Chapter 73: Where Did the Painting Go

That night, Lin Hexi and You Chong were tangled up in bed until very late before they finally fell asleep.

Both of them slept until noon the next day. You Chong was the first to get up and head to the bathroom to take a shower, while Lin Hexi lay under the covers playing on his phone. As he turned to the side, he was met face-to-face with a few used condoms lying on the blanket.

Lin Hexi’s lips twitched slightly. He flicked those things onto the floor through the blanket before returning his gaze to his phone.

The dishes had been soaking in the sink all night, and after You Chong came out of the bathroom, he rolled up his sleeves and went into the kitchen to wash them.

Hearing the other call him to get up, Lin Hexi finally lifted the blanket and crawled out of bed.

During the process of getting up, he didn’t feel any discomfort. But the moment his legs touched the ground, Lin Hexi’s knees suddenly buckled, and he dropped straight to the floor, kneeling down.

The Alaskan Malamute pacing back and forth in the living room outside heard the noise and ran in, staring at him silently with its big, round eyes.

It was only then that he remembered he wasn’t wearing any clothes or pants. Even someone as casual as Lin Hexi felt a bit uncomfortable being stared at by the dog for such a long time.

He grabbed You Chong’s jacket from the foot of the bed and lifted his hand to drape it over himself.

However, at some point, the Alaskan Malamute had stopped staring at him and had instead turned its head curiously toward the condoms Lin Hexi had shaken off the bed.

Lin Hexi froze in the middle of putting on his clothes, and a strange sense of foreboding rose in his chest.

Sure enough, the next moment, the Alaskan hesitated in its steps and stopped in front of the condoms, tentatively raising a paw to paw at them twice.

Without bothering to put on the jacket, Lin Hexi dropped it and slowly approached the Alaskan, which was now engrossed in investigating the condoms.

Hearing the slight noise as Lin Hexi moved, the dog’s ears perked up alertly. Mistaking Lin Hexi’s approach as an attempt to take its “toy,” the Alaskan lowered its head, opening its mouth to grab the condom lying in front of it.

Startled, Lin Hexi quickly lunged forward, wrapping his arms around the Alaskan’s neck and stretching his hand to snatch the used condom from its mouth. “Darling, you can’t just eat this.”

Noticing Lin Hexi’s nervousness, the Alaskan only became more convinced that it had found a great toy and refused to let go.

Lin Hexi deliberately put on a stern face to intimidate the dog, “If you don’t let go, your dad is going to get mad.”

The Alaskan was completely unfazed and instead bit down on the condom even tighter, trying to snatch it back from Lin Hexi’s grip.

Feeling helpless and exasperated, Lin Hexi had no choice but to call for You Chong to come over.

You Chong walked into the bedroom and was greeted by the sight of Lin Hexi completely naked, sitting on the floor with his back to him, hugging the large dog and seemingly playing with it.

A heavy frown formed between You Chong’s brows. “Lin Hexi, can you at least put some clothes on before playing with the dog?”

Still holding onto the Alaskan, Lin Hexi didn’t let go. He turned around with a worried expression and complained, “Your son is about to be eaten by your dog.”

“My son?” You Chong’s tone turned odd. “Since when do I have a son?”

Lin Hexi shifted slightly to the side, revealing the condom the Alaskan was holding in its mouth. While pointing to the contents inside the condom, he said with deep concern, “Your son.”

The veins on You Chong’s temple throbbed faintly as he bent down, taking the condom from the Alaskan’s mouth, and then picking up the other ones from the floor before tossing them into the trash can by the wall.

Unable to stop him in time, Lin Hexi could only stare at the trash can, his expression turning gloomy and filled with regret. “You just threw your son away like that?”

The Alaskan, having lost its new toy, was equally dejected. It knelt beside Lin Hexi, its eyes fixated longingly on the trash can, unwilling to leave.

Amused yet exasperated by their matching expressions, You Chong patted the Alaskan’s rear, signaling it to leave the room.

The Alaskan hesitated for a moment, taking a few reluctant steps, looking back with every step, before finally exiting the room.

With only Lin Hexi and You Chong left in the room, You Chong pulled him up from the floor. “Stop staring. My son can’t survive outside for that long.”

Lin Hexi still frowned in distress. “But you can’t just leave your son in the trash can like that.”

You Chong chuckled nonchalantly, his palm naturally finding its way to Lin Hexi’s waist. “If you want my son, I’ve got plenty more.” He slowly leaned closer, his gaze darkening as his eyes met Lin Hexi’s. “They’re all alive. Do you want one?”

Lin Hexi froze for a moment, instinctively blurting out, “No, I don’t.”

“Really don’t want one?” You Chong raised his eyebrow, his voice low and filled with ambiguity. “You seem like you want one quite badly.”

Lin Hexi pushed him away, as if there were some ferocious beast behind him, and without looking back, headed straight for the bathroom.

You Chong stayed where he was, and laughing out loud.

The end of November quickly passed in a whirlwind of specialized courses and English vocabulary. In the last few days of the month, aside from taking people to view the apartment, Lin Hexi rarely went back.

After posting the rental information, a few people occasionally contacted him through the forum to view the apartment, but the sublease had yet to be finalized.

Lin Hexi wasn’t in urgent need of the sublease rent, so he wasn’t in a hurry to rent the place out.

At the beginning of December, You Chong took a few days off to go home due to some family matters, and during that time, Lin Hexi returned to stay at his rented apartment for a while.

He went alone to feed the cats a few times and had dinner with Fang Qingning twice. From her, he heard that the competition results were about to be announced, though the first prize had already been predetermined, meaning the other participants were destined to miss out on it.

When Fang Qingning mentioned this, her voice was cautious, as if she had already prepared a comforting speech for him in advance.

However, Lin Hexi didn’t seem to care much. He just shook his head and said casually, “My goal in submitting to the competition was never to win a prize in the first place. Besides, there are so many students majoring in the field who participated.”

Fang Qingning laughed and, with a sly smile, cupped her face and asked, “Then may I ask what your original goal was?”

Lin Hexi didn’t answer right away. Instead, he slowly lifted his gaze and swept it toward her. “I thought Xia Chengfeng had already told you everything?”

Fang Qingning coughed lightly and lowered her head, too embarrassed to respond.

The competition results came out the day before You Chong returned.

That afternoon, while Lin Hexi was in class, he received a text message from the Art College’s Youth League Committee, informing him that his submission had won second prize in the competition and that he was to attend the awards ceremony at the academic lecture hall that evening.

Wanting to retrieve his painting, Lin Hexi went to the academic lecture hall right on time after dinner.

The award ceremony was not as casual as Lin Hexi had imagined. The Youth League Committee even invited the vice dean of the Art College and several professors to attend. There were quite a few people who won second prize, so Lin Hexi patiently took group photos with the others. Afterward, he found someone from the Youth League Committee to ask about getting his painting back.

However, the person apologized and informed him that the submitted works would be displayed for two more weeks after the competition, so his painting wouldn’t be returned for another half month.

Lin Hexi went home empty-handed. That evening, during a WeChat call with You Chong, he casually mentioned the award.

Immediately, You Chong asked, “Did you get the painting back?”

Lin Hexi replied, “No, they’re going to display it for two weeks.”

You Chong was silent for a moment before asking, somewhat nonchalantly, “Where is it being displayed?”

Lin Hexi thought for a couple of seconds, then replied uncertainly, “I think it’s first going to be displayed in the public exhibition area of the main campus’ Art College, then taken to other schools that co-sponsored the event.”

You Chong didn’t say anything more and changed the topic.

They talked for about forty minutes before Lin Hexi, planning to take a shower, asked before hanging up, “When are you coming back to school?”

You Chong responded quickly, “Tomorrow.”

The next morning, after waking up, Lin Hexi realized that while he knew You Chong was coming back today, he didn’t know exactly what time.

He figured You Chong would call him when he arrived at school, so Lin Hexi didn’t dwell on it. After brushing his teeth and washing his face, he went to the living room to gather the books he needed for class that day.

Coincidentally, he had scheduled himself a full day of classes, and by the time the last class of the afternoon ended, You Chong still hadn’t called.

Letting go of the idea of having dinner off-campus with him, Lin Hexi decided to grab dinner at the school cafeteria instead.

As Lin Hexi left the classroom building, he remembered the public exhibition of the competition entries. He changed his pace, and decided to head over to the Art College’s exhibition area for a quick look.

The exhibition area was located in the busiest part of the campus. It was dinner time, and groups of students passed by in twos and threes. Occasionally, some would stop to browse the artworks displayed behind the glass.

The works were arranged in order of prize ranking. Lin Hexi first saw the section for the honorable mentions.

Not in a hurry to find his own painting, he browsed the other areas first.

The authors of the honorable mentions and third prize works were mostly students from other schools or first-year students from the main campus. Lin Hexi slowly made his way from the back to the front, then skipped the second prize section entirely and went straight to the first prize display window.

The first-prize painting depicted an autumn field. Although the winner had been predetermined, Lin Hexi could tell that the artist had solid skills and talent.

He then went to look at all the second-prize works.

The first few paintings weren’t his, but Lin Hexi still bent down to take a closer look at each one before continuing along the long display window.

At the very end of the display, Lin Hexi finally saw the plaque with his name and the title of his work, along with a few short comments from the Art College professors.

However, where his painting was supposed to be above the plaque, it was completely empty.

He froze for a second, instinctively blinking before focusing his gaze.

The display case still didn’t have his painting.

Where had his painting gone?

With his palm pressed against the glass, Lin Hexi stood there, utterly bewildered.