And just like that, Chen Jing had adopted the stance of an innocent bystander. She operated as normal in front of the big boss and silently admitted to the fact that Yan Shuyu had resigned. At the end of the day, it was Manager Xu who approved the resignation. This had nothing to do with her.

The adult world was rarely ever just black and white. The conservative way of thinking was just another stance, nothing about right or wrong. That’s why when Chen Jing decided to pretend that she knew nothing about the incident, everything was calm and normal around her. With some observation, it wasn’t difficult to notice how well the big boss was able to remain calm in the face of events.

He was, indeed, a big boss in the corporate world. The female employee who had been taking care of his daily chores, who has had lots of interactions with him, and most recently, interaction outside the realm of her job responsibilities had just up and left. Most people would at least ask about it, but their big boss didn’t even blink, as though this person had never existed.

For a while, Chen Jing had to wonder if the matter had already been blown over. Just when she was feeling ashamed of herself, and thinking that she really should try to learn from her big boss and stop sweating over small things, he suddenly broached the subject out of the blue.

This morning, Chen Jing had just finished up her night shift and had planned on taking off and heading home after she saw the big boss out. Inside the elevator, as though they were just randomly chitchatting, the big boss asked in the most casual of all tones, “Manager Chen, it seemed your other colleague hadn’t been here for the last couple of days.”

They were inside the VIP-only elevator at the time. It wasn’t exactly super fancy, but it was definitely more spacious than a normal elevator. Inside this not-so-small space was their entire group of five. Naturally, Boss Zhou wasi n the middle. His special assistants, Louis and Robin, flanked him on both sides, with Chen Jing and the lobby manager in the far back. Even standing just next to the back corners of the elevator, Chen Jing felt incredibly exposed because, in perfect coordination, everybody turned and looked at her immediately after Boss Zhou finished asking his question.

She could ignore the lobby manager who was oblivious to the truth, but even Louis and Robin had put on their innocent looks to enjoy the show. Chen Jing felt a sudden onset of a headache.

The “other colleague” that Boss Zhou had mentioned was obviously referring to Yan Shuyu. As Chen Jing was worried about other “incidents”, she never took on another assistant since Yan Shuyu had quit. It had only been just her and Xiao Lin covering everything the last couple of days. Truth be told, she didn’t have a good reason, otherwise, she would even let Xiao Lin go. Once bitten, twice shy. She’d rather suck it up and take on the responsibilities herself.

And the big boss had to bring this up. Chen Jing moaned silently. Luckily, she had emulated the scene of the big boss interrogating her the two days following the incident, so she was no stranger to this. With a look of sudden realization, her acting every bit rival that of the two special assistants, she said, “Oh! Boss Zhou must be referring to Xiao Yan, Yan Shuyu, right? I forgot to mention, she had resigned.”

“Resigned?” Zhou Qinghe turned around and looked at her. A slight smile on him, as though amused, he asked, “When did that happen?”

“Last Wednesday, exactly a week ago.” What Chen Jing wanted to add was: that’s the day of the event, and our Xiao Yan had promptly and unequivocally made the decision to quit on the spot.

Of course, one as brilliant as the big boss didn’t need any reminders from her. He figured it out almost immediately. Chen Jing seemed to have noticed him licking his back teeth, then slowly a smile appeared on him and he said, “Is that so?”

Chen Jing felt a bit anxious. What’s “is that so”? Whatever did he mean by that?

At this very critical moment, the clueless lobby manager, Wu Liang, stepped up to save her. Even though he didn’t know about the incident, he felt he could relate when Boss Zhou suddenly asked about the prettiest girl at Hotel Dorsett. They were both men after all. He was quite bummed out too when he found out that the pretty girl had resigned. He took this opportunity to ask Chen Jing, “But, Manager Chen, didn’t Xian Yan just join Hotel Dorsett? Why did she leave all of a sudden? If I remember correctly, she didn’t put in any notice either?”

Excellent question, Manager Wu! Chen Jing immediately offered up the explanation, “Honestly, I only found out about Xiao Yan’s resignation from Manager Xu. It was personal reasons that she will be tied up, that’s why she didn’t have time to put in any notice. She would even have to take the deduction in her check.”

Wu Liang was genuinely curious. He took a sneak peak at Boss Zhou and, seeing that he didn’t exhibit any signs of being impatient, figured that he was somehow interested as well, so he boldly continued his line of questioning, “What was so urgent? She is not sick, is she?”

Chen Jing gave her old colleague a secret thumbs up. With an innocent look, she shook her head and carried on, “Xiao Yan wasn’t sick; her kid was.”

Manager Wu smacked himself on his forehead and laughed, “Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Xiao Yan looked like someone straight out of college, but she got married early. If I remember correct correctly, her kid is already in kindergarten? A single mother with a child, that must be difficult.”

“Exactly,” Chen Jing had nothing against Manager Xu. She felt somewhat bad to have placed all the blame on her, so she defended her by saying, “Exactly, Manager Xu only approved her resignation with her special situation in mind. I’d be inclined to agree with her, she was in a rough spot indeed.”

As they were chitchatting, they had already exited the elevator and walked through the hotel lobby.

There weren’t a lot of guests in the hotel lobby at 8:30 AM, and just a few hotel employees. The lobby seemed empty, and they quickly arrived at the front entrance of the hotel. Boss Zhou’s car had already been waiting there for a while. Once their master had gotten inside the car, it didn’t take long before it started up and took off in front of everyone.

Chen Jing and Wu Liang were the only two left in front of the hotel entrance.

This entire time, it was just Chen Jing and Wu Liang chitchatting with each other. The big boss merely brought up the subject and never expressed anything else. He looked nonchalant, and it was difficult to guess his thoughts. Thus, even after he was gone, Chen Jing was still standing there dumbfounded and wondering if she had dodged a bullet.

Even though Boss Zhou didn’t say anything, he didn’t seem upset either. She should be fine then?

While Chen Jing was still comforting herself, Boss Zhou, sitting in his car, had already taken off his unfathomable pretense.

In the car, there was also the driver and his two special assistants, all of them had been his trusted aids for many years. It’d look like Zhou Qinghe was leaning against the back of the seat relaxing with his eyes closed, but his slender finger was drumming on and off on his knee – his habit when he was in deep thought.

After a while, Zhou Qinghe opened his eyes and chuckled, “Resigning the very next day. What do you think was the meaning of that?”

Louis and Robin exchanged a look and both were baffled. The boss was still thinking about that?

They all say women were moody, how’d they know the meaning of it? Probably just playing hard to get to pique your sexual interest. And it looked like it had worked like a champ too.

As good employees, the other party’s intention and process were not important. What was important was that their boss’s interest had been piqued, and now it’s their job to assist him in any way that they can.

In the most serious tone, Louis started to say, “Since she is facing difficulty at home, would it seem a little heartless to dock her pay? I suggest to make an exception for an exceptional situation, have this lady come back, sign the document, and pay her the full amount of her wages.” She was obviously a smart woman. All she needed was an opportunity, and she could take it and run from there.

Robin had the same thought but, unfortunately, did not beat Louis in expressing his opinion. So not much he could do except to nod and said, “I second Louis’s suggestion. We should have Manager Chen handle this. She had been Miss Yan’s direct supervisor. Coming from her will make it seem more caring.”

The key being that this Manager Chen also knew of the incident and, being a smart individual, she’d know what to do.

With competent assistants like them, the boss didn’t need to worry about anything.

Zhou Qinghe smiled lightly and did not comment.

Louis and Robin didn’t say much more either. Their boss’s intention could not be clearer. Which was how Chen Jing, who had just stepped foot inside her own house, received a call from the managing director, Han Yu.

Han Yu’s call was very business-like. All he said was that when an employee was facing difficulties, it was their responsibility to assist them. And that a large corporation should be caring and not turned their backs to their employees, or even former employees. And that they should provide a helping hand at their former employee’s difficult moments moments and show their genuine concerns. And Chen Jing, as the direct supervisor, was the natural candidate for this assignment.

The managing director never once mention the big boss, but Chen Jing was no spring chick. She had been working at Hotel Dorsett for several years and climbed from a small hotel staff to her current position. Sure, the company was more generous than many of their peers, but as rich as the company was, she had never seen such a philanthropic act coming from them. One didn’t need too much intelligence to figure out the reason behind this.

Personally, Chen Jing didn’t want to get too involved in this. Her job was stable, the pay was good, and the workload was light. She was happy staying at this cozy level and never had much ambition about continuing climbing up the ladder or making even more money. So, naturally, she never had the awareness of sharing the boss’s issues.

Unfortunately, she was already called out by her supervisor to be the point person in this. It wouldn’t be easy to weasel out of it, so she resorted to be the caring ambassador to the former employee.

When Yan Shuyu received her call, she almost started crying tears of joy. “Manager Chen, is that true? All I needed to do is sign the paperwork and I will be able to get my full-month’s salary? Can I come over now?”

“Now?” As much as Chen Jing had prepared herself for this, Yan Shuyu’s reaction still made her grumble. If you so urgently need the money, why did you bother with playing hard to get in the first place?” She smiled quickly, “Now is not a good time for me. How about you come by tomorrow?”

“But tomorrow is the weekend?” Yan Shuyu was a bit hesitant.

Exactly because it’s the weekend, that’s why that big boss will be at the hotel in the day time. Chen Jing smiled in a loaded way. Just when she thought Yan Shuyu had got the hint, she heard her worried voice coming from the other end of the phone, “Isn’t the hotel’s Treasury closed tomorrow?”

Chen Jing, “……”

Was this girl’s purpose the big boss or her paycheck? She was getting progressively more confused by the development of this.

But, on second thought, Chen Jing came to the conclusion that that couldn’t be her real purpose. After all, if she didn’t have a few tricks up her sleeve, she wouldn’t dare make the big boss her target, right?

Chen Jing nodded and said, “You just come by, I’ll inform Treasury.”

Yan Shuyu felt better and happily said into the phone, “That’s wonderful. I will see you tomorrow then. Bye-bye!”