Chapter 22: Patience Under Pressure

I refused to go with them.
With disappointed sighs, they headed inside, towards the central building where Ji Feiyang had his office.
“Wait here,” Jiajia said. “We’ll come and rescue you.”
True to her word, someone soon arrived with instructions for me to go upstairs.
I’d expected his office to be full of chatter. Instead, it was empty apart from him.
“Where are they?”
“Singing karaoke.”
“Oh.”
That explained why there wasn’t a soul in sight.
“Tang Yijun, here’s your chance to prove yourself.”
His black fountain pen pointed straight at me, as uncomfortably direct as his gaze.
“What?”
“Handle them.”
Was that all?
“That’s too easy,” I said dismissively. “How would you like them? Beaten to a pulp or flattened?”
His expression darkened.
“Tang Yijun, this is a hotel, and you work here. If you want to fight, do it somewhere else.”
Rebuffed, I asked sulkily, “Then what do you want me to do?”
“They specifically asked for you, so you’ll be looking after them. Remember: no violence. I noticed Wenyuan’s here too. Do a good job, and you’ll get a reward.”
“What reward?”
My eyes lit up.
“Well… a day off.”
“Two.”
“Let’s meet halfway. A day and a half.”
“Stingy.”
“You haven’t managed it yet. As I said, you’ll be serving them. Can you do that?”
“I…”
Every part of me resisted the idea.
Since when had I, Tang Yijun, been reduced to waiting on those girls?
Then there was the look in Ji Feiyang’s eyes. He clearly doubted I could do it.
“This is a good opportunity to practise. Don’t waste it. You’re quite capable, aren’t you? A little thing like this should be—”
“Don’t worry. I’ll take very good care of them,” I interrupted impatiently.
There was probably no getting out of this wretched assignment. I might as well accept it.
“Good. Off you go.”
He waved me away. As I turned, he added, “Take plenty of sweets.”
At the door, he stopped me once more.
“Self-control.”
The atmosphere was beginning to feel like a send-off to war.
I stuffed two handfuls of sweets into my pockets. That should be enough.
Then I marched towards the battlefield.
Their room was on the twelfth floor. After taking the lift up, I knocked three times.
Jiajia opened the door. A flurry of excitement greeted my arrival.
“Yijun, Feiyang said you’d be looking after us,” Zhuang Qian said sweetly. “But we couldn’t possibly ask you to wait on us. It was just an excuse to get you up here so we could have fun together.”
“That’s right!” the others agreed.
All except Sun Wenyuan, who kept out of it.
As I entered, she rose from the sofa, picked up a microphone and began singing soulfully towards the screen.
A few steps into the room, I noticed a puddle on the floor. A broken wine bottle lay in it, shards scattered everywhere.
Before I could ask, someone explained, “It slipped when we were opening it.”
“It’s all right, Yijun,” Zhuang Qian said. “We’ll get someone to clean it up. Come and sit down.”
Why tell me it was all right? Clearly, this was supposed to be my problem.
Someone to clean it up? Who exactly was that someone?
Wasn’t I the person assigned to serve them?
“Yijun wouldn’t mind cleaning it up for us, would she?”
Sun Wenyuan slipped the remark into her singing.
The music continued at full volume, but everyone else fell silent. The room felt taut as a string, ready to snap.
I turned towards her. Her eyes were gentle, her smile warm.
“Of course I wouldn’t.”
I gave her a small smile.
They stared for a moment. This was hardly the Tang Yijun they knew.
A sweet went into my mouth, thick and sugary on my tongue.
Bending down, I held the bin in one hand and began picking up the broken glass with the other.
“A broom would be better,” someone suggested. “You might miss the little pieces, and someone could get hurt.”
There wasn’t a broom in the room, so I had to go and find one.
Usually, they seemed to be everywhere. Now that I needed one, I had no idea where to look.
By the time I returned, the room was full of howling. They sounded like pigs being slaughtered, yet somehow had the nerve to sing in public.
Snacks covered the table: pistachios, biscuits, sunflower seeds, dried beef. Even those who weren’t singing were keeping their mouths busy.
As I swept, pistachios rolled off the table one after another. Then someone moved a hand, sending several more things off the overcrowded surface, including an entire box of biscuits.
I swept up the fallen nuts and threw the unopened seaweed snacks and biscuits into the bin.
Let’s see you drop those again.
“They haven’t even been opened,” Li Yan cried regretfully.
So I retrieved the unopened packets and put them back on the table.
“No, never mind!” she said hastily. “Once they’ve been in the bin, it feels a bit unpleasant.”
The bin liner was new and perfectly clean.
Still, I put the biscuits and other snacks back into it, along with a few extra packets that hadn’t fallen in the first place.
“Yijun, come and sit down,” Huang Yiyi called warmly.
After gathering up the rubbish, I went over.
The moment I sat, I sprang back up.
The sofa was wet.
“I didn’t mean to!” Huang Yiyi’s face went pale.
“Was it the wine?” Jiajia asked. “When did it get on the sofa?”
Nobody knew. They all shook their heads.
Another sweet went into my mouth.
“Are you all right, Yijun?” Jiajia asked.
“I’m fine.”
I did my best to sound composed.
She pulled out a few tissues and came to help me wipe my clothes.
“Don’t bother. I’ll do it.”
My face remained expressionless throughout.
They hurried to dry the sofa.
Sun Wenyuan kept singing while the others took turns.
After a while, Huang Yiyi offered me a microphone.
“Yijun, sing something.”
“Yes, go on!” the others urged.
“No, thank you.”
My expression stayed grim.
How could I possibly be in the mood to sing with them? All I wanted was for them to leave so I could be free of this.
I tossed the microphone back.
They sang for a little longer before Li Yan spoke.
“We can’t keep drinking wine as though it’s water. Shall we get some soft drinks?”
Jiajia was the first to raise her hand.
“Yes! We came to sing, not to drink. We’ll get told off when we get home if we’ve had too much.”
“Who’s going to get them?” Li Yan asked.
They looked at one another.
“Yijun isn’t doing anything. I’m sure she’d be happy to help.”
Once again, Sun Wenyuan’s voice came right on cue.
Every pair of eyes turned towards me.
And once again, I astonished them by smiling and giving them what they wanted.
“Of course I would.”
There was almost a tearful gleam of excitement in their eyes.
Except Sun Wenyuan’s. She simply kept smiling.
“You really have changed, Yijun.”
“We haven’t seen you for a few days, and look at you!”
“What would you like?” I asked.
“Sprite for me.”
“Orange juice.”
“I’ll have Sprite too. And a few bottles of barley tea?”
I noted their choices and headed towards the door.
“I want mine cold,” Zhuang Qian reminded me.
Only when I went to buy the drinks did I realise I hadn’t asked how many bottles they wanted.
One each meant at least five, not including me. How was I supposed to carry that many with two hands? Besides, five bottles wouldn’t be enough.
I found a box, packed the drinks into it and carried it back.
It was quite heavy.
Along the way, I savoured another sweet.
The table was still covered in snacks, so they had to clear some space.
As I stood waiting with the box in my arms, something struck me from behind.
The box and I lurched forwards together, crashing into the table.
Falling didn’t matter. The mess didn’t matter.
What mattered was the sweet I’d just put in my mouth.
It lodged in my throat, refusing to come up or go down.
Bent over the table, I struggled desperately, tears springing to my eyes.
“Yijun! Are you all right?”
The room erupted into confusion.
My mouth opened, but no words came out.
After a dreadful struggle, the sweet finally went down. Relief came at once.
I could breathe again.
Pushing myself up from the table, I raised my hand to slap Sun Wenyuan.
Just before it reached her face, it stopped.
I couldn’t hit her.
I would not hit her.
Sun Wenyuan stared at me, her eyes wide. She wanted to see just how much I could take.
We faced each other for several minutes.
Finally, my hand dropped.
“Remember this. You still owe me that slap.”
She smiled.
“Any time. I’ll be waiting.”
At last, she’d shown her true colours.