The Big Boss' Medicine 30

Yan Shen received a definite answer, his mind filled with the image of little hamsters stacked on top of each other, even the last bit of worry forgotten.

He ruffled Su Duan's soft hair, then put down his hand and used the back of it to test the temperature of the glass, confirming that this time it was completely not hot, even a bit on the cool side, before bringing it to Su Duan's lips and saying, "Drink some water."

After crying so many tears, he must be thirsty by now.

Part of Su Duan's thoughts were still immersed in the "story" Yan Shen told him, and part were thinking about Yan Shen wanting to give him a hamster pendant. With much less used for thinking, he was far less sharp than before about certain things. Hearing Yan Shen's words, he habitually opened his mouth and took a mouthful of the tea inside.

This time the water wasn't hot. The warm tea water with its fragrance and bitterness mixed just right flowed into his mouth, the not too strong yet layered taste very clear on the tip of his tongue.

Su Duan swallowed the tea and found something soft and chewy left in his mouth, with a bit of toughness when chewed, just too bitter.

What was this...?

It felt a bit like flower petals.

He puffed his cheeks and chewed a couple times, his awareness slowly focusing. A few seconds later, as if realizing something, his eyes suddenly widened and his mouth stopped moving, his entire face looking very solemn.

Glancing from the corner of his eye at the small chrysanthemum petals already soaked open in the glass in front of him, brazenly displaying themselves, Su Duan only felt waves of darkness in front of his eyes, as if about to faint into a dazed poria.

He personally brewed flower tea and even tried to have Yan Shen drink it. He himself had already drunk two mouthfuls—

What on earth had he done?!

Perhaps because the days of being human added up to quite a few hundred years, which couldn't be considered short, and human life was much more vivid than being a plant, Su Duan's living habits and concepts had already started shifting towards the human direction before he himself noticed.

Just now his mind was full of worrying about Yan Shen, only remembering that chrysanthemum tea could calm the mind and dispel heat, but he completely ignored the fact that flowers were an unspeakable part for plants.

This kind of awareness was instinctive for Su Duan who had been a plant for thousands of years, the same as humans needing to eat and drink. But in that brief moment earlier, he had completely forgotten this instinct...

Didn't this represent that he was becoming more and more accustomed to his human identity?

Su Duan thought in a daze.

Being able to think more like a human should have been a good thing, but now that he had come back to his senses, the flower petal he had unconsciously chewed a couple times in his mouth only made him feel an inexplicable bloody cruelty. He instinctively moved his hand to cover his own flower, carefully protecting it.

Seeing him suddenly freeze, Yan Shen frowned and tugged at his puffed cheek from chewing, asking in a strange soft voice, "Duan Duan? What's wrong?"

Could it be that he was scalded again? Or was there something in this tea?

Yan Shen picked up Su Duan's teacup. The tea was light yellow and crystal clear, looking not suspicious at all.

Just as he was about to take a sip to try it, Su Duan, who had finally come back to his senses, suddenly grabbed his wrist. His thin, weak fingers used an unexpectedly strong force this time, actually pulling Yan Shen's hand to slide on the table.

Su Duan pulled his hand and pushed the two cups of chrysanthemum tea on the table far away, shaking his head at Yan Shen to indicate he mustn't drink it. Then he ran to the trash can on the side, spat out the small flower petal in his mouth with two "ptooey" sounds.

Then he closed his eyes and raised his head, brows furrowed, looking as if another glance into the trash can would cost his life.

Yan Shen: "..."

Yan Shen also got up and went over, thinking he was unwell. His warm palm gently patted Su Duan's back as he leaned close and asked with concern, "Did you eat something bad?"

The bitter taste left by his fellow flower petals still lingered in Su Duan's mouth. He paused for a moment before enduring the taste that made him want to faint immediately, slightly raising the tip of his tongue. "...I ate flower petals."

"The chrysanthemum buds went bad? How did it make you so uncomfortable? Let me see." Yan Shen's strong hand pinched Su Duan's cheeks. With a slight pinch, he opened Su Duan's mouth, but there were no traces of anything inside. Strangely though, that slender, soft little tongue he was used to sucking seemed to shrink back in what appeared to be fear upon seeing him.

Yan Shen raised his brows and couldn't help leaning over to give it a lick. The tip of his tongue instantly tasted a faint bitterness.

It was the bitterness of chrysanthemum buds. He could recognize it. Tea brewed from chrysanthemum buds, after dilution, had a perfect blend of fragrance and bitterness. But if eating the petals alone, it was basically all bitterness.

Thinking of a possibility, Yan Shen withdrew his tongue and asked uncertainly, "Too bitter?"

Su Duan hesitated for a few seconds before nodding. Besides this reason, he had no way to explain it to Yan Shen.

He couldn't very well say that eating that part of a plant was a big mental blow, could he?

Seeing his little hamster looking so dejected, Yan Shen always felt something was off but couldn't put his finger on it. He could only pinch Su Duan's nose tip and say in a low voice, "You're such a delicate little thing."

Su Duan remained dejected, feeling his soul drained. "..."

Yan Shen leaned down to part his lips and licked the bitterness from his mouth bit by bit. Finally, he nibbled on Su Duan's lip for a couple times before saying, "No more drinking chrysanthemum tea in the future. Keep it far away."

Now that the frightening taste was gone from his mouth, Su Duan finally felt a bit more at ease. He licked his own lips and made an almost willful request. "...Then you can't drink it either."

Although he understood that using flowers to brew tea was a very common thing in the human world, the trauma left by nearly eating chrysanthemum petals today was too great. Su Duan thought for a moment and felt he didn't really want to kiss a man with a mouthful of flower tea taste for the time being.

Su Duan: "..." Sigh, how vexing.

Yan Shen, on the other hand, wasn't hung up on this. He never put much importance on the desires of his mouth and stomach, and had no special preference for tea. Most of the time it was just used to refresh himself.

"Alright, I won't drink it either. Next time Hao You comes, have him take away all the chrysanthemum buds in the study," Yan Shen said with a straight face. "He likes to drink this stuff."

Su Duan: "..." What a terrible hobby.

......

President Yan's efficiency has always been very fast. He said he would make a small hamster pendant for Su Duan, and it was quickly done.

The material was a piece of Hetian yellow jade. This kind of jade with pure deep yellow, bright and rich color close to golden orange is considered top-grade. The piece used to make Su Duan's pendant was only light yellow, which could only be considered as second-grade among Hetian yellow jade, but it felt like lard when touched, with a warm and delicate texture. What was rare was that the color had a very regular gradual change, which perfectly matched Yan Shen's intention, so he bought it to make a pendant for Su Duan.

The overall shape of the pendant was a vivid little hamster, hugging a sunflower seed while sitting on the ground. Short limbs emerged from the round furball that spread out into a circle. Because the legs were too short, the two hind legs sitting on the ground couldn't be lifted up, so the hamster only used its two front paws to hug a small sunflower seed, staring ahead with round eyes, looking silly as if caught by its owner while sneakily eating again.

After receiving the pendant, Su Duan looked at it for a while and slowly commented, "This hamster is so fat... and a bit dumb."

Yan Shen hmmed without changing his expression, swallowing back the words "It was carved based on your likeness" that he didn't have time to say.

Although Su Duan said this hamster was fat and dumb, in fact, no matter how you look at it, this hamster was extremely adorable.

The person who carved this hamster was undoubtedly a master. Even on a small pendant only two fingers wide, he carved it into a lifelike appearance. From a distance, it looked like a real hamster. If it wasn't for the fact that it felt hard when touched, Su Duan probably would have mistaken it countless times.

The jade carving master also very cleverly utilized the natural color variations of the jade, making the hamster's entire back and protruding little tail all a soft yellow color. From the back, it looked like a soft and delectable pudding. However, on the front of the hamster, except for the light yellow head, the chin and belly were all a clean white color, looking exactly the same as a hamster breed called "pudding hamster".

And in the alternating colors of the jade, the transition between the white and yellow was very natural, happening to fall right at the sides of the hamster's body, as if naturally formed, showing the exquisite skill of this jade carving master.

Hetian jade is delicate and smooth, glossy like mutton fat, born with an aura of wealth and nobility, making the little hamster carved from the yellow jade look sleek and well-groomed, clearly well cared for by its owner.

Before going to bed, Yan Shen strung a red cord and hung the little hamster around Su Duan's neck for him to wear. The jade was as delicate as mutton fat, very comfortable to wear close to the body and good for health.

Su Duan touched the silly hamster on his chest, feeling inexplicably a bit happy. He raised his head to peck the corner of Yan Shen's mouth, before resting his head on his chest to find a comfortable position to sleep.

......

Just one week after Su Duan started wearing his new pendant, the long-silent "Becoming a Demon" announced its release date.

The premiere was set on a very high-traffic holiday.

The competition in the holiday movie market was undoubtedly extremely fierce, but under the influence of a certain investor's extensive connections, "Becoming a Demon" still got a very impressive number of screenings in major theaters. This made Director Xie once again firm in his resolve to cling to this investor's thigh, and he quickly sent him an invitation to the premiere.

Holding a small-scale movie premiere before the film's public release is one of the common film promotion methods nowadays. The lead actors generally attend the premiere. Don't even think about attending the premiere without connections, especially for the premiere of a big movie like this. Various media and film critics are all clamoring to get in.

However, for those who have already reached another level, if you beg them to come, they may not necessarily agree.

Unsurprisingly, Director Xie's invitation was flatly rejected by his own investor.

Director Xie was disappointed for a while that he couldn't connect with his big thigh, but he quickly thought this was also good. Boss Yan only provided money without interfering, and had little interest in the entertainment industry. He was simply the ideal investor template in the director's mind.

Among investors nowadays, if they're not taking advantage of investing some money to forcefully stuff their little lovers into the crew and cause chaos, then they're ignorantly insisting on meddling with the script all day. Boss Yan who puts the director at ease like this is quite rare.

However, what Director Xie didn't know was that on the first day of the public premiere of "Becoming a Demon", that "puts-you-at-ease" investor who refused his invitation to watch the movie early at the premiere, took his contracted little star to a crowded movie theater to watch the premiere showing of "Becoming a Demon".