Closer Little Spy Chapter 2

Under the leaders.h.i.+p of Xu Bai Ren, Qiao Xuan and the rest of the kitchen staff were able to prepare for the wedding feast at noon.

It was a busy day, but the wedding feast finally ended.  Both sets of parents were very satisfied, and the guests had a great time.

Dealing with such a big event on the first day of work really gave Qiao Xuan a shock and it also taught her a lesson.

“Okay?  Please eat, the general manager will come speak to us soon.”  After the wedding, we finally got a chance to eat.  Qiao Xuan had only sat down and ate half of her meal when Xu Bai Ren motioned for her to come over.

“The general manager?  He came over?”  Hearing these three words Qiao Xuan’s eyes lit up.

This must be the general manager that Dad has tried many times to curry favor with, right?

“Of course, the general manager just came back from abroad.  He will be working at the Taipei headquarters.  When the general manager visits a branch, he likes to speak to all the staff.  Today is no exception, so remember to be here before four.  The general manager doesn’t like tardiness.”

“Yes, I’ll remember.”  Qiao Xuan ate quickly, thinking about Xu Bai Ren’s words.

The employees began to gather, and no one wanted to be late.  It seems that the presence of the general manager is quite a big deal.  She wonders if he is bald or a fat old man?

Qiao Xuan hastily entered the kitchen where dozens of employees have begun the queue.  She was just a rookie, and according to the position, only ranked in the last row of the team.

“Really, it’s going to be hard to see the general manager.”  The pet.i.te woman next to Qiao Xuan tried hard to stand on tiptoes, but still was not able to see through the ma.s.ses of dark heads to the front.

Not long after, Qiao Xuan heard a burst of applause in front.  She deduced that the general manager has appeared.

“My colleagues, h.e.l.lo!  I’m the general manager of Fu Hua.  My name is Ji Yu Heng.  From now on, I will be working at the Taipei headquarters.”

The crowd was blocking the line of sight, so she could only hear his voice.  The female staff looked pleased showing a high degree of interest, and began whispering to one another about the general manager.

Hmm…  The voice sounded young, so he shouldn’t be old.  But why does it sound a bit familiar?

After Yu Heng introduced himself, he got to the point.  He first reiterated the hotel business philosophy, and then shared the company’s goals for the next several years.

“Every employee in our hotel is a very important element.  I hope that we can work harder, and keep the momentum of progress at Fu Hua.”

After his speech, he paused for a while before continuing, “And in order for Fu Hua to maintain that momentum, it has to do a lot with our staff.  Here, I’d like to give praise to one of our staff personally…  Where is Yu Qiao Xuan?”  Yu Heng suddenly called out a strange name, so the staff looked around confused.

“Yu Qiao Xuan?  Who is that ah?”  The staff tried to place the name with a face, but Qiao Xuan was unaware what was happening.

“Hey, the general manager is calling you!”  The only one that knows Qiao Xuan, Xu Bai Ren jolted her.

“What?  Me?”  Her first day on the job, and the general manager…  Was she that famous already? But the general manager has never seen her.  How does he know about her?

While Qiao Xuan was busy thinking of a reason, Yu Heng has spotted her among the staff.

In order to make way for Yu Heng, the staff parted like the Red Sea.  Yu Heng made his way slowly until he was standing directly in front of Qiao Xuan.

Along with the confusion and curiosity of the staff, there was also growing envy and jealousy in their eyes as they focused on Qiao Xuan.

“Uh…”  As a rookie, to suddenly become the focus of attention was really overwhelming.

Looking at the handsome man in front of her, she could understand why her female colleagues were so excited about him.

“Hi Miss Yu.”  Yu Heng revealed a harmless smile.

“h.e.l.lo general manager.”  The power of the charming smile almost made her dizzy.

“Thank you very much just now.”  Yu Heng bowed slightly to her.

“Just now?”  Qiao Xuan frowned in confusion.

She was starting to put the pieces together.  The present general manager and the apprentice she met this morning…

“You, you, you…”  Qiao Xuan pointed at him in surprise.

“My colleagues, I would like to commend Miss Yu.  This morning my shower head broke and it was Miss Yu who fixed it for me.  She is really an enthusiastic employee.  Although she is a kitchen a.s.sistant, but she is willing to go above and beyond her job description to help.  Our hotel needs more employees like herself.  Please give Miss Yu an applause.”

Although Qiao Xuan has scored more than envy points with the staff, since the general manager has given her praise, they reluctantly clapped.

“Oh, thank you.  Thank you, general manager.”  Qiao Xuan embarra.s.sedly smiled twice.

Although the situation was a little embarra.s.sing, but at present it didn’t seem like a bad thing.

Yu Heng suddenly changed the subject.  “But I’d like to remind Miss Yu about one thing.  Enthusiasm is good, but one needs to remember about propriety.  Let’s say, I got up in a hurry this morning and didn’t have time to change.  I rushed down to find some tools and ran into Miss Yu.  Upon seeing me, she thought I was a b.u.m and advised me to take better care of my appearance.”  Yu Heng last words provoked a laugh from the staff.

“I…”  Qiao Xuan didn’t think he’d suddenly stab her in the back.  She was completely caught off guard and blushed red.  Even if she wanted to retort, he was the general manager after all.

“Miss Yu, our guests might be rich, but when they wake up they will also have a slovenly appearance.  You can’t dispute that point, right?”

“Ha ha ha…”  Yu Heng’s ridicule made the staff laugh even harder.

“You…”  Qiao Xuan discovered behind the seemingly harmless smile, was in fact, a hidden evil.

This man was too hateful!  Intentionally using this method to avenge her in the guise of a praise.  She even lost her morning to help him!

“Okay everyone, let’s not do this to Miss Yu on her first day.  Of course, I know she did that unintentionally, but remember we work in the service industry.  Everyone should be cautious, and use Miss Yu as an example to learn.  In the future, let’s treat our guests with more care.”

Having gained the upper hand, Yu Heng was still not satisfied and got in a last cheap-shot.

The meeting coming to an end, and everyone prepared to get back to work.  But before taking his leave, Ju Heng leaned into her ear so she could only hear.

“Yes, you’re absolutely right.  We don’t understand the hards.h.i.+ps of the world, we’re really hateful.”  Yu Heng smiled at Qiao Xuan, but he no longer hid the malicious intent.

“You…”  Qiao Xuan was so fuming at this reverse situation, but she really couldn’t retaliate.

Yu Heng looked triumphantly at her, and Qiao Xuan confirmed one thing.

It seems her Dad was right, the general manager of Fu Hua really is a psychotic profiteer!

d.a.m.n, it’s going to be a problem convincing him to buy the B & B now that they are considered enemies.  She’s decided to tell her Dad she was willing to work together to take down this enemy.

Ji Yu Heng?  She’ll remember this.  Just wait and see how I’ll deal with you!

Although she has made up her mind, she didn’t dare to act alone while in the enemy camp.

In front of everyone, Yu Jeng has targeted her, so all the staff instantly recognized her.  It would be impossible for her to carry out her plans in this state.

She would lay low at first.  Familiarize herself with the environment, and slowly gather intelligence.

“The general manager usually stays at the headquarters right?  He wouldn’t bother too much with the day to day operations of the restaurant.”

Qiao Xuan has been with Fu Hua for almost a month now.  Using her naturally cheerful character, she has integrated well with hotel staff, especially kitchen chief Xu Bai Ren.  She’s become best friends with the restaurant staff establis.h.i.+ng an intelligence pool.

“This is hard to say.  Although the hotel has a corporate headquarter, but the general manager is special.  He’s meticulous and doesn’t like to waste his time listening to presentations at the office all day.  He usually focuses his attention on the individual hotels.  For example, if performance needs improvement, or a new project is to be implemented, he will work together with you directly.  This is in order to obtain first-hand data of hotel operations.”

“So serious ah.”  Qiao Xuan frowned, rubbing her chin.  “Why is he so particular?  Has all our general managers always been like this?”

“No, he is the only one.  Our previous general manager was his uncle, but I heard that there’s currently a power struggle within the family, and he was ousted out.  I don’t know the particular details so it’s inconvenient to say.”  Xu Bai Ren shrugged.  He usually didn’t like gossip and could care less about the general manager.

“Oh.”  Despair was written all over her face.

This was her second or third week working in the kitchen.  There were very few opportunities to run into Ji Yu Heng.  From her colleagues, she wasn’t able to get any useful information either. The differences in their positions were too large, and their work duties were too different.  It was not easy to manufacture an encounter.  It seems the task was too difficult to continue.

“Why?  Have you become infatuated with the general manager like the other female staff and want to take the initiative to pursue him?” Xu Bai Ren teased.

Since the meeting that day, all the female staff began to dream and have delusions of idol drama plots happening to them.

“Me?  For G.o.d’s sake.”  Qiao Xuan snorted with disdain.

“When it comes to the general manager, he is indeed strange.”  Xu Bai Ren remembered something.

“Really?  What is it?”  Her curiosity stirred.

“In the past couple of weeks, he told me not to throw away any unused ingredients or produce.  If there were leftover ingredients or produce from the guest rooms, then I should store them until he comes to collect them every Sunday.”

“Ingredients?  Produce?”  Qiao Xuan mused.  It was completely unexpected.

“Yes.”  Xu Bai Ren nodded.

“What does he want the ingredients and produce for?”  Qiao Xuan doesn’t understand.

“I don’t know, but every Sunday morning, he will come to collect the them.  After that, I don’t know.”  Xu Bai Ren shrugged.

“I see.”  Qiao Xuan was pondering over this new discovery.

These days for fear of being discovered, she hasn’t taken much action.  If she wanted things to progress, then she’d have to be proactive.

So when this Sunday came, Qiao Xuan set out to track him.

Early in the morning, she sat in a taxi across from the hotel waiting for Yu Heng to arrive.  In order not to be recognized by her colleagues, she used a hat and mask to disguise herself.

“Miss, won’t you suffer a heatstroke in that?”  The taxi driver watched her through the rearview mirror.  She was bundled in a large overcoat.

“No, I usually go out wearing this.  You don’t have to worry about…  Ah yes, Mr. Driver, could I trouble you to turn on the air conditioner please?  Thank you.”

Qiao Xuan turned her attention back to the staff entrance of the hotel.

After waiting for an hour, Ji Yu Heng’s white SUV finally appeared.

“He’s here!”  Spotting the target, Qiao Xuan was both excited and nervous.

Ji Yu Heng parked beside the staff entrance.  Xu Bai Ren came out and loaded his car with baskets and baskets of food.  Afterwards, he got in his car ready to move to the next location.

“Mr. Driver, that white SUV in front, quickly follow him.”  Qiao Xuan hurried the driver.

“Sure, sit tight ah!”  The taxi driver changed lanes, and followed Ji Yu Heng’s car.

Forty minutes later, Ji Yu Heng stopped his car.

“We’ve arrived, is this it?”  The taxi driver stopped and turned to ask Qiao Xuan.

Qiao Xuan looked at where Ji Yu Heng parked his car in front of an orphanage.  It made her even more confused than ever.

“Uh, I think so.”  Anyway, she’s followed him all this way, might as well see this to the end. “How much is my fare?”

“Two thousand eight hundred TWD.”

“Two…  Wait, how much?!  Two thousand eight hundred TWD!”  Qiao Xuan looked in her wallet, alarmed.

“Yes Miss.  I accompanied you for over an hour.  I have also given you a discount.”

“Oh, okay.”  Although her heart was bleeding, but Qiao Xuan still pulled three crisp one thousand TWD and handed over the bills.

Looking at what she had left, is she going to have enough to get home?

Qiao Xuan got out of the car a distance of fifty meters from the orphanage.  She saw a child and woman come out to help Ji Yu Heng with the baskets.  She waited until they disappeared into the orphanage before approaching surrept.i.tiously herself.

“What’s he doing with so much food for the orphanage?”  Qiao Xuan’s heart is full of doubt.

The architecture of the orphanage was that of a small school.  The entire peripheral was surrounded by iron gates, so Qiao Xuan can easily watch from the outside.

She walked along the gates, stopping halfway.  She saw Ji Yu Heng behind the orphanage kitchen, while the woman helped him put lunch together.

The orphanage kitchen was not part of the building, but stood separately behind the building near the gates.  Therefore, from where Qiao Xuan was standing she could clearly hear their conversation.

Afraid of being discovered, Qiao Xuan hid behind a pillar.

“Thank you, Yu Heng.  Every week you bring us too much.”  The woman said.

“Don’t think anything of it, Dean.  You insisted I don’t spend any money, but these came from the restaurants.  They are leftover ingredients, so there’s plenty more.”  Yu Heng smiled back at her.

Qiao Xuan listened to their conversation, while trying to resolve the present situation.

Isn’t he one of those rich people that didn’t know the hards.h.i.+ps of the world?  Why is he doing something so inconsistent with his image?

Even to trouble Xu Bai Ren for ingredients, and driving here himself to cook the food.  Why is he so good to the orphanage?  What is his relations.h.i.+p with the Dean?  Or maybe he has a personal connection to the orphanage?

Did…he grow up in the orphanage?

Qiao Xuan covered her mouth from gasping out loud in surprise.

My G.o.d, perhaps this really is the case.  Didn’t a similar story air on TV once?  Wow, if this is true, it’s big gossip!

“Phone, phone, phone…”  Qiao Xuan retrieved her phone from her bag.

Even if it turned out to be false, it’ll still be of good use.

Qiao Xuan thought she embodied the image of a paparazzi, hiding in a bush taking candid photos of Ji Yu Heng.

At this time, Ji Yu Heng was sorting through the fruits and vegetables.  Because they were not fresh, he had to sort them one by one.

“Letting the children eat rotten food?  Hey, she could use that as a news headline, it’s quite good ah.”  Although he had sorted out the freshest ones, but she took pictures of him dealing with the rotten ones too.  If she were to accuse him of feeding children rotten food, he would have no evidence to refute!

It seems that the news media’s approach to using “a picture is worth a thousand words” is really very useful.

“Ha ha ha…”  Qiao Xuan happily took more photos.  Today’s trip was really worth it!

Qiao Xuan didn’t leave immediately afterwards.  She wanted to continue to observe in order to discover more.

Ji Yu Heng proceeded to cook lunch according to the Dean’s instructions, but he was not good at cooking.  The orphanage seemed to be short on staff today so the Dean had to stay in the room to take care of children.  Therefore, he was left alone to his own devises.

From her hiding spot watching him cook, she suddenly felt strange.

She felt the Ji Yu Heng before her and the general manager Ji Yu Heng were not the same person.

The usual general manager Ji Yu Heng was perfect in everything he did.  He would never make mistakes, or hesitate on a decision.  From his expression you couldn’t guess what he was thinking.  Most of the time, he had a poker face.  Even an occasional smile was plain and demure.

Qiao Xuan impression of Ji Yu Heng was that of a human robot.

But now he is quite different.

She watched him cooking awkwardly.  Although he made a lot of mistakes, but he was careful to do every step.  When he completed a step, he would smile.  The smile was not his usual businesslike perfunctory smile, but a smile that emanated from within full of happiness and contentment.

Qiao Xuan suddenly felt the Ji Yu Heng in front of her was…  So cute.

If she hadn’t seen with her own eyes, she would’ve never known how cute he was, right?

Qiao Xuan didn’t realize she was changing.  From being on alert, careful, and nervous, to slowly becoming soft.  She even forgot she was hiding here to get dirt on Ji Yu Heng, rather than blindly admiring his cooking.

“Too much salt is no good for the children…  Uh, the fish is not steamed.  How do you cover this with the lid…”  Qiao Xuan looked more fascinated, even worrying about Ji Yu Heng’s cooking.

“Yu Heng, can you come and help me?”  Suddenly, the Dean called to him.

“Alright, coming.”  Yu Heng set the spoon down, ready to go inside.

“Oh no, the gas…”  Qiao Xuan nervously stood up.  Sure enough, the mung bean soup from the pot overflowed.  “General manager, the pot!”

Qiao Xuan shouted in alarm, exposing herself.

“You?”  Yu Heng looked back at Qiao Xuan, then turned to switch off the gas.  “What are you doing here?”

“The…”  d.a.m.n, she shouldn’t have taken of the mask and hat.

Qiao Xuan slipped across the iron gates.  Under Ji Yu Heng’s scrutiny, she s.h.i.+vered.

The lovable Ji Yu Heng was gone.  Before her was the stern and cold general manager.

“Oh…  I was just…  Uh…”  Why does her mind go suddenly blank now?  Think ah, think of something…

“Is something wrong?  Yu Heng?”  The Dean came in to investigate the unusual sound, and discovered Qiao Xuan.  “Huh?  Is this girl your friend?”

“h.e.l.lo, I work for the general manager at the hotel.  I was just pa.s.s by here, and didn’t expect to meet the general manager, so I stopped to greet him.  Oh, I see you’re short on hands?  It just so happens I can cook.  I can help you.”  Qiao Xuan implored the Dean like a drowning man caught on a piece of driftwood, focusing on her immediately.

“Well, that’s good!  I was worried about leaving Yu Heng in here by himself.  Yu Heng, leave the kitchen to the Miss.  You come help me teach the children how to do their homework.  Okay?”

“I…  Yeah sure, no problem.”  Yu Heng gave the Dean a faight smile, then turned to stare at Qiao Xuan.

This woman thought to use the Dean as a s.h.i.+eld?  Never mind, there’ll be chances to question her later.

“If it’s no trouble Miss, then come to the front and I’ll open the door for you.”

“Well, thank you.”  Qiao Xuan felt temporarily relieved.

Fortunately, the Dean came in time.  Otherwise, she wouldn’t know what to do.

She should take this time to think of countermeasures.  Ji Yu Heng is not so simple to deal with.