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Tiny Herb is the most well-renowned flower shop in all of China. Thanks to Wang Jiexi’s insistence that everything be grown in house, each flower is able to be carefully hand-picked and cut fresh before delivery. Tiny Herb is perhaps best known for specializing in wildflower bouquets. The vibrant, one of a kind designs are something that can’t be found at your typical cookie-cutter flower shop.
A Tiny Herb bouquet is a highly sought after gift for any special occasion (sometimes needing to be ordered months ahead of time depending on the season), and the small leaf insignia decorating the wrapping of each bouquet has become as prestigious as a name brand jewelry logo.
Tiny Herb receives upwards of 100 orders daily, and it’s only due to Wang Jiexi’s team of highly skilled apprentices that operations are able to run smoothly. While new staff are usually assigned various administrative duties before moving up to helping assemble orders full-time, two of Wang Jiexi’s recent hires came in skilled enough to start assembling orders from the start. There’s Liu Xiaobie whose quick nimble fingers are a valuable asset to complete orders at a clip pace. And, although he’s lacking in confidence, Gao Yingjie’s natural aptitude for flower arranging is remarkable.
And then there’s Qiao Yifan. Wang Jiexi likes to maintain that he never makes mistakes when hiring staff, but sometimes he wonders if hiring Qiao Yifan was the right move. Qiao Yifan is extremely hardworking, but he hesitates about everything. Is he giving the plants too much water? Not enough? Did he cut the stems too short? Even after 1 year of working at Tiny Herb, Qiao Yifan struggles to keep up with the shop’s pace.
In the end, Wang Jiexi could only assign Qiao Yifan as the shop’s delivery driver.
***
“Yifan! Another order’s ready for you to deliver.” Zhou Yebai waves his hand towards a cart lined with freshly assembled bouquets.
“Hey, get me a milk tea while you’re out. ½ sweet, no ice.” Liu Fei says, not bothering to look up from her desk.
“Me too!” A few other voices chorus.
Although it’s not technically part of his job description, Qiao Yifan’s coworkers have gotten in the habit of asking him to run various personal errands for them. And with Wang Jiexi and the other main florists busy tending to the plants or assembling orders, there’s no one to stop them from doing so. Nevertheless, Qiao Yifan doesn’t complain, in fact, he’s happy to do it, if only because it makes him feel the slightest bit more useful.
Qiao Yifan takes note of his coworkers drink orders (making a special mental note to pick Gao Yingjie’s favorite almond milk tea) and inspects the order report on the cart. His eyes widen at the first address on the list.
0507 Glory Ave. City B
That’s Tiny Herb’s address!
“Well, don’t just stand there!” Liu Fei huffs.
Qiao Yifan’s at a loss for words. If he points out the address on the report, Zhou Yebai will certainly think he was calling him out for making a mistake. But also, how is he supposed to figure out where the bouquet was supposed to be delivered to if he didn’t mention the address?
Qiao Yifan skims through the orders, picking up a bouquet of delicate pink Vaccaria blossoms. He takes a deep breath, summoning the courage to speak up.
“This one’s addressed to Tiny Herb.”
“What? That can’t be right!” Liu Fei snatches the bouquet, shooting Zhou Yebai a glare. Zhou Yebai shuffles through a stack of order forms, desperate to prove he’s not the one at fault. He’s relieved, albeit a bit baffled, to see the address is actually correct. Then he spots the recipient. Brows furrowed, he scans the form a couple dozen times just to be sure his eyes aren’t playing tricks on him.
“They’re addressed to a... Big-eyed Wang.”
Big-eyed Wang?
A heavy silence falls over the entire room. A few people exchange awkward glances, others keep their head down and pretend to be busy with random tasks.
“I guess you’d better give these to the boss then!” Liu Fei laughs nervously, shoving the bouquet back into Qiao Yifan’s hands. Nobody wanted to be the one to deliver something addressed to Big-eyed Wang to their boss.
***
Qiao Yifan finds Wang Jiexi tending to various plants in the greenhouse. His boss looks so focused that he doesn’t want to call out and disturb him, so Qiao Yifan ends up standing there awkwardly shuffling his feet until he’s noticed.
“Yes, Yifan?”
Qiao Yifan politely holds out the bouquet with both hands. “Boss, these are for-” He’s about to say ‘these are for you’ but quickly stops himself when he remembers who the bouquet is addressed to. Big-eyed Wang.
Although Wang Jiexi is a bit puzzled as to why someone would gift him flowers from his own shop, he’s impressed they remembered his favorite flower. He opens the card attached to the bouquet, curious who his secret admirer is.
Happy Birthday Big-eyed Wang! You deserve nothing but the best!
The card is unsigned, but there’s no doubt in Wang Jiexi’s mind who the sender is.
Ye Xiu.
Wang Jiexi is torn. On the one hand, Ye Xiu is completely shameless. The bouquet isn’t a very creative gift and probably took him all of five seconds to order online. At the very least, he could have come in person to give it to him but he hadn’t even done that much. On the other hand, Wang Jiexi is flattered that Ye Xiu remembered his birthday (well sort of, it was last month) and even managed to get him a gift. Plus, wasn’t Ye Xiu implying Tiny Herb’s bouquets were of such high quality that no other gift would do? That’s quite the compliment coming from the elusive Ye Xiu.
Lucky for Wang Jiexi, Qiao Yifan is way too nervous about standing so close to his boss to notice the blush creeping up on his cheeks.
Wang Jiexi has to take extra effort to maintain a calm, neutral expression as he walks over to place the bouquet on his desk. The room is abuzz with whispers and a few people are outright staring at him.
“Um, Boss?” The accountant, Xiao Yun, finally speaks up. “Those are marked payment upon delivery.”
Wang Jiexi’s eyebrows twitch. Ye Xiu is shameless. Absolutely shameless!