Chapter 19 Tong Zhongyuan took off his shirt and was shirtless
She worked overtime until nine in the evening. When she passed the restoration room, it was pitch black. Everyone in the restoration room, including Tong Zhongyuan, had already left. She pressed her fingerprint and the door opened. She quickly walked to the independent restoration room where the rotating bottle was located and took out a pinhole camera from her backpack. She looked around to check the location. If it was too far away, his gestures would not be recorded clearly, but if it was too close, she was afraid that he would notice. She finally chose to install it on the shelf closest to the restoration table and blocked it with a toolbox. She pretended to be Tong Zhongyuan operating the restoration table and watched the real-time video. Although it was not very clear, it should be passable after asking the technician to convert it to high definition.
She couldn't tell Song Suiyang about this; she couldn't keep it secret; it would be exposed. She had to do it. She'd said that the British Museum's ultimate technology was Tong Zhongyuan, while the Shanghai Museum had nothing. She wasn't doing this for Song Suiyang, but for the artifacts in the Shanghai Museum's warehouse, waiting to be brought to light. Thinking of this, she felt there was nothing to worry about; every country has its share of spy wars.
The next day she arrived early for work, holding a book on ethnic costumes in her hands, but she couldn't read a single page. So she just picked up her phone and watched the live broadcast.
The door to the quiet restoration room creaked, and Tong Zhongyuan appeared on screen. He was methodically preparing his work. Once all the tools were ready, he walked to the restoration table. Qin Tian held her breath, even though Tong Zhongyuan couldn't possibly hear her breathing through the camera.
Tong Zhongyuan picked up a scalpel and scraped off the excess plaster from the rotating bottle. After doing this, he put down the scalpel, wiped his hands, and took off his glasses.
Qin Tian propped her phone up in front of her computer, ready to get down to business. Her initial feeling of guilt was fading, and she was enjoying Tong Zhongyuan on the screen like a movie. She picked up her coffee and sipped it slowly. The next second, the coffee spurted onto the computer screen.
Just as she was drinking coffee,.
Qin Tian quickly grabbed a tissue to wipe the screen, but he kept glancing at the phone. It seemed like he wasn't just running in London, he was also into fitness.
After Tong Zhongyuan took off his shirt, he leaned over slightly, supporting himself on the repair table with one hand, while the other hand was invisible underneath. Qin Tian covered his mouth with his tissue! What was he doing? Was he going to take off his pants? Damn the repair table.
Tong Zhongyuan reached out, took out a T-shirt from the bag under the repair table, put it on, and put on his glasses again.
Qin Tian threw away the tissue, breathed a sigh of relief, and sat back in his chair.
Tong Zhongyuan picked up the scraper and smoothed the mouth of the bottle, then stopped again. He glanced at the table, as if looking for something on the table. Not finding it, he walked towards the tool rack. He walked closer and closer, his cold and slightly raised eyes looking directly in the direction of the camera. Qin Tian's heartbeat was getting faster and faster. He didn't dare to open his eyes to look. It was over, he would definitely find out! But he stopped, he looked at the camera steadily. Qin Tian, who was outside the screen, covered her pounding heart. She was not sure if he was looking at the camera or the toolbox. No, she kept comforting herself, the camera she bought was very small, he shouldn't be able to see it.
Sure enough, he looked for a moment and then walked back. Qin Tian clutched his chest and sighed. Great! He hadn't seen it. It was just that she was feeling guilty. At this moment, Tong Zhongyuan in the picture came closer. He reached out and, expressionlessly, took out a piece of wet plaster and pressed it against the camera lens. The screen suddenly went black. Qin Tian stared at the phone screen in a daze, speechless.
After a long while, Qin Tiancai put his phone down and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. It was over. He had realized that this trick couldn't be used again. Given his personality, he would probably check carefully every morning and evening from now on.
At noon, she and Song Suiyang had lunch together, and he asked her, guiltily, if there was anything unusual about Tong Zhongyuan today? For example, was he particularly impatient, giving his colleagues in the restoration room a cold look? Song Suiyang was puzzled and said no, "Although he's not keen on socializing, he's always friendly." He'd treated everyone to afternoon tea the day before yesterday, and brought coffee to his colleagues this morning. He didn't seem to notice any difference from usual.
Qin Tian sighed. What else could she do? She didn't know.
"But I think he is actually quite special to you," said Song Suiyang.
Qin Tian smiled bitterly. Special? If she could make him take the initiative to chat about the weather and the repair progress, then she was probably special indeed.
Song Suiyang said, "He used to buy bottled water at the store on the second floor every morning. That day I thought I'd buy it for him, and on the stairs I saw you enter the coffee shop on the first floor. So he went downstairs to buy coffee. Later I saw that he would drink a cup of coffee every morning."
Qin Tian was startled. She had run into Tong Zhongyuan in a coffee shop a few days ago and had a casual chat. But it was probably just a coincidence. During his time at the London Port, he also had a cup of coffee every morning.
"Maybe it's because he owes me money, so he has to be more enthusiastic towards me." Qin Tian concluded listlessly while lying on the table.
Song Suiyang knew that Qin Tian had helped him with the mobile payment issue, and he sighed: "That's true. This is probably the first time someone like him owes someone."
Qin Tian raised his head. It was the first time he owed someone money. Yes, not only did he owe her money, but He Wu also owed the Shanghai Museum. The Shanghai Museum treated her well back then, but she went to the British Museum, leaving the Shanghai Museum's restoration department without a successor. As the old saying goes, a son pays for a mother's debt. What's wrong with Tong Zhongyuan teaching some technology to the people in the Shanghai Museum? They are from two different countries and they won't compete for jobs. Why be so stingy? Song Suiyang was right. She also felt that with Tong Zhongyuan's aloof personality, he should not like to owe favors to others. Instead of plotting against him secretly, it would be better to talk to him openly about cooperation. Maybe he would agree.
There was no time to lose. At his speed, the Heart Rotating Bottle would be finished in no time. Qin Tian entered the office and sent him a WeChat message.
"Are you free tonight?"
After a while, he replied: "What's up?"
"Take me out for dinner." He had promised to treat her to a meal, and he kept his word. This was the safest excuse, and it wouldn't be rejected.
Sure enough, he said, "Okay, what do you want to eat?"
Qin Tian searched for scenes in his mind. If he wanted to talk about things, Chinese food was not the most suitable time.
“French food.”
He sent an OK gesture.
Qin Tian looked at the dialog box. This was their first conversation since he installed WeChat. It was just a few simple sentences, barely filling up the entire screen.
Tong Zhongyuan put down his phone, picked up sandpaper to grind the edge of the tile, then put it down again. He took out his phone again and looked at the conversation on the screen.
French food. She'd been craving Shanghainese food in England, and French food in Shanghai. While she wasn't exactly a foodie, she knew French food usually required reservations. A last-minute dinner date with him, especially French, seemed like something she had to discuss.
He looked up at the hidden camera behind the toolbox. They'd discovered the camera in the morning, and then they'd talk about having French food in the afternoon—what a coincidence.
He had been here for a week and had a better understanding of the people here. Song Suiyang was a simple-minded person and would never do such a thing. As for the other colleagues in the department, they seemed to be just going through the motions and had no such ambition. Although Qin Tian didn't look like someone who would do such a thing, she was extremely serious about her job. She didn't treat it as a job, but poured her passion into it. When people are fanatical, they will inevitably do things that go against their nature. If nothing unexpected happened, the pinhole camera incident was most likely done by her. But the fact that he sealed the camera without making a fuss had already expressed his opinion. If it was her who did it, what would she say to him?
He sat down on a chair, his chin propped up as he pondered. He opened Dianping.com with one hand. Anyway, he decided to try and arrange a date. It was better than just going in and getting turned away.
Qin Tian said they wanted French food, but there was no way he'd let Tong Zhongyuan find a place. He was new here, so how could he know everything? After all, she was more familiar with the place. She found a French restaurant with moderate reviews and decent prices. To put it bluntly, it was informal French cuisine. Such places were not very popular, and they would say they had tables when they heard they had made a reservation. She didn't expect the taste of French food at this price, but her purpose wasn't to eat, but to chat.
After work, she asked Tong Zhongyuan on WeChat when she could leave. Tong Zhongyuan didn't reply to her. He knocked on her office door and asked, "Are you leaving?"
As they walked out together, they happened to meet Tang Zhixu who was also about to leave. He asked her, "What are we having for dinner? Let's go to the cafeteria together?"
Qin Tian pointed at Tong Zhongyuan: "I have an appointment with Tong Zhongyuan for dinner."
Tang Zhixu glanced at him and said, "Then I'll eat it myself. You guys have fun."
Tong Zhongyuan raised the corner of his mouth to show his appreciation. Tang Zhi nodded slightly and left.
Although Tong Zhongyuan hadn't actively inquired about the matter, he had heard some gossip within the museum these past few days. Qin Tian and Tang Zhixu weren't lovers, but rather partners who had been together since graduation, hence their exceptionally close relationship. Everyone within the museum once considered them a couple, but seven or eight years later, the two remained friends, seemingly unrelated. This was listed as one of the Shanghai Museum's ten unsolved mysteries.
Tong Zhongyuan didn't find it strange. Timing is crucial in relationships, and perhaps their unrequited periods coincided, leading to a mismatch in timing. It was rumored that they were both single right now, so if that was the case, it was only a matter of time before they ended up together.
Qin Tian took out his phone and looked up the route: "I've made an appointment at a restaurant in Jing'an Temple."
Tong Zhongyuan said, "I've made an appointment with one too."
Qin Tian showed the place he found to Tong Zhongyuan. Tong Zhongyuan just glanced at it and said, "Let's go to the one I arranged an appointment with."
The restaurant Tong Zhongyuan had booked was on the 68th floor of the Shanghai Tower. Normally, it would have been impossible to get a reservation that day, but with the economic downturn, he managed to secure the last two seats.
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