The Poisoned Pen: A Guardian Story

Chapter Seven: The Resolute Determination

After their conversation about the poison pen letters, the business of the day turned to more mundane matters.  Zhao Yunlan was tasked with setting up various telephone meetings with Shen Wei's agent, book cover designer, and accountant, then the two men went through the study's office supplies to see if there was any stationery running low that needed to be reordered, and cleared out some of the more overflowing cupboards.

The two men conversed easily while they worked, and even though Zhao Yunlan did most of the talking, he felt that his employer was gradually opening up and showing a new, more relaxed side of himself.

As for Shen Wei, he found that it was becoming increasingly difficult to resist the charming smile and infectious good humour of his new employee, and he was not sure he even wanted to.  He and Lin Jing had had a successful working relationship because they were similar in many ways.  Both quite intense and prone to losing themselves in their work.  However, with Zhao Yunlan it was the complete opposite.  They seemed to complement each other precisely because they were so different.  Even so, the young author was not willing to let down all of his defences.  At least, not yet.

Finally, the working day came to an end, and Zhao Yunlan made his way back to his room with a dinner tray in his hands.  He did not want his colleagues to think of him as an anti-social type, but he hadn't spoken to his business partner all day, and they needed to discuss progress, if any.

"Talk to me, Fatty," he said as soon as the call connected.  It was an ironic nickname, as his partner was not carrying an ounce of spare weight as far as he could tell, even though he had a voracious appetite.

"It's not much, but I might have something," Da Qing replied.

The response almost made Yunlan spit out the mouthful of rice he was chewing on.

"Tell me!" he demanded.

"I can do better than that.  I'll show you.  Links should be arriving in your inbox as we speak, but I'll summarise it for you now.  There's a vlogger on one of the more left field entertainment sites. He's written several pretty scathing reviews of Mr Shen's books.  I would say that some of them border on the personal.  I don't have a name yet, as he uses an alias.  What do you think?"

"I'll take a look and let you know, but it strikes me that the person we are looking for is more of a fan than a hater."

"I agree, but we all know the saying that there's a fine line between love and hate."

"True," Yunlan admitted.  "See what else you can find out about this guy.  I'll look at whether his writing style matches the letters, but they're all pretty short, so I may come up empty."

"Perhaps that's the reason why our man keeps his letters brief?" Da Qing offered.  "In case someone recognises him."

"Hmm.  It's possible I suppose.  Leave it with me."

After hanging up, he went to his email and checked the inbox.  Sure enough, there was a message from his partner with several links to a website he was unfamiliar with.  As he read each article, he found himself getting more and more angry.

This guy, whoever he was, was making completely incorrect assumptions and generalisations about Shen Wei.  Accusing him of writing purely as a vanity project, alleging that the reason he used a pen name was because he had a ghost writer, and suggesting that he was a recluse because he had a mental 'deficiency' as he called it.  What nonsense.  Even if his client was dealing with some form of emotional baggage, it was no one else's business unless he chose to share it.  Plenty of people struggled with mental health issues of varying types.  It was nothing to be ashamed of, or for others to be critical of.