Chapter 12: Confrontation!
Shen Yao sighed heavily: “Qiao Qiao, it seems that you don’t pay attention to gossip at all, no wonder you are engaged in such an old-fashioned job.”
Song Qiao's eyes widened, and he retorted unconvincedly: "Chen Yao, I am passing on the intangible cultural heritage, okay? This is not old-fashioned, but a very meaningful job."
Chen Yao compromised immediately and said, "Okay, okay, I am blind and don't understand your mother-of-pearl craftsmanship. I'd better discuss today's gossip with you."
After Chen Yao finished speaking, she added excitedly: "As soon as this incident broke out, it quickly made the front page of entertainment news. Within two hours of the incident breaking out, there were more than 10,000 hot posts discussing this incident, and more than a million comments. Xie Yanli is worthy of being the prince of the Beijing circle. His influence is comparable to that of a first-tier star."
Song Qiao immediately thought of the party last night. She bit her lip and said with a complicated expression, "This news must be fake. Maybe someone just said it casually, and someone took it seriously."
Chen Yao, however, put on a confident look: "Who has the guts to spread rumors about Xie Yanli with this kind of thing? This thing is definitely not groundless, maybe it is true."
Just as Song Qiao was about to explain to Chen Yao, Chen Yao said to herself, "Qiao Qiao, you said Xie Yanli has both money and looks. He is so outstanding and has never had any gossip leaked. It's suspicious to think about it. It seems that he really may not be good at that."
Song Qiao pursed his lips and retorted, "He has been abroad all these years. Even if he has a girlfriend, who would know? He has only been back for a short time."
After a moment of silence, Chen Yao suddenly asked, "Qiao Qiao, when you two were dating, did he ever have any thoughts about you in that way?"
Song Qiao raised her voice unconsciously and blurted out, "Yaoyao, how is that possible? We were only so old at that time, and there was nothing innocent between him and me."
Seeing Song Qiao was emotional, Chen Yao immediately changed the subject: "Okay, Qiao Qiao, I was talking nonsense. By the way, how was your conversation with Chen Yang and his troublesome mother yesterday?"
Song Qiao's eyes darkened and he told her what happened last night.
This time it was Chen Yao's turn to get emotional. She put her hands on her hips and said indignantly, "Qiao Qiao, you can't find anything, why do you have to hang yourself on this tree? I think even if you don't give a thank you banquet, you are still ten thousand times better than him. Can you stop being so stubborn? Otherwise, you won't have anywhere to cry after you get married."
Song Qiao explained: "Although Chen Yang's mother is not very good, Chen Yang treats me very well. I think it is not easy for him to be caught between the two of us women. Anyway, I am not marrying his mother. I will live with Chen Yang in the future."
Chen Yao sighed deeply, with a look of disappointment on her face.
She patiently explained, "Qiao Qiao, you two haven't gotten married yet. How could he trick you home if he doesn't treat you well? You can be attracted by a person's money and looks, but you can't be attracted by a person's kindness. Being nice to you is fake and will change in the future. Men's words are deceiving. Beautiful women's misfortunes start when they feel sorry for a man. You should break up with him quickly."
Song Qiao knew that Chen Yao was prejudiced against Chen Yang, so in order not to arouse Chen Yao's further anger, she chose to remain silent.
Chen Yao could see that Song Qiao had made up her mind, so she said helplessly, "Since you won't listen to me, forget it. I have to get busy with work. Let's talk later."
After Chen Yao hung up the phone, Song Qiao turned on her phone and she quickly saw the news about Xie Yanli. The internet was really buzzing with this news and netizens' complaints were varied, with all kinds of comments.
Generally speaking, netizens are roughly divided into two camps. Most of them think that this is a business war between rivals, and they deliberately spread rumors to discredit Xie Yanli's image. A small number of people think that someone is using Xie Yanli to attract attention and make profits.
Song Qiao saw that all netizens were very rational, and she felt less uneasy. She turned around, put down her phone, and went to take care of the order from the mysterious customer.
This time, the mysterious customer ordered a mother-of-pearl jewelry box made of white agarwood from Nha Trang, Vietnam.
Kynam is a high-quality variety of agarwood and the most expensive wood. Its growth process is complex and long, so it is extremely precious and is known as the "king of incense."
Agarwood is known as the "natural medicine bag" in the medical field. It has the effects of clearing the mind, calming the nerves, relieving stress and improving sleep.
Mother-of-pearl is a traditional handicraft, which is made by grinding, polishing and cutting snail shells to form very exquisite patterns and inlay them on handicrafts. Mother-of-pearl is China's intangible cultural heritage.
She heard from her teacher Zhou that the mother-of-pearl craft originated in the Shang and Zhou dynasties and flourished in the Tang and Song dynasties. Although the mother-of-pearl craft has a long history and rich cultural connotations in China, it began to decline in the late Qing Dynasty and was almost lost.
Every time she saw the sad look on Teacher Zhou's face when he was worried that this craft would have no successors, she was deeply touched.
She found that few people around her were interested in mother-of-pearl and knew much about it. Every time she saw mother-of-pearl crafts made by designers from other countries in magazines, she would become more determined to learn this craft well. She wanted to make China's mother-of-pearl craft shine as well.
Song Qiao started learning mother-of-pearl in college. Except for class time, she spent all her time with Teacher Zhou, including winter and summer vacations. After learning this, she didn't have much time to date Chen Yang. Fortunately, Chen Yang was supportive and tolerant enough for her.
When she became an apprentice, the old man was both happy and worried. He was afraid that she would not be able to persevere because the mother-of-pearl craft requires many complicated processes, and most young people nowadays are impatient and cannot endure hardship.
Only after she had studied with him diligently for a year did Master Zhou consider that she had passed his assessment, and he began to teach her all of his skills with great care.
The reason why Song Qiao was interested in mother-of-pearl was because she had received a mother-of-pearl jewelry box from Bai Shuyu when she was a child. She thought it was very beautiful and liked it very much. At that time, the seed of wanting to learn the mother-of-pearl craft was planted in her heart.
Song Qiao stayed in the operating room for five or six hours until she was hungry. She stopped and then left the operating room after cleaning herself.
She picked up her phone and was about to go out to eat something when she saw five or six missed calls from Chen Yang.
She called immediately and found out that Chen Yang was busy with work and had no time to accompany Xu Qin. He wanted her to take Xu Qin around and improve their relationship.
Song Qiao was reluctant at first, but she couldn't resist Chen Yang's nagging, and she didn't want to spoil his fun, so she nodded and agreed.
After hanging up the phone, Song Qiao looked at the time. It was already past one in the afternoon, so she gritted her teeth and called Xu Qin.
Song Qiao guessed that perhaps Chen Yang had communicated with Xu Qin in advance, and Xu Qin's attitude was pretty good. Xu Qin asked her to have dinner at World Trade Center Avenue.
Song Qiao agreed. She told her employees and took a taxi straight to the World Trade Center. When she hurried to the agreed location, she saw Lin Shiyu following Xu Qin.
The two of them were hugging each other's arms, looking very close. If you didn't know them, you would think they were mother and mother.
She didn't know Lin Shiyu was there too. She paused for a moment, and then she saw Lin Shiyu smiling at her and saying, "Song Qiao, I happen to have time today. Do you mind if I go shopping with you and Aunt Xu?"
Before Song Qiao could say anything, Xu Qin patted Lin Shiyu's hand and said gently, "Shiyu, what are you talking about? I was the one who asked you to accompany me shopping, so why are you embarrassed? Shiyu, you must be hungry. Let's go eat."
After Xu Qin finished talking to Lin Shiyu, she walked straight ahead without even looking at Song Qiao.
Song Qiao was used to it, so she followed them without caring.
Not long after they walked, Xu Qin stopped. She turned to look at Song Qiao and said, "Song Qiao, I heard that this restaurant is very popular. Let's eat here. I've just been waiting for you for a long time and I'm tired. Shiyu and I will sit on the chairs and wait for you. You go and queue up."
Song Qiao looked up at the line of people waiting in line for the Qinghe Feast that stretched almost the entire street. She frowned. She had just worked for a long time and was now tired and hungry. She explained, "Auntie, this restaurant is really popular, but it's too hard to make a reservation. I don't think I can get a table even if I wait in line for two hours. Why don't we go to another restaurant? I'll bring you here again when we have the chance."
Xu Qin's face suddenly turned cold: "Song Qiao, it's rare for me to come to Beijing, and you're just perfunctory to me like this? What if I say I want to eat in this restaurant today, will you agree?"
Song Qiao understood that Xu Qin was deliberately looking for trouble with her, so she said calmly, "Auntie, I've been working for half a day, and I'm not only hungry, but I'm also very tired. If you insist on eating here, then you can just queue up here."
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