Bai Chen looked at the young man in front of him and flashed a pretty smile, revealing bright eyes and white teeth.
"Sir, I came to find you to apologize for what happened just now."
Hearing this, Lin Jingchen looked into Bai Chen's eyes, which were filled with amusement.
"It's fine, I'll just take it back and wash it later, it's not a big deal." Lin Jingchen's voice was deeply magnetic, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips that made his whole appearance much softer.
He wore no glasses today, losing a bit of shrewd calculation and gaining a touch of approachability.
Seeing this, Bai Chen's impression of this gentleman grew even better.
As expected, there's a reason people get to sit on the second floor, he thought. His temper is quite good.
He looked at the young man and thought he looked especially like a scholar from ancient times, his tone of voice very comforting to the ear.
Instantly, Bai Chen lowered his gaze to inspect the other man's clothes, wanting to see where the tea had spilled so he could think of a countermeasure to make amends.
Not looking was one thing, but looking gave him a shock.
He saw that the hem of the basic white shirt under the gentleman's suit was stained with a layer of pale yellow liquid.
It gave the entire outfit an indescribable sense of discord, but fortunately the owner's looks were exceptional, causing people to fixate on the person rather than the clothes at first glance.
Bai Chen immediately bent over with a face full of apology and blurted out, "Mr. Lin, I am so sorry. This was our teahouse's mistake, and we will compensate you for your loss."
Having worked as a waiter for so many years in college, encountering this situation had already become a reflex.
Lin Jingchen was taken aback by this action of his. His gaze loosened slightly, and he politely declined, "No need, I've already called my driver and he'll be here soon. Besides, this outfit only has tea on it; it can be washed out."
Fearing the other party would misunderstand his intention, Lin Jingchen added another sentence in a calm tone, "I'll just go downstairs later and have a word with that young woman."
He hadn't really blamed the female staff member from just now.
Earlier, he had been sitting in the teahouse handling documents, as this place was one of the few spots that could put him in a comfortable frame of mind.
Previously, whether at the company or in a café, the moment he sat down he was handling official business. Although others thought he handled these official duties with ease, only he himself knew that his heart was actually filled with irritation.
Sometimes he even wanted to simply burn all these documents to ashes and be done with it once and for all.
Yet this teahouse seemed to possess some kind of calming tonic; the moment he sat down, his mood became exceptionally good.
When that female staff member had just brought the tea up, she accidentally tripped, though she had poured only a portion of the tea onto his clothes.
He had accidentally seen her push the teapot hard toward herself just then, all to prevent him from getting scalded.
The temperature of that tea was certainly not low, and Lin Jingchen had felt it right through his coat.
After helping her up, the other party kept apologizing to him, but Lin Jingchen didn't blame her and simply let the girl head down.
He had already told Manager Wang that he was fine and not to take it to heart.
Yet not even half an hour later, someone came up again. He had been on the phone at the time and hadn't noticed who it was, assuming it was an acquaintance he'd run into here by chance, and was just preparing to sort out his emotions.
Who would have thought that after finishing the call and turning around, he would actually see the teenager from last time again.
Standing before the wooden door, the teenager had delicate facial features, a white shirt, and sneakers, making him look all the more clean, while a pair of dark eyes held a thousand unspoken words.
When lowered, his eyelashes covered his eyes like shadows, resembling raven feathers, revealing no trace of emotion.
He admitted that the other party still made his eyes light up, just like last time.
He had pondered countless reasons why the teenager might have come looking for him here, just never expecting that the other party was actually the owner of this teahouse.
No wonder he hadn't been able to find him after searching for so long last time.
Hearing this, Bai Chen felt even more guilty. Normally, when encountering unreasonable guests, everyone used money to settle things, but the other party's generous and unconcerned attitude left him somewhat at a loss.
This outfit clearly wasn't cheap; judging by either its quality or its appearance, it couldn't be bought for less than tens of thousands.
Bai Chen hesitated and spoke up, "Mr. Lin, our teahouse has rules. If we make a mistake, we must take responsibility."
He thought for a moment and said, "How about this-whenever you come to our teahouse from now on, we'll give you a discount, say fifty percent off. How does that sound?"
This was the best method Bai Chen could think of for the moment.
Judging by this gentleman, he should come to this teahouse to drink tea often, or else he wouldn't bring documents here to work on them.
Lin Jingchen had originally wanted to refuse, but staring into the other person's resolute and shining eyes, he couldn't bring himself to say it.
He lightly pressed his lips together, smiled warmly, and agreed, "Alright, let's do that then. That's quite nice."
Thinking it over, the corners of his lips curved up slightly, "Then I must thank the little boss for upgrading me to a member. From now on, I'll have to come drink tea every day-I might just drink your teahouse into bankruptcy!"
His lighthearted tone eased the somewhat awkward atmosphere.
Bai Chen laughed as well. He was a bit shorter than the other man, so he could only look up at Lin Jingchen.
His eyes curved into crescents as he gave his assurance, "Don't you worry, Mr. Lin. As long as you come, we will definitely provide you with the best service."
"If we go bankrupt, we'll just chalk it up to bad luck." Bai Chen took up his joke as well.
"Hahaha-"
Hearing this, Lin Jingchen laughed out loud, and Bai Chen couldn't help it either.
After calming down a bit, Lin Jingchen suddenly asked, "That's right, I still don't know the little boss's name."
Lin Jingchen felt that calling him "little boss" suited him very well, fitting his temperament and also being very cute.
Bai Chen answered generously, "My name is Bai Chen-bai as in white, chen as in morning and evening."
Bai Chen's name was actually given to him by his mother. He was a premature baby, and the doctor said the child couldn't come out and might not make it inside the womb.
Therefore, the doctor said they could only save the mother, not the baby.
Hearing this, everyone had no choice but to bite the bullet and give up the little one to save the adult.
Yet at that moment, the rooster raised by the old grandmother next door suddenly crowed.
At that exact cry, little Bai Chen stirred and moved himself.
Upon this movement, his mother felt that the baby was still alive, and fought with all her might to bring him into the world.
At the time, everyone found it miraculous that a baby who should not have been able to survive had actually lived.
So when the nurse asked what name to give the child, his mother and father spoke together, "Let's call him Bai Chen.
"Bai Chen, Bai Chen, meant to express the hope that when he grows up in the future, even if he encounters setbacks, he must never give up the light ahead.
"No matter how dark the sky is, there will always be a day when it brightens again."
Hearing this, Lin Jingchen murmured, "Bai Chen?" He thought for a moment, then suddenly hooked the corners of his lips in a smile, "A very good name. Your parents must have hoped that no matter how great the difficulties you encounter in the future, you will never give up hope? And you were probably born close to dawn, weren't you?"
"How did you know?" Bai Chen was pleasantly surprised; after all, in all the years he had grown up, no one had ever guessed it right. Others had only ever guessed one of the meanings.
No one had ever been able to state the complete meaning, which naturally made him view Lin Jingchen through an even more favorable lens.
"And you?" Bai Chen only knew his surname and didn't know his full name yet.
"My name is Lin Jingchen," the other replied, lowering his gaze toward Bai Chen, his eyes revealing a trace of unperceived gentleness.
At that moment, Bai Chen happened to raise his head, only to find their gazes suddenly locking onto each other.
Bai Chen:???
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