Here is my attempt at translating the selected passage:
Xiao Mi Yu was stunned for a moment, unable to comprehend Yin Xiang’s meaning.
As insignificant as a blade of grass, she could actually be a thorn in someone’s eye?
What a compliment.
“Before coming here, I didn’t know anyone, and didn’t have any enemies. I don’t really understand, who is targeting me, wanting to drive me out of the hotel?” Xiao Mi Yu voiced her confusion.
Yin Xiang bit her lip again and steeled herself to reveal the answer: “The supervisor.”
Xiao Mi Yu was no longer dazed. This time she was utterly astonished.
If there really was someone targeting her, Zhang Cai Lu would be the last person she could imagine.
From the day she started working at the hotel, Zhang Cai Lu had shown her nothing but care and consideration.
“From the day you came to the hotel, the supervisor has actually been thinking of ways to drive you out!”
Listening to Yin Xiang’s words, Xiao Mi Yu only felt a sense of ironic surrealness.
If Yin Xiang hadn’t told her, she wouldn’t have felt anything was amiss.
But hearing Yin Xiang’s words was like a secret being pried open a crack, layers upon layers of backstory started to stack up in Xiao Mi Yu’s mind, gradually gathering into an obvious truth.
Come to think of it, it did seem rather suspicious, for her to encounter all kinds of difficult customers and misfortunes one after another these past few days. Looking at each incident alone, they seemed coincidental, but tracing them back, the fact that she was being deliberately targeted, even framed, had become glaringly clear.
“Why?” She wanted to know the reason she was significant enough to become someone’s hated target.
“I pieced it together bit by bit through probing questions. The server who left with the big boss, the supervisor originally planned to get her relative hired. She even took money privately. But in the end, when that position opened up, it got taken by you instead, you made the supervisor lose face and money. With you before her eyes everyday, how could she tolerate you?”
Xiao Mi Yu digested these words.
The secret had been pried open a crack, and Yin Xiang simply widened the gap, laying everything out to tell Xiao Mi Yu the whole truth.
“Sister Mi Yu, remember the first bad review you got for dissatisfied service?”
Xiao Mi Yu nodded: “The supervisor said, he was a regular guest. The hotel couldn’t offend a regular over a bathrobe.” So she unjustly allowed the clumsy guest to give the employee a bad service review.
“But that was just my bad luck, happening to get assigned that room. If it had been someone else, it would have been their bad luck.” Saying this, Xiao Mi Yu noticed Yin Xiang’s expression showing complete disbelief.
She couldn’t help asking doubtfully: “Was that incident related to the supervisor too?”
Yin Xiang laughed briefly, her smile hinting at mockery: “It absolutely wasn’t a coincidence. Do you still remember what happened before and after that day?”
Xiao Mi Yu said she remembered. That day, Zhang Cai Lu had personally come to the housekeeping office and told them there was a room left off the work order, the guest was checking out and someone had to go clean it right away.
“Do you remember what Ke Wen Xue said at the time?”
Xiao Mi Yu carefully recalled. Ke Wen Xue seemed to have said: Supervisor, you could have said that over the intercom, did you have to come all this way yourself, isn’t that tiring?
At the time, afraid Zhang Cai Lu would feel awkward from the questioning, she had helped smooth it over by saying: The supervisor has no airs, willing to become one of us.
So…
“So Sister Mi Yu, this absolutely wasn’t a fluke. Wen Xue inadvertently exposed it with her words, because on the room assignment list, Zhang Cai Lu deliberately left off that room. Then she tipped me off privately beforehand. After that she personally came to the housekeeping office, for me to play along, subtly manipulating you into taking that room. I know you like chocolate candy, that day I even specifically gave you a piece. That was actually a sugar-coated cannonball I had prepared, and sure enough, after you accepted it, you readily agreed to go in our place.”
Xiao Mi Yu’s eyes widened.
In that series of seemingly perfectly natural conversation between several people that day, there had actually been layers upon layers of scheming and cunning.
She was surprised that she had not seen any of this while in the midst of it.
After a pause, she asked: “Then why didn’t Zhang Cai Lu assign that room to me from the start in my work orders?”
Yin Xiang told her: “Because she needed to frame you for three bad reviews. But if all three customers who could give bad reviews were directly assigned to you through the work orders, targeting you would have been too obvious. By occasionally ‘forgetting’ and then indirectly assigning the room to you through coordination with me, she could imperceptibly lead you to the chopping block.”
Xiao Mi Yu became more shocked at heart the more she listened.
This was just the housekeeping department of a five-star hotel. They were merely the most insignificant frontline service staff out of the hotel’s glamorous facade. Yet conspiracies and schemes could actually breed here too.
Yin Xiang went on: “There’s more, that female guest who falsely accused you of stealing the ring, she wasn’t a random encounter either, that woman was actually found by Zhang Cai Lu to set you up. The whole thing was a trap laid by Zhang Cai Lu for you.”
Yin Xiang’s words gave Xiao Mi Yu shock after shock. After getting over the shock, she also felt everything seemed to make sense now.
“That female guest, I heard Zhang Cai Lu mention before, she was a friend she got to know clubbing, didn’t finish high school, not well educated. Their original plan together was to get the hotel to fire you, but that woman got greedy seeing you were a pushover, thought she could really get a free 50,000 yuan diamond ring. She didn’t follow the script previously agreed with Zhang Cai Lu, resulting in you turning the tables on her, messing up their plan.”
Afterwards, Zhang Cai Lu severed ties with her in anger.
Xiao Mi Yu couldn’t imagine that Zhang Cai Lu, who had only shown her goodwill, actually harbored so much malice towards her. And she didn’t even know her beforehand, her original sin was merely coming here to work as a server.
“But for the false accusation of stealing the ring, it was Zhang Cai Lu who applied for the chance for me to prove my innocence. Without that opportunity, I wouldn’t have been able to turn the tables…” She thought, could one person really be so evil towards another, without a shred of goodwill or hesitation? What was the purpose behind Zhang Cai Lu’s actions then?
“Very simple, we all know you were arranged in by the deputy manager. Zhang Cai Lu was afraid that directly convicting you would offend the deputy manager. So she pretended to give you a chance to prove yourself, determined that you wouldn’t be able to. Dirty water fabricated out of nothing is impossible to clarify. The hotel also follows the principle of siding with customers, and is wary of negative publicity. You’re usually so timid, so she thought you absolutely wouldn’t be able to make waves. This way, in the end, she gave you a chance, but you couldn’t prove your own innocence yourself, so getting fired afterwards would mean she handled it benevolently. The deputy manager would know and wouldn’t feel she intentionally undermined him.”
Saying this, Yin Xiang looked at Xiao Mi Yu, arching her brows, seeming rather gleeful as she said, “Who knew you would not only prove your innocence, but slap the face of the woman she brought too. That day she was actually scared witless. If you had insisted on reporting to the police, the secret that she set you up would have been known by the entire hotel.”
Xiao Mi Yu heaved a long sigh.
Fine, it turned out one person really could be so evil towards another, without a shred of goodwill or hesitation. She had thought there was, but peeling away the surface revealed only deeper evil underneath.
Xiao Mi Yu thought for a bit, then asked Yin Xiang: “So that difficult Mr. Cui, was also…?”
Yin Xiang nodded guiltily: “Yes, it was Zhang Cai Lu who asked me to find a way to delay things until you came, then switch you into cleaning that room. She was hoping you could get a bad review from the difficult Mr. Cui, but unexpectedly you got praised instead. Mr. Cui’s family is very wealthy, he also knows the hotel’s upper management, so his word carries weight. That’s why a server he singled out for praise could get a bonus reward. But unexpectedly there was the further hiccup with his missing watch.”
Speaking of this, Yin Xiang’s face flushed red with shame: “Sister Mi Yu, I wrongfully claimed your credit and took the reward, but you stepped up to shoulder the blame for me. Although I’m usually a bit selfish, I’m not completely unscrupulous. I truly feel awful about it, I’m sorry!”
Xiao Mi Yu shook her head: “I don’t care about those things, don’t be like this.” After a pause, she asked, “But why were you willing to tell me everything about Zhang Cai Lu?”
Yin Xiang’s brows knitted together, her expression darkening for a moment: “Because I started having doubts about what she was doing, and also doubted myself. She was clearly doing bad things to you, but pretended externally to still treat you well and show concern for you. Often, after she did something bad, she could still make you feel grateful to her, and she was very smug about it. Me? In this process, I’m just a tool for her to establish a good image. Sometimes I even became the bad guy. But when you get down to it, what grudge or enmity could I, Yin Xiang, possibly have against you, Xiao Mi Yu? I’m nothing more than selfishly currying favor with the supervisor. But in the end, the price of bootlicking her was that I became a clown, to highlight what a good person Zhang Cai Lu is. After a few instances, I became more and more afraid of Zhang Cai Lu’s means and methods. I also increasingly doubted myself, just what was I doing?”
Aside from Yin Xiang’s own reasons, Xiao Mi Yu also thought of another possibility – inspired by the TV dramas she had watched before. From start to finish, Yin Xiang knew everything Zhang Cai Lu had done, the means used, in order to squeeze out a subordinate. Even if she was adept at flattering superiors, after Zhang Cai Lu got promoted to supervisor, she still might not promote Yin Xiang to be her supervisor. She might even find ways to drive Yin Xiang away too – who would be willing to keep someone who knew all their dirty secrets around, and keep promoting them? In that case, the former dirty secrets would become blackmail material in the hands of someone who knew them.
Unknowingly, they had chatted for a long time. The intercom rang with a front desk server calling for the admin floor to hurry up and finish cleaning some rooms, guests were waiting to check-in.
Zhang Cai Lu promptly responded received, then called the floor’s attendants, including Yin Xiang and Xiao Mi Yu, telling those summoned to cancel their lunch break and quickly go clean rooms.
Yin Xiang and Xiao Mi Yu responded in succession.
Then Yin Xiang said to Xiao Mi Yu: “Sister Mi Yu, let’s go in separately.”
Xiao Mi Yu agreed, telling Yin Xiang to return first while she would follow two minutes later.
As she was leaving, Yin Xiang seemed to hesitate over unspoken words.
Xiao Mi Yu understood tacitly, immediately saying: “Don’t worry, what you told me today, I won’t let anyone else know, especially not the supervisor.”
Yin Xiang was visibly relieved. She gave an awkward laugh explaining: “After all she’s still the superior, we still have to work under her. Although I can no longer tolerate her methods, I also don’t want to offend her.”
Xiao Mi Yu expressed understanding.
Yin Xiang also said: “Sister Mi Yu, Zhang Cai Lu won’t stop. You already have two bad reviews, she’ll find a way to make you get one more so she can drive you out. So…be very careful until the end of your probation.”
Xiao Mi Yu nodded, saying okay I will. Then she sincerely told Yin Xiang: “Thank you, Xiao Xiang.”
Yin Xiang went upstairs first. Around two minutes later, Xiao Mi Yu also returned to the hotel and took the staff elevator upstairs.
Having suddenly received too much information at once, she still felt a little overwhelmed for the moment.
Standing in the staff elevator, she couldn’t help spacing out a bit, unsure what state of mind to face Zhang Cai Lu with next.
But she had to face Zhang Cai Lu, the more bewildered she was. As Xiao Mi Yu pushed her cart down the hallway, she happened to encounter Zhang Cai Lu walking towards her.
Zhang Cai Lu smiled at her radiantly, asking concernedly: “Sister Xiao, did you eat lunch properly? If you didn’t eat well go grab a bite first. I’ll take over your rooms in the meantime!”
Xiao Mi Yu thought, without knowing everything revealed at lunch today, who would associate the kindly warm person before her now with “malice”? Who would think this person seemingly so caring towards her, actually hated for her to disappear in her heart?
This concern placed before this afternoon would have made her feel extremely warmed and grateful. But now it had become ugly and twisted, making Xiao Mi Yu unable to face it directly.
Xiao Mi Yu was almost panicking a little, somewhat at a loss about how to evade Zhang Cai Lu’s gaze. But she commanded herself, don’t hide, don’t reveal anything, don’t act differently from usual. Then she thanked Zhang Cai Lu, and said she had eaten, no problem starting work.
After speaking, her actions were still the same as before, steadily pushing the cart forward. But her heart felt like it was escaping in a fluster.
Cleaning the vacated dirty rooms, she scrubbed with particular force.
She seemed to never have exerted herself this much before. Scrubbing the bathtub in the bathroom, the brush was practically scrubbed bald by her, the tub seemed to be scrubbed thinner.
Although tiring to scrub this hard, she still didn’t let up. It was as if scrubbing hard like this could also scrub smooth her somewhat jumbled thoughts.
She contemplated what to do next. How should she face Zhang Cai Lu?
She was very clear that she didn’t want a hostile relationship with anyone. She also didn’t have any lofty ambitions or drives to overthrow the supervisor. She felt she couldn’t do those things anyway.
She just wanted to live a quiet, ordinary life, unnoticed by others.
Now the supervisor merely wanted to catch her making a mistake, so she could get one more bad service review and have her leave.
Then she just needed to be more careful, do her job properly, leave no openings for criticism, give no opportunity to catch her making mistakes – that should be enough, right?
The tub was scrubbed clean. She turned on the tap to rinse it.
Wherever the water flowed, the tub became as pristine as white jade.
Xiao Mi Yu’s jumbled thoughts also seemed to clear up along with it.
It seemed she had sorted out her thinking. Seeing Zhang Cai Lu’s caring smiles again, she thought she should be able to face it calmly now, as if she had never learned the truth. No longer as flustered as before.
Around four in the afternoon, everyone had gradually finished their rooms and returned to the housekeeping office for a water break.
Only Xiao Mi Yu still wasn’t done. She had used twice her usual exertion, working extra meticulously, so her progress was a bit slower than usual.
While Ke Wen Xue was gossiping with Yin Xiang, a room service attendant named Li Kun Lan from the F&B department came over. He had just finished delivering meals on this floor and had free time for a brief rest. So he sauntered over to the housekeeping office to chat with Ke Wen Xue.
When he came in, he glanced left and right. Seeing no supervisors present, his face immediately lit up with excitement over big gossip.
Seeing his expression, Ke Wen Xue knew his juicy gossip couldn’t wait until after work to tell her.
They started chatting about Xiao Mi Yu.
Li Kun Lan sighed with emotion.
“It’s unbelievable. This lady was originally a guest staying on this floor. I delivered meals to her before. Who could have thought, just a few days later, the winds of fortune turned, and she’s become a server working here now. When she stayed here before, she was also quite a beauty. It’s a pity, after just a short time she looks ten years older.”
He slammed his thigh, saying to Ke Wen Xue: “Did I forget to tell you a piece of gossip?”
Before Ke Wen Xue could speak, Yin Xiang kicked her under the table, signaling her to shut up and look towards the door.
It was Zhang Cai Lu walking in.
She could see that everyone stopped casually chatting as soon as she entered. So she quickly said: “It’s fine, carry on with your chat, I was just bored sitting in the office so I came to liven things up.” She told Li Kun Lan: “Don’t think about running every time you see me, I don’t bite. Weren’t you guys gossiping before I came in? Continue, I want to listen in too.”
Seeing that Zhang Cai Lu did not seem to have come to catch idle chatting staff, Li Kun Lan relaxed and grew bolder. His gossiping manner continued.
“Didn’t I forget to tell you all about this Sister Xu’s husband cheating?” As soon as he said this, everyone in the room perked up. Even Luo Qing Ping, who had been sitting to the side looking too lazy to engage in the lively chatter, turned her face over.
Ke Wen Xue hurriedly urged Li Kun Lan to continue and not leave them hanging. “With such big gossip you actually forgot to tell me, be careful or I’ll have you kicked from the organization with Lu Xiao Yan!”
Li Kun Lan quickly recounted what he had witnessed before. “This is from my own eyes during food delivery, no exaggeration. This lady’s husband is outrageous. Right after spending the night with his own wife in an executive suite, he turned around and cheated with another woman on a different floor. And he deliberately chose a meaningful room number for his affair – 1314! I ask you, isn’t that trying to be together forever? Tsk tsk, cheats on the very same day his wife is no longer staying at the hotel, but his mother-in-law is still here. Can you imagine how shameless he is?!”
Ke Wen Xue gasped, extremely shocked.
Yin Xiang also gasped, but felt even more sympathy and remorse towards Xiao Mi Yu in her heart. So she has it hard.
Luo Qing Ping acted as if the gossip was unrelated to her, but still pricked up her ears and listened intently to every word.
Zhang Cai Lu sighed sympathetically.
Ke Wen Xue asked: “Since they used to be guests on this floor, how did Sister Xu end up having to work here?”
Li Kun Lan guessed: “Could it be her husband divorced her, leaving her no choice but to come out and work to earn money?”
Ke Wen Xue shook her head: “Doesn’t seem so. Remember our previous chat? Sister Xu once took a call in the changing room, it was her husband calling to ask her for spending money.”
Yin Xiang nodded beside her. She and Ke Wen Xue heard that call together with their own ears.
Li Kun Lan pieced things together to analyze: “Then could it be like this: Sister Xu’s family was originally quite wealthy, but her husband fooled around outside, squandering all the money. So Sister Xu had no choice but to come out and earn money? And then her husband keeps spending money on his mistress outside, forcing Sister Xu to keep giving him money to splurge?”
Hearing this, Ke Wen Xue slapped the table, indignant: “What trash! Scum! This man is the worst! Not only mooching off his wife, but cheating while mooching off her. F*cking scummy!”
Yin Xiang asked Li Kun Lan: “How do you know her husband keeps spending money on the mistress?”
Li Kun Lan’s eyes lit up. Clapping twice, his spirit became even more exuberant. “And so, what comes next is the main gossip today. Everything earlier was just background! Now I’ll reveal the explosive gossip!” After hyping everyone’s anticipation, he started unveiling the juicy content.
“Didn’t I say when I came in, I just finished delivering meals to a guest on this floor? Guess which room I delivered to? You’d never guess, it’s Sister Xu’s husband! He brought his mistress to get a room again!”
Everyone was shocked speechless hearing this.
Ke Wen Xue started cursing first: “He really is a total scumbag cheater! Bringing his mistress to where his wife works to get a room? 1314 wasn’t enough, he has to come here to further disgust her. Why doesn’t heaven castrate the two of them!”
Li Kun Lan said: “I chatted with Lu Xiao Yan before coming up here. It was Lu Xiao Yan who received them at the front desk. She said that woman even requested room 1314, but Sister Xu’s husband adamantly refused, only then did they get a room on the admin floor.”
Ke Wen Xue was so angry she almost smashed a cup.
“He has to come show off in front of the wife to torment her? What a bastard!”
Yin Xiang couldn’t help asking: “Sister Xu is so pitiful, why doesn’t she divorce this trash man?”
Ke Wen Xue coldly laughed beside her: “Why divorce? Make room for the mistress?”
Yin Xiang thought about it: “You’re right.”
Zhang Cai Lu remained silently thoughtful.
Luo Qing Ping clapped back at Yin Xiang and Ke Wen Xue: “What’s pitiful about her? Aren’t all trash men spoiled by women? And I don’t see you two showing her any pity either, never went soft on her when bossing her around.”
Luo Qing Ping’s words were like a bucket of cold water, instantly dampening the heated gossiping atmosphere. Li Kun Lan returned to the F&B department. Ke Wen Xue and Yin Xiang gave Luo Qing Ping the stink eye, then went off hand-in-hand to the bathroom, as if this could isolate Luo Qing Ping and vent their own anger.
Luo Qing Ping carried on nonchalantly with her own business.
Zhang Cai Lu got up and left, not letting anyone see her inner thoughts.
Zhang Cai Lu returned to the office and immediately called the guest services center to ask which room on the admin floor had ordered meal delivery just now.
As the supervisor for the admin floor it was nothing suspicious for her to inquire about such things. The service center swiftly told her the room number.
After hanging up with the service center, Zhang Cai Lu promptly dialed the room number.
After two rings, the call was picked up by a woman.
Zhang Cai Lu immediately injected her voice with smiles and caring tones, asking: “Do you need any housekeeping services?”
The woman’s voice lazily told her no need, she wanted to rest.
Right before the call was about to be hung up, Zhang Cai Lu persevered: “Ma’am, I just heard from the service center your room ordered food. Since you’ve finished your meal, shall I send someone to clean up a bit?”
The woman hesitated, then said “Fine.”
Zhang Cai Lu hung up and promptly walked out of the office. Following the order of dirty rooms assigned to Xiao Mi Yu, she checked each one until finally finding Xiao Mi Yu in the last room.
Xiao Mi Yu was stripping the dirty sheets and quilt cover off the large bed of the final dirty room. As she carried the dirty linen to her cart, she saw Zhang Cai Lu.
She paused, calling “Supervisor.”
Zhang Cai Lu asked considerately: “Sister Xiao, this is your last room?”
Xiao Mi Yu nodded “Yes.”
“About how long till you’ll be done cleaning?” Zhang Cai Lu asked.
“Just changing the sheets and quilt cover left.”
Zhang Cai Lu said: “Alright, Sister Xiao, after finishing this room go tidy up another executive suite. It’s occupied, guest checked in at noon, called for food earlier, needs some tidying up.” She explained further: “Everyone else is busy, I’ll have to trouble you, Sister Xiao!”
Xiao Mi Yu promptly responded okay, and noted down the room number.
After thoroughly cleaning up this room and locking the door, Xiao Mi Yu pushed her cart towards the executive suite newly assigned by Zhang Cai Lu.
She walked slowly, to give herself ample time to think.
She thought since Zhang Cai Lu personally came to assign her a room again, it was surely another very tricky task. Gripping the cart handle, she psyched herself up: No matter how difficult and unreasonable the guest in that room is later, she had to stay calm, absolutely no arguing or disobedience, just keep her head down working.
As long as she did this, even if this was a trap arranged by Zhang Cai Lu, she would carefully avoid falling into it.
Arriving at that suite, she first parked her cart, then stood in front of the door.
It’ll definitely be fine, she could certainly get through this safely.
Xiao Mi Yu hyped herself up this way mentally.
Then she took a breath, raised her hand, and lightly knocked on the door three times, saying “Housekeeping.”
Before she could repeat it a second time, the door was opened from inside.
When Xiao Mi Yu looked up, she froze in astonishment.
The one who opened the door turned out to be Nie Yu Cheng. And the person standing behind him was Lu Zhen Zhen.
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