From Sidekick to Bigshot

Not only was the audience anxious, but the judges were also incredibly anxious.

This work of art was going to be amazing. It would be a pity to leave it unfinished.

And thus, everyone held their breath and concentrated on Jian Yiling. They quietly watched Jian Yiling work her magic.

The entire lecture hall was silent.

It was as if you could hear the sound of Jian Yiling’s fingers working away.

In the last few minutes, Jian Yiling finished her work of art.

A fondant pre-Tang Dynasty male figurine appeared in front of the crowd.

The figurine was exquisite and outstanding. Jian Yiling’s hands almost brought the figurine to life.

It was such a stunning piece of work. How was this created by sugar?

Jian Yiling completed this work of art incredibly quickly.

Although she took much longer than the other contestants, her speed of making such a piece of work was already very fast.

Everyone had watched her. Her skills spoke for herself.

As soon as Jian Yiling finished, thunderous applause could be heard from the crowd. This time, the applause lasted for quite a while.

Some of the girls who loved historical pre-Tang Dynasty content even stood up to applaud.

After Jian Yiling’s display of talent, no other contestants made the crowd go wild again.

Finally, all the contestants had shown off their talents.

Thus, the next step was the voting stage.

Every person in the audience had one vote to cast for their favorite piece of work.

The four judges had 100 votes each.

The total sum of votes was 1400.

Soon, the final voting results came out. Jian Yiling was placed first. She had 773 votes. This made her first by a large margin. Wen Ruo was placed second with 225 votes. The third-place contestant had 197 votes.

And thus, it could be seen that Jian Yiling’s work was most popular.

For one, her piece of art embodied technique and beauty. Furthermore, it was also very in touch with the audience. Everyone could easily appreciate her work from a glance. Furthermore, a lot of the student representatives adored her work.

Such a result made the expressions on Cai Qinyue and Wen Ruo’s faces very ugly.

Cai Qinyue was unwilling to accept such a result.

Most of the people who voted were students. They did not know how to appreciate traditional Chinese paintings. They did not understand the beauty and technique involved in creating an ink wash painting.

They only looked at things on the surface level.

That was why Jian Yiling received such a high number of votes.

The expression on Wen Ruo’s face was incredibly ugly.

When she received her award, there was no joy on her face.

Ever since young, she had always won first place in art-related contests and competitions.

She did not believe that her work of art was worse than Jian Yiling’s.

However, most people here did not have enough appreciation for traditional Chinese paintings.

And thus, such a way of judging was not fair to her.

After the contest ended, Jian Yiling returned to Wen Nuan and Nie Yun’s side.

Unlike Wen Nuan’s reserved and introverted personality, Nie Yun rushed to Jian Yiling and embraced her in a hug.

“Yiling! You’re awesome! I’m so proud of you!”

Jian Yiling did not know how to respond to Nie Yun’s enthusiasm. She was at a loss for words.

Wen Nuan silently hung her head down.

Her heart was aching.

Although she was happy for her daughter, her heart ached more.

The more capable her daughter was, the more distance she felt was between them.

However, Wen Nuan knew that she was the one who pushed her to such a distant position.

Yet, she did not want this. She was unwilling to accept this. She wanted to go back to the old days.

Wen Ruo also returned to her mother’s side. For some reason, Nie Yun’s laughter was ear-piercing to her.