Volume 2 Chapter 55: I’ve Studied Da Vinci for Over Twenty Years!

“Teacher Han…”

A younger competition supervisor frowned and spoke seriously.

“Let me remind you, according to our scoring rules, unless the paper is completely blank, we’re not supposed to give such a low score. And this student’s drawing is very good. How can it be only 50 points?”

“So giving 100 points follows the rules then?”

The middle-aged teacher surnamed Han still argued stubbornly. In truth, he was already a little panicked inside, but he kept a calm face on the surface.

That Han Kui girl… ugh. Where did I even get so many troublesome relatives from?

Didn’t they say that girl named Lin had only average art skills? How could this be a level that couldn’t even pass the preliminaries? Now this is getting…

He could only hope the whole thing would just quietly blow over.

So, the teacher put on an even more confident attitude than the other two and said:

“You two just joined the judging team this year, right? Let me tell you, this kid’s painting style is too stiff. You can tell it was trained by some outside art school. It’s just mechanical copying, with no meaning at all. I won’t give a high score! Give whatever score you want, I won’t change mine!”

Obviously, he was trying to use his extra years of experience on the judging team to scare the two less experienced teachers, hoping they wouldn’t dare argue anymore.

And in fact, this move did work a bit.

The two supervisors looked at each other, feeling stuck. They first glanced apologetically at Lin Lin, who was watching the situation anxiously, then sighed.

Sigh… this…

Maybe we should just let it go. Some things between adults are hard to explain clearly, and they didn’t want to make enemies or cause trouble, especially since Teacher Han had seniority.

So…

Just as the two were about to give in, the sound of leather shoes stepping on the floor suddenly came from the doorway.

Han Kui, who was standing at the door and watching proudly, was still enjoying how things were going. A few middle-aged men walked up and awkwardly patted her shoulder.

Han Kui turned her head and her face instantly changed.

W-What?!

This middle-aged man in a suit, she didn’t know who he was, but just from his clothes, his scholarly face, and his air of authority, Han Kui sucked in a sharp breath.

Then she noticed the small badge hanging on his chest:

【Head of the Art Competition Supervising Team】

This…

She immediately panicked. Then she saw Gao Liang standing beside him, and only then did she realize—

This guy… was actually a volunteer for the supervising team?

No wonder she hadn’t seen him earlier, he had gone to call someone!

Before she could recover from the shock and fear, the team leader smiled awkwardly and said,

“Student, the competition is over. You may leave now. You can check the results online, and we’ll also send a text message if you advance.”

“Ah…”

Han Kui nodded carefully, stepped back, and made way.

She hadn’t stayed to wait for the results, she stayed to see Lin Lin embarrass herself.

But now…

Why did Lin Lin’s drawing get such high scores from the other teachers?

Just earlier… wasn’t she unable to draw anything at all?

How did she suddenly improve so much?

Something was very wrong. Han Kui’s heart started to race.

The team leader walked into the classroom and looked at the three frozen supervisors and the slightly wronged-looking girl.

Behind him, Gao Liang quietly followed in and gave Lin Lin a calm, reassuring look.

The girl raised her head, met Gao Liang’s eyes, and then looked at the badge of the man who had just arrived.

Huh?

That guy Gao Liang… Did he actually find a big boss?

“What’s going on here? I heard from the volunteers that there was some disagreement during the scoring,” the head of the supervising team asked.

As soon as he arrived, the teacher who had family ties with Han Kui immediately fell silent.

The other two supervisors nodded. The younger one spoke first.

“Team Leader, we had a small disagreement about this paper. Teacher Han’s score is far too different from ours. Please take a look at this drawing… We both believe it should be over 90 points.”

“Oh? Over 90?”

The leader nodded with interest. In the preliminary round, it wasn’t common to see a score above 90, especially with a limited topic. He actually enjoyed reviewing good drawings from these students.

Of course, by the standards of his long career, decades in the field, even capable of holding private art exhibitions, works at this level were usually still quite immature…

Too…

Too immature…?

Huh?!

The moment he saw the paper, the leader sucked in a sharp breath. A strong shock ran through his body. The middle-aged man widened his eyes and stared closely at the lines on the drawing.

After a moment, his right hand shook as he pulled out his glasses from his chest pocket and put them on. Then he urgently said to the young supervisor beside him:

“T-Turn on the light!”

“O-Okay…”

The light was turned on. The leader spread the paper flat on the table and examined it again and again. After a long look, he raised his head, pointed at the drawing, and spoke seriously to the supervisors around him.

“Hmm… Based on my observation, comrades, this is an authentic work! This drawing technique is like a copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s sketch manuscripts, almost no difference at all! I have studied Da Vinci’s works for over twenty years. I know the details of every one of his paintings. Ordinary people could never copy it this perfectly. And… and this is a sketch of the Mona Lisa! What an incredible discovery in art history! So the Mona Lisa even has a hand-drawn sketch by Da Vinci himself!”

The leader slammed the table excitedly and shouted,

“This kind of thing, this kind of thing actually appeared here! This is priceless!”

“Uh—uh—wait, Team Leader, that’s not right,” the young supervisor scratched his head awkwardly and quickly reminded him.

“There are Chinese competition instructions printed on the paper. Th-this… this is actually the work of that student over there, Lin Lin!”

Another kind middle-aged supervisor quickly nudged him, signaling, ‘Do you really have to say it so directly?!’

As for Han Kui’s relative, his mouth was already twitching uncontrollably.

“Huh?”

Hearing this, the leader froze for a moment, then sucked in another sharp breath as he finally realized it.

Oh, right…

This… this was drawn by that young girl.

Hmm?

No—no, that can’t be right!