The nights have been getting later these past two days, and I’ll rise earlier tomorrow.
---------------------------
Zhao Qiyan and Lin Xiaohua, mother and daughter, were currently standing at the entrance of the guest house. They had caught up with Xiao Yuwen and climbed onto the vehicle, not daring to utter a sound along the way. Both mother and daughter could see from Xiao Yuwen’s bruised face and swollen mouth, which resembled a pig’s snout, that he was in a very bad mood.
If it weren’t for having spoken too confidently and offending everyone from the Zhao’s house and Lin Family earlier, they wouldn’t be so eager to run over and get snubbed. At this point, where else could they turn?
Abandoned in this unfamiliar place, Zhao Qiyan and Lin Xiaohua were panicking. Catching her mother’s eye, Zhao Qiyan held onto the car door tightly, with a pitiable look, just as the vehicle was about to move away, "Big brother, what kind of work will we do? How can we find you? Big brother, you can’t just leave us ..."
Xiao Yuwen turned his head and gave her a cold glance. Zhao Qiyan involuntarily shrank back, feeling regret for her choice for the first time.
If Xiao Yuwen hadn’t intended to use the mother and daughter duo, he wouldn’t have bothered with them at all. Seeing Zhao Qiyan about to collapse, he turned his head back and nodded towards the short man seated beside him.
"Director, rest assured, I guarantee to complete the task." The short man solemnly promised Xiao Yuwen, then stepped out of the vehicle, and the car sped off at once.
The sudden departure of the vehicle threw the unprepared Zhao Qiyan to the ground. Scrambling up in a disheveled state, she looked at the short man with teary eyes, "Big brother, thank you for the trouble."
"You’re welcome," the man replied with a smile, "My name’s Liu Zhenqiang, I’m one of Director Xiao’s men. You two, come with me." He led the way towards the guest house as he spoke.
"Comrade Liu, thank you," Lin Xiaohua quickly said.
"Auntie, there’s no need to be so polite with me." While speaking, Liu Zhenqiang had already led the mother and daughter into the guest house. A woman in her forties was sitting behind the counter, lazily cracking sunflower seeds. Spotting Liu Zhenqiang, she immediately stood up with a smile, "Zhenqiang, what brings you here?"
Liu Zhenqiang pointed to the mother and daughter behind him and said, "These two comrades were brought here by Director Xiao’s orders. Please trouble Aunt Li with making arrangements for them."
The woman, known as Aunt Li, then looked at the mother and daughter with a smile plastered on her face, "Welcome, welcome, we happen to be short-handed here. Your arrival is a great help to us."
Hearing her say this, the mother and daughter relaxed their tense expressions. They hadn’t even dreamed of such a good job opportunity. Back home, only relatives of officials could work at a guest house!
Hmph, now, let’s see who would dare look down on them!
"Aunt Li, my name is Lin Xiaohua."
"I... My name is Zhao Qiyan."
The mother and daughter were eager to introduce themselves, but Aunt Li’s face showed an awkward smile, "You two, just call me Li Juanjuan..." Her gaze lingered on Lin Xiaohua, "I’m not as old as you are."
Lin Xiaohua quickly gestured dismissively, "No problem, no problem, I don’t mind."
"This..." Li Juanjuan then looked towards Liu Zhenqiang. Though not too impressed by the mother and daughter’s appearances, she didn’t dare to offend them without knowing the full story.
Liu Zhenqiang said, "Comrade Lin, Comrade Zhao, since you’ll be working here, you might as well call her Aunt Li or Deputy Director Li. She is the deputy director of this guest house."
"Fine, then we’ll call you Aunt Li in private," Lin Xiaohua said, laughing carelessly, "We’ve just arrived, so it’s right for us to show respect, otherwise Director Xiao might say we don’t know the rules."
After settling the mother and daughter in the dormitory, Li Juanjuan pulled Liu Zhenqiang aside and whispered, "What’s the background of these two?"
"No background," replied Liu Zhenqiang, glancing around and lowering his voice even more, "They’re just pawns in Director Xiao’s hands. You, do as you please with them."
"What do you mean?" Li Juanjuan looked puzzled, not quite grasping the meaning of Liu Zhenqiang’s words.
"Assign Lin Xiaohua to clean the toilets, and Zhao Qiyan to wash the bed sheets and quilts. Make sure they don’t slack off, got it?"
"Got it!" Now Li Juanjuan truly understood. It was all about pushing them to the limit. Although she didn’t know what kind of pawns they were, she liked having such pawns in her domain!
Meanwhile, the mother and daughter were blissfully unaware in their dormitory.
In a room of about ten square meters, with three bunk beds, one empty bed was allocated to the mother and daughter. Though the conditions were not great, it was still satisfactory for them.
Back in their hometown, though their house was bigger than this room, it was dark, dirty, and couldn’t compare to where they were now.