Seven o'clock in the morning, South Kensington, London.
One of the affluent districts with the most expensive house prices and prices in the world is bathed in golden morning light to welcome the arrival of the new year.
In the quiet garden villa area, the long dining table on the third-floor terrace of the white bungalow is placed with a bouquet of fresh flowers soaked in morning dew and three delicate breakfasts. When Zhang Hongjun sat down at the dining table, he saw his son leaning against the The railing was talking on the phone, noticing her approaching, he just slightly stretched his brows, nodded at her, then turned and continued talking.
Zhang Hongjun raised his willow eyebrows and turned his ears to listen.
"Are you sure she just went to Jinguang City to meet Song Mian?"
"Just guessing the general direction, you speak like the end of the world?"
"There's no need to confirm it. It's the end of the world to make people unhappy."
"Did you keep your mind on last year? You don't need to keep an eye on her, just pay attention to Song Mian. Is it difficult to work around such a simple thing?"
When Cheng Lang put down his phone and turned back, he saw Zhang Hongjun's displeased face.
"My mother, whom I haven't seen for three months, doesn't have a smiling face when I come here." Zhang Hongjun lowered his head and took a sip of his coffee, rolling his eyelids in dissatisfaction. "How important is the phone call so early in the morning?"
Cheng Lang came over and picked up the bouquet on the dining table, and handed it to her eyes: "Didn't these flowers smile with you for me?"
Zhang Hongjun raised his chin slightly, took the flowers and put them in his hand, reluctantly happy, and continued to question: "Aren't you going to answer the mother's question?"
"Of course I have to answer." Cheng Lang sat down at the table, "It is indeed a very important call."
It's not good to raise a son too shrewdly. Look at this strict-tongued man, he couldn't make out a single word at the critical moment.
Zhang Hongjun was angry again: "I would have guessed it even if you didn't tell me, what, the little girl ran away as soon as she walked away?"
"I can't run." Cheng Lang shook his head and smiled.
"Don't be as self-confident as your father was chasing me back then. You only know how to spend money to please girls. You spent hundreds or tens of millions for them. It's okay to coax a girl who has never seen the world. It can be seen Girls who have passed away know that your family is rich, and they know it in their hearts. You are just like ordinary people paying thousands of dollars for pocket money. How can you move people? Let’s talk about your mother and me. What did your father do back then? Jewelry and diamonds are all sent to me, and I almost ran away with a poor boy."
"What's so good about a poor boy?" Cheng Lang raised his eyebrows, as if he had finally become interested in the topic, "Are you really able to live a life of careful planning?"
"He has a good temper, and he doesn't have the airs of a rich man, and he doesn't have the virtue of a businessman's cunning and cunning. His gentleness and considerateness are so pleasing, and he is familiar with him since he was young, and he doesn't worry about his bad conduct."
"Being acquainted with each other when I was young, you know the root and the bottom?" Cheng Lang repeated slowly, "We have known each other for so many years and there is no movement, can we still 'return to the light'?"
"Son, have you never heard of two-way secret love? I saw a novel a few days ago, what is it called, oh, "You are a belated joy", it is about the rare and precious reunion after a long absence, don't mention it How affectionate!" Zhang Hongjun shook his head regretfully, "You fight for whatever you want since you were a child, and you get what you fight for, I guess you won't understand it in this life."
"I really don't do such stupid things." Cheng Lang nodded, but his expression seemed to be deep in thought.
Zhang Hongjun reckoned that his son's mouth was still stiff, and he listened in his heart, showing "children can be taught" in his eyes, and knocked on the edge of the table: "People and girls like jewelry design, so you can follow others and give her this business first." It's finalized. Mom went out to meet with the Jewelry Association yesterday, and what they said was that this folk competition is just to open a door, and if you really want to go on the road, you have to go the official way."
"I said, 'Isn't this official way all about you'? Then I showed them the work. After reading it, people said, it's not for my face, this designer is really clever, and I want to ask her if it is possible for her to hold a Before the exhibition, the finished product of the ring was printed out, and they wanted to reserve a seat for her. Look at this, isn't it beautiful?"
"You are a beautiful person who does beautiful things, and you are also a drunkard. Do you have to let someone come to London to show you?"
"I don't need to work hard to canvass votes, do I?" Zhang Hongjun looked at him, "I don't even show me the picture of the little girl, so I can only sit here and wait. Just say, will you make it yours?" mother?"
"I'll go back and ask her what she means."
—
Before going to bed that day, Xu Qiao received an electronic invitation letter forwarded by Cheng Lang, and was so excited that she almost jumped out of bed.
She didn't really jump up because she received a voice call from Cheng Lang before dancing.
She connected in seconds, and before he could open his mouth, he chattered, "Really? Really? Really? Is the London High Jewelry Show really inviting me to bring my work to participate?"
"What did you lie to you for?" Cheng Lang's tone was flat, sounding a little unhappy.
But Xu Qiao was immersed in joy, and didn't notice the man's strange mood today. She said to herself: "This exhibition has a very high gold content, and many famous and senior designers can't get in! In the past two years, we won gold medals." Lu's chief designer wanted to go to this exhibition to gild himself, and entrusted the relationship of his alma mater, but in the end, even Florence couldn't help, and my father spent a lot of money on her, but it was all gone!"
Cheng Lang was still thinking about the messy "reunion and two-way secret love" that Zhang Hongjun said during breakfast. Hearing her chatting happily for a long time, he didn't respond too much, and just said "hmm": "So are you interested in participating? ?”
"Of course there is!" Xu Qiao was full of ambition, thought for a while and said, "Hey, let me tell you, I happened to have an idea when I was writing my career plan today. I think 'Feather' can generate a series, not just Rings, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, brooches, and even crowns can all be extended accordingly.”
"Exhibition opportunities are rare. It was too bare to wear only one ring in the past, which made me feel very out of ink. If Townsend's sapphire arrives, let the craft room make the ring first, and then I will rush to design other series of jewelry. Take it to London, what do you think?"
She chattered non-stop, and Cheng Lang's depression dissipated a little bit. He seemed to think that her obsession with career was at least better than obsession with other men, so he said silently: "Okay, just do it, and I will give you whatever you want. .”
"..." Will you be talking about business, the official language is so good, why are you still talking about love? Did he make this call in a state of spring
The lights in the bedroom were not turned on. This sentence sounded too serious, which made Xu Qiao faintly feel his ears burning.
This kind of heat gradually spread from her ears to her whole body, and finally the image of sitting on Cheng Lang's lap last night suddenly popped up in her head...
Song Mian told her, go do what you want, she felt that her body was full of positive energy.
Cheng Lang told her, just do it, but she felt that her body was full of... hormones
She waved her hand out of thin air, as if she was trying to disperse something, and coughed lightly, trying to turn the atmosphere back: "Oh, thank you boss."
"Well, how are you doing today?"
"Okay." Xu Qiao blinked inexplicably.
"Better than me?"
Can there be a comparison
"Well," Xu Qiao answered ponderingly, "there is no such thing as that..."
"Is it because I'm here, or if I'm not?"
"Ah," she continued to ponder, "then what, is it all good? Work makes me happy, and I will dedicate myself to my job and make it the same when my boss is not around."
"Then do you want me to come back early?"
Xu Qiao felt like she was going to explode.
Each of these problems became more acute, one made her unable to fish in troubled waters, and one made her unable to breathe.
"Why do you have so many questions? I'm sleepy, I'm going to sleep." Xu Qiao swallowed nervously in the dark, pulled up the quilt and lay down, was about to cut off the call, but when he heard no response from him, she paused again, "I hung up?"
"Hang up after answering."
Sure enough, if you leave without turning around, you will fail to leave.
Little princess Xu, be cruel and show off your fairy airs!
"Don't answer, I'm really hung up!" She took a deep breath, bit the bullet and pressed the hang up button, I'm sorry!
"You can also say that you don't want me to come back soon..."
Xu Qiao's hand stopped next to the red mark again following the male voice from the receiver.
"If you don't say it, I can understand that the answer is 'think', but are you shy?"
"..."
I haven't seen him pressing so hard before, what's going on today, did he drink fake wine during the Chinese New Year? Or is the New Year's Eve dinner not full enough, and now you want to eat hot tofu
Ten thousand grass and mud horses whizzed past Xu Qiao's heart: "No, you can't!" As she spoke, she cut off the voice call.
In the dark room, after a long silence, there was a violent turning over.
Xu Qiao lay on the big soft bed and kicked her legs vigorously: "Spicy chicken dog man!"
—
Xu Qiao didn't dare to talk to Cheng Lang on the phone anymore, for fear that he wouldn't say enough flirtatious things himself, and would force her to do so too, so when she received the news that he had returned to China, she simply replied a few words on WeChat.
At the end of the holiday, the organizer of the Belgian Jewelry Design Competition officially announced the results of the competition, and released interviews about the two gold medal winners in the professional group and the newcomer group.
The content of the manuscript in the professional group is very official. The subject is a well-known jewelry designer in the industry. People in the circle have long been tired of hearing his legend, and there are no new gimmicks to dig deeper. Almost all of the articles are praising him in the industry. Great results.
On the rookie team, the interview draft titled "Jewelry Designer Without a Story" seems to be fascinating from the title.
A rookie designer whose background is a mystery, his education is a mystery, his age and real name are a mystery, and he knows nothing about it except his gender and nationality. It's as novel as if a little-known little figure defeated the heads of various sects in one fell swoop and won the title of leader in the Jianghu martial arts conference.
The interview draft still did not disclose any information about the designer himself, but divergent thinking on these fascinating points, reviewed the designer's counterattack road, and emphasized how the ring without a story was included in all the stories. stand out.
Finally, there is a powerful conclusion: "We don't care how many moving stories behind you, we only care about whether you are a moving jewelry designer."
This epilogue made this competition and this interview draft "out of the circle" again and entered the public eye.
Murderers win sympathy because of the stories behind them, and draft picks win opportunities because of the stories behind them—these annoying social status quo have tired too many spectators. So this provocative sentence quickly made everyone turn their attention to this jewelry design competition again, and this Chinese designer who won the crown not relying on stories but on works.
Several prestigious fashion media at home and abroad have contacted Berg Jewelry Studio, hoping to interview Ms. Yuli and unveil her "mysterious veil".
The studio's unified reply is: "I'm very sorry, Ms. Yuli is preparing for the retreat of the London High Jewelry Show this spring, and she has no time to accept interviews."
So a deep-water bomb-like heavy news spread: the new jewelery designer will soon be on the stage of the London High Jewelry Show with his debut work.
When the name "Yu Li" became famous in the jewelry circle, Xu Qiao did retreat in the studio to create, but she was not so isolated as to be isolated from the world.
She received all the news in time, and every time she heard about it, she would send Cheng Lang a "thumbs up" emoji on WeChat.
Needless to say, these publicity campaigns are of course all written by her boss.
Although he called him a dog, Xu Qiao had to admit in his heart that this man was really powerful. He is a very good businessman who knows how to use a small hot spot to create continuous and progressive bombardment heat, and at the same time, buy the hearts of the audience.
Xu Qiao is very sure that without Cheng Lang, the water splashed by "Yu Li", who won a mere folk competition in the jewelry circle, would only be enough to make a few ripples on the lake, and it would not be possible to set off a huge wave like today.
So the more this happened, the more she wanted to come up with convincing works to support the reputation that Cheng Lang had gained.
For a long time, she spent almost all of her time in the studio from waking up to going to bed. Most of the time she was in the studio to draw the design drawings of the series of jewelry, and a small part of the time she went to the craft room next door to check the progress of the ring making.
Halfway through the production of the ring, Rosa knocked on the studio door more frequently, because she didn't dare to be sloppy, and she needed to confirm all the relevant details with Xu Qiao.
That evening, Xu Qiao had just finished a drawing and was about to stretch her muscles when she saw Rosa walk in: "Xiao Yu, do you have time to come to the craft room?"
Xu Qiao nodded, and when she got up, she felt dizzy as if her head had been flooded.
Seeing that her face was not very good-looking, Rosa glanced at the unmoving lunch box at her feet: "Why didn't you eat lunch? Don't forget to eat and sleep like this, because you want to get the whole series out before the jewelry exhibition. The tasks that may be completed, count as many as there are at that time, and there will be more opportunities in the future."
"If you don't fight hard, you will never know how good you are." Xu Qiao stepped forward, "Come on, take me to see the ring, and call it a day after reading it. Get off work early today."
"Yo, so you know how to rest?"
Xu Qiao shrugged.
Originally, he didn't want to waste precious time, but Cheng Lang said that he would come over to see her work progress today when he was free. She guessed that his real purpose was to take her out for dinner.
The craft room at work is full of the smell of chemicals and the noise of various machines running. Xu Qiao followed Rosa in, put on goggles and protective gloves, and walked to the metalworking table.
In the studio next door, the mobile phone she had forgotten was vibrating continuously.
Downstairs in the back seat of the Bentley, Cheng Lang called Xu Qiao twice and got out of the car and walked in without receiving a response.
When Su Shan at the front desk saw him, she immediately came up to meet him: "Boss, are you here to see Miss Yuli?"
"Well," Cheng Lang nodded, "Is she not in the studio?"
"It should be in the craft room, I'll take you there!" Su Shan led him upstairs, knocked on the door of the craft room a few times, but found no answer, and explained to the people behind him, "It might be a bit noisy inside."
"Then I'll wait outside." Cheng Lang was about to turn around when the door of the craft room was suddenly opened by Rosa.
When Rosa saw someone, she boldly raised her voice and teased: "Oh, I said why Xiaoyu has to leave work early today."
Hearing this, Cheng Lang raised his eyebrows lightly, as if he was in a good mood. When he looked in, he saw Xu Qiao not far behind Rosa, with his back to the door, squatting on the ground watching Fei Zheng pour the plaster slurry, while gesturing with his hand, While screaming in the noise, he explained something.
Cheng Lang couldn't hear what she said, and stood quietly by the door waiting for her.
But Fei Zheng was the first to notice him because he was facing the door, stopped his work, and said something to Xu Qiao.
Xu Qiao turned her head to see Cheng Lang, and stood up on her knees. She didn't want to be halfway up when her eyes suddenly went dark for a moment.
She subconsciously swayed to help the metalworking table next to her.
Rosa and Su Shan exclaimed instantly: "Be careful!"
And faster than them was Cheng Lang who dashed forward.
Before Xu Qiao could react, she felt that someone had pushed her hand away. At the same time, her eyes became clear again, and she watched the blade of the cutting machine cut towards the other hand.