Tao Xinrou clutched her phone, looking at the neon lights outside.
Maybe this was never an accident.
Maybe someone had been waiting for her to pick up that peanut brittle from the start.
*
As soon as Tao Xinrou left, Zhao Sili blocked Ying Jingsheng at the elevator.
"Cousin, what exactly is going on? Why did headquarters suspend Xinrou?"
Ying Jingsheng turned to look at her, sighed, and asked, "The hotel isn't as peaceful as you think. The factional struggles are more complicated than you imagine."
"But Xinrou was wronged. That old lady didn't fill in the information herself, so why blame her?" Zhao Sili's eyes were still red. "Didn't you go to speak for her? How is this still the result?"
"You think I only went to speak for her?"
Zhao Sili was taken aback. "What else?"
"I went to find out what headquarters really wants."
"What do they want?"
"Do you know who that old lady is today?"
"Isn't she just an ordinary guest?"
"She's Second Uncle's person."
"Huh? Second Uncle? How is this related to Second Uncle?"
"An incident happened during the internal test, the guest complained to headquarters, and headquarters intervened directly, bypassing all hotel procedures. Do you think that's a coincidence? That old lady and her husband were arranged by headquarters."
"You mean... they're targeting Xinrou?"
Ying Jingsheng nodded.
"Why? Xinrou is just a small employee. What did she do to him?"
Ying Jingsheng looked at her, a hint of complexity in his eyes: "Because the matter she's investigating is related to Second Uncle."
Zhao Sili was completely stunned.
"Xinrou is investigating Second Uncle?"
"Yes. She entered the hotel to investigate her father's case. I've told you before, you need to be careful at the hotel. You were so warm to Tao Xinrou in front of everyone. Do you know that by doing so, you told everyone that Tao Xinrou is a friend of the Fourth Miss of the Ying Family and has someone backing her?"
"Isn't that a good thing? Then no one would dare bully her." Zhao Sili didn't understand.
"Then have you thought about why she was still suspended?"
Zhao Sili shook her head.
"Second Uncle might have only suspected she was investigating something. But with your outburst, he directly confirmed that Tao Xinrou is worth attention. Why would an ordinary room service employee make the Fourth Miss of the Ying Family care so much? There must be some secret about her."
Zhao Sili's face changed.
She had never thought about it from this angle.
She only wanted to protect Tao Xinrou, to let others know she wasn't someone to mess with.
But in the end, she had harmed her instead.
"I didn't know... I thought it was good for Xinrou..." Zhao Sili's voice grew softer. She hung her head, at a loss.
"I know you meant well, but good intentions can sometimes lead to bad outcomes."
Zhao Sili lowered her head and was silent for a long time.
"I'll handle this. You go do your work well."
"How will you handle it? How will you get Xinrou back to work? Do you know? Xinrou has had a hard life since she was a child. She fell into the water when she was young and almost died. She barely survived, and then her father died unexpectedly. She had to take care of her sick mother and work her way through school. In college, she did all kinds of part-time jobs, and after work, she would go to the market to grab cheap vegetables. In winter, she only had one down jacket. When it was washed and couldn't dry by the next day, she would wear it wet..."
Ying Jingsheng listened, his eyes flickering slightly.
He didn't answer, just walked toward his office.
"Cousin, Xinrou likes you so much. You can't just leave her in the lurch, right?"
Ying Jingsheng paused in his steps and turned to look at her. His gaze seemed to contain all the answers.
"I said I'll handle it. You only need to know that she will be fine."
*
When she got home, her mother was already asleep. Tao Xinrou tiptoed in, grabbed her change of clothes, and soaked herself in the bathroom.
The fatigue of the day couldn't be washed away by hot water. She was still thinking about how to explain to her mother tomorrow that she didn't need to go to work for a few days.
Maybe she could lie and say she took annual leave, and she could spend a few days at home with her mother.
But she hadn't been at the job for a year yet. Would her mother suspect something?
Forget it, she wouldn't think about it now. She wouldn't go to sleep with a bad mood.
But her stomach betrayed her with a growl.
Because she had been waiting for news, she forgot to eat dinner.