Having determination does not necessarily mean work will become smoother.
Luo Qingping became the biggest obstacle for Xu Miyu.
Xu Miyu felt that using modern young people’s trendy words, Luo Qingping was like the head of her “antifandom”.
Sometimes for people you dislike but have no direct conflict with, although you hate them and look down on them, over time, those feelings will fade away gradually.
But if during this process, there is someone constantly emphasizing those feelings of dislike and contempt on the sidelines, not only will those feelings not fade away, they will become more enduring and intense. Eventually no one needs to remember the initial reason for disliking her anymore, they just need to remember to dislike her.
Now Luo Qingping is that person who keeps emphasizing on the sidelines. Filled with anger and resentment, she leads everyone against Xu Miyu, constantly provoking opposition emotions amongst them, teaching them how to disobey Xu Miyu’s work arrangements.
She even guarantees: “Don’t be afraid. Even if she has connections above, they may not bother managing her too much. Otherwise she would have gotten an office job long ago. Why make her work so bitterly as a service crew?”
She also goads everyone: “Trust me. As long as we all disobey her, she can’t handle the workload at the administrative level. She will voluntarily resign sooner or later! Don’t forget she just passed her probation period before riding on our heads. On what basis!”
Of course the others didn’t necessarily want Luo Qingping to be their supervisor either. But Luo Qingping had a point that Xu Miyu had just arrived and hadn’t familiarized with everyone in each department yet. What right did she have to lead them?
Therefore regarding Xu Miyu’s work arrangements, they heeded Luo Qingping’s commands and provocations, openly defying Xu Miyu’s leadership.
Xu Miyu has changed into a supervisor uniform now. It was a black suit, with a white shirt inside and long trousers below creating a slim silhouette that elongated her legs. After changing into this new uniform, her waist and legs looked very attractive and she carried an air about her.
She no longer dragged through each day like a zombie. She started taking better care of her complexion and skin.
Dressed neatly in her uniform with a glowing complexion, she looked completely different from before.
Although she had an overall grasp of a supervisor’s responsibilities, she still lacked comprehensive hands-on practice and ability to respond swiftly to unexpected occurrences.
But she believed she could slowly make up for those deficiencies over time.
In the mornings, Xu Miyu would assign duties like previous supervisors after filling out the room allocation tables, distributing the work orders to each person.
Although they were not satisfied with her leadership, when they received their work orders, they would still carry out their duties accordingly.
However Xu Miyu was still quite inexperienced. Inevitably she would make minor oversights when assigning rooms.
That morning two room attendants contacted her through the walkie talkie at the same time.
“Supervisor Xu, how come this suite room at the end of the hallway is listed on both my and Xiaodu’s work order? Whose workload does it belong to?”
Xu Miyu held the walkie talkie and replied: “Xiaogeng, I’m sorry but could you please clean that room then?”
Xiaogeng’s voice abruptly went up an octave. “On what basis! I already have more rooms than Xiaodu to begin with!”
Xu Miyu could then only say: “Then Xiaodu will take care of that room.”
Xiaodu’s voice also rose challengingly as if they were competing to hit the highest notes—whoever sounded lower was the loser. “Why should I take on extra work! My total number of rooms is less than hers but my number of dirty rooms is more! What basis is there for me to clean that room! And this was your allocation mistake to begin with. The one accountable should resolve it themselves! I won’t clean that room no matter what!”
Xiaodu rejected flatly while Xiaogeng refused to compromise one bit.
Left with no choice, Xu Miyu could only let them carry on with their original assigned rooms while she went to clean that repeated dirty room herself.
As she cleaned the room, a few attendants came up with flimsy excuses to see her under the pretense of having matters to discuss. Xu Miyu knew they came to watch her misfortune at having to manually clean the room despite her position.
After taking off her uniform jacket, rolling up her sleeves, and squatting to scrub the bathtub, Luo Qingping walked in holding a cup of water.
She took a sip and exclaimed loudly in exaggeration: “Oh my, Supervisor Xu is getting her hands dirty herself as well?”
Xu Miyu remained silent, scrubbing hard at the tub. The grime erased under intense friction, dissolving into the detergent. This cleansing effect from doing housework gave Xu Miyu some comfort. As long as she calmly cleaned, all filth could be washed away.
Disappointed by the lack of response, Luo Qingping’s mood dampened significantly. Still holding her cup, she left.
Some other attendants greeted Luo Qingping as she passed by the doorway.
“Qingping, you look free. Finished with your rooms?”
Luo Qingping replied. “Yup, all done.”
The girl praised her. “That was quick. Impressive.”
Luo Qingping boasted in return. “I’m efficient. What to do.”
They walked away together, away from this room.
After Xu Miyu finished scrubbing the tub, she started cleaning the floors.
Just then her walkie talkie sounded again. It was the front desk asking: “What’s going on at the admin floor? I just checked a guest in but he came to complain his room was dirty with unmade beds, trash not emptied etc when it was clearly marked as Clean in the system. How could such a mistake happen? I’ve calmed the guest down for now with a coffee at the lounge but please send someone to tidy up the room immediately Supervisor!”
Xu Miyu’s heart sank. No matter who had changed the room status, she would bear ultimate accountability for the oversight.
She asked the front desk attendant: “Is it possible to switch that guest to another available clean room?”
The reply was: “I’m afraid not. This guest always requests that specific room whenever he stays.”
Left with no choice, Xu Miyu arranged for someone to go clean up that room.
She quickly contacted Luo Qingping over the walkie talkie: “Luo Qingping, Luo Qingping! If you’re done with your rooms could you go tidy this room now please?” She relayed the room number after.
But despite calling out repeatedly, there was no response at all.
Xu Miyu could then only summon others but everyone cited unfinished duties that they were occupied with.
In the end, Xu Miyu had to go clean up that room herself again. Being the only one managing everything without assistance from the team, she ended up even more exhausted compared to previously by the end of a working day.
The next morning, supervisor Yang Ling spoke to Xu Miyu.
Her lecture carried the same condescending tone as before: “Xu Miyu, what is going on recently? I’ve received a lot of feedback about declining housekeeping standards and management at our admin floor. Are you facing difficulties at work?”
On one hand, Xu Miyu felt ashamed being questioned about underperforming at work. One the other, she hesitated on whether to tell Yang Ling the truth that her subordinates were not very cooperative.
Just then, she heard Yang Ling continue asking: “Are they being slack and disobedient?” Her tone and expression turned solemn all of a sudden. “Xu Miyu, give me an honest answer. Do you have control over them? Are you capable of managing this floor properly? You need to think clearly! This is the admin level. The clientele here is different from the standard rooms downstairs. Any compromise in service due to your inability to manage the attendants well would negatively impact customer experience during their stay! Do you understand how crucial this is?”
Xu Miyu instantly swallowed her intention to expose her team’s dissent.
It turned out that showing weakness was futile in the workplace. Revealing her own vulnerabilities would hand others tools to eliminate her quicker.
She hastily assured Yang Ling: “Please don’t worry Supervisor Yang. Just give me a little more time. I will definitely manage everyone here properly.”
Xu Miyu silently added to herself that she meant every word. She just needed some time to endure patiently. When she emerged from that period, everything would become different.
The next morning, two guests checked into the admin level, each booking a room.
But they appeared to be in a rush and left after staying barely half an hour.
Xu Miyu assigned the two rooms to attendant Li Wan and asked her to tidy them up.
Yet barely two minutes later, Xu Miyu noticed the room status had already changed from “Dirty” to “Clean”.
Xu Miyu immediately looked for Li Wan and asked if she had cleaned those two rooms.
Li Wan replied: “Yup I did them.”
But when Xu Miyu inspected, she discovered Li Wan’s idea of “doing them” merely consisted of smoothening out creases left on the bedspreads by the guests and remaking the turned down bedding.
Xu Miyu called Li Wan over and asked: “Xiaoli, you didn’t change the linen and beddings right? The toilet and tub weren’t wiped down either correct? You just remade the beds? Xiaoli, this fails to meet the hotel’s housekeeping hygiene standards. Even if guests only stayed 30 minutes, the rooms should still be thoroughly redone—things that should be changed and wiped should all be done again.”
Li Wan suddenly laughed. “Supervisor Xu, let me give it to you straight since you’re still quite new. You can’t expect the meticulous standards on paper to be realistic. No one actually replaces everything including linen and does a full scrub down just because a guest only stayed 30 minutes! That would be silly!”
She paused before adding: “Trust me on this. This has been common practice at our hotel. No overnight stay means no change of linen.”
Xu Miyu smiled gently but stood her ground. “Let’s not do this from now on.” She was never skilled at rebutting or refusing others but told herself she had to learn that now. Still feeling somewhat awkward, she chose to share half of Li Wan’s workload after speaking firmly.
“How about this—you do one room and I’ll help you with the other. Let’s thoroughly redo both rooms together.”
Li Wan reluctantly agreed.
After changing into just her shirt sleeves, Xu Miyu started working diligently right away upon entering one room.
By the time she finished wiping down every nook and cranny of the room and bathroom before locking up, Li Wan was still seated on the bare mattress watching the in-room TV in the other room with only the soiled linen stripped. Not even new beddings were laid.
Slightly annoyed, Xu Miyu held it in and asked gently why the bed was still not made.
Li Wan languidly explained while raising a hand: “When I removed the sheets just now I sprained my hand. It hurts a lot so I figured I’ll remake the bed after it feels better! I’m watching TV to distract myself from the pain!”
Xu Miyu nodded without a word and started remaking the bed herself—smoothing out creases, shaking out and tucking in the sheets neatly.
Seeing her skilled and fluid motions, Li Wan praised how beautifully Xu Miyu prepared the beds.
In better spirits hearing that, Xu Miyu smiled happily back at her.
Li Wan seemed to realize something. She kept showering Xu Miyu with more compliments on her capability and technique all the way until Xu Miyu was all smiles. Without asking if Li Wan’s hand still hurt and whether she could continue working, Li Wan ended up even helping to clean the bathroom entirely.
In fact when Li Wan exited the bathroom and locked up while still heaping praises on Xu Miyu, it was as if Xu Miyu didn’t even realize the work originally assigned to Li Wan had been fully completed by herself instead.
And all that transpired amidst Li Wan’s relentless acclamations.
That night Xu Miyu worked the night shift at the hotel.
After 9pm, the weather suddenly changed. Torrential rain started pouring heavily.
Listening to the rain in the office, Xu Miyu thought such weather was perfect to snuggle under the covers and sleep.
But unfortunately she would not have that luxury tonight.
Near midnight around 12am, Zhao Kele, an attendant from the earlier shift came by the office holding a men’s suit jacket that looked rather tattered. It was drenched through by the rain. There was even a tear along the cuffs that had unraveled, as if scraped against something while running through the storm outside.
“Supervisor Xu, a guest that just checked-in was soaked by the rain earlier. He took off this suit jacket and passed it to me, refusing to budge no matter what until I help him dry clean it and iron it. He even wants me to sew up the torn part and make it look decent again. And his leather shoes are full of mud too. He is demanding I wipe them spotless before polishing them as well! Says he needs them first thing next morning and threw both clothes and shoes at me before going back to catch some TV! It’s the middle of the night—where can I find help to iron his suit, mend it, and polish shoes at this hour!” Zhao Kele grumbled unhappily.
Xu Miyu knew that even if guests wanted pressing services, realistically they would have to wait until next morning. Swis Hotel indeed did not offer late night express laundering or pressing.
She quickly dialed the guest’s room, explaining they do not provide late night laundry and pressing or shoe shining services, asking if he could wait until morning when everyone’s working again.
But the guest told Xu Miyu: “The thing is, I have an important business meeting first thing tomorrow morning. This suit and shoes are like my lucky gear. I can only seal the deal wearing them. As you can see I’m desperately asking this favor—please try helping me somehow if you can? Regarding the tear on the sleeve, please try mending it in a way that it won’t be too obvious. I’m begging you! Aren’t five star hotels all about satisfying anxious customers? My business opportunity tomorrow hinges on you people! I’ll wait for you to send the clothes and shoes to my room after you’re done. I won’t rest until receiving them!”
Then he hung up, leaving Xu Miyu sighing helplessly.
She was frustrated by the service industry’s inability to decline guests.
She told Zhao Kele they had no choice but make an exception to help this guest.
Zhao Kele immediately complained in protest.
Xu Miyu got her to first dry the clothes in the laundry room while she cleaned the shoes.
After scrubbing off all the mud and drying the shoes, she carefully applied a fresh layer of polish. Previously looking like they just got dredged up, they now gleamed as good as new after her efforts.
When Zhao Kele returned with the dried suit, Xu Miyu asked her to iron it but Zhao Kele deferred: “Or how about you sew the tear first while I iron after Supervisor? My needlework skills definitely can’t make the cut. I’m afraid the guest will demand compensation from me if he wakes up tomorrow and sees a botched mending job!”
Hearing that, Xu Miyu chuckled and took over the jacket to thread a needle.
Fortunately those years as a full-time housewife hadn’t gone to waste. She had picked up discreet mending skills when patching up Yuchen’s suits before. Those skills became handy now.
She carefully sewed the torn edges, competently stitching the gap. Zhao Kele watched, praising how incredibly skilled she was.
Happy hearing the compliments, Xu Miyu beamed and voiced her thanks.
Spurred on by that, Zhao Kele showered even more acclaims.
Eventually she suggested: “Since your sewing skills are so awesome Supervisor, I bet you can iron clothes like a pro too! Why don’t you handle the ironing while I observe your methods on the side?”
Agreeing delightedly, Xu Miyu soon started ironing under Zhao Kele’s flattering commentary.
After everything was neatly pressed, the two of them delivered the clothes and shoes to the guest’s room together.
Despite the late hour, the guest hadn’t slept yet. Seeing his suit and shoes restored to perfection, he became rather startled with pleasant surprise. Checking the previously scraped sleeve, the mended section was nearly invisible unless scrutinized carefully.
He was astonished. Profusely thanking both Xu Miyu and Zhao Kele repeatedly.
Hearing his gratitude, Xu Miyu felt their efforts tonight were worthwhile. She smiled joyfully.
Whereas Zhao Kele watched pensively on the side wearing an expression as if struck by some sort of realization.
A couple days later in the afternoon after everyone completed their duties, they lounged around at the housekeeping department chatting.
Their topic meandered to Xu Miyu at some point.
Li Wan commented: “You know what—I discovered something about Xu Miyu. She really can’t stand compliments! Say two nice things and she instantly becomes so happy!”
Zhao Kele immediately chuckled and chimed in: “Exactly! I noticed that too! Xu Miyu belongs to the type who can’t take any praise. The moment she hears a bit of flattery her bones turn soft. Ask her to do anything then and she will!”
Li Wan became instantly animated reaching a consensus.
They subsequently went to verify with Wenxue Ke and Xiang Yin: “Isn’t Xu Miyu awfully susceptible to sweet talk?”
Wenxue Ke and XiangYin nodded affirmatively, confirming Xu Miyu’s trait.
“She likes hearing others praise and affirm her quite a bit. I used to butter her up and make her very happy before asking any favors. Then no matter what I requested, she would agree to it.” Xiang Yin offered everyone a definite answer.
Luo Qingping remarked from the sidelines: “So from now on, you all know what to do right?”
Incited by Luo Qingping, everyone became enlightened on what to do next.
From that moment, they seized upon Xu Miyu’s weakness of enjoying flattery.
They excessively exalted Xu Miyu’s capability right to her face, praising her until she became all smiles. They eulogized her until she took on every task herself with her own hands. They complimented her until even liaising with other departments became duties she ran around to complete personally.
Yet behind the scenes, they all mocked her for a fool while gleefully ridiculing her amongst themselves.
Gradually, not only did they realize Xu Miyu ate up praises exceptionally easily, they also discovered other secrets in her life.
When it was time again for Xiaobao Diao to pay his mortgage and Jiuimei Diao’s phone call came punctually as usual, Xu Miyu had been conducting a brief meeting with everyone at the housekeeping department before leaving for the bathroom. But she forgot her phone on the office desk.
A female attendant nearby picked up the ringing phone to silence it from disturbing them but she didn’t know which button she accidentally pressed. Amidst her random fumbling, not only did she answer the call, she had turned on the loudspeaker function as well.
Jiuimei Diao’s resounding voice blasted out of the speakers: “Xiaosan, it’s your brother’s mortgage payment date again. Help transfer the money over quick. Just got your two elder sisters’ share yesterday. Only lacking you now… If your delay causes your brother’s mortgage to default, don’t blame me for skinning you al—”
They didn’t hear the full extent of her threats. Xu Miyu had rushed back into the office by then. Hanging up swiftly, she looked at everyone with a darkened complexion, voice trembling as she asked: “Who allowed you to answer my call privately?”
No one replied her.
Clutching her phone, Xu Miyu walked out of the housekeeping department.
She appeared weak and deeply hurt from behind. But instead of sympathy, the girls exchanged sly looks with one another—should they feel sorry for her or ridicule her? Then by unanimous accord, they entered ridicule mode.
Hatred for someone seemed to gradually erode one’s sense of justice and compassion. With Luo Qingping constantly emphasizing how detestable and foolish Xu Miyu was, questioning what capabilities she had to be their supervisor, their immense dislike outweighed everything else. Such oppressive family matters that would normally evoke their sympathy and sighs had occurred to Xu Miyu instead. Yet they suppressed their unconscious surfacing empathy and pity before looking around and realizing everyone else was mocking her. Since my peers are all jeering at her, wouldn’t I be the odd one out to show sympathy? Hence I should deride her as well!
Therefore after Xu Miyu departed from the housekeeping department, all the women present started parodying her miserable family situation.
The gossip about Xu Miyu at the admin level quickly traveled through Wenxue Ke’s grapevine down to Xuerui Xue’s ears.
While Ji Feng was having afternoon tea, Xuerui Xue briefed him about Xuanzhang Duan’s situation first.
“Boss, we’ve obstructed quite a few of Duan Xuanzhang’s dealings in Thailand according to your directives. He’s currently facing years of fruitless efforts over there and has gotten fiercely reprimanded by his father who dragged him back to Star City. You’ve really created quite some difficulty for him recently.”
He continued after a pause: “Additionally, as you previously instructed, we’ve located Duan Xuanzhang’s former assistant Ah Ni and found evidence of him violating regulations while working on projects under Duan Xuanzhang. Just yesterday, your private attorney has officially taken him into custody for investigation. It looks to be an impending conviction.”
This news greatly relaxed Ji Feng as he leisurely sipped his tea. Since he had already discovered that Ah Ni was the root cause of that night spiraling out of hand, there was no way he would let him off easily.
People who dared pull one over Ji Feng like Duan Xuanzhang and Ah Ni would definitely not get away from him lightly.
Looking at Ji Feng, Xuerui became restless from curiosity nibbling at him.
Hence emboldened during this rare moment with boss’s guard lowered, he daringly inquired: “President Ji, I understand you settling scores with Chairman Duan because he plotted against you from the start. But regarding his already dismissed assistant Ah Ni, is he worth you paying so much attention?” What actually transpired between them? Xuerui nearly wracked his brains out yet could not figure it out at all.
Ji Feng chilled him with an icy glare. With one line, he choked back Xuerui’s inquisitiveness: “If you shouldn’t ask, then don’t. Those who ask too much die young.”
Xuerui immediately swallowed his curiosity.
Yet almost right away, another snippet of gossip hooked onto the edge of his tongue, leaving his mouth watering unbearably in silence if he didn’t share it out.
It was concerning that woman—Xu Miyu…
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