Chapter Volume 1, Diary of a Butler 1: Trying Hard to Become Familiarized with the Work Environment (2/2)

“What a fragrant smell! Can I start eating?” The young master looked at me, full of anticipation.

“Certainly. Young Master, do you wish to eat in the living room?”

“Yup!”

I tidied up the young master’s homework, and then delivered dinner.

The young master took a bite out of the hamburger and shouted, “What a delicious hamburger!”

Just as I was about to modestly respond, I watched the young master finish the hamburger in his hands with an alarming chewing speed. In the time gap of stretching out his hand to take another hamburger, he rapidly swallowed a dozen French fries. He had chewed them one by one before he swallowed. Yet, in the blink of an eye, he had already swallowed a dozen of them…

The young master’s motions could not be said to be uncultured. As a matter of fact, he was still extremely graceful. Only, it was “fast-forwarded” by a dozen or so times.

Following that, the young master finished off five more three-layered hamburgers, an entire plate of French fries, and three glasses of milk. When he finished, he told me that if the food portion were to be just a bit bigger, he would be satisfied. I could only carry bewilderment in my heart as I cooked another hamburger and fried one more plate of fries.

This time, after the young master finished, he was extremely happy as he said that he was full.

For the first time, I began to suspect. The young master is definitely not a vampire, but perhaps he is a werewolf?

After finishing dinner, the young master walked to the study and sat down in front of the computer. I originally thought that he was finally going to start the recreational activities of a young man. However, I heard him give a call of brother. Following that were sounds of non-stop chitchat. Only then did I realize that he was using the computer to communicate with his brother and was absolutely not engaging in a youngster’s recreational activities.

After clarifying with the young master that he had no other requests to make of me, I started to prepare to clean the interior of the apartment. Thankfully, the apartment wasn’t extremely clean. Otherwise, I would really start to suspect that other than frying hamburgers, what purpose would I, as a butler, hold?

One hour of sitting in front of the computer later, the young master walked out. At this moment, it was roughly eight o’clock. He opened the secret workroom and sat at one of the desks inside. The top of the desk was filled with all kinds of firearms, both finished and semi-finished products. If I were not mistaken, there was even a bomb among them.

The young master picked up his work tools and started to work on those semi-finished products. If I did not understand wrongly, I believe his actions would be called remodeling firearms.

The young master had said before that his family was not from the criminal underworld. I believed him. However, perhaps they are arms dealers?

While the young master was engrossed in remodeling firearms, I had already cleaned half of the living room. This included taking out all the books in the five giant bookcases, and after cleaning and applying wax to both the inside and the outside of the bookcases, putting back the dusted books into their original positions. I discovered that among these books, there were quite a few that were three hundred or more years old. Normally, they would have been locked in a library’s antique classics cabinet.

The five giant bookcases were all completely made from mahogany.

When I was maintaining the sofa and giving the wooden coffee table a good cleaning and waxing, I found out that though the sofa was of a common style, it was actually made from genuine lamb skin. The coffee table was not eye-catching either, but it was made of cypress wood and the trim in the corners were not actually brass but karat gold.

The cushions that were placed under the coffee table were all woven from the highest grade of Kashmir fleece. Moreover, the starry sky and moon decorations were made of gold and silver threads interwoven together. Embedded in all four corners were silver ornamental spheres, made fully from platinum.

I couldn’t help but walk to the kitchen, pull open an inconspicuous drawer, and take out various kinds of cutlery. I did not know whether I should be happy or astonished. The cutlery was not silverware, a good thing for me as vampires are weak against materials like “silver,” though I could still maintain them by wearing gloves.

The knives and forks were all made of platinum. There was absolutely no need to maintain them, for platinum would never tarnish.

Hence, when I was mopping the floor and discovered that the ceramic tiles on the floor were not ceramic but some kind of metal that I did not know the name of, I was not in the least bit surprised.

I had once said that this small house wouldn’t need a butler… I was truly wrong. Every piece of furniture in this place requires a butler’s attentive care.

Even the rubbish bin in the corner is a high-grade ceramic work of art.

Just when I was cautiously wiping a pen container made from twisting pure gold threads around various gemstones of different colors, the young master walked out and told me, “Good night, Charles. I’m going to sleep.”

I snuck a peek at the clock on the wall and suppressed a feeling of shock.

Sleeping at ten o’clock? If this were the norm, I would really have to re-examine the young master’s living habits. I courteously asked, “Good night. May I inquire as to when Young Master intends to rise tomorrow?”

“Five o’ clock.”

I was dumbstruck. Sleeping at ten o’clock at night and waking up at five in the morning?

The young master looked at me and started smiling. “Charles, you don’t have to follow me and get up at the same time. I’m going for a morning run at five and will only come back at approximately seven o’clock. Would you help me make breakfast? Ah… Don’t you have to sleep during the day? Then never mind, I can go out to buy breakfast.”

“Young Master!”

My face immediately turned stern, and I replied back politely but firmly, “Though Charles may be a vampire, Charles will definitely do his part as a butler. If there is anything you need, please feel free to tell me so. You do not need to be concerned about anything else, for taking good care of all the affairs of their master is a butler’s duty.”

Looking at me, the young master smiled as he said, “Okay. When I come back from my morning run, I’m going to take a shower first. Please help me by preparing breakfast at seven twenty.”

“Understood.” I respectfully received my orders, then followed up with a question, “Should I prepare your clothing for going out?”

The young master nodded his head without hesitation. “Okay.”

The young master returned to his room to sleep. I cautiously tried not to make a sound and cleaned the entire house. Again and again, my eyes widened while doing so: when I discovered that the object that I was currently wiping could have more or the less the same price as a race car, or when I was pondering over which era the antique I was holding in my hands belonged to…

Just like this, I cleaned until the morning. When it was five minutes past five o’clock, the young master appeared wearing sportswear, apparently just finished with freshening up.

With a smile on my face, I greeted, “Good morning, Young Master. This morning, do you have anything in particular that you would like to eat?”

The young master thought for a moment, and then shook his head saying, “Nope, Charles, help me choose.”

I asked in further detail, “Are there any foods in particular that you do not eat?”

The young master shrugged his shoulders and replied, “I eat anything.”

I nodded my head. For a person who would even drink human blood, it is indeed possible that he would eat anything.

The young master left the house to go for his morning run, and I started to prepare the ingredients needed for today’s breakfast. There is a saying in the butler’s code of conduct that the first time you make breakfast for your master, it is best to make various kinds of foods for the master to try, so that in the future, they can indicate which type they want to eat.

The ingredients were all prepared, and save for some pre-cooked food, I would wait until the young master came home and started showering before I started cooking. This way, the food would stay warm.

Following that, I started preparing the clothes that the young master would wear after his shower. When I opened the young master’s wardrobe, I was once again flabbergasted.

Two sets of pajamas, one set of sportswear, three sets of shirts and jeans, one jacket, and one suit. Sitting on the bottom was a pair of leather shoes. Including the sneakers and sportswear that the young master has just gone out in, these are all the clothes the young master possesses?

With no other options, I took out a shirt and a pair of jeans. Then, I continued to wait for the young master’s return.

The young master was as expected, extremely punctual. He returned home at exactly seven and then started showering. He stepped out of the shower at exactly seven twenty and sat at the table in the living room. I then served the five different types of breakfast to the young master one-by-one.

Afterward, I waited upon the young master as he dined… Basically, I stood blankly at one side and stared at the young master as he polished off all five different types of breakfast, the portion roughly about twelve people’s share.

At long last, the young master stroked his stomach, and, with a long face, he complained, “I’m so full… Charles, this might be a little too much.”

I panicked a little as I explained, “I-I was intending to let you eat a little of everything, so as to see which type you prefer. Then, in the future, you would be able to say which type of breakfast you would like to eat. It was not my intention to have you finish all of them…”

“Oh.” The young master seemed to think for a moment. Then, he smiled as he said, “Then in the future, I want one of each type. Half the amount would be fine.”

“Understood.” I gave a sigh of relief. Thankfully, the young master’s food intake was not as terrifying as I thought… Though having six people’s worth of breakfast was already shocking enough.

The young master went out to attend classes at eight, exactly on the dot. After I saw him out, I turned around to tidy up the cutlery. Only then did I return to my room and lie inside the metal cabinet. Of course, the cell phone that the young master gave me also followed me into the metal cabinet, in case the young master needed to look for me.

I slept until four in the evening and then woke up to go to the market to buy groceries. Afterward, I came home punctually at five o’clock. The young master arrived home at five thirty sharp, and I started dinner at six.

After dinner, the young master followed the previous night’s exact schedule.

For the next few days, almost every day was a repeat of the first day. The young master’s life was incredibly routine. There was only one exception, the night when the young master wanted to go out to have a late night snack. He is especially fond of having barbecued meat for a snack, and he had brought me along. Of course, I didn’t eat the barbecued meat and only drank the blood in my canteen.

The night when we had a late night snack, the two of us, servant and master, attracted a lot of attention. First of all was my outfit. A western styled vest and a bow tie had caught the crowd’s attention. Afterward, all of the customers had stared blankly at the ever-growing mountain of empty plates beside the young master.

I could not help but open my mouth to suggest, “Why doesn’t Young Master eat at a buffet? Surely that would be more cost-effective.”

The moment the words left my mouth, I immediately regretted them. These words sounded almost as if I was poking fun at the young master’s food intake, and was definitely not something that a butler ought to say to his master. I truly had no intention of poking fun at the young master. I truly wondered.

“Hehe,” Young Master chuckled as he lifted his head and said with a smile, “Charles, even if you’re a vampire, you can’t do something that cruel! The boss of the store will cry.”

Hearing that, I tried my best to suppress the corners of my mouth that were going upwards and to not show too big a smile. I then apologized, “My sincere apologies, Young Master. Charles should not have spoken as such.”

At that moment, the young master put down his barbequed meat and looked at me. He seemed a little worried as he commented, “Ever since Charles became my butler, you’ve been speaking so politely. I’m really not used to it! Can’t we just talk like we did that first night? Speaking like friends would be enough.”

I looked at Young Master An Xiang Ye, and his face showed a sense of disappointment. However, as to whether the young master was being serious about it or not, I was a little uncertain. Though there are many masters who have spoken to their subordinates about being friends, it does not necessarily mean that one can truly believe them.

Sometimes, this was only a form of test, a test to see whether their subordinates would forget themselves and overstep their boundaries. Other times, the master truly wants to maintain a relationship as friends with their subordinates. However, the master would not be as humble as he imagines himself to be.

“Charles?” The young master was looking at me, puzzled.

I gave a small smile, as I answered, “Of course we can.”

The young master’s eyes lit up, and he sounded excited as he commented, “That’s really great. Then you can stop calling me Young Master. Just calling me Ah Ye would be fine…”

“That won’t do!” The words immediately slipped from my mouth.

The young master jumped and stared at me with wide eyes.

I inwardly rebuked myself. A butler ought to maintain a graceful demeanor at all times and should not speak rude and impetuous words. More importantly, a butler should not frighten their master.

Following that, I resolutely explained, “Young Master, we may maintain our relationship as friends. However, the form of address absolutely cannot be changed. The form of address is like a master’s and butler’s contract. It constantly reminds both parties of each other’s position, as well as the rules that should be obeyed in one’s role.”

Both my father and the butler’s code of conduct agree that no matter how good the friendship is between the master and the servant, they are still master and servant, and they should definitely never overstep their boundaries.

The young master gave a laugh as he replied, “You’re so interesting, Charles. Okay then! If you don’t want to change it, then don’t.”

Why is it that the young master always says that I’m very interesting?

That night, the young master ate five thousand yuan’s worth of food in a BBQ store where a plate of beef was only a hundred yuan.

Perhaps I had underestimated the young master’s food intake.

Returning to the present, I shifted my attention from the young master’s food intake back to the proper business of the moment.

It was already near the time that the young master would return home, and I was preparing today’s dinner. In the pot was a thick simmering soup, and my hands were currently cutting the vegetables needed for the salad. The oven on the side released a fragrant smell of baked bread from time to time. Tonight’s main dishes, ten slabs of beef steaks as big as one’s palm were also placed on the plate. I was just waiting for the young master to come back. While he ate the salad and the baked bread, I would cook the steaks. Only then would I be able to ensure that the steaks would stay warm…

“Charles!”

I froze for a moment. This was the young master’s voice. However, the young master has never spoken in such a frantic manner before.

I quickly put down the kitchen knife in my hand and went into the living room. Before I could even manage to say anything, the young master noticed me and shouted, “Charles, Charles! What to do? What should I do?”

I comforted him in a hurry. “Young Master, Young Master, calm down a little. Don’t hurry, say it slowly. No matter how grave something is, there will always be a way to solve it. Come, breathe in, breathe out.”

The young master followed my instructions to breathe in and out extremely obediently. After he had done so three times, I saw that the young master had calmed down. Only then did I do my best to ask slowly but steadily, “Young Master, what has happened to make you so nervous?”

Hearing those words, the young master, who had just managed to relax, started to be nervous again, and stammered, “Charles, my c-classmates asked me to go together with them to s-sing!”

If one ignored the meaning of the sentence, then just by the tone, I would have thought that the young master’s classmate had asked him to go destroy the world.

I was stunned and questioned him back. “Do you not wish to go?”

“I want to go…” The young master finished his words with a little hesitation, and then he nervously spoke again, “But, I’ve never sung before. I’ll definitely make an idiot of myself, so it’s probably better not to go.”

I comforted him with a gentle tone, “It doesn’t matter whether you sing well or not, your classmates are only looking for you to go hang out with them, not to enter a singing competition.”

“It’s not the problem of the singing.” The young master scrunched his brows and was extremely vexed as he said, “I-I just don’t know what I should do. They were all talking about it so happily, discussing which songs they’ll select, which songs’ MVs are very good, which singer recently released a greatest hits album… I can’t understand them at all!”

After he said that, he looked at me pitifully, as though he were trying to find understanding on my face. However, I was not sure how to react, for I simply did not understand what the young master was worrying about. What he had just said were all words that any normal person would speak of. What was there not to understand?

In the end, he raised an example, extremely discouraged, “When my classmates asked me which song I like the most, I said that it was Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, also known as ‘The Symphony of Destiny.’ However, my classmates all felt that I was very strange.”

I understand now.

“When are your classmates inviting you?”

The young master seemed even more nervous as he replied, “It’s this weekend!”

I nodded my head, and then respectfully opened my mouth to invite him. “If Young Master has nothing happening tonight, are you willing to go together with Charles to sing?”

The young master looked at me with a gaze as though I had just saved him. He seemed moved as he said, “Charles, you’re so nice… But, I seem to smell something burning.”

Ah!