Chapter 33
Learned it useless?
Not only He Erwang said he had learned it useless, but the others had also learned it useless?
Shen Jinfeng lowered his head in confusion and looked at the clay blank in his hand. “Isn’t this very simple? It’s just a basic glaze-body painting that can be completed in a few minutes.”
What he had painted was already the simplest kind of glaze-body painting.
The young eagle on the clay blank was drawn in only a few strokes and merely captured the spirit. The requirement for drawing skill was truly not high. It looked realistic, but in fact only required a little spatial imagination.
Oh, spatial imagination.
Shen Jinfeng suddenly understood.
He had been a high school student in many worlds, and it seemed that solid geometry in compulsory mathematics always managed to create huge gaps between different students.
He had explained problems to many classmates before and discovered that with other sections of mathematics, tutoring could quickly improve grades.
Only solid geometry seemed to be a section that emphasized talent.
No matter how much training and practice one had, for people without spatial imagination, they could only become familiar with common question types through repetition. Once they encountered a new problem, there was a high chance they would be completely done for again.
He looked toward them. “Which of you studied solid geometry well in high school math?”
Everyone looked at one another.
Qi Xiu raised his hand somewhat hesitantly. “I was all right. I got full marks in math… Solid geometry should be about the same as the other sections?”
Qin Ye pursed his lips. “I was also all right.”
He Erwang stopped speaking. He was a bad student.
Gu Shengsheng also stopped speaking. He was a bad student too.
Mo Fan hesitated. “I was also all right?”
“Boss, do you mean painting like this is the same as drawing those solid geometry figures in high school?”
Shen Jinfeng nodded and looked at Mo Fan with praise.
Worthy of today’s best performer.
He explained, “Although this simple young eagle drawing is very easy, and any elementary school student could learn it after a few lessons, painting it on a bottle is a little special. Because the clay blank has curvature and is rounded and three-dimensional, the lines and angles of the young eagle can’t be drawn according to ordinary methods.”
“It requires a bit of spatial imagination. If your solid geometry was okay, then there definitely won’t be a problem. I’ll demonstrate once more slowly for you. After watching, you’ll know it’s actually very simple.”
He picked up a new clay blank. “Eh, Qi Xiu didn’t shape the top of this blank properly. It’s a little protruding. This time, I won’t draw a young eagle. I’ll draw a rabbit shape for you.”
“Anyway, the principle is the same for other animals.”
Qi Xiu, whose finished product had been taken away, blinked blankly.
But under Shen Jinfeng’s affirming gaze, he also developed a little confidence in himself.
Since Boss said it was very simple, it should be simple, right?
Since Boss said it would be even easier if one studied solid geometry well, then for him, it should be even easier, right?
He rallied his spirits and stared at Shen Jinfeng’s movements with full concentration.
This time, Shen Jinfeng moved much more slowly.
He even began explaining carefully from color mixing.
“The rabbit’s basic color is pinkish white. Mixing the color is very simple. It’s mainly red, yellow, and white layered together: a little red, a little yellow, and a lot of white.”
[Wait, isn’t pinkish white just red and white mixed together? Why add yellow too?]
[Adding a little yellow can increase the skin-like texture, right? A pinkish white with a bit of flesh tone?]
Sure enough, the color Shen Jinfeng mixed had a highly realistic skin-like texture. To add a slightly furry feeling, he made the brush tip messy yet orderly.
“To reduce the difficulty for you, just follow the style of a simple drawing for the pattern. But you need to pay attention to the brush strokes. This smooth curve on paper should bend around on the clay blank. For a horizontal stroke, you need to add two bars like this to increase the three-dimensional effect.”
Shen Jinfeng explained while painting. Although he slowed down, what he was teaching was still the simplest three-dimensional glaze-body painting.
In less than ten minutes, he had finished painting and explaining.
The clay blank once again transformed dramatically before everyone present and all the livestream viewers.
From a distance, it really looked like a lifelike rabbit standing in front of them. If one did not look closely, it was impossible to tell it was a clay blank at all.
Even the two slightly uneven corners on the top of the clay blank, after being modified, looked like long rabbit ears standing high in the air.
The work was complete.
Shen Jinfeng put down the brush and asked them with a smile, his eyes full of expectation, “How was it? After seeing it again, don’t you think it’s actually quite simple?”
Before Qi Xiu could say whether he had learned it useless,
the bullet comments erupted.
[Mom, this man knows magic!]
[Redefining the word simple. I’m really kneeling…]
[I didn’t understand anything! Damn, Big Shot Shen sounds like he’s speaking a heavenly book. His teaching makes me feel like an idiot, sob sob. What is he talking about? What straight line should become slanted? What arc needs two extra lines?]
[Didn’t understand +1.]
[Didn’t understand +2.]
[Didn’t understand +10086.]
[Holy crap, if I hadn’t known beforehand that it was a clay blank, I really would’ve thought it was a rabbit standing there! That rabbit even looks like it’s smiling!]
[The rabbit is smiling. Is it laughing at how worrying our intelligence is? Blank face. Did you all learn yourselves useless?]
[Upstairs, don’t represent everyone, okay? What do you mean worrying intelligence? Is my intelligence reflected by solid geometry? That’s right, I could only solve the first two sub-questions of solid geometry big questions at most, but my intelligence is normal! I also got into a 211 university! —trying hard to prove myself while covering my mouth and not crying—]
[Actually, I feel like I kind of understand it.]
[Hehe, I recorded it. I also got full marks in high school math! Since Big Shot Shen said that if you’re good at solid geometry, it’s very simple, then I definitely can do it too! I’ll go try later!]
[I’ll try too. I believe I can succeed! If I don’t succeed, it’s definitely not my fault. It must be because I don’t have the exact same clay blank material in Big Shot Shen’s hand, cough cough.]
[Speaking of which, why are you all breaking down so badly? The world is uneven in the first place, and people are uneven too. Hehe, am I the only one who really wants to buy these clay blanks? I’m wildly tempted!!! They’re too cute! They’re practically artworks!]
[Really. Originally, He Erwang and Qi Xiu’s broken clay blanks looked like only they themselves wouldn’t mind using them to cook something, or like something I’d use at home to hold pickled vegetables. But after Big Shot Shen’s transformation, I suddenly feel like using them to arrange flowers—with my terrible flower-arranging skills—would be defiling them, sob sob.]
In fact, the reactions of the people inside the wooden hut were also about the same as the bullet comments: full of disparity.
Mo Fan, who had been the most useful today, was the first to beg for mercy. “Boss, sorry. I really didn’t understand.”
“How about I just draw a few small flowers or add some flat geometric patterns on the bottle body?” He emphasized the word “flat.”
Shen Jinfeng fell silent for a moment, then nodded. “That works too.”
Qi Xiu and Gu Shengsheng were surprisingly half-understanding. “Boss, I’ll try it myself first.”
Shen Jinfeng nodded with relief. “Good.”
He Erwang’s expression was hesitant. He irritably tugged at his purple hair, looking aggrieved. “Boss, can you explain it again?”
Shen Jinfeng asked, “You didn’t understand any of it?”
He Erwang nodded shamefully.
Shen Jinfeng was speechless.
That seemed a little difficult.
“Just draw whatever you want. Draw anything you like, as long as it fits your aesthetic,” he advised He Erwang.
Unexpectedly, He Erwang shook his head firmly.
“No. Boss, didn’t you start this class to teach me how to go from barely making a living to earning a little money?”
“How can Qi Xiu and the others learn it while I can’t!”
This class was clearly opened especially for him!
How could the other shameless teammates who came to freeload the lesson all learn it while he, the proper student, could not?
He, He Erwang, could not afford to lose this face!
His gaze was firm and he looked at Shen Jinfeng with a vow not to give up.
Shen Jinfeng: “…”
He was wrong. If he had known, he would not have added that extra sentence.
He sighed. “Fine.”
But he got smarter. If He Erwang could not learn the rabbit or eagle, then he would teach something simpler, simpler. Then, a leaf.
Leaves were simple.
Painting the whole bottle into the shape of a leaf would not be as vivid as an animal, but it would be more than enough to fool a “child.”
He Erwang, completely unaware that he had already been identified as a child who needed coaxing, clenched his fist, held his breath, and fixed his eyes intently on Shen Jinfeng’s movements.
Shen Jinfeng taught in even greater detail.
A leaf, after all, could be turned into a simple drawing with only four or five strokes for the outline. The rest was filling in the veins of the leaf, repetitive work.
Transforming it into glaze-body painting was the same.
Altogether, it only added up to about a dozen strokes.
He Erwang even used a pen to write down every step.
To be honest, this lesson actually made many viewers in the livestream say they felt they had learned it!
They had truly learned it, not learned it useless!
The large maple-leaf-shaped clay blank was not as lively and fun as the animal-shaped ones.
But it still looked ingenious and quite beautiful.
After Shen Jinfeng finished teaching, He Erwang excitedly put down his pen. “Boss, I learned it this time!”
However, before he could be happy and proud for a few more seconds, before he could actually practice and work hard to catch up with the others and amaze everyone,
Qin Ye’s voice suddenly sounded. He cut straight between him and Boss.
“Little Captain, can you help me take a look at my finished product?”
He Erwang turned around in grief and indignation. How was there already someone silently producing a finished product!
Was the competition this fierce?
Too much!
Then his gaze went dull.
Qin Ye was holding a clay blank. This clay blank was a little taller than He Erwang’s and Qi Xiu’s earlier ones.
He had not followed what Shen Jinfeng had taught and copied a young eagle or a rabbit.
What he had painted was actually a person!
A person drawn vividly and with lifelike expression!
It was Boss!
Qin Ye had painted a chibi version of Shen Jinfeng.
Chibi Shen Jinfeng held a fish spear and stood by the sea, the water reaching past his knees. With one spear thrust, several fish were caught, and flying fish landed beside him.
He laughed proudly, his expression bright and spirited, making anyone who looked at it smile knowingly.
The three-dimensional visual effect was so strong that it seemed as if the chibi figure would grab the fish spear and hand it to you in the next second.
In fact, the chibi figure’s expression and body movements were even more exaggerated, naive, cute, and lovable.
But anyone could see that the prototype was Shen Jinfeng.
“Holy crap, this is way too amazing!” He Erwang cried out in surprise. “Brother Ye, did you specifically study this?”
Qin Ye replied, “More or less. My mother is a painter.”
His gaze remained fixed on Shen Jinfeng, his eyes carrying obvious laughter and anticipation. “Little Captain, give me a few comments?”
Shen Jinfeng accepted the clay blank in a bit of a daze. The pounding of his heartbeat in his chest, rising and falling, nearly roared all the way to his ears.
His movements were rarely somewhat awkward and careful.
My god.
This secret admirer really knew how to seize every opening to show goodwill!
However, he pointed at the open grin on the chibi figure’s mouth. “When have I ever laughed like this?”
The secret admirer was ruining his image!
Qin Ye instinctively said, “It’s cuter this way.”
No… what was he saying?
Looking at Shen Jinfeng’s unkind gaze, the fingertips hanging at his side rubbed together uneasily. Damn it, he’s also cute like this now.
But Shen Jinfeng was clearly not satisfied with this answer.
Qin Ye pursed his lips and said, “I hope you can smile like this in the future.”
Shen Jinfeng said, “Oh.”
“I would never grin foolishly like this.” Like a second fool.
But what he did not notice was that while he used the movement of turning the clay blank to examine it carefully, the corners of his mouth hidden behind the blank had already curved into an arc he did not usually have.
The netizens watching the livestream were also stunned by Qin Ye’s move.
[Qin Ye actually knows how to draw? Didn’t he say earlier with everyone else that he’d learned himself useless? Shen Jinfeng explained it once, and he suddenly opened up his Ren and Du meridians and became enlightened? This drawing is too good! With this learning ability, no wonder he succeeds at everything!]
[All right, Big Shot Shen has a disciple who graduated so quickly. He may now think even more that what he taught was “simple”…]
[No, the key point is, why did Qin Ye draw Shen Jinfeng? He didn’t follow the lesson and draw a young eagle or a rabbit. He didn’t draw other similar little animals either. Instead, he carved out a new path and drew chibi Shen Jinfeng?]
[What else could it be for? To compete for favor! Shen Jinfeng came to Being a Person to collect little brothers, right? A group of guests are about to fight just to get his praise. It really is like kindergarten children fighting for little red flowers. Didn’t you see how He Erwang looked at Qin Ye from the side? He’s so jealous he’s turning red!]
[Cough cough, the netizen in front has such pure thoughts.]
[Seeing is believing… It’s really hard for me not to believe Ye God has feelings for Big Shot Shen, sob sob.]
[Because he loves him!!!]
This bullet comment was posted by Ms. Yun, who was shipping CP in real time in front of the screen!
[Ye God drew Big Shot Shen’s famous fish-spearing scene! Is it because that image left a deep impression on him hahaha?]
Ms. Yun once again took the lead in shipping the CP:
[Because that was the beginning of his heart being moved!!!]
[No, how many times do CP fans need to be told? Don’t ship CP in the bullet comments. Do you understand staying in your own circle?]
[Who do you think you are? You understand Qin Ye’s thoughts so well, are you the roundworm in Qin Ye’s stomach?]
Ms. Yun was furious.
[Because I’m his mom!]
A wave of laughter swept through the bullet comments.
[Best Actor solo fans, hurry and pay respects to your mother-in-law hahahaha.]
[I’m dying of laughter. You’re his mom? Then I’m his wife.]
…
Ms. Yun’s fingers moved across the screen so fast they became afterimages. While battling netizens for three hundred rounds, she watched the two young men “look at each other with affection” on the screen and smiled with a face full of auntie joy.
At the scene, after hearing He Erwang’s exclamation, the others also looked toward Qin Ye’s finished product.
!!!
This awesome?
They let out strange cries, praise, and somewhat sour jealousy exactly like He Erwang.
Qi Xiu looked at Qin Ye with a hint of wariness. “Brother Ye, if you had an art foundation, why didn’t you say so earlier? You drew it so beautifully!”
This shameless person had actually hidden a move just to show off in front of Boss.
Gu Shengsheng also felt somewhat speechless, and also convinced. “Brother Ye, how did you think of drawing Boss?”
He really knew how to flatter someone. So creative.
But drawing Boss was indeed a bit too difficult. Even if Gu Shengsheng wanted to learn, he could not.
Mo Fan looked at the few little flowers he had just dotted on his own clay blank and really wanted to hide his finished product.
He Erwang pushed his luck. “Brother Ye, can you draw one for each of us? I’ll pay to buy them and take them home as souvenirs.”
For some reason, ever since Qi Xiu said he had a lifetime of wealth and honor, he had completely forgotten the rule of not revealing one’s wealth.
Whenever he encountered something, he really wanted to buy, buy, buy.
Qin Ye refused. “…I don’t lack money.”
“After we get out, I’ll find someone to draw one for you.”
He Erwang: Fists clenched.
This person actually understood that things are precious because they are rare!
Now Boss would definitely feel that the gift he had received was unique.
It had to be said, He Erwang understood Qin Ye’s thoughts quite well.
Shen Jinfeng suddenly felt that the clay blank in his hand was a little hot. He kept feeling as if the others had seen something.
He was the first to stand up. “I’ll go build the kiln. Once the clay blanks are dry, they can be put in and fired.”
Qin Ye silently looked at him and did not follow.
He sat back in front of the turntable and began making a new clay blank.
How could the clay jar shaped like Little Captain be used to cook?
Little Captain would definitely keep it as a collectible, he thought confidently.
He had to make two more to hand in.
Under the stimulation from Qin Ye, the finished products of Qi Xiu’s young eagle spreading its wings and Gu Shengsheng’s cute white rabbit, which he had copied, both exceeded their own expectations.
As for He Erwang, in the end, he only barely drew a somewhat three-dimensional leaf clay blank.
Mo Fan had originally given up struggling directly, but later, unwilling to suddenly go from teacher to worst student, he also followed along and learned and painted.
But drawing plus spatial imagination probably did indeed require some talent.
In the end, he and He Erwang were about evenly matched.
Most of the livestream viewers… and most of the passersby and influencer bloggers who came after hearing the news to imitate and create were also about the same, and some were even worse.
Firing clay jars was time-consuming work, but the results were so beautiful they were stunning.
Leaving aside their appearance, the most important thing was that even wild vegetables cooked in the clay jars tasted several times more fragrant than yesterday!
Coconut juice with fish, freshwater with seafood—the flavor that came out after being boiled in the clay jars, that thick aroma, made people drool even through the screen.
[Why does their clear soup with barely anything in it feel more fragrant than my fried chicken?]
[That fish actually has a kind of “hibiscus emerging from clear water, natural and unadorned” beauty! I really want to crawl into the screen and eat with them, sob sob.]
[This show should just change its name to A Bite of the Deserted Island.]
After dinner, the heavy rain was still falling.
The group lazily half-lay and half-leaned on the ground, forming a circle.
“If the rainstorm continues tomorrow, I’ll be able to pile up my castle,” Gu Shengsheng imagined.
It was dark now. Although they could light a wick, it was still not very convenient.
Qi Xiu asked curiously, “Boss, do we have other tasks tomorrow?”
To be honest, Shen Jinfeng felt a little awkward.
Why, when being stared at by so many pairs of eyes, did he feel like a director of studies, as if he could tyrannize as he pleased?
But when asked, the answer was, “Yes.”
“What task? What else can we do inside the wooden hut?”
Shen Jinfeng smiled faintly and said with no guilt the new phrase he had just learned today, “Teach you how to fish.”
The heavy rain continued for two days.
At night, Sun Xinping looked at the sleeping guests, the corner of his mouth curving into a sinister smile.
“Goat, tell me. Since this wooden hut is first-rate at blocking rain, isn’t its windproof effect also very strong?”
The equipment team leader had originally been preparing to get off work and was somewhat drowsy, but his brain immediately woke up.
“What kind of trouble are you trying to make?”
“Hm?” Sun Xinping’s face immediately darkened.
The equipment team leader shivered and realized that while his brain had not fully awakened, he had spoken his inner thoughts aloud.
He smiled flatteringly. “Director, what instructions do you have?”
“Oh, you mean the windproof effect? It should also be strong, right? It’s not like there’s no wind on stormy days. We’re imitating real weather, and the guests don’t seem affected at all.”
Sun Xinping said, “Imitating real weather? Then on stormy days, isn’t it normal for a typhoon to land?”
“Ah?” The equipment team leader finally understood what kind of trouble his superior was trying to make.
He asked somewhat hesitantly, “Then add a little typhoon to the island tomorrow?”
Sun Xinping shook his head. “Not tomorrow.”
“Right now.”
The corner of the equipment team leader’s mouth twitched.
No, sir, what madness are you having in the middle of the night? Must you wake people up?
He glanced at the livestream data in the backend. For such a warm and comfortable deserted island livestream, quite a lot of people were watching. It was constantly breaking records.
But a higher-ranking official could crush a person. His lips moved, but he still did not refuse.
He sat back at the control console and did not call the other technicians in the team, directly operating it himself.
Typhoon, typhoon. Let’s just add a little typhoon warning for show.
The equipment team leader adjusted it to a level-five wind.
“Director, take a look. Is that enough? The trees outside are shaking.”
After saying that, without waiting for Sun Xinping’s reply, he stood up. “I’m going back to sleep. If I don’t sleep soon, I’ll die suddenly.”
Sun Xinping frowned, looking at the deserted island beyond the livestream image on the screen. The slightly shorter trees were already swaying entirely. He nodded.
But after the equipment team leader left, he stared at the screen alone for an hour.
Damn it, why was that wooden hut still completely unmoving?
He went to sleep with a belly full of dissatisfaction.
Early the next morning, carrying a pair of panda eyes, he arrived at the studio.
He saw that many staff members who had arrived were idle anyway and were actually following Shen Jinfeng in doing exercises?
What the hell?
He looked at everyone in disdain and went to find the equipment team leader.
“Goat, the wind is still too weak! Increase it!”
The equipment team leader: “…”
He walked to the console and increased the wind to level six, which already counted as a small typhoon.
In daily life, this was already wind that made walking difficult. People with especially low body weight might sway a little when facing it.
But Shen Jinfeng and the others, who had already been training for a while under the eaves, had no reaction at all.
Even Gu Shengsheng, who looked the weakest physically, had a flushed face and sweat on his forehead, yet his training steps did not tremble at all.
In such strong wind, he actually stood perfectly straight and said to Shen Jinfeng, “Boss, I feel warm all over now!”
Shen Jinfeng nodded without turning back. “Keep practicing with me.”
Sun Xinping said, “Increase it for me. Increase it to level seven!”
The equipment team leader: “…Level six is already strong wind. At level seven, if someone gets blown over, they’re practicing right now, so it’s very dangerous.”
Sun Xinping temporarily listened.
However, after a while, watching the guests on the screen practicing with long, steady breaths and bright, vigorous expressions, he accidentally picked up his phone and saw himself on the screen, looking like he had stayed up for ten days or half a month, with a kidney-deficient face.
“Goat, add some wind. Make it stronger. Level seven will be fine.”
Fortunately, at this time, Shen Jinfeng and the others had already finished today’s training.
The group returned to the wooden hut, chatting and laughing, the atmosphere cheerful and relaxed, preparing to cook delicious food again.
The soup dumplings Sun Xinping had ordered for takeout today were terribly unappetizing.
After he swallowed with difficulty, he felt so salty he was nearly nauseous, and he started making trouble again. “Goat, increase the typhoon to level eight!”
The equipment team leader: “…”
No, is this old man crazy?
