"Do you still dare to do this again?"
The two of them had been fooling around in bed for a long time.
The next day, Xu Qingqing almost overslept again. After sitting up, she angrily looked at the empty space beside her.
That guy Lu Chuanbai!
She had told him countless times to wake her up when he got up.
But he never did, and she would always get up late.
After Xu Qingqing got out of bed, Lu Chuanbai had already prepared a delicious breakfast and was waiting for her.
After breakfast, Lu Chuanbai drove the two kids to school, while Xu Qingqing drove to work.
As soon as she arrived on the street where Lu Qi's store was located, Xu Qingqing saw a commotion at the store's entrance.
"I can't believe you claim to be the number one restoration shop on Chengde Street! You've ruined my vase like this. How am I supposed to explain this to my dad!"
A gentle-looking young man in a black suit, with his hair slicked back with hairspray and wearing gold-rimmed glasses, was arguing with Lu Qi at the store entrance.
Lu Qi looked utterly helpless. It was the first time Xu Qingqing had seen the usually unruly Lu Qi show a compromising look.
"Mr. Li Jianian, I will definitely take responsibility and find a way to repair your vase. Please calm down," Lu Qi said, waving his hands in front of him as if that could soothe Li Jianian's anger.
"With it in this state, how do you think you can fix it?" Li Jianian sneered, looking completely untrusting.
"I came here specifically to find your chief restorer as my dad told me to. But it ended up like this. I'm afraid no one in your store can fix it anymore."
"Get ready to compensate me!"
After saying that, Li Jianian turned around and was about to leave without looking back. Lu Qi stood there alone, stomping his feet in frustration.
Xu Qingqing quickly parked her car and blocked Li Jianian's way, wearing a polite smile.
"Sir, my name is Xu Qingqing. I'm a restorer in this store. Can I take a look at the vase you brought?"
Li Jianian thought the woman seemed familiar. He felt like he had seen her somewhere before.
He frowned and thought for a moment, then remembered. He had seen this girl in a group photo of his grandfather's antique treasure-hunting competition.
It seemed that this girl had won the championship, and his grandfather had told him to come to her for the restoration.
But thinking about how the vase had been ruined, Li Jianian had no good impression of the girl in front of him.
If you don't have the skills, don't take on the job. Is it fun to deceive the elderly?
"Miss Xu Qingqing, after seeing how badly you've restored it, I really don't dare to hand it over to you again," Li Jianian snorted and hugged the red box in his hand tightly, as if Xu Qingqing would snatch it.
"When did I restore it?" Xu Qingqing frowned, looking confused.
She had just arrived. How could such an unjust accusation be dumped on her!
Seeing that he couldn't hide it anymore, Lu Qi walked over awkwardly, rubbing his hands, and told the truth.
"Mr. Li... I'm really sorry. I lied to you. Your vase was never restored by Xu Qingqing."
"What?"
"What?"
Both Xu Qingqing and Li Jianian looked at Lu Qi in surprise, not understanding why he had done this.
Lu Qi looked guilty and embarrassed. Although Xu Qingqing didn't know the truth, she knew that Lu Qi was not the kind of person who would lie casually.
There must be some hidden reason.
Xu Qingqing looked at Li Jianian understandingly again. "Mr. Li, please let me take a look. Maybe I can fix it."
Li Jianian also felt quite embarrassed. He glared at Lu Qi while pushing his glasses and opened the red box in his hand, revealing the vase inside.
The vase inside looked like an abstract work randomly made by a child. It was crooked and a bit like a crab, with tentacles like an octopus at the bottom.
Moreover, there were all kinds of strange decorations on the vase, colorful.
It was like colorful leaves floating in a deep blue ocean, a very novel work.
When they turned the vase over, they could see the way the crack had been repaired.
A crooked repair mark, like white correction tape on black paper, was particularly eye-catching on the blue vase body.
Looking at this repair mark, Xu Qingqing felt that her profession had been insulted.
It was like a five-star chef seeing a cooking novice make a plate of Mapo Tofu with strawberries.
Xu Qingqing couldn't wait to erase the repair mark and restore the vase again.
"Miss Xu Qingqing, can this still be repaired?" Li Jianian's eyes dimmed, and his tone softened a bit.
Xu Qingqing pursed her lips, and a small flame of challenge ignited in her eyes.
Most of the antiques she had restored before were old items with smooth surfaces.
Even for vases with gold inlays, the cracks were not as big as this one.
This vase was split into two halves, and the crack was crooked. Coupled with the various decorations on the vase, the difficulty of restoration had increased significantly.
But facing difficulties head-on was Xu Qingqing's life creed, and she didn't hesitate to take on this job.
"Mr. Li, I will try my best. But I can't guarantee it will be exactly the same as the original. However, I can at least restore it to 90%," Xu Qingqing said honestly, leaving the decision to Li Jianian.
Li Jianian was in the field of archaeology and was very clear about the difficulty of restoring the vase in his hand.
Hearing that Xu Qingqing said she could restore it to 90%, he was already very satisfied.
Li Jianian closed the box and solemnly handed it to Xu Qingqing.
"Miss Xu Qingqing, I'll trouble you. Please make sure to repair it well. This vase is very important to my family."
Xu Qingqing was infected by Li Jianian's emotions and unconsciously spoke seriously. "Okay, I understand."
Li Jianian glanced at his watch and turned to leave. "Then I'll leave first. I'll come back to pick it up when it's restored."
When Li Jianian's back disappeared from sight, Lu Qi let out a big sigh of relief and looked at Xu Qingqing as if she were his savior.
"Xu Qingqing, thanks to you for handling this. Otherwise, I would have been in big trouble," Lu Qi said.
Xu Qingqing hugged the red box and walked into the store side by side with Lu Qi. "What's going on? Is he someone important?"
"Don't you know Li Jianian? He's the youngest professor in the archaeological field and has led teams to excavate many important tombs," Lu Qi introduced Li Jianian to Xu Qingqing. "He's extremely famous in the archaeological world."
"If we hadn't handled this properly and he said a bad word, who in the archaeological world would dare to sell things to our store in the future!"
Without the support of people in the archaeological world, Lu Qi wouldn't be able to get various insider information and newly unearthed cultural relics.
"Indeed. This vase must have been made by someone very important to him," Xu Qingqing recalled Li Jianian's excited expression. The sadness in his eyes was very contagious.