Lu Yao stood up instinctively and looked toward the shop entrance.
The guest who entered had a very pleasant temperament and appearance, wearing a warm winter coat. Upon seeing Lu Yao, her eyes crinkled into a smile. “Hello, owner.”
“Hello,” Lu Yao greeted her, a bit flustered as she invited her in.
This was Lu Yao’s very first customer since opening the shop, so she couldn’t help but feel nervous. Fearing she might leave a bad impression; Lu Yao mimicked the smiles of the salespeople she’d seen at car dealerships. It wasn’t exactly passionate, but it was gentle, and the guest seemed comfortable with it.
Li Jing performed much better than Lu Yao. She quickly asked the guest what kind of flowers she needed and invited her to look around.
The guest began to scan the shop. There was no eye-catching decor—just a plain white wall and simple wooden flower racks. The racks were filled with wrapped bouquets: common tulips, hyacinths, daffodils…
Though the shop was simple, the flowers were very fresh. This was a brand-new shop, and being located in an area like this, it didn’t have much foot traffic yet.
“Do you live in this residential area?” Lu Yao asked.
The guest snapped out of her thoughts and explained with a smile, “No, I’m here to visit a friend and wanted to buy a bouquet. Do you have any recommendations?”
Lu Yao looked at her for a moment. “Sunflowers. They look full of vitality.”
“Then let’s go with those.”
The guest was easy to please; she accepted whatever Lu Yao suggested without a hint of being picky.
Lowering her head, Lu Yao used rice-pink wrapping paper to bundle the sunflowers with champagne roses. Just as she had recommended, the sun-facing sunflowers brought a sense of energy during this cold season. When she handed them over, the guest took the opportunity to offer a few compliments on their beauty.
“That will be 138 in total.” Lu Yao rubbed her fingers together; her fingertips were a bit red from the cold. She paused. “Since you are my very first customer today, I can give you a discount. How does 118 sounds?”
The guest kept a smile on her face and scanned the QR code to pay without even trying to haggle. Holding the flowers, she then asked, “Don’t you recommend signing up for a membership card?”
Lu Yao was surprised, her gaze darting toward the guest in astonishment. Having a customer willing to get a membership card was a good thing, and she had no reason to refuse. However, the shop had just opened, and the cards hadn’t even been custom-ordered yet. Moreover… Lu Yao’s brow furrowed slightly. “Weren’t you just here to visit a friend?”
If she was just visiting, there was really no need for a membership card.
The guest only smiled without speaking. Li Jing stepped in and said, “Perhaps this guest is very close with her friend and comes to visit often?”
Lu Yao glanced at Li Jing, thinking that if she were a salesperson, she’d probably earn quite a lot in commissions.
Realizing her own oversight, Lu Yao bit her lip. “The membership cards aren’t ready yet. Why don’t we add each other on WeChat first? You can still get a discount whenever you come in the future.”
“That sounds good.” The guest proceeded to add Lu Yao on WeChat.
As she was about to head out clutching the flowers, she suddenly stopped, looked back, and smiled. “Boss Lu, who knows? Maybe I’ll buy a house here in the future too.”
“Boss, what are you thinking about?”
Several hours had passed since the first guest left, and no one else had entered the shop. After cleaning up the mess on the floor, Li Jing had some free time. She noticed her new boss had been staring at her phone. At first, she thought she was waiting for a message from friends or family, but then she realized Lu Yao kept looking down without replying, which signaled something was wrong.
Li Jing wanted to lean over and peek—something she often did with her close friends—but her last shred of professional boundaries stopped her.
Lu Yao gripped her phone, her frown never relaxing. “I’m wondering… how did she know my surname is Lu?”
Li Jing blinked. “Huh?”
Lu Yao looked at her own WeChat name. Originally, her contact list only had a few people she knew personally, so her name was simply “Lu Yao.” But after opening the flower shop, under Jiang Yunyun’s playful urging, she had changed it to “AAA Neighbor’s Flower Shop (Delivery Available).”
So why did that guest specifically stop and call her “Boss Lu” right before walking out?
Li Jing opened her mouth. She realized she didn’t even know her new boss’s full name yet.
She had spent over half a day in the shop and yet she knew less than a guest who had just walked in. No, she wasn’t that dumb! Li Jing said cautiously, “Could it be a friend of yours referred her? Maybe they were afraid you’d find out, so they tried to keep it a secret, but she accidentally let it slip?”
“Is that it?” Lu Yao was skeptical.
“It must be… I mean, besides her, no other guests have come in.” Li Jing realized after saying it that it sounded a bit discouraging.
Fortunately, Lu Yao was prepared for this. She had even planned to lose money for the first six months.
“Then that must be it.”
Li Jing finished her shift. Lu Yao insisted on keeping the shop open for a bit longer, not closing until around ten o’clock. Today’s revenue was barely 200 yuan. Another guest had come in right before Li Jing left—someone who looked like they lived in the complex—bought some flowers, and left.
At the same time, a message from Jiang Yunyun arrived: “I didn’t refer anyone to your place to buy flowers. If you have the money to mess around like that, we might as well go eat hotpot together.”
Lu Yao stared at the screen. If it wasn’t Jiang Yunyun, then who? It couldn’t be her parents all the way back in her hometown.
Lu Yao scrolled through her WeChat again. Thinking it over, Jiang Yunyun was the most likely candidate because she was her only close friend. But if Jiang Yunyun said it wasn’t her, given her personality, she wouldn’t lie about something like that. So who was it?
Lu Yao suddenly saw Shen Qing’s WeChat. A thought struck her, and her heart skipped a beat. Could it be her?
Should she ask?
Lu Yao bit her lower lip. Her finger hovered over Shen Qing’s profile picture several times, but in the end, she gave up. Shen Qing was like a ball of fire—warm to look at, but if someone who was already frostbitten got too close, it would only make the pain of the injury worse. Better to keep a respectful distance.
The car drove all the way to the hotel.
Luo Yueming stepped out. Her black and white attire made her temperament seem even more cold and detached. In her clear eyes, there was no sign of worldly desire or weakness. Her skin was pale to a nearly sickly degree; she looked fragile, yet anyone who got close was frozen by the look in her eyes.
The doorman shuddered. “Let me park the car for you.”
“Thank you,” Luo Yueming said.
The doorman was used to this kind of cold, emotionless gratitude. He didn’t mind; he just wanted Luo Yueming to walk away quickly. After handing the keys to the doorman, Luo Yueming headed into the hotel.
She took the elevator up to a private room on the seventh floor, where people from the corporate world were already gathered. Luo Yueming arrived right on time—not too late, and not the last one there.
Sitting at the head of the table was a man—stout, with a ruddy face. Seeing Luo Yueming enter, he gestured for her to sit.
“Hello, President.” Luo Yueming nodded to him.
She was directed to sit next to the President’s wife. The President’s wife was nearly forty but well-maintained, looking to be in her early thirties, with exquisite makeup and a very trendy style. As soon as Luo Yueming sat down, the woman took her hand, her gaze as warm as if she were looking at her own daughter.
“It’s so cold out, why aren’t you wearing more?”
Luo Yueming’s fingertips twitched. She nonchalantly pulled her hand back. “There’s heating in the room; I’m wearing just enough. Thank you for your concern, Mrs. Zhao.”
Soon, the last person arrived. Seeing everyone at the table, the newcomer reflexively apologized. In the world of business dinners, the way to apologize was through drinking. After a shot of top-shelf white liquor, the conversation began to flow.
Luo Yueming didn’t say much in this setting. She watched the other general managers exchange pleasantries with the opposing company’s representatives, throwing in some flattery for her own President before the topic slowly turned toward business.
At this point, it was Luo Yueming’s turn to step up.
She was the only one who hadn’t drunk much throughout the night. People from her own company wouldn’t pressure her to drink, and if anyone from the other company tried, they were blocked. How could they let Luo Yueming drink? The contract works still relied on her!
Luo Yueming took out the prepared materials and placed them on the table. She moved to a seat next to the other company’s representatives, introducing the benefits of the collaboration in a professional tone before finally quoting a price that was clearly higher than the other party’s expectations.
Haggling was normal. The person sent by the other company had a high tolerance for alcohol; despite having drunk so much, he didn’t forget to put up a fight.
Luo Yueming remained firm, refusing to budge on the price. No matter what flaws the other party tried to point out, she handled them with ease. In the end, President Li stepped in with a smile to play the “good cop.” After a bit of a performance, the price was lowered slightly. Although it was still above the other company’s initial projection, having felt the pressure from Luo Yueming, the representative couldn’t help but feel grateful to President Li.
Luo Yueming watched as the other party signed the contract, saying nothing.
The alcohol-fueled gathering dragged on before finally dispersing. Since a person like President Li didn’t handle the bill personally, he left early with his wife. Because her colleagues were mostly slumped over from drinking, Luo Yueming had to take the initiative to settle the bill and see the client’s employees off.
“Sigh, it’s a blessing for your company to be able to recruit an employee like you,” the man said in the elevator.
Luo Yueming had heard such things many times—it was either a sincere compliment or an opening line for headhunting. As the elevator doors opened, she asked him, “Did you drive here?”
He had indeed drunk quite a bit and nodded drunkenly.
Luo Yueming: “Then I’ll call a designated driver for you.”
The man looked at Luo Yueming’s striking face and chuckled. “President Luo, you must have quite a few pursuers, don’t you?”
Luo Yueming frowned and said flatly, “Not many.”
The man continued, “I heard from my wife that your wife opened a flower shop?”
Luo Yueming froze. She turned her head to look at the man. His face was still flushed from the alcohol, and he seemed unaware that what he had just said was disastrous for Luo Yueming.
The moment the words reached her ears, a biting chill seeped mercilessly into her chest. Without the warmth of the private room, Luo Yueming—in her thin clothing—turned pale at the lips. She looked at the man with a haunting gaze.
“How did your wife find out?”
The question carried an unspeakable sense of danger.
The flower shop was simple, and Lu Yao knew it. She was trying to find ways to make it look better. Since she couldn’t afford a full renovation, she focused on the decor. Having just a few rows of flower racks was too monotonous, so Lu Yao ordered several vases of various sizes, with free shipping to the shop.
Unfortunately, one vase arrived shattered. Li Jing cleaned up the shards to throw them out while Lu Yao sent the evidence to the seller. The seller responded quickly, agreeing to send a replacement.
In addition, she purchased some exquisite potted plants, which were brought back in a pickup truck. Once they arrived at the shop, Lu Yao began studying the layout, occasionally asking for Li Jing’s opinion. After a lot of tinkering, it looked much better than when they started.
“The walls are still a bit empty, and the ceiling too,” Li Jing said, looking up. “I’ve seen other flower shops with vines hanging from the ceiling; it looks so pretty.”
“We can’t do that,” Lu Yao said helplessly. To have vines hanging down, they’d have to mess with the ceiling, which was expensive. The ceiling of the shop was the floor of her bedroom; if anything went wrong, she wouldn’t feel safe living there.
Li Jing’s eyes darted around. “The checkout counter is very empty too! Why don’t we put something around it?”
Lu Yao looked over. The counter was a table bought from a second-hand market. Currently, it only held a computer and a single potted plant; it was indeed quite bare. But putting flowers near the counter wasn’t very convenient, and besides, it felt like a waste.
Business hadn’t been great lately. Aside from the fixed flower deliveries to the bar, there were only a few scattered customers. The residential area wasn’t even fully occupied yet. If she wanted the shop to be bustling, she’d have to wait it out. Every extra spot for flowers meant buying more stock, which was another potential loss.
“How about some hydroponic plants?” Li Jing suggested. Hydroponic plants might be a bit pricey to buy, but they were much cheaper than using fresh flowers for long-term decoration.
Lu Yao decided to take the suggestion.
As the two were discussing it, a guest entered. By now, Lu Yao could welcome people calmly. When she looked back, she realized it was the same woman who had been her very first guest.
Thinking the woman might have been referred by Shen Qing, Lu Yao swallowed her words of welcome and let Li Jing handle it. She still didn’t know what to say.
Li Jing was much sharper and immediately stepped forward. “Are you here to visit your friend today too?”
The guest chuckled. “No, today I specifically came to see Boss Lu.”
She wasn’t going to play along anymore?
Li Jing gave Lu Yao a look and stepped aside. Since the guest had called her out by name, Lu Yao had to “receive” her personally.
“Have a seat first.” There were now two chairs in the shop.
“How has business been lately, Boss Lu?” The woman didn’t refuse and sat gracefully in the chair.
Lu Yao: “It’s okay.”
The guest looked at her. “I thought there would be others here. Hehe, don’t mind me, Boss Lu. I heard by chance that you opened a flower shop here. I was curious, so I came to take a look.”
It was a simple sentence, but Lu Yao couldn’t quite understand it.
“Weren’t you introduced by Shen Qing?” Lu Yao asked, puzzled.
The woman looked even more confused. “Shen Qing? Is that a friend of yours? I’m sorry… I don’t know anyone by that name.”