CFCS Chapter 129

Chapter 129
Artistic Life (Arc 10.2)

Cui Yan sent Jing Yang to the gate of the community. He took off his sunglasses and turned to him and said, “My number has been added to your cell phone. If there’s anything you can contact me. If you’re willing to let me finish that painting, no matter what it is, I’ll be happy to help you.”

“Thank you for saving me.” Jing Yang still ignored his words, and then deliberately looked at him with a grateful gaze. His eyes contained a soft and moving light, Jing Yang knew that he most could not bear to see him like this.

Sure enough, Jing Yang’s gaze made Cui Yan’s heart stop. Pressing down the impulse to kiss his eyes, he said in a suddenly deeper voice, “If you have something, remember to come find me.”

“I know.” Jing Yang smiled at him and then opened the door to get out of the car.

Seeing Cui Yan’s car drive away, Jing Yang turned to enter the community when he suddenly found someone watching him. The man came forward towards him, so he stopped and looked at him.

“Mu Jin.” Wu Xiuyuan glanced in the direction of Cui Yan’s car and asked him, “Where did you go last night? Who sent you back just now?”

Jing Yang heard his questioning tone but was unable to answer him right away. He immediately turned on the system, quickly checked this person’s basic information, and then coldly said, “It has nothing to do with you.”

Jing Yang passed him and walked inside the neighborhood.

“Mu Jin!” Wu Xiuyuan immediately chased after him. “Yesterday I shouldn’t have hit you, I apologize to you, but you tore up the painting that Su Mo was going to take to participate in the competition. Even if you are very good friends, such behavior is not right. You should also apologize to him.”

Jing Yang still hadn’t fully understood what was going on, so he ignored Wu Xiuyuan chattering behind him.

When he had just arrived at the floor where he lived, before he even had time to take out his key and open the door, the door was opened from the inside.

Su Mo stood in the door and looked at Jing Yang. “You’re back, Mu Jin, where did you go last night? Teacher and I were very worried about you.”

Jing Yang pushed right past him, walked into the original body’s room, and then locked the door.

The room was small, and most of the space was filled with painting tools and some finished paintings. There was very little furniture besides a narrow single bed in the corner, not even a desk or closet.

“I don’t know if he’s had breakfast yet, there’s breakfast in the kitchen, I’ll go ask him if he’s eaten or not.” After Su Mo said that to Wu Xiuyuan, he went to knock on Jing Yang’s room.

“Forget it.” Wu Xiuyuan pulled him away. “If he’s hungry, he’ll come out and find food himself. If you go find him now, he’ll just get angry with you again. Let him calm down alone, and when he understands his mistake, I’ll let him apologize to you.”

“Teacher…” Su Mo gazed softly at Wu Xiuyuan, a trace of love in his eyes.

Wu  Xiuyuan pinched his hand, then raised his hand and stroked his face, comforting him with his gaze.

Jing Yang lay down on that tiny bed that you would fall off of just by turning around. He turned on the system and began to learn more about this world, and what the original master of the body had been through.

After Mu Jin’s parents died, he worked hard to continue his studies while working part time. His parents had not left much assets for him. If he sold the house they owned in his hometown, he wouldn’t have had to work so hard, but that was the only thing that his parents had left him. He didn’t want to sell it, and was unwilling to sell it.

Even though the days were hard, with his love of art and his talent, he won several prestigious awards. He also received attention from the school, who gave him scholarships and grants.

That Su Mo who had just opened the door was both a classmate and a good friend of Mu Jin, or else the two of them would not be living together. Su Mo’s family was in business and his family environment was pretty good. Right now the apartment they were living in was being rented by Su Mo’s parents. Because there was an extra empty room besides Su Mo’s bedroom and painting room, he invited Mu Jin to live with him. Mu Jin always had trouble sleeping, so considering that he wouldn’t be able to rest well at school with so many people around, yet living in a single room was too expensive, he agreed to live with Su Mo. But every month he would still pay him rent.

Later on a new art teacher came to the school who had just come back from studying abroad. He just happened to be teaching Mu Jin and Su Mo’s class. This person was Wu Xiuyuan. Wu Xiuyuan’s family was very rich, and his family had opened several galleries.

Mu Jin had a very beautiful face, to the extent that even someone with self-proclaimed very high standards like Wu Xiuyuan fell in love with him at first sight. Wu Xiuyuan was a naturally romantic man, and especially liked such a clean and beautiful boy like Mu Jin. So he pursued Mu Jin.

Wu Xiuyuan not only funded Mu Jin in the name of his own gallery, but also hung some of Mu Jin’s works in his gallery to sell. For a student, their paintings being able to enter a high-end gallery was something very enviable, because even paintings by art students several years after graduation would not necessarily be able to be hung in a gallery. So the number of artists who had to change careers were many.

As for Wu Xiuyuan’s pursuit and romantic actions, Mu Jin was somewhat moved. After all, he was not a very worldly person, and after interacting with Wu Xiuyuan for a while, he felt like he was a pretty good person. But in any school, a student-teacher relationship was a very taboo thing, not to mention such a famous school as Lushan Academy of Fine Arts. They absolutely forbade any scandals of student-teacher love, and once found, both the teacher and student would be expelled.

So in the face of Wu Xiuyuan’s pursuit, Mu Jin very clearly told him that if he really liked him, he would have to wait for after graduation before the two could officially date. Before graduation, they would still maintain a simple student-teacher relationship. This was also a test of Wu Xiuyuan. If he wasn’t even able to wait for him to graduate, then this person was not worthy of his love.

Wu Xiuyuan agreed to Mu Jin’s request, but did not actually stop courting his favor. He just did it much more secretly, working hard to make it so other people couldn’t find out. Even though eagle-eyed people could still clearly see the ambiguity between the two, his actions still made Mu Jin feel a sense of intimacy, deepening his good feelings toward him.

Su Mo and Mu Jin were very good friends, so of course he knew that Wu Xiuyuan was pursuing Mu Jin. Mu Jin would also tell him a lot of his inner thoughts, and really treated him as a lifelong friend.

Mu Jin in some aspects was really foolish and naive, but Su Mo was someone who was very good at hiding his emotions. So Mu Jin had never found that Su Mo was actually very jealous of Mu Jin being able to win prizes time and time again, and he also really liked Wu Xiuyuan.

Ever since Mu Jin’s paintings were praised by the teachers and started to win prizes, Su Mo began to gradually change his style of painting, making it more and more similar to Mu Jin’s style. Because the two of them lived together, they would often talk about some sources of inspiration for painting. Each time Mu Jin said that he wanted to paint a painting like this, Su Mo would listen very seriously, and then when Mu Jin was still pondering it, Su Mo would have already painted it. Even though what he painted wasn’t exactly the same as Mu Jin had imagined, it was very similar.

Because Su Mo deliberately changed his style, the two people’s painting styles were very similar. So when Su Mo painted a painting in Mu Jin’s style, no one thought that it was strange. Even Mu Jin felt that perhaps the two people had been interacting more, so their ideas were getting closer and closer.

Slowly, the number of times Su Mo won were more than Mu Jin, and some people began to feel that it was not that Su Mo’s style was very similar to Mu Jin’s style, but that Mu Jin’s style was like Su Mo’s. There was even a rumor that Mu Jin was deliberately imitating Su Mo’s paintings. But Mu Jin didn’t care at all. Every time Su Mo won a prize, Mu Jin was very happy for him.

Because Su Mo and Mu Jin were basically attached at the hip, he also had many chances to interact with Wu Xiuyuan, and even took the initiative to act as a point of contact between the two people.

In order to please Mu Jin, Wu Xiuyuan would even sometimes take Su Mo’s paintings and also put them in his family gallery to sell. Even though Su Mo was not as beautiful as Mu Jin, he was still a handsome and elegant man. Coupled with him deliberately getting closer, taking the initiative to tempt him, the romantic Wu Xiuyuan found it hard to resist.

The two men got together behind Mu Jin’s back. At first Wu Xiuyuan felt somewhat guilty, but that kind of sneaky thrill made both of them enjoy the feeling. They would secretly get together more and more times, and later on even that feeling of guilt gradually disappeared.

Even though Wu Xiuyuan felt that he still liked Mu Jin, he still had to admit that he had also been moved by Su Mo. But he was also not willing to tell Mu Jin and did not want to let go of Mu Jin. Seeing his difficulties and struggle, Su Mo took the initiative to tell him that even if he didn’t tell Mu Jin his entire life he would be fine. For his sake, he was willing to maintain the status quo.

For Su Mo’s sacrifice, Wu Xiuyuan felt very moved, and his heart was more and more partial towards him. He felt that compared to his upright and serious pursuit of Mu Jin, he was more guilty of Su Mo.

Mu Jin had always felt that those rumors around the school that his and Su Mo’s styles were too similar wouldn’t have any impact on him. Until he received the school’s warning to not imitate Su Mo’s paintings too much, or else the school would take him as an example and criticize him publicly.

Even after being warned by the school, Mu Jin did not doubt Su Mo. But after being lost for a while, he decided to give up his current style, and began to create a style of painting that was uniquely his.

Once a painting style was formed, it was very difficult to change. It required different inspirations and ideas, and that wasn’t something that could happen just because you wanted it to. Even things like painting habits and creative habits would have to be slowly changed, it was really something very difficult. Mu Jin painted over and over again, and the more he painted the messier it became, the more he painted the less satisfied he was. This process made Mu Jin suffer greatly.

In order to participate in a very important competition, and also to take the first step in changing his style, Mu Jin spent over two months before finally completing a work that he was very satisfied with. When he handed the painting over to Wu Xiuyuan and asked him to enter it in the competition, Wu Xiuyuan returned his painting to him and told him to give up on the competition.

Mu Jin was very doubtful. He had worked so hard to complete this painting, why was it returned. Even if he wouldn’t get a prize, why did he have to give up the competition.

Under Mu Jin’s questioning, Wu Xiuyuan told him that it was because his painting was too similar to Su Mo’s painting. If he sent it into the competition, the school would definitely not agree. And if he painted a different one in a hurry, works that were done in a rush would have no need to be sent to participate in this competition.

Mu Jin was very confused. During this painting process, he had spent most of his time in his room, forcing himself to think of new ideas. He did not communicate with anyone. Even though his style was not completely changed from before, there was still a big difference. How could it be too similar to Su Mo’s painting.

Mu Jin had Wu Xiuyuan show him Su Mo’s painting. With only a glance, Mu Jin was sure that it was absolutely impossible for Su Mo himself to conceive and create this. He grabbed the picture and ran to the school studio to question Su Mo. Su Mo obviously would not admit that this painting was his imitation of Mu Jin’s, that had been completed after a slight modification.

Even though Mu Jin did not talk to other people about his ideas, during his painting process, he would leave his door unlocked when he went out. It was very convenient for Su Mo to go in and see his painting.

Su Mo constantly said that the painting was his own and the ideas were also his own. This time, Mu Jin suddenly realized something, but he didn’t dare to think further. He told Su Mo to tell the truth and then they would still be friends and he would not investigate this time. But if he did not tell the truth, they wouldn’t need to be friends at all.

Even though Mu Jin was beautiful, his character was quite lonely. He always gave people a feeling of cold pride. In fact, he was actually just not very sociable, so besides Su Mo, he basically had no friends. And Su Mo’s family conditions were good, so other people thought he was a generous and kind person and were willing to be close to him. So he had a lot of friends.

During the two people’s dispute, the onlookers would all try to help Su Mo, telling Mu Jin to not be unreasonable even after copying someone else’s works. Some people would say very ugly words in a sarcastic tone. Even Wu Xiuyuan, as a teacher, very seriously warned Mu Jin not to speak nonsense.

Mu Jin originally didn’t care what other people were saying. But seeing Su Mo’s wronged expression as if he had wrongfully accused him, he really could not suppress the anger in his heart, impulsively tearing Su Mo’s painting.

Everyone was shocked. Tearing up other people’s paintings in the Academy of Fine Arts was a very serious matter.

Su Mo watched wide-eyed as his painting was torn. He screamed and held his torn painting, crying. The others came back to their senses when Su Mo started crying, and angrily began to blame Mu Jin.

Wu Xiuyuan looked at the sorrowful Su Mo and was distressed and angry, but he couldn’t hold him and comfort him in front of everyone. When he was feeling anxious, he actually raised his hand and slapped Mu Jin.

This slap not only made Mu Jin and everyone else freeze, but even Wu Xiuyuan himself froze. He immediately regretted it.

Mu Jin never thought that Wu Xiuyuan would actually hit him. He stared at Wu Xiuyuan in disbelief for a while, and then ran out of the studio.

Wu Xiuyuan wanted to chase after him but was stopped by Su Mo’s cries. Su Mo asked him despondently what he should do. Wu Xiuyuan crouched down to comfort him and said that the deadline for sending in entries was still ten days away, so as long as he worked hard to repaint it, he would definitely be able to make it in time.

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Random Notes:

About an hour: 11:20 am – 12:10 pm, for 4.3k characters to 2.8k words.

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