The antique girlfriend of a chaebol heir

Everyone was actually listening intently for the story, but when they looked up and saw the weariness that Shen Ci couldn't hide between his brows, they silently swallowed back the urging they were about to say.

Chu Xuanxuan and the others exchanged glances and quietly climbed back into their respective beds.

After Shen Ci finished washing up, with a soft "snap," the incandescent light above her head went out, and the room was plunged into complete darkness.

The silence lasted only a moment.

By the light of the cool moonlight streaming in through the window, you could vaguely see a few small heads peeking out from beside the bed curtains.

They swayed slightly like cats in the dark, exuding an irrepressible gossip and eagerness.

"All right."

Hearing the subtle sounds, Shen Ci couldn't help but chuckle softly, her tone tinged with indulgence, "Ask whatever you want."

"How long have you and Senior Jiang been dating? Tell me the truth!"

Chu Xuanxuan couldn't wait to ask the first question, her voice very low but unable to hide her excitement.

Shen Ci did some mental calculations.

"Less than three months, I guess."

"Wow—" Chu Xuanxuan drawled, "So you two were together before you even went to university!"

Li Yueran peeked out from behind the bed curtains and finally voiced the question she'd been holding back: "Then why don't you two go public? Everyone at school thinks Senior Jiang is still single."

Moonlight slanted in through the window, casting dappled patterns of light and shadow on Shen Ci's bed curtains.

She stared at the lines of light and shadow, remaining silent for a few seconds.

"Because I felt that our relationship was not very strong at the beginning of our relationship."

Shen Ci paused, seemingly considering his words.

"If Jiang Duo were just an ordinary boy, it wouldn't matter, but as you all know, he's very popular at school. I don't want our relationship to become gossip fodder for others. I want to enjoy my university life in peace and quiet."

She paused slightly, making her tone more sincere: "If it were made public, there would probably be a lot of unnecessary trouble. And..."

Shen Ci's voice lowered.

"If our relationship isn't stable, and we break up someday, I can't guarantee that those who once admired him won't do anything to me. To be honest, I'm actually a little scared."

The dormitory fell silent again.

Chu Xuanxuan opened her mouth, wanting to say, "Senior Jiang will protect you," but when she thought that Senior Jiang was already a junior and couldn't stay at school with Shen Ci all the time, she swallowed the words back.

They understood that Shen Ci's concerns were valid and justifiable.

The excitement I felt earlier gradually subsided.

The dormitory returned to silence, with only the occasional sound of the wind passing by outside the window.

Shen Ci turned her head to the side of the wall and lay down in the shadows.

Only she knew in her heart that those high-sounding reasons were nothing more than excuses used to fob off others.

The ultimate reason she didn't want to go public was actually quite simple—

She and Jiang Duo had no future.

Moreover, she didn't love him.

Therefore, she never thought of standing shoulder to shoulder with him to face those unknown rumors and gossip.

……

At eight o'clock on Saturday morning, sunlight streamed through the clear glass windows into the spacious lecture hall, where members of the intangible cultural heritage club arrived one after another.

A young female teacher stood in front of the podium, wearing an elegant beige knit sweater, her shoulder-length short hair neatly tucked behind her ears.

She cleared her throat, her gentle yet clear voice carrying throughout the classroom: "Hello everyone, welcome to the Intangible Cultural Heritage Club. I'm Teacher Du. Intangible cultural heritage isn't just cold exhibits in a museum; it's living memory, the skills and craftsmanship passed down through generations."

She opened the folder in her hand and introduced the club's daily schedule to everyone—regular study sessions, exhibitions of achievements, and visits to learn from intangible cultural heritage inheritors.

"Our goal," Teacher Du said with a smile, "is to bring these traditional crafts back to life in the hands of young people."

As soon as he finished speaking, the back door of the classroom was gently pushed open, and a sprightly old man walked in slowly.

He was dressed in an indigo Zhongshan suit and was holding an exquisite sandalwood box in his hands.

Teacher Du quickly stepped aside to greet him: "This is our specially invited master of inside painting today—"

The master craftsman waved his hand, indicating that there was no need for such formalities.

He placed the wooden box on the table, took out a specially made paintbrush, and then took out several crystal snuff bottles with patterns.

"Inner painting is a unique traditional craft in my country and has long been listed as a national intangible cultural heritage."

The old man spoke, his voice hoarse from years of experience, "Inner painting, as the name suggests, involves painting on the inside of the pot, using reverse brushstrokes..."

He held up a snuff bottle to the light source, saying, "Students, look, the opening of this bottle is no bigger than a soybean, but inside are hidden landscapes, figures, flowers, birds, insects, and fish. The brush goes in, but the painting is done in reverse—the mind thinks of the front, but the hand moves in the back."

Guided by their teacher, the club members walked over and gathered around the master craftsman, watching him attentively as he demonstrated his skills.

Shen Ci's gaze fell on the dark gray velvet cloth on the table—where several exquisite and small snuff bottles, yet to be painted, were placed side by side.

The master craftsman was holding a teapot between his thumb and forefinger, with the spout facing him and slightly tilted towards the crowd.

Without looking up, he said, "Students, you must look carefully."

He picked up a paintbrush with a handle as thin as a bamboo stick, but the tip was not made of ordinary hair; instead, it was a small tuft of curved wolf hair, finely bound into a hook shape by copper wire.

The master craftsman dipped the tip of his brush into the ink dish and gently touched it; the ink, as if alive, clung to the brush hairs.

"Next is the pen tip entering the pot."

After the master craftsman finished speaking, his wrist hovered in the air, and the thin brush was inserted into the spout of the teapot, which was about the size of a soybean.

Shen Ci's eyes followed the old master's hand movements closely.

Although you can't see how the pen tip moves inside the teapot, a vivid picture gradually emerges through the frosted glass walls.

The master craftsman's fingers made extremely subtle turns and pauses on the outside of the teapot, relying entirely on the touch of his fingertips and his eyesight to "paint in reverse" on the inside of the teapot.

With just a few strokes, a slender bamboo stands silently in the window light, as if it is about to break through the crystal wall at any moment, carrying a sleeve full of breeze.

In her previous life, Shen Ci had never heard of such a skill, so it must have been created in a later life.

She noticed that the old master's right index finger had a thick callus on the outside of the first joint, a mark that could only be made by years of reverse pen strokes and countless frictions between the fingertip and the pen shaft.

"Keep your wrist relaxed, but be firm with your fingertips."

The master craftsman placed the snuff bottle on the velvet cloth and gestured for the boy closest to him to try it.

The boy held the pen, but his hand trembled violently. The pen tip hovered over the spout of the teapot for a long time before he finally dared not go any deeper.

The master craftsman looked up and glanced at the young faces. "This craft can't be rushed. If you make a mistake, the whole pot is ruined. So you have to be careful with every stroke."

"How about this, everyone practice pen control on paper first, and then we'll paint inside the pot."