Ten Thousand Books, But Only One You

Side Story: 01 Wishing Woe Unto You

Chapter 1: Wishing Woe Unto You

"Mr Shi, I've printed out the requests that we've received through our website and email, and left them on your table for your review," said Secretary Zhou as she got up from her seat upon seeing Shi Ruijie enter the museum's office.

Shi Ruijie nodded lazily in her direction. "Got it. Thanks for your help."

"Director Shi said to remind you to be serious when reviewing the requests. He said that if you—"

Opening the door to his temporary office, Shi Ruijie could not help but interrupt her repetitive nagging. "Yes, I know. Accept requests with donations, requests which are beneficial to Shibao Ge and requests from individuals with credentials; and reject requests that are of little value to us."

Hearing the young man spout these reckless words, Secretary Zhou started to protest in alarm but Shi Ruijie had already closed the door behind him.

Picking up the stack of requests, Shi Ruijie started sifting through them to separate the legitimate requests from the frivolous ones. Shibao Ge, also known as Shibao Pavilion, was a museum in the middle of the huge city which was well-known for its vast collection of antique books. While some sections of Shibao Pavilion were opened to the public, there were still many old buildings filled with shelves and shelves of antique books that were closed off and only accessible by curators and researchers of the museum. Occasionally, the management of Shibao Pavilion granted a few individuals permission to access these forbidden grounds.

To gain entry into Shibao Pavilion as one such special visitor, one would have to submit a request to the museum. Once such a request is submitted, the museum staff would take a look at the requests before selecting those with very persuasive reasons. For example, many distinguished academics and professors had previously been granted access to the private collections of rare and antique books for research purposes. On the other hand, antique collectors and treasure hunters who merely wanted to satisfy their curiosity were usually denied their requests.

As someone who was bound to takeover the management of Shibao Pavilion one day, Shi Ruijie was ordered by his father to work at the museum every time it was summer break. One of his daily tasks was to evaluate the requests to access the unauthorised areas of the compound. 

He was busy glancing through a request made by a broadcasting company, which wanted to film a documentary on ancient texts, when his desk phone rang.

"Hello?" He picked up the phone with one hand while scribbling down a note at the bottom of the page with the other before placing the request in the tray for requests that required further consideration and discussions.

"Mr Shi, Miss Qian is calling again today. She wishes to speak to you," Secretary Zhou relayed her message in a very neutral tone, careful not to sound too exasperated.

Eyes narrowing upon hearing that name, Shi Ruijie felt his forehead break out in cold sweat. Ever since her request to browse certain antique books from Shibao Pavilion for research purposes was rejected a week ago, third-year university student, Qian Siyu, had been making calls to Shibao Pavilion's office daily. All the times that she had called, Shi Ruijie had been on site at the museum grounds. Being out of office, he had dodged multiple bullets. However, this time it looked like he just had to bite the bullet.

"Alright," he sighed audibly, "just put her through. I'll explain it to her."

The line beeped once before connecting to the other line.

"Hello, is this Shi Ruijie-xuezhang?" A melodious and gentle voice rang out on the other end. Shi Ruijie's original image of Miss Qian as a loud, demanding young woman cracked instantly.