The Art of Teasing - Chapter 18
Chapter 18
Wen Zhengyu truly hadn't expected Ye Ling to agree. As for whether the agreement was genuine or merely polite, she had no desire to speculate. In any case, she was unwilling to let Ye Ling sleep in her bed, and she had to resolve the matter of Ye Ling's afternoon rest. She said: "CEO Ye is too courteous. I assumed CEO Ye wouldn't be visiting often and wouldn't need a rest room at the studio, so I didn't prepare one for you. The fact that CEO Ye approached me about this today clearly shows my arrangements were lacking, and I will arrange a solution for you as quickly as possible."
The corner of Ye Ling's mouth lifted slightly, and she agreed with cheerful alacrity: "Fine. However Zhengyu arranges it is how I'll sleep."
Given that Ye Ling had previously refused a hotel stay, Wen Zhengyu took these words purely as a polite pleasantry. Seeing that Ye Ling had finished discussing the matter yet showed no sign of leaving, she smiled courteously and asked: "Does CEO Ye have other business?"
Ye Ling said: "I've been renovating my residence lately and need to be on-site constantly to supervise the work. My office is over an hour's drive from here, and encountering rush hour traffic can stretch that to two or three hours, which is normal. I need to find a nearby office to handle daily affairs."
Wen Zhengyu understood Ye Ling's meaning. Ye Ling's office was sitting idle here, and now she wanted to use it to manage her daily affairs—naturally, she couldn't very well refuse. She said: "As long as it doesn't affect the studio's operations, CEO Ye, please suit yourself."
Ye Ling said: "Thank you, Zhengyu." She asked Wen Zhengyu: "Shall I take you to lunch?"
Wen Zhengyu replied: "Aunt Sun is bringing my lunch over at noon."
Ye Ling made a soft "oh" of slight regret and said: "Another time, then. I won't disturb you further." She raised a hand to gesture outside, indicating she would go attend to other matters first.
Wen Zhengyu said: "Safe travels, CEO Ye."
Ye Ling smiled, said nothing, turned, and left the painting room.
Wen Zhengyu followed behind Ye Ling, walking to the doorway of the painting room.
Ye Ling stopped at the studio entrance and said to Wen Zhengyu: "No need to see me out. Stay here."
Wen Zhengyu thought to herself: I wasn't planning to see you out. A gentle smile hung at the corners of her lips as, right in front of Ye Ling, she unhurriedly closed the glass door of the painting room. She thought to herself: I just came to close the door, that's all. Through the glass door, she waved at Ye Ling and made a bye-bye gesture, then turned and returned to the painting table to continue lifting her brush and painting.
The mountain fire had burned for nine days and nine nights. Ash blanketed the mountain ridges and fields; ancient trees were reduced to carbon, emitting wisps of green smoke; wild beasts had been burned to death in the great fire. Myriad flocks of birds, plummeting from the heavens into the flames—some had already been scorched black by the inferno, or baked until only skeletons and ashes remained; other flocks were still falling from the sky.
The Phoenix Bird, falling from the heavens, plunged straight into the Bottomless Abyss deep within Kunlun.
The Little Sprite, crouched within a crevice in the rocks atop a mountain ridge, tilted its head back to watch the Phoenix Bird's form plummet from the Ninth Heaven. That silhouette was reflected in its eyes, like fire, like blood. Golden Phoenix blood scattered from the Phoenix Bird's body, and one drop fell upon the Little Sprite's forehead—
A knock sounded at the door, breaking Wen Zhengyu's train of thought. She turned her head to look and saw Ye Ling appear at the doorway.
Wen Zhengyu was disoriented for a few seconds before she remembered she was painting in the studio's painting room.
Ye Ling pointed at the door lock, as if telling her to open the door.
Wen Zhengyu wondered, baffled: Did I lock the door behind me? She set down her brush, rose, and went to the doorway, where she indeed saw the door was locked.
Ye Ling raised a hand and gestured toward the adjacent reception room, saying: "Your family's Aunt Sun has been waiting for you to eat for half an hour. She's come to knock on the door three times."
Wen Zhengyu froze, then hastily checked the time and found it was already half past twelve. She lightly tapped her forehead and explained sheepishly: "Too absorbed. I didn't hear." As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized: it wasn't as though her grandfather or aunts had caught her—why was she explaining to Ye Ling?
Ye Ling said: "I happen to also not have eaten. How about together?"
Wen Zhengyu thought of how the office staff often gathered at lunchtime, bringing their various dishes together to share a meal. Ye Ling had ordered takeout and wanted to share with her? In all her life, she'd never shared a meal with someone like this; watching her coworkers share meals, she'd always found it rather novel and interesting. However, everyone was quite reserved around her; she figured if she joined them, no one would enjoy their meal, so she felt too embarrassed to intrude. Now that Ye Ling was proposing to share, Wen Zhengyu could just happen to experience the feeling of sharing a meal with a colleague, and immediately agreed with pleasure. She asked Ye Ling to wait a few minutes for her while she first cleaned her brushes and tidied up her painting tools and table.
Ye Ling smiled lightly and answered: "Alright," standing at the doorway and quietly waiting while Wen Zhengyu meticulously put everything in order.
After finishing tidying up, Wen Zhengyu realized Ye Ling was still waiting at the doorway, which caught her slightly by surprise. She had assumed Ye Ling would go to her office to wait. But then she thought, with her not in the office, Ye Ling probably felt too awkward to go in. With a touch of apology, she said: "I'm sorry to have kept CEO Ye waiting." She made a "please" gesture and led the way back to her office, where she opened the lunch box Sun Yuan had left on the coffee table, taking out the soup tureen, thermal food container, and dishes, and arranging them on the table. After setting everything out, she saw that Ye Ling was already seated beside the sofa and, with complete self-possession, was portioning out the rice. She stood stunned in astonishment.
She watched, dumbfounded, as Ye Ling scooped half the rice from the thermal food container into the container lid, moved the other half into a rice bowl—and then that shameless person even pulled the rice bowl over to her own place, sliding the container lid full of rice in front of her. Ye Ling had brought her own disposable chopsticks and soup spoon; it was just the rice and dishes she hadn't brought. And she was even sharing her soup.
Wasn't this supposed to be sharing a meal? Ye Ling had brought nothing but herself? Where were the dishes and rice?
Wen Zhengyu stood frozen for several seconds before it dawned on her: this was another lunch heist.
Ye Ling greeted her: "Why are you just standing there? Sit." She placed the chopsticks in Wen Zhengyu's hand and said: "Disposable utensils aren't clean. I'll use them."
Wen Zhengyu squeezed out three dry words: "Thank you, then." She picked up her chopsticks and silently lifted the thermal food container lid holding the rice. She inexplicably felt a little aggrieved. Catching herself in this emotion, Wen Zhengyu felt speechless and focused wholeheartedly on eating.
The two ate lunch in quiet stillness.
Wen Zhengyu, having had half her lunch portioned off by Ye Ling, was—just like yesterday—only half-full.
She had Sun Yuan come in to clear away the dishes, glanced at the time again, saw it had just passed one, and then brewed tea to serve Ye Ling.
Ye Ling savored the tea for a while before asking Wen Zhengyu: "You'll be attending the Autumn Auction the day after tomorrow, yes?"
The Kunlun Art Studio Autumn Auction—the studio's first auction since its founding—would feature numerous masterworks up for bidding.
When the studio was established, the shares she and Wen Li held in the studio, worth over ten million, had come from these very paintings. Opening the studio was a business transaction; they were still in the startup phase, with no capital to hoard these paintings—they couldn't tie up such a large sum of money.
The series of promotional events on opening day had only been a warm-up; this Autumn Auction was the main event.
As the operational manager of the studio, she was naturally going to attend. Not only her—Wen Li, Old Master Wen, and her teacher, Old Master Qi, would all be there.
Qi Qianshu's 1.8-meter-long painting, Great Wall Majestic Pass, was one of the auction's centerpiece masterworks. To support her studio, her teacher had brought out a painting he had worked on for several years in Beijing.
As for her grandfather Old Master Wen's paintings, they had all been sold off long ago when paying off her father's debts. When she decided to open the studio, the old man had taken Zhan Cheng out from early morning until late evening, climbing to mountaintops to sketch and seek inspiration. After nearly a month, he had painted an Early Autumn Landscape of Jiangnan's Lovely Peaks, with an inscription reading: "Wishing Kunlun Art Studio a Prosperous Opening." Given Old Master's congratulatory inscription and this painting—two meters long, 1.2 meters wide—she displayed it as the studio's crowning treasure, hanging it in a very prominent place. She had originally wanted the Old Master to paint one more work for the auction, but he first complained of shoulder pain and aching arms. After she massaged his shoulders for ages and rubbed his arms for ages, the Old Master leisurely told her: "Art is valued for its refinement, not quantity. Much without refinement becomes roadside goods. Go back to your room and rest."
Wen Zhengyu told Ye Ling: "I will attend."
Ye Ling asked her a few more questions about the auction—the promotional catalogs, invitations, and such had all been sent out long ago.
Wen Zhengyu figured Ye Ling was certainly not asking about that publicly available information; she probably wanted industry-insider assessments. As the studio's largest shareholder and business partner, Ye Ling had a right to know, so she explained the relevant details to her in full.
Their conversation went on until four in the afternoon, until Wen Zhengyu's stomach was growling with hunger.
She had truly come to dread Ye Ling inviting her to eat, and immediately excused herself on the pretext of having made plans to discuss matters with Wen Li, slipping away at top speed.
Her home wasn't far from here—less than three kilometers, a large stretch of which was a lakefront walking path paved with cobblestones. She treated her daily commute as physical exercise, going back and forth on foot.
Her stomach was empty, so she first wandered over to a nearby snack street and found a small restaurant with a modest facade but a well-known reputation in the neighborhood. She ate a bowl of pian'er chuan noodles before leisurely walking back.
Wen Zhengyu had eaten noodles after four in the afternoon and then dinner before six; her stomach was still full, so her dinner portion was halved again.
Old Master Wen asked her with great concern: "Are you ill? Why have you been eating so little these past two days? Is the work very tiring and hard?"
Wen Zhengyu could hardly tell Old Master Wen that Ye Ling had been robbing her lunch these past two days. She sighed mournfully in her heart and fobbed him off with: "I ate too many snacks this afternoon."
Old Master Wen immediately became a little disgruntled, saying she bought snacks without thinking of Grandpa—that his love for her had been in vain.
Wen Zhengyu: "…"
After dinner, when Sun Yuan had cleared the dishes, she took advantage of the Old Master having retired to his room and quietly asked her: "Miss, should I prepare an extra serving of food tomorrow?"
Wen Zhengyu didn't want to eat with Ye Ling. She shook her head gently and said: "No need." She instructed Sun Yuan to help her buy a reclining chair tomorrow morning and have it delivered to the studio, preferably around or before noon.
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