Rebirth: He Decides to Lie Flat
Chapter 239 - 239 236 The Painting in the Classroom

Chapter 239: Chapter 236: The Painting in the Classroom Chapter 239: Chapter 236: The Painting in the Classroom Mu Jiawen handed the paintings to Xue Weisong and Shen Mengfei.

Honestly, these two science guys didn’t understand much about art. After receiving the paintings, they just felt that Mu Jiawen had given them quite a lot. Moreover, since Chinese paintings are in the traditional style, it wasn’t really suitable to buy other festive New Year decorations to match. If they were to buy something, it would have to be in the traditional style as well, but those are generally quite expensive.

“The twelve paintings are enough to decorate the classroom. No need to buy more.”

“Then let’s hang the last two, five on each side.”

The two called over two other boys from their class to help hammer in nails and hang the paintings. One of them lit up when he opened one of them, “Damn, a pig!”

“Huangfu, if you call me that again, I’ll castrate you!” another classmate cursed without looking back as he hammered in a nail, “You wait till I’m done here…”

“I’m talking about the painting, what are you yelling for?”

Huangfu Yun admired the painting of the pig in the Chinese zodiac for a good ten seconds before eagerly moving on to unwrap another scroll, asking Xue Weisong, “Hey Xue, did Mu Jiawen paint all of these by herself?”

“Yes.”

Xue Weisong hammered the last nail into place and randomly picked up a painting to hang when Huangfu Yun stopped him, “Hey, didn’t Mu Jiawen tell you what she painted?”

“Chinese paintings,” Xue Weisong replied, puzzled. “She just told me to hang them up; she didn’t say anything else.”

Huangfu Yun was choked up—what could he even say?

He said irritably, “These are the twelve zodiac animals, Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit… You should at least know the order of these, from left to right. Hang them accordingly.”

Shen Mengfei turned his head and looked over, his eyes widening, “Mu Jiawen painted the twelve zodiac animals? Damn!”

Huangfu Yun was speechless. “So you guys don’t even look at the paintings when you get them?”

It’s not that they didn’t look, it’s that even after looking, it was just as a form of entertainment; they didn’t understand.

The three of them followed Huangfu Yun’s instructions and hung the paintings in order. Then, standing on the podium and looking at the classroom, the originally monotonous and dull white walls immediately took on a new charm!

“Why do I feel like this doesn’t seem like our classroom?” Kou Chuan muttered, who was with Huangfu Yun. “It’s like we’ve walked into the Chinese painting class at the Academy of Fine Arts.”

Huangfu Yun had a fellow townsman at the Academy of Fine Arts. Kou Chuan had gone to their classroom a few times with him, and as soon as they walked in, they were met with a strong presence of traditional style paintings, thick with the scent of ink and wash.

And now their own classroom seemed to have taken on this look.

“What a waste of treasures!”

Huangfu Yun couldn’t help but lament, “Such fine paintings hanging in a science class for a bunch of blind people who don’t appreciate them. It’s simply squandered!”

Meanwhile, Xue Weisong and Shen Mengfei exchanged glances, suddenly realizing that when Mu Jiawen said she made money by selling paintings in Yunzhou, she wasn’t joking.

“Hey Xue, can you ask Mu Jiawen for me? I’ll provide the brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, and ask her to paint a picture for me?”

Xue Weisong looked at him, “She definitely has her own brush, ink, paper, and inkstone. The ones you buy might not be to her liking. Why not, if you have a specific painting in mind, just buy it from her directly?”

After finishing, he added, “Because our class funds are limited, Mu Jiawen provided these twelve paintings for free, for the sake of the class. But we can’t keep asking her to do it for free, right? Her paintings usually sell for this much—”

Imitating Mu Jiawen, Xue Weisong held up a finger.

“Ten thousand? That’s not too expensive.”

Xue Weisong and Shen Mengfei fell silent at once.

Huangfu Yun didn’t notice anything different about their faces and continued on his own, “Since we’re classmates, ask her if she can give me a discount. Not seventy percent off, but eighty percent off. Can she paint me an eagle for eight thousand yuan?”

Eight thousand for one?

The two of them didn’t make a sound, while Kou Chuan on the side mocked, “Eighty percent off? Are you really that short of two thousand yuan, or what? Scrimping and saving even on the matter of our class beauty. You’d still make a profit even if you bought it for ten thousand yuan and resold it for twenty thousand yuan; do you think I don’t know that?”

Xue Weisong and Shen Mengfei’s eyes widened in an instant; this guy…

Was he also flipping items for profit?

Huangfu Yun looked sheepish, “Well, you guys shouldn’t listen to his nonsense. Selling paintings depends on fame; it’s not like our class beauty is… Hey, Xue, don’t go, we can negotiate the price…”

The next day, December 30th, the penultimate day before New Year’s Day holiday, various college departments had evening parties after afternoon classes.

There were no classes on the morning of December 31st, and there was a school evening party after the dismissal in the afternoon.

Professor Li, who was over fifty, walked into Condensed Matter Physics Class One on time at eight o’clock. As soon as he stepped onto the podium, he paused, adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose, first glanced at the two paintings at the back, and then turned to look at the ones on the walls to either side.

After the lecture, Professor Li stepped down from the podium and went to the “Zi Rat” painting closest to him on the left to take a very careful look, inspecting it from top to bottom. In the bottom right corner, he saw the signature “Xiaosi” along with a small seal bearing the three characters “Mu Jiawen.”

“Mu Jiawen, did you paint this?”

Mu Jiawen nodded and glanced at Professor Li but said nothing.

Because it was time for class, Professor Li didn’t ask any more questions, but unlike usual, he didn’t leave with his teaching notes right after class; instead, he looked at each of the twelve paintings from start to finish, left to right.

After he had finished, he went to the third row and asked Mu Jiawen and Xue Weisong, “Are these paintings temporarily hung up for the New Year’s celebration, or will they stay up from now on?”

Xue Weisong was not quite sure what Professor Li meant and hesitated before passing the buck to the instructor, “It’s up to Instructor Tang to decide. If he wants them to hang, then they will stay up.”

Professor Li nodded and couldn’t help but take another look at Mu Jiawen before leaving.

Upon seeing this, Huangfu Yun couldn’t help but sneer inwardly. The old professor wants to get it for free.

Being a teacher is great. Unlike him, as a classmate, he still hasn’t managed to negotiate a friendship price with Mu Jiawen.

It’s not that Mu Jiawen thinks his offered price is too low, but Su Qiang, the assistant at her mother’s art gallery, suggested she paint a few more pieces for the gallery.

In Mu Chenyan’s art gallery, even though her paintings are sought after because she is “Mu Chenyan’s daughter,” it can’t be denied that her foundation and painting skills are indeed excellent.

So, she thought she should satisfy Su Qiang first, and then consider selling paintings to Huangfu Yun afterward.

After all, she isn’t short on money right now.

When Tang An received the call from Professor Li, he was eating lunch in the canteen, surrounded by a table of young instructors and lecturers. They vaguely heard a few words, and once Tang An hung up, a teacher from the Fine Arts College who was well-acquainted with him asked with surprise, “What about traditional Chinese painting? Your class actually hung up traditional Chinese paintings? Professor Li has very high standards; there are not many professors in our college whose paintings he appreciates. How did he end up liking the ones in your classroom? Where did you get them from?”

Right now, Tang An was actually quite confused. He had only instructed Shen Mengfei and Xue Weisong to decorate the classroom, but he hadn’t seen the final setup yet.

He had intended to go there last night when they were decorating, but Xia Shi’s parents came over; to deal with issues concerning two female students, he and another teacher, Teacher Liu, had to accompany the parents all night, leaving him frantic and unable to attend to the classroom.

However, judging by what Professor Li said, were the paintings done by Mu Jiawen?