It fell from his fingertips

That evening, Tang Luoqing went to the hotel with Shen Baiyan.

The two lay on a large bed, turned off the lights, and chatted idly by the moonlight coming through the window.

Shen Baiyan turned to the side, looked at Tang Luoqing sleeping beside her in the dim light, and sighed helplessly: "I have to say, your Zhou Yanchen is really capable. You were so listless last night, but now you're in a much better mood."

"No, I'm just wondering, what do you like about him? You're so pretty and gentle, if I were a man I'd like you too. You have everything you could want, so why are you stuck with this crooked tree, Zhou Yanchen…"

Hearing this, Tang Luoqing's face flushed slightly: "Don't say that, he's actually... quite nice too."

Given that Zhou Yanchen went to great lengths to help her grandmother before she passed away, ensuring that her grandmother had no regrets and that she could entrust herself to him with peace of mind, what else could Tang Luoqing say?

Afraid that Shen Baiyan would continue, Tang Luoqing buried her face in the pillow.

"Okay, okay, I won't say anymore."

That night, Tang Luoqing did sleep a little better.

There were no random thoughts running through my mind, nor did I wake up from any strange dreams.

In short, when Tang Luoqing woke up the next day, she was full of energy. Sunlight was already shining through the curtains. She stretched and immediately felt how wonderful it was to have had a good night's sleep.

Since Shen Baiyan was taking the high-speed train back to Binzhou in the afternoon, Tang Luoqing treated her to breakfast and lunch, then saw her off at the high-speed train station. Watching her walk into the waiting room, he waved and said, "Let me know when you arrive."

"Okay, I understand."

Shen Baiyan leaned over the railing and shouted at Tang Luoqing, "Call me if anything happens. Don't always spoil Zhou Yanchen. If he makes you cry again, tell me and I'll beat him up."

Tang Luoqing felt both helpless and amused. She could only nod with a smile and watch Shen Baiyan turn and walk to the waiting area before turning around and leaving the station to catch the bus.

After a bumpy bus ride of about half an hour to get home, Tang Luoqing sat at her desk, spread out her drawing paper, and picked up her paintbrush.

The pen tip hovered over the paper for a long time, but still couldn't make a single stroke.

Although her mind was no longer so chaotic, she felt as if her inspiration was blocked, and nothing could come out.

Looking back at the last few drawings, they weren't particularly ideal. She always felt that something was missing from the drawings, or perhaps something was added that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

Helpless, Tang Luoqing could only examine it bit by bit. The lines were right, the color scheme was right, but it lacked that natural, down-to-earth quality that could be emanating from it unintentionally. It was like looking at a landscape through a layer of glass, unable to feel the real warmth, lacking a sense of reality.

Recalling the painting that Zhou Jinbai had glanced at in his car last time and said, "The eaves should be tapered a bit," Tang Luoqing changed it according to Zhou Jinbai's suggestion when she got home. It did look much better, but... it was still not perfect.

Is the steam from the dessert shop too thick?

Or is the kitten's posture not lively enough?

"call……"

Tang Luoqing couldn't figure it out, so she threw down her pen, leaned back in her chair, and sighed in frustration.

She couldn't help but think that it would be great if someone could give her some pointers.

Just like last time in the car, Zhou Jinbai only glanced at it and pointed out the problem.

She really wanted Zhou Jinbai to look at her a little longer.

But speaking of which, my older brother seems to really know how to draw, otherwise...

But Tang Luoqing nipped the idea in the bud as soon as it came to mind.

No no no.

Zhou Jinbai is Yan Chen's older brother. He manages such a large company and is extremely busy every day. How could she possibly think of asking him for advice?

That's so strange, and so immature.

At this moment, Lu Yu sent a WeChat message, asking Tang Luoqing how things were going.

Tang Luoqing hesitated for a moment, then sent over photos of each painting one by one, adding the following text: "[Currently in the final refinement stage, it's still lacking a certain feel. After some more revisions, I'll send you the final draft.]"

Meanwhile, in the rest area outside the top-floor president's office of the Zhou Group.

Lu Yu had just finished discussing the details of implementing the cultural and creative products for the resort with the Zhou family's project team when he arrived here.

Assistant Shen went in to announce his arrival, then came out smiling and said, "President Zhou is free right now, President Lu, please come in."

The office door was ajar. When Lu Yu pushed it open, Zhou Jinbai was looking down at documents, his fingers gripping a pen. Sunlight streamed in from the window, falling on the man's profile, making his features appear even more sharp and handsome.

Hearing the noise, Zhou Jinbai raised his eyes and gestured casually, "Sit."

"I won't take up too much of your time, just a couple of sentences."

Lu Yu pulled out the chair opposite Zhou Jinbai and sat down, first mentioning the old man's invitation: "My grandfather said that if you don't go over, I'll sleep on the streets."

Zhou Jinbai hummed in agreement, his pen still twirling: "I'll go over this weekend."

"Thank you for saving my life."

After finishing their business, the two chatted for a bit, mostly Lu Yu talking, while Zhou Jinbai kept looking at the documents and occasionally responded with a "hmm".

Lu Yu casually sketched the first draft sent by Tang Luoqing and couldn't help but laugh and mutter, "Speaking of which, I really struck gold with this [City Image] series. The illustrator you, Assistant Shen, recommended to me has such a wonderful talent. He keeps saying that it's not quite there yet and insists on making more changes. He's so stubborn."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jinbai paused in his work of flipping through the documents.

Almost uncontrollably, the man's mind conjured up the image of that rainy day in the car, Tang Luoqing's sketch lying on her lap, the soft brushstrokes, the wet alleyway, the warm yellow light—ethereal and healing, like an old dream wrapped in cotton candy. The painting was good, but the brushstrokes were too restrained, lacking a relaxed, earthy quality. For someone with high standards, it was indeed a bit lacking.

After Lu Yu finished reciting, his eyes suddenly lit up: "Wait, aren't you the expert? Who was the one who won the gold medal at the International Youth Oil Painting Exhibition eight years ago? If you hadn't come back to take over the company back then, who knows how big an artist you would be now."

As he spoke, Lu Yu unceremoniously handed the tablet to Zhou Jinbai, the screen displaying the painting of the alleyway in the rain: "Quick, quick, expert, President Zhou, please take a look and tell me what's missing in Miss Tang's painting. I think it's pretty good, I really can't say where it could be better."

Zhou Jinbai's gaze remained fixed on the screen, and he did not respond immediately.

Two seconds later, he put down the pen and reached out to take the tablet.

With his fingertips touching the screen, he gently zoomed in on the image with two fingers, moving slowly from the eaves of the alleyway to the mist rising from the dessert shop, and then to the little tabby cat curled up in the corner. He looked at it more carefully than he would at any project document worth hundreds of millions of yuan.

The man's dark eyes reflected the warm yellow light from the painting. He frowned slightly, then quickly relaxed.

When he realized he had been staring at a commercial illustration for almost three minutes, he paused, then subtly sped up his page-turning, quickly glanced at the remaining two pages, and handed the tablet back to Lu Yu.

"Three problems."

The man's voice was calm, as if he were talking about an ordinary job: "For the photo at the alley entrance on a rainy day, reduce the fog from the dessert shop by 30%, just keep the outline, don't overwhelm the person..."

A few minutes later, Lu Yu's eyes lit up, and he slapped his forehead: "I knew it was missing something! Isn't this exactly the feeling? Well done, Zhou Jinbai, you haven't touched a pen in so many years, but your eye is still so sharp."

Although Lu Yu didn't see the problem at first, it doesn't mean he still wouldn't see it after others pointed it out. Otherwise, his status as the grandson of Old Master Lu would be for nothing.

Upon hearing the praise, Zhou Jinbai didn't respond. He picked up his pen again and looked back at the documents in front of him, as if the few minutes of focus he had just had never existed.

The pen tip hovered on the paper, hesitant to fall.

"I'll send your valuable opinion to Miss Tang right away; she'll be overjoyed."

Lu Yuxing hurriedly put away his tablet, thought for a moment, and then added with lingering enthusiasm, "This girl is quite down-to-earth and has a lot of talent. I need to find a way to help her out. I wonder if my grandfather could offer some guidance, or perhaps you..."

"Fine, you're too busy. Seeing how hard you're working, I won't take advantage of you."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jin didn't even lift his eyelids, and the pen in his hand hovered in mid-air for another second before finally letting out a faint "hmm".

The pen in his hand finally came down, drawing a neat line of text on the document on the table, only the ink was a little darker than before.

·

Tang Luoqing kept making changes until almost noon, but still couldn't achieve a satisfactory result.

The phone rang; it was Lu Yu calling.

The call connected, and Lu Yu's cheerful voice came through: "Miss Tang, did I disturb your painting?"

"No, no, Mr. Lu, please speak."

Tang Luoqing quickly sat up straight, a little nervous.

"Yes, I saw the pictures you sent this morning, and they're really good, just the feeling I wanted."

Lu Yu first offered a few sincere compliments, then changed the subject: "However, I have an old friend who also knows a bit about painting. I showed him your painting, and he gave me a few suggestions that I think make a lot of sense. I'd like to send them to you for reference. What do you think?"

"Oh? Of course."

Upon hearing someone offer a suggestion, Tang Luoqing felt a pang of anxiety, but more than that, she felt anticipation: "Thank you, Mr. Lu, for your trouble."

"No trouble at all. I'll send my suggestions to you on WeChat right away. You can see if they're suitable. If not, just pretend I didn't say anything."

Less than two seconds after hanging up the phone, Tang Luoqing received a long message on WeChat.

It was sent by Lu Yu, who listed several suggestions, each very specific: [1. The picture of the alleyway entrance on a rainy day: Reduce the mist from the dessert shop by 30%, just keep the outline; make the cat's tail curve up a bit more, it will look more lively. 2. Pull the rim of the bowl in the old woman's hand inward a little more, and relax the posture of her fingers a bit more, it will feel more lived-in. 3. Soften the light and shadow on the window sill, and don't make the transition with the wall too sharp.]

Tang Luoqing read through the list one by one, becoming more and more astonished with each reading.

Because each and every one of them hit the nail on the head regarding what she felt awkward about.

Mr. Lu's "friend" is really something else!

Tang Luoqing immediately picked up a pen and revised it according to the suggestions. In no time, she finished revising one page. Upon closer inspection, it was indeed much better than before. In an instant, the whole picture seemed to come alive.

She was overjoyed and sent Lu Yu a message, her happiness barely concealed: "Mr. Lu, your friend is amazing! His advice was spot on. I've revised it and it's much better now. Thank you so much, and please thank your friend for me too."

Lu Yu replied quickly: [No need to thank me, he was just saying it casually. If you find it useful, that's fine.]

Tang Luoqing stared at the screen and smiled for a while, feeling a ticklish sensation in her heart from the admiration she felt.

She bit her lower lip, her fingertip hovering over the input box for a few seconds. After much hesitation, she tentatively typed: "[Very useful. I just wanted to ask, if I may... visit Mr. Lu's friend?]"

She really loved those few suggestions for revision; they were so accurate, it was as if a paintbrush had entered her brain and painted out all the vague, elusive feelings she had been trying to grasp.

Two seconds later, Lu Yu's reply popped up: "I'm afraid that won't work. He's too busy; I have to make plans to meet him every time. To be honest, I'm quite surprised he had so many suggestions this time."

Upon seeing the message, Tang Luoqing gripped the edge of her phone with her fingertips, her eyes drooping slightly to reveal a hint of disappointment.

She rested her elbows on the desk, her palms supporting her cheeks, her gaze fixed on the revised drawing, her eyes somewhat vacant.

I can't help but wonder, what kind of person is someone who can judge paintings so accurately?

Could it be an elderly artist with thin-rimmed glasses? Or... like the legendary Mr. Lu, a gentle yet dignified senior figure? Or...

I'm really, really curious.