Chapter 529

A soft rustling came from below as Lin Tingsong on the stage sipped tea leisurely.

Xu Zhiying hesitated for several minutes, the pen tip hovering above the paper, unable to land.

The surrounding classmates had already begun working on their own, and some had already spread a large area of base color on their drawing paper.

She could draw whatever she wanted, but she seemed to want to draw nothing.

She turned her gaze to the person sitting in the front row; Mu Youyu's brush wandered across the paper, laying down the light‑dark boundary in one stroke, followed immediately by the transitional area.

At a glance it was clear that her thinking had been finished before she put brush to paper; her hand was merely executing the final step.

Jiang Liangjin and she each painted their own work, occasionally glancing sideways at the other's progress before returning their gaze and continuing.

Xu Zhiying looked for a while before lowering her head and began flipping through her phone for reference.

She sighed silently, Is this what a talent monster is like?

About half an hour later, Mu Youyu had completed most of her work, set down her brush, and gazed at the paper for a moment to review it.

Her phone vibrated; she glanced at the incoming call—an unfamiliar overseas number—and furrowed her brow slightly, ignoring it.

The phone soon fell silent again, and less than a few seconds later a second vibration came.

Jiang Liangjin blinked, 'Who?'

The screen still showed that unfamiliar overseas number, 'I don't know it; it's calling my primary card.'

Mu Youyu had had this phone card since childhood.

Besides family members who had it saved, only Jiang Liangjin, Lin Ning, Yu Ci, and Gu Xingnan—friends she'd grown up with and was close to—knew the number.

If it were overseas, it would be Jun Chenling and Qing An.

She hesitated a moment, then said, 'I'll go outside to take it.'

It was ten minutes before the end of class; Mu Youyu went out, pressed the answer button, and said nothing.

From the other end came a standard Y Guo accent, neither rushed nor slow: 'Hello, may I speak with Ms. Mu? This is the Secretariat of the International Children's Charity Foundation.'

That title was not unfamiliar to her; Mu Youyu's finger paused slightly.

The caller continued: 'Regarding the annual charity gala to be held next month in Y Guo, the organizing committee needs to confirm the procedure and your attendance with you. Since you have sent someone each year to attend, and we have received no reply to the invitation sent to your primary card these past days, we dared to call this backup number you previously provided.'

Mu Youyu switched the phone to her other hand, 'The foundation?'

On the other end, the line fell silent for a moment, and the secretary's tone grew a touch cautious: 'Are you Ms. Mu Youyu yourself?'

They even knew her name; 'I am, what event are you referring to?'

The secretary assumed she had mixed things up due to being busy, gave an introduction, and also reported a primary card number they knew, saying it was Mu Youyu's own primary card from back then.

Mu Youyu politely acknowledged, hung up, and dialed the primary card number of someone unknown to her.

After a dozen seconds, the call was answered, and Mu's mother's voice came through the earpiece, thick with just‑woken nasal congestion: 'Dear daughter? Why are you calling us? If I and your father hadn't remembered, we almost would have hung up.'

'Mom? It's you.' Mu Youyu kept her volume extremely low, speaking flatly, 'An International Children's Charity Foundation just called me—what's going on?'

Mu's mother was silent for half a minute, seemingly recalling, 'Oh, that—thinking about it, it's about time for that annual event; didn't your father tell you? We set it up in your name, over ten years ago.'

Mu Youyu was puzzled, what does 'established in her name' mean? As the person concerned, she knew nothing about it.

On the other end, Mu's father seemed to guess her thoughts, his voice coming through: 'Not knowing is fine! We never told you mainly because you were only five back then; the foundation's affairs have a dedicated person in charge, you just needed to be a good baby. What's up? Why suddenly ask about this?'

Mu Youyu didn't know how to respond, '…They called to ask me to attend the annual meeting.'

Mu's mother spoke without any burden: 'If you don't want to go, don't; if you want to go, go—just treat it as a trip. If you find it boring alone, let A Jin accompany you, or call those friends of yours.'

Mu Youyu felt helpless, 'I'm still in school—how could I go?'

'Alright, if you don't want to go, don't; Mom, it's up to you!'

Having said that, Mu's mother added a few reminders—be safe, eat well, drink well—and then hung up.

Mu Youyu pushed the door open and returned to the painting studio; seeing her come back, Jiang Liangjin lowered his voice and asked, 'What happened?'

Mu Youyu turned over her phone, 'Someone said I'm an honorary chairperson of a charity foundation.'

Jiang Liangjin's gaze toward her shifted subtly, 'Wow.'

'What are you wow-ing about?'

'Wow.' He drew out the syllable, 'My Ah Yu really has a kind heart.'

Mu Youyu lowered her head, slipped the phone back into her pocket, 'Cut it out.'

Jiang Liangjin turned sideways, his eyes on her slightly reddened earlobe, the curve of his mouth deepening, 'I'm being serious—Ah Yu has been kind‑hearted since childhood, knowing how to give love at age five.'

Mu Youyu squeezed out a sentence: 'That's just my parents using my name; I didn't do anything.'

'That's still yours.' Jiang Liangjin shoved the brush back into her hand, his fingertip lightly brushing the back of her hand.

'Hurry up and paint your picture.'

'Received.'

As class was about to end, Lin Tingsong finally stood up, hands behind his back, walked down from the podium, weaving between the students' easels, occasionally offering a few comments, with no particular expression.

Upon reaching behind Mu Youyu, Lin Tingsong finally showed a different expression.

He felt helpless; the picture was of him sipping tea on the podium, and his obvious favorite disciple painted whatever he saw.

Noticing something, Lin Tingsong pointed to a dab of white on the painting and praised, 'This highlight truly captures the essence.'

'Thank you, teacher.'

Lin Tingsong then glanced toward Jiang Liangjin on the side, and was instantly speechless.

Enough, this person is just like his beloved disciple.

He couldn't help but say, 'Can't you have a mind of your own? You just copy whatever your girlfriend paints—that's plagiarism.'

Jiang Liangjin lifted his innocent brown eyes, 'This is my own view. I didn't paint what I thought you wanted to see; I painted what I thought Ah Yu would want to see. Teacher, isn't that nice to look at?'

Mu Youyu's eyelashes fluttered lightly.

Lin Tingsong had no retort, '…Haha, as long as you're happy.'

He continued looking at other works, walking over to Xu Zhiying's side, where he paused a bit longer than before.

Xu Zhiying's hand froze on the paper, having drawn less than half the outline; the lines were messy, some broken and intermittent.

Lin Tingsong looked for a moment, then spoke calmly, without blame: "An hour and a half, and you've only just begun; you haven't even figured out what to do next?"

Xu Zhiying didn't dare move, and answered honestly: "I don't know what to draw."

"If you don't know, then don't draw." Lin Tingsong's tone wasn't critical, "When you have free time, go out more, walk around; sitting here forcing yourself only produces dead work."

Xu Zhiying's face flushed for a moment, she put down her pen, and dared not say more.