Volume 2 Chapter 58: The Fastest Legend of the Second Round!
By the time Gao Liang and Lin Lin came out of the room, it was almost time to leave.
Food prepared for them was still on the table, but it had already gone cold. Lin Lin’s parents looked confused as they stared at the weak-looking Gao Liang and the slightly sleepy Lin Lin. They were still wondering what these two had been doing inside.
Studying, maybe?
After a moment, Lin Lin yawned. She glanced at the food on the table, and her stomach growled, but there really wasn’t any time left.
So, turning the happiness from being praised as a “beautiful girl” into motivation, she forced herself to perk up and said to her parents,
“I’m going to the competition… I’ll come back for dinner tonight.”
“Okay, good luck!”
The two of them hurried out, got into the car, and the girl let out a soft sigh.
Her competition condition today really hadn’t been great.
She was still thinking about that when suddenly Gao Liang turned his head and said to her, “Open your mouth.”
“Huh—?”
The girl didn’t react in time. Hearing that, she opened her mouth out of instinct. Then Gao Liang stuffed a piece of baguette bread into her mouth.
“Mmph—!”
She choked a little and tears came out from reflex. She quickly grabbed the baguette from him and saw Gao Liang laughing quietly to himself.
“You jerk…”
“Pfft—okay, okay, I’ll stop.” Gao Liang waved his hands and said, “Lin Lin, Auntie handed this to me when we were leaving and told us to share it. I’m not hungry, but you still have a competition later. You can’t go without eating anything. Eat a bit, then sleep in the car. I’ll wake you up when we get there. Get some good rest.”
“You’re the one fooling around!”
The girl unhappily broke the baguette in half, puffed up her cheeks, and took big bites.
Hmph. Even though Gao Liang hadn’t eaten either, she wasn’t going to give him any.
Well… he didn’t seem to want any anyway.
In the end, after eating the bread, the girl fell asleep again in her rival’s car. When she woke up groggily, she felt much more rested.
“Lin Lin, we’re here.”
“Mm… okay…”
She nodded and followed Gao Liang into the venue.
This time, the scale was much smaller than the preliminaries. Lin Lin counted carefully, there really weren’t many people left. Even more obvious was that each room only had three or four contestants.
Lin Lin found her seat and walked into the room. Gao Liang stood at the door, cheering her on. Then, a familiar face walked in as well.
Ah—wait…
The group leader?
“Eh? Lin?”
The competition hadn’t started yet. Lin Lin was still organizing her tools when the leader noticed her. He smiled and walked over.
“How’s your preparation?”
“Uh… probably… probably okay?”
Lin Lin felt a bit embarrassed. The leader nodded. He didn’t say much more, just gave a bit of general advice.
“It’s best to do an oil painting. Original works usually score better with the judges. Of course, your research on Da Vinci can’t be copied directly, but you can blend it into your own style. Honestly, Lin Lin, you were first place in the preliminaries.”
“Mm, thank you very much.”
“Alright, do your best.”
The leader nodded and went back to his seat. He took a sip of goji berry tea from his thermos, then glanced toward the classroom door.
Wow. That kid is here too.
The competition soon officially began. As expected, there was no topic limit. Lin Lin recalled Gao Liang’s drawing method while quickly starting her work.
The leader checked the time and observed the students drawing. Years of competition supervision had given him an almost scary skill, he didn’t even need to look at their paper. Just by watching their expressions and hand movements, he could tell how far along they were.
But such a simple thing…
For Lin Lin, it didn’t seem to work at all.
“Hm?”
The leader frowned. It was the first time he had seen something like this. The girl had her brows tightly knit, but her hands were moving incredibly fast.
Lin Lin’s movements were so quick it was hard to even describe. She was much faster than the student next to her, who looked calm and relaxed.
This…
Of course, the leader couldn’t know that Lin Lin was frowning simply because she was constantly recalling Gao Liang’s movements. She recalled them so deeply that even the order in which he mixed the paints was exactly the same.
The only difference was that she was even faster than Gao Liang. After all, one person was creating, while the other was copying.
Second by second, time passed. Listening to the ticking of the clock, the more the leader watched, the more confused he became.
After a while, Lin Lin had already… already started adding color?
And then…
She had already… already started final brush strokes?
Huh?
The leader blinked in shock, unable to believe what he was seeing. The girl stopped, came out of her fully focused state, and then looked around curiously.
Uh…
It seemed like the others hadn’t finished yet?
She looked up at the clock in the classroom. Was she drawing a bit too fast?
Uh, wait…
She turned back and looked at her painting. At her best performance, it looked almost no different from the finished piece Gao Liang had drawn at noon.
Did it need more polishing?
Ahem. It was already very good. Besides, she could only copy, not truly create. Forget it, forget it, no need to ruin it by adding unnecessary details.
Anyway, the rules only set the latest time to submit. As for when you leave, even if you drew a stick figure and left early, no one would stop you.
Lin Lin took off the drawing paper. Under the shocked gazes of the other contestants, she walked up to the podium, handed the painting to the stunned leader, then turned around and left the classroom.
Only the leader remained, holding the freshly finished painting. For a long moment, his heart couldn’t calm down.
This…
Just being able to finish such a good painting in such a short time already proved the girl’s skill.
And with so much time still left, she didn’t even look back once and just left. That alone showed her confidence.
This Lin student was really not simple.
The woman in the painting seemed to be herself. The figure was drawn with enough detail, and under the interwoven light and shadow, there was a natural kind of beauty.
But the leader felt like he was missing something.
What was it?
Hmm…
He thought for a while, then suddenly slapped his thigh.
Da Vinci!
He had told the girl to blend in some of Da Vinci’s spirit.
This painting must have been created with Da Vinci’s essence in mind. He had to find it.
W-where was it?
Hmm…
Was it the elegant elm bookshelf?
Was it the delicate medieval-style window?
Was it the graceful blue-and-white porcelain cheongsam?
Ah—no, no, no. The cheongsam didn’t really have much to do with Da Vinci.
Anyway, the more the leader looked at the painting, the more he felt that this girl’s work was… if not the Mona Lisa, then even better than the Mona Lisa!
If there was something he couldn’t see, he clenched his teeth and decided it must be because he wasn’t careful enough!
Meanwhile, the girl who had walked out of the room simply stretched her sore arms.
Gao Liang’s style—pfft—
So tiring.