SD Chapter 7: Chance Encounter

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Tao Mingzhuo did not expect that Jing Ci would attack him so directly and openly.

He didn't seem to care that the people standing next to him were all his subordinates. Although the way he asked was polite, it was also generous and direct.

Tao Mingzhuo suddenly sweated like rain.

Jing Ci said "as a friend", so Tao Mingzhuo always felt that if he had refused at that time, he would probably look even weirder in the eyes of others.

So at that time, he said "Okay" blankly, took out his mobile phone and gave his WeChat ID.

After adding WeChat and drinking fruit tea, Tao Mingzhuo finally recovered after arriving home.

He quickly took out his cell phone and typed quickly, deciding to block the road in advance.

He directly edited a bunch of words and sent them to Jing Ci: "Well, I'm sorry, I need to help my family with some things this weekend, so I may not be able to spare any time."

After a while, Jing Ci replied: "It's okay. Let's make an appointment again when we have the chance."

Tao Mingzhuo exhaled.

He flipped through it casually and found that what Jing Ci gave him should also be his own private WeChat account. His circle of friends is very clean. Currently, there is only one video visible within the allowed viewing range, and the caption is "I really envy you."

Clicking on the video, I found a huge Alaskan, wagging its tail happily and purring as it ate the food in the dog bowl.

Tao Mingzhuo was a little confused because he didn't understand what was enviable about a dog eating, but he didn't think much about it and just closed his phone.

Tao Mingzhuo really didn't lie to Jing Ci. He was really busy on the weekend.

Tao Mingzhuo's parents ran a small restaurant, and those who were close to the water were first served. Tao Mingzhuo sat in front of the cashier of his restaurant with his rice bowl in his arms every day since he was a child, stuffing freshly cooked rice into his mouth while doing homework. It hasn't fallen off at all.

Tao Mingzhuo has a biological sister, Tao Xue, who is three years older than him. The two have been quarreling since childhood, but both siblings showed their extraordinary artistic talents at the same time when they were young.

Studying art costs money, but their parents are open-minded and feel that since the family has some conditions, it will be worth it if their children like it.

They thought about it and thought that if the siblings are successful in the future, they can be famous painters and hold art exhibitions. If not, it would be good to become teachers and teach others to paint, which would also give them face to the outside world.

As a result, after graduating from college, Tao Xue, who loves makeup and dressing up, opened a small nail salon directly.

Tao Mingzhuo's parents felt a little regretful at the time, but still hoped that Tao Mingzhuo, the second oldest, would be able to gain some ground.

Unexpectedly, Tao Mingzhuo was very interested in game design. His portfolio was favored by many major manufacturers. After graduation, he turned to drawing game villains.

At that time, the mood of the two elders was that when they saw the two siblings coming home during the holidays, they wanted to kick them out one by one.

Fortunately, in the past few years, the game projects that Tao Mingzhuo participated in have been developed, and the business of Tao Xue's nail salon has also been booming. Seeing that both of them can support themselves, they don't say anything anymore.

Tao Xue got married two years ago and became pregnant not long ago. Tao Mingzhuo goes to her nail salon every weekend to help.

After changing to a larger store at the end of last year, Tao Xue decided to start some new businesses. The store has dual uses. The lobby is used for manicures, and the two small rooms inside are used as studios to teach customers to paint some simple small oil paintings. .

Shops like this are great for spending time and are very popular with women of all ages.

As soon as Tao Mingzhuo entered the store today, he heard Tao Xue shouting at a loud voice: "Hurry up, Xiao Hu, make a gradient cat-eye extension for this beauty!"

He turned around and saw Tao Mingzhuo at the door. , Tao Xue immediately breathed a sigh of relief, ran over and pushed him into the store: "You guys are finally here. Sister Li is here and keeps asking you where you are."

Tao Mingzhuo saw that she was very nervous Running around with his stomach pounding, he felt frightened: "Ancestor, please stop worrying about others. Can you sit down and rest by yourself first?"

Tao Mingzhuo naturally doesn't know how to do manicures. He comes to the shop every weekend, mainly for Help receive some guests who choose oil painting projects.

Most of these customers have zero experience, so in addition to giving some basic guidance, Tao Mingzhuo also has a very important role, which is to help them "touch up" a few strokes at the end.

In most cases, these few strokes do not serve as icing on the cake, but as a way to “bring the dead back to life.”

The "Sister Li" in Tao Xue's mouth is called Li Lan. She is an old customer of the store and a truly rich aunt.

This aunt has a cheerful and bold personality. She once complained about why the store’s recharge card limit is only 8888. She only chooses the most expensive Japanese nail polish glue for manicures and only offers one-on-one VIP tutoring for oil painting.

All in all, he is a customer with a bad temper but also fun to talk to.

As soon as Tao Mingzhuo entered the house today, he saw her wearing a small light pink Chanel suit, holding a pen and scribbling on the canvas.

Tao Mingzhuo's eyelids twitched, and he quickly took a small apron and put it on himself, then took another one and trotted all the way to Li Lan's side.

"Sister, I'm begging you." Tao Mingzhuo said, "If you don't feel sorry for your clothes, I will. Put them on quickly."

Li Lan put on the apron with some reluctance and said, "What's the point? If it's dirty, just put it on again." Why don't you buy a new one? Come and see for me, how did I paint today?"

Li Lan chose to paint maple trees and rivers today. Tao Mingzhuo took a closer look and almost thought he saw a pool of blood in the underworld.

But he still boasted without blushing: "The painting is really atmospheric. The red of the maple leaves is reflected in the lake. Your color sense has always been very good, but I can help you deal with some small details. How about it?"

Li Lan was very impressed by this and threw the pen to him: "You go ahead and draw, I just need to take a rest."

"How about you help me change a few more strokes today? I feel like I'm painting a little too much. "It's so beautiful." Li Lan thought for a moment and then said, "My youngest son came to pick me

up today. I plan to let him stay at my home. The child just returned to China a while ago and the house is quite empty." She smiled and said: "I promise to complete the task."

Every time Li Lan mentioned her child, her voice would soften. She began to say to Tao Mingzhuo in a half-complaining and half-showing tone: "Let me tell you, my youngest son He has a very discerning eye, not just for painting. He always says that I wear too fancy clothes. How could he know that this is the only way to look good?"

Tao Mingzhuo suppressed a smile and said, "Yeah, I look good."

Li Lan added: "But don't tell me, I asked my youngest son to choose the outfit I'm wearing today. It's a bit plain, but it does look pretty, right?"

Tao Mingzhuo: "Yeah Well, it looks good."

Li Lan was satisfied. She lowered her head and checked her phone for a while, then suddenly said "Oh, my son is here, he should be in your lobby."

Li Lan took a look at Tao Mingzhuo's finished painting. , said happily: "I'm going to take pictures of the painting first. There should be very little money left in the card. You go to the hall to find my son and ask him to fill it up for me first."

On the way to the hall, Tao Mingzhuo Li Lan's "my son, my son" was still filling his mind, and he silently prayed for this unlucky little son in his heart for a few seconds.

However, after turning a corner, Tao Mingzhuo had just walked to the manicure area in the lobby when he saw Jing Ci standing at the door, staring thoughtfully at the pink price list on the wall.

They were the only two breathing men in the store at the moment, so the moment their eyes met, Tao Mingzhuo, who was wearing a pink apron, just stood there dumbfounded: "...Are you the youngest son?"

Jing Ci: "... ...?"

Jing Ci was obviously a little surprised.

Tao Xue had just seen off a guest and saw the two of them confronting each other. She asked curiously: "What's wrong, Tao Mingzhuo? Do you know someone?"

Before Tao Mingzhuo could say anything, Jing Ci said gently He said: "It's a friend."

Tao Mingzhuo: "It's Sister Li's son, a... colleague of my company, Jing Ci."

Tao Xue said "ah" and said in surprise: "What a coincidence."

Tao Mingzhuo deliberately She didn't say that Jing Ci was her boss, just because she was afraid that Tao Xue would be too enthusiastic to win over Jing Ci if she found out.

It turned out that Tao Xue's brain circuit was different. Seeing that Jing Ci was young, handsome and from a good family, she thought it would be good for her unlucky brother to make more such friends. Then he remembered

that Li Lan always patronized the store's business, and he became even more enthusiastic for a moment: "Hey, Xiaojing, have you eaten? We happen to be ordering takeout. If you don't mind, would you like to have lunch together?"

The moment he said "Xiao Jing", Tao Mingzhuo really went crazy. What made him even more panicked was that he clearly saw Jing Ci's eyes light up slightly.

Tao Mingzhuo really wanted to tell Tao Xue that he had had many lunches with Jing Ci before this, and the current situation was special. If he continued to eat, something might really happen.

He had a splitting headache and tried to interrupt Tao Xue's "casting": "Sister, I'm here to pick someone up, okay? I have something to do and I have to leave soon -"

Jing Ci: "Okay."

Tao Mingzhuo: " ...?"

After Tao Mingzhuo's prompting, Tao Xue realized her familiarity: "Is it okay? Isn't it going to delay your business?"

Jing Ci smiled: "It's okay, the driver can take it. My mother is going back."

"It's my fault." He said.

Tao Xue said happily: "No, no! No trouble, no trouble!"

Tao Mingzhuo felt that his breathing was about to stop.

He hesitated for a moment, quickly pulled Jing Ci aside, and pretended to be kind and persuaded: "That...it's okay. You don't have to be embarrassed to reject my sister just because she said it. My sister is a familiar person. Besides, you have nothing to do in this store, so it would be boring to wait for takeout, right?"

Sure enough, he saw Jing Ci shaking his head and saying, "It doesn't matter, it won't be boring."

Tao Mingzhuo: "... So what can you do here?"

Tao Mingzhuo felt that Jing Ci was more clingy than he thought.

He also realized that his tone just now seemed a bit harsh, mainly because Tao Mingzhuo did not expect Jing Ci to be so proactive and seize every opportunity to get along with him without letting go.

Tao Mingzhuo felt a little melancholy, but in fact, after the shocks of the past few days, he had begun to feel that it was not so unreasonable for things to develop like this.

Tao Mingzhuo paused for a moment: "I don't mean anything else, just..."

Jing Ci was not angry.

He just thought about it for a moment, then looked at Tao Mingzhuo and asked in a warm voice: "Do you still have room for the oil painting project here? My mother mentioned it many times before, so I also want to try it."

Tao Mingzhuo coughed. He said: "Our oil painting projects here require reservations, because the paints have to be prepared in advance, and today is the weekend, there are many guests, so there should be no vacancies."

Jing Ci was quiet for a moment and nodded.

He seemed a little disappointed, but in the end he said to Tao Mingzhuo in a good temper: "It doesn't matter, your business is very good, I understand."

Tao Mingzhuo breathed a sigh of relief, and he felt that he should have considered all possibilities Sex is blocked.

He just didn't know why, but he felt that Jing Ci was obviously very disappointed, but his tone was still soft and gentle when talking to him, and he suddenly felt a little guilty in his heart.

"But I think you still have a lot of nail polish in the cabinet," but the next second, Tao Mingzhuo heard Jing Ci say, "Then I'll do a manicure."

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