Rebirth: He Decides to Lie Flat-Chapter 64 - 061 Interrogation (Part 2)

Chapter 64 -061 Interrogation (Part 2)

Chapter 64 -061 Interrogation (Part 2)

Song Jiawen looked up at Deng Tao, her dark pupils flashing with a hint of confusion.

Jiang Yan slapped his chopsticks onto the plate with a snap and turned his head to look at Lu Jinglong.

Knowing that Jiang Yan was not someone to be trifled with, Lu Jinglong touched his nose sheepishly and explained, “Deng Tao just came to ask Song Jiawen about something, nothing else. There’s no need for everyone to be on edge as if facing a great enemy.”

Deng Tao swept a glance at Lu Jinglong with the corner of her eye and cursed him as spineless in her heart.

Ignoring the others, she focused only on Song Jiawen and asked, “There’s something I’m curious about, why is the work you submitted for the competition almost identical to a sketch by Master Mu? Oh, I misspoke, it should be nearly identical, because Master Mu’s sketch is missing an old house.”

This statement was undeniably a way of telling everyone that not only did you plagiarize, but you were clever enough to make some changes.

Deng Tao’s voice was neither loud nor soft, but it was loud enough for those at Song Jiawen’s table, as well as the surrounding few tables, to hear.

At first, there was silence at the scene, followed by a burst of whispering.

Deng Tao’s mouth curved up ever so slightly, as she took pleasure in her own cleverness.

“Who is Master Mu? Are they famous?”

Jiang Yan broke the silence at their table, looking up to ask Song Jiawen, who shook her head, “I don’t know him.”

Indeed, she did not know him, having only heard of him. The art teacher from Jianghai Middle School had mentioned him once, but only once, so that she still didn’t know Master Mu’s full name.

Jiang Yan turned to ask Deng Tao, “On what basis do you claim that Song Jiawen’s painting is identical to Master Mu’s?”

“Of course, I’ve seen the original work of Master Mu.”

“Where?”

“At the Beicheng University Art Gallery.”

Jiang Yan understood and nodded. He asked further, “Is this painting displayed anywhere else?”

Deng Tao paused and did not answer.

Sketches by Master Mu were rare; how could they be found just anywhere?

Jiang Yan sneered, “So you’re saying there aren’t any? I’m sorry, but both Song Jiawen and I come from the countryside and have never been to Beicheng—oh wait, Song Jiawen has, a few days ago for a physics competition. But she hadn’t before that. Another thing I want to ask, those of you who draw pictures, aren’t you allowed to make them similar to the works of the great painters and masters? Does that mean if someone else has painted a peony before, and then you paint it, that you’re plagiarizing? Is that what you mean?”

Deng Tao was at a loss for words, staring at Jiang Yan, it took her a moment to say, “You’re being deliberately contrarian!”

“I’m being deliberately contrarian?” Jiang Yan found it amusing. He turned to Xiao Qi and the others, “What do you guys think? Did I say anything wrong?”

Xiao Qi scoffed, “Now I see the picture, some people are just making excuses for her previous act of stealing someone else’s painting.”

Being called a “thief” to her face, Deng Tao’s cheeks flushed crimson, and she all but fled in disarray.

Lu Jinglong hadn’t expected things to turn out this way and felt awkward, trying to leave but being stopped by Xiao Qi and Yu Hang.

Jiang Yan laughed like an honest man, “Now that you’re here, how can you leave without a chat?”

…..

Half an hour later, Jiang Yan and the other two came back from their “chat” with Lu Jinglong. By then, Song Jiawen and Zhu Jin had already returned to the classroom.

Jiang Yan told the other two to go ahead, as he wanted to visit the art department’s office to find Teacher Fang.

Teacher Fang didn’t expect that after what she had said, Deng Tao still hadn’t changed her ways and had gone to confront Song Jiawen.

All she did was give a brief run-through of the situation, and Jiang Yan immediately understood.

Mu Chenyan, a very famous traditional Chinese painting master and an honorary professor at the Beijing University Fine Arts College.

The sketch she had at the Beicheng University Art Gallery unexpectedly resembled Song Jiawen’s earlier competition entry.

As to how similar they were, judging from Deng Tao’s confident, triumphant demeanor in the cafeteria, certain that Song Jiawen had plagiarized, they must be extremely alike.

“Does Teacher Fang believe that Song Jiawen didn’t plagiarize?”

“Of course. I was sitting right beside her when she was drawing that painting. Whether it’s her original creation or whether she poured her emotions into it, I can still discern that much.”

Jiang Yan nodded and then asked, “Then do you think that the similarity between the two paintings is a coincidence?”

This time, Teacher Fang didn’t answer immediately but pondered for a while before saying, “Apart from that possibility, I can’t think of anything else. Maybe Master Mu happened to have the same focus as Song Jiawen. Both of them might have been drawn to the little girl chasing butterflies in the park.”

This was also the reason she had used to convince herself before.

Jiang Yan smiled, “Thank you for your trust in Song Jiawen, Teacher Fang. She would be very happy to know this.”

“I’m just telling the truth, that’s all.”

….

When Jiang Yan returned to the classroom, Song Jiawen had already started taking a nap on the desk.

She didn’t sleep well; if she didn’t rest for a bit at noon, she wouldn’t make it through the afternoon.

But…

Jiang Yan looked at Song Jiawen with a complex gaze. After making such a commotion with Deng Tao, did she really not have any thoughts about it?

For example, about that Master Mu.

He didn’t believe in coincidences. How could they possibly paint the same picture if they had never met or shared the same experiences?

So, was this Master Mu Song Jiawen’s biological mother?

“Why are you always looking at me?”

Even with a book covering her face, Song Jiawen could feel Jiang Yan’s gaze fixed on her unblinkingly.

She could guess where he had been and what he wanted to say, but she didn’t want to ask.

She continued to lie on her desk, her voice coming from beneath the book, “Did the morning’s Chinese exam go well? Are you prepared for math in the afternoon? And then there’s English and the science comprehensive tomorrow…”

The Chinese reading comprehension that morning was extremely difficult, but for Jiang Yan, it was a cause for happiness. The advantage of being reborn was that his understanding and comprehension abilities were stronger than others’. After all, having been through another lifetime meant he surely had some knowledge stored in his brain.

It couldn’t all just be fluff.

Moreover, his perspectives and thoughts were not something these youngsters could compare with. Intelligence excluded, of course!

That was a sore point, unchangeable.

“Chinese should be okay, I guess. Jiajia, if my ranking goes up by five places, doesn’t that count as twenty points?”

Knowing she didn’t want to bring up the earlier topic, Jiang Yan went along with her and tried to make a deal, “Rising by five places isn’t trivial, you know. It gets harder the further up you go.”

Song Jiawen rejected it, “No, we agreed on how many points you get, no equivalents.”

The university entrance exam scores matter, not how high your rank is in your own school.

Jiang Yan felt a bit hopeless. The only subject where he could significantly improve his score was in foreign languages, but half of his success there depended on luck. Whether he could score above ninety depended on the heavens.

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With the heavens’ favor, he might exceed a hundred.

Luckily, the afternoon math went smoothly, which reignited Jiang Yan’s fighting spirit. He skipped out on playing ball with Xiao Qi after dinner, and instead buried himself in English practice papers.

Xiao Qi: ….

I really don’t know, why is Wen’s painting so enticing to him? I can’t see any hint of an artistic cell in him!

I mean, could you even understand that painting if it were yours?

Xiao Qi also decided not to play ball. He couldn’t let Jiang Yan get too far ahead; that would be too embarrassing.