Zi Yi did not even bother to care about that guy. After she drove back to her villa, she went down to the basement to check up on her experiment equipment.

Early the next morning, she called up Dou Xiangling.

Dou Xiangling was pleasantly surprised at the news of her return. “Yiyi, I’m currently at the School of Fine Arts in M.Uni. Why don’t you come over? I can update you about the preliminary competition for our entries and what to do next.”

If Dou Xiangling had not brought this up, Zi Yi would have totally forgotten about this.

She had mailed out her entry before she left for abroad and the preliminary competition results were released.

Zi Yi said okay and made her way to M.Uni.

Today was the 11th of August and the school compound was very quiet during summer vacations.

Zi Yi had directly made her way to the School of Fine Arts.

The surroundings were also quiet and she parked her car before heading towards the building.

Not long after she started walking, she saw two people holding a variety of painting materials and heading towards the entrance of the building.

Zi Yi stopped for a moment and allowed them to enter first.

They were holding onto too many art supplies and did not see Zi Yi.

While walking, they were discussing in soft voices.

Unexpectedly, the target of their discussion was Dou Xiangling.

One of them said, “I didn’t expect Dou Xiangling to be someone like that. In the past, I thought she was pretty nice and had been called back by the professor to teach at such a young age. But now, I realize that she is simply a hypocrite.”

The other person’s tone of voice was sour. “She’s a young lady from a scholar family and isn’t it normal for her to hang around useful people? We can only blame ourselves for having no background. Teacher Zhang merely mentioned wanting to see her paintings and yet Dou Xiangling talked badly about her this way.”

“Ha! Does she honestly think she’s all that good? If she did not have the strong background of the Dou Family, who would bother to care about her?”

“You two, hold on.”

The sudden voice had shocked the both of them who were gossiping about someone behind their backs. They hastily turned around to look at the girl standing behind them,

The moment they saw it was someone unacquainted, they released a sigh of relief.

One of them sized up Zi Yi and asked, “Student, are you from the School of Fine Arts?”

“No.”

Their expressions relaxed at her answer.

“Student, do you need something?”

“I’m looking for the Dou Xiangling you two were talking about.”

“…”

When she saw the change in their expressions, the corner of her lips curled up and she asked, “I wonder if you are teachers or students of the school?”

“We are Teacher Assistants.”

“Oh, hello TAs. Can you tell me how Dou Xiangling was being hypocritical?”

The two of them immediately looked at her nervously.

Zi Yi flipped her hair and raised her eyebrow, revealing her playful nature.

“Don’t worry, I was ordered to look for Dou Xiangling to help me take the back door. My family wants to meet Professor Dou.”

Zi Yi’s tone of voice and expression made her seem like a hedonistic young lady. No one could have imagined that she would have a good relationship with a person like Dou Xiangling.

The both of them directly trusted her words.

“We’d advise you not to look for that woman. Perhaps she might promise you at the start and then renege on her words after.”

“Umm… what do you mean?”

“Let me tell you.” That woman deliberately lowered her voice and said, “Dou Xiangling is a two-faced person. A few days ago, someone asked her for a favor and she agreed to it at the start. Two days later, when the person came asking for her help, she directly rejected them and helped someone else instead.”

“Also, someone merely wanted to see her participating entry work and she had inexplicably accused the person of wanting to commit plagiarism.”

Zi Yi thought for a moment and said, “It’s normal not to show others their work in advance.”

“The person who wanted to look at her work isn’t a contestant. What does it matter?”

Zi Yi pretended to think for a moment and said, “It indeed doesn’t matter. After all, the participating work isn’t yours.”

“You… what do you mean by that!”

“I meant literally what I said. I think that it’s easy for you to criticize others from the sidelines since it doesn’t concern you.”

She looked at their expressions that were about to change and impolitely said, “Just because they aren’t contestants, they can view other people’s work? Then can you guarantee that the person viewing her work isn’t a spy sent by another contestant?

Also, helping others is out of kindness, and not helping others is normal. However, why does it become two-faced when it comes out from your mouths? Were you present then and did you know why she refused to help that person?

I’d advise you not to badmouth others behind their backs. Otherwise, you’ll suffer from retribution.”

“You–”

Their faces turned flushed red from Zi Yi’s words and they were flustered and exasperated.

“Say, student. What do you mean by that? How could we possibly talk without evidence…”

“Then take out the evidence right now,” Zi Yi said with a cold expression.

The two of them glanced at each other and flew into a rage out of humiliation. They simply ignored Zi Yi and walked away while muttering, “What kind of person is that, what an ungrateful b*tch.”

Zi Yi looked on coldly at the two of them and headed towards the building.

When Zi Yi arrived at Dou Xiangling’s studio, she was currently engrossed in painting.

Zi Yi did not disturb her and simply stood beside her and watched her paint.

She only called out to her after Dou Xiangling finished painting and put down the paintbrush. “Cousin.”

Dou Xiangling turned around and immediately revealed a smile.

“Yiyi, when did you arrive?”

“Not long ago.”

“Yiyi, take a look at my painting. How is it?”

“It’s very beautiful.”

Dou Xiangling lightly chuckled at her words.

Zi Yi looked at her and suddenly said, “I heard someone bad mouthing you earlier.”

Dou Xiangling was surprised for a second before she frankly said, “Let them talk all they want.”

Zi Yi frowned. “You’re not going to retaliate?”

Dou Xiangling raised her hand to touch Zi Yi’s head. “Don’t worry. I will definitely counterattack, but it’s not the time yet.”

Zi Yi was relieved at her words.

Dou Xiangling started to pack her belongings as she said, “Yiyi, hold on for a moment. I’ll pack up first and we can go outside to find a place to talk.

“Okay.”

After she packed up everything, the both of them left the building.

The two teacher assistants walked out from the corner after Zi Yi and Dou Xiangling left.

“Ha! I was just thinking why did that girl speak up for Dou Xiangling. So they’re cousins.”

“Hmph! Who does she think she is? She merely has the halo of the Dou Family and I don’t believe she can win the top three in the International Painting Competition.”

“Also, it’s obvious that the cousin of hers isn’t any kind soul either. Perhaps she might be a fox who specializes in seducing people.”

Zi Yi and Dou Xiangling made their way to a cafe outside of M.Uni.

Both their entry works had passed the semi-finals. Dou Xiangling had Zi Yi paint another piece for her as the semi-finals were also graded based on the finished products that were sent.

“Only the finals is a live competition. It will be held on the 3rd of October.”

Freshmen had military training in September and Zi Yi could take part in the competition after the military training.