Chapter 81 - Not Knowing Her Own Strength (Secretary + CEO)
Once again some words flitted through her ears, something that sounded like whispers and a squeak. Ying Yue He could only make out a few words like \'snorting\' but focused on answering the question her boss asked.
Would he believe her though, or think she was making up some sort of excuse?
Ying Yue He said and looked at her boss with a nervous stare. "I… I didn\'t know my own strength, and I accidentally cracked it," She gulped down a trickle of her saliva that formed in her mouth as she awaited the verdict.
When it didn\'t come at once, she stared at her hands. Ying Yue He blinked, her hands had remained unharmed, "I know this doesn\'t make any sense. Maybe I\'m just having a terrible dream?" She looked back at her boss to see if he acted like the one in her dreams.
CEO Li Yang only looked back at her and let out a long sigh. There was a faint outline of something hovering over his shoulder.
"Maybe it\'s just stress getting to me," Ying Yue He placed her palm over her face, "I\'m really sorry, boss.. Can I pay for it... or get it deducted from my salary?" She had no idea how much that thing was actually worth, for all she knew it was actually the Da Hong Pao. Ying Yue He bit her lip, "It\'s not the Big Red Robe tea is it, Mister Li?"
Her boss was really silent... was he mulling over what to do with her?!
What if she had to pay for this with her body—no, it wasn\'t going around in that kind of direction! And yet she once heard from a documentary channel that Da Hong Pao, a black tea that became red after brewing, which fitted exactly with the tea that she had been serving him—it cost at least $600,000 per pound. Would she be having a life debt and forced to work until the day she died?!
Mister Li\'s figure crossed past the mess on the floor and he stood right in front of her, "You\'re not injured are you? Were you hurt in any way?"
Ying Yue He bit her lip and shook her head, "No, but I really squeezed and broke it by accident—"
He took her hand, "It seems that I have to take you to Shen Society earlier than I wanted."
"H-Huh?" the woman blinked and then found herself being motioned away from the kitchen. "Wait, Mister Li I have to clean it up—"
"There\'s no time for that. I\'ll explain it along the way."
"But the tea..."
"Save it for another day, Miss He."
And she soon found herself once again with her boss in the front seat of his car. Both of his hands were on the steering wheel, but somehow it felt like his hand still touched hers. Ying Yue He still had no idea where exactly this \'Shen Society\' was supposed to be, but somehow, it didn\'t seem like anything terrible was going to happen.
[ You Have Gained 5 Charm Points ]
It was an odd thing to gain points right now.
But he didn\'t pay much mind to it now and only focused on the road. Li Yang had promised to tell it to her along the way, but somehow he decided to retract his decision and tell it to her when the two of them were actually there—he wasn\'t sure how she would react. Would she break down into hysterics or faint? What if she jumped out of his car and thought he was insane?
He\'d rather not have her getting injured.
CEO: If she jumped out of the car now, will she be able to survive?
Panda: Did you really just ask me that…? Well, she\'s already transformed her skin and flesh—there\'s some durability. Kinda sucks if you wanted to give her a hickey
CEO: Thank you
He dismissed the chat screen and focused on parking outside of the Shen building. They already knew he was coming for his bodyguard. However, he wasn\'t sure how they would take it when they\'ll learn about Ying Yue He\'s state—would he still have time to aim for an Achievement to be Unlocked when he also had to worry about his secretary?
"Woah, the interior is really different from the exterior." Ying Yue He gawked for a bit at the facility-like room that the two of them entered. She gave him a look, "What is this place, Mister Li… is Shen Society some kind of exclusive organization that you and other like-minded people visit?"
"You could say that it\'s like that." he said and headed up the stairs. "It\'s also where I obtained the tea that you dropped, so perhaps there is a chance that we can once again get another one."
Ying Yue He scratched her cheek, "Ah, is that so, Mister Li? It\'s… it\'s a little embarrassing now that you\'ve said it. But if I can help and even tell the story of how you ended up needing the tea again—I\'ll attest to my clumsiness."
There was something about his secretary that made her completely trust him… or at least trust him enough and was compliant to go with him without even asking much questions. It may have been out of guilt for dropping the tea canister—but if she still stayed this way, even after what was going to happen once they talked with the people in Shen Society, he would probably treasure it.
It would be something that would put him at ease.
Li Yang knocked on the fourth floor door—and watched it open up quickly. "Welcome to Shen Society—ah, there\'s two of you. Taiga has only been expecting one." A young woman with bright orange hair stared up at him and Ying Yue He.
"...the other one is the CEO, right? Wait is that…" Mou Gu appeared behind the girl and glanced at Ying Yue He with a gawking face. His green eyes stared at her and then returned to Li Yang, "What did you do to her?!"
—-—-
Author Note: The first infusion of Da Hong Pao can be a red color but further makings of the tea will give it an amber or even light yellow color. And it\'s an actual tea *drools* something I wouldn\'t be able to afford ever lol.
Legend: One day the empress fell sick. No traditional Chinese medicine was able to relieve her of this pain and cure her. When a student remembered how the tea once saved his life in the Wuyi mountains he told the emperor the story and offered him the tea leaves.
After drinking the tea, the empress slowly recovered from the sickness. The emperor was pleased and offered an heirloom: A big red robe to the tea trees in the Wuyi mountain temple as a tribute. The trees were covered and protected with the robe and henceforth were called Da Hong Pao.