64 I don't want to help you. Bite me!

This was no coincidence. It had to be the same artist! 

Ji Xiehan watched as Jiang Xingyu's face turn pale from shock, then red from the excitement. Jiang Xingyu was genuinely excited, "I found her... I finally found her! 

Wait, who painted it? There's no name on it." 

Ji Xiehan leisurely reclined in his chair and replied languidly, "That's the interesting part. This is the only painting whose owner I couldn't find out." 

Actually, he had only looked for those paintings because he wanted to take a glimpse at Li Lanni's entry. But when he was scrolling through the paintings, he happened to see "Moonlight." He then recalled Jiang Xingyu telling him about Moonlight so many times that his ears almost grew calluses. But to his disappointment, the painting was incomplete, and it's owner seemed to very mysterious and had vanished into thin air. It piqued his interest. He wondered if both were the same painting.

Jiang Xingyu's excitement dimmed when he heard that even Ji Xehan couldn't find him.

"Wait. We can ask the other contestants. They will surely know. How about we ask your Lanni?" 

"She wouldn't know. Even if she knew, she wouldn't tell." It would be good enough if she didn't ignore him. Most importantly, he didn't want his Lanni to be bothered. 

Jiang Xingyu had known his friend for over two decades. He would be a fool if he didn't understand that expression on his face. "Damn you, Ji Xiehan. You just don't want to help me, right?" 

Ji Xiehan rolled his pen, completing ignoring him. His expression seemed to say, "I don't want to help you. What can you do? Bite me if you dare." 

Jiang Xingyu was almost angered to death when he saw his expression. Just let it be. He should have been used to it by now...

...

That night, Li Lanni shyly presented her painting to her mother. 

Li Yuming felt her heart fill with warmth when she saw her daughter's painting. "You're giving this to me? Thank you, it's beautiful." Lianni's eyes sparkled with joy, which she hadn't felt even when she was receiving the award on the stage this morning.

Li Lanni hugged her mother's arm, and joyfully said, "I also won first place in the competition." 

Li Yuming rubbed her daughter's hair, not looking surprised. "As expected of my Lanni. I'll take you out to celebrate tomorrow." 

"Mmh." 

"What's wrong?" She could tell that Li Lanni had something on her mind. 

"Actually, mom, I don't want to go to Star Art International." 

Disappointment flashed in Li Yuming's eyes, but she continued tousling Li Lanni's hair. "Then let someone else go instead. Many people would die for that opportunity." 

"I wanted to. But they would only let me give it up to the second place. I wanted to let my friend go." 

"It only makes sense. If you were to directly give it to your friend, how would it be fair competition? Besides, I still think it's your hard work, so you shouldn't give it up." 

Li Lanni sunk into contemplation. It seemed like she wouldn't be able to convince her mother to help her this time. She really wanted Cheng Yu to go! Unfortunately, she was just a student, and paired with the fact that she had to be always on the lookout, her abilities were limited. 

___

Obviously, not everyone was happy for Li Lanni. 

Elsewhere at the same time, a dozen or so glasses met their end. 

A beautiful glass table, as well as a human-sized jade vase, were not spared either. 

The unfortunate bodyguard, Fang Xu, cowered at some distance away, but he still had to report the matter entirely so he could only grit his teeth and endure the sufferings. 

"What do you mean by Li Lanni won? That b*tch! How can you let her win?" 

Fang Xu was speechless. What was he supposed to do?

Was he supposed to steal the talent away from Li Lanni to prevent her from winning? 

But this was the path he had chosen. He had been very fortunate to be Ji Xiehan's assistant, but he stupidly followed Ji Feifei instead. 

It even happened at such a time that he really needed the money and hence couldn't quit. Was this his karma? 

 Ji Feifei was boiling with anger. She threw the remote control over at the cowering bodyguard. "Get out! You nauseate me!"He evaded it narrowly and scurried away in the blink of an eye.

Ji Feifei was so angry that her head almost exploded. 

It had only been a few days... how did that useless sl*t progress so far? 

She was now going to Star Art International?! 

One had to know that although she was from the Ji family, her father couldn't manage to get her into Star Art International. 

It was not that he wasn't able to... he just didn't want to pull strings for her. She had to work hard for it, and this was supposed to be her once in a lifetime opportunity! 

If she didn't get expelled, she would have participated in the competition and won it. 

Yet because of that c*nt, she didn't even have a chance to try out! 

Worst of all, no matter what she tried to do, her plans would somehow fail. It was as though that b*tch had someone protecting her! 

Damn it! If it wasn't because she was being watched by her father and couldn't afford to make huge moves, she would personally strangle that b*tch! 

After calming down a little, she took her phone and dialed a number. As soon as the other side lifted the phone, she hurriedly spoke: "Ruby, help me do something." 

The voice on the other side sounded sleepy. "What is it now?"

Ji Feifei sighed before ranting. "Damn it! Cheng Yu didn't win that competition." 

"Isn't that what you wanted?" 

"Yeah... but Li Lanni won! How dare she?" 

In response, Ruby mumbled something incoherently about being tired and not being able to promise any help before she hung up. 

Ji Feifei's was bristling with anger.