I Became an All-round Artist

The office for the Painting Society was located upstairs. Luo Wei, the president of the society, hadn't shown up in quite some time due to her failing several classes recently. But just as she finally made an appearance today, she was cornered by a group of students with complaints.

"Charging for lessons?" Luo Wei raised her eyebrows, intrigued. "Who’s involved?"

The group of students, visibly upset, replied, "Zhong Yu, Li Jia, Zhao Yan, and a few others are constantly paying Lin Yuan for sketching lessons. It’s ruining the culture of our society!"

"How long has this been going on?" Luo Wei asked.

"About ten days now," one of the students responded.

Luo Wei nodded thoughtfully, "That explains a lot..."

The students blinked, confused by her calm reaction. One of them, not satisfied, asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Luo Wei glanced at the student who had spoken, lightly tapping her fingers on the desk. "It explains why Zhong Yu and Li Jia have improved their sketching skills so quickly."

"Huh?" The group of complainers was taken aback.

"You all know they’re in my class, right?" Luo Wei continued. "In yesterday’s sketching exam, Zhong Yu ranked fourth in the class, and Li Jia placed fifth. They weren't this good before. I was wondering how they improved so suddenly. Turns out they’ve been getting private lessons at the society. And our ‘private tutor’ seems to be quite impressive."

"What?" The group stood there, stunned.

At that moment, the vice president, Shen Liang, walked in. Luo Wei smiled at him and said, "You came at the right time. I’ve been hearing that our Painting Society recently got a sketching expert who's offering paid lessons?"

"Yes," Shen Liang nodded, glancing at the group of students who had come to complain. "It’s not against any of our society’s rules. Besides, I’ve looked into it. The students who took Lin Yuan's lessons have all seen significant improvement in their skills. They willingly paid for the lessons, and the results show that they got their money’s worth."

"I see," Luo Wei said, then turned to the students who had complained. "You can go now. Maybe if you focus more on your own sketching, it’ll help you improve. This kind of skilled artist isn’t doing it for the money. Or do you think Zhong Yu and the others aren’t as smart as you? They wouldn’t be paying up if they weren’t getting something out of it."

The students exchanged awkward glances before leaving, defeated.

Watching them leave, Luo Wei remarked with some interest, "It seems like he really is a master. To have raised their skill level this much in such a short time... I’ll definitely meet him once my exams are over."

"He’s definitely impressive. I doubt anyone in the society can match his sketching skills," Shen Liang admitted. "At first, I thought his charging for lessons wasn’t ideal, but seeing how much those students have improved, I realized that maybe he’s doing it so they take the lessons seriously. But, by the way, with how often you’re failing classes, are you going to end up as my junior?"

"Get lost," Luo Wei rolled her eyes.

And just like that, the complaint blew over without incident. But the news that those who studied under Lin Yuan saw massive improvements in their sketching quickly spread throughout the society.

Zhong Yu, especially, was proud of his achievements. He even flaunted his latest sketch exam results in the society, shamelessly proclaiming, "I’m the master’s number one student!"

With the controversy over paid lessons now gone, Lin Yuan became the talk of the society, and many students scrambled to take his lessons.

No one was foolish enough to ignore what was happening. Zhong Yu and the others were improving far too quickly. Even if some were initially doubtful, seeing their progress convinced everyone that Lin Yuan's lessons were worth every penny.

In truth, Lin Yuan’s teaching ability might not have been superior to the experienced teachers at school. But the difference was that schoolteachers had too many students to handle—often teaching classes of dozens at a time, making it impossible to give individual attention. Lin Yuan, on the other hand, was at a professional level. When he taught students one-on-one, the impact was entirely different.

Lin Yuan understood this well. So, even as more and more students fought for his time, he insisted on maintaining his one-on-one teaching approach. Each day, he taught just one student, ensuring he could focus on improving their individual skills.

However, to avoid being overwhelmed by too many students, Lin Yuan made an adjustment: he raised his prices.

The rate, once 200 yuan per hour, had now increased to 500 yuan per hour.

While most students didn’t have that kind of money, there were still those willing to pay. Even with the higher price, Lin Yuan didn’t lack students.

In addition to his one-on-one lessons, Lin Yuan also made time to publicly sketch in the society each day, which earned him a great deal of admiration.

"He’s giving us a free lesson," some students remarked.

"Yeah, even without money, we can learn a lot just by watching him draw."

"Good thing no one believed those complaints from before. It would’ve been so unfair to Lin Yuan."

Though Lin Yuan hadn’t been a member of the society for long, he had already built quite a reputation. Whenever he publicly sketched, society members would bring him drinks, snacks, and even small gifts as tokens of appreciation.

Lin Yuan was pleased with this arrangement. He noticed that each time he sketched in public, his reputation points would increase, making him happy with his progress toward completing his system task.

As long as he continued to earn recognition for his works, the goal of 1,000 reputation points would be well within reach.

"Got it."

After finishing his sketch for the day, Lin Yuan left the society amid admiring glances, heading home to rest. It was nearing the end of the month, and he hadn’t forgotten his entry for the literature contest in the Tribe community. Tonight, he planned to submit the short story he had completed.

He wasn’t sure if he would win first place, but he was confident about making it into the top three.

With that thought, Lin Yuan returned home and submitted his story to the email provided by the Tribe Literature contest contact.

At the same time, Wei Long, one of the chief editors of Tribe Literature, heard the chime of his inbox.

"Chu Kuang’s submission?"

Wei Long stood up, his face lighting up with interest as he clicked on the file. The story before him was titled The Death of a Minor Clerk.

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