Yun Zijin had returned too late the previous night. The maids were all asleep, and she had no intention of waking someone up in the middle of the night to wait on her, so she didn’t know what had happened at the villa after she left during the day.

However, after Yun Zijin got up the next day, Wang Minli told her about Cao Hui.

Yun Zijin trusted Wang Minli’s character. She also believed that since Wang Minli had hired the person herself, there was no way she would sabotage them out of jealousy.

That meant this Cao Hui was exactly as Wang Minli described, showing her true colors after she had left.

As for Wang Minli trying to fire Cao Hui yesterday, only for Cao Hui to refuse, Yun Zijin looked toward Cao Hui, who stood silently to the side with her head bowed:

"Cao Hui, regarding what Aunt Wang has said, what do you have to say for yourself?"

’If Cao Hui is really as Aunt Wang says, I absolutely will not let her continue to work here.’

’Whatever her motives are, I won’t let her use me as a stepping stone to climb higher.’

"Miss Yun, I’ve been wronged! Aunt Wang is the housekeeper, so of course, whatever she says, goes. I... I..."

Cao Hui trailed off, but this classic ’play the victim’ routine had no effect on Yun Zijin.

"The villa’s common areas have security cameras. I can find out exactly what happened between you two after I left by simply reviewing the footage.

Cao Hui, I suggest you don’t lie. Otherwise, I’ll have to make a note of this, and it probably won’t look good for you during background checks when you interview at other houses."

’Of course, the resume she wrote herself wouldn’t have any blemishes, but the file at the domestic staffing agency she’s registered with isn’t so easy to fool.’ 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"I just casually mentioned my concern for Miss Yun to Aunt Wang. If I’m being fired over such a trivial matter, then I have nothing more to say."

’Is she calling me petty?’

’What a scheming girl.’

"I am quite petty. And I can see you aren’t very happy working here. You’ve been here since yesterday, so let’s just say you worked for two days. I’ll have two days’ wages sent to your bank account. You can pack your things and leave now.

If you refuse to leave, don’t blame me for calling the police and reporting you for trespassing. You don’t want a criminal record added to your file, do you?"

Yun Zijin gave Cao Hui no chance to stay. Keeping someone like that around was like having a ticking time bomb; it was better to defuse it and throw it away from the very beginning.

At this point, Cao Hui knew there was no way she could stay.

She could refuse Wang Minli’s demand to fire her because they were of a similar social class; ultimately, Wang Minli couldn’t do much to her.

But Yun Zijin was different. If she truly offended Yun Zijin, she probably wouldn’t be able to make it in Dijing anymore.

No matter what, she didn’t want to leave Dijing.

"Fine, I’ll leave! I don’t believe you can stay so high and mighty forever!"

Before leaving, Cao Hui didn’t forget to get a last jab in at Yun Zijin, shooting her a vicious glare before turning proudly to go pack her things in the smaller villa out back.

Yun Zijin thought, ’Seems like there are weirdos every year, but this year’s been packed with them.’

’Just think of how many unreasonable oddballs I’ve encountered in less than a month.’

After Cao Hui left, Wang Minli stepped forward. "Miss, this is my fault! If I hadn’t been soft-hearted and hired Cao Hui, this wouldn’t have happened today. Please, punish me!"

Whether it was docking her pay or some other punishment, Wang Minli felt she deserved it.

"Alright. Since this is your first offense, I won’t dock your pay. But this is the one and only time. Don’t let it happen again.

From now on, be more discerning when you’re hiring. Don’t bring in anyone else who’s so full of their own ideas.

I want someone who will just do their job quietly, not someone looking to use me to land a rich guy."

’That Cao Hui, so full of schemes and prying for information about me... if you told me she wasn’t trying to use me to meet some rich heirs, I wouldn’t believe it.’

’If her standards were any lower, she’d probably end up being a mistress!’

’If word got out that a maid from my, Yun Zijin’s, household became someone’s mistress, what would happen to my reputation?’

Yun Zijin felt a pang of fear just thinking about that possibility.

’My reputation was almost ruined.’

"Thank you, Miss! I’ll be much more careful when hiring in the future. This will absolutely never happen again!"

Wang Minli felt a lingering fear as well. Thankfully, Cao Hui had been impatient. Otherwise, who knows what kind of trouble she might have caused for the Miss down the line.

Now that the eyesore had been dealt with and was gone, Yun Zijin felt she needed to do something to calm her nerves.

"Like clouds hanging low before the rain, when you sang softly, my heart was moved..."

Just as she was thinking this, Yun Zijin’s phone rang.

Yun Zijin swiped to answer.

"Hello..."

"Zijin! Zijin! I’m awake! We said yesterday we’d go shopping when we had time. Are you free today? Let’s go out and have some fun!"

Su Mengyao’s cheerful voice rang in her ear, scattering the gloom that the incident with Cao Hui had left behind.

"Sure, where should we meet?"

’When you’re in a bad mood, the only thing to do is shop, shop, shop.’

After Yun Zijin and Su Mengyao arranged a time and place, her mood brightened considerably.

"Aunt Wang, I’m going out with a friend today. I might not be back for dinner tonight. If I’m not home by six, don’t have the chef prepare dinner for me."

’If I’m going out, I might as well make a day of it.’

As she was leaving, Yun Zijin also put a new bottle of Rose Essential Oil in her bag.

Yun Zijin could sense that Su Mengyao genuinely wanted to be friends with her, so she wasn’t stingy about sharing good things with her.

The two arranged to meet at 11 AM at the entrance of Guangyuan Mall, which was owned by the Su Family.

According to Su Mengyao, shopping was naturally most comfortable at your own family’s mall.

She had no intention of contributing her money to a mall owned by another family.

Okay, the real reason was that Guangyuan Mall was roughly equidistant from both of their homes, so if they left at the same time, they could arrive at around the same time.

The shops in the mall were all tenants paying rent. No matter where they spent their money, it would end up in someone else’s pocket, not their own family’s.

Of course, it would be a different story if their family owned any of the shops in the mall.

The two arrived at almost the exact same time, but when Su Mengyao saw Zero One and his team sticking to Yun Zijin’s side even in broad daylight, she had a bit of an existential crisis.

"No way, you bring bodyguards with you every time you go out?"

"Even though rich kids like us are at risk of being kidnapped, is it really necessary to have such airtight security?"

"It’s fine. With Zero One and his guys around, not only is our safety guaranteed at all times, but when there’s no danger, they can also act as free bag carriers. Isn’t that killing two birds with one stone?

Just pretend they’re not there. Barring any incidents, they won’t interfere with us at all."

At first, Yun Zijin wasn’t used to it either, but after a while, she didn’t think much of it anymore.

If Zero One and his team didn’t follow her out one day, she might actually feel strange about it.