In this way, Song Xiao was stuck at Yinyu Building. Every morning when the chairman daren went to the office, he would dig Song Xiao out of the blankets, carry him into the car, and drag him along.
“Chairman, your tea.” Secretary Jin placed the steeped tea on the chairman’s table.
“Put it there ba. In the future, Song Xiao will brew the tea.” Yu Tang didn’t even look up as he continued working.
Secretary Jin looked at the new table that the chairman had placed on the side. Song Xiao was sitting there as he dealt with documents. A chairman’s assistant was actually on par with a vice-chairman, and was different from a secretary. A secretary might be responsible for delivering certain classified documents, but an assistant could browse through them and give their views on the documents.
Honestly, the chairman treated this new Assistant Song very well. He brought him along to eat every day, but now he was getting Assistant Song to do miscellaneous tasks like brew tea. Secretary Jin was instantly confused.
“Alright.” The chairman’s orders weren’t to be questioned. Secretary Jin tactfully didn’t say more, and merely picked up the documents which Yu Tang had signed and withdrew.
When she left, she happened to run into Dugu An. This fellow was walking into the room with a cup of coffee in his hand.
“Assistant Dugu,” Secretary Jin called out, “you said yesterday that you wanted a folding screen. The chairman’s room is designed in a pseudo-classic style, so the folding screen will have to be custom-made; it might be a week before it arrives.”
Dugu An nodded expressionlessly. Logically speaking, since the empress was here, he should move to sit outside. Used as he was to being a secret guard, however, he still had to be in the same room as the emperor. Since modern architecture didn’t have roof beams, there was no place for him to conceal himself. As a result, he could only settle for the next best thing, which was to set up a folding screen to hide himself from view.
Secretary Jin couldn’t discern anything from Dugu An’s expression, and could only leave it be. She turned and went into the tearoom, then brought the box of tea leaves into the office and placed it on Song Xiao’s table.
Song Xiao lifted his head from the documents and looked at the tea leaves.
“Assistant Song, the chairman told me to leave the brewing of tea to you. Since visitors might drop by at any moment, allow me to explain it to you.” Secretary Jin diligently started her explanation.
This was a transparent glass tea box, which was separated into more than ten segments of varying sizes. There were different types of tea leaves and coffee, as well as some other powdered drink mixes. Each segment had a transparent label on the top, and there was a single scoop in each segment.
Song Xiao glanced at the tea case. “Leave this one. The others can be taken away.” What he picked up was a single, wooden box of tea. It was the tea which Yu Tang liked.
“Ah?” Secretary Jin was stunned, then turned to look at Yu Tang.
“He only has to make my tea; what did you bring the others for?” Yu Tang frowned and glared at Secretary Jin. His empress could only brew tea for him alone!
Realisation dawned on Secretary Jin. It turned out that she had been mistaken. She hurriedly apologised, then ran out with the tea box in her hands.
“The chairman has started bullying the assistant, asking him to brew tea for visitors, hee hee…” A few secretaries were whispering among themselves when they saw their chief return with the tea box in her hands.
“What’s wrong? The assistant doesn’t want to do it?” Everyone started to make guesses.
Secretary Jin glanced at them, and without saying a word, went back into the office with an exquisite tea set.
Song Xiao stood up to take the tea set and thanked Secretary Jin with a smile. “Sit down and have a cup before you leave ba.”
Secretary Jin watched Song Xiao sit down in front of the carved wooden tea table, place the teapot on the coal stove, and light a fire. Picking up a wooden spoon with his slender and fair hand, he ladled out a spoonful of tea leaves into the pot&#k2026;
His movements were natural and smooth, and so beautiful that Secretary Jin couldn’t tear her eyes away. Tea brewed with such skill had to be very tasty. Secretary Jin was a little curious, and stayed behind despite the chairman’s glare.
Washing the tea leaves, infusing them, extracting the tea, blowing on it for the smell – for an instant, Secretary Jin thought she was watching a tea master from ancient times. The fragrance released by the boiled tea was once again retained with professional brewing skills. The greenish yellow tea in the lustrous, white tea set was indescribably pleasing to the eye.
Yu Tang had already gotten up and walked over to Song Xiao’s side.
Song Xiao gave Yu Tang a cup first before helping himself. He then smiled lightly to indicate that Secretary Jin could do as she pleased.
Thickening her skin, Secretary Jin helped herself to a cup. Just as she picked it up, she felt her eyes blur as a shadow flashed past. Dugu An popped up from nowhere, and was also holding a cup.
“You two, get back to work after you finish your cups.” Yu Tang was somewhat unhappy. This was tea the empress brewed for him. It was only because of this emperor’s vast benevolence that he allowed them to have a cup each. To stay here and want a mile after gaining an inch was too tactless.
Secretary Jin had always been tactful and hurriedly left after one cup.
Dugu An was even more tactful and disappeared without a trace as soon as he was done.
They bustled around right up to the winter break. Song Xiao went back to school and chose his subjects for the next semester, then continued working at Dayu. On the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, he received an email from Xiao Zhengqing.
‘Delicacies Fill The Palace Hall’ had already entered the final stage of production and everything was proceeding very smoothly. It was just that there was a trend in American animation where tie-in toys would hit the market at the same time as the screening of the film, and these had to be produced in advance.
Since this script was based on a novel, tie-in products required the original author’s agreement, and Xiao Zhengqing was hoping that Song Xiao could handle this matter in his stead.
This wasn’t a big deal, and it just so happened that Song Xiao also wanted to meet the author, so he agreed.
“You’re going to meet Green Bird?” Yu Tang’s expression was a little odd.
“En, we need her permission to produce the tie-in toys.” Song Xiao got into bed with a book, then leaned against Yu Tang’s side and started to read it.
Yu Tang was also reading a book, albeit it was an online novel. Casually throwing a few rewards at the author, he said: “I’ll go with you.”
“What for?” Song Xiao turned his head to look at him. This was China, which wasn’t as dangerous as America. He was just going to see a young lady; it wasn’t as if he was going to be in any danger.
“Don’t forget your status.” Yu Tang narrowed his eyes, threw the tablet aside, and pulled Song Xiao into his embrace. “How can you meet other women on your own?”
Song Xiao’s lips quirked, and he didn’t want to pay any attention to Yu Tang. He decided to leave early in the morning tomorrow. Since tomorrow was the weekend, His Majesty the emperor would definitely sleep in.
Who would have thought that when Song Xiao opened his eyes the next day, he saw Yu Tang sitting at the dining table and already dressed in a suit as he expressionlessly called Song Xiao to come over and have breakfast.
Forced to bring a child to talk business, it was the first time Song Xiao felt what it was like to be dragged down by family in the middle of work.
The author worked in the capital as well and was an unprepossessing little accountant. Every night, she turned into… an unprepossessing online writer.
The sapphire blue convertible drove into a neighbourhood. This was an apartment building which had become a gathering of young people. It was made up entirely of small residential units, one of which the author had rented. That was right, she was renting, completely unlike a great master who had already sold a copyright to Hollywood.
“You waited a while.” A young lady stepped out of the elevator and greeted them. She was all smiles at first, but the instant she saw Song Xiao, she abruptly froze, as if she had been struck by lightning.
“Are you Green Bird?” Song Xiao looked at himself, turned his head to look at the emperor, then looked at Dugu An who was crouched behind the convertible. There wasn’t anything peculiar about the three of them; what was wrong with this young lady?
“Song… Song Xiao, right…” The author looked him up and down, then slowly looked at Yu Tang. “I’m Huangye Wanhe. This is…”
“Huangye Wanhe!” It was Song Xiao’s turn to be dumbstruck. He had only read a hard copy of the book, and hadn’t looked into it too closely. Unexpectedly, Huangye Wanhe was Green Bird. “So it’s you! It’s an honour to meet you at last!”
Wasn’t Huangyu Wanhe the author of ‘Xiaotang Under The Moon’? No wonder this fellow Yu Tang wanted to come along; it turned out that he wanted to meet the great author he liked.
Their group went to a nearby high-class teahouse in the neighbourhood and asked for a private room.
Holding a cup of warm tea, Huangye Wanhe watched dumbly as Song Xiao steeped the tea for Yu Tang. After Yu Tang was introduced to her as the film’s investor, she was even more dumbfounded. “Did anyone ever tell the two of you that you look a lot like two historical figures?”
Song Xiao’s hand paused while steeping the tea, then he smiled and said, “Are you speaking of Emperor Jingyuan and Empress Duanhui of the Great Yu Dynasty?”
Huangye Wanhe nodded eagerly, and was dying to ask about the nature of their relationship, but didn’t dare say anything. She could only restrain herself and gulp down two cups of tea.
“This is…” Song Xiao took out a contract and was about to give it to her for a look. Who knew that Yu Tang would be one step ahead of him as he pulled out a book and pushed it toward her.
Huangye Wanhe abruptly choked. This book was the work that made her famous, ‘Xiaotang Under The Moon’. Moreover, it wasn’t the published copy, but the personal copy that she had secretly sold online! The unedited version, with unadulterated smut permeating the book, personally signed!
“Sign it,” Yu Tang expressionlessly said. “My little sister likes you.”
Huangye Wanhe’s heart, which had jumped into her throat in one breath, fell back down with a thump. So it turned out that he wanted a signature for his little sister. He probably hadn’t read it himself. She hurriedly accepted the book and signed her pen name with a few strokes before she asked, “What’s your little sister’s name? Shall I write a few more words?”
“No need.” Yu Tang stiffly pulled the book back and passed it to Dugu An next to him, who conscientiously stuffed it into a briefcase.
Little Theater
Wanhe: Really don’t need a special signature?
Fish Tang: No need
Wanhe: What’s your sister’s name?
Fish Tang: …
Wanhe: Is your sister really a reader of mine?
Fish Tang: …
Wanhe: Your sister…
Fish Tang: Dare to curse at zhen – drag her out to be beheaded
Wanhe: ( ⊙ o ⊙ )