The antique girlfriend of a chaebol heir

Seeing that Shen Ci had not replied for a long time, Jiang Duo held his phone and suddenly felt a little scared.

He couldn't help but start to reflect on whether he had gone too far this time and angered Youyou.

In fact, compared to Bai Yifeng's miserable situation abroad, his actions against Shen Yu's family were quite restrained; he only caused them some financial loss, without seriously damaging their health.

Although Jiang Duo didn't believe he had done anything wrong, at this moment, he was clearly more concerned about Shen Ci's thoughts.

He sent another WeChat message:

"Youyou, are you angry with me? Then I'll discuss it with you next time before doing something like this. I just don't want the person who hurt you to get away with it so easily."

Not long after, Shen Ci's reply popped up:

"I'm not angry."

A few seconds later, she sent another message:

"Thank you."

Seeing the words on the screen, Jiang Duo's tense nerves finally relaxed. A smile flashed in his eyes, and he casually typed out a line:

"Could you come downstairs and thank me in person?"

Shen Ci paused slightly, then turned to look out the window.

"You're downstairs? When did you get here?"

"I just arrived a little while ago."

Jiang Duo replied very quickly, his words revealing an undisguised affection.

"Youyou, I miss you."

Shen Ci looked at her phone screen, where the words "I miss you" lay in the chat box, so direct that it made the tips of her ears burn slightly.

Ever since Jiang Duo bumped into Xie Shuheng taking her home, it's as if Xie Shuheng has unlocked some strange new ability, and he likes to pop up on WeChat all the time, saying sweet nothings that catch people off guard.

When Shen Ci finished changing her clothes, grabbed her bag, and was about to leave, Shen Xiaoming was sitting on the sofa.

He instinctively craned his neck and casually asked, "Where to?"

"I went shopping with my classmates," Shen Ci replied casually.

Shen Xiaoming nodded and instructed, "Come back soon."

But his gaze remained fixed on her back, and he was still lost in thought long after she closed the door, his brows furrowing slightly.

A moment later, Lin Ruojin came out of the kitchen carrying a plate of washed fruit. Seeing his appearance, she asked, "Did Youyou go out?"

"Yeah, I went shopping with my classmates."

Shen Xiaoming responded, but his tone was not very lively, and even carried a hint of heaviness.

Lin Ruojin placed the fruit plate on the coffee table, looking at her husband with some confusion: "Youyou is so obedient and well-behaved. She's all grown up now. What, you're still worried about her going out shopping with her classmates?"

Shen Xiaoming let out a long sigh and rubbed his temples.

"If she were just shopping with a regular classmate, that would be fine, but I'm worried... she's shopping with that girl from the Xie family."

"The Xie family?" Lin Ruojin was slightly taken aback.

Shen Xiaoming nodded, his expression grave: "I really can't guess who else, besides the young master of the Xie family, could have set up such a big scheme to trap my cousin."

Lin Ruojin knew what he was worried about. "The Xie family is indeed a bit more prestigious," she said, stating an objective fact, "but our Youyou is no less so."

"I know."

Shen Xiaoming's eyes were full of a father's worries. "I don't ask that Youyou become rich and powerful in the future. I just hope that she can live a peaceful life and find someone who respects and loves her."

Lin Ruojin walked to the sofa and sat down, gently taking his hand and softly comforting him, "Don't overthink it. Youyou is a girl with her own mind; she knows what she's doing and won't let herself fall for someone so easily."

……

The winter wind was biting cold outside, but the mall was warm and bustling with people.

Jiang Duo led Shen Ci through the bustling crowd and went straight to a pottery DIY shop on the second floor.

The shop is filled with a faint earthy smell, and all sorts of semi-finished products are displayed around it.

Shen Ci looked around, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes, then turned to him and asked, "Why did you think of bringing me here?"

"Of course, it's to... cater to their preferences."

Jiang Duo discovered that Shen Ci preferred places with an artistic atmosphere to shopping.

With the help of their instructor, the two placed the kneaded clay onto the spinning machine.

As soon as the machine was turned on, the lump of mud in Jiang Duo's hand seemed to have a mind of its own, and with the inertia of rotation, mud splashed everywhere.

Looking at the mud scattered all around, Jiang Duo regretted coming to this place. He quickly asked the waiter to stop the machine and turned to look at Shen Ci helplessly.

Shen Ci was looking down, his expression very serious.

The lump of mud seemed much more obedient in her hands—her fingers were long and white, and the mud didn't make them look dirty; instead, it looked like a thin layer of ash on white jade, giving it a strange beauty.

In no time at all, she had already drawn out a vase base with smooth lines.

Next, she picked up a small piece of clay and carefully sculpted it on the side of the vase, creating several three-dimensional petals that adorned the vase with lifelike detail.

His Youyou is always so outstanding.

Jiang Duo looked at the exquisite semi-finished product, then at the shapeless lump of mud in his hand, and shamelessly moved closer.

"Youyou, can you make me an exact replica?"

Shen Ci turned her head and looked at the machine over there that had been paused: "Aren't you going to do it yourself?"

"My thing," Jiang Duo glanced back at the sludge-covered machine on his desk, his expression unchanged, "it has its own ideas."

……

Jiang Duo was in a great mood when he left the pottery shop.

The shop assistant had just specifically instructed that the newly formed pottery blanks cannot be colored immediately; they need to be air-dried naturally for at least a week before they can be fired in the kiln.

Normally, Jiang Duo would probably find this process too cumbersome.

But at this moment, his eyes were full of undisguised laughter.

This production process was exactly what he wanted.

This means that next week he won't need to rack his brains for any lame excuses to ask Shen Ci out, and he can legitimately and confidently do so.

Jiang Duo was a smart man, and he naturally knew that the reason Shen Ci agreed to go shopping with him so readily today was probably because he had taught Shen Yu's family a lesson on her behalf.

Shen Ci is a person who clearly distinguishes between gratitude and resentment.

He avenged her, and she responded in another way—unpretentious and genuine, yet more sincere than any straightforward expression of gratitude.

But Jiang Duo also knew that he was someone who would take an inch and then a mile when it came to Shen Ci.

What he ever wanted was never gratitude.

The mall was bustling with people, as noisy as a pot of boiling porridge.

He suddenly stopped and stood still.

Shen Ci took two steps forward, then turned around when she realized there were no more footsteps behind her.

Jiang Duo stood a few steps away, with a huge glass dome behind him. The winter sun poured down from above, enveloping him in a dazzling halo.

"Youyou." He spoke, his voice cutting through the noise of the crowd and landing clearly on her eardrums.

"Um?"

"May I kiss you?"

Shen Ci stood there, stunned.

She hadn't expected him to ask so bluntly and so abruptly, in the middle of a busy shopping mall corridor, in broad daylight.

Her mind seemed to be paused; all her thoughts froze, leaving only his words echoing repeatedly in her ears.

Jiang Duo had already walked over.

He covered the distance of two steps quickly, without showing any impatience.

He leaned down slightly, placing one hand lightly on the glass railing behind her, enclosing her in a very small space.

Then, he gently kissed her lips.

It was very light and quick, like a snowflake falling on warm skin, melting before you could even feel the coolness.

Shen Ci didn't even have time to close her eyes before she could see his long eyelashes, longer than many girls', casting a small, trembling shadow under his eyelids.

Her heart skipped a beat.