In the phone video, the boy had been caught cheating by the girl. The boy simply laid his cards on the table, admitting he had fallen for someone else and wanted to break up. The girl was trying every possible means to win him back—crying, screaming, begging, cursing, and even resorting to desperate threats of suicide.
Xu Miyu watched the girl’s hysterical outburst and found herself empathizing deeply. Her own heart ached with a bitter, stinging pain alongside the girl’s.
She had thought she had numbed herself to the pain. But now she realized she had only buried her hurt and suffering deep within, hiding it away.
After a while of crying and making a scene, the girl issued an ultimatum to the boy: “Come to the Sway Hotel to see me right now, or I’ll kill myself by charcoal burning! I want you to live the rest of your life in the shadow of my death! I want you to feel my lingering spirit hanging over your bed, watching you, no matter which woman you’re with!”
The girl hung up the video call. Xu Miyu broke out in goosebumps.
The girl fiddled with her phone for a moment, then sat motionless on the sofa, as if waiting for the boy to arrive.
By now, Xu Miyu had completely forgotten the humiliation and sorrow she had felt just half an hour earlier. Her mind was entirely occupied with how to keep an eye on the girl and prevent her from harming herself.
She picked up the walkie-talkie, about to call for help to talk the girl down, but the girl spoke first.
“Sister, don’t call anyone. Even if someone comes, their comforting words will just be empty, pretentious nonsense. No one in this world can truly understand what you’re going through.”
Xu Miyu was momentarily stunned by the girl’s words. Though young and emotional, the girl had spoken with surprising wisdom.
She put down the walkie-talkie, walked over to the girl, pulled up a chair, and sat down, keeping her eyes fixed on her.
Then, with heartfelt sorrow, she tried to comfort the girl, pouring all the empathy she could muster into her words.
—Yes, no one in this world can truly understand what you’re going through. Unless they’ve been through the same thing themselves.
The girl remained silent, just listening—or perhaps not really listening at all, lost in a daze.
They talked for a while longer, but the boy still didn’t show up.
It was already the end of her shift, and Xu Miyu could have changed out of her uniform and returned to the dormitory. But she didn’t dare leave, afraid the girl might still be tempted to take her own life.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang.
Xu Miyu perked up. “He’s here for you!”
The girl scoffed. “It’s not him.”
She stepped barefoot onto the carpet and went to open the door.
Xu Miyu saw a concierge staff member outside, holding a takeout bag.
So, after hanging up the video call, the girl had been fiddling with her phone to order takeout?
Xu Miyu was completely baffled.
She watched as the girl carried the takeout back, beaming with a bright smile. “I ordered crayfish and beer. Sister, since we’re both in the same boat, why not join me for some food and drinks?”
Xu Miyu stared at her radiant smile, unable to reconcile it with the person who had been crying and threatening suicide just moments before.
She was utterly bewildered.
Since it was already the end of her shift, Xu Miyu decided to stay.The girl opened a can of beer and handed it to Xu Miyu. While peeling crayfish, she smiled and said, "Sis, did I scare you earlier? Don't worry, I won't die. While you were comforting me, I was also sorting out my emotions and thoughts. Today, I just wanted to see if that guy still cared about me even a little. Now that I know the answer, I can finally let go completely."
She popped the peeled crayfish into her mouth, her lips glistening with oil, and continued eating as she spoke: "Sis, tell me, would it be worth dying for such a scumbag? Not just dying for him—even living miserably for him or becoming like the living dead wouldn't be worth it at all! I need to live better than him, better than the other woman—that's what would make it worth it!"
Listening to the girl's words, Xu Miyu couldn't help but freeze momentarily.
The girl raised her beer can to clink with Xu Miyu's and took a big gulp.
Xu Miyu also took a sip of her beer.
The flavor of malt mixed with alcohol rushed past her throat, making her feel both clearer and more confused.
After putting down her beer, the girl suddenly asked her, "Sis, who do you think people live for? For others? Then you might as well be dead. People live for themselves."
Xu Miyu felt the girl's words suddenly carry immense weight. They struck her mind like a shock, clearing away some previously muddled thoughts.
"Yeah, it seems I never really understood what I was living for before. So, people live for themselves," Xu Miyu murmured softly.
The girl suddenly spoke up again: "Sis, to be honest, even though you seem calm and I seem hysterical, you're actually much more world-weary than I am. I feel like you're not interested in anything, almost as if you're half-dead." She looked at Xu Miyu's face and asked, "Sis, have you also been through some kind of blow?"
Xu Miyu smiled, her expression weary.
She told the girl, "My blow? It's actually quite similar to yours. But I had it worse—you were betrayed before marriage, while I was cheated on by my ex-husband with someone I considered a friend."
The girl's jaw dropped in surprise and shock.
"You really had it much worse than me!" After a pause, she said, "So that's why you're so... well, half-dead? You're in a lot of pain, aren't you? Have you ever thought about dying?"
Xu Miyu was stunned by the question.
Dying? It seemed she had never even considered that possibility. Even though she lived like the living dead, the deepest part of her consciousness had always believed that living was better.
It was as if some subconscious instinct had always told her that only by living could she wait for the things she wanted to happen.
At this moment, Xu Miyu suddenly realized that deep down, she still had things she wanted to happen.
Deep down, she still had hopes.
So why was she still living like the living dead?
The girl's straightforward words echoed in her ears again: "Sis, no offense, but if I were you, living in such a half-dead state, I'd rather just die and be done with it. Since you're alive, you should live with purpose—especially compared to that scumbag and the other woman!"
Xu Miyu listened to the girl's words.Her mind flashed to Lu Zhenzhen's smug smile after splashing water over her head; to the humiliation of squatting on the floor with wet hair, unable to open her eyes; to her own haggard, sallow face reflected in the bathroom mirror.
She thought, yes, the girl was absolutely right.
Living like this—barely clinging to life—was worse than death.
Since she had to live, she should pull herself together and live well, make something of herself, and slap those who wished to see her miserable right in the face!
Living well, getting better and better—that was the greatest punishment for the cheating man and the mistress.
After finishing a can of beer with the girl, Xu Miyu said goodbye. She quietly left the money for the beer next to the empty can.
She thanked the girl for waking her from her dazed confusion—she hadn’t expected that, while intending to comfort and encourage the girl, she herself would end up being the one comforted and encouraged.
She examined herself. Before sharing that can of beer with the girl, she had been drifting aimlessly, just getting by.
But now it was different. Now she had plans for herself.
She needed to pull herself together, to live well—better than her ex-husband and the mistress.
That evening, back at the dormitory, while Luo Qingping and Ke Wenxue weren’t paying attention, Yin Xiang signaled Xu Miyu to join her in the hallway.
Yin Xiang whispered to Xu Miyu, "Mi Yu, today Li Kunlun came to the customer service department and talked about you and your husband’s... affair. Zhang Cailu happened to be there too. So the room you were assigned to clean this afternoon was actually arranged by Zhang Cailu on purpose. I really can’t believe your husband and that woman—how dare they bully you so openly! And Mi Yu, you need to stand up for yourself! How can you let your husband and his mistress walk all over you like this? Oh, and by the way, I heard from other colleagues that Zhang Cailu later went to that room specifically to ‘comfort’ the woman inside. She called it comforting, but she was actually provoking her, guiding her to give you a negative service review when she checks out. Mi Yu, Zhang Cailu is just waiting for that negative review—it’ll be your third one, and then you’ll have to go. So before that woman checks out, you’d better think of a countermeasure quickly! I’ve got to go now—don’t tell anyone I told you. I’m afraid Zhang Cailu will come after me!"
Afraid of being caught whispering with Xu Miyu, Yin Xiang spoke so quickly that Xu Miyu couldn’t get a word in to explain that Nie Yucheng was already her ex-husband. By the time Yin Xiang finished everything in one breath, she still didn’t give Xu Miyu a chance to explain. Like a thief, she immediately scurried away.
Xu Miyu stood alone by the hallway window for a while.
Outside the window was the hazy city nightscape. The moon was hidden behind clouds, and a wind had picked up.
Xu Miyu thought, it seemed no matter how careful she was, it was useless. As long as Zhang Cailu wanted her gone, she would keep falling into Zhang Cailu’s traps.
No matter how much good people tried to protect themselves, they could never outmatch the calculated schemes of the wicked.
She really needed a countermeasure. She had just decided to live well—she couldn’t be driven away like this. The more wretched and pitiful she had appeared in front of her ex-husband and Lu Zhenzhen today, the more radiant and confident she would become the next time they saw her here.
Gazing at the moon obscured by clouds, she wondered, what should that countermeasure be?A gentle night breeze began to blow, carrying the clouds forward slowly, and bit by bit, the moon was revealed.
A cool, clear strand of moonlight escaped from the clouds and the night wind, spilling suddenly across the ground.
Xu Miyu suddenly realized she had come up with a countermeasure. She was delighted to find that she wasn’t actually stupid—it was just that she had been out of touch with society for too long.
—Since Zhang Cailu wanted her gone, why not find a way to make Zhang Cailu leave first?
Driving away the person who wanted to drive her away—this act, both defensive and somewhat aggressive, was something Xu Miyu would never have considered or done in the past.
Her lifelong principle, deeply ingrained in her bones, had always been "avoidance." Now, she wanted to change. And this change would start now.
She wanted to test whether the supervisor would succeed in getting rid of her first, or if she could manage to get the supervisor removed first.
Some things she had never done or even thought of before felt quite out of character for her usual self. But since she wanted to change, she would have to try doing these things from now on.
Xu Miyu carefully considered where she could find a weak point to bring Zhang Cailu down.
After much thought, she concluded that two things were indispensable.
First, Zhang Cailu had to have made mistakes. If she hadn’t, and Xu Miyu tried to remove her without cause, then she would be no different from Zhang Cailu in terms of character.
Second, she needed someone with a certain level of authority—someone whose power was sufficient to support a personnel transfer—and she had to be able to communicate with this person and ask them to exercise that authority.
The second point, in fact, wasn’t too difficult. Xu Miyu thought the key to this lay with her elder sister, Xu Mizi.
Since it was her sister who had pulled strings to get her the job at the hotel, could she now leverage that connection to help her find an opportunity to bring Zhang Cailu down?
But for now, the priority was to quickly achieve results on the first point—she needed to find a way to uncover Zhang Cailu’s mistakes. Only after identifying her errors could she seek help from someone influential, using those mistakes to justify a personnel transfer.
She refused to believe that, given Zhang Cailu’s way of handling things, she hadn’t left any mistakes in her work. As long as there were errors, there was a possibility she could be asked to leave.
The next day at work, Xu Miyu paid extra attention.
In the past, she had muddled through, turning a blind eye to things right in front of her. But now, she began to extend her senses, carefully observing every clue. She quickly discovered that, with a little effort, many things left traces that could be followed.
Such as Zhang Cailu’s mistakes at work.
Finding them turned out to be even easier than receiving a service complaint.
It started when she was cleaning an "occupied room" and overheard a conversation between a married couple.
The wife said to her husband, "It’s so strange—is there something wrong with the water here, or has the hotel changed its shampoo brand? My scalp feels a bit itchy after washing my hair."
The husband replied, "Your scalp is itchy too? I thought it was just me. I felt a bit itchy after washing my hair last night as well."
"And the other things here don’t feel as comfortable to use as before," the wife added, then asked her husband, "Should we ask the hotel staff about it?"
The husband answered, "Forget it, it’s too much trouble. We’re leaving after one more night anyway."
Xu Miyu took note of the couple’s conversation and collected the discarded shampoo bottles and other used amenity containers.The supplies at Sway Hotel are all procured from high-end luxury brands, which is one of the hotel's selling points—items that people might not even be able to buy at luxury counters in upscale shopping malls are available for free use at Sway Hotel.
And these items, which other ordinary hotels cannot afford, are used quite lavishly at Sway Hotel. Used supplies such as shampoo, perfume, lotion, hand cream, and the like are treated as trash. Every day, after cleaning the rooms, the floor attendants collect the leftover supplies, which are then handed over to external personnel to be disposed of as waste.
Xu Miyu specifically requested to be the one to collect the leftover shampoo and other supplies from her floor. When the external personnel came to collect them, she deliberately compared the shampoo and other supplies from her floor with those from other floors.
After comparing, she noticed that the supplies from other floors had a thicker consistency, while those from her floor, upon closer inspection, were thinner and lighter in color.
Looking at these supplies, Xu Miyu thought it was clear: the various supplies on her floor were likely counterfeit.
The next morning, after receiving the room assignment sheet, Xu Miyu paid close attention when collecting the room supplies from the storeroom. The supplies in the storeroom had a thick consistency, meaning they were genuine.
Xu Miyu wondered: if the genuine supplies from the storeroom turned into counterfeits in each room, who could be responsible for swapping them out during the process?
After some thought, she realized that the only person who had the opportunity to linger in every room was Zhang Cailu—she would inspect each room one by one after everyone had finished cleaning.
So, it must have been during this process that the genuine supplies were replaced with counterfeit ones.
Xu Miyu then wondered: where did the replaced genuine luxury supplies go? Soon, it occurred to her that these items might be sold on online secondhand markets.
With this idea in mind, she immediately opened her phone to verify her suspicion.
Surprisingly, she quickly found a seller on a secondhand shopping app who specialized in selling luxury brand samples.
And the samples displayed in the photos were identical to the supplies used at Sway Hotel.
Looking at the number of items sold, it was quite substantial.
Xu Miyu opened the chatbox in the app and asked the seller: "Are these items authentic? Where is the supply source? What if they turn out to be fake?"
The seller replied: "Don’t worry, dear, they’re absolutely authentic. These are exclusive items from Sway Hotel, and we have a special channel to source them, so you don’t need to worry about authenticity. Besides, if I were selling fakes, I wouldn’t have so many sales and repeat customers, right?"
After some thought, Xu Miyu placed an order and filled in the address of a pickup station near her old home.
When the seller shipped the order, she checked the phone number in the contact information. She pulled up her phone’s contact list and compared it with Zhang Cailu’s number.
Unfortunately, the numbers did not match.
Xu Miyu felt a bit disheartened. Had her investigation reached a dead end? Could it be that Zhang Cailu wasn’t the one swapping the genuine supplies for fakes?
The next day, she took the bus to the pickup station to retrieve the package. Back in her dorm, she opened it and confirmed that the various samples were indeed the exclusive items from Sway Hotel.She gazed thoughtfully at the sample, then suddenly had an inspiration. Quickly picking up her phone, she copied the shipping phone number and pasted it into the payment app. Immediately, an account named "Qin" popped up.
Xu Miyu thought that if Zhang Cailu were reselling the hotel's supplies, she would indeed be cautious enough not to use a payment account linked to her own phone number. But when it came to money, she wouldn't use a stranger's account either. So could this "Qin" be her mother?
The next day at work, Xu Miyu asked Yin Xiang: "Do you know what Zhang Cailu's mother's name is?"
Yin Xiang shook her head, saying she wasn't too sure. She then asked Xu Miyu why she wanted to know.
Xu Miyu replied: "It just occurred to me, so I thought I'd ask."
Xu Miyu quietly inquired through other channels as well, but no one knew Zhang Cailu's mother's name either.
Xu Miyu couldn't help feeling discouraged again. It seemed that her investigation had reached another dead end.
After dinner that evening, she returned to the dormitory and lay bored on her bed, scrolling through WeChat Moments. Subconsciously, she found Zhang Cailu's profile picture and entered her Moments feed, browsing through each post one by one.
Zhang Cailu's Moments featured many photos of gourmet food. Many of the restaurants she had visited were quite expensive—the kind where salaried workers would feel the pinch if they went too often.
As she scrolled, Xu Miyu came across a picture Zhang Cailu had posted on Mother's Day. It was a cake with the words: "Happy Mother's Day to Ms. Wu Qin!"
Xu Miyu's heart raced as she took a screenshot.
She thought she could now confirm that Zhang Cailu had replaced the hotel's genuine supplies and sold them for money.
She had found Zhang Cailu's mistake.
Having confirmed that Zhang Cailu wouldn't be innocent even if she were forced out, Xu Miyu began to implement another plan. Next, she needed to ask her eldest sister, Xu Mizi, for help.
Actually, explaining this matter in person to Xu Mizi would be clearer. But traveling from the hotel to her sister's home and back to the dormitory would require spending money on taxis or a lot of time on the subway, and she had to get up early for work the next day.
Such a problem would never have been an issue for the former Xu Miyu. Whenever she went out, she either drove or took a taxi—she had long forgotten how much the subway cost.
But now, it seemed she couldn't even bear the expense of a round-trip subway ride.
In the end, Xu Miyu chose the most economical option: she called Xu Mizi on her phone.
She briefly described the situation and stated her request.
After listening, her eldest sister Xu Mizi first grumbled a bit: "You, you're not enthusiastic about helping our brother pay his mortgage, but you're quite clever when it comes to your own plans. Fine, I'll go ask the person who arranged your job to see if he can verify that Zhang Cailu's mistakes as a floor supervisor are enough to have her removed."
Xu Miyu gripped her phone and asked: "What are the chances of this working out?"
Xu Mizi reassured her: "Of course, it's high. After all, the person I'm contacting is the deputy manager of your housekeeping department. Having him reassign a floor supervisor shouldn't be a big problem."
Hearing this, Xu Miyu felt a surge of hope.
She urged her sister to handle the matter as quickly as possible, otherwise she might be forced out before Zhang Cailu left.Xu Mizi raised her tone, first scolding her thoroughly: "How can you be so foolish? You only tell me about this after being schemed against to the point of nearly getting fired. What a coward—all your abilities are used to argue with me, Mom, and our brother."
After venting her frustration, she finally gave a definite answer: "Alright, I'll contact this person tomorrow and talk to him. Don't just say you're afraid of losing your job—I'm afraid of you losing your job too! If you don't have a salary, your younger brother's mortgage will have to be paid by your second sister and me. Are you trying to work us to death? Third sister, remember this: after I settle this matter for you, when you get your next paycheck, you'll have to join your second sister and me in paying Xu Mibao's mortgage!"
Xu Miyu didn't explicitly respond to her eldest sister before hanging up. This was her delaying tactic. She hadn't even figured out her own life yet—there was no way she was going to help pay the mortgage for that good-for-nothing Xu Mibao.
The next day, Xu Miyu worked peacefully the entire time. Her eldest sister's confident words had given her a sense of security. This confidence even made her feel a faint trace of pity when facing Zhang Cailu.
Watching Zhang Cailu flamboyantly express insincere concern toward others as usual, Xu Miyu couldn't help but think with some reluctance: She probably has no idea she's about to be fired.
But when Yin Xiang quietly informed her during lunch that Zhang Cailu had specifically contacted Lu Zhenzhen that morning to coax her into giving Xu Miyu an unsatisfactory rating, the last bit of pity and reluctance in her heart vanished.
So this is what the world outside home is like—a dog-eat-dog society. Even in a small department like housekeeping, it's a life-and-death struggle.
Yin Xiang also told Xu Miyu: "But for now, Sister Mi Yu, you can rest easy. Later, a man called the housekeeping department—I answered the phone—and he told me to get the supervisor. When I brought Zhang Cailu over, the person on the phone spoke very sternly and asked for that woman to come to the phone. That woman then told Zhang Cailu to cancel the unsatisfactory rating and not to call again. That's how I found out Zhang Cailu had specifically contacted that woman to give you a bad review." After a pause, Yin Xiang asked Xu Miyu, "But Sister Mi Yu, who was that kind man? Was he someone from your family coming to stand up for you?"
Xu Miyu couldn't help but laugh at herself mockingly. What family did she have to stand up for her? That man was probably her cheating ex-husband, whom she had decided to leave.
She didn't want to explain too much and only thanked Yin Xiang sincerely.
After work that evening, Xu Miyu immediately called Xu Mizi to ask how things were going and what the deputy manager had said.
She waited eagerly for good news.
However, Xu Mizi complained to her over the phone: "Xu Miyu, why couldn't you have told me about these things a few days earlier? Now that I'm asking today, it turns out the deputy manager just jumped ship to another place the day before yesterday. You can't even get a warm meal when you're eating shit! At this point, I can't help you anymore. You'll have to fend for yourself."
Xu Miyu's hopes were instantly dashed. Her heart sank to the bottom.
After thinking for a moment, she asked Xu Mizi unwillingly: "Eldest sister, even if he's already changed jobs, his past connections are still there, right? Couldn't they... still be of some use?"Before she could finish her words, Xu Mizi interrupted her: "What ability are you talking about! Let me put it this way—when I called him today, his attitude toward me was already very cold. Do you know why? Yes, our travel agency has business cooperation with your hotel, but that alone isn’t enough for me to have any real influence with him. He was polite to me before because he knew I was Nie Yucheng’s wife’s sister, and Nie Yucheng had helped him out in the past! When I asked him to arrange a job for you, he didn’t know yet that Nie Yucheng had already divorced and that you were the ex-wife. He arranged for you to work at the hotel out of respect for me as Nie Yucheng’s sister-in-law. But now he knows Nie Yucheng has a new wife, and I, as the ex-wife’s sister, have absolutely no face left. Don’t drag me along to embarrass yourself and beg others for favors! Third Sister, I’m not trying to criticize you, but you’ve completely messed up your perfectly good life, and now you’re even dragging me down to face others’ cold shoulders and disdainful looks!"
Xu Miyu digested this outburst of complaints. Compared to the gloom of her hopes being completely dashed, what she felt more deeply now was irony and amusement.
So, this person had helped Nie Yucheng’s wife’s sister—and arranged for Nie Yucheng’s wife to work at the hotel—all out of respect for Nie Yucheng.
Finally untangling the convoluted reasoning, Xu Miyu thought, could there be anything more ironic in the world than this situation?
A moment later, she reflected that perhaps there was. For instance, where did Xu Mizi get the nerve to complain that Xu Miyu had ruined her reputation? Hadn’t Xu Mizi’s so-called reputation originally come from Xu Miyu in the first place?
This kind of borrowed prestige, which wasn’t truly one’s own to begin with, was bound to be lost someday. Yet here she was, stomping her feet and blaming others for it.
Xu Miyu almost felt that her elder sister’s self-righteousness made her seem justified.
"Elder Sister," she said after a moment’s thought, unable to hold back, "I never asked you to thank me when I was able to lend you prestige in the past. Now that I can’t lend you any, that’s not my fault either. So you have no right to blame me for this or that."
Xu Mizi’s voice instantly rose sharply: "Xu Miyu, have you lost your mind? How dare you speak to me like that? Haven’t I lent you prestige too? Didn’t I find you this job you have now? Mom and our brother were right—you really are an ungrateful wretch!…"
Xu Miyu moved the phone away from her ear and set it aside, going about her business as usual and letting Xu Mizi rant her fill of twisted logic. She simply couldn’t be bothered to engage.
She thought with full sarcasm, how dreadful—the Xu family already had a second Jiao Xiumei.
The next day at work, Xu Miyu felt listless and unable to muster any energy.
With the path through Xu Mizi now blocked, she couldn’t think of any other solutions for the time being.
She had considered what would happen if she reported Zhang Cailu for stealing and replacing the supplies."'It's useless,' Yin Xiang gave Xu Miyu the answer. 'It's not that no one has suspected Zhang Cailu of switching shampoo or something. But she's slick—when she makes extra money, she never forgets to properly take care of the bosses too, so they all side with her. Unless you can directly reach our hotel's top management, but that's impossible for us room attendants. Why would upper management meet with us or listen to our complaints? They'd just pass the issue back to the department head, and then it would still be Zhang Cailu's protectors who have the final say.'"
Xu Miyu thought with surprise that the problem she had discovered was actually no fresh secret. So Zhang Cailu had been doing this with a sense of impunity. She began to realize that the workplace and life in reality were far more dramatic and convoluted than any TV series she had watched.
Even the path of reporting was blocked. Xu Miyu felt as if she had run out of options.
It seemed that in the near future, she would inevitably accumulate three unsatisfactory evaluations from Zhang Cailu and be forced to leave the hotel.
In the afternoon, Xu Miyu continued to feel listless and unmotivated.
Fortunately, there were fewer rooms to handle that afternoon. After finishing all her assigned rooms, she returned to the housekeeping department to rest.
A few other colleagues who had also completed their rooms were there, chatting idly.
Xu Miyu listened half-heartedly.
Suddenly, one colleague remarked, 'Why hasn't the top floor been borrowing staff from downstairs lately?'
Another colleague replied, 'I heard the suite butler on the top floor was once set up by an attendant from a lower floor, which made a VIP guest very unhappy. The suite butler felt deeply embarrassed and has refused to borrow staff from downstairs ever since.'
The first colleague added, 'Did someone go up there trying to seduce a VIP big shot again? Just like that person who resigned from our department before.'
The other responded, 'Who knows? Probably. But I heard that the VIPs staying on the top floor are all esteemed guests of our hotel owner, Wei Siyuan. Every single one of them has his ear, and if any of them are dissatisfied with anyone in the hotel, they can have that person fired unconditionally. So, if the suite butler up there offends a VIP, it's really no small matter.'
...
The two continued chatting.
One sentence they had said echoed repeatedly in Xu Miyu's mind: If a top-floor VIP is dissatisfied with anyone in the hotel, they can have the owner fire that person unconditionally.
Xu Miyu sprang up from her chair and strode out.
She knew what she had to do next!
Xu Miyu had a plan in mind. She wanted to fight for herself one more time.
She first went to find Yin Xiang and told her that she had something to attend to and needed to step out. There shouldn't be much work left, but if anything came up, she asked Yin Xiang to cover for her.
Then she changed her clothes, went to the restroom to carefully wash her face, re-did her hair into a neat bun, and deliberately left a few stray strands framing her forehead and temples. She knew this styling made her look much more attractive.
After a moment's thought, she took the elevator downstairs, exited through the staff passage, crossed the street, and entered the cosmetics counter on the ground floor of the building opposite the hotel.Standing there, she felt a pang of guilt but quickly applied a light yet elegant full face of makeup using the testers. It was rare for her to take such proactive initiative, and she felt it deserved a full makeup look—both as a sign of respect for the other party and to boost her own confidence.
Once finished, she gazed at her reflection in the mirror. She was still too thin, but her complexion had improved significantly compared to before. She looked much more vibrant and bright, no longer as haggard and aged. The years that had once made her appear well into her thirties seemed to have receded, making her look several years younger.
Before leaving, she silently vowed to herself that once she had more financial flexibility, she would return and buy plenty of cosmetics. She wouldn’t take advantage of today’s free samples without making it right someday.
She walked back to the opposite Swiss Hotel, circled around to the elevator area in the lobby, and found an inconspicuous corner. There, she stood firm, prepared for a long wait.
Finally, she experienced the truth of the saying "perseverance pays off." After what felt like an eternity, her feet growing numb from standing in the corner, she finally spotted the assistant to the top-floor CEO, Ji Feng. If she remembered correctly, his name was Xue Rui.
Xue Rui was walking in from outside, heading toward the elevator area.
Just as he pressed his finger to open the VIP elevator door, Xu Miyu made her timely entrance.
She stopped Xue Rui, ignoring the look of surprise on his face, and got straight to the point: "Mr. Xue, please stop and listen to me. I have an extremely urgent matter to tell your boss!" She noticed him furrowing his brow slightly, as if assessing whether her words carried enough weight.
She quickly added, "It’s something that concerns your boss’s interests, truly!"
And after she finished explaining everything, Ji Feng indeed sprang up from the sofa.
He took a step forward, lowered his head, and looked down at Xu Miyu from his height.
He scrutinized her carefully made-up face, narrowing his eyes slightly. Then, in a flat, unreadable tone, he asked, "You wouldn’t come to me with this out of nowhere. So tell me, what do you want from me in return for this information?"
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