On the fifth floor of the hotel, colleagues who had already changed into their casual clothes were drowsy and slouching, sitting lazily in the meeting room waiting. They snapped to attention only when Li Meili's high heels clicked loudly in the hallway, straightening their backs.
The door was flung open. Li Meili's face was stern, followed by Zhao Yi carrying a box of expensive wine, and behind him, Tao Xinrou with an expressionless face.
Li Meili slammed her hands on the conference table and screeched, "Wake up! There was a serious mistake at tonight's party for Miss Lin. One of her expensive red wines is missing!"
Murmurs immediately rippled through the room. The now fully awake colleagues whispered among themselves, their gazes darting to Tao Xinrou at the back.
"This bottle of wine is extremely valuable. Tao Xinrou was solely responsible for the VIP lounge and related supplies. Zhao Yi, tell us what really happened."
Zhao Yi placed the wine box on the table and said, "I received a notice from Supervisor Li that Tao Xinrou had gone to the VIP lounge to get the wine. By the time I arrived, she was frantically searching for something. I think she secretly hid the wine."
Tao Xinrou sneered, instantly silencing the room. Her eyes locked on Zhao Yi, sharp as knives. "Zhao Yi, you say I was frantically searching. But when you entered, I was counting the bottles on the shelf. Where's the panic? And you were the one who urgently urged me, 'Supervisor Li says hurry up, don't dawdle.' I didn't have time to search thoroughly and followed you downstairs.
"You keep insisting I stole the wine. Tell me, if I really wanted to hide it, why would I bother searching openly in the lounge and let you catch me? Besides, you were by my side the whole way from the lounge to the lobby. I had no chance to hide anything."
Zhao Yi was stumped, his eyes shifting nervously. "I-I don't know what you were plotting. Maybe you'd already hidden it earlier!"
Tao Xinrou found it amusing. Too lazy to argue with Zhao Yi, she turned to Li Meili. "Supervisor Li, I was serving in the banquet hall the entire party with Zheng Shuhui. I only went to the lounge after the party ended to retrieve the wine. I had no opportunity to enter earlier. I believe the surveillance footage can prove that. Also, every step of my duty regarding the VIP lounge supplies is documented."
Li Meili crossed her arms and snapped, "Stop quibbling, Tao Xinrou. Zhao Yi saw you searching in the lounge with his own eyes. What else could you be looking for if not the hidden wine? The wine is missing—that's a fact. As the person in charge, you can't shirk responsibility. You're just trying to blame Zhao Yi to escape punishment!"
"Supervisor Li, that's not fair. The wine might be missing, but it's still in the hotel. What if I said I can find the missing bottle?"
"Do you think you can pull that trick from last time with the crystal? Are you sure you can find it this time?"
"If I can find the thief, will you apologize to me?"
"Find the wine first before you talk." Li Meili was smug, confident Tao Xinrou couldn't produce it.
Tao Xinrou paused, her gaze shifting to Zhao Yi. "That person is right in front of you."
Zhao Yi panicked. "Tao Xinrou, don't slander me!"
"Brother Zhao Yi, I didn't name you. Why are you in such a hurry to protest?"
Seeing this, Li Meili interrupted. "Enough. Since you say the wine is still in the hotel, go find it. If you can't, I want your resignation on my desk by tomorrow."
But when exactly Zhao Yi had hidden the wine in his future vision, Tao Xinrou didn't know. However, in that vision, Li Meili had pulled the bottle from the supply room, proving it was already there. She decided to gamble.
Unfazed, she said, "Fine, I'll take you there now."
The group quickly moved to the supply room.
The dimly lit room was cluttered with junk. In the corner, an old storage cabinet was thick with dust.
Tao Xinrou walked straight to one cabinet and announced, "It's this one."
Confident, Li Meili ordered a security guard to open it.
Everyone craned their necks, staring inside. Tao Xinrou took a deep breath.
The cabinet opened, and a mouse jumped out. Inside was nothing but gnawed remnants. Empty.
Was it the wrong cabinet? Tao Xinrou's heart tightened.
"Hahaha! Tao Xinrou, where's the wine? Weren't you going to show us? Was this where you planned to hide it?" Li Meili crowed triumphantly, pointing at the empty cabinet. "Everyone see that? There's no wine here. She's just making baseless accusations. Now we have solid evidence. Zhao Yi, take photos. I'm reporting this to the manager tomorrow."
"Yes." Zhao Yi pulled out his phone and stepped forward to photograph.
The colleagues murmured among themselves, looking at Tao Xinrou. Zheng Shuhui's eyes were red with worry.
But Tao Xinrou knew panic would only play into Li Meili's trap.
She gave a cold laugh and fixed her eyes on Li Meili. "Supervisor Li, why are you so eager to convict me? Afraid things will change overnight? Or afraid the truth will come out? An empty cabinet doesn't prove I'm framing anyone. It actually means the person who took the wine hasn't had time to move it here yet—because I proposed looking for it faster than you expected."
"What nonsense are you talking, Tao Xinrou? It's empty. It's empty. Can you conjure the wine out of thin air?" Zhao Yi snapped after taking photos.
Tao Xinrou turned to him, her tone suddenly sharp. "Brother Zhao Yi, why are you in such a rush? You seem awfully sure the cabinet would be empty."
"You..." Zhao Yi was speechless.
Li Meili jumped in. "Tao Xinrou, stop wasting time. Just hand over the wine you stole."
Tao Xinrou spoke slowly, "The wine isn't with me. But let me make a few points. Yes, I had contact with the wine, but that doesn't mean I took it. I was in charge of the entire VIP party, but I wasn't the only person with access. According to procedure, the logistics team checked the VIP lounge supplies every hour. As a logistics member, Zhao Yi had two inspection records tonight. That's logged in the duty log.
"Second, after I discovered the wine missing, I immediately secured the scene. I didn't move anything on the shelf until Zhao Yi arrived and supervised my retrieval. Finally, I had no opportunity to commit the theft. From the time I entered the lounge to when I left, it was less than five minutes. In contrast, Zhao Yi should have completed his inspection ten minutes before I entered, but I ran into him in the hallway. He had ample opportunity to tamper with the wine. So, you probably know where the wine is better than anyone."
Tao Xinrou glared at Zhao Yi.
Zhao Yi panicked, his voice trembling. "Don't make things up, Tao Xinrou! I was patrolling the hallway because I'd finished inspections elsewhere and was coming back to the lounge. How does that make me a suspect?"
He clutched his phone, his voice shaking, and looked to Li Meili. "Supervisor Li, you can check the duty log. My two inspections tonight have timestamps—11:00 PM and 12:30 AM. I followed procedure."
"Really? Then can we pull the hallway surveillance footage now?" Tao Xinrou asked.
If they could get it now, they could prevent Li Meili from tampering.
"The tech department is off duty. Stop making excuses. The evidence is ironclad. You're getting fired tomorrow!"
Li Meili was about to adjourn when Fang Rong walked out from the side, holding a tablet. "Supervisor Li, you don't need to wait for the tech department. I have the surveillance footage right here."
He walked straight to Li Meili and showed the screen to everyone. "I was one of the inspection supervisors tonight. To ensure the party's safety, I had the tech department install real-time surveillance feeds on this tablet. Here's the footage I just retrieved."
Fang Rong played the video. It clearly showed that half an hour ago, before Tao Xinrou entered the VIP lounge, Zhao Yi had gone in first. He stayed for about five minutes, then left with a black cloth bag. Ten minutes later, he hurried back, but the bag was gone. Then Tao Xinrou discovered the missing wine and left with Zhao Yi.
"Th-That's not me! The camera made a mistake!" Zhao Yi was shaking, his legs almost giving out.
Li Meili's face turned ashen. She never expected Fang Rong to pull the footage and incriminate Zhao Yi so clearly.