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.]
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.."