Chapter 0009: Red Bean Spare Rib Soup

After Ye Wudao left her office, Song Yuhan sat down weakly, noticing a thermos on her desk that was still warm. Inside the thermos was a steaming hot red bean and pork rib soup. Song Yuhan suddenly felt guilty; she hadn't expected that the country bumpkin was actually bringing her soup, and she had scolded him mercilessly.

Her home was almost twenty kilometers away from the company. That country bumpkin, penniless as he was, must have made the soup and then trekked over twenty kilometers to deliver it to the company. Moreover, he worried that the soup might cool down and had meticulously wrapped the thermos in several thick layers of towels.

"Should I go back and apologize to him?" Song Yuhan gazed at the thermos, lost in thought.

"No way! Why should I apologize to that damn country bumpkin? It's not like I asked him to bring me the soup," she quickly dismissed the idea.

Just then, a knocking sound came from outside the office. Song Yuhan quickly collected herself and said coldly, "Come in."

The office door opened from the outside, and Qin Xiaonan entered, holding a thick stack of documents. "President Song, here are the documents you requested," she said.

"Place them on the desk," Song Yuhan ordered.

"Yes, President Song."

Qin Xiaonan placed the thick stack of documents on the desk and, pushing up her black-rimmed glasses, was about to leave when suddenly Song Yuhan called out, "Wait, help me throw out this thermos."

"Yes. President Song."

Qin Xiaonan walked back, picked up the thermos from the desk, and left Song Yuhan's office. Noticing the weight of the thermos, she wondered what was inside.

Qin Xiaonan found a trash can and was about to dispose of the thermos when she realized it wasn't broken; in fact, its design and appearance were quite nice. She thought it was a shame to just throw away such a good thermos, especially since she had been wanting to buy one herself. Deciding not to waste it, she resolved to take it home for her own use.

As Qin Xiaonan held the thermos over the trash can, she retracted her hand and shook it, realizing there was something inside.

She unscrewed the lid to take a look and discovered it was filled with soup, emanating a rich fragrance that made her exclaim, "What a delicious smell."

Qin Xiaonan had initially intended to pour out the soup in the toilet and then keep the thermos for herself. However, as she was about to do so, she impulsively took a sip from the thermos. The soup was a comfort to her whole body, and it seemed to carry a medicinal fragrance, the origin of which she did not know.

But Qin Xiaonan dared not drink too much, so she reluctantly poured all the soup down the toilet, then cleaned the thermos and placed it in a clean bag, planning to take it home for use after work.

In fact, neither Qin Xiaonan nor Song Yuhan knew that the soup was no ordinary liquid; it was specially concocted for Song Yuhan by Ye Wudao. It could dispel dampness and clear heat, nourish yin and beautify the skin, far surpassing any sheep placenta treatments celebrities rave about, countless times over. This soup was made by Ye Wudao with herbs he brought from the mountains, something even money couldn't buy.

Meanwhile, in the office, Song Yuhan was unaware of Ye Wudao's intentions. She was carefully reviewing the thick stack of documents on the desk. These were the design proposals for the Jewelry Group Company's participation in the Asian Jewelry Expo, which Ling Shaomei, before her defection, had been responsible for.

However, since Ling Shaomei had betrayed the Jewelry Group Company and defected to the company's arch-rival, these jewelry design documents could be deemed entirely void.

With little time to spare, Song Yuhan couldn't immediately find a new chief jewelry designer to assist her. The other designers were limited in ability and not up to the task, so she decided she had to enter the fray herself. Jewelry design requires a great deal of inspiration, and it's not as if a plan will present itself as soon as you think about it.

After going through the thick stack of design documents on her desk, Song Yuhan furrowed her brows. It had taken the company three months to complete these designs, and now they had to change them unexpectedly. It wasn't as simple as that. A good design takes at least six months, or even a year, to perfect.

Too ordinary designs would not only fail to serve any promotional purpose if displayed; they could even lead to contempt, with others thinking your company lacks strength, which is why Song Yuhan was so agitated.

Now, with less than half a month left until the Asian Jewelry Expo, they still had to produce finished pieces for the exhibition, meaning Song Yuhan had to come up with a design in the next two to three days. Any later would be too late.

Putting down the last document, Song Yuhan closed her eyes and massaged her somewhat sore neck. When the company was founded, most of the jewelry had been designed by her alone. Some designs even won major awards. But as the company grew, her time became increasingly scarce, focused on managing the company, and she seldom picked up the pen. The recent turn of events, however, forced her to take up her pen again and design anew.

As time ticked by, the evening lights came on, and the employees had long since gone home, leaving only her office still lit in the vast company.

Page after page of white paper turned into crumpled balls strewn casually on the floor. So far, not a single design had met her satisfaction. How could she present anything in the exhibition that didn't satisfy herself?

Looking at the half-completed pattern on the white paper in her hands, Song Yuhan sighed. So far, it was the only design that pleased her. Yet, only half of the pattern was complete, and she was at a loss on how to finish the other half. It always felt like the design was missing something little, but what exactly that was, she couldn't figure out.

In the domain of designers, Song Yuhan's situation was known as a "creative dry spell" or a "bottleneck." Perhaps the breakthrough would come in the next second, or perhaps she wouldn't find it for a decade or so; this was a common occurrence among designers.

It wasn't a solution to keep stifling herself; Song Yuhan felt her mind had turned to mush and needed some clarity. She had to put the design drafts aside and decided to take them home to continue pondering.