No one could find it at all.
Gu Anrou only saw Xu Qingqing hide the painting behind her back. She didn't see what Xu Qingqing did there.
Xu Qingqing put the scroll away and stuffed it into her bag. Then she quickly drove home. When Father Xu saw Xu Qingqing coming, his eyes were full of expectation.
Xu Qingqing naturally knew what Father Xu was expecting. She directly held up the scroll in her hand for Father Xu to see.
Father Xu thought it was *Bird Bells and Slender Bamboo*. But when he felt the rough texture of the paper, a flash of disappointment couldn't help crossing his face.
"This isn't *Bird Bells and Slender Bamboo*..."
Xu Qingqing lifted her chin, motioning for Father Xu to open the painting tube. Father Xu did as she indicated and opened the lid of the tube. To his surprise, there really was a painting inside.
Father Xu's hope flared up again. He pulled out the paper, and sure enough, it was the *Bird Bells and Slender Bamboo* he had been longing for.
"You really got it back for me! Thank you!"
Father Xu thanked Xu Qingqing happily and eagerly checked if the scroll was damaged.
Thankfully, the scroll was well - preserved without any damage.
Father Xu gave Xu Qingqing a thumbs - up, grateful for her clever mind.
"Xu Qingqing, you're so smart. I didn't expect you to stuff the painting into the tube."
Xu Qingqing raised her eyebrows with a smile, her tone tinged with pride.
"If Gu Anrou hadn't noticed, I could have brought it out smoothly yesterday."
It was just that Gu Anrou had kept holding her back and even wanted to send her to jail.
"You've worked hard." Father Xu thanked her and patted her on the shoulder, then went to find a suitable picture frame to hang the painting.
Gu Anrou checked online how much Xu Qingqing's bag cost. Since that bag was a globally limited - edition item and very hard to buy, it would cost no less than 800,000 yuan after all the trouble. And Gu Anrou simply couldn't afford that much money.
But thinking about how Xu Qingqing had mocked her for being poor, Gu Anrou was unyielding. She swore that even if she had to borrow money, she would buy the bag for Xu Qingqing.
Gu Anrou called all the friends she knew. But those were just fair - weather friends. After they learned about the situation of Gu's family, they all refused to lend her money.
Some of them even openly laughed at Gu Anrou, saying that she was like a phoenix that had fallen to the ground and turned into a grass chicken.
Gu Anrou endured her anger. In the end, there was only one person left - Lu Fenglin.
Although things had been very unpleasant between them, they had once been allies. Lu Fenglin shouldn't refuse to lend her this amount of money.
All the calls Gu Anrou made to Lu Fenglin went unanswered. So she went directly to the Lu Group to wait for him.
Lu Fenglin was in a bad mood because he hadn't done a good job for Young Master Ye and had fallen out with him.
He was also having a hard time at work. All the negative emotions were boiling over in him.
Just then, as he walked out of the company, he saw Gu Anrou. Gu Anrou's hair had been cut short because of her prison time.
She had lost all her former energy. She looked listless, and her eyes stared at him mournfully.
Lu Fenglin blinked. He didn't expect time to pass so quickly. Gu Anrou had already been out of prison.
"Why are you here?" Lu Fenglin looked at Gu Anrou coldly. His thin lips formed a straight line, curving slightly at the corners, his eyes filled with coldness.
Gu Anrou put on a pitiful look and walked up to Lu Fenglin, pleading with him, "Lu Fenglin, for the sake of our past friendship, could you please help me?"
When Lu Fenglin heard that Gu Anrou had come to ask for help, a flash of impatience crossed his eyes.
"Who's your friend?"
Hearing Lu Fenglin deny their friendship, Gu Anrou felt a chill in her heart. But she still swallowed her pride and pleaded.
"You're the high - and - mighty Manager Lu. How could you be friends with me? But could Manager Lu please help me?"
Seeing Gu Anrou so humble, Lu Fenglin gave her a cold look. "What do you want me to help you with?"
"Could you lend me 800,000 yuan? I'll definitely pay you back when I have the money!"
Although 800,000 yuan was nothing to him, Lu Fenglin still asked as usual.
"What do you need so much money for?"
Under Lu Fenglin's inquisitive gaze, Gu Anrou didn't dare to lie. She mumbled an explanation, "I lost to Xu Qingqing because of something and have to buy her a bag."
Hearing Xu Qingqing's name from Gu Anrou's mouth, Lu Fenglin's face darkened immediately. He took a step closer to Gu Anrou.
"What did you do to Xu Qingqing? Did you cause trouble for her again?"
Gu Anrou was startled by Lu Fenglin's fierce gaze. She couldn't help taking a step back and almost fell down the steps.
"What are you doing! I didn't cause trouble for her. It's her who's been causing trouble for me!"
The angrier Gu Anrou got, the more wronged she felt.
"She's the one who was stealing..."
Hearing Gu Anrou still trying to smear Xu Qingqing, Lu Fenglin said coldly, "If you dare to tell lies again, I won't lend you a single cent!"
Seeing Lu Fenglin so protective of Xu Qingqing, Gu Anrou tightened her fists at her sides, and a flicker of jealousy crossed her eyes.
Damn Xu Qingqing!
She had seduced so many men to protect her!
But Gu Anrou still needed to borrow money from Lu Fenglin. She swallowed her anger and nodded in agreement. "I won't cause trouble for her on purpose. After I buy the bag for her with your money, I'll stay far away from her."
Yeah, right!
She had been in prison because of Xu Qingqing. Of course, she would make Xu Qingqing pay the price!
Although Lu Fenglin didn't believe that Gu Anrou would really let go of her hatred and make peace with Xu Qingqing, for Xu Qingqing's safety, he still decided to lend her the money.
Lu Fenglin wrote a check for 800,000 yuan and handed it to Gu Anrou.
"Remember what you promised me. Don't cause trouble for Xu Qingqing in the future, or you'll have to pay me back double."
Gu Anrou took the check, lowered her eyes, and turned to leave.
After taking a vacation, Xu Qingqing had been resting at home all day. Her days were very pleasant. Today, she went to the supermarket to buy the spare ribs that the kids liked and planned to go home and make sweet - and - sour spare ribs.
As soon as her car turned into the road where her home was, Xu Qingqing saw a disheveled man in a dirty orange down jacket squatting in front of her house.
Xu Qingqing thought he was a homeless man. She carefully parked the car by the roadside and got out to see who was squatting at the door.
"Who are you? Could you please move aside? I want to go home."
Hearing Xu Qingqing's voice, the man sprang up quickly. He took a step forward and rushed in front of Xu Qingqing, staring at her intently.
Xu Qingqing looked closely at the man's face. It took her a long time to recognize that it was actually Director Zhong Yizhi!
Zhong Yizhi's long hair, which used to be neatly groomed, now hung limply over his forehead, greasy and completely lacking his former intellectual and elegant look.
"Zhong Yizhi, why are you here?"
Xu Qingqing took a cautious step back and quickly looked around to see if there were other people around.
Zhong Yizhi clearly had suffered a great blow. She was afraid that he might do something to her and she wouldn't be able to defend herself.