On Saturday, Shu Qingqing accompanied Feng Xiangdi to an art exhibition.
Shu Qingqing had always loved beautiful clothes. After starting her women's clothing livestreams, she frequently read magazines and visited art exhibitions to improve her aesthetic taste. This way, she could occasionally offer some ideas whenever Feng Xiangdi ran out of inspiration.
The exhibition was held in a venue converted from an abandoned factory. The exterior featured rusty red bricks, and combined with the winding steel pipes nearby, it had a strong vintage vibe.
But stepping inside revealed a completely different world.
Unlike the white background walls used in typical art exhibitions, the interior was completely black, and the picture frames were a vibrant rose red, creating a striking visual impact.
The exhibited paintings were also rich in content, featuring both landscapes and animals, with very bright and vivid color schemes.
However, the painting hanging in the center had a completely different style.
Against a dark gray background, there was a blurry figure seen from behind, and this figure seemed to be gradually walking away.
"The artist must be a very interesting person," Shu Qingqing commented.
Feng Xiangdi nodded. "Their imagination is wild and unconstrained. Especially this figure from behind—looking at it gives me a wrenching feeling in my heart."
As the two were discussing, someone suddenly tapped Shu Qingqing lightly on the shoulder.
She turned around.
It was Ouyang Hua.
Shu Qingqing broke into a smile. "What a coincidence..."
Before she could finish her greeting, she saw Ouyang Hua shake her head with a serious, straight face. "Not a coincidence."
Shu Qingqing: ?
"I'm the artist of this exhibition~" Ouyang Hua suddenly burst into a smile and blinked mischievously. "How about it? Are you surprised?"
Amused by her sudden change in expression, Shu Qingqing nodded. "I am a little surprised."
"You didn't expect me to be a painter, did you? My name is Ouyang Hua, so of course I have to be good at painting." Ouyang Hua opened her arms and waved them in the air. "All of this is the empire I've built. It took me five whole years."
Shu Qingqing nodded again. "That's very impressive."
Praised, Ouyang Hua curled her lips happily and started chatting with her. "By the way, your last name is Shu? That's quite a unique surname, but my neighbors abroad were also named Shu."
Shu Qingqing: "Is that so?"
"Yeah, that couple was really nice. They often cooked Chinese food for me." Ouyang Hua then looked at Feng Xiangdi. "And this is?"
Shu Qingqing introduced her. "My friend, Feng Xiangdi. She's a fashion designer."
Ouyang Hua suddenly got excited. "Is she the Feng Xiangdi who was falsely accused of plagiarism a while ago?"
Seeing their surprise, Ouyang Hua explained, "A friend of mine is also a fashion designer. She saw the incident online at the time and specifically told me about it. We've been following the situation ever since..."
Ouyang Hua was deeply engrossed in her conversation with Feng Xiangdi when her assistant suddenly came over to say there was an issue, prompting her to leave reluctantly.
Shu Qingqing and Feng Xiangdi continued to view the exhibition.
As they were looking around, a tall, upright man suddenly walked toward them and called out to Shu Qingqing, "Sister-in-law."
Shu Qingqing froze for a few seconds before hesitantly saying, "Pei... Yu?"
Pei Yu nodded. "I didn't expect to run into you here."
"Yes, yes."
After Shu Qingqing spoke, Pei Yu didn't say anything else; he just stood there quietly beside her.
The atmosphere was quiet but slightly awkward.
This Pei Yu was a good friend of Lu Bochuan. Although he was two years younger than Lu Bochuan, according to the original owner's limited impressions, his old-fashioned stiffness and silence were even worse than Lu Bochuan's.
She was absolutely certain that if she didn't speak, Pei Yu would politely stand there with her forever.
Shu Qingqing fiddled with her bag strap, racking her brains for a topic of conversation, when Ouyang Hua suddenly walked over.
"Pei Yu?" Ouyang Hua's eyes held unconcealed surprise and joy. "Why are you here?"
Pei Yu still nodded politely. "I just happened to be passing by, so I came in to take a look."
The joy in Ouyang Hua's eyes dimmed a little. "That is quite a coincidence. By the way, how come I didn't see you at Auntie Lu's birthday banquet a few days ago?"
Pei Yu: "I was on a business trip abroad that day and couldn't make it back in time."
The two went back and forth with questions and answers. Ouyang Hua was exceptionally enthusiastic, while Pei Yu was like a robot, answering whatever was asked with a perpetually indifferent expression on his face.
Shu Qingqing watched with great interest, very curious about what kind of topic could cause even the slightest change in Pei Yu's expression.
Just as she was thinking this, she saw Ouyang Hua shoot her a look.
??
Shu Qingqing returned a questioning glance.
Ouyang Hua continued to wink and make faces, even lifting her chin to point to the side.
Was she out of words and asking her to help find a topic?
Shu Qingqing was just about to speak when Ouyang Hua suddenly grabbed her shoulder and pulled her aside. "Wasn't I telling you to find an excuse to leave first?"
Huh?
"That meant you wanted me to leave?"
Ouyang Hua: "What else could it mean?"
Shu Qingqing: "The problem is I didn't understand it. We aren't that close, so who could possibly know what you meant?"
Ouyang Hua clicked her tongue. "Forget it, let's not talk about this right now. Just find an excuse and leave first; I have something to talk to him about."
Shu Qingqing didn't have anything to talk about with Pei Yu anyway, so she made up a random excuse and left.
For a moment, only the two of them were left. Ouyang Hua looked at the paintings with him for a while before hesitantly speaking up. "Um, I brought back some coffee beans from Kenya a while ago. Do you want to try them together?"
Pei Yu remained indifferent. "Alright."
Seeing him agree, Ouyang Hua felt her heart leap with joy. She led him to an office on the second floor and busied herself, putting in a lot of effort to brew two cups of coffee and bring them over.
The mugs were beautiful, but the liquid inside was a mess, looking as if it had been beaten up.
"Try it... Uh, I'm still not very good at latte art. I'll practice more, and next time... it will definitely be better than this. I also have a bag of Colombian beans at home; I'll invite you to drink that then." Ouyang Hua stammered out her words, secretly hoping Pei Yu would agree.
But he merely said, "It's fine," and calmly picked up the coffee to take a sip. He didn't say whether he would go or not, let alone make any comment on the taste of the coffee.
"Oh." Ouyang Hua hid the disappointment in her heart and found many topics to chat about, but Pei Yu remained indifferent, only occasionally responding with a few words.
"So, um." Ouyang Hua picked at her fingers. "The day after tomorrow, a friend of mine is also having an art exhibition here. If you're free, do you want to come and support it with me?"
"Sorry, I have other plans the day after tomorrow." Pei Yu set down his coffee just as his phone rang. He took it out, glanced at it, and put it back. "I have something to do, so I'll be leaving first. Thank you for the coffee."
"Ah... oh, okay." Ouyang Hua watched him stand up to leave, leaning back in her chair without moving.
But once his figure disappeared at the top of the stairs, she suddenly jumped up and chased after him. "Pei Yu... wait a minute!"
She grabbed the beans nearby and ran after him.
She finally caught up to him at the entrance of the exhibition hall. Ouyang Hua grabbed the back of Pei Yu's suit, forcing him to turn around. "Um, why don't you take these beans with you? I don't really like drinking this anyway, so it's a waste to keep them."
"Alright, thank you." Pei Yu looked down, reached out to take them, pushed open the glass doors with his long fingers, and quickly disappeared around the corner.
Ouyang Hua stood blankly at the entrance of the exhibition hall for a while before leaving in silence.
After examining the paintings, Feng Xiangdi turned around, only to find Shu Qingqing staring unblinkingly at a specific corner.
"What is it? What did you see to make you so happy?" Noticing her intense focus, Feng Xiangdi walked over and waved a hand in front of her eyes.
"It's nothing." Shu Qingqing shook her head. It was just that she seemed to finally know who Ouyang Hua was in love with.
