BTO CH68

S: What happened.

S: Who did it.

Xu Sheng’s two messages sounded like he was ready for a fight. Usually careless about everything, whenever a friend was in trouble, he turned right back into that Xu Sheng who rolled up his sleeves to jump into the fray.

Kang Kai directly sent a voice message: “No, it’s not what you think…”

When Kang Kai said the painting was ruined, it was literal. A guy in the studio accidentally jostled him while taking out a water bucket, spilling water and leaving several strokes from a paint-soaked brush right across his artwork.

“He didn’t do it on purpose, and he almost cried in front of me,” Kang Kai said. “He knows I have the selection tomorrow. I was generous and tough, holding back my tears, but God knows my tears were about to burst out the very next second!”

Kang Kai didn’t make things hard for the guy, just told him to be careful next time, and tried to save the painting. In the end, he couldn’t save it. Now he really wanted to cry.

Kang Kai was breaking down, his voice trembling: “Is my competition career going to end right here?”

“Besides, the news for the art competition was only released a few days ago, and the judge this time is Old Mr. Yang, a special guest judge!”

Kang Kai entered the “Xinghai Cup” competition over the holiday precisely because of Old Mr. Yang. His admiration for Old Mr. Yang was endless; Old Mr. Yang was the guiding light on his artistic path, his idol. Though at the “Xinghai Cup” evaluation site, Old Mr. Yang had been more interested in Xu Sheng, who had helped modify his painting.

“Don’t panic,” Xu Sheng said. “Snap a picture and send it over for me to see.”

Kang Kai quickly took a photo.

In the picture, a brownish-black water stain swept horizontally across the painting. Kang Kai had originally painted a vast, peaceful blue sky with very clean tones, keeping even the shadows on the clouds faint. However, the water stain covered a large area and trickled down along the paper. Though it appeared to have been blotted with paper, the entire sky and the buildings below were left with indelible marks.

Even harder to deal with than the water stain were the colorful strokes slashed across the scene.

They completely ruined the overall soft and elegant color palette.

Kang Kai’s style was comfortable and gentle, building contrast to highlight the main scenery. He had indeed layered some color over it, but the overall result still looked jarring.

Kang Kai scratched his hair: “Can you come out for a bit? I’m really out of options. My mom isn’t home either, she’s probably still on the plane, taking a spontaneous trip with Auntie Wang and the others this weekend.”

After saying this, Kang Kai realized he was blabbering: “No, forgot you’re living on campus. Forget it then, I’ll try again. If it doesn’t work, I’ll just submit it like this tomorrow…”

Xu Sheng was silent for a moment: “When is the submission deadline?”

“Early tomorrow morning.”

It was currently 9:00 PM.

Xu Sheng glanced out the window. The sky outside had turned pitch black. After completing a round, the patrolling guard swung his flashlight and went off to inspect another building.

In fact, aside from that one time right at the start of the semester when he inexplicably went to the warehouse, and later visiting the studio to see Auntie Kang and Kang Kai, he hadn’t touched a paintbrush in over a year.

“Mom, I won’t draw anymore. Linjiang Sixth High it is.”

The argument with Xu Yaping ended when Xu Sheng lowered his head after that phone call.

Xu Yaping had been stunned for a long time, unable to figure out why he suddenly relented: “Are you… serious? You’re not going to argue with Mom anymore?”

Xu Yaping let out a sigh of relief, her fingers tightening unconsciously. Feeling as though the suffocating pressure of life over all these years had finally let in a ray of light, she reflected: “Mom’s attitude was also bad earlier. Don’t take it to heart. Linjiang’s teaching staff is quite good. If you’re willing to go to Linjiang, I can rest easy.”

…

Xu Sheng sat by the bed for a while, finally grabbing his phone and heading downstairs.

S: Wait for me.

S: I’m coming over right now.

Kang Kai: Aren’t you at school? At this hour, your school must be locked…

Xu Sheng didn’t reply.

The doors were definitely locked. Forget the school gate, even the dorm building doors were locked.

To get out, the only option was pushing open a first-floor window and climbing out.

Xu Sheng avoided the security cameras and areas where teachers might appear, routinely propping himself up on a window sill to hop outside. Only the streetlamps were lit outside. He scaled the perimeter wall in a few quick moves, making it just in time for the last bus.

Normally, past the after-school rush, hardly anyone boarded at the Linjiang Sixth High stop, especially on the final bus. The driver originally intended to drive straight through, until the headlights swept across someone sitting by the bus stop sign. The teenager sat on the roadside railing, his long legs slightly bent, feet touching the ground.

The driver pulled up: “Student, going home so late?”

Xu Sheng dropped in his coins and walked toward the back row. The last bus was empty.

He didn’t explain that he wasn’t going home, but had just climbed out of school.

He arrived at the art studio at 9:30 PM.

Kang Kai hadn’t expected him to actually show up: “You really came? How did you get out? Won’t you get a demerit for this?”

“Climbed out over the wall,” Xu Sheng said. “Don’t worry, the teachers at school won’t catch me.”

Kang Kai threw his paintbrush down, wanting to kneel right in front of him: “You are literally my savior.”

Xu Sheng leaned against the doorway: “Cut the talk.”

Kang Kai yielded his seat.

Xu Sheng first modified the objects below the sky, using the same method Kang Kai used earlier, re-mixing colors to cover up the stains. It was hard to match the colors precisely, unable to guarantee an exact match to the original, but Xu Sheng had a great sense of color, mixing shades quickly and accurately.

However, the worst damage was to the sky above.

On his way over, Xu Sheng had thought of several plans. One was relatively risky. He handed the color palette to Kang Kai: “Go wash the palette.”

Kang Kai felt a faint premonition: “You don’t mean…”

The color scheme on Kang Kai’s palette matched the tones used in the painting. Xu Sheng asking him to wash it meant he intended to make a massive overhaul.

Xu Sheng wasn’t one hundred percent confident either. After all, this modification was too drastic. In the past, helping Kang Kai fix paintings was always making adjustments on top of his foundation.

Holding the brush, Xu Sheng pressed the fan brush head against a sponge: “Prepare yourself mentally. I have a very bold idea.”

Kang Kai: “…”

This overhaul lasted until the early hours of the morning.

Kang Kai watched dumbfounded. Originally he thought he might make the top ten this time, but now he overturned his previous estimate, feeling he was definitely set to take first place: “Holy crap, so badass! You really dared to paint that…”

Xu Sheng’s idea was truly bold. Working right along those marks, he painted the sky into what looked like an overturned color palette, wildly flamboyant, with light and shadow interweaving, piercing down through the cloud layers, pushing color contrast to its absolute limit.

Xu Sheng’s painting style was much like his personality.

Kang Kai’s painting style was still relatively traditional and exam-oriented, painting infinitely close to textbook templates, whereas Xu Sheng sometimes acted purely on feeling.

Xu Sheng pinched the bridge of his nose, released his grip, and set the brush aside: “Add the remaining details yourself.”

Kang Kai took the brush, rinsed it in a bucket of water, and sighed: “Comparing people really drives one crazy.”

Xu Sheng pulled a chair over nearby, sat down to play on his phone, and said carelessly: “I think so too. Trying to beat me in talent is tough, but you can rely on hard work. There’s a saying I’ve repeated many times, diligence makes up for clumsy work.”

Kang Kai: “…”

Having climbed out of school and modified the painting for so long, Xu Sheng was feeling a bit sleepy now. But Kang Kai’s finishing work wasn’t that easy to do, and it would probably take until dawn to finish completely.

He swiped open his phone to check the time.

2:15 AM.

Going back to school at this hour was too troublesome.

Xu Sheng intended to make do for the night in the studio, seeing the task through to the end by accompanying Kang Kai until he finished.

There was an unread message in his inbox.

• Not in the dorm?

It was Shao Zhan.

Xu Sheng sat up straight, not expecting to be caught after sneaking out: I just went out to get water.

The reply came back quickly. Still up at this hour, he was probably grinding test papers.

• Keep lying.

Xu Sheng: “…”

• Something came up at a friend’s art studio, so I came out.

After telling the truth, Xu Sheng typed: You won’t report me, right?

Xu Sheng had come over every day recently with his homework to write, but today he was nowhere to be seen. Shao Zhan waited until lights out, knocked on the opposite door, and got no response for a long time.

Shao Zhan had just turned a page on his test paper when he finally got a reply. Leaning back, he didn’t reply immediately, wanting to see what he would say.

Sure enough, the person on the other end was panicking a bit.

• Desk Mate, I feel like you wouldn’t be that heartless.
• Rules are rigid, but people are flexible. My bro’s life was practically on the line at the studio, so I had no choice, forced by circumstances.

Xu Sheng sent a whole flurry of messages.

Shao Zhan could almost picture the tone of Xu Sheng’s words in his head. Just as he was about to reply, his phone screen lit up again.

This time Xu Sheng sent a voice message. It was very short, only four seconds.

Shao Zhan tapped it open. The teenager spoke very softly, likely mindful of someone else nearby: “Zhan-ge.”

The teenager’s voice paused for a second right there.

“…Please.”

Xu Sheng had used the excuse of going to the restroom, crouching by the studio door to send the voice note. After sending it, he didn’t even dare tap it to listen again. Back at Green Boat Base, it was precisely these two words that got Shao Zhan to fold his blanket for him.

Shao Zhan’s side had no movement for a long time.

After Xu Sheng waited a while, Shao Zhan sent a voice message back. Hearing the voice message through the phone speaker felt wonderful, as if the other person was speaking right by his ear: “Won’t report you.”

When Shao Zhan spoke, it sounded like he had opened a door, followed by a series of footsteps: “Did you write your homework? If not, I’ll go to your room and get it.”

Xu Sheng’s homework, of course, hadn’t been written.

But right now, he really couldn’t refrain from writing homework like he used to.

Shao Zhan went to his room to fetch the homework, and Xu Sheng found a tears-of-gratitude kowtow emoji to send over.

His desk mate wasn’t just a cheat code. He could even help write homework.

Xu Sheng stood up and walked back into the partitioned studio room, sprawling on the desk and continuing to chat lazily with Shao Zhan.

Shao Zhan had to write problems, so his replies were sometimes slow.

Xu Sheng twirled a charcoal pencil left behind by who-knows-who on the desk, pulled out a sheet of drawing paper from the side under his arm, and began sketching.

He had no fixed thoughts in his mind, so he started drawing from a single detail. Finishing that detail, he involuntarily drew upward, sketching Sixth High’s school uniform, a teenager’s slightly prominent Adam’s apple… chin…

Kang Kai had been sitting for too long, setting down his brush to stand up and stretch.

Walking over to Xu Sheng’s side, he keenly noticed that the lord leaning against the wall chatting and sketching looked a bit different, blurting out surprisingly: “Is this the situation you mentioned?”

Xu Sheng didn’t react immediately, still single-mindedly drawing the eyes: “What?”

Kang Kai: “Don’t tell me a big guy like you is sketching with such affectionate eyes in the middle of the night out of self-intoxication, thinking you drew too well. Do you know what look you have in your eyes right now?”

The eyes under Xu Sheng’s pencil were just completed. On the paper was a face with very high recognizability, cold beyond belief.

“Looks pretty familiar,” Kang Kai leaned closer to take a look as he spoke. “…Isn’t this your desk mate? The one who came over last time.”

Xu Sheng didn’t deny it.

Just like he hadn’t denied that phrase “the situation” last time, because he realized he had no way to deny it.

Countless heartbeats had clearly pointed toward that answer.

Xu Sheng finally set down the pencil, unscrewed the water bottle nearby for a sip, then screwed the cap back on and said: “Fuck… is it that obvious?”

Kang Kai had long been curious about the situation Xu Sheng talked about last time. However, he spoke with unusual calm, not feeling surprised by the gender involved. Perhaps people in the arts were generally more open-minded about such things: “Obvious, extremely obvious.”

Xu Sheng didn’t speak further.

Kang Kai had ruthlessly exposed his feelings.

Xu Sheng realized that liking someone was an unavoidable emotion.

Unavoidable, and uncontrollable.

Just like even after saying in front of Xu Yaping that he would never draw again, he still couldn’t resist. Couldn’t resist coming back to check on the studio, couldn’t resist climbing out over the wall in the middle of the night just because of a single sentence from Kang Kai.

Toward Shao Zhan, it seemed to be the exact same.