Luo Luo's massage of his shoulders was just the right amount of pressure, and Zhao Qiang almost groaned out in comfort. This massage skill was excellent; he wished she had someone at home who needed repairs every day, ideally just the two of them alone. After the massage, she'd cook dinner.
After kneading for a while, Luo Wei said, "It's getting dark. I've already prepared dinner. Let's eat first."
Zhao Qiang was indeed hungry, and only then did he smell the aroma of meat filling the living room. Luo Wei and Xu Xiaoya knew that Zhao Qiang liked to eat high-fat, high-calorie foods, so Luo Wei called her parents and asked them to buy more than ten kilograms of pork and pig's trotters at the market. They made two large bowls of braised pork and braised pig's trotters. Zhao Qiang was so tempted by the aroma that he lost his mind to work. The three of them washed their hands and ate.
"By the way, Xiaoya, my teacher wants me to report to Huaxia University of Technology tomorrow. I think you could call the teacher and ask them to postpone it. We can go and pay our respects together after the Yuan blue and white porcelain jar is repaired."
Luo Wei said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Zhao Qiang, I've delayed your business."
Xu Xiaoya answered for Zhao Qiang: "Wei, you're too kind. I haven't even settled the score with him for misunderstanding about the two of us having our eyebrows crossed yet. Consider this his way of redeeming himself."
Zhao Qiang and Luo Wei's faces flushed red. Luo Wei felt it was embarrassing to be imagined as a lesbian by Zhao Qiang, while Zhao Qiang was embarrassed. It turned out that Xu Xiaoya was not a lesbian at all. It was all a misunderstanding caused by Zhang Lingfeng. If he had known this before, why did he endure so much hardship? He would have slept with Xu Xiaoya long ago.
After dinner, Luo Wei went into the kitchen to wash the dishes. Zhao Qiang had eaten two large bowls of high-fat meat until he was stuffed. Now, the fat around Zhao Qiang's waist could almost squeeze out three rings. This was all rich energy! Zhao Qiang was very proud. With this energy, he could do many things. Of course, this food had cost a lot of money to save up, but now, was money still a problem for Zhao Qiang?
Zhao Qiang was going to go into the living room to resume his work. The large fragments had already been photographed in 3D; the remaining fragments were the real challenge, including some tiny pieces. He estimated that photographing those fragments wouldn't be finished until tomorrow morning. The assembly calculations would then take over an hour. The remaining time would require Zhao Qiang and Wei to simultaneously channel their energy to assemble the fragments—it wouldn't take three days. However, Zhao Qiang was worried about unforeseen circumstances, so when he told Luo Wanfeng, he preferred a longer timeframe. This way, if something went wrong, he could find other ways to remedy the situation. Luo Wei had pleaded with him so much; Zhao Qiang couldn't let her down.
"Zhao Qiang, come in." Xu Xiaoya stood at the door of Luo Wei's room and waved, her posture elegant and alluring.
Zhao Qiang's heart skipped a beat. "What are you doing?" He knew how good Xu Xiaoya was to him, but this was not a suitable time for the two of them to be intimate.
Xu Xiaoya pulled him into the room. "Lie down on the bed." Zhao Qiang thought to himself, "You're not planning to do something here, are you? This is Luo Wei's house!"
Zhao Qiang still doesn't know what happened between him and Xu Xiaoya. He thought they were still maintaining a pure and innocent relationship. Little did he know that Xu Xiaoya had dealt with him. Originally, given their relationship, Zhao Qiang would have had plenty of opportunities to make a move after the third year of junior high school. However, Xu Xiaoya went to a training program and didn't return until today. Fortunately, he still has Hu Qian by his side, so Zhao Qiang isn't too lonely.
Zhao Qiang lay nervously and excitedly on Luo Wei's bed. The smell was really good. Imagining Luo Wei's fierce and unrestrained behavior on this bed, Zhao Qiang felt a surge of desire. He obediently closed his eyes, and then Xu Xiaoya's hands began to massage his body. So that's how it is. This must be his reward. Zhao Qiang breathed a sigh of relief. He knew that even if Xu Xiaoya was bold, she wouldn't do anything like that on Luo Wei's bed. He had just been thinking the wrong thing.
A little while later, Luo Wei finished cleaning up the dishes and came in. The two of them worked together and almost made Zhao Qiang fall asleep. Suddenly, Xu Xiaoya patted Zhao Qiang on the butt and said, "Comrade Zhao Qiang, it's time to get back to work."
Zhao Qiang reluctantly got out of bed and returned to the living room. The quiet of the night made it easier to take pictures of the fragments. At first, Luo Wei and Xu Xiaoya were watching, but as time went on, the two women couldn't hold on any longer and went back to Luo Wei's room to rest. Zhao Qiang continued to repeat the monotonous actions, and soon it was midnight.
There was no one else in the living room at this time, so Zhao Qiang chatted with Wei, which also helped him shake off his sleepiness. Zhao Qiang pointed to a pile of fine debris mixed with tiny pieces of trash and said, "Uncle Luo, sweep these things up, but how do I separate them one by one? They're too fine." By this time, the slightly larger fragments had already been photographed and were arranged on the table, a magnificent sight.
Wei said, "Let's not rush to take pictures. Brother, come and see my calculations. Based on the fragments we've already photographed, we've found 92 percent of the fragments. The work is about one-third complete."
Zhao Qiang saw a nearly complete image of an incense burner from the Romance of the Western Chamber on the computer screen. He was somewhat surprised: "You've already assembled the fragments?" The original plan was to take a picture first and then dedicate time to the assembly and calculation.
Wei said, "I used servers on the network to complete the combination and arrangement, so you don't need to worry about my chip's heat dissipation." If the computation is too heavy, Wei's chip will not be able to withstand it.
Zhao Qiang nodded. Wei was like a god in the online world. If she wanted to use the computing power of any server, wouldn't that be a piece of cake? This was also a way to save time and increase efficiency. At this rate, it should be finished before the afternoon.
“Brother, I don’t think we need the remaining fragments. They would not only increase our workload, but also affect the entire restoration process because of these small fragments.”
Zhao Qiang said, "But we don't need these fragments. You can see that the missing corners in the pattern are flaws, flaws that anyone can spot with the naked eye."
Wei said, "Brother, this is how I see it. The thickness of the inner wall of this porcelain jar is not recorded in the information I found online. This is because it is a treasure that has never been seen before, and the outside world does not know much about it. It is impossible for the collector to measure the entire inner wall carefully. So we have materials to repair these flaws and use energy control to separate the thicker parts of the inner wall to the damaged areas."
Zhao Qiang nodded: "That's a method. We can even destroy and reassemble these fragments. However, we still can't restore the parts with patterns. This can't be done by hand painting. The patterns added later will definitely be different from the early patterns. Anyone with eyes can tell at a glance."
Wei was also a little worried. "Yes, I've been thinking about this problem too. My method can repair the jar to over 98%, but even if I fill in all the remaining fragments, it won't be enough to completely make up for the missing flaws, let alone the missing parts with patterns. It's really worrying."
Zhao Qiang, somewhat annoyed, mixed the crumbs with the rest of the less than half-bowl of trash. It would be no easy task to deal with, especially since even putting them all back together wouldn't be enough to fix the flaws. That meant there must still be some fragments missing! Zhao Qiang suddenly stood up and went into Luo Wei's room without saying hello.
The two women had changed into their pajamas and pajama bottoms. Xu Xiaoya was wearing Luo Wei's pajamas. Summer pajamas are made of thin fabric, and coupled with her fuller figure than Luo Wei, she looked very sexy lying on the bed. Luo Wei was almost curled up in Xu Xiaoya's arms, like a frightened cat, while Xu Xiaoya's arms were wrapped around Luo Wei's shoulders. This posture looked very ambiguous to Zhao Qiang.
Zhao Qiang stepped forward and nudged Luo Wei. Luo Wei hummed in response and slowly opened her eyes. When she saw Zhao Qiang, she was initially startled. She immediately stood up and pulled up the hem of her pajamas to cover her smooth legs.
"Zhao Qiang? You're still awake? Get some rest first, we can continue taking photos tomorrow."
Zhao Qiang said, "Come out for a moment." Luo Wei got out of bed and followed Zhao Qiang to the living room. Of course, she didn't think that Zhao Qiang couldn't stand the loneliness in the middle of the night and wanted to do something with her. What she did during the day was also too impulsive. At that time, she was worried that her father couldn't handle the pressure, and she also had unwavering trust in Zhao Qiang, so it was inevitable that she would act impulsively.
Qiang really couldn't help but cry. Please support him with monthly votes. Qiang just wants to win a newcomer award.
Volume 2 [219] The Missing Fragments
"Where was the matchmaker placed?" Zhao Qiang asked. Luo Wei then realized why Zhao Qiang had called her. She thought for a moment, "It should have been on the cabinet behind the phone."
Zhao Qiang said, "Your parents are really at ease."
"Why isn't something this valuable kept in a safe?" Luo Wei said, "My dad says the most dangerous place is the safest. If it's hidden away, it might be stolen. Besides, nobody knows what it is. Most people don't recognize its value. We don't usually have anything valuable at home, so theoretically it should be the safest place. It's much better than the company where people come and go. And my mom is off work. She just went downstairs to buy some groceries. Who would have thought a cat would sneak in? But this isn't the first floor. I really suspect someone deliberately let a cat in. Maybe the Yuan blue and white porcelain wasn't knocked over by the cat at all. My second uncle, third uncle, and two aunts hate my dad. It's no wonder they're kicking him while he's down when they find out he might take over the Haifeng Group."
Luo Wei voiced her suspicions, but Zhao Qiang remained silent. He had seen too many power struggles among the wealthy on television, and it was something he least wanted to watch. He bent down and began searching the surroundings for any remaining fragments.
After asking Zhao Qiang what he was looking for, Luo Wei lowered her head to help and said, "My dad said that when he got home and saw the jar was broken, the first thing he did was search this area. He shouldn't have missed anything. He's very careful, I think he's right."
Zhao Qiang naturally didn't believe Luo Wei's statement. The slingshots Luo Wei and the others used were only visible to the naked eye, while Zhao Qiang used X-ray glasses. He could see through even cement slabs with a single glance, so any missed fragments would be discovered.
And things quickly progressed. After Zhao Qiang looked at the telephone, he suddenly noticed something. His surprised action made Luo Wei also notice something unusual: "What did you find?" Zhao Qiang carefully removed the receiver. The telephone hummed with a dial tone. Zhao Qiang pulled out a distorted screwdriver from his waist. At this time, the screwdriver had been transformed into a thin ear pick. Zhao Qiang inserted the screwdriver into the grid-like speaker hole under the telephone. He found a fragment inside that was not much larger than a grain of wheat. This was a crucial fragment. It was covered with patterns. Without it, it was impossible to perfectly restore the Yuan blue and white porcelain jar to its original state.
When Luo Wei saw the ear pick carefully digging out the fragment, she was so excited she almost jumped up. "How did you know there was a fragment hidden inside? If it had splashed into the phone, my dad probably would never have noticed it in his entire life."
Zhao Qiang pointed to his eyes and joked, "My ears have superhuman vision; they can see through anything."
Luo Wei blushed: "Including clothes?" As she spoke, her hands awkwardly covered herself up and down, making a somewhat comical gesture. Zhao Qiang chuckled: "Don't worry, I don't have the habit of peeping at women's bodies."
Luo Wei slapped Zhao Qiang: "You're so annoying, joking with me like that."
Zhao Qiang reminded her, "Don't break the pieces, or your grandpa's jar won't be able to be put back together."
Luo Wei was startled and immediately grabbed Zhao Qiang's hand to help him steady himself. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. You mean the jar can be restored?" Luo Wei was so surprised that she almost hugged Zhao Qiang, her eyes were full of stars.
Zhao Qiang nodded: "Almost, but I still need to find another fragment." Zhao Qiang carefully placed the fragment on the table. There were already nearly a thousand fragments, filling a large table. Zhao Qiang didn't need to record the locations of the fragments; he only needed to see their shapes to know where they should be assembled, because the server on the network had restored their locations before they were broken. She shared this achievement with Zhao Qiang.
As Zhao Qiang spoke, he pointed to the image on the computer screen for Luo Wei to see. As the fragment was scanned, a darker leaf in the center of the pattern was restored. Previously, there was a blank space there. If it couldn't be repaired, it would be obvious that this was a fake.
Luo Wei looked at the pattern and felt a little dizzy. She couldn't pinpoint where the missing piece was, so she asked, "Which piece is missing?" Zhao Qiang pointed to the figure's crown and said, "It's right here. The location is quite obvious, so we have to find it."
Luo Wei eagerly lay down on the ground, not caring that she was sticking her butt out in front of Zhao Qiang. "Then let's hurry up and look for it. No one has moved this room, so the fragments must still be there. Maybe they've been splattered somewhere like the previous piece."
The two searched the areas they had just looked for again, and carefully examined the areas they hadn't searched before. They actually found a fragment, which was quite large, about the size of a soybean. However, it was blank instead of having a pattern. Although having this extra piece would reduce the number of pieces that could be cut from other parts of the tire wall, it didn't affect the overall situation. The two could only continue searching with their lamps.
They practically turned the living room upside down! They even carefully dug into the cracks in the floor with tweezers! It was understandable that Luo Wei couldn't find it, since she didn't have X-ray vision glasses and was searching with her naked eyes bit by bit. But Zhao Qiang practically saw through the entire living room, and still couldn't find it. That was strange. Did the piece of debris grow legs and run away, or did the so-called troublesome cat carry it away? Or maybe it was hidden in the cat's fur.
Zhao Qiang finally confirmed that the "corpse" did not exist and there was no fragment.
He sat down on the cold floor.
"He was still exhausted from lying on the ground for so long, so he slumped down next to Zhao Qiang, his body pressed against Zhao Qiang's."
The two were panting heavily.
Luo Wei said, "That's strange. How could there be nothing here? There's no way anyone could have touched it."
Zhao Qiang asked, "What about the cat?" Luo Wei replied, "You suspect the cat? That can't be right. My dad saw that things had already happened, and the cat was very clever, so he didn't stop it. He let it run from the living room door into the hallway and leave. Killing it wouldn't have helped."
Zhao Qiang got up from the ground again. Luo Wei lost her support and swayed. She had to grab Zhao Qiang's leg to prevent herself from falling.
Zhao Qiang reached out to support her, saying, "Heart!" Luo Wei blushed and let go of Zhao Qiang's thigh. The spot where she had grabbed him just now seemed inappropriate, but the two of them didn't care anymore. They carefully followed the path the cat might have taken from the living room to the door.
When Zhao Qiang saw the pile of shoes by the door, his heart skipped a beat. He turned around and asked, "What shoes were your parents wearing when they came in?" Luo Wei shook her head. However, the question was not difficult to answer. She immediately took out her phone and called her parents. Although it was probably one o'clock in the morning, the importance of this matter did not matter whether her parents were asleep or not.
The call was answered very quickly, and Luo Wanfeng sounded nervous, as if he hadn't slept at all.
"Wei, how is it?" Luo Wei asked. "Dad, Zhao Qiang is confident he can fix it!" Luo Wei reassured her parents first, otherwise they wouldn't be able to sleep tonight, and might even turn white-haired overnight like the legendary hero Yang Guo! Luo Wanfeng breathed a deep sigh of relief on the other side: "Really?" Luo Wei said: "Yes, Dad, don't worry. You saw with your own eyes how Zhao Qiang led us out of danger. You have to believe him. He can handle this. You and Mom must get some rest, okay?" Luo Wanfeng's voice was tinged with tears. The fact that such a grown man was so vulnerable in front of his child showed how important this matter was to him.
“Wei, you’re a good girl. You should help Zhao Qiang with his work. He’s been so kind to our family!” Luo Wei said, blushing. “Dad, I know how to repay him. Answer my question first. Zhao Qiang asked me to ask this: What shoes were you and Mom wearing when you and Mom found the porcelain jar broken and dealt with the scene?” Luo Wanfeng paused, then turned to ask Chen Lin a question before answering. “Your mom said she had already changed into slippers because she didn’t know the porcelain jar was broken at first. I went straight into the house wearing leather shoes, but when I saw the shards on the floor, I was afraid of stepping on them, so I went back to the door and changed into slippers.”
Zhao Qiang gestured to Luo Wei that she could hang up the phone. All the shoes were on the shoe cabinet by the door. If the leather shoes that Luo Wanfeng had taken had any shards on them, they should have fallen off long ago, perhaps in the stairwell or somewhere further away. At this point, they could only search little by little.
If you can't find it in the shoe cabinet, then look in the stairwell.
Zhao Qiang no longer needed to manually adjust the X-ray glasses to gradually increase their visibility as before. He had plenty of time over the past six months to modify and upgrade the glasses. Now, he could see through common materials and control them freely by simply connecting his thoughts to the neural sensor chip in the glasses. As a result, his work progressed extremely quickly. Most of the shoe cabinet had been observed, and even the shoes themselves were not spared.
"How was it?"
Luo Wei leaned over Zhao Qiang and asked.
Zhao Qiang shook his head: "Not yet."
Luo Wei looked disappointed. "Why don't we look outside? I'll go find Flashlight Xiao."
The lamp's power cord isn't long enough to reach the outside of the door, and the low wattage bulb in the stairwell isn't enough to see anything on the ground.
As Zhao Qiang searched the remaining space in the shoe cabinet, he said, "Okay."
Soon Luo Kangwei arrived with a flashlight. The two opened the door, and it was pitch black outside. Luo Wei coughed once and the motion-activated light came on. Then she turned on the flashlight and bent down to examine the ground millimeter by millimeter. She even picked up a pebble to carefully distinguish it. Luo Wei was soon exhausted and a layer of fine sweat appeared on her forehead, and the back of her pajamas was soaked with sweat.
An hour passed, and the two of them had found nothing! Luo Wei collapsed to the ground; this amount of work was beyond her physical capacity. Zhao Qiang quickly caught her, otherwise Luo Wei would have rolled down the stairs.
Luo Wei said absentmindedly, "What should we do? We can't find it." Zhao Qiang was also very worried. Where could that damned fragment have gone? Could it be in that half-bowl of crumbs? If it really was broken like that, it would be a big problem.
This means finding the missing pattern from thousands of fragments that are barely bigger than a pinhead. Just piecing together this missing fragment alone would probably take more than a day. You know, the large fragments that he worked on on the other side of the mountain had already kept him busy for an afternoon and half the night.
(Thank you all for your monthly votes!!! Since the monthly vote records only show the bottom five, and I just got back from dinner, I don't know how to check the earlier vote records yet. All I can do is bow in gratitude to everyone! Here are three extra chapters!) (To be continued)
Volume 2 [220] An Unexpected Discovery
Luo Wei threw herself into Zhao Qiang's arms and began to sob.
The two crawled on the ground, and there was dust everywhere. Luo Wei cried again, and Zhao Qiang could only hug her like a dirty cat. Luo Wei's body was soft and warm.
Zhao Qiang patted her on the back.
Some of it was damp. He said, "Don't cry, Wei. We'll think of another way. Don't worry, at worst we can go down the mountain and buy Guiguzi to return to your grandfather. If he's unhappy, we can buy two. They're much more valuable than a single incense burner from The West Chamber."
Luo Wei was still sobbing in Zhao Qiang's arms, "How much will it cost?"
Zhao Qiang said, "Look at you, are we short of money right now? The current problem is to help your dad solve this problem. Why don't you just say this to your grandpa, 'Grandpa, your old brocade bag is fake and worthless, so I smashed it for you. I bought two real ones for your birthday.' I think your grandpa will be happy."
Luo Wei was amused by Zhao Qiang, "You're really talented, but will my dad and grandpa accept this?"
Zhao Qiang said, "We can only give it a try. If it doesn't work, we'll buy more. Hopefully, we can knock Grandpa unconscious."
Luo Wei whispered, "If I did that, I would never be able to repay this debt to you in my lifetime."
Zhao Qiang didn't say anything.
The two were embracing intimately when suddenly they heard footsteps downstairs. They hurriedly separated. Luo Wei's parents appeared in the hallway and, seeing Zhao Qiang and Luo Wei standing at the door, guessed they were probably searching for the fragments. Luo Wanfeng asked anxiously, "Did you find them?" Luo Wei shook her head, and Luo Wanfeng's expectant face immediately turned to disappointment. Zhao Qiang suddenly remembered something and immediately took off his shoes to scan them. Luo Wei's hope also rose, and she took off her slippers and handed them to Zhao Qiang. Zhao Qiang also scanned them carefully, but to no avail. Luo Wanfeng and Chen Lin were carrying a bag containing the shoes they had worn when they left home. It turned out that after receiving Luo Wei's call, they realized the matter was important and immediately put the shoes in a plastic bag, running back in their hotel slippers.
Zhao Qiang took Luo Wanfeng and Chen Lin's shoes and scanned them, but still found nothing. He became a little anxious. Damn it, did he really have to piece together that half-bowl of broken pieces? If so, he would need to modify his X-ray glasses to function as a magnifying glass, otherwise it would be really difficult to do. The pieces were too big, and his eyes couldn't see them at all.
Zhao Qiang paced around the door several times, considering how to solve the problem more quickly. If only a large piece of the pattern was missing, perhaps a forgery could fool everyone. As for the minor flaws, they could simply be filled in with blank porcelain pieces. After all, few people had seen the real jar, and no detailed pictures had been leaked. No one knew what the original pattern actually looked like, so it might work.
As Zhao Qiang pondered, he entered the living room. His eyes inadvertently fell upon Luo Wei's bedroom. Xu Xiaoya was sleeping rather indecently, her face tilted back, seemingly unaware that her chest was exposed. Her bra had likely been removed for comfort, leaving most of her breasts partially visible. Luo Wei, seeing this, hurriedly went to close the door, forgetting to do so when she came out. Zhao Qiang suddenly said, "Wait!" Luo Wanfeng and Chen Lin couldn't see into Luo Wei's bedroom from their positions. Luo Wei was annoyed that Zhao Qiang wouldn't let her close the door, thinking, "Why can't you and Xu Xiaoya be intimate at any other time? Why do you have to expose her like this? My parents are still here."
In fact, Zhao Qiang didn't see that Xu Xiaoya was exposed. He rushed into Luo Wei's bedroom and went straight to another pair of slippers on the floor, which were Xu Xiaoya's. Only then did Luo Wei realize where Zhao Qiang was. She took the opportunity to cover Xu Xiaoya with a blanket, and the exposure was immediately stopped.
Xu Xiaoya's slippers were turned over, and there was no need to scan them again. A white fragment was stuck in the sole! It was about the size of half a peanut. Zhao Qiang carefully pried it off, and sure enough, there was a colored pattern on the other side! Namo Guanyin Bodhisattva, Buddha of the Western Paradise, Jade Emperor of Heaven, Jesus of Europe and America, found it! Who knows how Xu Xiaoya stepped on the ground and how she stepped on this piece that Luo Wanfeng had missed! There are too many incredible things in this world.
Overjoyed, Luo Wei burst into tears again. Suddenly, she grabbed Zhao Qiang's head and kissed him hard on the face. "Zhao Qiang, you're amazing!" Zhao Qiang was caught off guard and felt molested! He took advantage of the situation and then acted innocent.