Chapter 100: Wu Chen, Threatened and Tempted

Chapter 100: Wu Chen, Threatened and Tempted

“Do you have a private room?” Wu Chen asked the hostess the moment they were through the door.

“We do, sir. May I ask whether you have a reservation?” The hostess smiled, though her expression was a little odd. Today was strange. It was already dark out, and yet the customers had suddenly multiplied. In the last hour or two several more parties had come in, and every one of them had asked for a large private room.

Like Jinfu Teahouse, Qingyuan Teahouse was one of Donghai’s top teahouses, a high-end venue for talking business.

Qingyuan was in fact a touch better than Jinfu—positioned higher, its tea more expensive, its name more famous.

High-end teahouses of this sort all shared one trait: most of their business was concentrated in the afternoon.

There was some in the morning too, but the afternoon drew the crowd. Usually only after lunchtime did people come for tea, and once it passed four, a teahouse’s business began to fall away sharply, guests leaving in batches.

This matched the rhythm of people’s days, and it also had to do with the etiquette of hosting.

People had to eat dinner.

Especially when doing business, discussing business, receiving clients—whether or not the deal had been settled over tea, once mealtime arrived you had to invite your guests to dinner. You could hardly keep drinking tea together in a teahouse and go hungry together.

Which was why Wu Chen could call someone up, set the meeting at the teahouse, and even name the room outright.

He wasn’t worried the room would be taken, though he hadn’t asked in advance.

As long as the room he named was a large one, the odds of it being reserved ahead of time were minuscule. Smaller rooms were another matter—two friends who didn’t care about ceremony or face might come for tea and sit there for who knew how long.

Li Ruobing shot him a look.

Strange. He had plainly arranged to meet someone, and yet after coming in he asked about a private room. Did they need to open one and drink tea first?

“No reservation. Is Shanshui Oolong taken?” Wu Chen asked. Shanshui Oolong was the name of a private room on the fourth floor.

“One moment, sir.” The hostess brought them to the front desk and had the receptionist check.

Shanshui Oolong had no guests at present, and no reservation.

It was one of Qingyuan Teahouse’s largest rooms. A dozen-odd people could talk in there without feeling crowded. But because it was so large, few people booked it.

“This way, please, sir.” The hostess led them straight up. There was no registering, no paying first.

She took the three of them to the fourth floor.

As they neared the Shanshui Oolong room she turned her head to glance back, gesturing, then walked a few steps further and stopped at the doorway. “Here we are, sir. May I ask what tea you’d like?”

“Rock tea,” Wu Chen said. He meant Wuyi rock tea, a variety of oolong.

They went in. The room really was enormous, verging on empty.

Wu Chen gave Su Qingying a set of instructions.

Before long the same hostess brought the tea and the tea set in herself. While she laid them out on the table, she glanced at Su Qingying a few extra times, then smiled in surprise. “Are you… Miss Su Qingying?”

“I am.” Su Qingying nodded, with a polite and beautifully mannered smile.

“It really is you. When I went downstairs just now my colleague said you looked familiar, and I thought so too… I never imagined it was actually you. You’re even more beautiful than on television.” The hostess said it with a touch of excitement.

Because she’d seen her in the flesh. Donghai’s foremost heiress. Donghai’s foremost beauty.

“Thank you.” Su Qingying thanked her politely.

Listening, Wu Chen glanced at Li Ruobing. She sat on the other side without expression. She didn’t seem to mind Su Qingying stealing the spotlight in a setting like this, which suited her low profile in private.

Today wasn’t Li Ruobing’s business meeting either, so even her presence was…