It fell from his fingertips

Tang Luoqing was taken aback, but quickly realized the ambiguity in the sentence. In an instant, a burning sensation spread to the tips of her ears.

She hurriedly lowered her eyelashes, afraid that if the other person looked up, she might accidentally meet their gaze and reveal her panic.

Then, I heard the other person's calm voice: "Don't worry about company matters now. I'm doing fine."

Upon hearing this, Tang Luoqing raised her eyes and looked at Zhou Jinbai, who was still tidying up the chessboard. She suddenly realized that when he said "to be good to herself," he meant playing chess, a leisurely activity that could temporarily take her away from the trivial matters of the company. It had nothing to do with teaching her to play chess or her wishful thinking.

Tang Luoqing hugged the sketchbook tightly, pursed her lips, and felt a strange mix of relief and bitterness in her heart.

Seeing that Zhou Jinbai's expression was normal, completely businesslike and indifferent, Tang Luoqing knew that there was no way to verify the truth of his words.

Moreover, since Zhou Jinbai has already made his point, he has drawn a line. If she keeps pressing the issue, it will only make her the one overstepping the boundaries.

But Tang Luoqing couldn't bring herself to refuse, thus denying the other person this rare and precious moment of relaxation.

She clenched and unclenched her fists repeatedly, finally nodding and swallowing her words of refusal.

Tang Luoqing then placed her sketchbook on a bench and sat opposite Zhou Jinbai.

The two sat on opposite sides of the table, separated by a stone table, their sense of distance perfectly clear.

"Well then, thank you for teaching me chess, brother."

Tang Luoqing took a deep breath and spoke.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jinbai merely glanced at her and began explaining the rules of the game: "The pieces are placed on the intersections of the horizontal and vertical lines. Whoever encloses the most empty space at the end wins. If an opponent's piece is surrounded by your pieces on all four sides, you can remove it."

"Once a move is made, there's no going back."

As Zhou Jinbai spoke, he casually placed four black stones on his side, circled a white stone in the middle, and flicked the white stone off the board with his fingertips. His movements were swift and clear.

Tang Luoqing nodded, her gaze falling on the chessboard, tentatively confirming, "Diagonal pieces don't count as encirclement, right?"

"Yes, only horizontal and vertical."

Zhou Jinbai agreed and pushed the white chess box towards Tang Luoqing: "You play white, try it first."

Tang Luoqing picked up a white piece.

She stared at the chessboard for a long time, hesitatingly placing her piece on the side closest to her. After placing her piece, she glanced at Zhou Jinbai, like a student waiting for the teacher to correct their homework.

Zhou Jinbai glanced at where she placed her piece, his eyebrows twitched, but he didn't say anything. He picked up a black piece and placed it on the opposite corner, his movements calm and collected.

After taking a dozen or so steps back and forth, Tang Luoqing's novice skills quickly became apparent. She was only focused on expanding her territory, and the three white pieces on her left had already been silently blocked by black pieces on three sides. It wasn't until Zhou Jinbai placed a black piece, sealing off the last path, that she realized what had happened, and her brows furrowed slightly: "It's already... captured?"

Tang Luoqing's tone was full of annoyance, her nose was wrinkled, and when she looked up at the person opposite her, there was still a hint of surprise in her clear eyes.

Zhou Jinbai met Tang Luoqing's innocent and surprised gaze, and his prominent Adam's apple bobbed slightly.

He didn't immediately capture the white piece. Instead, he tapped the corresponding spot on his side of the board with his fingertip and softened his voice: "If you had moved here earlier, you could have both protected these three pieces and taken two of my pieces in return."

Tang Luoqing looked in the direction Zhou Jinbai pointed, paused for a moment, then quickly realized what was going on and her eyes lit up: "That's right, I was only thinking about rushing forward and didn't pay attention to what was next to me."

After saying this, Tang Luoqing felt a little embarrassed. She pursed her lips, picked up the captured white piece, and prepared to put it back into the chess box.

Then, she saw the man opposite her extend his hand to her. His palm was clean and slender, quite handsome. Tang Luoqing blinked, puzzled, as if asking what he needed her to do.

Seeing Zhou Jinbai glance at the three white pieces in her hand, Tang Luoqing was briefly puzzled before placing the pieces in Zhou Jinbai's palm.

Then the man put all the white pieces in his palm back in their original positions.

Tang Luoqing looked up at Zhou Jinbai in a daze: "Didn't you say that once a move is made, it can't be taken back?"

"The Education Bureau doesn't count."

Zhou Jinbai picked up another black piece, his tone devoid of emotion: "When it really comes down to it, it won't work."

Tang Luoqing's heart skipped a beat, and she tightened her grip on the white piece.

She didn't respond to Zhou Jinbai's words, but lowered her head to rethink her chess moves, though the tips of her ears were secretly getting hot.

Next, Tang Luoqing moved much slower, thinking twice before each move. If she was unsure, she would quickly glance at Zhou Jinbai's expression. If she saw his eyebrows were relaxed, she would move with confidence; if she saw his eyebrows slightly raised, she would quickly look back and think again.

Zhou Jinbai didn't urge him. He rested his fingertips on his knees and waited patiently. When he placed his piece, he deliberately slowed down by half a beat, giving Tang Luoqing enough room to react.

She thought about one move for a long time, biting her lip as she placed a piece. After placing it, she looked up at him with a cautious expectation in her eyes, as if asking him, "Was this move right?"

Zhou Jinbai looked into Tang Luoqing's bright eyes, and his fingers holding the black card paused slightly.

He glanced down at the chessboard, then looked up at the girl opposite him, before lowering his eyelashes and looking away, simply saying, "More stable than before."

These four words made Tang Luoqing feel as if she had received a reward. The corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl up slightly, but she quickly suppressed it, lowered her head and pretended to think, while her ears turned a little red.

The rain was still falling, and the sky was getting darker and darker.

The pavilion was quiet, with only the soft sound of chess pieces falling onto the board and the patter of rain outside the window.

The two occasionally exchanged a few brief questions and answers, their voices low and muffled by the rain, like background noise.

Zhou Jinbai mostly looked at the chessboard, but whenever Tang Luoqing lowered her head to concentrate, he would quietly raise his eyes, his gaze lingering on her gentle profile for a few seconds before subtly looking away.

The silence in the pavilion was broken only when Lu Yu's shout came from the stairwell.

"Jin Bai, Teacher Tang, come downstairs for lunch."

Tang Luoqing snapped out of her daze and realized that it had been raining for quite some time without her noticing.

·

The restaurant was brightly lit, and seven or eight exquisite home-style dishes were laid out on the long table, with wisps of steam rising into the air.

Old Master Lu sat in the main seat. When Tang Luoqing and Zhou Jinbai entered, he raised his chin to indicate that they should take their seats.

Tang Luoqing sat next to Lu Yu. When Lu Yu asked her to serve him some food, she finally brought up the title "Teacher Tang" with embarrassment: "Grandpa Lu, President Lu, if you don't mind, you can call me Luoqing."

With Grandpa Lu here, and Zhou Jinbai, a former international award winner, she, a commercial illustrator, really doesn't deserve to be called "Teacher Tang".

Lu Yu didn't stand on ceremony and simply called out, "Luo Qing."

Glancing at Zhou Jinbai, who was silently eating across from her, she asked curiously, "Jinbai, I heard Yan Chen went to Haicheng? Why did you send him to such a faraway place for a project? How often does he come back?"

Upon hearing Zhou Yanchen's name, Tang Luoqing paused, her hand holding the chopsticks still. She instinctively wanted to explain that Zhou Yanchen had gone on his own initiative and that it had nothing to do with Zhou Jinbai.

But before she could speak, Zhou Jinbai on the other side spoke first.

"He wanted to prove himself, and over the past two months, he certainly has."

Zhou Jinbai put down his chopsticks, his well-defined fingers tapping his knee, his tone flat and devoid of emotion: "So when he comes back next Monday to report on his work, I was planning to have him consider taking over the local project."

Upon hearing this, Tang Luoqing was taken aback.

Is Zhou Yanchen coming back next Monday to report on his work?

Su Leqi's birthday is on Sunday. Since Zhou Yanchen has to come back to report on his work on Monday, he won't have enough time to stay in Haicheng on Sunday.

So, he would come back to celebrate Su Leqi's birthday, but not to see her?

For a moment, Tang Luoqing felt as if something was blocking her chest, making her feel heavy and sluggish.

The meal was rather unappetizing. After finishing, Tang Luoqing sat with Old Master Lu for a while longer. Seeing that the rain was gradually subsiding, she got up to say goodbye again.

Grandpa Lu glanced at the rain outside the window, waved his hand, and arranged for Zhou Jinbai to take her there as usual.

Tang Luoqing's words of refusal were on the tip of her tongue, but when she met Zhou Jinbai's deep gaze, she swallowed them back and instead whispered her thanks.

The car was quiet, and the streetlights flashed by through the car window, their light flickering on Tang Luoqing's face.

She watched the street scene receding outside the window without saying a word. Her mind was in turmoil, filled with thoughts of Zhou Yanchen's lies and Zhou Jinbai's plan to send Zhou Yanchen back to his hometown, which made her restless.

Zhou Jinbai gripped the steering wheel, his gaze fixed on the road ahead. Occasionally, he would glance at Anjing's profile in the rearview mirror as she took out her money, but he didn't break the silence.

The car quickly stopped at the entrance of Yujingwan residential complex.

Tang Luoqing unbuckled her seatbelt, took her sketchbook, opened the car door and got out. She turned around, looked at the man in the driver's seat, and said in a polite yet distant tone, "Thank you for your help today, brother. Thank you for bringing me back."

Zhou Jinbai nodded, his voice low: "Yes, go in."

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Jinbai started the car, and it quickly disappeared from Tang Luoqing's sight.

She turned and walked towards the residential area.

Little did they know that Zhou Jinbai, who had driven away a moment earlier, slowly turned the steering wheel and soon reversed back along the roadside, stopping in a dark spot shaded by trees.

He rolled down the car window, and the damp night wind rushed in, ruffling the wisps of hair on the man's forehead.

Zhou Jinbai stared intently at Tang Luoqing's slender figure as she walked into the residential area, his eyes churning with unreadable emotions, and his prominent Adam's apple bobbed slowly.

A moment later, he took out his phone, found Assistant Shen's number, and dialed it.

The call connected, and Zhou Jinbai said, "Keep a close eye on Yan Chen these next few days."