"Oh, yes! Since the item to be restored was just delivered, I haven't contacted you yet."
"It was the old woman who came to the store to restore the bracelet last time. She brought her friend. They want to restore an inherited necklace. It's said to be a necklace from the Qing Dynasty and will be passed on to her granddaughter - in - law to wear on her wedding day."
"Can you restore the necklace?" Lu Qi asked tentatively.
As far as he knew, Xu Qingqing could restore porcelain, calligraphy, paintings, and bracelets, but she might not be good at restoring such trivial things as necklaces. After all, no one could be good at everything.
Once again, Xu Qingqing refreshed his perception. She nodded, "It's no problem for me to restore the necklace. Take me to have a look."
Lu Qi raised his eyebrows, "You're really amazing. You're proficient in everything."
He really found a treasure, a treasure who was all - round in restoration!
The necklace sent by the old woman's friend was in a red velvet box. When the box was opened, Xu Qingqing was immediately attracted by the simple necklace with a platinum setting and a cabochon ruby.
Lu Qi asked, "How long will it take to restore this necklace? I need to give an answer to the old woman."
Xu Qingqing looked closely. There were cracks on the necklace. One side of the chain was broken, and two jewels in the middle were cracked.
It would take less time to restore the chain, but if she wanted to restore the two jewels to the point where the cracks were invisible to the naked eye, it would take longer.
Xu Qingqing gave an accurate time, "Two and a half days including this afternoon."
"Okay. I'll go and reply to her right away."
Xu Qingqing took the brocade box with the necklace and went to her studio to start the restoration work.
It was almost 4 p.m. when she finished part of the restoration. Xu Qingqing stretched her waist and moved her stiff muscles, making cracking sounds.
She took out her phone and saw the news that the Lu family had bought the antiques accumulated by the Gu Auction House.
Seeing this piece of information, Xu Qingqing's heart ached, and her lips were bitten until they bled.
She knew it.
Xu Qingqing walked out of the studio and found Lu Qi was talking business with someone. She didn't go up to disturb him. Instead, she just waved her hand to indicate that she was leaving and then turned away.
She took a taxi to the kindergarten. There were already parents waiting for their children to get out of school. In front of a bunch of wealthy ladies dressed ostentatiously and wearing gold and silver, Xu Qingqing was not outshone at all.
Although she was just wearing a white shirt and simple jeans, she gave people a clean and refreshing beauty, with a unique charm.
Lu Chuanbai's car was parked on the opposite side of the road. Lu Chuanbai was secretly watching Xu Qingqing in the car. He propped his hand on the car window and admired Xu Qingqing's beautiful face. He just couldn't get enough of looking at her.
After a while, the two children ran out of the school. Both of them were a bit upset because of the DNA test report and were in a low mood.
Xu Qingqing saw their frowning little faces. She held their little hands, bought each of them a bunch of candied haws, and then asked patiently, "What's wrong? Did something happen at school today? Why are you unhappy?"
"No. Nothing happened."
Xu Yiyi didn't want Xu Qingqing to worry. She forced a smile and said, "My sister and I are just a bit tired from playing."
"That's good." Xu Qingqing was relieved. She took out her phone to check the location sent by Tang Li and looked for Tang Li's car.
"Come on. Uncle Tang is still waiting for us."
To avoid traffic jams and leave more quickly, Tang Li's car was parked quite far away.
Xu Qingqing held the hands of the two children and walked towards it. Lu Chuanbai thought they didn't drive, so he told the driver to follow them.
The mother and her two daughters were walking in front, and the car was following behind. After walking for a while, Xu Qingqing noticed that a car had been following them at a slow speed.
Could it be that Gu Anrou held a grudge and sent someone to cause trouble?
Thinking of this, Xu Qingqing became vigilant. She protected the two children behind her like a mother hen and watched the car warily.
She hoped to wait until the car left before she continued walking.
The driver noticed that Xu Qingqing stopped, so he also stopped the car and turned to look at Lu Chuanbai.
"Mr. Gu, they've stopped."
Lu Chuanbai frowned slightly. Was he still discovered even after he changed the car?
"Drive the car next to her. I want to talk to her."
"Okay."
The driver drove the car in front of Xu Qingqing. Lu Chuanbai rolled down the window and showed a gentle smile, "Get in the car. I'll take you home."
Finding that the person in the car was Lu Chuanbai, Xu Qingqing tightened her lips and ignored him.
"Qingqing, don't be angry."
Lu Chuanbai's gaze fell on the two children. There was a kind look in his eyes that he couldn't hide, "Yiyi, An'an, do you miss Uncle? Come on, get in the car quickly!"
If it were before, Xu Yiyi and Xu An'an might have climbed into the car and thrown themselves into Lu Chuanbai's arms. But after the kidnapping incident that day, the two children hated Gu Anrou even more!
Xu Yiyi asked directly, "Uncle Lu, how do you want to punish Aunt Gu?"
Hearing Xu Yiyi's question, Lu Chuanbai was stunned, and so was Xu Qingqing.
Although Xu Qingqing really wanted to know the answer, she still criticized Xu Yiyi unhappily, "Yiyi, why are you asking this? Let's go!"
Xu Qingqing held the hands of the two children and continued walking. She felt their reluctance but didn't comfort them because she herself was in a complete mess.
Lu Chuanbai took a deep breath. He couldn't stand Xu Qingqing treating him like this.
He could accept Xu Qingqing getting angry at him, hitting him, or scolding him because of Gu Anrou, but he just couldn't stand her being indifferent to him.
"Qingqing, I have no relationship with Gu Anrou. I also went to warn her today. She won't do that again."
Hearing this, Xu Qingqing raised her eyes again. Her gaze was cold.
"Don't you think what you said is contradictory, Mr. Lu? On one hand, you help the Gu family out of trouble by buying their unsold antiques. On the other hand, you tell me that you have no relationship with her and that you're innocent.
"Do you think I'm easy to deceive, Mr. Lu?"
The atmosphere between the two of them was very tense. The two children stood quietly on one side, half - understanding.
Children are very sensitive to emotions. They could feel that Uncle Lu made Mom unhappy and sad.
Uncle Lu protected that bad woman!
Tang Li, who had been waiting in the car for a long time but didn't see the mother and her two children, got out of the car to look for them. He happened to come across the scene of Xu Qingqing confronting Lu Chuanbai.
"Qingqing, what's going on?"
Tang Li walked over and naturally put his hand on Xu Qingqing's shoulder. His gentle smile disappeared the moment he saw Lu Chuanbai's face.
Tang Li said rudely, "Mr. Lu, could you please stop disturbing our lives?"
The four of them standing together looked like a family, intimate with each other, while Lu Chuanbai seemed like an out - of - place bad guy.
Lu Chuanbai tried hard to suppress his sad emotions. He opened the car door and reached out his hand to the two children.
"An'an, Yiyi, this time Uncle didn't protect you well, but it won't happen again..."