ATLAS TRANSLATES

Madam Hu carefully looked Xu Miyu up and down, and said: “Little Xu, it’s been a while since I last saw you. Are you working now? No wonder you haven’t come to my home for a long time, and only let your cousin deliver the braised beef for you every now and then. At first I thought you were busy, but now I see you really are busy! Ah little Xu, I never expected that you are busy because you came out to be a career woman. Look at you, with this job your aura is completely different, you look very spirited! Thank you for the braised beef. Don’t worry, I’ll remind Mr. Hu to continue taking good care of your Nie Youcheng. Do come to my home if you have time, and you can give me a massage while you’re at it.”

As Xu Miyu listened to Madam Hu’s long speech, she felt something was not quite right.

After Madam Hu finally took a breath without continuing, she tentatively asked: “Madam Hu, are you sure it’s the taste of my braised beef?”

“Of course!” Madam Hu patted Xu Miyu’s shoulder and said, “It’s your braised beef alright, the color, aroma and taste are uniquely delicate, the flavor has never changed!”

Xu Miyu thought quickly and asked again: “Madam Hu, you just said every now and then my cousin would deliver the braised beef I made, right?”

Madam Hu nodded: “Yes, your cousin. You really shouldn’t let her deliver it since she’s getting bigger now, why don’t you come yourself on weekends since your work shouldn’t require you to work on Saturdays and Sundays, so you can come during your days off and let your cousin take a rest, it’s not easy for her with a big belly.”

Xu Miyu felt more and more wrong as she listened, so she asked: “Did this ‘cousin’ tell you her name?”

Madam Hu said: “I think her name was something like Lu Zhenzhen? Ah I didn’t particularly remember your cousin’s name, she just delivered the meat and nothing else, and she couldn’t give me a massage either, so I couldn’t be bothered remembering her. Little Xu, you should come deliver it yourself next time. To be honest, I really miss your massage skills!”

As Xu Miyu listened to Madam Hu’s non-stop talking, she felt something was definitely not right.

From the past details that made her feel strange and out of place at the time, to Madam Hu’s story today – if she pieced them all together, Xu Miyu felt she probably knew what was going on now:

In order to maintain his good impression and favor with Madam Hu and her husband, Nie Youcheng had to ensure they could continuously eat the braised beef they liked. So he did not let Madam Hu and her husband know that he had divorced.

Because his new wife couldn’t even cook simple home-cooked meals, let alone braised beef.

As for Madam Hu and her husband, while they couldn’t make braised beef themselves, this didn’t stop them from finding a way to still get Xu Miyu’s handmade braised beef –

After her divorce, the braised beef Xu Muyu made at her sister’s home were likely not eaten by her sister and brother-in-law themselves, but taken by Nie Youcheng and Lu Zhenzhen after she left, and then Lu Zhenzhen would pretend to be her “cousin” and say her “older sister is too busy” so as the “cousin” she delivered the braised beef made by her “older sister” to Madam Hu.

Thinking of this, Xu Muyu almost laughed coldly at the absurd story.

Her ex-husband she once loved dearly was actually willing to collude with his mistress who rose to power and her sister just to cheat her into continuing to make braised beef for them.

When she dragg her tired body and only holidays to her sister’s place to make braised beef without knowing, were they laughing at her behind her back thinking she’s a fool?

It really was ridiculous, even after the divorce they still wanted to exploit her. Nie Youcheng and Lu Zhenzhen, how could they have the gall to oppress and intimidate her while gaining benefits through her? Did they truly have no shame left as humans?

And her sister of the same parents, was willing to deceive her own sister just to please her cheating brother-in-law and the woman who rose to power, treating her own sister as cheap labor to sacrifice! Her family member was actually willing to compromise to people who brought Xu Muyu misfortune, and then conspire with them to deceive and trap her.

Xu Muyu felt furious at the betrayal and being played. In the past she knew nothing and was taken as a fool easily manipulated by these people joining forces. But now that she understood everything clearly, she would absolutely not let these shameless people who had no heart, conscience or dignity continue to exploit her, she would no longer tolerate them exchanging benefits through oppressing her.

Coincidentally, Xu Muyu’s sister called her the next day asking her to go to their home to make braised beef, making the request without the slightest bit of politeness or room for refusal as usual.

Xu Muyu had been waiting for this call from her sister. There were things she needed to make clear to her sister.

She felt the information gap between Madam Hu and her sister, or rather the people behind her sister – Nie Youcheng and Lu Zhenzhen, had not realized yet that their deception alliance had been seen through by her Xu Muyu. They were still attempting to continue deceiving her into making braised dishes to please Madam Hu and her husband. But their scheme of exploiting her braised beef was about to backfire.

In the phone call, Xu Muyu very clearly refused her sister’s so-called natural request.

Her sister immediately flew into a rage, screaming at Xu Muyu at full volume through the receiver. “Old Third, it’s just an internal transfer to the lobby, it’s still just a job standing guard and receiving guests, how have you become so arrogant! I just ask you, will you come tomorrow to make braised beef or not?”

Xu Muyu was not affected by her emotions and repeated her decision calmly and clearly once again: “No, not just tomorrow, I will never be deceived into being a cheap laborer again in the future.”

Sister’s temper was simply passed down true Jioujiumai style, she was even angrier than before, hypocritically questioning Xu Muyu: “Xu Muyu, do you even speak properly? Do you still consider me your older sister? How can you talk to your family like this, have you no compassion left?”

Xu Muyu almost laughed at being asked this way. She thought her sister was more deserving of these words.

“Alright sister, let me ask you a question too,” Xu Muyu said mockingly, “Have you ever treated me like your younger sister? By deceiving and exploiting me to please my ex-husband and his mistress, just to protect your and your husband’s jobs, is this how you treat your younger sister? Hypocrisy is not compassion, sister, this is just insanity.”

Sister was speechless on the other end upon hearing these causes and consequences. She had never expected the timid and cowardly Xu Muyu to see through everything, and dare say it to her face after realizing.

Not receiving any apology or reflection from her sister until the end, Xu Muyu felt cold all over in her heart.

Her sister clearly had become another Jioujiumai, an utterly selfish middle-aged woman. It seemed to be too late.

A few days later, Madam Hu came to the hotel again.

She found Xu Muyu not at the front desk, but upstairs delivering an express package that had just arrived for the top floor.

When Xu Muyu returned to the front desk, the service staff Lan Xiaoyun told her: “Earlier a guest was looking for you, it was a lady, she used the VIP card holder name Hu Tu. Now she’s by the pool, she said to find her directly when you’re back and let her vent.”

Lan Xiaoyun was gossip friend of Ke Wenxue, out of kindness for Ke Wenxue she was relatively friendly and polite to Xu Muyu compared to others at the front desk.

Hearing the description, Xu Muyu knew it must be Madam Hu. She thanked Lan Xiaoyun and went directly to the pool area.

When she found Madam Hu, the lady was leaning on a sun lounger dressed in a bikini, sipping a colorful cocktail through a straw.

Seeing Xu Muyu, Madam Hu straightened up at once, but the smile on her face upon greeting turned out to not be one of welcome, but obvious annoyance instead.

“Ah little Xu, what’s going on with you?” Madam Hu said in one breath, “Weren’t we talking last time that you’d come to my home on the weekend, chat with me and give me a massage? I cancelled my mahjong plans and waited for you all day, but you didn’t show up. You said you had things to do, but you could have at least called me! And look, our braised beef at home has been finished for a week already, your cousin or you were supposed to deliver new ones but neither of you came. You know I wasn’t very happy inside, right? One shouldn’t act this way, I helped your Nie Youcheng get promoted to Vice President, did you just forget about me after achieving your goal? No massages, no braised beef deliveries, this is called ingratitude!”

As Xu Muyu listened to Madam Hu chatter away while flipping her long manicured fingernails, she didn’t get a chance to cut in. Finally after Madam Hu seemed to have gotten things off her chest, Xu Muyu smiled and politely told her: “Madam Hu, I understand your unhappiness, but I have to speak frankly – you’re misdirecting your displeasure towards the wrong person. I have no obligation or connection to continue doing things like visit you for massages or deliver braised beef. My divorce with Nie Youcheng has already been finalized, because he had an affair. Lu Zhenzhen is not my cousin, she is Nie Youcheng’s mistress, and she even rose to power before coveting my ex-husband. Therefore I have no reason to maintain relationships and impression between him and his boss anymore.”

Xu Muyu paused, giving Madam Hu time to process, before continuing: “It was not braised meat that I willingly made, but because Nie Youcheng and Lu Zhenzhen conspired with people I trusted to deceive me into making them. Now that I’ve seen through their scheme, the braised beef deliveries will no longer continue in the future. If you feel unhappy, you should directly express it to Nie Youcheng and Lu Zhenzhen, instead of taking it out on me who is no longer involved.”

Madam Hu was stunned upon hearing Xu Muyu’s story, she who was elegantly holding her colorful cocktail in her fingernails even lost control of the glass, tilting the mouth and spilling the liquid within.

Madam Hu quickly righted the glass and wiped the spilled drink from her legs with a complaint. Looking up at Xu Muyu again, she said: “Oh, so that’s what happened. You and little Nie have already divorced. Ah little Xu, what should I do in the future when I want to eat braised meat?”

Xu Muyu was stunned for a second, then almost laughed. For humans, happiness and sorrow truly are separate realms of experience. In Madam Hu’s eyes, whether she was cheated on or deceived by her ex-husband and mistress didn’t matter at all. What mattered most to her was that with the deception uncovered, she wouldn’t be able to eat braised meat in the future – how was she going to handle this?

Xu Muyu smiled and sincerely advised Madam Hu: “You can ask Lu Zhenzhen to practice her cooking skills and personally make it for you. If she makes it badly and you find it very irritating to eat, you can also let Nie Youcheng step down from his Vice President position to vent your anger.”

She didn’t want to continue maintaining a servile attitude towards Madam Hu. By standing up straight and speaking to her as an equal, Xu Muyu found it truly liberating.

“I’m sorry Madam Hu but I have work to get back to now, goodbye.” She said gracefully before taking her leave. Then she turned and walked back to the hotel lobby with her back straight and proud.

She was gradually waking up the self-love and dignity that had long slept within her body, arming herself with it so that she could finally walk down the path proud and unafraid.

From his position on the second floor balcony, Ji Feng had – as usual – been sitting at the outdoor tea table of the teahouse, sipping on the sharp and rough tea while basking in the sunlight.

His ears that took in the various sounds around still heard in a disconnected way, and the tea he drank was still as unpleasantly bitter as before. But suddenly he heard a familiar voice.

Ji Feng didn’t realize it and stood up, carrying his teacup to lean on the balcony rail and look down at the pool area below. Sure enough, the familiar voice was coming from Xu Muyu.

He saw her standing upright without cringing, capable of directly expressing refusal to her ex-husband’s boss.

Comparing to when he first met her cowering and shrinking form, she had truly changed.

He suddenly thought – wasn’t this transformation of hers partly the result of his discipline?

Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but curl his lips in a smile, watching her leave with her back straight and proud stride, he raised his teacup for a sip.

When he returned to his seat, Xu Rui who had been dozing off with his face propped in his hand immediately woke with a start upon Ji Feng’s arrival. In a daze, he looked around and came to his senses, quickly pouring more tea for Ji Feng.

As he poured, he said: “General Manager, I think I just heard Sister Xu’s voice just now. Did I dream it?”

Ji Feng gave Xu Rui a sidelong glance as if looking at a fool.

Xu Rui was looked down upon so much he felt himself shrinking. He hastily begged Ji Feng not to give him that contemptuous and mocking look.

“General Manager, when you look at me with disdain or ridicule, it can directly cause people to feel insignificant…”

He scrambled to change the subject: “General Manager, I really did hear Sister Xu’s voice just now.”

Ji Feng raised his brow: “And then?”

And then… He half awake half asleep thought someone directly got up and ran over to listen…

Haha.

When Xu Muyu went to the catering department to coordinate work related to inbound tour reception and dining, she unexpectedly heard that the new head chef Xu had burned his arm and needed to take two days off.

At first when she heard about this incident, she didn’t have time to think much about it. But after going through all the matters that needed cooperation, she realized this Chef Xu was the new chef recruited by Xu Rui with a high salary for Ji Feng.

So with Chef Xu taking two sick days off, Ji Feng would have no food these next two days.

Originally whether he had food or not didn’t really concern her.

But after facing Madam Hu and feeling her own transformation, Xu Muyu grew to like the new her. And she knew the change in herself was thanks to Ji Feng. Regardless of his difficult personality or whether elevating her position was out of goodwill or other intentions initially, he gave her the opportunity for growth.

So during the two days Ji Feng was going to be without food, she thought she should reciprocate a little to express her gratitude. After all, cooking some food was never difficult for her and just a small effort. And she could make enough for two days worth in one go, maintaining proper distance by not going up to cook each meal.

Thinking through this, after getting off work Xu Muyu immediately went to the market to buy meat, vegetables and ingredients. That night after returning to her dorm, she asked the security auntie at the gate to borrow a pot, and carefully braised a pot of beef. Considering Ji Feng wouldn’t eat just one dish for three meals, she also made a few simple home-cooked dishes.

The amount of food she prepared was a bit much, and it took her past midnight to finally finish all the dishes.

Waking up early the next morning, she saw obvious dark circles under her eyes despite applying concealer, no way to cover them up. But she thought at her age and as a divorced woman, she was past attracting people with her looks. So she decided to brazenly show her circles and went to work. She carefully packed all the food from last night into containers and brought them to the hotel.

Ever since she was transferred to be the front desk manager, any express deliveries that needed to be signed for and sent up to the top floor became her responsibility, replacing Xu Rui. Xu Rui kept begging her with puppy dog eyes, so she agreed. So now she goes up with files almost every day.

Feng Ji is a busy man and almost always has files requiring his review delivered daily. So Xu Muyu goes up with them almost every day.

But today when she brought the files, she also brought the food containers.

She passed the files to Xu Rui first. He immediately signaled for her to come aside, then pointed to Feng Ji on the couch engrossed in an irritated phone call.

“He’s in a bad mood today, don’t go over or you’ll get caught in the crossfire!” Xu Rui whispered to her, “Sister Xu, just pass me the files and leave quickly. I’ll take care of it.”

Xu Muyu heard Feng Ji scolding the other party on the phone for not being meticulous enough in their work and said a lot of harsh words questioning if their brain had been stolen since they lost their intellect. She sensed he was indeed irritated.

She softly asked Xu Rui: “What happened to make General Ji so angry?”

Xu Rui pouted: “Who else, it’s that chef I found with difficulty! Since he took two sick days off, General Ji barely ate anything last night and this morning. Now that his stomach is empty, his temper naturally flared up, I’ve been walking on eggshells all day!”

Hearing this, Xu Muyu smiled and lifted the food container, saying: “I’ve come to rescue you!”

Xu Rui’s eyes widened in excitement, “Heaven! Sister Xu, are you an bodhisattva?!”

From the couch came Feng Ji’s voice, he had already finished his phone call. Leaning back on the couch with his eyes closed, he looked rather carefreely dispirited. He called out to Xu Rui and ordered him to immediately contact his family doctor to come administer glucose injection.

Xu Rui made a sound of acknowledgement but didn’t actually make the call. As time passed without any movement, Feng Ji’s patience ran out from hunger. He was just about to lash out at Xu Rui when he suddenly opened his eyes – and saw Xu Muyu standing in front of him holding a food container.

The irritation about to explode was strangely dissolved without a trace upon seeing her.