"Congratulations on becoming the new ace of the tenth floor!"
As Lin Yuan stepped out of the office, the composing department erupted into applause, with Wu Yong and others leading the congratulations.
"Thank you."
Lin Yuan put on a smile that met societal expectations.
A colleague teased, "To celebrate, Xianyu, how about treating everyone to a cup of coffee?"
"No coffee."
Lin Yuan instinctively shook his head, "Let's have tea instead."
The crowd joked, "Tea is fine too. There's a tea house downstairs. Shall we go down now, or should we call them to deliver it?"
"No need for that trouble."
Lin Yuan turned and headed back to Old Zhou's office.
Zhao Jue hadn't left yet and was chatting with Old Zhou. Seeing Lin Yuan enter, both of them curiously asked, "Does Lin Yuan have something else to do?"
Lin Yuan said, "Where's your tea leaves?"
Old Zhou was momentarily stunned, then smiled, "Under the left drawer."
It seemed this young one had given up coffee and developed a liking for tea.
Lin Yuan nodded, rummaged through Old Zhou's drawer, then walked out with a box of tea leaves.
Old Zhou was taken aback, his face turning pale, "Hey hey hey, this isn't right. Why are you taking so much?"
Lin Yuan said, "Treating everyone."
Colleagues outside were peering through the door. Seeing Lin Yuan directly taking Old Zhou's well-preserved top-grade tea leaves, their eyes lit up, and they gave thumbs up to Lin Yuan!
"Xianyu is bold!"
"Old Zhou is bleeding heavily!"
"These tea leaves are precious!"
"Old Zhou is treating Xianyu too well."
"If you have Xianyu's ability, you can do the same."
"... "
Everyone was filled with anticipation.
Old Zhou sat uneasily, wanting to snatch back the box of tea leaves taken by Lin Yuan.
Zhao Jue, sitting beside him, calmly said, "Manager Zhou is indeed generous. I admire you, Little Zhao."
Old Zhou: "..."
How could he lose face in front of Little Zhao?
He forced himself to stay calm and weakly waved his hand at Lin Yuan.
Lin Yuan didn't think much about it. He took the tea leaves and started brewing tea for his colleagues outside since there was readily available hot water.
"Give me some!"
To his surprise, his colleagues seemed to love tea. Their enthusiasm for tea was much higher than for coffee. They quickly gathered around.
Well, he was quite clever himself.
The tea leaves downstairs were so expensive!
Old Zhou had some readily available, right?
Since he didn't take Old Zhou's tea leaves for free, he could always buy a box for Old Zhou later. It was definitely more cost-effective than the tea house downstairs.
Thinking like this, Lin Yuan brewed himself a cup. However, when he was halfway through the tea, Wu Yong suddenly approached, "You have quite a lot of face. These tea leaves cost at least tens of thousands per box. Old Zhou rarely drinks them himself, let alone us. You actually managed to get them. We're really benefiting from your good fortune."
Lin Yuan's hand trembled.
Wu Yong didn't notice Lin Yuan's odd expression and showed a satisfied look, "Don't underestimate it. Tea leaves that cost tens of thousands per box are a different experience!"
Lin Yuan turned to look at Old Zhou.
Old Zhou was vigorously massaging his temples.
Lin Yuan looked at the tea in his hand, then at the empty tea box. Suddenly, he missed the 60 yuan per cup coffee upstairs.
...
Should he compensate Old Zhou?
Lin Yuan pondered over this significant life dilemma until the end of the workday. He found it hard to understand why there were people like Old Zhou in the world, drinking tea leaves that cost tens of thousands per box.
Can't he live a normal life?
"Tea all tastes the same, just like those similar and unremarkable coffees, with the only difference being the level of sweetness and bitterness. With that money, why not buy some ice cream and pair it with a serving of pudding jelly? Wouldn't that be delightful?"
"Mr. Xianyu."
Just as Lin Yuan was in a dilemma, a voice suddenly sounded beside him. He looked up to see two people standing in front of him: on the left was Tao Ran, whom he had met before, and on the right was someone a bit unfamiliar.
"I'm Jin Shuyu!"
Jin Shuyu quickly greeted.
Lin Yuan was puzzled, "This is?"
Tao Ran said seriously, "The incident last time caused some unhappiness for Mr. Xianyu. So, we are here to apologize. These gifts are a small token of our sincerity. Please accept them!"
Tao Ran held a few boxes.
Lin Yuan didn't take them, "It's okay."
Jin Shuyu smiled bitterly, "Mr. Xianyu, no need to be polite. What happened last time was my fault. I've been reflecting on it recently, and I can assure you it won't happen again in the future!"
"That's good."
No harm, no foul.
Lin Yuan nodded and prepared to leave.
Jin Shuyu gave Tao Ran a meaningful look. Tao Ran understood and forcefully handed the boxes to Lin Yuan, saying, "There's nothing extraordinary inside. Just some tea leaves."
Tea leaves?
Lin Yuan's nerves twitched. Unable to resist, he stopped and hesitated for a moment. He leaned in close to Tao Ran and asked in a low voice, "How much does this tea cost?"
"Not expensive, not expensive."
Tao Ran waved his hands repeatedly.
Lin Yuan frowned, "That won't do."
Tao Ran was stunned, then coughed, "Thirty to fifty thousand yuan per box. If you're not satisfied, I can arrange for something better for you. But good tea requires advance reservation. If you give me some time..."
"Very satisfied!"
This tea leaves could be the compensation for Old Zhou.
Lin Yuan quickly accepted the gift box, feeling that leaving like this wouldn't be appropriate. So, he spoke earnestly, "I don't blame you. There's really no need to be so polite next time."
"Okay!"
The two of them were overjoyed.
Watching Lin Yuan's departing figure, Jin Shuyu breathed a sigh of relief and said with lingering fear, "Brother Tao, you must remember, the most untouchable people in this company are the composers, especially someone at Xianyu's level."
"Absolutely!"
Tao Ran nodded vigorously.
Jin Shuyu smiled, "But maybe we overthought it before. After all, Xianyu is also a human being. He accepted these gifts. We're all ordinary people who like money. If you want to build good relationships in the future, it won't be difficult."
"Naive!"
Tao Ran retorted.
Jin Shuyu: "Huh?"
Tao Ran shook his head, "Mr. Xianyu is definitely not someone motivated by money. When I priced the song 'Red Rose' at two million, he didn't even blink. Do you think he would care about a few tens of thousands worth of gifts? "
"I see."
Jin Shuyu said, "Then he..."
Tao Ran sighed, "This is where Mr. Xianyu's integrity lies. He might be afraid that we would have concerns and feel uneasy, so he accepted these gifts. He even specifically asked me about the price of the tea leaves. It's a test. Tens of thousands is just the right amount – not too cheap to seem insincere, and not too expensive, changing the nature of the matter. This is to ease our minds and tell us that he has truly forgiven us."
"Understood!"
Jin Shuyu looked at Lin Yuan's back and felt somewhat moved. It turned out he had underestimated Mr. Xianyu's nobility!