The Ruined Heiress’s Canary Is A Secret Tycoon - Chapter 4

A drizzling rain persisted, its fine threads sweeping over Shanhai Town.

The cobblestone streets were once again coated with a fresh layer of water slick.

The evening gathering went ahead as scheduled. The employees were all highly enthusiastic, greeting one another as they headed into the bar in groups of twos and threes.

Shanhai Town wasn’t large, boasting only two or three bars. One of them happened to be owned by the father of the blonde punk who had been relentlessly harassing Ye Siyu.

The store manager was a very kind looking, middle aged man who resembled the Maitreya Buddha. Everyone affectionately called him Old Zhang, and he was also the owner of the coffee shop. As a local of Shanhai Town, Old Zhang knew that some young thugs had been coming to cause trouble recently. He had even made a special trip to speak with the bar owner, telling him to keep his son on a tight leash and stop harassing the female employees, even exchanging a few tense words with him.

Old Zhang had thoughtfully chosen a quiet lounge bar, staying far away from the other establishment he often criticized as a low-class “Silk Cave.” The group booked a large booth inside.

The lounge had a wonderful ambiance. A female singer sat on the stage in the center of the venue, softly crooning folk songs.

Everyone gathered around the booth as dice rattled inside their cups.

Most of the people at the table were already quite tipsy. A joyous atmosphere enveloped the bar as they played drinking games and gossiped with slurred speech.

Ye Siyu wanted to find an opportunity to tell Old Zhang that she might not be working there much longer. But before she could speak, a flush faced female colleague next to her shoved a vibrant, beautifully layered cocktail into her hand. “Xiaoyu, I’ve been noticing you for a long time, we just never shared a shift together.”

Ye Siyu raised her eyes slightly, offering a polite, faint smile.

She stared at the drink for a moment, recognizing that it had a high alcohol content. Yet, without much hesitation, she brought it to her lips and took a sip.

With her eyelashes lowered and the shifting light casting shadows across her cheek, her defined profile looked breathtakingly beautiful.

The female colleague’s face flushed even deeper. “I heard the bar owner’s son is pursuing you.”

Ye Siyu fell silent for a moment, offering no reply.

The colleague asked tentatively, “So, do you like him?”

Finally, Ye Siyu looked up, her gaze practically asking. Are you out of your mind?

That subconscious arch of her brow was a sight that could captivate anyone, regardless of gender.

Flustered by the look, the female colleague lowered her head, her face burning red. Ye Siyu stopped talking and went back to sipping her drink with downcast eyes.

The cocktail wasn’t bitter, it was a high-proof alcoholic beverage disguised as a sweet drink.

Ye Siyu had consumed her fair share of alcohol in the past, so she wasn’t easily fooled.

She just simply wanted to drink.

This noise and excitement had nothing to do with her. She would be leaving this city very soon anyway.

“Boss…”

Ye Siyu set her glass down, intending to find a moment to bring up her resignation. However, Old Zhang was clearly in a fantastic mood today. He stood up with his glass raised, patting his belly as he spoke with a beaming smile.

“Since we’re all gathered for a meal today, I have some excellent news to share with everyone.”

Everyone laughed and cheered. The employees, being young, began to heckle him, asking if his wife was pregnant with a second child. Old Zhang playfully scolded them one by one: “Your sister-in-law will have one if she wants to, what are you guys chanting for? I’m talking business today.”

Old Zhang cleared his throat and raised his glass high. “I’d like to propose a toast to celebrate our coffee shop being acquired!”

Everyone froze. The atmosphere instantly turned rigid as they looked at one another in bewilderment.

One young employee spoke up boldly, “Old Zhang, is this really something to celebrate? Are we celebrating our unemployment?”

Old Zhang smacked the employee on the back of the head. “Did I finish talking?”

He raised his glass again and continued, “The acquisition is meant to help us expand our shop. The CEO is a wonderful person who is only providing the funding. They are letting us run the place autonomously without any interference. Moving forward, I am still the owner and manager of the coffee shop, and the staffing is locked in. Every single one of you employees stays, not a single person less!”

“Well, that really is good news!”

“How did a living Buddha suddenly appear out of nowhere, hahaha!”

Everyone’s hanging hearts finally settled, and they went right back to drinking and playing finger guessing games.

Only Ye Siyu felt a heavy weight press down on her chest.

The urge to resign, which she had finally summoned the courage for, now seemed somewhat unreasonable in the face of this news.

After a moment of hesitation, she shifted seats to get closer to Old Zhang.

“Boss…”

“Oh, Xiaoyu,” Old Zhang smiled warmly, looking at Ye Siyu as if she were his own daughter. “What’s on your mind? Talk to me.”

Ye Siyu pressed her lips together. “Boss… congratulations.”

She raised her glass in a toast. In the end, the words at the tip of her tongue turned into congratulations. After all, she couldn’t bring up leaving at a critical moment like this when everyone was so happy.

Since her resignation had to be put on hold, she could only bide her time and wait for another opportunity.

Old Zhang was overjoyed. After downing every toast offered to him, he couldn’t hold his liquor anymore and leaned back against the sofa, drifting into a sleepy daze.

With their supervisor no longer sober, the rest of the young crowd grew even more energetic.

At that moment, someone suggested playing Truth or Dare.

The game was decided by shaking dice, and everyone was handed a set.

Xiao Ai squeezed her way over to Ye Siyu, whispering that she and her crush had some chemistry and things were likely going to work out.

The atmosphere was perfect, the drinks were flowing, and the young adults were laughing and playing.

Right then, the female singer on stage transitioned to a passionate, beat heavy love song. The band immersed themselves in the rhythm as the drummer beat the drums enthusiastically. Ye Siyu took another sip of her drink, feeling her head grow a bit dizzy.

Xiao Ai pushed the dice cup in front of Ye Siyu. “Come on, don’t sit here drinking gloomily by yourself when we’re out to have fun. Play with us!”

As she spoke, she cast a shy glance in a certain direction, before turning her face away with a bashful, girlish smile.

“I need to maintain my lady like image, so I can’t be too wild. You play, I’ll just enjoy some peace and quiet next to you for a bit.”

Ye Siyu glanced toward where she was looking. But because the lighting was dim and she was feeling hazy, she couldn’t make out which one was her roommate’s crush, so she stopped looking altogether.

“Yeah… when you come out to play, it’s better if everyone is happy together.”

Ye Siyu placed her fingers on the dice cup. “Then count me in.”

Seeing Ye Siyu join, everyone’s enthusiasm surged. They played a common dice game of guessing the total number of a specific face.

However, the person playing before Ye Siyu was that same female colleague, whose heart was racing so fast that she kept losing. Eventually, the others couldn’t bear to watch anymore, so a few mischievous male employees swapped seats to play before Ye Siyu. They targeted and cornered her at every turn, resulting in Ye Siyu losing more times in a single night than she ever had before.

Glass after glass of alcohol went down. Finally, a wave of tipsiness rushed to her head, relaxing the tension that had been gripping her mind.

“Open!”

A male colleague lifted Ye Siyu’s dice cup. Sure enough, everyone looked and saw there weren’t sixteen fives.

“Alright, alright! Truth or dare?”

Having drunk quite a bit, Ye Siyu’s eyelashes were moist. She kept her eyes lowered and curled her lips into a smile. “Truth.”

The male colleague shouted, “Alright, draw a slip!”

Ye Siyu drew a piece of paper and unfolded it, reading the sentence written inside. Answer honestly, what is the most outrageous thing you did during the most glorious period of your past?

The crowd burst into laughter. The male colleague even snatched the paper and read it out loud, as if terrified someone might miss it.

The most glorious period of her past…

It depended on how one interpreted the word “glorious.” If she spoke the truth about her glory days, people would probably just dismiss it as drunken nonsense.

After a brief pause, urged on by the people around her, Ye Siyu kept her long lashes lowered and finally spoke. “During the most glorious period of my past… I kept a canary.”

“Whoa!”

Hearing this, everyone instantly grew excited.

“No way, Xiaoyu! I couldn’t tell at all, you used to play that hard?”

“You really can’t judge a book by its cover. Our Xiaoyu actually kept a canary before?”

The rowdy group burst into laughter, though it was clear they were mostly just teasing for the fun of it.

Only the female colleague’s face turned pale. Without a word, she downed a glass of alcohol, looking utterly heartbroken, as if her actions were saying. You didn’t have to go to such extremes just to reject me.

Ye Siyu felt her head throbbing. Floating past her eyes was a faint vision of elegant, flowing black hair. In the haze, she seemed to catch the faint, elusive scent of cold sandalwood, wrapping around her like a slithering serpent.

She closed her eyes and let out a bitter smile, unwilling to deal with the barrage of teasing.

The talkative male employee immediately chimed in to ask, “Then how many canaries did you keep before?”

Jet-black hair cascaded down like a waterfall, rich and lustrous, draping over perfectly straight shoulders. In her memory, the girl slowly turned around, offering her a tender smile before submissively curling into Ye Siyu’s embrace, whispering anxiously. “Sister, don’t leave me…”

Then the vision shifted to the posture of a ruler, sitting on a high throne with long legs crossed, looking down with a piercing gaze. “Even if I have to tie you up, I will keep you by my side.”

The smile at the corner of her lips twitched as Ye Siyu confronted the memories in her mind. “Just one… it was exhausting, and it nearly cost me my life.”

It was no lie; it really had taken half her life away.

Laughter and cheering erupted around her again as someone continued to press, “Then what kind of canary was it?”

Ye Siyu’s mind drifted before she shook her head, ultimately stating, “It was a… poor university student.”

“Oh, oh! Now that sounds a bit more believable.”

“I really couldn’t tell. Our Xiaoyu actually kept a poor university student.”

The employees started heckling again, “Then what happened to the poor canary?”

Ye Siyu lowered her gaze. “We broke up.”

“Haha, Xiaoyu, you’re so beautiful, could she actually agree to a breakup?”

“She didn’t agree.” Ye Siyu stared at the glass in front of her. The cold glass was covered in a layer of frost, running a finger across it left a clear streak. She stared at it blankly, feeling as though her own voice was coming from far away. “I faked my death to escape.”

“Holy crap!”

“That is so scummy!”

“Xiaoyu, you’re amazing, so scummy yet you know how to play.”

Everyone burst into laughter together. Only the female colleague looked miserable, downing glass after glass as if a storm cloud had formed over her head, pouring a localized rain of melancholy.

Ye Siyu picked up her glass from the table. Amidst the loud celebration, she swallowed the bitterness in large gulps. The burning, searing sensation traveling down her esophagus felt like swallowing a cluster of tiny knives, finely slicing at her throat. It seemed like only this could help her endure the sharp ache in her heart.

The vision before her eyes blurred, and the world began to spin.

Ye Siyu leaned back against the sofa, her eyelashes slightly damp. The boisterous crowd didn’t notice, continuing their games and laughter right beside her.

Ye Siyu closed her eyes as the bitterness spread through her mouth, the name still lingering on her lips and teeth.

“Fei Shi… such a hassle…”

In her daze, Ye Siyu thought of many things. At the same time, she seemed to catch the scent of cold sandalwood. The fragrance enveloped her completely, tightly compressing her heart.

Was she hallucinating? She was even experiencing olfactory hallucinations now.

How could that be…

With her eyes closed, Ye Siyu carefully breathed in the scent of cold sandalwood.

She finally realized that this was still her favorite scent.

Subconsciously, she raised her hand. Her fingers brushed against a texture as exquisite as fine satin. The strands of hair carried that cool fragrance, leaving a soothing, jade like chill as they slid past her fingertips.

Ye Siyu suddenly froze. She forced her eyes open with great effort.

The figures before her wavered. Within her unfocused line of sight, the shadow of that person seemed to be separated by a pane of rushing water, impossible to see clearly. There was only the enveloping scent of cold sandalwood, filtering into her nerves strand by strand.

It was Fei Shi’s scent…