Chapter 53 That wasn't a debt, it was between us...
The waiter's words interrupted the discussion in the room. They explained that everyone's meeting here today was purely by chance, and the main purpose was to attend the charity auction. Chen Ci's father glanced at everyone and said, "That's all for today. If Mr. Zhou has time, we'll treat you to dinner another day."
"Okay." Zhou Shilin stood up and walked to Chen Ci's side. "Let's go. We'll bring out some more food later. You're probably still hungry, aren't you?"
After he finished speaking, Chen Ci indeed pulled herself out of her previous emotions and began to think about what else she should eat: "Indeed, I promised to help you eat more on the way back."
"Hmm... I can see you've been working very hard." He opened the door to the lounge and led Chen Ci out.
The auction stage in the center of the banquet hall was already set up, with the dark velvet curtains making the auction items on the stage particularly eye-catching. Zhou Shilin and Shen Ci found a seat near the front, while Shen Ci's parents did not sit with them but at a table next to them.
A round table was set with food, drinks, and a catalog of tonight's auction items. Chen Ci had just picked it up and flipped through it when a professional auctioneer in a tuxedo walked onto the stage, his gaze sweeping over the VIPs below. He cleared his throat and picked up the golden gavel: "Good evening, distinguished guests. Welcome to the 'Starlight Education Assistance' charity auction. All proceeds from tonight's auctions will go towards the construction of schools in impoverished mountainous areas. Thank you for your generous support."
Polite applause rang out from the audience.
Chen Ci flipped through the auction catalog. All the items for tonight's auction were donated by their owners, including jewelry, calligraphy and paintings, and some handicrafts. Zhou Shilin took a sip of the red wine on the table and asked Chen Ci beside him, "Is there anything you like?"
Aside from eating some anime-related content, Chen Ci doesn't usually have any hobbies related to collecting, since such hobbies are quite expensive. However, there is indeed an item at tonight's auction that interests her.
“Look at this.” She handed the open booklet to Zhou Shilin and pointed to lot number eight. “There’s a painting by Qiao Ruiqi.”
Qiao Ruiqi is a rising star among painters. Some time ago, her painting fetched a record-breaking price of 20 million yuan at an auction—a price that remains unmatched among painters of her age.
This incident trended on social media, and Shen Ci also followed the gossip. When she saw the photos of Qiao Ruiqi that netizens had dug up, she understood why such a niche circle could reach such a high level of trending status.
Zhou Shilin had attended many auctions, so he naturally knew Qiao Ruiqi. She had become very popular in wealthy circles in the past two years, and many business owners liked to collect her works.
Even though most of them don't know anything about drawing.
But Chen Ci is different. She studied painting, so it's normal for her to appreciate Qiao Ruiqi's paintings: "So you've also dabbled in oil painting?"
"So-so, the main thing is that she's quite famous."
"Yes, her work has indeed become very popular in the last two years."
Chen Ci nodded emphatically: "Do you know what her English name is?"
“Rich,” Zhou Shilin said, glancing at Chen Ci, “that’s what you call a homophone, much easier to understand than ‘Cheese Rin’.”
“…That’s not the point.” Chen Ci pointed to the signature on Qiao Ruiqi’s paintings. “The point is that she signs every single one of her paintings as ‘rich,’ so everyone says that if you buy her paintings, you’ll get rich.”
Zhou Shilin: "..."
He should have thought of that sooner.
Zhou Shilin had heard the claim that buying Qiao Ruiqi's paintings would make him rich a long time ago. Even many big bosses who didn't understand painting bought her paintings because of this claim.
"In your superstition about getting rich, you have a lot in common with those big bosses."
Chen Ci said, "I hope that I can have something in common with them in terms of personal assets."
Zhou Shilin chuckled and said to her, "Although this painting isn't one of Qiao Ruiqi's most popular works, it bears her name, so there should be quite a few people who want to bid on it."
Chen Ci looked at him and humbly asked for his advice: "When you, President Zhou, raise your paddle to bid, no one else should dare to compete with you, right?"
"..." Zhou Shilin paused for a moment, then looked at her and said, "I remember now, this matter is indeed recorded in 'The Domineering CEO's Gentle Pampering'."
Chen Ci: "..."
How many times must he have read this novel to remember it so clearly!
...Judging from his experience of attending university at the age of sixteen, he may have really only studied it once.
Because Qiao Ruiqi's painting was the eighth lot, Chen Ci focused on eating until it was displayed. The meals served now were full-course meals, much more lavish than the previous buffet. The first seven lots were sold one by one; Zhou Shilin didn't raise his paddle, but Chen Ci's father did bid on a piece of calligraphy.
"Next up is this lot, a work by young artist Qiao Ruiqi, titled 'Three Days of Spring,' with a starting price of 500,000 and a minimum increment of 50,000."
Upon hearing this, Chen Ci immediately raised her head.
The beautifully framed painting "Three Days of Spring" is placed in a specially made glass display case, with soft lighting shining on the paper, making it look like the sunlight of spring.
Many people around were whispering about the painting. It seemed that Zhou Shilin was right; there were quite a few people who wanted to bid on it.
"The auction will now begin."
No sooner had the auctioneer finished speaking than someone raised their paddle to place a bid.
"Five hundred and fifty thousand."
"Six hundred thousand."
"Seven hundred thousand!"
Seeing the fierce competition, Chen Ci immediately became nervous. Although she was there for charity tonight, Zhou Shilin would definitely have to bid on something, but none of the first seven items had exceeded one million. Qiao Ruiqi's painting probably wouldn't even reach one million.
"One million." Zhou Shilin gently raised the bidding paddle in his hand.
His voice wasn't loud, but it paused the previously noisy bidding. Everyone turned to look at him, and after recognizing him as Zhou Shilin from Shijie Group, someone jokingly remarked, "Mr. Zhou also likes Qiao Ruiqi's paintings?"
"Hmm." Zhou Shilin nodded calmly. "It's said that buying it will bring you wealth."
Chen Ci: "..."
Help! Why?!
She lowered her head awkwardly, pretending to drink, avoiding eye contact with anyone. Zhou Shilin, who had said those words, sat there without changing his expression, and no one even laughed at him.
As expected of President Zhou.
After this brief interlude, the auction continued. Although there were still bidders, the pace of bidding slowed significantly, and Zhou Shilin ultimately won the bid for "Three Days of Spring" for 1.3 million.
"I'm so sorry to have troubled Mr. Zhou with all this money again..."
"It's not a waste of money. With Qiao Ruiqi's current net worth, it's already quite good to be able to buy one of her paintings for 1.3 million."
“…” Chen Ci thought for a moment and said, “So my novel ‘The Domineering CEO’s Pampering’ is a work of documentary literature.”
After Zhou Shilin raised his sign, it was clear that no one wanted to compete with him anymore.
After all, no one wants to offend the World Trade Center Group over something like this, especially since tonight is a charity auction.
No one's charity work is incomplete.
"I'll have someone deliver this painting directly to your house later," Zhou Shilin said, then asked Chen Ci, "Before it's delivered, is there any need for any feudal or superstitious rituals?"
“…No need for that.” Chen Ci coughed lightly. “But I’m renting a place. Don’t you think there’s something wrong with hanging a painting worth 1.3 million in a rented apartment?”
Zhou Shilin thought for a moment, then looked at her and said, "So you want to move into my house?"
"..." How did you arrive at this conclusion? :)
"Are you making a wish?" Chen Ci asked him with a smile. Zhou Shilin smiled and added, "Then hang it in your office."
"..." I'm actually feeling a little tempted?
"I'll have someone deliver it to you tomorrow, remember to pick it up."
“…Thank you, Mr. Zhou.” Chen Ci paused, her gaze towards Zhou Shilin becoming strange. “This painting is worth several of the debts I owe you, so you must have some kind of peculiar fetish!”
Zhou Shilin raised an eyebrow, neither admitting nor denying it.
Chen Ci understood: "So that wasn't a debt, but a red line between us."
"...You said it yourself."
Zhou Shilin didn't film anything else after that. After the charity gala, Zhou Shilin said goodbye to Shen Ci's parents before leaving with Shen Ci.
The driver took Chen Ci home first. Chen Ci had also drunk a little alcohol tonight, but she didn't pretend to be drunk to take advantage of Zhou Shilin like she did the previous two times.
Zhou Shilin glanced at Chen Ci sitting next to him and asked, "Are you still upset about your parents' situation?"
Chen Ci snapped out of her reverie, looked at him, and shook her head: "No, I was just thinking that in the eyes of the elders, I might have really been too much of a troublemaker when I was a child."
Zhou Shilin said, "I can't blame you. Blame your classmate for being too weak."
Chen Ci: "..."
If she had President Zhou's mental state, she wouldn't have gotten sick from internal strife.
“Children’s education is not a simple issue. Every child has a different personality, and parents should respect their child’s personality and adopt different methods to teach according to their aptitude. Your mother’s desire to raise you to be a second version of herself is wrong, because you are not her.”
After listening to Zhou Shilin's words, Chen Ci thought for a moment and then said, "With President Zhou being so open-minded, he will surely be able to raise his child very well in the future, right?"
These words made Zhou Shilin pause for a moment: "No, anyone can say nice things, but if I really had a child, I can't guarantee that I could always keep a normal mindset."
Chen Ci looked at him: "It's rare that even President Zhou has things he finds difficult, but your parents must have had it pretty easy raising you, right?"
Zhou Shilin said, "A child like me is a rare find."
"……"OK.
The next day, when Wu Junnan came to work, he happened to see Zhou Shilin sending someone to deliver a painting to Chen Ci.
A crowd of onlookers had gathered in front of Chen Ci's office. Wu Junnan walked up to them and called out, "What are you looking at? Aren't you going to work?"
Hearing his voice, Yang Shuang turned around and glanced at Wu Junnan: "President Wu, President Zhou just sent someone to deliver a painting to President Chen, and it's being installed now."
"What painting?" Wu Junnan squeezed in, also wanting to see the painting that President Zhou had specially sent over. "Is it the one on the wall?"
"Yes, do you know this painter? Her name is Qiao Ruiqi."
Wu Junnan usually associates with other business people, and he had indeed heard of Qiao Ruiqi's name: "I know that many bosses are now following the trend and love to collect her paintings, just like Master Ji's stone carvings."
"As expected of President Wu, you know quite a lot," Yang Shuang said to him. "This painting was painted by Qiao Ruiqi."
A while ago, President Zhou was sending flowers to President Shen's office every day. President Shen's office could have been a flower shop. Now that they've finally stopped sending flowers, they unexpectedly sent a painting by a famous artist.
Just as Yang Shuang finished speaking, the painting in the office was hung up. The staff stepped aside, and Wu Junnan saw the signature "rich" on the oil painting: "It really is a painting by Qiao Ruiqi."
Wu Junnan went into Chen Ci's office and sent everyone else back to their workstations. After the installation staff left, Wu Junnan walked over to Chen Ci and they looked up at the painting together: "Did President Zhou give this to you? How much did it cost?"
Chen Ci said, "Talking about money is vulgar. This was a charity auction last night. The money donated by President Zhou is all for the children."
"Oh..." Wu Junnan nodded thoughtfully, "So how much money did our CEO Zhou donate to the children?"
"One million three hundred thousand."
Wu Junnan: "..."
He doesn't even have a painting worth over a million in his office!
"This is just one instance. Mr. Zhou participates in several charity events like this every year."
"Oh." Wu Junnan smiled and left.
He shouldn't have come to the company today. Wouldn't it have been better for him to stay at the hospital with his wife and children?
Chen Ci was suddenly left alone in her office. She picked up her phone, took a picture of the painting hanging on the wall, and sent it to Zhou Shilin: "Reporting to President Zhou, the painting has been delivered safely. It's a perfect match for my office!"
Zhou Shilin: Not bad, very good-looking.
Chen Ci: Thank you for the gift, Mr. Zhou. [180-degree bow.jpg]
Zhou Shilin: You're welcome. I wish President Shen a prosperous future.
Chen Ci: If Mr. Zhou is free this weekend, please come to my house for dinner. I will cook for you myself.
Zhou Shilin: ?
He still remembers that Chen Ci made an omelet rice dish herself, but she couldn't even eat it.
Zhou Shilin: You probably can't cook.
Chen Ci: No, after thinking it over, I realized that only by cooking for you myself can I truly express my gratitude to President Zhou.
Zhou Shilin: ...If you wanted to trick me into going to your house, you didn't need to come up with such a vicious excuse.
Chen Ci: "..."
He actually figured it out, how infuriating!
Zhou Shilin: If you really want to cook, come to my house. My kitchen is bigger and you'll have more room to cook.
Sinking porcelain: ?
Chenci: When you say "performance", do you mean the proper kind of performance?
Zhou Shilin: ...
Zhou Shilin: If you like, anything unconventional is fine too.
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