My Wife is a Hidden Big Shot-Chapter 54 - 51: The Arcadian University Art Exam Begins
The sunlight outside the window faded bit by bit, and the bright lights in the room flickered on. When Alvin Morgan pushed open the door to Chester Greene’s office, he saw the back of Aurora Sinclair, diligently doing her homework.
Across from her, Beta Morgan had long since dozed off, looking incredibly foolish as he slept.
Alvin cleared his throat twice. Beta’s eyes shot open, and he scrambled to his feet, his gaze still hazy and bewildered with sleep.
Aurora Sinclair glanced back at him, gave a polite greeting, then turned back to her homework.
"Boss... you’re here!" Beta said, snapping fully awake and quickly standing at attention.
’I’m so dead. The boss caught me sleeping on the job.’
He cast a pleading look at Benjamin Morgan, who was standing behind Alvin.
"Go wash your face!"
Beta Morgan wiped his mouth, his eyes filled with embarrassment, and immediately jogged out of the room.
Alvin shot a disdainful look at the unidentified liquid on the desk before pulling a chair over to sit down.
The girl across from him looked as composed as ever, seemingly unaffected by the commotion.
Her brows were as serene as an ink wash painting, as if everything around her was merely a crowd of mortals while she stood alone, transcendent.
’No wonder Master Aerion took a liking to her.’
Years ago, when Aurora Sinclair was sent away, she wasn’t taken directly to Sunstone Mountain, but to a small town within the Sunstone region that the Sinclair Family had invested in.
Master Aerion happened to be passing through, saw her, and took her with him.
It wasn’t until Master Aerion proactively sent a letter to the Sinclair Family that Master Sinclair learned his young granddaughter had been taken away for days, with no one noticing or reporting it.
He had even gone to the small town himself to fire all of Aurora Sinclair’s caretakers. He then personally went to Sunstone Mountain to find her, but in the end, he left alone.
A tenderness he himself hadn’t noticed crept into Alvin Morgan’s gaze. When his eyes met Aurora Sinclair’s, he smiled and asked, "All done?"
"Mhm..." Aurora nodded and took out her foreign language textbook.
She repeated after him just as she always did, though Alvin’s speaking pace was noticeably slower.
In truth, audio files for every textbook could be downloaded online, but Alvin deliberately never told her, acting as her human repeater every day.
Sometimes, even Benjamin Morgan felt exhausted just watching his boss, but the man himself never seemed to tire of it.
Before the tutoring session ended, Alvin returned the refilled spray bottle to her and asked her to hold out the arm with her watch on it.
"Aurora, if a strange man ever gets too close or tries to talk to you, press this button on your watch..."
Aurora Sinclair looked at her watch and obediently nodded.
Standing behind Aurora, Benjamin Morgan’s mouth twitched.
’That’s an emergency call button. Even if the call doesn’t connect, it automatically records, saves, and uploads the audio. And the receiving end is directly linked to his boss’s phone, computer, and watch.’
’Isn’t this "monitoring" a little too blatant?’
Benjamin silently opened the Morgan brothers’ group chat and, mimicking Beta, sent a complaint.
[Benjamin: AHHH!!! I can’t take it anymore! Such a righteous-sounding excuse! This is way too overprotective!!!]
But right after sending it, he quickly retracted the message.
This led to the Morgan brothers flooding the chat with a string of question marks.
***
The investigation into Marius Anson remained a hot topic for over half a month. With the Morgan Family pushing things from behind the scenes, Marius Anson was quickly indicted and faced more than a decade in prison.
But this did little to quell the netizens’ fury, and even the Kingsford Calligraphy and Painting Association was affected by the fallout.
Numerous accusations surfaced online, unearthing quite a few scumbags similar to Marius Anson. Some of them were members of the Calligraphy Association, which sent shockwaves through the entire literary and art world.
It reached a point where everyone was calling for changes to current laws and regulations to severely punish these beasts in human clothing.
When Jean Quincy heard from Jade Sinclair that Stella Sinclair was the one who had introduced Marius Anson to Aurora Sinclair, she was so furious she almost had a falling out with her.
Zeke Quincy was even more direct, simply and bluntly blocking Stella Sinclair. But less than two days later, Jade Sinclair forced him to add her back as a friend.
After all, his family was still counting on Stella Sinclair to connect them to the Lockwood Family’s core lineage!
***
Time flew by. With only a month left until the college entrance exams, the art school entrance examinations for various major universities began one after another.
Jean Quincy’s sprained ankle was now better than ever. During her practical exam at the Kingsford Film Academy, she performed a highly difficult peacock dance and received high praise from the examiners on site.
The moment she left the examination hall, she excitedly called Aurora Sinclair. "Aurora, I think I nailed this round! Your medicine is amazing! My foot didn’t even hurt after the dance..."
"Mhm, soak it again when you get home." 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
Jean Quincy was now utterly in awe of Aurora Sinclair, having become her loyal fangirl, even more so than she ever was for Stella Sinclair.
Two days later, Jean Quincy’s practical exam score came out—she had placed first. In other words, as long as she met the minimum score on the college entrance exam, her admission to the Kingsford Film Academy was guaranteed.
"Aurora, I’ll go with you to your practical exam this week."
After witnessing her calligraphy, Jean wasn’t the least bit worried about her failing the exam.
In fact, she was secretly hoping Aurora would take everyone by surprise and even surpass Stella Sinclair.
***
At 8:00 AM on Saturday, the first batch of practical exams began at Arcadian University.
Every year, thousands of candidates applied to the Arcadian University School of Arts. The line alone could stretch from the academic building all the way to the main athletic field.
Because of this, the School of Arts never had enough art studios for the practical exams, forcing them to split the students into batches. The exams would often last for two or three days.
Aurora Sinclair had registered relatively late, so her exam batch and number were toward the end of the schedule.
Half an hour before Aurora’s exam, Butler Sinclair arrived with her and Jean Quincy in front of the School of Arts building to wait.
The paths on both sides of the entrance were packed with waiting students and parents, leaving Jean dumbfounded. She had thought this kind of scene only happened at the entrance of the Film Academy.
Suddenly, Beta Morgan popped out of nowhere, startling Butler Sinclair.
Beta rubbed his nose and said sheepishly, "Miss Sinclair, Butler Sinclair, this way, please—"
Beta led them directly into the School of Arts building through a side entrance and settled them in an air-conditioned classroom.
This was a classroom for general education courses, with a lecture podium at the front and long rows of fixed desks and chairs.
Butler Sinclair noticed a paper bag on the podium, identical to the ones that appeared on the desk in the office where Aurora had her nightly tutoring sessions.
’The Morgans are truly kind and considerate people!’ he thought, deeply moved.
"You can rest here for now. I’ll come get you when it’s almost time for your exam," Beta said, placing the paper bag in front of Aurora Sinclair and repeating the instruction.
After he left, Jean’s eyes lit up as she nudged Aurora, a gossipy look on her face. "Was that the ’Morgan’ who called you last time?"
Hearing this, Butler Sinclair’s eyes went wide. He looked at Aurora nervously, shooting her meaningful glances.
Aurora Sinclair shook her head. "It wasn’t him."
"Then who is he? Why is he being so nice to you?" Jean teased, grabbing the paper bag to see what was inside.
"Milk tea, cake, fruit, yogurt, a fried chicken leg?"
The contents of the paper bag nearly covered the entire desk in front of Aurora Sinclair.
Jean Quincy’s mouth twitched. ’That guy definitely has a special relationship with Aurora.’
But Butler Sinclair didn’t dare reveal any information about the Morgans, so he quickly interjected, "That’s one of Professor Erin Archer’s students. He’s been tutoring Miss Aurora in foreign languages and takes good care of her."
"Really?" Jean looked at Aurora skeptically, feeling that something wasn’t quite right.
Aurora Sinclair nodded, then made a beeline for her beloved fried chicken leg.
Jean propped her chin on her hand, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. She realized that Aurora Sinclair truly loved chicken legs—she could eat them endlessly without getting tired of them. It was making her crave chicken now, too.
"Save one for me."
***
The traditional painting exam was two hours long and required copying a painting. Aurora Sinclair finished in less than two hours, then packed up her art supplies and left the examination hall.
Beta Morgan, who was waiting outside, glanced at his watch and asked in surprise, "Why didn’t you wait for the full two hours?"
"My master’s wife said not to overthink it once it’s done."
"M-Master’s wife? Your master got married?" Beta was stunned. He couldn’t imagine that ethereal, sage-like Taoist master from Sunstone Mountain taking a wife.
Aurora Sinclair shook her head. "My master won’t get married."
Beta breathed a sigh of relief, then asked, amused, "Then where did this master’s wife come from?"
"My master’s wife is just... my master’s wife..."
Beta: ...
’Alright! Master’s wife it is!’
***
Long after Aurora Sinclair had left, the proctor slowly went to her desk to collect her painting.
Upon seeing Aurora’s painting, the proctor froze, rubbing their eyes to get a better look.
’It’s identical?’
The proctor looked up at the painting displayed on the large screen at the front of the room.
It really was identical!
’Could it be that a traditional painting genius has appeared in Kingsford?’
