The Painting 3

He had mixed feelings swirling within him. Though he felt happy to have a student of his paint such a magnificent art piece but he still could not believe that his worse student was the one who had produced it.

He was deeply torn between being excited that he had a reputable artwork to be presented for the auction at the carnival and finding a fault with Zhu Yunqing. Even to the extent that he felt she had cheated somehow. She could have gotten the picture from someone or somewhere, but she had only come in with her small bag.

He glance around the seat and the closest window or door seemed so far away that even if Zhu Yunqing would not have been able to get someone help from outside. Even if she tried to, it would have been very difficult. Plus, the fact that she has been under his watchful gaze as soon as he noticed her odd behaviour in class.

None of the students was aware of this year's carnival theme beforehand. Even if she had found out somehow and gotten someone to paint it outside the class, the watercolour paper had no wrinkles on it and Zhu Yunqing's bag was far too small to fit in that size of painting without it getting crinkled in the bag.

The saying of never judging a book by its cover seem to be applicable here. It was as if Zhu Yunqing had been hiding her true skills all along.

Some students noticed Mr Yang walking to Zhu Yunqing earlier smirked and thought that Mr Yang was going to lash out at Zhu Yunqing once again. Perhaps everyone expected Zhu Yunqing to had painted rubbish.

Unfortunately, they did not witness any of that. Instead they saw the interchanging expressions on Mr Yang's face like he couldn't utter a word for a while as he gazed at Zhu Yunqing's work.

"Look Zhu Yunqing's artwork gave Mr Yang so much shock to make him speechless!" one student said.

"Her shamelessness baffles me! Could she not have dropped out of the class long ago?"another student spoke.

"Yeah! That would have been better than being embarrassed in every class," a girl sitting close to Zhu Yanyu murmured.

"Is she not ashamed? She is definitely going to repeat this class!" one boy commented.

"Maybe she is too proud to quit, after i don't think she would like to be the first quitter in her family."

"Yeah, Zhu Yanyu is much more better than her. At least she puts in effort into what she is doing."

"Silence!" Mr Yang barked. The whispers and gossips were becoming too noisy and had gotten to his ears.

Soon the class became extremely silent. If a pin had dropped on the floor it would have been heard.

Mr Yang was still a bit fascinated but most of all he wanted to confirm Zhu Yunqing's talent with his own eyes. So, he took an empty chair nearby and sat sat behind Zhu Yunqing. If she really was npt the one who painted the piece, under his watchful eyes, he would be able to discern it.

Zhu Yunqing was completely unfazed by everything that was going on. She couldn't even care less about being under the discerning look of Mr Yang. She just continued with her painting. After a few more minutes, she was done with her painting.

Mr Yang noticed it and immediately stood up. He really was not expecting Zhu Yunqing's painting to be that good. He had to admit he was very impressed with her work. It was even on par with the best artists in the world.

He fixed his glasses on the rim of his nose properly as he quietly inspected every inch of the painting. Not a single brush stroke was out of place. Even the best student in his class would not be able to paint this remarkable art piece.

Mr Yang was so excited that he could not stop a wide grin from spreading across his lips. He felt like he was on cloud nine. Never has the school been able to take first or second position in the art carnival competition. The closest they had been was third position and that was only when one of the top three paintings was disqualified due to cheating. Now, he felt with this painting there was finally a glimmer of hope that they would come out on top.

He could not hide his excitement and as soon as he noticed that the painting was dry, he picked up Zhu Yunqing's board with her art piece and left the class. He headed straight to the head of the art departments office, Mr Liu's office.

The whole class found his behaviour to be strange. Some thought he was finally going to report Zhu Yunqing to the school principal on her rude caricature paintings of him. Some felt her suspension or expulsion letter was much closer to being official now.

"He must have taken the work as evidence."

"Zhu Yunqing is definitely done for now!"

"She should start groveling at his feet now so he would spare her."

Zhu Yunqing, on the other hand just calmly crossed one of her long slim legs over the other and relaxed in her seat. She had an air of confidence around her as her lips slightly curved upwards. She was not going to give anyone the chances to ride over her like in her first life. This was the perfect opportunity to show her talent and use them to achieve what she wanted.

Revenge and a peaceful life.