Under His Rule ✔

Chapter 25 POV Vincent

Summer has arrived. Elsie's birthday is on June 2nd. I park in front of her studio and send a text.

【Are you free?】

【I'm at the Starbucks next to your studio. Can I buy you a cup of coffee?】

Elsie replies: 【Thank you for your kindness. I have a meeting later, afraid I don't have time. Please understand.】

Even the punctuation exudes a sense of appropriateness, politeness, and distance.

I sigh and then see Lucy buying coffee in Starbucks.

Now that Elsie has changed careers, Lucy is still her assistant. I treat Lucy to coffee and ask her to deliver the gift to Elsie. I accidentally came across a beautiful set of jewelry and decided to give it to her on her birthday.

Lucy waves goodbye with a smile, holding the gift box. Ten minutes later, she comes out of the studio, still holding the box.

Her expression is apologetic. "Sorry, Mr. Vincent. Elsie said your gift is too valuable, and she doesn't want to owe you this favor, so..."

"It's okay."

I go to Josh's restaurant, turning sorrow into appetite.

But Josh isn't there.

"I'm on set," he says on the phone.

"You're also stepping into the entertainment industry?" I'm shocked.

"Not at all." Josh's end is noisy. He moves to a quiet place. "Don't you know there are millions of gays in the this industry?"

"Ha." I laugh.

"There's a male wardrobe stylist bothering Bryan for a long time. Bryan is accompanying his entertainer for a magazine shoot today, so I came to check the situation, at least to intimidate that guy..."

We chat for a while, and Josh suddenly remembers, "What did you want to say on the phone?"

I clear my throat lightly. "I've made a significant decision."

Two seconds later.

"Going to China?!"

Josh exclaims on the phone. "Even someone who doesn't play games knows that the Chinese gaming market is saturated. Opening a branch there, you'll hardly compete with their 'Genshin Impact'..."

"It's not for that."

I pause and say, "I'm going for a trip."

A week later, Elsie's ceramic studio officially opens.

My Chinese visa is also approved. The day before departure, I visit her shop.

The studio is larger and more professional than I imagined, with a Zen-like wooden decoration. Shelves are filled with various finished products.

The studio welcomes both amateurs to experience ceramic craftsmanship for a day and businesses to customize ceramic artworks.

There are many visitors. I look around and, in the tea area at the corner of the venue, spot a familiar figure. Elsie is wearing a white-based, light green and peach-colored floral dress, with a loose, off-white knitted coat on top. It's like wearing summer.

She holds a white paper cup with both hands, gently blowing on the faint steam above it. Her expression seems absent-minded, lost in thought. After a moment, as if noticing something, she suddenly turns her head.

Our eyes meet.

"Congratulations on the opening of your studio."

"Thank you."

Her gaze only lingers on my face for a second, then she lowers her head to put down the paper cup and hands me a cup of hot tea, just like the hot tea held by other visitors in the studio.

"Thank you," I say.

I want to say something else, but in the end, my mind is blank, like a record stopping halfway.

In mid-August, I return from China, bringing back a box full of souvenirs. After resting for a day at home, I organize the items into categories.

In the morning, I visit the company, and by noon, I bring gifts to Josh's restaurant. Bryan is also there. I sit on the sofa in the restaurant, open a small bottle of mineral water on the table, take a sip, and casually ask, "How is Elsie's studio doing?"

"Oh, business is good," Bryan says. "She's about to open a second branch in Manchester, and I've invested in it."

"I'll go see her later."

"She probably won't be in the studio today," Bryan thinks for a moment and says.

"Why?"

"Her ceramics teacher in China passed away suddenly, and she's currently processing her visa at the Chinese embassy."

"...Is that the Jingdezhen Grandma she's been following on TikTok?"

"Yes, she studied with that grandma in China for a total of six months. After returning to the UK, she often video chats with her. The grandma unexpectedly passed away due to a cerebral hemorrhage, and we were all surprised."

"Even with expedited processing, it takes three days to successfully handle a Chinese visa," I say.

"Yeah, the procedures are complicated," Bryan nods.

After a while, I grab a file folder from the side, find a stack of photos inside, and hand them to Bryan.

"When you see her, please pass these to her."

Bryan takes the photos, looking somewhat surprised. "Okay."

---

I return home, unsure if it's due to jet lag, and I'm unable to sleep. So, I get up and go to the living room, turning on the TV to a random channel, then lying on the sofa, facing upwards, in the background noise.

The living room lights are off, the TV's light flickers intermittently, and the dialogue creates some false liveliness. I reach for my phone, absentmindedly refreshing Instagram's feed.

A few minutes later, just as I'm about to exit the app, I notice that Elsie has just posted a photo. It's a farmhouse courtyard in Jingdezhen, filled with ceramics. An elderly white-haired woman sits in the middle of the ceramics, smiling at the camera.

It's one of the photos I asked Bryan to pass on to Elsie. Elsie took a photo of it with her phone and captioned it: RIP.

I click to like the photo and then fall asleep on the sofa.

The next morning, I wake up to the vibration of my phone. It's a new message.

"I used your photo and want to ask for your permission."

I immediately reply: "It's okay. I already gave that photo to you."

After a few minutes, Elsie responds: "Thank you."

I put down my phone and go to the bathroom to freshen up. After brushing my teeth, I sit at the dining table for breakfast and then pick up my phone.

"When you come back from China, are you free? Can we meet? I have something to tell you."

Elsie replies: "Sorry, I'm not sure how long I'll stay in Jingdezhen."

I say: "Anytime is fine, even later in the day."

Elsie eventually responds: "Okay."