I Became an All-round Artist

Lin Yuan was completely unaware of the stories that "The First Dream" had sparked.

As the school day was coming to an end, Hua Li, his professional course instructor and advisor, approached him with a smile and said, "Your song received the highest score in this review."

Lin Yuan nodded, "Hmm."

Hua Li looked at Lin Yuan, sensing a calmness that seemed unusual for a student. "Don’t you have anything to say about that?"

After a moment of thought, Lin Yuan asked, "Can I become an exchange student in my junior year?"

Hua Li was taken aback, "You want to go to Qizhou?"

Lin Yuan replied, "I’m considering it." He still needed to discuss it with his family.

Hua Li smiled, "I see, I'll save you a spot. Just let me know once you've made your decision."

With the quality of "The First Dream" and Lin Yuan's decent academic performance, securing an exchange student slot wouldn't be difficult. After all, the exchange program only lasted two semesters, less than a year in total, a blink of an eye compared to the five-year course.

"Thanks," Lin Yuan nodded again.

Not long after returning home, his sister finished work and came back as well. She carried a bunch of groceries and headed straight to the kitchen, where the scent of cooking soon filled the air, making Lin Yuan's mouth water.

"Hold on," his sister called out from the kitchen while cooking, "It's fine to eat at the cafeteria, but if you keep eating out at restaurants, I don’t think it’s healthy. From now on, I'll cook for you, and you can just go out occasionally."

"Okay."

Half an hour later, two dishes, a soup, and two bowls of rice were set on the table. The siblings began to eat.

"Hey, sis."

Lin Yuan hesitated before saying, "I'm thinking about whether or not I should go to Qizhou as an exchange student next year. If you don’t agree, I won’t go..."

"Exchange student?"

Lin Xuan looked excited, "That's great! Back in my college days, I really wanted to be an exchange student, but I didn’t get the chance since my grades weren’t good enough."

"You agree with it?"

"Why wouldn’t I?"

Lin Xuan quickly figured out his concerns. She laughed, "You’re probably worried about leaving since I’m working in Sucheng, right? Don’t overthink it. It's only a year at most, and you’ll be back before you know it. It's not like you're going to stay in Qizhou forever!"

"Definitely not," Lin Yuan assured her. He was simply curious about the rest of Bluestar and what the other continents were like. Plus, Jian Yi was also planning to go to Qizhou, so they could keep each other company.

"Should I talk to mom?"

"I’ll handle that. She doesn’t really understand what exchange programs are about anyway. The one who might not be happy is Da Yaoyao. She just started school here, and now you're thinking of going to Qizhou. You did say you'd protect her, didn’t you?"

"I’ll ask a friend for help."

Lin Yuan planned to ask someone from the painting department to look out for Lin Yao, and in exchange, he wouldn't raise his teaching prices for the time being. After returning from Qizhou, he could reconsider.

Lin Xuan nodded, checked her phone, and suddenly exclaimed, "It’s starting!"

"What’s starting?"

"The competition!"

As she spoke, she turned on the TV. It was the competition show "Blooming" being aired.

"Did you see that? There was just a shot of Xia Fan!" Lin Xuan pointed excitedly at the TV.

Lin Yuan nodded. He did see Xia Fan appear briefly on screen. Seeing a familiar face on TV filled Lin Xuan with an unexpected excitement.

"Xia Fan made it to the national top fifty yesterday, so she doesn’t have a match today. But she's already gaining a lot of fans online. I even joined her fan group!"

Lin Yuan nodded again, unsurprised. In his mind, it wasn’t difficult for Xia Fan to reach the top fifty, given her abilities.

"Now it's time for the top fifty to be cut down to twenty!"

Lin Xuan said excitedly, "I’m sure Xia Fan will make it. Even the judges really like her. Once she does, she’ll have even more fans!"

"Hmm."

Lin Yuan smiled, genuinely happy for Xia Fan's success.

As he thought about it, a message from Xia Fan popped up in his phone’s small group chat: "Top fifty down, next stop, top twenty!"

Lin Yuan typed, "Congrats!"

Jian Yi joined in, "Xia Fan, Xia Fan, champion spirit!"

Xia Fan replied, "That didn’t rhyme at all. My fans are calling me Fairy Xia Fan."

Jian Yi shot back, "That pun is terrible. I should charge you for it."

Lin Yuan: "..."

Seeing Lin Yuan busy texting, Lin Xuan scolded, "Do you three have a secret group? Got any secrets you're keeping from me?"

"Just a second."

Lin Yuan quickly added Lin Xuan to the group chat.

Xia Fan: "Hello, sis!"

Jian Yi: "Mwah, mwah, sis!"

Without hesitation, Lin Xuan sent a red envelope with ten yuan, to be split four ways.

After opening his share, Lin Yuan sighed. He only got four cents.

Jian Yi, his unlucky counterpart, got six cents.

Xia Fan received two yuan, while Lin Xuan, having sent the envelope, managed to snatch seven yuan herself. She was smug, "I'm the luckiest here! Bow down!"

Lin Yuan looked at his sister and silently stood up.

Lin Xuan, startled by his expression, backed away, "What are you doing?"

Lin Yuan got closer.

Pretending to be scared, Lin Xuan said, "No way! We're siblings!"

Ignoring her playful words, Lin Yuan reached out and pinched her cheek hard.

"Ow! Not so rough!" Lin Xuan protested.

"It doesn’t work if it’s too light."

After pinching her face for about ten seconds, Lin Yuan figured it was enough and quickly retreated to his room, shutting the door behind him.

"Where’s Lin Yuan?"

"Why isn’t he replying?"

Jian Yi and Xia Fan asked in the chat.

Lin Xuan responded, "My brother’s all grown up now and such a nuisance. He even messed up my makeup!"

Jian Yi: "???"

Xia Fan: "???"

Lin Xuan: "Hey, Xia Fan, get me some autographs! I’ll sell them and give you a third of the profit!"

...

Leaning against his bedroom door, Lin Yuan felt lucky and quickly summoned the system, "Give me a bronze treasure chest!"

"Opening now."

The system took a few seconds to load before making a sound, "Congratulations! You’ve been incredibly lucky and received a silver chest reward: a character card of the famous painter Qi Baishi. For one hour, you will gain Qi Baishi’s peak painting abilities. It is recommended to use this time to paint shrimp in ink wash."

Lin Yuan was stunned.

Was this luck good or bad? Qi Baishi's shrimp paintings were incredibly valuable, and Lin Yuan knew their worth. The problem was...

Even if he managed to replicate Qi Baishi's best shrimp, there was no way it would sell for anywhere near the price of the originals.

"At least it’s not a loss."

After some inner conflict, Lin Yuan remembered he still had a silver treasure chest. But he decided not to open it just yet. He’d wait until he had better luck. These things couldn’t be forced—they needed to come naturally.

Pushing the door open, Lin Yuan stepped out.

"So quick?" Lin Xuan asked.

Lin Yuan nodded, "I'll do the dishes."

Lin Xuan had no objections, "And wash your hands while you’re at it."

If their mom had been home, Lin Yuan wouldn’t have had to do the dishes, but with her absent, Lin Xuan relished bossing him around—it was her favorite pastime.

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