Chapter 9
The efficiency of the housekeeper in ordering work uniforms was very high, and the tailor he found was also an experienced one.
“Two styles for each season, one more formal for when there are important guests, and one more casual for everyday wear,” the housekeeper reported to the boss seriously.
“Okay.” He Renyuan was absent-minded. He was more concerned about his breakfast. The tea eggs had become ordinary tea.
Neither of them thought it was unusual to hire a tailor to make work uniforms instead of just asking the employees for their sizes.
The housekeeper took out the breakfast menu arranged by Bai Qingyu for the young master to review, “Do you have any objections?”
Previously, Auntie Liu didn’t dare to ask He Renyuan’s preferences. Now that Bai Qingyu was here, it was better. The schedule from Monday to Friday was clearly arranged, with only one serving, instead of a luxurious buffet for He Renyuan to choose from every morning.
He Renyuan said indifferently, “No.”
He didn’t care what he ate.
After a while, the old tailor arrived, and the housekeeper notified everyone to come and have their measurements taken.
It was still a bit chilly in early spring. Bai Qingyu had been wearing his self-made blue long-sleeved cloth clothes, an old-fashioned style from the last century, and the fabric was also given by neighbors. In the past, many people would buy fabric and make their own clothes before the holidays. Later, the price of factory-made clothes overwhelmed the cost-effectiveness of homemade ones, and many families had a pile of dark blue fabric hidden deep in their closets.
The clothes Bai Qingyu usually wore were made of thick fabric, with double-layered edges, loose and wide, and didn’t show his waistline. In order to cooperate with the measurements, he simply came down in his pajamas.
The pajamas were very thin, made of soft fabric, a new type of fabric he had specially bought for himself and Bai Xiaocha at a high price.
When Bai Qingyu was using the sewing machine, he found that by shortening his own pant legs and sleeves, he could make an extra set of summer pajamas for Bai Xiaocha. The noble tea deity and the tea deity cub had such a big height difference.
Therefore, Bai Qingyu’s pajamas were a bit short, with the sleeves reaching just below his elbows and the pant legs reaching the middle of his calves.
His fair arms and well-proportioned, slender calves were exposed for the first time, as clear and smooth as jade.
The tailor measured his shoulder width, arm length, and chest circumference. When the soft tape measure fell and tightened around his waist, there were suddenly a few extra inches of slack.
He Renyuan noticed for the first time that Bai Qingyu’s waist was so thin. When he was choking people with his sharp tongue, you couldn’t tell that his waist could be snapped with a pinch. Where did this person get his confidence?
The old tailor felt a chill on his back as he was taking measurements. He turned around and saw Young Master He staring at him with a dark gaze. The high price he was about to quote to the housekeeper was immediately reduced by 30%.
He Renyuan stared at the tailor measuring Bai Qingyu’s leg length. He always felt that when Bai Qingyu turned around, he should be, he should be… what kind of appearance?
Bai Qingyu had already noticed that He Renyuan had obediently finished today’s breakfast and seemed to be in a much better mood. He quickly took three steps forward and put forward his new idea for the villa, “Can the dog house in the backyard be used to raise chickens?”
“You must have never seen the tiny Lady Amherst’s pheasants. They are very cute, don’t make much noise, and don’t produce much manure. If you spread a fermentation mat to decompose it, it won’t smell. If you allow me to grow vegetables, I can also shovel the manure as fertilizer.” Bai Qingyu clasped his hands together, full of anticipation.
He Renyuan felt like a bird had pooped on him while he was admiring flowers, “Impossible.”
Bai Qingyu emphasized, “They will lay eggs.”
The eggs were tiny, like quail eggs. Bai Xiaocha could eat one in a single bite, and Young Master He could eat two in a single bite.
He Renyuan, “I know chickens lay eggs.”
Bai Qingyu was puzzled, “Then why don’t you raise them?”
He Renyuan, “I also know you’re irritating, why haven’t I fired you?”
Bai Qingyu, “…”
He thought, his aunt was right, the boss loved to fire people. He was already testing the limits on the verge of being laid off.
Luckily, he hadn’t enrolled Cha Bao in kindergarten yet, or would he have to drop out? He heard that city people were very afraid of the word “dropout.”
The reason why Bai Qingyu knew this word was because he had stumbled upon a tea forum on the internet, where there were many people who shared a common love for tea. The tea deity was very gratified to see so many people’s love. One of the enthusiasts said that he was unemployed and had to drop out, couldn’t afford the mortgage, his wife ran away, his child had no money for kindergarten, he couldn’t find a job and had to go back to his hometown to manage two acres of tea gardens. He was now selling the first flush of spring tea at a low price, not seeking to make a profit, but just hoping to send his child to kindergarten.
The people below all expressed their sympathy and wanted to buy his tea.
Bai Qingyu was short of money and, considering that he also had a child to raise, didn’t buy his tea. But he left his WeChat, saying that he could help promote the tea if he had the opportunity – if the quality was really as good as that person said, He Renyuan should buy it, right?
After leaving his WeChat, hundreds of people applied to add him as a friend that night. Bai Qingyu accepted them one by one. His originally small circle of two or three people suddenly expanded. There were so many like-minded people in this world.
These people were also very enthusiastic. The internet was not a barrier. They often confided their troubles to Bai Qingyu.
Some people had their tea gardens taken away by their stepmothers and needed to sell 100,000 yuan worth of tea to regain management rights; some people’s tea garden contracts were about to expire and were rushing to sell the last batch of tea before returning to their hometowns; some people’s fathers had died early, and their mothers were seriously ill…
Humans were really not easy, unlike the tea deity. The child was full, the adult wasn’t hungry, and he had successfully found a job.
Was the employer’s temper bad? Not really. Compared to the netizens’ bosses, he was really much better.
Bai Qingyu really wanted to have a good relationship with the boss and then promote tea.
But he was a little puzzled. He asked the netizens to send him samples, and they all agreed, but he hadn’t received a single tea leaf yet.
Without samples, how could he promote them to the boss? Someone even scolded him, “You wasted so much of my time, and you just wanted to get free tea.”
Please, the tea deity was the least likely to be short of tea.
Bai Qingyu went upstairs, brought the little one down, filled a water bottle, and took Cha Bao out.
Today, they were going to the suburbs to collect mugwort to make green rice balls for Cha Bao.
He and Cha Bao took a two-hour bus ride to reach the location he had found online.
There were already many aunts and uncles carrying bags and squatting on the ground, pulling mugwort. The mugwort hadn’t grown very tall yet, it was tender. Bai Qingyu was late and could only pick some scattered mugwort from among the stones.
But fortunately, he didn’t need much, just enough for Cha Bao to eat… well, he would make another one with Longjing tea flavor for the boss.
Bai Qingyu wanted to try the young master again, he still wanted to raise chickens. In the countryside, chicks were Bai Xiaocha’s good companions.
Cha Bao loved to pick eggs from the chicken coop. After coming to the city, Bai Xiaocha had lost some of his fun.
Bai Xiaocha was wearing a small white jacket, squatting down to help his father dig wild herbs. From a distance, he looked like a clean, chubby little lamb.
“Dad, can I eat it now?”
“No, you can’t eat grass on the ground.” Bai Qingyu pinched a tender bud of mugwort and put it into the bag.
Bai Xiaocha reached out and touched the top of his head, giggling, “Dad, I have a leaf too.”
Bai Qingyu “plucked” a leaf from his head and compared it with the mugwort leaf in his palm, “Baby’s leaf is bigger.”
“What about Dad’s!”
Bai Qingyu pulled another hair of his own and turned it into a tea leaf. He lined up the three leaves.
“One, two, three.” Bai Xiaocha counted, his eyes smiling like crescents, “Dad’s leaf is the biggest.”
Bai Qingyu pinched enough mugwort and carried Bai Xiaocha to the mountains. When they reached a secluded place with no one around, he changed back into his tea deity form, with long, flowing green hair, like a mountain spirit.
Bai Xiaocha buried his face in his father’s smooth hair. Dad had turned into beautiful Dad!
At four o’clock in the afternoon, the father and son went home hungry.
Bai Xiaocha insisted on waiting to eat the green rice balls made by his father and didn’t eat anything else on the way. When they got home, he stared at the kitchen expectantly.
Bai Qingyu washed the mugwort, boiled it, took it out, mashed it into a dark green paste, and while it was still hot, added glutinous rice flour and kneaded it into a dough.
The hand-mashed mugwort paste wasn’t completely crushed, so the surface of the dough was also a bit rough and mottled.
Bai Qingyu wrapped the dough around some of the children’s meat floss that Auntie Liu had given to Bai Xiaocha and made three of them, placing them in a steamer.
Bai Xiaocha pursed his lips tightly, his tea-colored pupils always reflecting the image of the green rice balls, like a surveillance camera following his father’s movements.
He couldn’t drool yet.
The fourth one wasn’t filled with meat floss. Bai Qingyu added some tea powder to the dough, kneaded it, and placed it directly inside, making it larger than the other three.
Bai Xiaocha was very smart, “Is this one for Uncle Boss?”
Bai Qingyu, “Yes, if he eats it, he has to agree to let you raise chicks.”
The housekeeper looked on through a glass door, full of emotion. In fact, Bai Qingyu’s craftsmanship was on par with the chairman’s, both were very average. It was a pity that the chairman didn’t have a son who would eat anything.
Bai Qingyu had a clear understanding of his own abilities, so he didn’t make enough green rice balls for everyone. Everyone should wait for Auntie Liu to make them.
Ten minutes later, the sticky green rice balls were cooked.
Bai Qingyu put two in a wooden bowl and carried Bai Xiaocha to the third floor to eat.
He took out the spoons for Bai Xiaocha, “Eat, baby.”
These two sticky things were enough for Bai Xiaocha to eat and play with for an hour.
Bai Qingyu went downstairs to wait for his prey – if Young Master He came home.
After dark, He Renyuan came home from work.
Bai Qingyu placed a delicate white porcelain plate with a green rice ball on it in front of He Renyuan and negotiated, “I made you a green rice ball, let me raise chickens.”
He Renyuan, “…” This was the ugliest green rice ball he had ever seen.
He had already sworn that this was the last time he would be manipulated by Bai Qingyu. He looked away and said very firmly, “I won’t eat it.”
The housekeeper broke into a sweat for Bai Qingyu. The young master’s mysophobia would absolutely not allow him to keep chickens at home. Even if the young master was seduced by the tea fragrance of the green rice ball, he still had 70% of his willpower left.
“Oh.” Bai Qingyu also knew that the success rate was not high. He sat opposite him, tore the green rice ball in half, and took small bites.
It seemed that he would have to change employers to realize his plan of raising chickens.
Bai Qingyu heard people gossiping on the bus today, saying that there was an old couple on the first floor of an old residential area who insisted on raising chickens in the flower bed. They were very stubborn, even their professor son couldn’t persuade them. They even brought the chickens into the house at night. No one was willing to be their housekeeper.
[I’m more suitable to be their housekeeper.]
Bai Qingyu was making plans in his head. He had already found out the specific neighborhood. He would take Bai Xiaocha to have a look next weekend. If the old couple didn’t mind him bringing a child, he would change employers.
He Renyuan smelled the tea fragrance in the green rice ball and rested one hand on the table, pressing his temple without making a sound.
He absolutely couldn’t compromise on the matter of raising chickens.
Speaking of which, he had been sitting here for so long, why hadn’t anyone served dinner?
He had worked all day, and he had to resist temptation on an empty stomach when he got home?
Ding-dong—
He Wangzhong’s fatherly love delivery arrived again. This time it was a bowl of eight-treasure rice, sweet and sticky.
The housekeeper opened the insulated lunch box, took a look, and knew that it was something the young master didn’t like to eat.
Heh, the little young master liked to eat it.
He Renyuan smelled the sweet eight-treasure rice competing with the domineering sweetness of the green rice ball. For the first time, he felt that his father was a little useful—
The housekeeper slightly opened the packaging box, showed it to He Renyuan sideways, and then closed it, “Young master, you’re not going to eat it, are you?”
He Renyuan: ?
The housekeeper tightened the packaging box. He didn’t know what was wrong with the young master. He didn’t eat the delicacies his father gave him, but he loved the wild vegetables dug by Bai Qingyu.
Never mind, he would give it to the little boss to eat 🙂
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Housekeeper: Babies who like to eat delicacies will have good luck.
