“Go.” Wei Shicheng felt that this novelty in his heart was not over, so he didn’t want to let go. He decided to take him to his place next time and make sure he had slept enough before letting him go.

Tao Yuan finally got away and returned to his place. After entering the house, he quietly opened the door of Du Yi’s room. With the small night light at the head of the bed, he saw his sleeping face, so he closed the door quietly and went back to his room, stepping lightly. 

After taking a bath in the en-suite bathroom, Tao Yuan lay down on his bed, tired, thinking that it was not easy to do this kind of meat business. In particular, he sold himself to a person with a strong personality and a strong body. 

Tao Yuan closed his eyes and opened the system to see that the original buds had grown a little pink. The flower bud represented the progress of his relationship with Wei Shicheng. It already grew a small flower bud, proving that Wei Shicheng had some feelings for him already. But he was still far from falling in love with him, and he had to work harder. 

He remembered what the system said, that when the peach blossom was open, the degree of the opening represented the degree of the target’s love for him. Only when his relationship with the target was complete would the peach blossom fully bloom. Tao Yuan expected his play to continue for the rest of his life. 

Turning on the system’s body recovery function, Tao Yuan slept soundly, thanks to the system. Under the system’s recovery function, while he slept, he would not feel uncomfortable, on the contrary, he would be refreshed.

Since Tao Yuan was being raised by Wei Shicheng now he would no longer be short of money, nor would he need to go to the teahouse to play the guqin for money. He could stay at home in the evening, paint, help Du Yi with his homework, or wait for Wei Shicheng to send someone to pick him up. The Youth Cup Traditional Chinese Painting Competition was getting closer and closer, and he could proceed with the entries he wanted to send. 

Wei Shicheng said that he would come to pick him up in two days, but he flew abroad the next day, and his return date was uncertain, so Tao Yuan became more relaxed and comfortable. 

“Du Qingyu, come with me.” After Hu Wenshan packed his things, he walked out of the classroom.

Tao Yuan followed him with his paint box. Hu Wenshan went directly into his office, and Tao Yuan went in with him. 

“Close the door.” Hu Wenshan put down his paint box and sat down behind his desk. This was a single office. There was no one else there but the two of them.

After closing the door, Tao Yuan stood in front of Hu Wenshan’s desk and waited for him to say what he wanted to say.

“You have been doing very well recently. Not only have you made great progress in your study but you also know how to respect your teacher better than before.” Hu Wenshan tried to provoke Tao Yuan on purpose several times, but he still failed. The Tao Yuan facing him was cold and hard like a piece of ice. Hu Wenshan became very anxious and angry. Seeing that the Youth Cup Chinese Painting Competition was getting closer and closer, he had been entrusted with this task. Since he couldn’t prohibit him from participating in the competition, he had to use other methods. 

Tao Yuan remained expressionless as usual, waiting for him to continue.

“The Youth Cup Chinese Painting Competition is about to start. You are always at the top in our grade. I think you are very likely to get the place in this competition. Your recent performance is very good, and your progress is also very impressive, so I decided to guide you alone to make it more likely for you to win an award on behalf of our school.” 

“When did the teacher see my progress? Don’t you always say that my work lacks artistry? You are usually more optimistic about Xu Shaoyan. Why do you suddenly want to guide me alone?” Tao Yuan’s words expressed puzzlement though his heart was clear. He had not shown a better painting skill than the original body owner at all.

Hu Wenshan cleared his throat awkwardly before saying, “Your basic skills have improved a lot, but you are still lacking in art, so I want to guide you specifically to make your chances of winning the award more likely. As for Xu Shaoyan, I am already guiding him, and like you, he has a good chance of winning the award. But the competition is about the top three places. As your Chinese painting teacher, of course, I hope that more of my students can win. It would be even better, so I chose the two students who are most likely to win awards for independent guidance.”

“Why does teacher think that he can give me artistic guidance? Teachers are not talented enough to show their artistry, so they stay at school to be teachers, don’t they?”

Hu Wenshan’s face turned ugly but forced himself to hold back his anger. He said, “I’d like to guide you to win the prize, but you’re here to mock me. I just praised you for being more respectful to your teacher recently. I was really too careless with my praise.” 

“In fact, I don’t need the teacher’s independent guidance. Thank you for your kindness,” Tao Yuan said.

“What do you mean?” Hu Wenshan asked with a straight face. “The teacher is kind enough to guide you, but you want to refuse?”

“So the teacher is forcing me to accept guidance, and I can’t refuse it?”

“The teacher is doing it for your own good.”

“I see. So how much does the teacher need for guidance?” 

Hu Wenshan froze for a moment before asking, “Guidance fee? . . . That is not necessary. As your Chinese painting teacher and head teacher, to guide individual students is what I should do.”

“The teacher hated me so much before, but now he wants to guide me independently. He doesn’t want to charge for it. Is there any other purpose?” Tao Yuan gave him a look of doubt.

Hu Wenshan thought to himself that Du Qinqyu believed he wanted to impose fees, but this was also good, better than thinking he had other purposes.

“Forget the tutoring fee. If you are willing, you can send a symbolic gift to the teacher.”

“I don’t know what the teacher likes, but if the teacher has to guide me alone and ask me to send gifts . . .” Tao Yuan took out his mobile phone, transferred money, and asked, “Is this money enough to buy a gift for the teacher? If it’s enough, you can choose your own gift.”

Hu Wenshan picked up his mobile phone and saw the transferred amount on it. He was a little scared. He thought that his previous information was wrong. This kid didn’t lack money at all. He was really generous.

“That’s enough. For your gift money, the teacher will guide you attentively. Don’t worry.”

In order to avoid a situation were some teachers wouldn’t teach students seriously and only wanted to teach in private in order to collect fees, there were regulations in the school which stated that teachers couldn’t accept students’ money in private. Hu Wenshan had taken Tao Yuan’s money, which meant he had evidence in hand. Hu Wenshan couldn’t be unaware of this.

However, Hu Wenshan was not worried, for he also acted according to the instructions from above. If something happened, they would take care of it for him. Would he still need to worry about what a student with no backer or background could do to him? Even if he informed the school about it, he himself wouldn’t be all right because of his own involvement.

Edited by : Faro

Proofreader: Taalia

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