The Pampered Young Master Is Adored at Art School - Chapter 1

The birch wood stage was dressed to resemble a cabaret, a slice of late nineteenth-century decadence carved out and placed under the spotlight.

Su Zhan pulled the tie-backs of the curtains, temporarily veiling the set of Moulin Rouge. He sat on the edge of the stage with his back to the deep crimson velvet, stretching lazily. As he did, the hem of his black cashmere sweater rose, revealing a sliver of a slender waist that was blindingly white.

There was no one around, and the audience had yet to arrive. Su Zhan sat there bored, scrolling through Facebook Marketplace, but he wasn’t there to buy, he was trying to sell.

The watch he had listed was a refined, classic Patek Philippe Calatrava.

Su Zhan’s only regret was that he hadn’t given it much thought when he returned to campus for classes. He had grabbed a watch at random, leaving behind the box and papers. Without them, he couldn’t prove the watch’s provenance, which gave second-hand shops an excuse to lowball him. His only choice was a private sale to get a better price.

His family had gone bankrupt, and his tuition for the next semester was suddenly in limbo. Working a part-time job to cover the fees was unrealistic, California’s minimum wage was only twenty dollars an hour. This watch had become his greatest hope for staying in school.

Unfortunately, the taste of the locals here was abysmal. Sophisticated models actually had less of a market than sporty ones. The watch had been listed for a full day without a single inquiry.

Am I really going to have to take it to a pawn shop? Su Zhan thought despairingly. The price will be cut in half again.

From behind the red curtains, a quiet discussion drifted through. “Is Lucian here today?”

It was the voice of a student actress playing the lead role of Satine, likely there to check the stage arrangements.

Another female voice chimed in. “Su? He’s only coming for tomorrow’s play, and even then it’s just for one act. You want to see him?” The speaker giggled, sounding excited by the gossip.

Su Zhan could hear them but couldn’t see them. After a moment, he recognized the second voice as Mia, who was playing the “Diamond Girl.”

He knit his brows slightly, unable to recall the name of the actress playing Satine, even though he had helped the professor choose the cast. He had been so busy lately that his sleep quality had plummeted, and his memory was failing him.

“Of course not,” Satine said playfully. “I heard his family has major connections in the art industry and is incredibly wealthy. Last time his parents visited, they even made a huge donation…”

“And he’s so good-looking. I usually struggle to differentiate Asian faces, but his beauty is truly unique.” Satine hesitated, struggling for the right word. “At first, I thought he was a girl. You know, he’s just so… exquisite.”

Mia teased her, “I know what you’re thinking, sister. Many people have tried, both guys and girls, but he always turns them down.”

She lengthened her tone, sounding mysterious. “Besides… those little favors you’re looking for might not be around much longer. I doubt the professor will hold him in such high regard from now on.”

Mia had lowered her voice, but the weight of her words made them crystal clear to Su Zhan. He whipped around to stare at the curtain, his eyes wide, feeling like he couldn’t catch his breath.

Had his financial situation been discovered?

Su Zhan knew his major had a bit of a “snob” culture. He had previously enjoyed preferential treatment thanks to his family’s resources. He had hoped to maintain his wealthy persona just a little longer, long enough to participate in a few more projects to pad his resume, but the people here seemed to have incredibly sharp eyes.

Su Zhan shook his head, continuing to listen intently, clinging to the faint hope that they were talking about something else.

Mia’s laughter was light and airy as she gossiped. “Apparently, his finances are in trouble. Last time, I saw him at the campus bookstore trying two different cards to buy books. And he doesn’t order out anymore, does he?”

That heavy blow smashed Su Zhan’s beautiful dream to pieces.

The people inside spoke with such certainty, piling up piece after piece of evidence.

Mia continued, “Before, his meals were always delivered from high-end Chinese restaurants, brought by a private driver. The packaging was so sophisticated.”

Satine was silent for a moment, then soon joined in the laughter. “What are you saying? It’s not that I want to date him, and it has nothing to do with money.” Her laughter dimmed slightly. “Okay, fine, it has a little to do with money, but not in the way you think.”

“My brother wants to ask him out, and he asked me to help. Lucian used to be like a prince, I wouldn’t have dared, but now he doesn’t seem so untouchable, does he?”

“You want him to be your brother-in-law?” Mia teased.

“The price for that would be too high. My brother is a typical player.” Satine gave Mia a loud, resounding playful smack. “Don’t tell anyone. I really want to help pull this off. If I succeed, my brother will send me some cash.”

Satine added, “A fallen prince, who wouldn’t love that? …Do you think I’m being really mean?”

Su Zhan listened to it all in silence, taking one deep breath after another.

The overhead stage light shone down on him, casting a solitary shadow on the floor. It was thin, fragile, and stretched long.

Su Zhan didn’t dare think about how many people already knew, or what he would do next.

Each problem felt like a death sentence, and the root of every single one was money. He desperately needed money, at the very least for his tuition.

Su Zhan glanced at the watch he was about to sell, only to realize that the play was starting soon, yet today’s stage manager, Adrian, was nowhere to be found.

Su Zhan was supposed to be covering for him for only thirty minutes, but it had been nearly an hour and the man hadn’t returned.

Now, Su Zhan began to wonder if this was intentional.

Was this also related to the rumors about his finances? The time of an ordinary student wasn’t considered valuable, so was Adrian, as a senior, taking advantage of his seniority to bully him? Or did Adrian have a grudge against him all along?

There were many talented drama students, but because Su Zhan’s family was rich, he had appeared even more talented.

But the preferential treatment bought with money required constant “recharging.” Without money, the system would turn on you. The arts were particularly reliant on resources.

Money. It always came back to money.

Suddenly, the phone in Su Zhan’s pocket vibrated. A buyer was interested in his watch, and they hadn’t even haggled over the price!

Su Zhan’s mood lifted instantly. Overjoyed, he went to check this “God of Wealth’s” profile.

Dylan Forster? The name sounded familiar, like he’d heard it somewhere before.

Su Zhan tilted his head slightly. When he clicked on the profile picture, his heart skipped a beat.

So handsome.

The profile picture was a professional-looking shot, a side-profile standing pose. Only the collar of a deep blue suit was visible, but Su Zhan could tell at a glance that the cut was impeccable—it was bespoke.

However, the man’s blonde hair seemed a bit rebellious. Even with styling gel, it had a soft, fluffy texture, making him look like a gentle, harmless large dog.

The person in the photo was smiling sweetly, reminiscent of the California sea breeze and sunshine. It was so bright it was dazzling, making Su Zhan temporarily forget his predicament.

This man would be perfect to play Curly McLain in Oklahoma!, the literal image of a protagonist’s dream lover.

Su Zhan’s gaze lingered on the man’s face for a few extra seconds.

He continued to browse the man’s Facebook page. From the information provided, this guy was a success story. He hadn’t even graduated yet, but he had already started a successful company. Reaching the peak of life at such a young age was truly enviable.

And he was so handsome.

But would someone with Dylan’s net worth really buy a second-hand watch? Was he just a poser?

Su Zhan sat with his legs crossed, elbow on his knee, scrolling through Dylan’s timeline several times. His intuition told him something was off, but he couldn’t figure out what.

Su Zhan chuckled softly, swinging his foot and deciding he was overthinking things.

As long as he was a good buyer and the payment was right, whether Dylan was a poser or not had nothing to do with him.

The whispering voices near Su Zhan’s ear were still audible.

Behind the curtain, Satine and Mia’s small talk continued, though the topic had long since moved on from Su Zhan.

They were talking about a “mysterious spectator” backstage.

Someone had been quietly leaving bouquets backstage, unsigned and without a recipient. The frequency was unpredictable, so no one had ever seen the sender. The fresh bouquets ended up becoming public decorations.

“Do you think he or she is pursuing someone? It’s quite romantic.” Mia’s voice became sweet. Art students always had a penchant for romance.

“If it were a handsome guy or a beautiful girl, they’d definitely show their face. We’re all students, who would be so secretive?” Satine said dismissively.

“Today’s mysterious supporter even brought brownies. Do you want some?” Satine asked Mia. They seemed to have finished checking the props and were heading further backstage, their voices fading.

Su Zhan touched his stomach. He had only gnawed on a frozen bagel this morning, not even daring to buy cream cheese. Having been busy until now, he was starving.

He hopped down from the edge of the stage and took the long way around to the backstage door, intending to look for food while pretending he hadn’t been behind the curtain overhearing their gossip.

**

A massive bouquet of roses, maybe two or three hundred flowers with a diameter of over a meter, was enough to nearly swallow a person. The flowers looked completely out of place against the Cold War-era architectural style of the Engineering School. The delivery guy had to ask for directions several times before finally finding the Student Entrepreneurship Center.

The center was on the basement level of the Engineering building. The building itself was styled in “poverty-stricken concrete,” and because most of the activity rooms were literally underground and never saw sunlight, the air inevitably carried a scent of struggle.

Such a place was perfect for shattered illusions, having witnessed countless “genius” ideas judged as trash by the market economy.

There was only one exception, a corner of the basement that managed to breathe the scent of hope: Clearcut Technology. This student startup had already secured funding.

The best activity room in the center had been permanently assigned to the founder, Dylan Forster, as the startup’s on-campus branch until he graduated.

Ethan Wright casually tossed aside the order slip with Dylan’s name on it. Carrying the mountain of roses, he walked through the concrete hallway and pushed open the door to Clearcut Technology.

“Dylan, the flowers you ordered are here. A bunch this size must have cost four hundred dollars, right?” Ethan strained his back, the flowers so large he could barely see the path. He struggled to set them down, only then realizing that the atmosphere in the room was not quite right.

Behind a row of desks, Dylan Forster sat alone. No one dared to come within a three-meter radius of him. The other developers clutched their laptops like huddling quails, all of them engaged in pair programming.

Ethan clicked his tongue. He had never seen everyone pair programming at once, it was obviously for show.

His heart suddenly skipped a beat. Had someone been caught making a mistake by Dylan?

Ethan’s scalp felt tight, but he kept his tone light, calling out to Dylan from a distance, “Buying flowers to see your little beauty’s play? Usually you have to dress up before you even step near the Art Department. Why are you wearing a school hoodie like the rest of us today?”

“Ethan Wright.” Dylan suddenly used Ethan’s full name. He turned his swivel chair around, smiling at Ethan from across the room.

Even though Dylan was sitting and Ethan was standing, Dylan naturally possessed a commanding presence.

Dylan smiled, casting his screen with a single click. “Your demo has bugs even on a basic run. How are you going to show this to anyone?”

Ethan swallowed hard. He thought someone else had messed up, but it turned out to be him.

The atmosphere became instantly awkward. The student programmers who were pretending to work remained quiet. The group stared at the same screen, but no one was typing, they were clearly watching the drama rather than the bugs.

Ethan looked at the bright red bug log on the public screen, his voice turning raspy. “You can’t use edge cases for testing.” He complained quietly, “In front of everyone, at least give your partner some face.”

Dylan walked past the rows of seats toward Ethan. Everywhere he went, there was a “parting of the Red Sea” effect as people scrambled to get out of his way.

He came to a stop in front of Ethan, picked up the flowers to inspect them, and casually swiped the coffee Ethan had just bought. “You need to fix what’s in front of you before you can worry about your partner’s love life.”

The bouquet looked tiny in the hands of the 196cm-tall Dylan, like a handy toy. The coffee also looked like a mini-cup, gone in just a few gulps.

Without waiting for Ethan to explain, he strode toward the door, completely indifferent to his partner’s feelings.

“Hey! That coffee wasn’t for you, I haven’t even had a sip! Do you just see me as a delivery guy?” His hands empty, Ethan protested as Dylan approached the exit.

He saw Dylan’s chin tilted slightly. Although he was still smiling, the formulaic smile lacked any real warmth. He clearly wasn’t in the mood to chat with a programmer who wrote bugs, and his partner was no exception.

Dylan walked out with the flowers and the coffee.

The door locked with an automatic click, completely cutting off Dylan’s retreating figure. Ethan hissed, and his shoulders, which had been unconsciously tense, finally relaxed.

“Arrogant.” He curled his lip, giving his assessment as he went to make some instant coffee.

A new intern engineer leaned toward Ethan, asking in a low voice, “Ethan, what’s up with Dylan today? He’s not usually like this.” As he spoke, his eyes remained glued to the door, terrified that Dylan might pull a U-turn.

Ethan gave the gossiping intern a strange look. “Are you new? Do you have that few bugs? Or have you just not been caught yet? He’s always cheerful and great at talking to people he’s satisfied with.”

“Yeah, he even chatted with me about the latest game releases.” The intern looked confused. “I’ve never seen him like this.”

Ethan patted the intern’s shoulder pityingly. “He doesn’t even like playing games.”

“Let me guess, do you think you can be ‘bros’ with this guy? Give up the dream, friend. I was his high school classmate, and this is as far as we’ve gotten. He’s an exceptional person, but sometimes… he’s really not a good person.”

The intern scratched his head. “Then I should pray for that little beauty from the Art Department. Though, being pursued by someone like Dylan shouldn’t be a bad thing, right?”

“A genius, a successful entrepreneur, and from an extremely wealthy family.” The intern let out an envious sigh.

He had only been hired a few days ago and still felt a bit dazed. “Clearcut Technology” was the most successful startup in the entire Engineering school—and even all of California—in years. The name of its founder, Dylan Forster, had already become a legend.

He admired Dylan greatly, and Dylan’s smile was indeed very approachable and misleading. But hearing his partner describe him as “arrogant” caught the intern off guard.

Ethan shrugged. “Pursuing? That word doesn’t fit him. I honestly doubt he’s even interested in primates.”

“God took his rib but molded a man for him instead. I don’t even know if China falls under God’s jurisdiction.”

“I hope that little beauty gives him some trouble. Someone like Dylan deserves a bit of retribution.”

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