Eight hours later, Xia Yu returned to his own body.
Sitting up from the bed, he stretched lazily.
After acquiring this game, he no longer needed to sleep—the hosting system would take care of sleep for him.
Getting off the bed, he took a step forward and sat on the chair in front of the desk.
Picking up his phone, he checked his bank balance.
The number showing three thousand made him feel heartache.
Buying a phone for Youxue cost two thousand, round-trip taxi fare to pick up the black cat cost seven hundred, and buying cat food and litter cost another three hundred. In just a few days, he had spent three thousand.
Even though I now have this body-swapping game, why hasn’t my money increased but instead keeps decreasing?
After feeling pained for a while, he told himself it was a necessary initial investment, and Xia Yu comforted his wounded heart.
Randomly pulling a book from the bookshelf, he began reading—it was an adventure novel.
As someone with tight finances, he couldn’t afford to buy books. This one had been distributed by the head of the Literature Club, who purchased them to spend the club’s unused budget and handed them out to members. Xia Yu, as a ghost member of the club, had also received a copy.
Over the past three years of high school, the books he received from the Literature Club had filled up a small bookshelf.
At 7:30, he opened the door, washed up, ate breakfast, and took the subway to school.
Today was Monday, and a brand new week had arrived.
Upon arriving at class, before he could even sit down, someone grabbed Xia Yu’s backpack.
“Yu! Save me!” The one grabbing Xia Yu was a boy, his face filled with pleading.
The boy’s name was Gui Zixiao; he could be considered Xia Yu’s good friend.
“…Which subject?” Xia Yu opened his backpack.
“I need all of them!” Gui Zixiao said.
“You haven’t done any of them? Are you sure you can finish copying in time before the deadline?” Xia Yu checked the time; there were only fifteen minutes left before morning reading class, after which would be the final deadline for submitting homework.
Gui Zixiao’s face showed an embarrassed expression as he looked at Xia Yu.
Xia Yu had a bad feeling.
Sure enough, Gui Zixiao handed his math and English homework to Xia Yu: “These are all entrusted to you.”
“I refuse.” Not only did Xia Yu not take the homework, he even retracted his own homework.
“Wait, wait, don’t you remember we have art class today? And today’s subject is oil painting!” Gui Zixiao grabbed Xia Yu again.
“Add an extra duck leg for lunch.” Xia Yu made a demand.
“Deal!”
Taking Gui Zixiao’s homework, Xia Yu returned to his seat.
He never expected that even though the tutoring system did all his homework, he still had to do others’ assignments.
During morning reading class, he kept the book upright on the desk while writing furiously, finishing the homework just before the class ended.
After submitting the homework, the first class was art. Led by the class monitor, the class lined up and headed to the art classroom.
The art teacher had already brought out the paints and other tools.
Putting on an apron, picking up a brush and paints, Xia Yu found an inner rack and sat down.
He clipped the oil painting paper onto the wooden frame and squeezed the paints onto the palette.
Once all the students were ready, the art teacher took out a stone sculpture of a human head from a cabinet and placed it in the center.
The task for this lesson was to paint this head.
Beside Xia Yu, Gui Zixiao had already begun painting: “Good buddy, thanks just now. Give me ten minutes; once I finish, I’ll help you paint!”
Xia Yu’s painting skills were terrible, especially in oil painting. In his past life’s school, he could have faked his way through due to the school’s disregard for art, but in this world, art subjects were also valued, and these assignments were even preserved. Thus, he had no choice but to have someone else do them for him.
Shaking his brush, Xia Yu pretended to work.
After one minute, he started to feel bored. Five minutes later, he glanced at Gui Zixiao’s painting. Gui’s painting was also terrible but much better than Xia Yu’s. If Xia Yu had painted himself, he would definitely fail, while Gui’s painting might barely pass.
At this moment, the teacher began patrolling the classroom, and Xia Yu hurriedly started scribbling.
They weren’t using professional canvases but rather cheaper oil painting paper. Xia Yu had secretly saved some extra sheets; he could just get a new one later for Gui Zixiao to paint.
The teacher moved slowly, especially pausing behind one male student for three whole minutes.
This wasn’t because the boy’s painting was particularly good, but because next to him sat a very well-developed female classmate.
After three minutes, the teacher continued patrolling and soon arrived near Xia Yu.
Looking at Gui Zixiao’s painting, the teacher sighed and then turned to Xia Yu’s.
He uttered an “Hmm?”
He had taught this class for two years and knew all the students well. He was fully aware that Xia Yu usually had someone else paint for him. However, since Xia Yu’s academic performance was among the top in the class and the homeroom teacher had given instructions, he had chosen to overlook it.
Expecting to see messy scribbles, he was surprised to see a painting at an average level in the class?
Standing there for a while, the teacher realized this wasn’t someone else’s work because the painting wasn’t finished yet, and Xia Yu was still actively painting.
Under the teacher’s gaze, the painting’s quality didn’t decline but actually improved, reaching a level above average in the class.
“Not bad, not bad at all.” Praising twice, the art teacher smiled and walked away.
The students around Xia Yu heard the teacher’s words, looked at Xia Yu’s canvas, and simultaneously exclaimed in astonishment.
Xia Yu’s poor painting skills were well known among classmates.
Gui Zixiao grabbed Xia Yu’s shoulders: “You secretly practiced oil painting!”
Putting down his brush, Xia Yu looked at Gui Zixiao: “Do you really think that’s possible?”
“That’s right, you hate drawing, and paints are expensive. You wouldn’t have practiced extra.” Gui Zixiao analyzed calmly and thought carefully, “So what’s going on here?”
Xia Yu was also confused. He truly used to be terrible at painting and had never practiced oil painting. The only painting-related practice he had was during his first body swap, when he used An Siyao’s body to practice drawing manga characters all night.
Could comic-drawing skills improve oil painting skills?
That seemed impossible.
After thinking for a while, Xia Yu focused on the 【Painting Lv1】 skill.
He had originally assumed it was only for manga, but it turned out to be a universal skill?
Just reaching Lv1 in manga granted him Lv1 ability across all painting styles?
Truly terrifying.
He looked again at 【Music Lv1】. By the same logic, this skill probably covered all musical instruments?
That little girl An Siyao was even more useful than he had imagined.
He should scare her less in the future.
Finishing the remaining painting, Xia Yu received strong praise from the art teacher during the critique session.
In the evening, after finishing his part-time job, he returned home, lay on the bed, and logged into An Siyao’s body.
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