It was a European-style standalone villa nestled among green hills and clear waters, grand yet elegant.
Fang Rong parked, and Tao Xinrou got out carrying the gift bag.
"When we see Miss Lin, don't be nervous. She looks tough, but she's not a bad person. She even keeps seven stray cats."
"How do you know?" Tao Xinrou asked curiously.
Fang Rong touched his nose and looked away. "Oh, I happened to overhear her telling her assistant at the party."
Tao Xinrou didn't press further and followed Fang Rong into the villa.
Soon, the assistant opened the door and politely welcomed them in. As soon as the door opened, a few cats rubbed against their legs and meowed.
The living room was luxuriously but tastefully decorated. Lin Zhizhi was curled up on the sofa, holding a cat and watching a movie, not even glancing at them.
Tao Xinrou handed over the gift and said sincerely, "Miss Lin, I'm truly sorry for this incident. It gave you a bad experience. The hotel has seriously rectified the relevant procedures. This is a small token of our apology. Please don't take it to heart."
Lin Zhizhi waved her hand lazily. "Take your stuff away. I don't accept junk in my house. Do as you please."
Seeing that Lin Zhizhi had no intention of accepting, Tao Xinrou's heart sank slightly.
She glanced at Fang Rong beside her, a questioning look in her eyes.
What should they do? Lin Zhizhi wasn't satisfied with their gift.
Fang Rong stepped forward and said earnestly, "Miss Lin, this mistake was indeed our oversight. The hotel has deeply reflected on it. We will strengthen the material management of the VIP area in the future, and such a situation will never happen again. For the missing bottle of wine, we've prepared an equivalent gift. Please take a look."
Hearing Fang Rong's voice, Lin Zhizhi slowly turned her head. Her gaze fell on him, and after a pause, she asked, "What's your name?"
Fang Rong was slightly taken aback, then stammered, "My name is Fang Rong."
Lin Zhizhi looked at him for a few more seconds before turning back to the movie. "You look a lot like a childhood playmate of mine. But he should be living abroad now."
Tao Xinrou's ears perked up instantly. All her gossip and alert cells boiled at the same time.
Just now, when Fang Rong said he knew Lin Zhizhi kept seven stray cats, she felt he had let something slip. Now it was confirmed that Lin Zhizhi knew him. The upper-class circle was indeed small!
Now let's see how the president would refute that.
Fang Rong showed a shy smile, flattered. "Miss Lin is joking. What a coincidence."
"Xiao Wu, get them something to drink. I'm going to sleep," Lin Zhizhi said, then got up and left on her own.
The assistant called Xiao Wu led them to another meeting room. A kitten meowed and ran to Tao Xinrou. She bent down to pet its head and murmured, "So cute."
But the assistant just said while making tea, "You two are really lucky. My lady never offers tea to anyone."
Tao Xinrou's hand paused on the cat. She nodded and said, "Thank you."
The kitten, however, ran to Ying Jingsheng, meowed, and jumped onto his lap.
Ying Jingsheng's face stiffened noticeably. He didn't move, trying to signal the assistant to take the cat away, but probably didn't know how to ask. Seeing this, the assistant went to pick up the cat. "This cat is really strange today, being so affectionate with you."
But her next sentence made Tao Xinrou's hair stand on end: "By the way, you should still take the gift back. My lady said she's going to sleep, but she actually finds you annoying. She has a bad temper when she wakes up. If she sees you still here, she'll definitely get angry."
Who said Lin Zhizhi wasn't a bad person?
Tao Xinrou looked at Ying Jingsheng. He scratched his head, stood up, and signaled her to leave.
*
After delivering the gift and getting rid of Li Meili's harassment, Tao Xinrou finally had the energy to advance the long-delayed investigation into her father's case.
Her father had died in an accident while working at a hotel under the Yunlu Group. The official conclusion was "operational error," but Tao Xinrou had always felt something was off. Especially after gaining her precognitive ability, she became more convinced that her father's death was no accident.
Coincidentally, due to the exposure of Li Meili's problem, the newly appointed head of the housekeeping department, Wei Hao, received a notice from higher-ups to organize all the archives over the years to prevent any client information from being missed.
Tao Xinrou volunteered for this task. Now, a huge pile of archive boxes lay on her desk waiting to be sorted, and a thought crossed her mind—
Could her father's file be among them?
Tao Xinrou found Wei Hao. "Supervisor Wei, I've found that some work records in the archives I'm organizing are incomplete. I'd like to apply to go to the archives room to supplement them and improve our department's data ledger."
Wei Hao was busy with paperwork. He looked up at her, thought for a moment, and nodded. "Sure, go ahead. Just finish it as soon as possible."
With permission, Tao Xinrou went to the headquarters.
Standing in front of the towering headquarters building, her heart surged.
She was finally one step closer to the truth.
Tao Xinrou clenched her fist and walked into the lobby.
This wasn't her first time here. She had come twice before—once for an interview and once to submit documents. But this time felt different, as if the very air in the headquarters was more tense.
The archives room was on the seventh floor, requiring two security card swipes.
She explained her purpose. The front desk receptionist checked her employee badge and said she needed to make a call. Tao Xinrou gripped the hem of her clothes.
But after a moment, the receptionist smiled apologetically. "Sorry, Miss Tao. Your application doesn't have sufficient clearance. You need approval from a department director or higher to enter."
"I have the signed approval from the housekeeping department supervisor." Tao Xinrou handed over the stamped form from Wei Hao.
The receptionist took it, examined it carefully, but still shook her head. "This says 'approved to access internal departmental archives,' but you want to enter the group's central repository. That requires the signature of the branch general manager or the headquarters department head. Sorry."
Tao Xinrou stood in the hallway, looking at the rejected application form, and suddenly felt very cold.
Rules, permissions, approvals.
Every word was like an iron door slowly closing, shutting her out.
And behind that door lay the evidence about her father. It seemed she would have to ask Ying Jingsheng for help after all.
Author's note:
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