After thirty minutes, the time allocated for the competition was used up, and every participant was sent out of the room.

“The time is too short! I spent an entire hour thinking about what to paint,”

“We really can’t be compared to Du Yating. Not only did he finish before everyone, but I also heard that his painting was exceptional.”

Many people commented on the work, and the ones that had been in Du Yating’s room couldn’t stop talking about his painting.

“I heard that he won several awards overseas, I was doubtful before, but seeing what he did today, his skills have improved.”

“We would now enter the rooms. Please note that incomplete or messy works would be immediately disqualified.” One of the higher-ups of the Art association informed them.

If a rough estimate was done from the hundred and twenty people, less than fifty people completed the painting.

On hearing this, some people directly left the hall as they felt there was nothing to wait for.

At this time, the four students of the three other masters were standing together.

“I haven’t seen sister Rong Yue. Could it be that she didn’t finished and has left in shame?” Bai Xiang asked with a mocking smile on her face.

Luo Yunxi had been in the same room with Du Yating, while Bai Xiang and Ning Li had stayed in the same room.

Neither of them had stayed in the same room as Rong Yue and thus, they didn’t know anything about how she had performed.

“Rong Yue came out some minutes after me. She left with the Wang brothers “

Just thinking about the two Wang brothers filled Du Yating with dissatisfaction. But none of his emotions were shown on his face.

“What?”

“She came out before us?”

Two voices rang out at the same time—one belonging to Bai Xiang and the other one belonging to Ning Li.

To Ning Li, even though Rong Yue’s work had been picked above his the last time, he didn’t feel bad about it as he felt that it was based on that Grandfather’s taste.

And even after that, he had trained seriously all this time so that he could beat everyone else and come after Du Yating.

Hearing that Rong Yue came out before him left a sour taste in his mouth.

“Forty five paintings have passed the first check. We would take them to the gallery for the seniors to pick the best ten.”

They would then carefully pick the first five out of the best ten.

There was a lot of consider in art, and they couldn’t just pick in one go.

Everyone else that hoped their works would be among the first ten sat down in the hall.

As for Rong Yue, she had just eaten a full meal with the Wang siblings. She was feeling a little sleepy but as she was alone with three men, she was unable to sleep.

Instead, she used her phone to keep herself busy.

Yichen: [Are they done already?]

Rong Yue: [They have only just started the review process.]

Yichen: [Hungry?]

Rong Yue: [No, Brother Wang Lei got me food, and I’m a little full now.]

On the other end of the phone, Qin Yichen’s aura dropped sharply, startling all the people around him.

“President, is anything wrong with the numbers?” The manager presenting the report asked, his body already trembling slightly.

Qin Yichen looked up at him with a piercing glare.

“I’ll edit the report immediately!” Without waiting for Qin Yichen to say a word, the man removed the presentation from the display screen and rushed back to his seat.

“Everyone should polish their work. This meeting will be adjourned till tomorrow. Cai Huo would let you know the time.” As soon as he said that, Qin Yichen stood up and left the board room.

“It seems like the president is distracted today, is something wrong with one of the subsidiaries?” Someone asked while wiping off imaginary sweat from his face.

“I don’t think so. Just a minute ago, he was smiling at the phone, the same way he has been doing lately and then the next minute, his expression went cold.”

“It can’t be that something is wrong with the Qin Corporation, right?”

“Is the President someone that the bunch of you have the right to discuss? If you don’t hold your tongue, you won’t have a job by tomorrow,” secretary Cai Huo said sternly before packing his materials and leaving.

All the others hurriedly packed up their things and left.

As for Qin Yichen, he was already downstairs.

“Young Master,” butler Zhang greeted him as he got to the underground garage.

“Head to the Art Association headquarters.”

He knew that Rong Yue liked to sleep anytime she had eaten to her full.

But what made him more worried was that Wang Lei had gotten her food.

From the first time he had seen them together, he could already tell that Wang Lei had a little interest in Rong Yue.

Lu San had also informed him about Wang Lei buying one of her paintings back then.

Butler Zhang had been around Qin Yichen for a long time and was able to sense that he was in a haste and he drove the car quickly through the city.

By the time they got to the Art association, they had only spent fifteen minutes.

“Butler Zhang, please find a place to rest nearby, or you can have one of the drivers come pick you up,” Qin Yichen told him and pulled out his phone to dial Rong Yue.

“Yue’er, I’m outside.”

Back inside Grandfather Wang’s office, Rong Yue was already dozing off with her head in her hands.

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As for the Wang brothers, Wang Lie had made the two of them stay still and keep quiet.

When he heard her phone buzz, he had stood up, intending to silence the call so she could keep on sleeping. However, Rong Yue picked the call before he could even leave his seat.

“Huh?” Rong Yue placed the phone to her ears one more time as she felt like she was hearing things.

“You are outside?”

After hearing Qin Yichen’s confirmation one more time, she stood up.

“A friend of mine is here to see me. I’ll be back once they are ready to announce the results.”

Without waiting for their reply, she walked out of the room.

Wang Lei stood up.

“The both of you should stay here, I’ll make sure that sister Rong is fine.”

Based on his instincts, he could tell that the person Rong Yue was meeting wasn’t a friend.

From the way she had told them that she wouldn’t come back until the top ten paintings had been selected.

If it was just a friend that dropped by, he felt that she couldn’t have known how long he was staying from that short conversation.

More importantly, she had been surprised to hear the person was outside.

Since the hall was crowded, Rong Yue didn’t notice Wang Lei following her.

When she got to the parking lot, she saw Qin Yichen’s customised Maybach parked there.

Among all the cars in the garage, his Maybach was the most eye catching car there. It was impossible to miss.

Since she stayed with him, she had become familiar with most of his cars.

So even though the glass was tinted and impossible to see through, she knew he was the one inside.

Qin Yichen also stepped out of the car the moment he saw her.

“Yue’er.”

“Why are you here? Didn’t you say you had some meeting you would leave for later today?”

“Hmm, it finished already,” Qin Yichen lied smoothly as he embraced her.

Just as he pulled her in for a hug, he saw Wang Lei’s figure at the entrance.

Wang Lei’s eyes were bulged wide as he looked at Qin Yichen’s outstanding appearance. He had met him on two occasions and knew who this man was.

More importantly, the last time he had seen Qin Yichen, he had come out to defend Rong Yue. At that time, Rong Yue had denied knowing him.

But seeing the doting look on Qin Yichen’s face and how comfortable Rong Yue was in his embrace, he could already figure out what happened.

“Besides, you allowed another man to feed you while I stayed in some meeting, huh?” Qin Yichen said, and he made his voice deliberately loud enough for Wang Lei to hear him.

Wang Lei’s face stiffened, but he turned away and left instead of saying anything.

Although he had been interested in Rong Yue, even if there wasn’t any other person, he didn’t think he had high chances from the beginning.

It was not a thing that he had placed all his heart on. It was just that she was the first girl to stir his heart in the way she had done in his twenty-eight years.

And he had wanted to try his best.

But seeing that there was already someone, Wang Lei walked away with his shoulders slumped in disappointment.

“Just like I thought, you are really unreachable..”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep