Chapter 398: Chapter 259: Peerless Driver Lu Yiyi
Chen Yuan had no choice but to quickly shift his focus to the task at hand, trying to forget the cringe-inducing embarrassment. He opened Green Bubble and tapped into his chat history with Senior Sister Liu Tingyue. He didn’t even have to scroll; a string of complex serial numbers was right there. Letters first, then numbers. He didn’t understand it at first, and a glance at the other paintings in the room revealed no similar markings.
Yet these paintings only had numerical codes, printed in minuscule script in the bottom-right corner.
He couldn’t see them clearly, so he leaned in close to make them out.
The room where the paintings were stored was quite spacious, but it was dim inside, likely to prevent sunlight from ruining the artwork. The only light spilled from behind heavy curtains, leaving a single crack that cast a slanted reflection on the frosted glass of the wooden door.
Each painting was wrapped in a layer of oily newspaper, and they weren’t stored properly, piled haphazardly here and there, askew like tombstones standing in a cold, lonely cemetery.
Chen Yuan had once read in a book that paintings, manuscripts—all those things that could be called art—contained a wisp of their creator’s lingering soul. Sometimes, when viewing them, one might have an uncanny experience, a momentary spiritual connection with the deceased artist.
’If such a wisp of a soul truly exists,’ he thought, ’then even if these works are strewn about haphazardly, aware of the endlessness of time, would they occasionally speak a few words to the pieces next to them?’
’Maybe they wouldn’t be so lonely then.’
Chen Yuan snapped back to reality and turned to Lu Yiyi. "What’s with these codes? I can’t figure them out. Did we come to the wrong room?"
"Impossible. Let me see."
Lu Yiyi came closer, leaning against his shoulder. The distance was definitely a bit too close. Chen Yuan felt a wave of discomfort and took a step back, holding out his phone for her.
’She has a very cheerful personality,’ Chen Yuan thought. She could easily laugh and joke with them, a group from the main campus she had never met before, without any sense of unfamiliarity.
People like her were usually popular with both guys and girls.
Chen Yuan suddenly felt that he and Senior Sister Lu were from completely different worlds. This intuition was sharp, and he figured she was probably the complete opposite of a student like Li Bing.
"This code is correct. The letter prefix is the building number, the second is the storage room number, and after that, this 102... let me see, it’s here!"
Lu Yiyi bent down, tossing her hair over her shoulder. She casually moved a few pieces aside and took out the widest one among them, yanking it out with a firm tug. Looking at the corner, the painting’s serial number was indeed 102.
Meanwhile.
Chen Yuan, Quan Yafeng, Wei Zhen, and Liu Nan, in perfect and unspoken sync, quickly averted their gazes. Some looked up at the ceiling, others down at their feet.
Senior Sister Lu was being far too generous, not paying much attention to how her dress could easily reveal something. When she leaned over, two fair, rounded curves were particularly eye-catching.
To glance is instinct, for which one can’t be blamed. To look away is what makes a true gentleman.
"What are you guys doing? Help me move this stuff," Lu Yiyi said, raising her pretty face, her brow furrowed in slight confusion.
"Okay, okay."
"Coming, coming."
"Ahem."
The group scrambled over to help. Being in the prime of their youth, the boys’ cheeks all flushed a faint red. When it came down to it... they were just four inexperienced virgins.
After a flurry of activity.
Midway through, Chen Yuan and the others discovered a problem.
"Holy crap, who can move this? You should call Senior Sister Liu and have her send a truck."
"A truck... she wouldn’t even give us a bicycle. You can stop dreaming."
"Then how are we supposed to move a painting this big?"
The three boys stared worriedly at a gigantic painting hanging on the wall. They had been halfway through finding the numbered pieces when they realized one was missing, which made them turn their attention to the one on the wall. It was a work by the European master Rembrandt, depicting a woman in a long dress climbing an irregular staircase.
The piece was a full two meters tall, and so wide an adult would need to stretch their arms out completely to embrace it. It was hard to understand if the school administration had even considered how students were supposed to execute this task when they assigned it. They just gave the order with a few words, the staff below them made promises, and in the end, it was the students who suffered.
"It’s not impossible," Lu Yiyi said, pulling out a wet wipe to clean her hands. "We’ll carefully take it down first, move all the other paintings, and then handle this one last. If we put it vertically in the truck bed with one person holding it, it should be doable."
"I guess that’s the only way."
The trips back and forth were a hassle, but the actual work wasn’t too tiring. Plus, it was cool inside the exhibition hall, so they managed to move everything to the vehicle without breaking much of a sweat. Only Chen Yuan was left behind to guard the remaining piece, prevent theft, and move the largest painting into the hallway.
Lu Yiyi insisted on driving with them to the main campus. She said she rarely got to go over there, because Dean Zhou not only strictly forbade students from other departments from entering the Art Academy, but also forbid his own students from wandering around other colleges.
With a honk of the horn, the tricycle sped off, kicking up dust. Chen Yuan watched his buddies gripping the handrails for dear life, their faces terrified, looking as if they were facing a great enemy in the cargo bed. He couldn’t help but let out a few laughs.
He turned back and went to move the painting by himself.
It was already dusk. After much effort, Chen Yuan moved the painting out and stood guard. He quietly admired the surrounding scenery. The setting sun cast a hazy, crimson glow on the red-tiled, white-walled buildings. Marble columns stood tall and majestic, and the unpleasant croaking of frogs echoed from the pond.
A campus has a peculiar quality: those who are here don’t love it, but those who leave miss it every single moment.
At least for now, Chen Yuan felt that Landa University was genuinely nice. He didn’t regret coming here for college.
’When you stop and quietly appreciate it, it’s actually quite beautiful.’
He remained there alone in the quiet for a long time.
At half-past five in the evening, Lu Yiyi returned with the tricycle. She started honking from a distance to greet him. When the vehicle came to a steady stop at the entrance, she hopped down and bounded up the steps like a deer in the forest.
"I was worried you’d be bored waiting here by yourself, but I see you’re pretty relaxed, junior. If I’d known, I would’ve spent more time wandering around the main campus." She smoothed out her wind-blown hair and said with envy, "Your campus is so big, much more spacious than our little place. The dorms are well-built too."
"It’s just those few buildings," Chen Yuan said, standing up. "A lot of students live in the old dorms, which are barely livable."
The two exchanged a few words and then together lifted the giant painting onto the vehicle. Liu Nan and the others had to move the other items to the Youth League Committee office first, which was another troublesome job. It would be a waste of time to wait for them to finish and come back, so only Lu Yiyi returned.
"Please drive slowly. I can only use my hands to hold onto the painting," Chen Yuan reminded her, feeling a little uneasy.
"Got it."
Lu Yiyi gave a wave, and the next second, she gunned the throttle. The tricycle shot forward several dozen meters like an arrow loosed from a bow. Chen Yuan’s whole body tensed, his back ramrod straight, terrified that one careless move from her would send him flying.
"Junior, are any of you guys involved with a student from our Art Academy? Because I was just looking at my phone, and a girl asked if I knew you."
"No, it’s our first time here."
"That’s so weird," Lu Yiyi said, honking the horn as she spoke. "In just this short time, several people have messaged me."
"Really? Maybe they got the wrong people."
"I don’t think so. Maybe someone wants to get your contact info. They’re probably trying to ask me about it."
"Just turn them down for us. Say you don’t know us," Chen Yuan blurted out, instantly cutting off his buddies’ romantic prospects. If Liu Nan ever found out, he’d probably grind his teeth to dust.
"Okay, I will—" Before Lu Yiyi could finish, she suddenly slammed on the brakes.
With a SCREECH of the brake line, Chen Yuan was thrown forward, nearly flying out of the back. ’It was exactly like the bus ride this morning!’
"What’s wrong?!"
"A stray cat! I almost hit it! That scared me to death!"
Lu Yiyi let out a long sigh of relief. The road she had chosen was a shortcut, but it was too narrow, barely a one-lane path. A tabby cat had just darted out and recklessly crossed the road, and she had almost failed to react in time.
"If it’s too much, just drive slower. We’re not in a hurry," Chen Yuan advised, his heart still pounding with fear.
"Don’t worry, it was just a small accident."
Lu Yiyi turned her head and waved a hand at him. Chen Yuan stared at her waving hand, his eyes widening in terror, and he hurriedly said, "You should be driving! Isn’t that your right hand?"
He was sure he hadn’t seen wrong. For a moment, his mind went blank.
"Oh, right, this is my right hand... so which hand am I driving with?" Lu Yiyi’s train of thought seemed to short-circuit.
The next moment, the tricycle began to shake violently, swerving hard toward the grass on the right. The steering wheel turned at a bizarre angle, and with a CRUNCH-CRUNCH sound, the tires ground against the stone curb at the edge of the road. They only had half a second to scream.
There was just a loud BANG.
The overturned tricycle’s wheel hub faced the sunset-streaked sky, spinning lazily.
