Campus Ace Girl-Chapter 773 - 774: Sleeping on the sofa, relentlessly pestering
Early in the morning, Song Jia, the first to wake up, headed downstairs in her sleepwear to get a bottle of milk.
She was not fully awake yet, sipping her milk as she sat on the sofa, intending to watch the early morning news. However, as she sat down, she sat on someone. Startled, she turned and saw it was Chen Ming.
Chen Ming was still groggy. He’d had a rough night. His mind was troubled, but he hadn’t dared to go upstairs and disturb her. He had uncomfortably suppressed his worries all night and only managed to doze off around four or five in the morning. Then, he was suddenly jolted awake when she sat on him.
When he opened his eyes, it was Song Jia.
She let out a scream and tried to run, but Chen Ming’s strong hands immediately gripped her. His voice was hoarse as he said, "Don’t move."
Song Jia wasn’t some delicate maiden. She immediately twisted free and moved to the opposite seat.
She glared at him. "What are you doing in my house?"
Chen Ming sat up, scratching his head. "I came to explain."
Song Jia grabbed the remote, turned on the TV, and said nonchalantly, "Explain what? There’s nothing to explain. I’m not your wife."
Chen Ming said straightforwardly, "But in my heart, I feel responsible for you."
"You should be responsible for your childhood sweetheart." Song Jia took a sip of her milk, then looked at him with a slight smile. "Right, why didn’t you take her home? Did she play you for a fool?"
She continued with biting sarcasm, "Then again, how could she be interested in someone like you? Her sights are set on King Jingyao."
Chen Ming’s pride took a hit, not because of Jiang Chaoge, but because of Song Jia’s words.
He stared at her, asking directly, "What about you? Are you also only interested in men with power and status?"
Song Jia thought of Bo Qing.
She glanced at Chen Ming and sneered, "That’s right, I’m that kind of woman too. So, you don’t need to pester me anymore."
Chen Ming felt a sharp pang.
He knew she had always liked Bo Qing; everyone in Beicheng knew...
He also knew he couldn’t compare to Bo Qing in looks, temperament, or knowledge. To put it bluntly, he was just a crude man. Relying on that one night to keep pestering her was indeed overestimating himself.
Chen Ming rubbed his rough hands together and finally said after a long pause, "Don’t talk about yourself like that."
He didn’t know what else to say, so he said quietly, "I should go now."
Song Jia ignored him, sitting cross-legged on the sofa, drinking her milk, and watching the news.
She was very slim and also fair-skinned. He couldn’t imagine what kind of diet she had to maintain such a figure; she just seemed excessively slender.
He left. A moment later, Song Jia heard the sound of a car starting outside, knowing he had gone.
Her pretty face darkened.
This idiot! This jerk!
She randomly flipped through the TV channels, not knowing why she was so angry.
About twenty minutes later, the sound of a car was heard in the courtyard again. A moment later, Chen Ming came in holding a breakfast he had bought, placed it on the coffee table, and said, "It’s not good to drink milk on an empty stomach."
Song Jia glanced at him.
He looked somewhat flustered. "I’m leaving." With that, he practically fled.
「Upstairs.」
Shen Congwen and Zhou Yunchen were both awake.
Shen Congwen turned her head. "Was that Chen Ming?"
Zhou Yunchen chuckled. "Who else but that fool? He’s quite tenacious. He probably slept on the sofa all night."
Shen Congwen turned over. "Are you really okay with them being together?"
"It’s not about whether I agree or not; it depends on whether she likes him. That fool Chen Ming is quite stubborn and won’t give up. If they end up together, she will definitely be happy. If they don’t, Chen Ming won’t be hard done by either; he also had his moments of advantage," Zhou Yunchen analyzed with clear logic.
Shen Congwen chuckled softly, then lay flat again.
Zhou Yunchen sighed. "Let’s sleep a little longer. We’ve been exhausted these past few days, with endless things to do."
「Elsewhere, first thing in the morning.」
King Jingyao had summoned Gu Anxi to his office. He then tossed a dozen or so paintings in front of her. "Take a look at these."
Gu Anxi was suspicious. "Are these the fake paintings Mr. Bo talked about last night?"
Wang Jingchuan smiled and said, "High-end replicas."
"High-end replicas are still fakes." Gu Anxi opened one of the paintings to take a look, then opened the others. After examining them all, she said, "These paintings weren’t copied by one person; they were likely copied by multiple people."
King Jingyao also nodded. "I also suspect there’s a massive industrial chain behind this, and it has been operating for many years." King Jingyao pondered for a moment and asked, "What do you think?"
Gu Anxi chuckled lightly. "These paintings were all handled by Jiaxing Auction. So, wouldn’t it be simple to find out who the owner is?"
King Jingyao took a sip of his tea. "It’s British capital. It’s not easy to investigate."
Gu Anxi shrugged, then examined the paintings again. After a while, she said, "Did you notice? Most of them are traditional Chinese paintings. This means the forgers have a deep understanding of Chinese culture, and these people are ethnically Chinese. That implies the mastermind behind this could also be ethnically Chinese. Otherwise, why specialize in counterfeiting Chinese paintings?"
King Jingyao looked at her. "So where are the real paintings?"
Gu Anxi smiled. "I guess these real paintings are all abroad, and they are likely the kind that will never resurface. That’s why some people have found an opportunity to exploit."
Hearing her say this, Wang Jingchuan glanced at his master before slowly speaking, "King Jingyao suspects that this person could be Bo Qing’s mentor. Otherwise, where would Dark get its funding?"
Gu Anxi pondered. "That’s also possible! But isn’t Jiaxing holding another auction next month?" 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢
Wang Jingchuan smiled faintly. "You don’t need to worry about that. King Jingyao has already arranged for a female painter with the surname Shen to write an article exposing this matter."
Gu Anxi was surprised. "A painter named Shen?"
Then she blurted out, "It couldn’t be Shen Wanqing, could it?"
If it is, Mr. Bo didn’t tell me about it last night.
Wang Jingchuan gave her a thumbs-up. "You truly see things clearly."
"Hardly. It’s just that she loves the limelight. But why would she agree to do something so thankless and offensive that also gets her into trouble? She doesn’t seem that foolish," Gu Anxi remarked nonchalantly.
King Jingyao remained silent, while Wang Jingchuan chuckled again. "Dr. Jiang was the one who set it up."
"Oh, her." Gu Anxi chuckled.
