It fell from his fingertips

Zhou Yanchen left on Monday morning.

When he left with his suitcase, he held Tang Luoqing tightly for a long time, reluctant to part with her.

Tang Luoqing hugged Zhou Yanchen's waist and whispered to him to eat on time and take care of his health. She watched him enter the elevator before closing the door.

Suddenly, only Tang Luoqing, Naitang, and the cat were left in the room.

She shook her head, suppressing her disappointment, and turned to bury herself in her drawings.

Lu's initial drafting period was neither long nor short, giving Tang Luoqing ample time to polish it.

So she simply packed up her art supplies and went to stay in the shared art studio in the cultural and creative park.

After all, the atmosphere there is great and quiet; you might even find inspiration there.

When I get busy, I lose track of time.

When Tang Luoqing finished drawing the first draft and stretched with satisfaction, she looked up and realized that it was already completely dark outside the window.

Not only that, the raindrops were also pounding against the glass, falling heavily and rapidly.

Tang Luoqing felt melancholy.

She didn't bring an umbrella.

Everyone in the art studio had long since left. Clutching her sketchbook, she ran to the bus stop at the entrance of the cultural and creative park and huddled under the eaves to avoid the rain.

Large raindrops pounded on the ground, splashing up sprays of water. The wind carried the rain in, wetting Tang Luoqing's skirt. Even though it was late June, it was still a bit chilly.

The problem is that ride-hailing apps on mobile phones also have queues, so you can't hail a ride even if you want to.

Tang Luoqing then dialed Zhou Yanchen's number without thinking.

Unfortunately, the other party was probably busy and didn't answer.

When Tang Luoqing tried to call a second time, she realized that Zhou Yanchen had gone on a business trip early that morning, so it would be useless even if the call went through.

Tang Luoqing felt a growing sense of loss.

In the past, when she encountered such a situation, Zhou Yanchen was always the first person she thought of. Now that he's not here, it seems like she doesn't even have anyone to turn to for help.

Tang Luoqing put her phone back in her pocket, hugged her sketchbook, and stared blankly at the rain.

A black car sped past the bus stop, splashing water.

Zhou Jinbai sat in the back seat of the car, his fingertips slowly tracing the project reports on the tablet, his expression indifferent.

He had just finished discussing the cultural and creative support cooperation for the Chengbei Resort with Lu Yu at Lu's headquarters in the cultural and creative park, and finalized the preliminary cooperation framework.

As the car passed the bus stop at the entrance of the cultural and creative park, the man inadvertently looked up and his gaze swept over a slender figure in the bus shelter.

The girl at the bus stop was dressed in a simple white shirt and jeans, holding a sketchbook in her arms. She was squatting in the corner with her shoulders hunched over, as if afraid that what she was holding would get wet.

Zhou Jinbai paused in his swiping motion on the screen.

immediately,

"parking."

The man spoke in a low voice, his tone revealing no emotion.

The driver hesitated for a moment, but still obeyed and pulled over.

Assistant Shen glanced back at his boss with a puzzled look, and seeing that his gaze was fixed on the car window, he immediately understood.

"I'll go down and take a look."

Assistant Shen quickly opened the car door, held up an umbrella, and ran over.

Tang Luoqing was checking her ride-hailing app on her phone again when she suddenly saw someone holding an umbrella walk over and stop in front of her.

She looked up and recognized him as Zhou Jinbai's special assistant, pausing slightly in surprise: "Shen... Assistant Shen?"

"Miss Tang, what are you doing here?"

Upon hearing this, Tang Luoqing glanced awkwardly at the sky where the rain was still pouring down, thinking that the sun was shining brightly before she went out, and she really didn't expect it to rain.

"I came here to paint, but I forgot my umbrella..."

"That's perfect, our boss's car is right next door, how about we give you a ride home?"

Assistant Shen pointed to a black car not far away.

"Oh? No need, no need, that's too much trouble. I still have my taxi..."

Tang Luoqing quickly waved her hand, glanced at her phone, and added, "We'll be there in 35 minutes."

To be honest, Tang Luoqing would rather wait than ride in Zhou Jinbai's car.

After all, that guy was too cold; last time in the car, she didn't even dare to breathe.

Assistant Shen was about to say something more when the car window behind him slowly rolled down.

Zhou Jinbai's profile was revealed, his gaze sweeping over Tang Luoqing's wet shoulder. He spoke, his voice not loud, but drowning out the sound of the rain: "Get in the car."

The man in the car spoke in a calm tone, as if he were talking about something trivial, yet it carried an undeniable force.

Tang Luoqing was in a dilemma.

Refusing seems like a bad idea.

I'm afraid of going up there and feeling awkward.

The rain intensified, and a gust of wind swept by, causing Tang Luoqing to shiver.

"Come on up, Miss Tang. It's raining so hard. You'll catch a cold if you wait any longer."

Assistant Shen, standing to the side, tilted the umbrella towards her and, steeling himself, added in a low voice, "If you catch a cold, and if President Zhou finds out we didn't bring you, he'll probably be angry with him."

Hearing this, Tang Luoqing thought for a moment, bit her lower lip, and finally followed Assistant Shen to the car, whispering, "Thank you."

Clutching my sketchbook, I carefully boarded the bus.

The car had a faint, fresh scent, clean and crisp.

Most importantly, the car was surprisingly warm in the summer, which helped Tang Luoqing, who had been waiting for the car in the rain, relax a little.

As a result, since I had been outside in the cold wind, my shirt and pants were soaked and stuck to my body. When my cool skin suddenly met the warm air, I couldn't help but shiver.

Tang Luoqing: "..."

She quickly held her breath, hugged her sketchbook, and sat up straight, afraid that Zhou Jinbai would notice.

Fortunately, Zhou Jinbai was looking down at his tablet, his fingertips tracing names on the screen, his profile cold and hard, his jawline taut, as if he hadn't noticed Tang Luoqing at all.

But in reality, only Zhou Jinbai himself knew that he hadn't read a single word on the document.

The car hadn't gone far when the road ahead was flooded, so the driver braked, and the car swayed.

Then, Tang Luoqing lost her balance and the sketchbook in her arms fell down, which happened to hit Zhou Jinbai's leg next to her.

Tang Luoqing's breath hitched, and she quickly squatted down to pick it up. The next moment, her fingertips accidentally touched another hand with distinct knuckles.

It's Zhou Jinbai.

"Yes, I'm sorry, brother."

Tang Luoqing quickly withdrew her fingers, and seeing Zhou Jinbai pick up her sketchbook, she was even more at a loss and apologized, "I can do it myself, thank you for your trouble."

Zhou Jinbai didn't say anything, but handed the sketchbook to Tang Luoqing.

Tang Luoqing quickly took it, her head bowing even lower.

So they didn't notice that Zhou Jinbai's gaze was fixed on the top painting in the sketchbook.

It was the first draft of the Lu's project. It depicted a rainy alleyway, with steam rising from a dessert shop and a kitten crouching under the eaves to avoid the rain. The brushstrokes were soft, carrying a touch of wet tenderness.

Then, almost instinctively, the man said, "Turn the roof up a bit."

Before he could finish speaking, Zhou Jinbai regretted it.

Tang Luoqing paused slightly, then looked up at Zhou Jinbai in surprise: "Big brother, you..."

Was the older brother talking to her? And even commenting on her painting?

Tang Luoqing was a little confused, so confused that she even doubted whether she had heard correctly.

Zhou Jinbai merely glanced at her indifferently before looking away, continuing to stare at the tablet with a calm expression, as if his comment was just a casual remark, or perhaps not even something he had said at all.

Tang Luoqing doubted that she had misheard.

She quickly lowered her head, and the carriage returned to silence.

Twenty minutes later, the car arrived at the entrance of Yujingwan Community. When the property management staff saw someone getting out of the car, they ran over with umbrellas in a well-trained manner to hold them up for Tang Luoqing.

Tang Luoqing turned around, stood by the car, and thanked Zhou Jinbai in the back seat again in a low voice. Seeing Zhou Jinbai nod slightly, the car window rolled up, the car started, and quickly disappeared from sight, she turned around and, with the help of the property management staff holding an umbrella, returned to Building 10 and entered the elevator.

Back home, Milk Candy meowed and pounced over, rubbing against Tang Luoqing's ankle and spinning around.

She crouched down, stroked the kitten's head, and then took her sketchbook into the study.

Tang Luoqing took out the paintings one by one and spread them out, making sure they weren't wet, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Out of the corner of her eye, Tang Luoqing caught sight of one of the paintings. Staring at the eaves in the picture, a phrase inexplicably came to mind.

"Take the eaves in a little."

"Reduce...a little?"

Tang Luoqing frowned, then suddenly remembered that she had felt something was strange about the eaves before.

Without much thought, Tang Luoqing immediately picked up her paintbrush and pulled the perspective of the eaves back a bit.

After making the changes, it was indeed different.

The whole scene seemed to come alive instantly.

Tang Luoqing stared at the painting for a long time, her fingertips tracing the paper.

Could it be that she didn't mishear? Did her older brother really say that?

But he only took one look and knew exactly what the problem was.

This is... amazing!

Did you learn this before?

Tang Luoqing shook her head in confusion, intending to ask Zhou Yanchen later.

Next, Tang Luoqing made some dinner for herself and Naitang. After eating and taking a shower, she returned to her bedroom and had just lain down when Zhou Yanchen called.

"Did you miss me?"

Zhou Yanchen's voice came from the other end of the phone; the background was a bit noisy, as if he were outside.

"I've thought about it."

Tang Luoqing lay on the bed and asked curiously, "Are you done with your work over there? Where are you?"

"Just finished work, so I went out for a late-night snack with some friends."

Zhou Yanchen yawned, sounding very tired: "I'm exhausted. There's so much going on here, I'm so busy I barely have time to breathe."

Upon hearing this, Tang Luoqing frowned slightly with concern: "Then you should go back and rest early, don't stay up too late."

"Okay, I'll head back now."

Zhou Yanchen smiled and said, "I just missed you, so I called you. I'm going to sleep now, you should go to sleep early too, goodnight."

"Good night."

Tang Luoqing hung up the phone, then realized she had forgotten to ask Zhou Jinbai if he had studied painting.

Never mind, I'll ask again tomorrow.

However, Zhou Yanchen seems to be really busy lately, and he doesn't even have time to chat for more than a few minutes each day.

Tang Luoqing sighed softly and opened Weibo on her phone.

She habitually refreshed her homepage, and as she did so, a new Weibo post popped up.

It was posted by Su Leqi, who I've been following.

Su Leqi is Zhou Jinbai's childhood friend. She travels all over the world and her Weibo is full of landscape photos from various places, such as snow-capped mountains, oceans, and sunsets. The photos are clean and healing.

Tang Luoqing initially paid attention to her because her landscape photos had a very healing quality, making them excellent references for her paintings.

Later, I saw a photo of her and Zhou Yanchen together and realized that the two knew each other and were friends who had played together since childhood.

The Weibo post in front of me was accompanied by a photo taken in a bar. The lighting was dim, and Su Leqi was holding a glass of cocktail and smiling at the camera. Her eyeliner was sharply defined, making her look both beautiful and cool. Beside Su Leqi, half of a man's profile was visible.

The man had a sharp jawline, a nonchalant smile playing on his lips, and was twirling a wine glass in his hand. It was Zhou Yanchen.

The caption reads: "[I ran into Young Master Zhou. I lost a game of Truth or Dare, and he owes me something again. I've put it on my tab. Young Master Zhou said he'll pay me back with interest next time.]"

Tang Luoqing's heart skipped a beat.