Lu Hang happened to know a male student from the Academy of Fine Arts named Yan Mao, so he went to ask him about Jiang Ling.

It turned out Jiang Ling wasn’t in the classroom.

Yan Mao thought Lü Hang was a suitor of Jiang Ling and smiled at him, “Lu Hang, don’t waste your effort. Jiang Ling has high standards and won’t be interested in someone like us.”

Lu Hang replied, “I’m not trying to win her over. I just want to see what she looks like.”

“She’s beautiful, really beautiful! She’s the campus beauty of our art academy! Little Jiang Lin is even more pure than Jiang Lin! Some members of the writers’ association have written articles praising her as a stunningly beautiful painter!” Several male classmates boasted proudly.

Lu Hang’s expression darkened instantly.

One of the male students immediately brought over a portrait sketch and showed it to Lu Hang, “Look!”

Lu Hang leaned in and was startled.

He stared at it, eyes wide, and said, “Damn, this is so lifelike.”

The student glanced at it and immediately felt embarrassed, “Oh, I picked the wrong one. This is Jiang Lin’s.”

They had sketches of several campus beauties from the provincial university hidden in their desk drawers for study, including ones of Zeng Hongjie and Dr. Guo.

Lu Hang: “…”

The student tried to take back the sketch of Jiang Lin, but Lu Hang held it up, carefully rolled it up, and slipped it into his own pocket.

“Hey, that’s mine! What are you doing? Give it back!” The student was anxious.

Yan Mao also advised Lu Hang to return it.

Lu Hang, with a stern face, said, “Did you get Jiang Lin’s permission to draw her portrait? On behalf of my brother Cheng, I object.”

“You’re not Jiang Lin, so why do you care whether others agree or not? Give it back to me.”

Lu Hang naturally refused, “Be careful or I’ll tell Jiang Lin. Let’s see if you can handle that!”

The person’s expression changed, “We were just practicing sketching. We can draw anything. If you take it, I can continue drawing.”

Lu Hang argued back, “If you draw it, I’ll come and get it! I declare that I’ll be visiting your classroom often from now on.”

Their art class had its own studio, with each person having an easel and drawing board, so finding things was quite convenient.

Yan Mao pulled him, “Lu Hang, what are you doing? We were just drawing, we didn’t do anything else. I’ll get Jiang Ling’s drawings for you to see.”

But Lu Hang refused to look.

He stormed to the front of the classroom, tapped the desk with an eraser, and announced, “Students, listen up. I have an announcement.”

The female students were intrigued, while the male students were dissatisfied, “Who are you?”

Lu Hang smiled wickedly, his eyes fierce and threatening. “You don’t need to worry about who I am. I’m just telling you, from now on, Jiang Lin, Zeng Hongjie, and Guo Yanqu are off-limits. You can draw whatever you want, but if anyone has any dirty thoughts, you better watch out. I’ll be keeping an eye on you and see if I don’t make you regret it!”

The classroom erupted in chaos.

These were young men in their twenties, full of vitality.

Everyone knew each other, and those without girlfriends often fantasized about beautiful teachers and classmates.

Now, someone had directly told them not to entertain such thoughts—this was simply too much.

Two students, dissatisfied, tried to provoke him, but Lu Hang grabbed their arms and pinned them to the windowsill like chicks.

He coldly said, “Remember this. If you want someone to draw for you, I’m available. I’m quite handsome and don’t mind drawing for you. Even if I’m not wearing clothes, it’s no problem.” He glanced at the drawings of unclothed figures, not understanding them but assuming they were just people’s crude fantasies.

Yan Mao broke out in cold sweat, doubting whether Lu Hang had been admitted to the vocational school through some backdoor favor from Factory Director Lu.

This was truly embarrassing.

Lu Hang released the two students and walked to an easel.

On it was a sketch of a male body—slender and athletic, not bulky but with well-defined chest and abdominal muscles, exuding a sense of powerful beauty.

The legs below were long, and the pants had a somewhat unusual style with several pockets on the side.

Lu Hang acted as if he had discovered some significant secret, “Ah, you guys stole my drawing! Who did it?”

He extended his long leg, “Look, it’s just like my pants!”

The style of his clothes was also designed by Jiang Lin for the men in his family.

Besides their military uniforms, they usually wore jackets, trench coats, and work pants.

When they went out on missions, work pants and jackets were quite convenient, with lots of pockets for carrying things.

Lu Hang particularly liked work pants and jackets.

Now, looking at the man in the drawing… the clothes weren’t drawn, but the pants were visible, and they looked just like his!

At that moment, Jiang Ling burst in from outside, pushed her way to him, and tore the drawing down in one swift motion.

She shredded it and crumpled it into a ball, throwing it into the trash can.

She was so angry that her breathing was rapid, her chest heaving, and her gaze fierce as she stared at Lu Hang.

Lu Hang looked down at her, and immediately recognized her.

True, she did bear a resemblance.

Her clothing style was similar to Jiang Lin’s, and her face shape was also alike—both had fair skin, big eyes, high noses, and pointed chins.

In the past, Lu Hang would have exclaimed about the resemblance, but now he felt that it was not quite the same!

Since last year, he had been meticulously memorizing Guo Yanqiu’s face, enduring her “harsh and destructive” training.

When Jiang Lin had forced him to take a closer look at her on the playground, their eyes met, and she held his hand, asking if he wanted a kiss, causing him to break into cold sweat.

This made Lu Hang suddenly realize one thing: he truly liked looking at Jiang Lin’s face.

He didn’t need to possess her, nor did he think about violating her boundaries, kissing, hugging, or marrying her.

He was too afraid.

After thinking it through, that face no longer had the same control over him as before.

He no longer felt the urge to find an identical face to cherish for a lifetime.

Now, when he looked at Jiang Ling, he was very rational and calm, easily distinguishing her from Jiang Lin.

She was a pretty girl, but she didn’t resemble Jiang Lin and didn’t make his heart flutter.

He scrutinized Jiang Ling without reservation, touching his chin in a rather irritating evaluative manner, and clicked his tongue twice. “At first glance, she looks a bit similar, but upon closer inspection…”

Jiang Ling glared at him coldly and said angrily, “Where did this dirty pervert come from? What are you staring at? This is harassment, you know? I’m going to report you to the police!”

Lu Hang, however, didn’t care and just shook his head. “Not at all similar.”

Jiang Ling scolded, “Are you out of your mind?”

Lu Hang replied, “Yeah, how did you know? I heard there’s a ‘Little Jiang Lin’ at the provincial university, so I came to check.

Even though you’re deliberately wearing the same style of clothes and have the same hairstyle, you really don’t look like her at all.”

Jiang Ling was furious, “Are you blind? Who has the same head shape as her, or wears clothes that are similar?”

In the past, everyone’s clothes were outdated and loose, without any waistlines or fashionable cuts.

Jiang Lin had combined classic styles from decades ago, designed patterns, and had Yan Runzhi make them.

The new styles were tailored and flattering, making the waist appear slimmer and the legs longer, elegant and graceful.

Not only did Zeng Hongjie use her patterns for clothes, but also the beauty-conscious girls in school followed suit.

As for hairstyles, everyone at that time either wore long or short braids or kept their hair short to the ears.

Only Jiang Lin casually wore a ponytail.

The ponytail was quite unconventional at that time, not aligning with the prevailing aesthetics and giving the impression of an old lady.

Some rural girls would even braid their hair into a braid, similar to Li Tiemei’s style, even if they wore a ponytail.

Another reason why the ponytail was drooping and limp, like an old lady’s, was that elastic hairbands weren’t widely available at that time.

Using non-elastic hair ties to secure hair just didn’t hold a ponytail up well.

Jiang Lin used an elastic hairband that Cheng Rushan had helped her get.

It had great elasticity and was rare on the market.

She used a fabric strap to wrap it, making it both practical and stylish.

Whether for a ponytail or braids, it worked much better than ordinary hair ties.

Jiang Ling’s clothing style was similar to theirs, and she had her hair in a ponytail using the same kind of elastic hairband.

Lu Hang noticed this immediately!

Who was he? He considered himself a bit of a rascal.

Back in the day, he even joked about sending Bian Haitao and Jiang Lin to work in a textile factory.

He used to scrutinize people’s looks, comparing their eyebrows, noses, and features to Jiang Lin’s.

He would only stop when he was utterly bored.

Now, with someone as unique as Jiang Ling, he naturally had to take a good look at her.

He had specifically come here to see her.

He had heard that a campus beauty named Jiang Ling at Provincial University looked very much like the architectural flower Jiang Lin.

Some even joked that Jiang Ling was a copy of Jiang Lin, adding comments like she was younger, fresher, and more talented…

Lu Hang was very upset.

Even as an outsider, he had heard this more than ten times.

What kind of gossip had spread at Provincial University?

How could Jiang Lin, who heard such comments all the time, be happy?

How could she maintain her mood and properly care for herself?

It was like poking someone in the eye!

What kind of people were these!

For this matter, he had specially called Cheng Rushan for advice.

On the call, he said, “Brother Cheng, has Linlin been bullied at school?”

Cheng Rushan’s voice on the other end grew colder, “What’s going on?”

Lü Hang rambled on about the “similar but not the same” situation.

Cheng Rushan, at first, seemed uninterested, “My wife is one of a kind. How can there be so many similarities? I’ve never heard of this.”

“Brother Cheng, you come and go in a hurry. Who would bother telling you about these small matters?”

He went on about how some people said Jiang Lin was more likable but that Jiang Ling looked similar.

It sounded particularly jarring to him; he felt they were deliberately putting Jiang Lin down to elevate someone else.

Cheng Rushan was silent for a moment, then said, “Go take a look yourself.”

He then added, “Take a good look and see if it’s the appearance that’s similar or the style.”

Lu Hang immediately understood Cheng Brother’s point: if it’s the appearance that’s similar, then it’s about having a solid foundation to step over others.

If it’s not very similar but still being called similar, then it’s maliciously stepping on someone to climb up, and there’s no need to be polite!

“Brother Cheng, just watch carefully!”

Although Cheng Rushan said nothing, Lu Hang felt that he had been entrusted with a serious responsibility.

After carefully observing, Lu Hang was reassured.

The two were not similar at all; others were just creating a topic to flatter Jiang Ling.

He wasn’t angry about being scolded by Jiang Ling; instead, he laughed and said, “Don’t wear that hairstyle. You look like an old lady. Jiang Lin looks much better.”

Jiang Ling, enraged, yanked the hair tie off and threw it at him, “Are you out of your mind!”