Chapter 106: You Can Never Wake Someone Pretending
Back home, Lin Yuan began pondering over some things. With the huge success of "Red Rose," he had successfully secured a new contract. But this also meant he currently had no more songs in hand.
Should he commission new ones?
Maybe it wasn't urgent right now.
After all, he still hadn't completed the system’s painting task, which had a treasure chest as a reward. If that chest contained a song, it would save him the 500,000 yuan fee for a custom song. Besides, he hadn’t released “The Original Dream” yet. Even though his involvement as Xianyu might be hidden when the song debuts, the fame "The Original Dream" would bring would ultimately return to Lin Yuan.
And that was enough for him.
Fame wasn’t his goal—he was after profit.
As long as he got the recognition, he was satisfied.
As for when Xia Fan would release “The Original Dream,” Lin Yuan didn’t plan to interfere. It was her decision. If she wanted to sing it during the competition, she could. If she preferred to release it when she officially debuted, that was fine too. For Lin Yuan, the outcome was the same—the recognition might be delayed, but it would come eventually.
After mulling over things for a while, Lin Yuan suddenly slapped his thigh. “Oh no!” He just remembered that the painting reputation task had a time limit.
He quickly called up the system. “How much time do I have left for the task?”
The system replied, “Not much time left. The deadline is in two weeks.”
Lin Yuan was startled. Only two weeks?
Between playing the piano for classmates, helping Sun Yaohuo record "Red Rose," and working weekends, he had lost quite a bit of time. Now, his time for the system task was running low.
Glancing at his progress, he exhaled with some relief. His current painting reputation stood at 800, leaving only 200 points to reach the goal of 1,000.
It wasn’t too much.
He decided to focus entirely on completing the task. Even though the system didn’t impose penalties for failing a task, missing out on a treasure chest felt like the worst punishment to Lin Yuan.
With that in mind, he checked his phone’s schedule. Tomorrow, his first class was piano with Professor Huang, followed by gym class…
“Gonna skip.”
Lin Yuan made up his mind. Skipping class wasn’t a big deal for college students. While Lin Yuan rarely skipped, he didn’t feel guilty doing so when it came to completing system tasks.
As for requesting leave, Lin Yuan felt it was unnecessary. After all, this was for a system task—he’d rather just skip class openly.
With that settled, the next day, Lin Yuan went straight to the art club.
It was a quiet morning, with fewer people than usual since many art students had class. But there were always some who didn't. For example, Zhong Yu, who had proclaimed himself Lin Yuan's number one disciple, was hanging around the club as usual.
In Lin Yuan’s mind, Zhong Yu seemed to spend most of his time here. Was it because he had fewer classes? No, it was because Zhong Yu liked to skip them.
As soon as Lin Yuan entered, Zhong Yu approached with a grin. “Boss, you’ve been coming to the art club less frequently lately. There’s a long list of people waiting for your lessons.”
“No worries.”
Having skipped class, Lin Yuan now had plenty of time. He glanced around at the eager faces of those waiting. “Today, I’ll teach ten.”
Everyone: "..."
Where was this sudden aura of dominance coming from?
Soon, excitement spread.
They loved this confident energy!
Lin Yuan’s lessons were always in high demand, so when they heard he would be teaching ten students today, everyone was thrilled.
...
That day, as usual, most people were here to learn sketching. Lin Yuan had also recently started teaching watercolor, and everyone could see that his skills in that area were just as strong. However, since he hadn’t fully demonstrated his expertise, some were still hesitant to dive into watercolor.
Besides, being skilled at something didn’t necessarily mean you could teach it well.
Lin Yuan’s sketching lessons, though, had received rave reviews, and as a result, 90% of his students came for sketching. Lin Yuan didn’t mind. The “Mentor” skill activated, and he taught whatever they wanted.
One student, two students, three students...
Maybe it was the “Mentor” skill working its magic, or perhaps he had simply taught so many students by now that it had become second nature. Either way, Lin Yuan’s teaching pace was faster than ever.
“It's getting late,” Zhong Yu whispered as Lin Yuan was halfway through teaching the fourth student. “Boss, don’t you have class today?”
Zhong Yu had spent enough time in the art club to know Lin Yuan’s schedule well.
“I skipped today,” Lin Yuan explained briefly, then turned to the next student. “Next.”
...
Meanwhile, in the composition department’s piano classroom, Professor Huang routinely scanned the room, checking to see if any students were absent.
After looking around, he was surprised—Lin Yuan wasn’t there today.
Did he skip class?
If it had been any other student, Professor Huang would have been strict and let them feel the wrath of his grading fist. But seeing that Lin Yuan wasn’t there filled him with joy!
It was about time!
He should’ve stopped coming ages ago!
What’s the point of Lin Yuan being here?
Was he supposed to teach me piano?
Skill-wise, Huang and Lin Yuan were about equal, both at the professional level. And given the age gap between them, Huang didn’t want Lin Yuan wasting his time in class. Lin Yuan would learn more practicing alone in a piano room than attending his lessons.
Just then, the class rep approached with the attendance list. But Professor Huang didn’t even look at it—he just waved it away.
The class rep was confused. “Professor Huang?”
Professor Huang smiled. “No roll call today.”
The class rep blinked. Usually, Professor Huang was a stickler for taking attendance. He was notorious for it, calling roll every single class, and any absentee would get a stern lecture. So no one ever dared skip his piano lessons.
But today, the infamous roll call was canceled?
Huang smirked to himself.
If I called roll, I’d have to mark Lin Yuan absent.
That would only force him to come back to my class to avoid failing.
Why shoot myself in the foot?
So it was simple: No roll call today.
As long as I pretend to be asleep, no one can wake me up!
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