to make her beg him.

He was just a child from an orphanage with no mother and no father.

Thus, Bai Peilan calmed down slightly. She sat on the tatami mat with a proud expression and didn’t speak.

You Mian could guess what Bai Peilan was thinking at this moment with just one glance.

Did these people still think they could use the so-called ‘family affection’ to restrain him? It was so ridiculous.

Therefore, You Mian didn’t leave. He sat back on the tatami mat. His back was straight and his eyes were cold.

His curly hair swept across his white forehead. His slightly lowered long eyelashes obscured some of his amber eyes. The exposed skin of his neck looked an even colder white under the sunlight coming in from the window.

The young man sitting in front of Bai Peilan had an outstanding temperament and was particularly noble.

Bai Peilan was extremely jealous of this appearance that was better than Bai Lin, even though he had never received any professional etiquette instructions.

Who was the biological child of the You family? Bai Peilan had imagined driving You Mian out in her mind countless times. As long as this person was gone, who cared if Bai Lin was smart or stupid?

It was all because of him…

Before Bai Peilan’s thoughts could continue to sink, You Mian’s voice came coldly from in front of him.

“Ms Bai, haven’t you ever asked for help?” You Mian picked up the warm teacup in front of him and took a sip, looking as if he was waiting.

Bai Peilan didn’t expect that You Mian actually dared to let her beg him. For a moment, she even forgot about her dignified and elegant manners. She frowned and shouted loudly, “You Mian! What is with your attitude?”

You Mian raised his eyes and put the teacup back on the table.

He didn’t say anything, but this was enough to bring back Bai Peilan’s extremely angry mood.

Bai Peilan hadn’t forgotten her purpose of coming to You Mian today. On the one hand, she wanted him to restrain being in the limelight on the show. Secondly, she wanted him to produce a few oil paintings for Bai Lin.

“The conditions have already been set,” You Mian said calmly.

Bai Peilan finally put on a warm smile again. She crossed her hands over her knees and said softly, “You Mian, I beg you, I beg you.”

“Please paint some oil paintings for Bai Lin. Isn’t he your brother? You might be related by blood, but we are a family.”

“Shouldn’t we help each other as a family?” Bai Peilan put on an earnest expression. “Please paint some paintings for Bai Lin to ensure that he can pass the preliminary round and reach the finals.”

“It would be even better if he could get the gold medal!” Bai Peilan’s eyes widened. The desire inside them was about to overflow.

Seeing her like this, You Mian smiled lightly and got up. “I know.”

Bai Peilan anxiously moved forward. She tried to pull him but failed. She only grabbed empty air. She grinned rudely and said, “Then you agree? Good boy, good boy.”

You Mian raised an eyebrow and denied it in a condescending manner. “No, I just said that I know.”

“I know what your demands are.” You Mian took out the recording pen from his pocket and shook it. Despite Bai Peilan’s shocked expression, he still said calmly, “Don’t bother me until the Star Cup is over, or I will release the words you said just now.”

“As for Bai Lin—” You Mian walked to the door, opened it, and sneered. “Let him stop pretending. If he could use some of the time spent on eating, drinking, and having fun on painting, he wouldn’t need to steal a few paintings from me.”

“You Mian!” Bai Peilan’s scream sounded from the private room behind him, but the young man still left without looking back.

You Mian walked out of the restaurant and onto the street. The cool autumn wind blew over his cheeks, awakening the sadness and anger that had been hidden under his calm expression.

It wasn’t worth it.

You Mian took a few steps forward gracefully, thinking that it wasn’t worth being sad about these people and these words.

In the classroom of A College, Bai Lin slammed his phone down after answering the call. His whole body was twisting with anger.

What did it mean that You Mian refused to pain and refused to help?

Bai Lin’s chest heaved violently with anger. Malice condensed in his eyes.

It was just a few paintings. If You Mian didn’t help, wasn’t there someone else who could help? How ridiculous.

The door of the empty classroom suddenly opened. Bai Lin looked back in surprise and saw that it was the class monitor.

The boy saw that Bai Lin was still in the classroom and told him, “I’m going first. Remember to lock the door when you leave later.”

Just as Bai Lin forced out a smile, he heard the class monitor frowning and saying in confusion, “No, isn’t the make-up exam for art history today? I remember that your name was on the make-up exam list. Bai Lin, aren’t you going to take the exam?”

Facing the monitor’s confused gaze, Bai Lin smiled and said, “You must be wrong. I didn’t fail the exam, so I naturally don’t have to take the make-up exam.”

The class monitor frowned even more in confusion. “Really? Maybe I remembered it incorrectly.”

The young man closed the door and left. The footsteps were getting further and further away.

Bai Lin relaxed and sat down on the chair again. His cold face had his always cute smile.

“It is just an insignificant exam.” Bai Lin picked up the scraper and made a big cross on the canvas in front of him.

“So what about the make-up exam? So what about failing the exam?” He smiled. “There is nothing that money can’t solve.”

The You family could stuff him into A College. They could naturally remove him from the list of the make-up exam.

Bai Lin picked up the mobile phone he had thrown away just now. He opened a school exchange group at random and started looking for a target.

Sure enough, it didn’t take long for him to find a fellow student of the sculpture department who was looking for a part-time job.

Bai Lin looked at the words ‘sculpture department’ in front of the person’s business card and snorted coldly. He really had a relationship with people from the sculpture department.

[Hello, junior. I am Bai Lin, a junior student of the oil painting department. I saw that you are looking for a part-time job in the large group of the school’s art academy. Are you interested in chatting?]

Within a few seconds, the other party responded immediately.

[Hello, senior! Okay, okay, I’m free.]

The smile on Bai Lin’s face became more genuine. He typed and asked: [Junior student, how are your basic art skills? Can you paint oil paintings? Can you send me a few of your previous works first?]

The response this time was a bit slower, but it was still sent quickly.

[I’m sorry, senior. I am from the sculpture department. These oil paintings were all painted during the training camp a few years ago. If you look at my skills, my current level might’ve dropped a bit.]

Bai Lin couldn’t see any difference between these paintings and those painted by You Mian, so he quickly agreed on a time to meet.

A person who wanted to work part-time must be short of money. Things that could be solved with money were the simplest things in the world.

Just as Bai Lin was about to leave, the classroom door opened again.

The person who came this time was Huo Yanzhi.

Bai Lin had been so busy with the Star Cup these days that he really had no time to maintain his relationship with them. Now that he had someone who could paint for him, Bai Lin’s mood had stabilized a lot.

He smiled obediently at Huo Yanzhi, “Brother Huo, why are you here?”

Huo Yanzhi saw that he was packing up his painting tools. “Are you leaving? It is an unfortunate time for me to come.”

Huo Yanzhi liked to stay next to Bai Lin and watch him draw. He would often sit there for a whole day.”

Bai Lin was willing to let Huo Yanzhi stay with him before. But for some reason, Bai Lin recently disliked people watching him more and more while painting. Bai Lin said it would disturb his thoughts.

Huo Yanzhi came here today because he really couldn’t bear the entanglements in his heart.

He recalled more and more frequently the time he had spent with You Mian in the sculpture classroom.

It was to the point where Huo Yanzhi wanted to rush to Bai Lin’s side to get rid of these unwarranted thoughts.

But today seemed to be an unlucky day. Bai Lin didn’t intend to continue painting.

Bai Lin smiled at Huo Yanzhi’s disappointed expression. He thought, ‘Forget it. Who put me in a good mood today? Since Huo Yanzhi wants to accompany me, I can do it.’

Under Huo Yanzhi’s surprised gaze, Bai Lin put down his painting tools and rearranged the canvas.

“I was originally bored and wanted to leave, but now that Brother Huo is here, I can continue painting.” Bai Lin smiled sweetly.

Huo Yanzhi sighed with relief. He walked to another easel where no one was sitting, dragged the chair, and sat down next to Bai Lin.

“Just pretend I don’t exist. You paint, and I will try not to make a sound.” Huo Yanzhi placed his strong arms on his knees and frowned slightly. He was obviously troubled by something.

Bai Lin smiled. He put aside the canvas that was damaged by the scraper and replaced it with a new one.

Huo Yanzhi propped up his chin and suddenly asked, “Bai Lin, what color do you use for your base?”

Bai Lin was stunned for a moment. Then he turned around and said, “I don’t lay the base. Sometimes, I only use gray and white when I really need to.”

Colors that were too heavy or dark would affect his subsequent strokes.

Huo Yanzhi blinked. “Really?”

“Brother Huo, do you also want to learn oil painting?” Bai Lin smiled, not taking the question seriously. “The most important thing in learning painting is basic skills. Don’t learn all the fancy things at the beginning.”

Huo Yanzhi smiled softly. His handsome appearance looked even more handsome.

But when Bai Lin started to paint, Huo Yanzhi’s brow didn’t relax. Instead, it became tighter and tighter.

Was Bai Lin’s painting like this? Huo Yanzhi was a bit puzzled. How could this be?

There was nothing new and nothing interesting. It wasn’t even entertaining.

Look again.

Huo Yanzhi made excuses. Perhaps Bai Lin hadn’t entered the state yet. He would wait and see.

Bai Lin’s mind wasn’t on the canvas. He casually added strokes to the left and right and asked with a smile, “What did you play in the recording where I was sick and absent? Were you happier than usual without me?”

Huo Yanzhi subconsciously denied it. “No.”

Bai Lin raised an eyebrow and made a cute expression. “What type of date was it? Brother Huo, who were you assigned to a group with?”

Huo Yanzhi thought of the question and answer session on the Rapids ride, remembered the incompatibility of being a third party in the aquarium, and remembered the relationship between You Mian and Pei Huaiji.

The man’s eyes darkened instantly. “It was boring, so boring.”

Bai Lin smiled and tilted his head. “Was it because I wasn’t there?’

Huo Yanzhi thought of the little daisy given by Yan Tingxuan and replied absentmindedly, “Yes.”

“What about You Mian?” Bai Lin suddenly said the name that Huo Yanzhi was thinking about, making the man’s brow twitch.

But Bai Lin just asked, “Who was You Mian with?”

Huo Yanzhi was silent for a long time. Then he held his chin to cover it up and said softly, “I didn’t pay attention. I didn’t pay much attention to him, so I don’t remember.”

Bai Lin smiled with satisfaction and continued to paint. His strokes were random and unorganized.

This time, Huo Yanzhi really felt bored.

He let his thoughts drift. The first thing that came to mind was what You Mian was doing now.

Was You Mian also in the sculpture classroom of A College? Did he dig in the mud with a clay bucket like before?

The scraper scraped against the canvas and made a sound. This brought Huo Yanzhi’s mind back.

The man hid his shocked eyes.

Huo Yanzhi was at a loss. What was he thinking just now?