The TongShu team packed up with the warm efficiency of people who had gotten what they came for and were pleased about it.
Handshakes, business cards, promises of follow up emails, the standard closing choreography of a successful meeting.
When they were gone Guiying sat back in his chair and looked at the menu.
He had left the house without eating.
The morning had been too rushed, between the bath and the makeup and the outfit and Moying and the driver situation, breakfast had simply not happened.
Now that the meeting was done and the adrenaline of it had settled he could feel the absence of food with some conviction.
He flagged a server.
"Congee with a century egg.." he said. "And a pot of jasmine tea."
The server noted it and left.
Guiying took out his phone and checked his messages.
A confirmation email from TongShu already, which was fast, the kind of fast that said they had been hoping for this outcome and were not wasting time now that they had it.
