Chapter 66: The Plum in the Golden Vase

“Okay, let’s find a place to talk properly.”

As Shui Miao turned to leave, Guo Ming shook his head. “Manager Shui, you probably don’t know yet—Old Shao has installed cameras and bugs throughout almost the entire hotel. Only this staff restroom is free of surveillance. If you take me outside to talk like this, won’t Old Shao find out everything?”

Shui Miao was momentarily stunned. As expected, that Old Shao was truly despicable. What ulterior motive could he possibly have?

“Fine, how do you suggest we talk?”

Seeing Guo Ming’s confident expression, Shui Miao guessed he must already have a plan.

“You go ahead and act busy. In half an hour, I’ll be waiting for you upstairs at a small restaurant in the southern alley.” Guo Ming then turned and headed to his own break room.

Guo Ming and Guo Liang did not live together with Old Shao.

The hotel was operating normally. Today, the waiters and waitresses seemed particularly enthusiastic. Shui Miao stood on a platform on the second floor, observing the layout of Hall A. Downstairs appeared somewhat chaotic, but upon closer inspection, the entire arrangement downstairs formed the pattern of a Bagua (Eight Trigrams). Could this be specially designed by a Feng Shui master?

Shui Miao quickly gathered his energy and activated his Yin-Yang Eyes, discovering the atmosphere in Hall A was very harmonious.

Surprised, Shui Miao went to check Hall B. It had a completely different style, yet its energy was equally balanced.

As Shui Miao was deeply engrossed in observation, Sun Yan, the newly appointed head waiter of Hall B, approached. “Manager, I noticed you’ve been watching for quite a while. Are you thinking of changing the layout?”

Sun Yan was a mature and beautiful woman of twenty-eight, steady in her work and articulate in speech. She was someone who performed her duties exceptionally well. Her abilities were such that she could easily handle a department manager’s role. However, Shui Miao harbored suspicions—why was someone as capable as Sun Yan always alone in her dorm after work, never interacting with others? What was her background?

“I was thinking about it a little,” Shui Miao nodded. Suddenly, an idea struck him. After all, Sun Yan was a veteran at the hotel, having worked there for seven or eight years. She should know the secret behind the layout.

Before Shui Miao could ask, Sun Yan shook her head directly. “I’m afraid that won’t work. The entire hotel’s layout was specially designed by Master Lin, who hired a Feng Shui master. We aren’t allowed to make any changes. Master Lin would never permit it.”

“Oh, by the way, Sister Sun Yan, where are you originally from? Your Mandarin is so standard. Listening to your accent, could you possibly be from Taiwan?”

“Manager, that’s a personal matter. I’m sorry, but I’d rather not say.” Sun Yan smiled.

Truly airtight! Shui Miao was momentarily taken aback. “Haha, okay then. You go take care of your work.”

“Sure!”

Sun Yan smiled and turned away, busying herself with arranging the table reservations.

“Manager, half an hour is almost up.”

Xiao Hu checked the time and quietly reminded Shui Miao.

Shui Miao nodded. He turned and walked into the lobby, where three people were present: two front desk receptionists and the head stewardess, Sister Tang.

Seeing Shui Miao approach, Sister Tang immediately smiled and came forward. “Manager, I have something I’d like to discuss with you.”

“What is it?” Shui Miao looked at Sister Tang and couldn’t help but think to himself—today, her face was glowing with a rosy hue, very charming. Too bad it was all pretense. If she truly treated him this well, he would definitely pursue her passionately.

Sister Tang pouted slightly and whispered, “Being a supervisor, there’s not much to do except stay in the lobby all day, managing only the hosts. Manager, you know I’m not someone who likes to be idle. Why don’t you give me more responsibilities or let me follow you around like Xiao Hu does?”

Sister Tang had her eyes on Shui Miao. If she could land this big fish, she’d be well on her way to climbing the corporate ladder.

Hearing this, Shui Miao naturally felt pleased, but considering the bigger picture, he replied carefully, “Sister Tang, being a supervisor isn’t an easy job. You’d have to coordinate between the kitchen, purchasing, security, maintenance, and other departments with our food and beverage division. It’s already difficult to do well, and if you fail, the consequences could be serious. I suggest you stay active, be flexible in your management, and focus on doing your job as a supervisor well first.”

After saying this, Shui Miao realized he sounded like a real leader.

“I understand!”

Sister Tang suddenly realized the heavy burden she had taken on, realizing that all the challenging tasks had been assigned to her!

Shui Miao and Xiao Hu left the hotel and got into a taxi.

Watching Shui Miao leave, Sister Tang muttered, “What bad luck! I thought being a supervisor was something special, but it turns out it’s like being a temporary worker with all the responsibilities. If things go well, no one notices, but if anything goes wrong, I’m the one who’ll take the blame. Still, the salary is much higher compared to a regular employee. Hmm, I’ll stick with it for now. Xiao Shui, you won’t escape my five fingers!”

※※※

Nanxiaoxiang (South Alley), the small restaurant “Bai Xing Ren Jia” (Hometown of Ordinary People).

On the second floor of the restaurant, as soon as Shui Miao entered, he saw a lavish spread of dishes, no less impressive than those at the grand hotel. Guo Ming and Guo Liang were already waiting.

“Manager, did you and Xiao Hu come without being noticed?” Guo Ming was somewhat uneasy, knowing that hundreds of surveillance cameras were installed throughout the hotel. A single misstep could expose them to Old Shao.

Shui Miao smiled faintly. “Don’t worry. I specifically took a taxi to come here.”

“Hehe, no wonder you’re the manager. Your planning is truly flawless!” Guo Liang gave Shui Miao a thumbs-up. “Manager, Xiao Hu, quickly take a seat. We didn’t prepare anything special, just some casual food.”

“We’ve already had lunch. This really isn’t necessary.” Shui Miao pulled a chair to the back and sat down, clearly not in the mood for drinking. “Let’s get to the point first. With Old Shao monitoring the hotel like this, I feel like I’m sitting on pins and needles!”

“Hehe, since the manager is so eager, I’ll get straight to the point.” Guo Ming stood up, closed the door carefully, and sat beside Shui Miao, speaking in a low voice. “We can’t rush this. I plan to ask the manager to cooperate with me. We need to lure them out somehow, and then I’ll sneak in to film what’s happening inside Old Shao’s room.”

“Hmm…”

Upon hearing this, Shui Miao was immediately puzzled. Such a simple idea had already occurred to him. Why would he need Guo Ming’s help?

Guo Liang seemed to sense Shui Miao’s thoughts and smiled slightly. “Manager, you probably don’t know this, but Old Shao’s door lock is more complicated than a safe’s, and there are many alarm devices inside. Only my brother and I can understand them. Even if someone else could open the door, as soon as they entered, all the computers inside would automatically shut down.”

“Exactly! This is definitely a technical job,” Guo Ming added with a smirk.

“Alright, I’ll definitely cooperate fully. From now on, we’ll communicate via text messages.” Shui Miao immediately took out his phone and exchanged numbers with Guo Ming and Guo Liang.

“Manager, regarding your promise to us, it’s just empty words without any written proof. Let’s make a written agreement. Hehe, it’s not that I don’t trust you, but this way we can work more confidently, knowing everything is fair and transparent.” Guo Ming actually took out a piece of paper detailing Shui Miao’s promise to them after completing the task.

“Hehe, you’ve thought things through quite thoroughly,” Shui Miao said, picking up the paper and shaking his head. “But I can’t sign this yet. I need to see if you have the capability first. We can sign this once you’ve successfully captured the video evidence.”

“Hmm…”

Guo Ming and Guo Liang were visibly troubled.

Shui Miao shrugged indifferently. “You don’t have another choice. Either we cooperate, or we pretend this never happened. Besides, Old Shao is still an employee of the hotel. I have many ways to deal with him. The simplest one is to call the police—easy and thorough. I’m just being considerate and not taking things to extremes.”

In today’s world, you can say anything you want, but you must never sign anything carelessly.

Although young, Shui Miao was no naive rookie.

With no choice, Guo Ming and Guo Liang reluctantly agreed.

Shui Miao hadn’t eaten, so he naturally didn’t pay for the meal. Still, he generously said it was on him. However, Guo Liang mentioned that this small restaurant was actually run by his wife, which made Shui Miao’s mind race. “So, you two aren’t exactly saints yourselves, huh?”

As they left the small restaurant and walked down the street, Shui Miao asked Xiao Hu, “Xiao Hu, did you know about Guo Ming and Guo Liang’s wife running this restaurant?”

“Yeah, the dishes they served were leftovers from the hotel guests that they brought back,” Xiao Hu, as a security guard, naturally knew the situation.

“Xiao Hu, when we get back, tell your older brother that no employee is allowed to take any leftover food or drinks out of the hotel, especially those two brothers, Guo Ming and Guo Liang.” Shui Miao was already thinking to himself: such a great opportunity to make money shouldn’t be easily handed over to these two. If they didn’t cooperate, he would cut off their source of profit. If they did cooperate, he would give them two options: one, they could continue taking the leftovers home, or two, they could stay in the maintenance department with a slight raise. But he would never hand over the entire maintenance department to them, because these guys were schemers who always tried to take advantage of the hotel. The more power they gained, the more dangerous the hotel would become.

Shui Miao had another idea: to collect the leftover food and drinks and use them to open his own small restaurant, with Chen Xiang as the manager. Wouldn’t that be even better?

Xiao Hu immediately nodded in agreement.

The hotel was operating smoothly. Shui Miao found Chen Bing and assigned him the task of collecting the leftover food and drinks. Upon learning that Shui Miao was planning to start a small restaurant for personal profit using these leftovers, Chen Bing was immediately excited. There was a lot of profit potential here. If done right, making hundreds of thousands of yuan a year would be a piece of cake.

At two o’clock in the afternoon, employees began to finish work, and Lin Qing’er returned in her car.

“Big Sister Lin, I need to talk to you about something,” Shui Miao approached her actively.

Lin Qing’er closed her car door and smiled slightly. “So urgent? I hope nothing’s wrong with the restaurant?”

“There’s a lot to discuss. Let’s go to the coffee shop across the street,” Shui Miao thought to himself. Could it be that Lin Qing’er was bugged?

At the mention of the coffee shop, Lin Qing’er quickly covered her mouth, looking troubled. “Ah… but I just came back from having coffee…”

“Then… how about we go watch a movie?” There was a video hall in the alley across the street. Shui Miao thought it would be a good place—it was noisy, and even if Old Shao had bugged Lin Qing’er, he probably wouldn’t be able to eavesdrop inside the video hall.

“…”

Looking at Shui Miao’s expression, Lin Qing’er thought to herself that maybe Xiao Shui had feelings for her and wanted to pursue her. He looked so awkward, eager, and impulsive.

She really liked young men like Shui Miao—not just because he reminded her of her younger brother, but also because of his personality.

An innocent, sincere, and slightly handsome young man could be irresistibly attractive to mature women who had experienced many relationships and heartbreaks. They understood love better and longed for a pure, untainted romance more than anyone else.

But Lin Qing’er hadn’t expected things to develop so quickly between her and Shui Miao!

Despite not being ready for a new relationship, she still felt her heart racing at his urgency…

“What are you talking about? I really have something important to discuss!” Seeing Lin Qing’er hesitating and stammering, Shui Miao became genuinely anxious. He grabbed her hand and started pulling her toward the street across.

Lin Qing’er’s heart pounded. It had been years since she last felt the nervousness of a boy holding her hand.

Slightly blushing, Lin Qing’er let Shui Miao pull her along. When they reached the crosswalk and stopped to wait for the traffic light, she shyly said, “Xiao Shui… isn’t it a bit early for us to be going to the movies?”

“My intention isn’t really to watch a movie. It’s not too early at all,” Shui Miao replied, eagerly pulling Lin Qing’er across the street as soon as the light turned green.

If his intention wasn’t really to watch a movie, then what did he want to do? Lin Qing’er felt a rush of heat to her head, her face turning red. “You’re… being too reckless… there are hotels… with rooms…”

She whispered these words so softly that Shui Miao didn’t even hear them.

At a little past two in the afternoon, the video hall was nearly empty.

At the ticket booth, the elderly aunt saw a couple approaching and said directly, “Ten yuan per ticket for the main hall, fifty yuan per ticket for a private room, or one hundred yuan for two people. No one’s inside yet—you can pick whichever movie you like.”

“Just play any movie. Auntie, you decide,” Shui Miao took out one hundred yuan and handed it to the elderly aunt.

The aunt accepted the money, waved her hand, and her voice sounded mechanical. “All the private rooms are free. Just choose one you like.”

Upon hearing this, Shui Miao immediately led Lin Qing’er into the video hall.

“What a hasty young man…” the elderly aunt shook her head with a cold smile, muttering, “Of course, you’re not here to watch a movie. But since you’re my first customers, I’ll give you something exciting.”

The elderly aunt casually took a disc from her drawer—Golden Lotus…