It fell from his fingertips

Tang Luoqing was surprised that Zhou Jinbai would be so frank, and even more surprised that he would back down so decisively, which made her feel particularly embarrassed.

The key point is that she originally thought she would feel relieved after hearing these words, but when she heard Zhou Jinbai say "return to the identity of the brother" in such a calm tone, Tang Luoqing felt a dull, indescribable feeling in her heart.

In particular, the additional condition added by the other party.

Tang Luoqing's lips were tightly pursed, and her hand gripping the cup so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

After a long silence, she curled her fingers and loosened her grip on the cup: "...Thank you, brother."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jinbai didn't show any extra expression, only his jawline tightened even more, and his well-defined fingers pinched the coffee cup and turned it halfway, causing the dark brown liquid to ripple slightly along the cup's side.

A moment later, the man raised his eyes, the turbulent emotions in his dark eyes had long since subsided, leaving only a bottomless calm: "It's right, I overstepped my bounds."

Hearing this, Tang Luoqing felt even more embarrassed. She lowered her head and took a small sip of orange juice, but the sweetness that spread across her tongue did not reach her heart at all.

A few seconds of silence passed in the air before Zhou Jinbai gently placed a key on the table.

As he withdrew his fingers, his eyes were lowered, his long eyelashes concealing the emotions in his eyes: "Here's the key. I'm going on a business trip tomorrow. When you return to Beijing, you can give the key to Lu Yu."

In short, they severed all ties completely.

Tang Luoqing was taken aback. She looked up at the opposite side and saw that Zhou Jinbai was no longer looking at her. She slowly stood up, straightened her suit jacket, and uttered two words in a low voice: "Excuse me."

Then he turned around and strode away.

Tang Luoqing watched the man's tall and upright figure walk further and further away, quickly leaving the coffee shop and disappearing from sight, and she stood there stunned.

She sat there for a long time until a waiter from the coffee shop came over and quietly reminded her that they were closing. Only then did Tang Luoqing absentmindedly pick up her keys and return to the hotel.

That night, Tang Luoqing lay in bed, tossing and turning for most of the night, barely able to fall asleep.

She finally fell asleep, but her dreams were a jumbled mess. One moment it was Zhou Jinbai handing her orange juice, his eyelashes drooping; the next it was his deep, husky voice saying "I like you"; and then it flashed back to yesterday in Lu Lao's studio, when he stood behind her and suddenly leaned in, his fresh scent wafting towards her.

Furthermore, the man stood in the sunset, gazing intently at her, and spoke with a hint of amusement in his voice: "Let's get to know each other again, Zhou Jinbai."

Tang Luoqing woke up suddenly from her dream, her chest heaving violently, and a thin layer of sweat beading on her forehead.

The sky was just beginning to lighten outside the window, and the morning light shone through the gaps in the curtains, falling on the keys on the bedside table.

Tang Luoqing raised her hand to press her throbbing temples, lay down, and went back to sleep. This time, she fell asleep quickly.

When Tang Luoqing woke up, she found several missed calls on her phone, all from Zhou Yanchen, as well as WeChat messages from him. Most of the messages were photos, proving that he hadn't lied and that he really had gone back to handle work and had even held an emergency meeting.

Normally, if Tang Luoqing received a message like this, she would most likely feel sorry for her and call back to check on her, but now...

Tang Luoqing put down her phone, quickly washed up, grabbed her keys, slung her sketchbook over her shoulder, and went out.

It wasn't too far from the hotel, and the winding path had no intersections, so it was easy to get to Mr. Lu's studio.

Tang Luoqing unlocked the door with her key, walked downstairs, and felt somewhat dazed.

After all, just yesterday, the two of them walked in side by side, with Zhou Jinbai walking beside her and introducing one painting after another.

But after just one night, she was all alone.

The painting that he had promised to give him now seemed to have lost its legitimacy.

Tang Luoqing lowered his eyes, sighed softly, set up his easel, and began to sketch.

As the brush tip touched the canvas, she gradually became absorbed in the painting, temporarily forgetting her chaotic thoughts.

By noon, the sky suddenly darkened.

Outside the window, the wind howled, whipping up the leaves and rustling them. Large raindrops pounded against the glass, turning into a torrential downpour in an instant.

Tang Luoqing looked up at the window, frowned, and quickly put down her pen to close the first-floor window.

The window frames trembled in the wind, and she struggled to fasten each window securely.

Just as I breathed a sigh of relief, I heard a loud crash from the second floor, like a window being blown against the wall by the wind.

Tang Luoqing's heart tightened, and she quickly walked up to the second floor.

The wooden stairs creaked softly underfoot. She walked quickly, her breath coming in short gasps. As soon as she reached the second floor, she reached out to push open the window that had been blown open by the wind and fastened the latch tightly.

The sound of wind and rain subsided considerably.

Tang Luoqing breathed a sigh of relief, raised her hand to smooth her wind-blown hair, and then looked up, her whole body stiffening in surprise.

The walls on the second floor were covered with paintings.

Completely different from the steady and profound painting style of Old Lu on the first floor, the brushstrokes on the wall are flamboyant and unrestrained, and the colors are so intense that they seem to burst out of the canvas, carrying a unique sense of freedom that is unique to young people, a tension that she has always longed for but could not paint.

It's a static painting, yet it makes your heart flutter.

Tang Luoqing involuntarily took two steps forward, her fingertips hovering a few centimeters in front of the canvas. Her gaze shifted from one painting to another, growing more and more astonished with each look. Such skill and such inspiration were definitely not at the level of an ordinary enthusiast.

When her gaze fell on a landscape painting at the very edge, she felt a pang of surprise.

In the lower right corner of the painting, there was a line of small characters, written in a clear and elegant handwriting, which looked very much like someone's handwriting: Zhou Jinbai, May 2018.

Tang Luoqing covered her mouth in disbelief.

A painting from eight years ago?

These...were all drawn by Zhou Jinbai eight years ago?

For a moment, Tang Luoqing felt as if something had struck her heart hard.

She took a half step back, her mind blank.

It turns out that the Zhou family head, who was ruthless in the business world and always had a cold face when discussing mergers and acquisitions, actually held a paintbrush eight years ago and created such a passionate and free work.

No wonder Zhou Yanchen said his brother won several international awards.

He has the ability, even effortlessly.

The rain was pouring outside the window, but she seemed not to hear it. Her gaze kept falling on the signature, her mind in turmoil.

As if by some strange twist of fate, Tang Luoqing took out her phone and snapped a picture of the sea in the dead of night.

After taking the picture, she was slightly taken aback, and then, as if she had done something wrong, she quickly put her phone into her pants pocket, her heart still beating incredibly fast.

That afternoon, Tang Luoqing stopped painting. She stood on the second floor for a long time until the rain stopped, and then returned to the hotel dejectedly.

That evening, she sat at her desk in the hotel and started redrawing a painting that had been stuck on for a long time.

The moment the pen touched the canvas, the paintings she had seen during the day flashed through her mind—the bold brushstrokes, the vibrant colors—and flowed from her fingertips onto the canvas.

This time, the drawing went exceptionally smoothly.

When I put down my brush, the night outside the window was deep, and the waves were surging on the canvas, creating an inexplicable tension that was more intense than before.

Tang Luoqing put down her paintbrush and stared at the drawing paper in a daze.

The day to return to Beijing arrived quickly.

When the plane landed, the sky in Beijing had just cleared up.

Tang Luoqing dragged her suitcase and went to the pet store to pick up Naitang.

As soon as she pushed open the door of the pet store, a soft little creature meowed and pounced over, rubbing against Tang Luoqing's trouser leg. She bent down and hugged Milk Candy into her arms, the soft fur rubbing against her chin, and the emptiness in her heart was filled a little.

Holding the milk candy, Tang Luoqing returned to the community, entered her fingerprint password to open the door, and as soon as she opened the door, a strong aroma of food wafted out.

Tang Luoqing was taken aback. While changing her shoes, she looked up towards the open kitchen.

In the kitchen, Zhou Yanchen, wearing the cartoon apron she had bought, was carrying a plate of food out of the kitchen. When he saw Tang Luoqing return, the man smiled, put the food on the table, wiped it, and walked towards her.

"You're back?"

Zhou Yanchen walked over and naturally reached out to take the cat from Tang Luoqing's arms, his tone earnest and ingratiating: "I said I would prove it to you. I won't make any more promises in the future, I'll prove it to you with my actions."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Yanchen naturally opened his arms and put his arm around Tang Luoqing's waist.

"Baby, I haven't seen you for days, I miss you so much."

The man's deep, husky voice reached her ears, and a warm, familiar embrace enveloped Tang Luoqing.

Tang Luoqing's body stiffened for a moment.

It was an embrace that was all too familiar, an embrace they had shared for a year, yet Tang Luoqing's mind was uncontrollably filled with images of the paintings covering the walls of Lu Lao's studio on the second floor, and the elegant handwriting in the lower right corner of the last painting: "Zhou Jinbai, May 2018."

Tang Luoqing's heart tightened, and she quickly shook her head.

Strange, why would she think of that painting?

Meanwhile, a black car was parked in a slightly secluded spot not far from the entrance of the Yujingwan residential complex.

In the back seat of the car, Zhou Jinbai lowered his head, his gaze fixed on the open documents in front of him.

Time ticked by, and after an unknown amount of time, the man turned a page of the document and continued reading.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Assistant Shen glanced at Zhou Jinbai in the rearview mirror, opened his mouth as if to say something, but ultimately didn't dare to utter a sound.

I just left the company. I was supposed to go back to Yunjing Yuehu, but my boss said we should go to Yujing Bay instead.

When we arrived at Yujingwan, we didn't drive in, just parked outside the community, in a place where the streetlights couldn't reach.

This time, however, the stop wasn't just for five minutes.

On the second floor of one of the buildings, a window was shining with a warm yellow light, and the curtains were drawn, so nothing could be seen inside from the edge of the village.

Assistant Shen didn't dare to ask, and could only sit quietly in the driver's seat pretending that he didn't exist.

The man in the back seat hadn't said a word since he got in the car, flipping through page after page of documents. Assistant Shen wasn't sure if he had actually absorbed anything.

About an hour later, the lights on the second floor went out.

Zhou Jinbai closed the file and spoke, his voice devoid of any emotion: "Drive."

The car slowly drove away from the residential area, and silence returned to the car.