An Unorthodox Guide to Conquering Another World

"Fool!"

"Hehe, Mom is amazing!" Xiao Guang said, hugging Ilsa.

"..."

Ilsa felt a little embarrassed by their compliments.

"Okay! I'm going to cook now, go play somewhere else," she urged them out of the kitchen.

"By the way, Ilsa, for this reward, I'll let you make a few more requests!" Ya Feng said arrogantly.

“Forget it, the previous one is fine. Anyway, it wasn’t a very good result,” Ilsa said. “Besides, Hikaria got first place in the whole grade this time. I still have a long way to go.”

"Hey, let's not compare ourselves to others, as long as we've improved compared to ourselves," Ya Feng said, patting her head.

The main reason is that Hikaria is too supermodel.

He had been teaching Hikaria, so he naturally knew what level the little elf was at. She was about to break through to the Apostle level, probably the only one of her kind in the entire academy.

As Ilsa listened to what Ya Feng said, the corners of her mouth curved into a smile, but she still said something about needing to work harder.

"So, what kind of reward does our high-achieving mother want?" Ya Feng asked.

"Well..." Ilsa hesitated, wanting to express her wish to have an aquarium.

But then Ya Feng's Huanwangtong (a mobile internet connection) beeped again. He picked it up and looked at it...

It's his class's report card; it's already been sent to him.

"Hmm, let me see..."

He wondered what his students' grades would be like, and then he opened the report cards.

Then, to his astonishment, Lucia, who was in first place, had results that completely exceeded his expectations.

"Lucia, ranked 528th in the entire grade?"

Ya Feng's eyes widened.

I was worried that Xiaolong was down because he didn't perform well, but now... did he just hold back a big surprise?

“Ilsa… I have a student in my class who improved his ranking by more than two hundred places!” he said to Ilsa.

"Really?" Ilsa's eyes widened immediately, and then she came over to see Lucia's results.

528th place was just an average result for her, but the other person improved by more than 200 places in one go.

This has a different meaning now.

"Wow, that's amazing..." she couldn't help but exclaim.

Ya Feng immediately wanted to call Lucia to congratulate her, but then he remembered something.

He was flipping through the Huanwangtong website, searching for something.

“As expected, it’s today…” Ya Feng said, then looked at Ilsa with an apologetic look: “Ilsa, I might have to go out tonight. I promised this student that I would take her to a very rare exhibition, and there happens to be one tonight. If I miss it, I might have to wait several months.”

Ilsa opened her mouth, then sighed, "I know, it must be important to her. After all, she's worked so hard for this, it wouldn't be good to disappoint her student."

"Ilsa, you're so kind,"

“But you can’t get involved with other women, they’re your students,” Ilsa said, glaring at him.

“What are you thinking… this is an academic exhibition…” Ya Feng said.

Ilsa didn't care how Ya Feng fared tonight. As long as she kept her promise and took her to the aquarium later, that would be fine.

Ya Feng immediately called Lucia, then, remembering something, picked up a megaphone from the table and waited. The moment Lucia answered, he immediately blew the megaphone at her...

...

Let's go back to the present.

After finishing his call with Lucia, Ya Feng arrived at Shell Street as agreed.

Although he was excited during the call, he could still hear that Lucia's voice sounded somewhat like she was about to cry.

Is he too happy?

As he was thinking this, a carriage stopped by the roadside, the door opened, and a petite figure stepped out of the carriage.

Ya Feng was slightly stunned when he saw her.

In my memory, Lucia was always unpretentious, even when wearing her school uniform; she often draped her jacket over her shoulders, giving off a mature yet youthful vibe.

And now... this is the first time I've seen her dressed so girlishly.

Her long, fiery red hair was loose, with several short braids adorned with hair accessories framing her face. Her delicate face wore light makeup, her lips a soft, glossy pink. She wore a pale pink dress with a pom-pom shawl draped over her shoulders. The pleated skirt flowed gracefully, just past her knees, revealing slender legs encased in white stockings. Below that were a pair of sheer black ankle boots, a single tail dangling quietly behind her.

She was carrying a small women's handbag, and her delicate hands were covered with white gauze gloves.

Moreover, she smelled wonderful, as if she had just taken a bath, carrying a clean floral fragrance.

Ya Feng was slightly stunned; it was the first time he had ever seen Lucia so...feminine.

Chapter 130 Art Exhibition, Xiao Long Wants to Stay Out All Night

"W-what's wrong?"

Lucia noticed his gaze. Although she knew what was going on, she still asked, and nervously raised her hand, gently brushing a strand of hair behind her ear with her little finger.

"Um... do you usually dress like this?" Ya Feng asked.

"Yes, so what? I'm a girl, you know, what's wrong with dressing like this?"

Lucia said, but her evasive gaze revealed that she didn't usually dress like this.

She didn't know what was wrong with her. After Ya Feng invited her, she originally only thought about dressing a little more formally, but before she knew it, she started to choose clothes very carefully. She even washed herself very clean and had her tail scrubbed until it was shiny.

Now she stands on the dark street, her long, fiery red hair flowing freely, like a delicate rose, or a young lady on her way to a noble banquet.

The night gave her a unique charm.

This made Ya Feng a little embarrassed. He had just casually thrown on a jacket when he went out, and his attire was far inferior to Lucia's.

He had no idea that this little one usually dressed so formally. Luckily, he thought he was taking her to an art exhibition. If he had thought it was a barbecue, wouldn't that have been a disaster?

"So... what exactly did you call me out for?" Lucia asked.

"Well, first of all, congratulations on your exceptional performance and outstanding results. I'll have to honor the reward I promised earlier," Ya Feng said.

“A reward…” Lucia asked with a curious look.

Ya Feng said that if she meets the requirements, he will give her a reward and fulfill one more requirement. He hasn't mentioned his own requirement yet, but the reward should be what he's waiting for.

"Come on, follow me." Ya Feng waved to her and walked ahead first, with Lucia quickly following.

"By the way, you've already told your family, right? We might not be back until very late," Ya Feng said.

Lucia thought of the cold looks in her parents' eyes, and lowered her head.

"It's okay... anyway, they won't care about me."

This time, she didn't have a driver take her; she found a carriage and came by herself. Only the steward knew that she had gone out.

Even if I don't come home at night, they probably won't find out.

They entered a cassette rental shop. The owner was looking at the cassettes behind the counter, but Ya Feng ignored him and walked straight into the shop. He led her up to the second floor, then took the elevator and pressed the button for the fifth floor.

After the door closed, Ya Feng said, "Do you remember what I told you before, about Ye Hezhan?"

"Are we heading to the Night River Exhibition now?" Lucia immediately looked up, her eyes lighting up.

"Yeah, they said there's an exhibition this month. I was planning to bring you here after your results came out, but it's such a coincidence. I checked this afternoon and it's tonight," Ya Feng said.

"You, you didn't tell me beforehand, I should have brought a few more art books so the teachers could sign them!" Lucia said anxiously.

"I wanted to surprise you, didn't I? Besides, since we're holding an exhibition, we'll all bring our own works. You can just pick them up on the spot," Ya Feng said.

Lucia was clearly much more excited than before. The composure she had maintained since getting off the car crumbled, and she gripped the strap of her handbag tightly.

"Let me make this clear first, I've never attended this exhibition before, so I'm not responsible if it doesn't meet your expectations," Ya Feng said.

"understood!"

The elevator stopped, and they went out. There was only an iron gate here, unattended, with a key lock on it. Ya Feng checked the password key on the Huanwangtong device, opened the iron gate, and went inside.

"It's that simple... I thought someone would come to do an identity check or something..." Lucia said, looking at the iron gate.

“The Night River Exhibition is held in a different location each time, so only insiders know the location. Moreover, each person has a different key, which is for one-time use only. This basically isolates all unauthorized personnel,” Ya Feng said.

They walked through the corridor and found themselves on the rooftop. The semi-transparent glass dome was enchanted, revealing a dazzling starry sky, illuminated by floating flames.

Each booth is independent, belonging to a single artist.

There weren't many people here; most were artists, and a few were special guests like Ya Feng, scattered here and there.

You can see artists dressed in unique styles, either gathered together to discuss and exchange ideas, or admiring paintings in front of the exhibition booth, or just sitting there in a daze, not knowing what they are doing.

"Let me warn you first, don't act like a complete idiot when you're talking to these artists. People in the arts aren't all normal, especially these painters. They're all kind of crazy. Sometimes you don't even know what you're going to say that will offend them," Ya Feng whispered to Lucia.

"is that so..."

Aside from her art teacher, Lucia hadn't had any contact with other painters and didn't know much about the art world.

"Hehe, I dealt with them before during the art exhibition. You'll see when you get there," Ya Feng said.

They started browsing between the booths.

Because this was an internal exhibition for artists, most of the paintings were not finished works; some were half-finished, and some were even sketches or freehand drawings. This made them incomprehensible to Ya Feng, but Lucia looked at them with exceptional care.

What is this drawing?

They stopped in front of a painting that looked like a landscape, with messy colors and various distorted human figures.

"This must be a work by Master Glendy. He was the father of modern expressionism. Most of his paintings express the sense of separation between humanity and nature under modern technology. The most obvious characteristic is this strong contrast of colors," Lucia explained to him in detail.

"Oh...I see," Ya Feng nodded.

They arrived at the next booth and saw a jumble of colors, which could barely be made out to resemble a cityscape.

“This is a work by the Fauvist master Paulson. He loved to use these bold colors and brushstrokes to depict the cityscape. His most distinctive feature is that he used color to express the ‘emotion’ of the city,” Lucia patiently explained to him.

Ya Feng stared at the painting for a long time but couldn't discern any emotion in the city depicted; he was probably only confused.

The next booth was finally realist, and it featured paintings that showcased the beautiful female form in nature.

"Ah, I understand, it expresses the author's homesickness."

Ya Feng pointed to a painting of a woman bathing, her buttocks exposed, and said.

"What?! This is... Ugh... Let's go, teacher!"

Lucia originally wanted to correct his crude aesthetic sense, but when she saw Ya Feng seriously appreciating these nude female art paintings, she immediately became unhappy and took the initiative to grab his hand and pull him away.

They arrived at another booth, where the paintings were all realistic portraits, but each one seemed rather sinister.

"Hey, do you guys like it?"

Seeing them looking at his painting, the long-haired painter sitting to the side spoke in a gloomy tone.

"I wouldn't say I like it... but it does have some unique features," Ya Feng said, looking at it.

“If you like, I can give you some souvenirs,” the other person said, handing them two small picture frames.

"Oh, thank you..." Ya Feng took it, but saw that it was a portrait with empty eyes.

"Uh... this..."

"The paints here are made from my teeth and nails, making it unique in the world." The painter then opened his mouth and smiled, revealing his scattered teeth.

This immediately made Lucia withdraw her hand that was about to take the picture frame, shrink her neck, and instinctively hide behind Ya Feng.

"Really, really nice, haha, but it's a bit of a waste to give them to us country bumpkins. Let's give them to someone who can appreciate them." Ya Feng immediately returned the frame to the other person, then pulled Lucia away.

"See? I told you some of these guys aren't quite right in the head," Ya Feng said.

“Indeed…some painters are quite unconventional…” Lucia couldn’t help but say.

She looked at Ya Feng holding her hand, and wanted to remind him, but hesitated and kept quiet.

The exhibitions were quite diverse in style and comprehensive, even featuring cartoonists and illustrators. As Lucia walked along, she suddenly noticed something.

"That's Teacher Black Pigeon? He's here to exhibit too?"

Following her gaze, Ya Feng saw a man wearing glasses and a beret, talking to another painter.