Qilan leaned against the wall, feeling dizzy.
She had lost her meal card two days ago and still hadn’t eaten a single bite since.
After being promoted from intern, she was transferred from the branch of Zana International Hotel to the headquarters. She didn’t know her colleagues well yet, and since the administrative office saw her as a new face, getting a replacement meal card kept getting postponed.
Technically, working in a hotel, sneaking into the kitchen to grab some bread wouldn’t have been too difficult. The problem was that Qilan had been too reckless before; she had exposed the food and beverage director for harassing a female subordinate. But the victim, afraid of being fired, had backtracked at the last minute, and that smug old fox had twisted the story around. In the end, Qilan was accused of making false accusations, leaving her, a newcomer, standing at the center of a storm of gossip and criticism. The director openly made things difficult for her, and those who liked to follow the tide kept their distance.
In other words, Qilan was now isolated.
It was the last thing her already poor life needed.
Later, she resented that waitress, the one who had cried and poured out her grievances, only to betray Qilan just when she had stepped up to help. But then she remembered the way the girl had tugged at her sleeve, her lips trembling as she said,
“Sister, I really… I can’t afford to lose this job.”
And Qilan couldn’t stay angry anymore.
She didn’t need to overthink it or try to understand. Because Qilan herself had lived a life more difficult and exhausting than most.
At eighteen, after losing her last family member, she had gritted her teeth through school on financial aid and part-time jobs. She stayed up late studying alongside grad school candidates, eventually standing out among thousands in her department to become a management trainee for the R·S Hotel Group. That was how she had been promoted to head waiter right after her internship.
Yet even after making it this far, she still hadn’t caught a break. She still had debts from her family member’s illness and student loans to pay off. If she lost this job, one that provided room and board in a warm place, she might freeze on the street before she could even find a new one.
Even beggars on the roadside probably weren’t as broke as Qilan!
Qilan looked up at the clock across the way. The hour hand pointed to six in the evening.
She took a deep breath, lifted her chin, and walked with poised elegance toward the presidential suite on the 72nd floor, the Cloud District.
Just yesterday, the chairman of Lanxing Real Estate Group, also the major owner of the Zana International Hotel building, had checked in with a massive entourage of bodyguards for an indefinite stay in the city’s most luxurious presidential suite.
The tycoon Liang Jianshi was renowned far and wide. Usually, anyone would jump at the chance to exchange a word with him. But now, this illustrious billionaire had become a hot potato; no one dared to volunteer as his private butler. After all, just one furrowed brow from him could ruin someone’s whole year.
The executives hung back, while the lower-level staff lacked the qualifications. So the “prize” landed on Qilan.
Who else? She was the only management trainee hired by the entire hotel.
Who else? She was just so exceptional that she had become the youngest head waiter in the hotel’s history.
Easy to push around, easy to use, easy to exploit, these three arrows were firmly pinned to Qilan, a perfect display of workplace cruelty toward newcomers.
But standing outside the presidential suite, Qilan was surprisingly calm. Hunger had left her unable to worry about anything long-term. She just wanted to finish her work, go back, and search her pockets; maybe she could scrape together a dollar or two to buy some steamed buns.
Qilan knocked three times. No answer. Remembering what her supervisor, Director Yu, had told her, she had no choice but to stand outside and wait.
It wasn’t until her back ached and her legs hurt, as she silently lamented the suffering of a corporate drone, that the door finally opened from the inside.
Out walked Liang Jianshi’s assistant. Qilan took the chance to greet him, but he didn’t even glance at her. One hand holding the door, he glanced at some group messages on his phone, then strode off with the air of a man with a thousand things to do. The door he casually swung shut nearly hit Qilan; she barely managed to slip inside just in time.
What startled her was how dim the room was. In broad daylight, the curtains were drawn tight, leaving no gap at all. Only a small wall lamp struggled to illuminate the massive living area, which stretched nearly a hundred square meters.
Wasn’t the whole point of the hotel’s Cloud District the breathtaking high-altitude view? Liang Jianshi was paying top dollar to stay here, yet he wasted the scenery; in Qilan’s eyes, it was downright baffling.
The room was quiet. None of the bodyguards Liang Jianshi had brought were around. Qilan couldn’t find anyone to ask, so she decided to wait in the living room. But this time, she didn’t have to wait long. She heard a slight sound, and a door up ahead swung open from a draft, revealing a corner of the study.
Seated at the desk was the famously powerful real estate mogul.
He looked young, with deep brown eyes and loosely curled hair, handsome features with a high nose and deep-set eyes.
He flipped through documents, his lashes, dark as a crow’s wings, resting quietly against his eyelids. Even seated, it was clear that when standing, he would be tall and imposing. He wore a casual ivory shirt that seemed to amplify the elegant, romantic cut of its design.
He looked less like a commanding corporate leader and more like an ancient Greek artist with a timeless depth.
Not wanting to disturb him, Qilan waited until he put down his pen and rose from his seat.
He came out to get water, and Qilan followed to give her a necessary introduction.
“Mr. Liang, good evening. I’m your private butler. Welcome to the hotel. From now on, any requests or concerns you have during your stay, please feel free to leave them with me.”
Liang Jianshi didn’t respond. He turned on the faucet to wash the ink stains from his hands.
When the sound of water faded, Qilan kept her smile steady: “I left a note on your bedside table with the internal line number. I’m available 24 hours a day. If you need anything, just call, and I’ll be by your side within five minutes.”
Twice ignored, it was getting awkward.
Maybe to ease the tension, Qilan quickly stepped forward when she saw the hot water beginning to bubble.
“Mr. Liang, I’ll get that.”
But Liang Jianshi reached the kettle first. As if he hadn’t noticed Qilan’s hand just beneath the spout, he poured the hot water. She yanked her hand back just in time to avoid being scalded.
Startled and confused, Qilan clutched her nearly-burned hand. She didn’t understand his behavior.
Greeting a guest was part of her job. She had already waited outside the door for ages to avoid disturbing him. With no handoff or coordination from his assistant, she had still braced herself for possible impatience and stood before him to complete the necessary work communication. The whole process had been agonizing enough.
Yet Liang Jianshi hadn’t dismissed her, nor did he look annoyed. Perplexed and caught between staying and leaving, Qilan chose to press on.
As she hurried through the rest of the spiel, her inner turmoil made her afraid to even look at him.
Only after saying the last word did she lift her head and force a smile. “There are bound to be details I’ve missed. If there’s anything you need, please feel free to call. I’m at your service throughout your stay.”
In the silence, where seconds felt like years, the smile at the corner of Qilan’s mouth had gone stiff.
Say something, anything. Give me an out.
With that earnest hope in her heart, Liang Jianshi rested his elbow on the sofa, pressed his thumb to his temple, exhaustion showing in the dim light, and finally spoke.
“I understand.”
Qilan: …
Later, she didn’t even remember how she made it back to her dorm. She only knew that surviving that encounter had taken enough out of her to last a lifetime.
She stared gloomily at the ceiling, frustrated but still staying by the phone, ready to rush to the suite within five minutes should he call.
Before long, the door opened, and a tall woman walked in.
Seeing Qilan sulking on the bed, Tong Tong sat down and touched her face. “Did you meet Liang Jianshi?”
Tong Tong was Qilan’s classmate. They hadn’t been close before, but now that the whole hotel was isolating Qilan, she was the only one willing to talk to her.
Tong Tong’s kindness in such a difficult time touched Qilan deeply; she practically treated her as a best friend now.
“Don’t even mention it. He’s exactly like the rumors say. And I keep feeling like he’s strange, but I can’t put my finger on why.”
Tong Tong smiled and leaned back. “Rumors are never reliable.”
Seeing that Tong Tong didn’t believe her, Qilan didn’t explain further.
After a moment of silence, Tong Tong consoled her earnestly, “Things will get better once you’ve spent more time together.”
Qilan felt like she might scratch her head bald. “I have to spend ‘more time’ with him? I can’t even stand one day.”
Tong Tong: “Don’t worry. It’s not like he’ll actually hurt you.”
Qilan almost laughed. “Actively hurt me? That would be flattering me.”
She lay back down, listless.
Qilan was no longer an overly emotional child. No matter how disrespectful Liang Jianshi was, she’d only be upset for a moment. After all, they lived in different worlds. Her bigger worry was that being ignored like this would make future work very inconvenient.
She couldn’t afford to lose this job.
According to the director’s instructions, Qilan was to do the turndown service that evening.
Liang Jianshi wasn’t there, but she ran into someone else.
A woman in an expensive suit stood before a piano in the living room, her eyes half-closed, fingers lightly grazing the body of the instrument.
Seeing Lin Anyuan here surprised Qilan.
Qilan knew Lin Anyuan, not because their social circles overlapped, but simply because this wealthy woman had once been a guest at the hotel where Qilan had interned.
The heiress loved throwing parties. She rented the hotel’s large suites on a long-term basis, and many famous celebrities would come to entertain her.
At the time, Qilan hadn’t been interning on the executive floors; there was no reason she should have ever crossed paths with Lin Anyuan. Yet one day, Lin Anyuan came looking for her. The situation had been utterly baffling.
“Are you Qilan?”
Qilan nodded, confused.
Lin Anyuan studied her for a long time, then gave a slight smirk. Something dimmed in her eyes, and she turned and walked away on her high heels.
To this day, Qilan still didn’t understand Lin Anyuan’s inexplicable hostility.
Now Lin Anyuan stood before the piano, lost in her own world, slowly opening the lid to reveal the pristine keys beneath.
This was Liang Jianshi’s piano, worth millions. The supervisor had specifically warned that under no circumstances should it be touched. And yet Lin Anyuan touched it without a second thought; she must have a close relationship with Liang Jianshi.
Just as Qilan was thinking this, she heard Lin Anyuan let out a cold laugh, her face wearing the same sneer Qilan had seen the first time they met.
Then Lin Anyuan spotted Qilan standing by the door.
Qilan’s heart tightened. She thought Lin Anyuan might say something to her, but the heiress’s gaze drifted past her, once again that aloof, condescending look. She walked calmly toward the door, and as she passed Qilan, the contempt in her eyes deepened.
After Lin Anyuan left, Qilan was about to start her work when she heard voices outside. Liang Jianshi was back. She needed to go out and greet him.
But the moment she reached the bedroom door, she heard Liang Jianshi’s furious voice.
“Who was here just now?”
His voice wasn’t loud, but it was sharp.
The assistants exchanged bewildered, frightened glances and shook their heads. The atmosphere was tense.
Clearly, Liang Jianshi was angry that Lin Anyuan had touched his piano.
Qilan felt it necessary to explain, but Liang Jianshi, looking at her, a stranger, was clearly at the end of his patience. He frowned and gave a low command: “Everyone out. Close the door.”
The assistants scrambled out in fear, and Qilan was shut out as well.
Calming a guest was part of her job, and telling the truth would protect the hotel’s interests. But she obviously couldn’t knock and disturb him now.
What she never expected was to be fired like this.
She had only left the dorm for a short while, and her belongings had already been replaced. She ran to the employee wall, and her photo had been torn down.
Qilan had imagined a thousand ways she might lose her job due to a mistake, but never like this, because of such an unjust accusation.
Down in the hotel lobby, Liang Jianshi’s car was pulling out of the garage. He was draped in a black coat, leaving the hotel in a hurry.
Qilan had no choice. She had to catch him before he left and clear up the misunderstanding.
She called out a few times, but he didn’t respond. So she quickened her pace to chase after him. She must have been running too fast, on an empty stomach. As soon as she stepped outside, the glare of the sun exploded before her eyes. Everything went black, and she collapsed straight onto the roadside.
In that moment of fainting, the thought that crossed her mind wasn’t who could save her.
It was: someone please explain that it wasn’t me who touched the piano.
ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ
Late autumn in Yicheng was cold. The rain fell like blades of ice.
Qilan woke up freezing. When she opened her eyes, everything around her seemed enormous.
She scrambled to her feet and saw her reflection in a puddle by the road.
When she tucked her head in, the cat in the puddle tucked its head in too.
When she moved, the cat moved.
She lifted her paw, and there it was, unmistakably a paw!
Unbelievable. She was a cat now!
Oh my god. If she was going to transform anyway, why couldn’t she be a panda in a zoo? At least she’d get three square meals a day!
Yes, even now, the first thing Qilan thought about was food.
The cat she had turned into was tiny, less than two months old, the size of a palm, with a short little tail standing up in the cold wind. She darted onto the sidewalk and took shelter from the rain in front of a small convenience store.
After several failed attempts to win the shop owner’s sympathy by being cute, she decided to pick a random passerby to con.
Just as she got the idea, a stray dog ran up and started barking at her. Qilan bolted in terror, weaving through pedestrians and causing chaos.
Someone stepped out of a building across the street, standing quietly at the entrance as if waiting.
His deep brown eyes surveyed the rain-soaked city. The neon lights hadn’t yet come on in the dusky twilight, leaving everything bleak and desolate. He followed the direction of the cold wind to a lonely fallen leaf. And then, a fuzzy little snowball slammed into his pant leg.
Qilan, having fled blindly across several intersections, staggered backward, stars spinning before her eyes. She had no idea what she had just crashed into. Lifting her wet, pitiful eyes, she met the gaze of the man looking down at her.
Liang Jianshi?
Of all people.
Qilan swallowed hard, her stomach growling loudly. At that moment, only one thought filled her mind.
You wronged me and cost me my job, so now, you’re responsible for feeding me!
That’s it. You’re my long-term meal ticket.