by Catofdreams
After walking for a while, they finally reached the garden in the hotel's lounge. Lang Jie continued walking towards the massive poplar tree in the middle and looked up, seeing the shining moon that poked through the poplar tree's leaves.
"Honey…", Lang Jie said with a serious tone, which made Xue Yan feel a bit nervous. She rarely ever saw her husband being so serious about things, so she thought that whatever the reason Lang Jie had for bringing her here was incredibly important.
"What is it, darling?", Xue Yan asked her husband. She looked up towards the massive tree in front of them and saw the same scene her husband saw. She thought that the poplar tree must've been incredibly old. Although the lifespan of a normal poplar tree was around 50 years, this one seemed like it was way more than that. It was a complete mystery as to how it was able to grow to that size and live for that long.
"This poplar tree actually has a legend surrounding it.", Lang Jie told his wife. Xue Yan felt intrigued as she had never heard about it before.
"This poplar tree was planted back when the original owner of this hotel was born.", Lang Jie continued. Xue Yan intently listened to her husband as she stared at the beautiful moon that watched over them.
"As the owner grew, the poplar tree grew with him. When he was around 30 years old, the poplar tree was now at the size of a fully grown one. When the owner met his wife, he brought her to see the poplar tree in the middle of the night and confessed his love for her. She immediately agreed and they got married and lived a happy life together.", Lang Jie recounted the story.
"The next generations of his family followed suit, and all of them lived happy lives with their partners all the way to the end. As more and more couples were born under the tree, the tree continued to grow bigger and bigger and showed no signs of wilting. And so, a legend was born around this tree, which made people from all around the area flock towards it to confess their love towards the people they liked. Legend says that all of the couples that were born under this tree all lived happy lives together, and not a single one of them separated.", Lang Jie finally ended his story.
Xue Yan looked at her husband as she realized where her husband was going with the story. She had a wide smile on her face as she realized that her husband had an incredibly romantic side.
"Honey… I was supposed to say this during our honeymoon, but it's better late than never…", Xue Yan looked at Xue Yan. Both of them made eye contact and stared at each other for a while. Their hearts were both beating in unison as the moonlight that shined on the poplar tree was now shining towards them.
"I love you.", Lang Jie was finally able to do what he wanted to do six years ago. Xue Yan couldn't help but blush as she listened to her husband. She leaped towards him and tightly held him in her embrace.
"I love you too!", Xue Yan responded. The moonlight seemed extremely beautiful as it shined down towards the poplar tree and the couple underneath it.
The two locked eyes with each other. They saw reflections of themselves within each other's eyes. Xue Yan closed her eyes, which gave Lang Jie the signal. He showed no hesitation and immediately went in for the kiss.
"Let's go back to our room…", Xue Yan meekly told her husband, who nodded in response. The two of them held each other's hand as they made their way back. Despite the romantic interruption, Xue Yan was still able to achieve what she wanted, and the mood was even better than she planned. This surely was a night that neither of the two would forget.
As the two renewed their vows of love towards each other that night, the two hotel employees who watched the entire thing unfold before them felt teary-eyed as they felt that the entire scene was incredibly moving.
"I wish I had a lover that treated me like that…", one of the hotel employees blushed as she thought that she wanted to be treated the way that Xue Yan was.
"I know right… but… since when did the poplar tree have such a legend?", the other employee couldn't help but ask out of curiosity.
"Ah… I think that was when the hotel was losing popularity, so they quickly made up some fake touching story and planted an artificially grown poplar tree.", the other employee replied.
"Oh…"
The two sat in silence as they realized that the romantic scene earlier didn't seem as romantic anymore when they realized that the poplar tree wasn't natural.
"Let's just pretend that the legend was true. I feel bad for the couple earlier after knowing the truth…"
"Yes… I think we should…"
CHAPTER 22 – “THE HOUSEWIFE’S HUSBAND BECOMES A LEVERAGE”
"Everything's finally done, boss!"
On the afternoon of their second day at work, Mao Cheng happily relayed the fruits of their labor for the past two days. Lang Jie and Xue Yan happily spent their time together back at the hotel.
"Okay. We'll go home tomorrow.", Xue Yan responded as she hung up her phone. Mao Cheng wanted to talk more about him and his men's valiant effort of restoring their household, but before he was given the chance, Xue Yan immediately turned off the call. He wanted to call her again, but he knew how scary that woman could be when she feels annoyed or angry, so he decided not to.
Mao Cheng went outside the residence and walked a small distance away from it. He looked back and examined the results of their blood and sweat.
As he looked at the house in full view, he couldn't help but smile as he started to feel the satisfaction sinking in and his appreciation rising up. He thought that the house itself was a piece of art after he worked on it. If he was an artist, he would consider it his masterpiece.
He walked back into the house and smiled at his subordinates, who were all holding either a broom, a mop, or a vacuum cleaner and continued cleaning the house despite the place being already clean. Every one of them wore a hazmat suit and a gas mask, making sure not to spill any of their filth on their boss's home.
Mao Cheng clapped in order to gather everyone's attention, which worked well since every one of them was trained to quickly react. They were all trained enough to attain the peak levels in every skill necessary to be an elite cleaning warrior.
"You did a good job for the past 39 hours, my brothers! After a hard and grueling battle, we finally managed to achieve our goals. Everyone… congratulations… and thank you!", Mao Cheng bowed towards his subordinates. His bow was extremely deep since he wanted to cover the tears that formed in his eyes due to his extreme gratitude towards his henchmen… no… his friends.
"Boss! You don't have to thank us!", they hurriedly approached Mao Cheng and urged him to stand back up straight since they didn't want their boss to bow his head towards them. Mao Cheng took his time in getting up and waited until the tears in his eyes felt dry enough to not be visible before he stood properly.
"Everyone, go home and have some good rest. Tomorrow, after we show our bosses their new home, we'll all go out for Korean Barbecue. My treat.", Mao Cheng told everyone with a smug expression on his face. Everyone hurriedly got out and took off the gas masks and the hazmat suits that they were wearing, revealing a gleeful but tired face in each and every one of their faces. They all had large bags hanging from their eyes and they all looked extremely pale due to fatigue and their lack of sleep. Staying awake for a whole day was already difficult, but they managed to do that and more.
Endless cheers buzzed through the air as the members of the first squadron of the Lang Jie Fanclub celebrated in their bosses' front yard.
"I'm sure they'll love the renovations you added to their house, boss!", one of the subordinates praised Mao Cheng, which made him blush.
"I sure hope so! All of us even worked hard to make the house look extremely good!", Mao Cheng laughed as he added on to the list of achievements they had done within the last 39 hours.
All of them had a good hearty laugh as they looked at their masterpiece with satisfied faces.
*ACHOO*
"What's wrong honey? Did you catch a cold?", Lang Jie asked his wife with a worried expression on his face sinc
e Xue Yan sneezed out of nowhere.
"Ah… it's nothing. Someone's probably just talking about me…", Xue Yan responded as she rested her head on her husband's shoulder.
The two of them sat on a bench that faced the giant poplar tree in the middle of the hotel's reception. The couple looked extremely elegant as the wind gently blew towards them. Xue Yan's long hair was slightly drawn to the wind, but Lang Jie's hand was on her head, preventing her beautiful hair to become a mess. When the wind died down, he gently stroked her hair, which made Xue Yan feel extremely relaxed.
Although they were being extremely sweet, the people around them didn't seem to mind. In fact, they were all jealous of how good of a time the married couple seemed to be having.
Women that passed by and saw them felt jealous as they saw Xue Yan's enviable love life, but they also felt happy for the two. Men that passed by felt jealous as well for the same reason, but with a bonus. The two did look extremely enviable and pleasing to their eyes at first, but when they saw Xue Yan, the pleasing part of their look immediately disappeared as the flames of jealousy burned brighter and brighter within the men. How lucky must someone be in order to hit the jackpot and end up with a jewel-like Xue Yan?
The only pair of eyes that felt neither jealousy nor happiness for the couple were the two receptionists that stood behind the counter on the hotel's lounge. Unlike the others, they knew something about the couple that made them feel far differently about the two. Although they did feel happy and jealous for the couple the night before, they certainly didn't feel that now after hearing how the couple renewed their vows.
The two sighed as they watched the married couple intently stared at the gigantic poplar tree in the middle. Lang Jie was still completely engrossed in the poplar tree's legend as he stared intently towards it. Xue Yan also looked at the tree, but unlike her husband's serious look, she had a gentle smile plastered on her face as she continued to recall her husband's words the night before. As the scene kept replaying in her head, her heart continued to flutter. She felt that even if she would have to spend eternity just replaying everything her husband said in her head, she would still be happy about it.
The receptionists looked at them with pity as they felt sorry for the two. The two of them thought that they had already moved on from the couple renewing their vows over a fake legend, but as they watched how the couple spent their time together in front of the tree, they couldn't help but feel a splinter in their heart.
They both wanted to tell the couple, but they couldn't bear to break the lovely atmosphere around them, so all they could do was sigh in dismay.
Hours passed, yet the couple seemed to be satisfied with how they were spending their time idling about in front of the giant poplar tree. The receptionists felt the weight on their heart grew heavier and heavier as they noticed how much the artificial tree was now worth to the married couple.
When the sun started to set, Lang Jie finally felt like moving and slowly got up.
"Let's go get some dinner honey.", Lang Jie smiled at Xue Yan, who looked at him as he stood up. Lang Jie looked incredibly handsome in Xue Yan's eyes. He always looked handsome to her, but this time, she felt that his looks have reached a new peak in her records.
"Okay, darling!", Xue Yan happily agreed as she got up and stuck to her husband's arm like glue. The two of them walked towards the elevator while everyone's eyes were stuck on them, except for the two receptionists, who couldn't bear to watch the couple be lovey-dovey with each other anymore.
The two ate dinner together and spent their night just like how they spent the first one. Xue Yan felt incredibly satisfied as everything seemed to go just as she planned. In fact, the results were even better than she had expected.
As the next day slowly started creeping in, Xue Yan realized that their late honeymoon was now going to come to an end. Tomorrow, they would have to go back to their house and return to their normal, everyday lives. She wanted to stay forever and just spend her time with Lang Jie, but she knew that he wouldn't agree to it since Lang Jie wants to work.
Xue Yan looked at her husband, who was right beside her in their bed, deep asleep. She gently stroked her husband's hair as she thought that her husband looked incredibly cute even when he was asleep.
"Good night, darling.", she whispered in his ears as she gave him a good night kiss and went to sleep.
Their beautiful honeymoon was finally over. The two of them rested well in order to prepare themselves since reality would hit them the next day.
"What the heck did you do to our house?!", Xue Yan angrily exclaimed as Mao Cheng stood proudly in front of the gate. Mao Cheng's smile slowly faded as he realized that Xue Yan didn't like the change.
Xue Yan wasn't very particular about the house's design. The house's former look was identical to a modern home. A normal two-story house with a tiled roof and a front yard. Now, the house looked like a mansion from the Victorian Era. The number of floors doubled, and according to Mao Cheng, they even had a basement now. The exterior of the house only used to have one yellowish shade of paint coated all around it, but now the house's color scheme consisted of red, white and maroon. It even had some cool art around skillfully painted around the windows. Since the house was also bigger, it now looked like a western mansion.
Mao Cheng felt extremely scared as he listened to Xue Yan's complaint, but when he saw that Lang Jie's first impression of his masterpiece was perfect, he let out a sigh of relief and faced Lang Jie instead of the scary wife.
"D-do you like it, boss?", Mao Cheng asked Lang Jie. Xue Yan didn't dare to do anything to Mao Cheng since her husband was still there, but she made a decision that as soon as her husband is gone, she would grind down Mao Cheng into minced meat and feed him to the fishes.
Lang Jie was unsure of how he felt about their new house. Any trace of the old house could no longer be seen, except for the gate and the yard. He worked extremely hard in order to be able to afford the house, which is the main reason why Xue Yan didn't want the house to be changed in any way, but the new house also looked extremely elegant, which moved Lang Jie. He knew that the amount of work that Mao Cheng and his men did was nothing to scoff at, especially since they did it in less than two days.
Mao Cheng saw that Lang Jie still needed a bit of a push in order to side with him, so he started reciting the words that he practiced the night before in case a situation like the one he was currently in would happen.
"Boss! The new house has a spa, complete with massage chairs and a sauna on the third floor. The top floor holds a small pool and a jacuzzi, which the madam would certainly be happy about since beauty such as hers should be preserved.", Mao Cheng started his sales talk.
Lang Jie was moved as he heard about the incredible amenities that were added to his home, but Mao Cheng saw that it was still not enough to finish the job. He felt a bit worried since he only had one more card up his sleeve.
The night before, when he thought about what would happen if Xue Yan didn't like the changes, he had already started taking precautions. He called the house's previous internet provider and threatened them with his influence in order to receive information about the house's browsing history.
As Mao Cheng looked through the logs, he noticed a pattern of websites that seemed like it was most likely opened by Lang Jie considering the time and the days when the websites were opened. Mao Cheng smiled smugly that night as he felt like he was an incredible hacker that had just figured out a riddle.
"Also, boss… there's one more change we added that I'm sure you'll like.", Mao Cheng told Lang Jie. He could feel Xue Yan's anger tormenting him, but he had to persevere through it as he started to see the light, which was Lang Jie's face starting to change into a more interested one.
"Oh? What is it?", Lang Jie asked. Mao Cheng knew that it was finally going to be over. He looked up at the skies and let out a sigh of relief.
"Follow me…", Mao Cheng went into the house. Lang Jie looked at Xue Yan, who seeme
d to look completely distraught.
"Don't worry honey. The house looks incredibly good! It feels like we're back at the hotel. And Mao Cheng seems to have another surprise as well!", Lang Jie tried his best to cheer up his wife, who was sad about having one of her mementos altered.
Xue Yan could feel her dopamine levels rising as she listened to her husband's attempt to comfort her, but she could still a bit of pain in her heart even though a smile surfaced on her face.
The two of them went into the house and followed Mao Cheng. He stopped in front of a door on a wall that wasn't in the house before. He turned around and looked at Lang Jie.
"Boss… I promise you. This will make you extremely happy. If you think I did a good job, I'd like to ask you a favor. If it's not to your liking, then I'll accept whatever punishment your wife has in store.", Mao Cheng confidently asked Lang Jie for his mercy. Lang Jie didn't quite understand what he was talking about, but he was already quite impressed with Mao Cheng's work, so he already thinks he did a good job.