Gilded Rust - YiZhan

Chapter 10 - Empty Spaces

"Thank you," he said, walking to the sink to rinse them.

If everyone in this house used lacquer, he worried his dishwashing time would increase exponentially. He prayed their love for the expensive material limited itself to chopsticks.

As Yibo sat, Mr. Xiao opened the lid of the sushi platter and smiled at him.

"Go ahead," he said.

Yibo hesitated. It would be rude to eat before his boss, and he also didn't want to offend him by being too eager. He took an egg nigiri and a few pieces of cucumber roll, leaving Mr. Xiao the first pick of the expensive fish.

"Do you not like fish?" Asked the man with knitted eyebrows.

"No, no. I like fish... I mean...You should have the first pick."

Mr. Xiao waved his hand.

"Don't stand on ceremony for me. This celebratory dinner is for you; you should choose first. Here, these are the best ones," he said before proceeding to load Yibo's plate with every different type of nigiri.

Yibo thanked him but still waited for him to serve himself and take his first bite before eating. He chose a piece of fatty pink tuna and dipped it in soy sauce, fish side first like he'd seen his more experienced culinary schoolmates do.

"Oh! You're a real connoisseur! You eat sushi the right way!" Said Mr. Xiao, delighted.

Yibo put the nigiri in his mouth and chewed. The fish melted on his tongue like butter, its delicate flavours spreading inside his mouth. Without thinking, he closed his eyes and let out a sigh. No doubt this was what food tasted like in the realm of the gods.

I'm never gonna be able to enjoy wontons ever again.

When Yibo opened his eyes, Mr. Xiao stared at him with a contented smile as though he derived as much, if not more, pleasure from watching him eat than from eating himself. Yibo, self-conscious, averted his eyes. Seeing a water pitcher on the table, he poured himself and Mr. Xiao glasses before taking a long drag. When he turned around again, the man had shifted his focus to his own plate.

The meal continued in silence for a while. Yibo, although enjoying the flavours and textures, focused on eating slowly; he worried the delicious but foreign might make him sick if he allowed himself to wolf everything down to soothe his hunger. Not to mention that he worried that the man would hear him chew. Nevertheless, he still sensed Mr. Xiao's gaze linger on him from time to time. He didn't know what to make of it, but as he'd spent his life trying to attract as little attention to himself as possible, this unsettled him.

"You're very quiet," said Mr. Xiao after dabbing his mouth with a serviette and pushing his plate away.

Yibo, who'd been in the middle of putting more nigiri on his plate, set down his chopsticks and rounded his shoulders slightly.

"I'm sorry," he said, avoiding making eye contact.

"You apologize a lot, too."

Before his next apology left his mouth, Yibo stopped, looked up, and saw Mr. Xiao's amused expression.

"I wasn't scolding you."

"I'm sorry," repeated Yibo out of habit. "I can try to speak more if you'd like me to."

Yibo had no idea how he'd do that, but for this salary, he'd turn into a chatterbox if he had to.

Mr. Xiao chuckled.

"That's not what I meant. People tend to ask about the house when they come here for the first time. Especially after the full tour."

Yibo had no idea what else he could possibly wish to know. All he needed to start was a basic understanding of the layout of the house and placement of the tools he would need, knowledge which he now had. He had no doubt he'd have questions, but he'd ask those as they arose. Anything else would be improper and beyond the scope of his professional duties. He opened his mouth to say as much but closed it when he suddenly realized what Mr. Xiao had implied. The man wanted him to ask about his brother's room and, by extension, his wife. He'd dropped so many hints while showing him around, but Yibo had thought his lack of response had made it clear that he wasn't interested. Apparently, Mr. Xiao had been biding his time, waiting for another time to broach the topic. How lonely was this man that he had no qualms about sharing the messy details of his private life with strangers? Yibo didn't want to pity his boss but wondered if nobody wanted to work in this house because they knew too much about its occupants.