Miss you
Wen Zheng stood up, threw the crowbar aside, and glanced at the girl next to him. Seeing her confused look, he explained, "You didn't find the wrong location. It's just that when the government replanned this area, they built the textile factory directly above the art gallery."
“I compared it with the original topographic map and found the exact location of the art gallery.”
He raised his chin towards the ground and said, "Let's go down and take a look?"
Xia Tangyue nodded hesitantly, took out her cell phone and turned on the flashlight. Unexpectedly, Wen Zheng had already jumped down neatly and landed steadily on the platform below. He opened his arms to her: "It's a bit high, I'll catch you."
She glanced down, the dark entrance was like the mouth of an animal, and she could vaguely see the rusty iron ladder disappearing into the darkness. Her throat tightened and she unconsciously clenched her phone.
She was afraid of the dark, let alone a dark basement like this.
Pursing her lips, Xia Tangyue carefully moved to the edge of the cave, stretched her feet down first, and then held Wen Zheng's hand. He exerted force with his arms and pulled her whole body down, holding her up steadily. The feeling of weightlessness made her instinctively wrap her arms around his neck, and then he put her on the ground.
"Thank you." Xia Tangyue let out a long breath.
The air in the basement was damp and cold, mixed with the smell of rust and dust.
She held her breath and swept the flashlight across the mottled wall. Those forgotten paintings had long since faded and deformed, with mold spots all over the canvas, like festering faces, emitting waves of stale smells.
Xia Tangyue suppressed the churning in her stomach and with trembling fingertips she flicked open the rotten picture frames one by one to confirm whether they were the paintings she was looking for.
Suddenly, when the flashlight passed through the corner of the wall, a strange blue color was faintly visible in the mold.
Her heart skipped a beat, and she stumbled over without caring about the mess on the ground - it was the edge of a painting frame that was half exposed outside the waterproof cloth, and the cobalt blue paint was shining even in the dark.
She stood in front of the painting, took out gloves from her bag, put them on, and peeled off the dust sheet. However, after years of sealing, the dust sheet had become stuck to the frame.
"Mr. Wen!" Xia Tangyue's voice changed due to excitement: "Do you have a knife?"
Wen Zheng rushed over in two steps, and cut through the layers of waterproof cloth with his saber. As the cloth peeled off, the true appearance of "Butterfly Reflection" finally reappeared - in the picture, a blue-winged swallowtail butterfly landed on the broken mirror, and the scales on its wings reflected a strange brilliance under the light.
Xia Tangyue was stunned, the enchanting blue light was reflected in her pupils.
The classic painting spanning a century is now presented before her eyes. The passage of time has cast a shadow on the painting, but it has not diminished its gorgeous colors at all.
Feelings of excitement, relief, etc. surged into her heart instantly. Xia Tangyue's eyes were slightly red, and the pressure accumulated during this period finally disappeared when she saw this painting.
"So this is what you are looking for." Wen Zheng's voice was low and gentle, causing a slight echo in the closed basement.
His slender figure stood in front of the painting, and the cobalt blue halo wandered along his tall nose, lingered for a moment on his slightly pursed thin lips, slid across his well-defined jaw, and finally flowed over his Adam's apple that rolled up and down.
"Yeah." Xia Tangyue turned around and faced him. Thinking of everything that happened today, she looked at him sincerely and said, "Thank you very much. If it weren't for you, I might not have found this painting at all."
She held her chest and breathed a sigh of relief, and continued, "This painting is so important to me. I finally found it."
Wen Zheng raised the corners of his lips, his eyes moist and soft. He stepped onto the rusty iron stairs next to him, and after confirming that it could bear his weight, he moved the stairs to the entrance of the cave and waved to her: "Thank you later, go up first."
The smell in the cave was too strong, and this was exactly what Xia Tangyue was thinking.
She walked up the stairs to the ground floor, called Xina, told her that the painting had been found, and asked her to bring a team here immediately to identify and maintain the painting.
Wen Zheng waited for her silently.
But Xia Tangyue was worried that the night might be too long and he didn't dare to leave easily. He chose to wait here for Xi Na to come.
"Are you sure you want to stay here alone?" Wen Zheng said.
"Yeah." Xia Tangyue found a clean place to sit down, brushed the dust off his trouser legs, and tied up his scattered long hair.
"To restore the painting on site, I have to be here to make sure nothing goes wrong."
She looked down at her phone screen and saw that it was already four o'clock in the afternoon. Realizing that she had delayed Wen Zheng's work for a long time, she felt guilty.
"Mr. Wen, I'm really sorry to bother you today. You must have your own things to deal with, and I can handle the rest myself." She paused and added sincerely, "I will definitely repay this favor when I finish dealing with things here."
Wen Zheng crossed his arms calmly, showing his usual smile: "You're welcome."
He didn't say anything else. He leaned against the wall opposite her, took out his cell phone and started playing with it.
Xia Tangyue: “?”
"Mr. Wen?"
Wen Zheng raised his eyebrows and glanced at her, saying nonchalantly: "I'll wait with you."
Xia Tangyue: “…”
To be honest, it's much better to have someone accompany her than to wait here alone, and she is also afraid that she will meet another person who will intercept her. If she can't beat the other person in a 1V1, she can let Wen Zheng take over.
At first, the two looked at each other in silence. Later, I don't know who started it, but they started chatting.
Wen Zheng: "Are you a painter or an exhibition agent?"
Xia Tangyue: "Almost. I am a curator and I only curate for my own art museum."
"I see. Where is your art gallery?"
"In Jing City, have you ever been there?"
"Not only have I been there, I also worked in that city for many years and just came back here last year."
"Is that so... Isn't Beijing good enough? Why don't you come back here and open a B&B?"
Wen Zheng was silent for a long time, and just when Xia Tangyue thought he would not answer, he spoke.
"After my mother passed away due to illness last year, I have been in a bad mood. It just so happens that Zhuang Chen is going to take the college entrance examination. This child grew up with my mother. I wanted to come back to accompany him through this important stage and sort out my mood at the same time."
"My mother left this B&B to me. My brother and I lived here since we were young. After she passed away, I renovated it and continued the business to fulfill her wish."
Xia Tangyue held his chin with both hands and listened quietly to Wen Zheng's words. The heavy topic made the air a little quieter.
She quickly changed the subject: "My art gallery is called Zhijian. When you come to Beijing in the future, tell me and I will take you to the art gallery and treat you to a meal."
Wen Zheng smiled: "Okay."
Time passed minute by minute. After the two teamed up to play a few games while waiting, Xina brought her people to the scene.
Looking at Wen Zheng's departing back, Xi Na tugged at Xia Tangyue's sleeve curiously.
"Hey, who is that person?"
Xia Tangyue watched Wen Zheng leave on his motorcycle and told her what had happened in the past two days.
"Oh my god!" Xina let out a small exclamation, her big eyes full of ridicule.
"You mean, the handsome guy from 188 not only cooks for you, but also accompanies you to take risks in this shabby warehouse?"
Xi Na's words sounded normal, but why did it feel so awkward? Xia Tangyue retorted: "It's not as exaggerated as you say. This is just normal help."
Xi Na: "So how do you plan to repay this favor?"
Xia Tangyue shook her head. She didn't know. She hadn't thought it through. Treating him to a meal always felt too light. After all, he had helped her so much...
Xina half-knelt on the ground, put on gloves, took out the gel cleaner, and prepared to give the painting a preliminary cleaning, sighing regretfully at Xia Tangyue.
Xia Tangyue looked at her amusedly: "What's wrong?"
Xi Na said seriously: "Such a handsome guy was actually let go by you, I gave you the chance but you didn't use it!"
"Get to work." Xia Tangyue patted her shoulder and pushed her to the front of the screen.
Xi Na studied under a master of northern cultural relics and has been surrounded by antiques since childhood. Now she leads a team on her own to carry out the restoration work of antiques. She and Xia Tangyue have been friends since childhood and they can talk about anything.
Xia Tangyuehou was supervising on the side, and the tall figure of the man suddenly flashed in her mind. The warm breath when he spoke seemed to still linger in her ears.
She closed her eyes and opened them again, clearing her mind.
After working until late at night, the identification results came out and the preliminary restoration work was completed.
Xia Tangyue loaded the paintings onto a truck and planned to take them back to Beijing overnight. He also sent an email to the investor, Furen Group, about the progress of the work, informing the contact person that "Butterfly Reflections" had been found and that the "Dream of the Butterfly" painting exhibition could be held as scheduled.
"I'm tired." Xina leaned against the wall with her back bent, half closing her eyes, looking drowsy.
After Xia Tangyue said goodbye to the other restorers one by one, he came to Xina and took her arm, "Okay, okay, I'll treat you to a big meal tomorrow when you wake up."
Xi Na straightened up and rubbed her back: “Hurry up and find a place for me to take a shower and sleep. I’m about to vomit from exhaustion.”
Xia Tangyue called a car and returned to the B&B with Xi Na. They hadn't seen each other for a long time, and wanted to take this opportunity to have a good chat, so Xi Na didn't follow the other members of the restoration team to stay elsewhere.
The car stopped in front of the door.
As soon as he got off the car, the slender black figure was hidden in the darkness.
Xia Tangyue was stunned for a moment and found that it was Wen Zheng in a black T-shirt standing in the corridor. The dim street lights highlighted his deep eyebrows.
For some reason, a strange idea suddenly occurred to her.
Wen Zheng is waiting for her.
"Are you done with your work?" His tone was natural, as if he was asking if anyone had eaten, and no special emotion could be heard.
Xia Tangyue nodded slightly and pulled Xi Na over: "This is my friend, she will stay in my room tonight."
"Yeah." Wen Zheng opened the door and stepped aside to let them go in first.
Xia Tangyue couldn't help but turned around and said to him: "You should go to bed early."
"good."
After entering the elevator, Xi Na winked at Xia Tangyue and said, "Girl, are you... aroused?"
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