Free Web NovelChapter 41: Chapter 39: Isn’t Da Vinci a Painter?
The next morning, the early mist had not yet dissipated from the campus of Jiangcheng Seventh Middle School.
Li Dong and Liu Liang each devoured two large meat buns in the cafeteria before heading toward the building for the twelfth-grade, Class 2.
On the way, Li Dong held a required high school Chinese literature textbook, muttering to himself as he walked.
"Riding a single-leaf boat, raising a gourd cup to drink with one another. We are mayflies between heaven and earth, a single grain in a vast ocean. I mourn the brevity of my life and envy the endlessness of the great river..."
He recited with a smooth, flowing cadence.
Meanwhile, Liu Liang, walking beside him, was also clutching an English vocabulary book, obsessively murmuring to himself.
"Abandon, to give up, a-b-a-n-d-o-n, to give up... Abnormal, unusual, a-b-n-o-r-m-a-l, unusual..."
A scene like this was extremely rare at Seventh Middle School.
Most students here only ever talked about which class had the prettiest girls or which internet cafe was cheaper for an all-nighter.
Talking about studying? You had to be crazy.
Liu Liang used to be part of that majority. But ever since Li Dong’s meteoric rise, Liu Liang had been seriously motivated, and the competitive spirit deep inside him had been thoroughly ignited.
Just then, a girl’s clear voice called out to Li Dong.
"Li Dong."
Li Dong was in the middle of reciting the "Ode to the Red Cliffs." Hearing someone call his name, he didn’t even pause, smoothly continuing the next line.
"To wander with soaring immortals, to embrace the bright moon for all eternity... Oh?"
He turned his head and was surprised to see Misha standing at the top of the stairs.
Misha wore her hair in a neat, high ponytail today, and her fair face was slightly flushed.
She glanced at Li Dong and asked softly.
"Li Dong, about what you promised me yesterday... would it be okay to come to my house this week?"
Silence.
Liu Liang’s jaw dropped.
This week... come to my house... would it be okay?
What kind of suggestive words were those?!
Li Dong, however, didn’t think anything was strange about it. His mind was on something else...
’I’m about to get a huge sum of 20,000 yuan. Do I still need to earn this tutoring money?’
He stroked his chin.
But on second thought, he had indeed promised her yesterday. Besides, Misha hadn’t mentioned how much she would pay per session.
He could just go for one session to test the waters. If they couldn’t agree on a price, he just wouldn’t go again.
"Sure."
"Send me the address over the weekend."
"Okay, great!" Seeing him agree, Misha breathed a sigh of relief.
She had actually been very nervous. She knew Li Dong must be busy, since he had already stormed into the physics competition finals in first place.
’He’ll probably have to attend some intense training camp next, right? I can’t believe he’s still willing to take the time to help me study...’ At this thought, Misha’s face inexplicably reddened.
In truth, few people at Seventh Middle School were paying attention to Li Dong’s victory in the physics competition.
For some reason, the school hadn’t made a formal announcement of the good news yet. Perhaps they had other plans.
So Misha hadn’t known about it at first, either.
It wasn’t until last night, when her younger brother—a tenth-grader at Jiangcheng Sixth Middle School and the classic "other people’s kid" academic superstar—suddenly called and asked her.
"Sis, is that monster Li Dong from your school? Do you know him? He’s so freaking awesome! In the Huaxuan Cup physics competition, he crushed the upperclassmen from our Sixth Middle School and all the top students from Tianli Middle School! He even stomped all over those freaks from Rongcheng Seventh Middle School!"
Only then did Misha truly realize what Li Dong’s "first place" victory really meant.
So now, having received Li Dong’s affirmative reply, she was actually overjoyed. She nodded at him, then quickly turned and disappeared down the end of the hallway.
After Misha’s figure had completely vanished, Liu Liang could finally hold it in no longer.
He threw his arm around Li Dong’s neck and started shaking him wildly.
"Dongzi! You bastard! You never told me good grades were the way to get with Misha! Things have already progressed to you going to her house?!"
Li Dong’s eyes rolled back as he was choked. He shoved Liu Liang away and shot him an annoyed glance.
"Get with Misha, Shmisha, who cares? I’m only going because she’s paying me!"
Hearing this, Liu Liang was completely thrown for a loop.
He stood there dumbfounded, watching Li Dong’s retreating back.
What?
Misha invited you to her house, and she’s even paying *you*?!
’Wait... Li Dong, what exactly is your profession now? Is it... legitimate?’
Liu Liang roared wildly in his mind.
...
The school day flew by.
Li Dong hardly needed to pay attention in math, physics, or chemistry anymore. He poured all his energy into rote memorization for Chinese and English.
Relying on his 0.2 Memory Attribute, he crammed ancient poems and complex sentence structures into his brain.
Before school let out in the afternoon, Old Yang called Li Dong out into the hallway.
"Li Dong, the official notice for the final round is here," Old Yang said, his voice filled with excitement.
"The finals are scheduled for three weeks from now."
"The location is Shanghai."
As one of the nation’s top semiconductor equipment giants, Huaxuan Technology was headquartered in Shanghai’s Zhangjiang High-Tech Park.
Old Yang clapped him on the shoulder.
"Prepare well these next three weeks. If you need any support from the school, just ask. Try to go to Shanghai and bring back a first-prize award!"
A first-prize award!
The school had promised him that if he won first prize, not only would his twelfth-grade tuition and fees be waived, but he would also receive an additional 10,000 yuan scholarship! Counting the 20,000 from qualifying in the semifinals, that would be a grand total of 30,000 yuan!
"Don’t worry, Teacher Yang, I’ll be more than prepared!" Li Dong said with a determined tone.
However, after Old Yang left, Li Dong started to worry again.
’The last time I went to Rongcheng for the semifinals, I just swore to my mom that I wouldn’t participate in any more competitions that don’t add points to the college entrance exam.’
’And now, not only do I have to participate, I have to go all the way to Shanghai...’
Li Dong scratched his hair.
’But if I calculate the timing, the 20,000 yuan prize money from the semifinals should have arrived in three weeks.’
’If I just slap 20,000 yuan down in front of Mom then, she’ll probably be a lot more agreeable, right?’
After all, in this world, there’s no problem that a wad of cash can’t solve. If there is, then it just means you need two wads.
BZZZT.
His phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket.
Li Dong pulled out his phone and saw a notification pop up from the "Cyan Dragon Study Group."
Someone had sent a red packet!
[Leonardo da Vinci has sent an exclusive red packet]
Li Dong’s eyes widened.
Da Vinci?!
He then remembered. To help Mendeleev save face, he had previously sent a document in the group chat about the principles of flight, titled "Initial Exploration of the Design of Heavier-than-Air Flight Vehicles."
At the time, Da Vinci had been incredibly excited, saying that if the information proved feasible, he would be handsomely rewarded.
Sending a red packet now must mean that the Renaissance polymath had definitely managed to draw something incredible based on those plans!
Although Li Dong was happy, he was also a little hesitant.
’What could Da Vinci even give me? Don’t tell me he’s going to send a skill related to painting or sculpture.’
’But I’m not planning on being an art major!’
Despite his internal complaints, Li Dong’s fingers didn’t slow down one bit.
[You have received the handsome reward from Leonardo da Vinci]
To Li Dong’s surprise, what he received had nothing to do with art at all!
[Obtained Passive Skill: Light and Shadow Insight (Basic Edition)]
Li Dong was completely baffled.
’Light and Shadow Insight? What does Da Vinci have to do with optics?’
To the average person, Da Vinci was just the peerless painter who created the *Mona Lisa* and *The Last Supper*.
But what many people don’t know is that, as one of the most frighteningly versatile geniuses in human history,
Da Vinci observed the phenomenon of light interference more than a hundred years before Newton!
The famous pinhole camera principle, the refraction of light in different mediums, and the physiological structure of image formation in the human eye—this guy recorded all of it in detail in his manuscripts.
[Description: This is a gift across time and space from a Renaissance polymath.]
[In an era when most people saw only color, he, through anatomy and geometry, already saw the refraction and diffraction of light.]
[Effect: From now on, you will be able to perceive the interference fringes of light, the diffraction limit, and the physical essence within the interplay of light and shadow, just like a peerless painter.]
After reading the description, Li Dong suddenly felt a cool sensation in his eyes.
He raised his head and looked toward the sunset light slanting in from the end of the hallway.
In that instant, the ordinary sunlight seemed to split as if passing through a prism in his eyes.
Li Dong took a deep breath, his heart racing.
"Holy crap... this skill..."
Combined with the "dual-beam interference lithography" he had written about in the semifinal’s experimental question, and now with this [Light and Shadow Insight],
he was now practically a god in the field of optical physics!
The finals in Shanghai, huh?
Ten thousand yuan, huh?
