CH 33

Haining Academy of Arts was a very beautiful school.

On Monday morning, Luo Wencheng came to the school to report.

He got out of the car, took a big suitcase from the trunk, turned his head and said to the man in the car, “Sir, I’ll go first.”

Lu Chong, who sat in the car, said, “Really don’t need me to accompany you? Or I’ll have someone take you through the formalities.”

Luo Wencheng smiled shyly: “I’m 21 years old, I’m not a child. I can do this by myself.”

Lu Chong nodded: “Call me if you need something. I will send someone to pick you up on the weekend.”

“Thank you, sir, but I can go back by myself. See you then, sir.”

Luo Wencheng watched the car drive away, feeling a little warm in his heart. He didn’t expect Lu Chong to send him to school in person. Although he said it was just by the way, he felt that Lu Chong had come here with him on purpose.

He raised his head and looked at the tall gates of Haining Academy of Arts.

The large gilded artful letters shone brightly in the sunlight, and the irises of Luo Wencheng’s eyes also glowed with the sunlight.

He didn’t expect to be able to go to university once he was reborn.

What he said to Lu Chong at the beginning was not all lies. He really wanted to experience student life. After ten years of struggling at the bottom of society he especially wanted to experience this kind of simple and pure youthful life. 

With the registration certificate, Luo Wencheng first went to the teaching office, completed the admission procedures, and then followed the counsellor to the dormitory.

It was class time now. There was no one in the dormitory. There were things on three beds and only one was still empty. The counsellor gave him a few instructions and left, muttering to himself that someone who transferred in the middle of the school year obviously had a strong background. The school director also paid special attention to this young man and asked him to personally bring him to the dormitory, but he did not apply for any special treatment, and no one followed him. The counsellor had never seen such a relationship.

Luo Wencheng looked around the dormitory. The room was not large. The four beds were all arranged in a pattern of bed-plus-table. There was a balcony and a separate bathroom.

He was a day student in junior school and senior school, and he really hadn’t lived in such a collective dormitory, so he was vaguely excited for a while.

He opened his twenty-eight-inch suitcase, took out a compression bag, and as soon as it was released, the flat compression bag swelled violently. Inside were quilts and pillows. These things were not impossible to buy, but Uncle Ding said that the quality of the ones bought outside was not good, so he had to bring them from home.

By taking care of Lu Chong’s three meals a day, Luo Wencheng had clearly gained Uncle Ding’s recognition.

He made the bed, hung his clothes in the empty closet, put his notebook on his desk, then took a certificate and prepared to go to the library to get the books.

When he walked out of the dormitory building, he saw a figure hovering there seemingly indecisively, trying to walk in, hesitating for a while and then retreating, and then coming closer again.

The old concierge auntie stared at the young man for a long time, filled with suspicion.

Luo Wencheng’s eyes lit up, and he walked over in surprise: “Zheng Chang! Oh, I should call you Senior Zheng now.”

That person was Zheng Chang, whom he had met and chatted with at the Luo family reception. When Zheng Chang saw him, a hint of embarrassment flashed across his face, “Junior Luo.”

Luo Wencheng said, “What are you doing here?”

The embarrassment on Zheng Chang’s face became even heavier: “Well, I heard that you came to report today, so I wanted to see if you needed any help.”

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Luo Wencheng knew that Lu Chong’s every move was something that most of Haining paid attention to. It was definitely not a secret that he got Luo Wencheng into Haining Academy of Arts through the back door.

But Lu Chong’s behaviour was also relatively low-key. It took some effort to find what dormitory Luo Wencheng was in. The Zheng family likely wanted Zheng Chang to make friends with him and then get to Lu Chong though him.

Zheng Chang was a simple and straightforward person, so he must have had a psychological barrier to approaching his junior and ingratiating himself with him, which was why he was hesitant either to enter or to retreat.

Luo Wencheng thought that the Zheng family had done exactly what he wanted and said happily: “Senior Zheng, you are just in time. I am going to the library, but the campus is so big and I don’t know where to go. Can you show me the way? As a thank you, I’ll treat you to lunch.”

Hearing what Luo Wencheng said, Zheng Chang let out a sigh of relief, and the embarrassment on his face subsided: “Okay, I’ll take you there, but what are you going to do in the library?”

“Collect the book, I don’t have any books for this semester.”

Zheng Chang was surprised: “Do you need to go by yourself?”

Luo Wencheng smiled and nodded: “I have already used the connections to come in the middle of the year, so I don’t want to look too special.”

After receiving the books, Luo Wencheng asked Zheng Chang to take him to buy daily necessities. It was just about noon, so they headed to the cafeteria and went up to the third floor to eat stir-fry. Luo Wencheng kept his promise and invited Zheng Chang to lunch.

Zheng Chang looked at Luo Wencheng oddly at first, but gradually realised that he was not pretending to be anything but really integrated into the identity of an ordinary student. Not only did he not have a bad temper, but his personality was also warm and generous, so Zheng Chang developed a good impression of him. The instructions of the elders that made him feel uncomfortable were left behind, and he and Luo Wencheng communicated in a truly relaxed manner.

The school cafeteria was good, but there was no shortage of rich people among art students. Compared with the ordinary canteens on the first floor and the second floor, the stir-fry on the third floor was more popular. Therefore, there were a lot of people on the third floor at this time. After Luo Wencheng and Zheng Chang sat for a while, many people stared at them.

Zheng Chang was the school grass (the most popular male student) of the Arts Academy to begin with. He had a good family background and was the grandson of the deputy mayor. Although he didn’t carry a lot of weight in Haining, for ordinary people, his status was already out of reach, so he was very popular.

Luo Wencheng had a handsome appearance, elegant movements and his clothes were low-key from head to toe, but a discerning person could tell at a glance that he was not someone ordinary, especially since he had a particularly calm and relaxed aura beyond his age. When he was talking intently, when he smiled slightly, he emanated a kind of appeal that made people unable to look away.

These two handsome guys sitting together, it was like a Shiny Pikachu (seems to be a rare one, as far as I understand), making it difficult for people not to pay attention.

After a while, someone came over to strike up a conversation: “Handsome Brother Zheng, where did you get this little brother from?”

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It was a girl who was talking. She was obviously on good terms with Zheng Chang. She winked at Luo Wencheng. Luo Wencheng’s face was not soft but his skin looked too good. Nowadays, young people would stay up late with their mobile phones or facing the computer, and little by little, the vicissitudes of life would reflect on their faces. In contrast, Luo Wencheng looked exceptionally fresh.

“What little brother, don’t molest people indiscriminately.” Zheng Chang briefly introduced, “His name is Luo Wencheng. He is a freshman who has just enrolled. Wencheng, this is Chen Rui, also a second year student. She is in the same class as me and the president of the student council this year. If you need anything, you can find me or her.”

Luo Wencheng smiled and nodded: “Hello, Sister Chen.”

“Luo Wencheng…” Chen Rui repeated the name again, and finally remembered where she had heard it before. The way she looked at Luo Wencheng changed.

Luo Wencheng didn’t seem to notice: “Has Senior Sister eaten yet? We’ve just been served too, why don’t we sit down and eat together?”

Chen Rui hesitated for a moment and sat down cautiously. But she was pretty thick-skinned and after the meal, she was already laughing and joking with Luo Wencheng, as if she had completely forgotten the glittering signboard of Lu Jiuye’s name behind Luo Wencheng.

After the meal, Zheng Chang and Chen Rui took Luo Wencheng to buy a professional drawing board and paints that needed to be used in class, as well as some tutorial books. Knowing that Luo Wencheng’s sketching skills were not bad, they suggested that he shouldn’t follow the rules and go to class with freshman students, but choose classes selectively, going to classes with second year and third year students. Chen Rui even made a schedule for him and recommended him to join certain clubs.

It could be said that she was very attentive.

Luo Wencheng couldn’t help but sigh at how useful it was for Lu Chong to take him to the official reception banquet, which really saved him a lot of trouble.

With Zheng Chang and Chen Rui, one of whom was the third generation in the family of officials, and the other, although she didn’t have much of a background, was the student council president, had great social skills and a wide range of contacts, it was easy for Luo Wencheng to integrate into the school life and almost everyone was polite to him. Of course, many people didn’t like him, but they would only say bad things about him behind his back.

“I’m off.” Luo Wencheng said to his three roommates as he picked up his bag.

“You’ve been going to the club very diligently recently.” His roommate said with a cheerful smile.

“The club is working on a new project and everyone is very busy.” Luo Wencheng said and went out. As soon as the door closed, the roommate’s smile disappeared, “What the crap?”

Another roommate sneered in agreement: “A guy who sells ass, making it look like he’s so upright and honest.  Going to the club? He’s probably looking for someone to hook up with.”

He looked at Luo Wencheng’s clothes, quilts, shoes, computer and everything else, and secretly checked them. These things looked ordinary, but in fact they were very expensive. The roommate’s family was not in a good situation, and his eyes turned red when he saw these things.

The third roommate didn’t speak, secretly took out his mobile phone and sent a text message: “He just went out, to the club.”

Luo Wencheng naturally didn’t know the true faces of the three roommates, or rather he had already guessed but didn’t care. He walked on the dim path under the streetlights through the small courtyard, took advantage of no one around, turned towards the river, crossed the bridge and went over the wall at the edge of the basketball court. 

A short while later, he came to an abandoned construction site.

The dark construction site was desolate and dilapidated, full of garbage. Except for a few homeless people who had nowhere to go and borrowed the semi-finished building here to shelter themselves from the wind and rain, there was no one else.

Luo Wencheng walked around in the darkness, as if looking for something, and finally after a long time stood still.

Found it.

For half a month he had been sneaking over to search as soon as he had the opportunity, and he almost went through the entire construction site until he finally found what he was looking for. 

Luo Wencheng hooked the corners of his mouth, then went back to school as quickly as possible, took off his big hooded black jacket and stuffed it into his backpack, and then went to the club as if nothing had happened.

He had been in this club for half a month and had been recognised for his excellent sketching skills. This time, the club responded to the school’s call to start a series of artworks with “The past and future of the city” as the main theme. He was also assigned a part of the task.

“Here you are?” Chen Rui looked up from the drawing board and teased him, “Have you wandered around most of the campus looking for inspiration? What did you find this time?”

Luo Wencheng smiled and said, “Mostly observed more. I want to draw the Science and Technology Museum tonight.”

“Is that the Science and Technology Museum that is still under construction? What’s so good about it to draw?”

Luo Wencheng didn’t answer, pinned the drawing paper, paused, picked up a fountain pen and began to draw generous lines on the paper, sometimes using the pen to add delicate, fragmented shadows.

Half an hour later, the Science and Technology Museum that was halfway under construction, surrounded by construction racks and with debris everywhere, appeared on the paper. The whole painting was composed of black pen lines, but it was realistic and delicate. Every small detail was handled very well, even the streetlights and moonlight were there, and the whole picture felt very thorough.

The half-finished building seemed to be waiting in the night for people to complete it, and its future grandeur and majesty seemed to be visible from the existing frame.

Chen Rui and the other club members who came over were silent for a moment, and Chen Rui sighed: “Your hands are really amazing. What you draw with a fountain pen is stronger than what others draw with watercolours.”

The most outrageous thing was that it could be drawn so fast!

Luo Wencheng smiled.

Chen Rui suddenly said: “I’ve thought of something. Our theme this time is not only to show the contrast between old and modern buildings, the contrast between backward and developed areas, and various representative landscapes. We can also paint some of the buildings under construction, to represent change and development.”

Luo Wencheng nodded: “There can also be abandoned or failed buildings, to represent a winding path of exploration.”

“Hehe, we can completely cooperate with the Department of Public Information this time. They also want to engage in this topic. Why don’t we work together? They’ll write a script, we’ll put up the pictures and make a big project.”

Chen Rui did as she said, and immediately contacted the Department of Public Information. As the president of the student council, she had full authority to do so.

A meeting was held that night.

They decided on the aspects that needed to be shown, chose certain characteristic buildings, bridges, railways, stations, attractions, factories, mountains, rural areas and so on, preferably the kind with a story behind them that could be explored, and then split up into groups to go on an expedition.

As they talked, someone finally mentioned: “When it comes to the construction site that was abandoned halfway through, there is one place that is particularly typical. It seems that there was an accident in the first place.”

As soon as these words came out, everyone looked at Luo Wencheng involuntarily.

That project was the responsibility of a subsidiary of the Luo family’s company.

Luo Wencheng was slightly startled on the surface, but breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. Finally, someone mentioned this. It was worth laying the groundwork for such a scene.

He hesitated for a moment, then nodded, indicating that he could be responsible for this part of the project.

After all, that construction site represented the shameful history of the Luo family’s failed investment, cutting corners and inadequate safety measures that caused a worker to fall to his death. Although the case had long been closed, those who should have been punished had been punished and those who should have been sentenced had been sentenced, it was still not something that anyone could easily bring up, hurting the face of the Luo family.

However, what Luo Wencheng wanted to turn up was not just a simple matter of a work-related accident that caused the death of an employee. It was an outright murder. The disclosure of this incident was enough to ruin Luo Wenhao’s reputation forever.

This was the first move Luo Wenchneg had planned for a long time ago. Although meeting Lu Chong made him reveal it in a more roundabout and gentle way, he thought that the effect would be much better than he originally expected.