After shaking for a while, the dazed Lu Chuanbai finally woke up. He lifted his limp hand and stroked Xu Qingqing's face, his voice hoarse and dry.
"Sorry. I meant to wait for you to come back, but I fell asleep first."
"It's okay." Xu Qingqing pursed her lips and went to pour him a glass of water.
Lu Chuanbai propped himself up with effort and leaned against the headboard. He took the glass of water Xu Qingqing brought and began to explain.
"Qingqing, I really had nothing to do with that woman. I was drugged by Lu Fenglin..."
Xu Qingqing sat down gently beside Lu Chuanbai, with self - reflection in her eyes.
"I knew you wouldn't betray me. I just overthought things."
"It's good that you trust me." Lu Chuanbai's hanging heart slowly settled. He tightly held Xu Qingqing's hand.
He was most afraid that Xu Qingqing would misunderstand him and be disappointed in him.
Xu Qingqing lifted her other hand and smoothed the wrinkles on Lu Chuanbai's forehead. "What are you going to do next?"
Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but three times is enemy action. Lu Fenglin had provoked Lu Chuanbai for the third time.
If he just endured it like this, even the people in the company might think Lu Chuanbai was easy to bully.
Mentioning Lu Fenglin, Lu Chuanbai's eyes turned cold. The gentle look on his face instantly froze with frost. "I will never let him off easily!"
He had wanted to maintain the last bit of dignity as a member of the Lu family, but now Lu Fenglin had gone crazy. There was no need to tolerate him anymore.
"The day after tomorrow is the birthday of Cui Mingliang, a top - level architecture designer. Mr. Cui has a close cooperation with the Lu Group. The hotel on Weishan Island was specially designed by him."
Lu Chuanbai's black - and - white eyes were filled with frost. He discussed with Xu Qingqing, "I plan to trip Lu Fenglin up with the birthday gift. I'll need your help then."
"What do you need me to do?" Xu Qingqing asked.
"You'll know then." Lu Chuanbai smiled and played a little mystery at this crucial moment. He put his arm around Xu Qingqing's shoulder.
"You've been on the go until so late. Go to sleep first."
Looking at Lu Chuanbai's confident and scheming expression, Xu Qingqing felt in her heart that Lu Fenglin was likely to be severely dealt with by Lu Chuanbai.
The next day, Lu Chuanbai took Xu Qingqing to the antique market to pick a gift for Cui Mingliang.
Cui Mingliang was a world - famous top - level designer. The buildings he designed were full of a unique and strong flavor of ancient architecture, and they were extremely beautiful.
Domestic restaurant owners were vying to invite him to design for them.
But he didn't lack money and already had fame. He chose cooperation projects purely out of interest.
Maybe he would design the hotel on Weishan Island for the Lu Group today, but he might reject the Lu Group's new project tomorrow because he wasn't interested.
So, to consolidate the relationship between the Lu Group and Cui Mingliang, Lu Chuanbai decided to give Cui Mingliang the cultural relics he liked.
Xu Qingqing thought Lu Chuanbai had called her here to pick a precious treasure.
Just as she was about to show her skills, Lu Chuanbai directly told her, "I don't need you to pick a very precious treasure. Just pick one that's passable."
Hearing this, Xu Qingqing looked at Lu Chuanbai in confusion. "What do you mean? Aren't you going to give a gift to Designer Cui?"
Designer Cui was so picky. An ordinary gift couldn't possibly do.
"The one we're picking now isn't the gift I'm going to give. It's the bait to lure Lu Fenglin into the trap."
Lu Chuanbai winked playfully at Xu Qingqing. "Then I'll have to ask Master Xu to do something to it and make that vase fragile."
Only then did Xu Qingqing understand what Lu Chuanbai meant. She smiled and picked a vase with excellent patterns but ordinary material.
When the appearance of this vase was shown, people would be attracted by its excellent color and not pay too much attention to its material.
Then Lu Chuanbai spent a high price in the antique shop to buy a treasure box to put the vase in.
As the saying goes, clothes make the man, and a saddle makes the horse. When the vase was put into the gilded treasure box, its value immediately multiplied by four or five times.
After paying the money, Xu Qingqing seriously looked at the vase, thinking about how to make it fragile without obvious traces.
After thinking for a long time, Xu Qingqing decided to try a method she had seen in an ancient book before.
In order to learn the technique of restoring cultural relics well, Xu Qingqing had specially learned the craft of mending.
People in this line of work were called menders in a fancy way, and in a more colloquial way, they were called "leak - menders".
But this was not a simple job. It was an extremely delicate handicraft used to repair broken porcelain in ordinary people's homes.
Broken porcelain pieces could be restored to their original state by a mender with just a few iron mending clips.
During the learning process, Xu Qingqing saw a method called the bottle - propping method.
It was to gently tap the vase with a small hammer. The outer shell couldn't be broken, nor could there be any traces left.
After being tapped, the surface of the vase still looked intact, but in fact, it had separated from the inner part and become a damaged bottle. It would break immediately as long as it received a little strong force.
Xu Qingqing thought of a suitable method and was so excited that she couldn't wait to try it immediately.
Meanwhile, Lu Chuanbai had already asked Lu Qi to find a jade plaque of good quality in the antique shop. He just needed to send it to Cui Mingliang then.
After returning home, Xu Qingqing locked herself in the study. She used the small golden hammer she usually used for restoration to tap the outside of the vase little by little.
With each tap, Xu Qingqing's heart would tremble violently. She was afraid of breaking the outer shell of the vase and making all her previous efforts go to waste.
Before each new tap, Xu Qingqing would carefully consider and use her hands to carefully sense whether the inner shell had been knocked off.
From morning until 4 p.m., Xu Qingqing finally finished tapping the whole vase.
After the last tap, Xu Qingqing carefully put the hammer on the table. She gently picked up the vase and shook it, hearing the clear sound of the inner layer colliding with the outer shell.
She succeeded!
Even though she was extremely excited, Xu Qingqing gently put the vase into the treasure chest before she dared to exhale deeply. She clenched her fist and shouted loudly, "Phew... I did it!"
Lu Chuanbai, who had been playing with the two children outside, heard Xu Qingqing's cheer and ran upstairs to knock on the door. "Xu Qingqing, did you succeed?"
"Yes." Xu Qingqing happily opened the door she had locked. She gently opened the treasure box and showed the vase with the separated inner and outer layers to Lu Chuanbai.
"The vase has become two - layered. The outer shell is extremely fragile. It will shatter immediately with a little strong force."
Lu Chuanbai gave Xu Qingqing a thumbs - up in approval. He carefully closed the lid of the treasure box.
"Xu Qingqing, you're really my lucky star!"
Saying this, Lu Chuanbai hugged Xu Qingqing tightly. He wiped the sweat off her forehead and was truly grateful for her help.
If it weren't for Xu Qingqing, he might have been defeated step by step.