Chapter 15: Competing for Secretary
“This character role idea sounds doable, but there’s no need for a secretary.”
After thinking it over, Ye Ziming felt the suggestion about assigning themed roles to the maids was workable and likely to be effective, so he began preparing for it.
As for the secretary idea, he was only managing a single cafe and didn’t feel the workload was hard to handle, so he planned to turn that part down.
“How about asking Lin Muqing what she thinks first?”
Hearing her suggestion rejected, Sister Yu didn’t seem surprised at all. In fact, this reaction was exactly what she expected.
After saying that, she smiled softly and pulled out her phone to send a message through WeChat.
“Lin Muqing?”
Ye Ziming raised an eyebrow, his eyes showing a bit of surprise. He knew exactly who that was, but didn’t understand what Sister Yu meant by bringing her up.
“That’s right. The person I’m recommending for the secretary role is Lin Muqing~”
Sister Yu smiled as she added that, with a hint of playful mischief in her voice.
“Hmm~”
Ye Ziming let out a quiet hum, his face calm and emotionless as he sat in his office chair, making it hard to guess what he was thinking.
But just because he looked calm didn’t mean he was calm inside. In his head, he was seriously weighing the possibility.
If it were Lin Muqing, maybe… it wouldn’t be a bad idea.
……………………………………………
Meanwhile, in the cafe’s break room, Lin Muqing had just finished getting dressed up. The maids added even more little accessories to her look.
They also tied her hair up into simple twin ponytails. Her ears were hidden behind the hair, so all that could be seen were the cute cat ears on top of her head.
“Okay, now put both hands into little fists, one higher and one lower on each side of your face, tilt your head a bit, add a small smile, and say ‘meow~’ like this.”
“Meow~ like this?”
Following the instructions, Lin Muqing copied the maid’s pose, even making an extremely adorable meowing sound.
Afterward, she blinked and looked at the maid with a puzzled expression, unsure if she had done it right.
“...(snap snap)”
The maids didn’t say anything, their faces had turned slightly red. Clearly, they were suffering from a case of cuteness overload.
At the same time, the storage space on their phones was rapidly shrinking, now filled with endless photos of Lin Muqing in her maid outfit with cat ears.
“Ahem—yep, that’s perfect. And when you see the manager later, just look at him the same way you looked at me just now, okay? You need to fully repeat this performance.”
After zoning out for a bit, one of the maids pinched her nose to stop a nosebleed from coming and gave Lin Muqing her final instructions.
“Ohh, so if I do that, I’ll get a raise, right?”
There was no mirror in the break room, and they wouldn’t let Lin Muqing into the changing room, So she still didn’t know what she looked like right now.
But since the maid sisters said it was good, she didn’t think too much about it.
“Exactly. Just do that and no one else will be able to take the manager’s secretary spot from you.”
The maid nodded confidently. All the other maids also nodded and chimed in.
“Mhm~ By the way, did Sister Yu say how much more I’ll get per hour if I become the secretary?”
Overjoyed, now that the current problem had been solved, Lin Muqing asked the next important question, about her pay raise.
“Uh… well…” One of the maids was momentarily stunned. She felt like that question was a little… off-topic.
Plus, none of them actually knew how much the raise would be. All they knew was that this was part of Sister Yu’s plan.
“What you should be thinking about,” said another maid in a more serious tone, “is what you’ll have to do after becoming the manager’s secretary.”
Her face looked serious, as if this wasn’t some joke or game at all.
“Really?”
Lin Muqing hesitated a little when she heard that. Her big, beautiful almond-shaped eyes widened as she waited for the explanation.
“You’re joining this competition because you want to be the manager’s personal secretary, right?”
Seeing Lin Muqing’s reaction, the maid smiled and nodded in satisfaction. She thought, ‘Not bad, this kid has the right mindset.’
“Nope.”
Lin Muqing shook her head and answered instantly, without a shred of hesitation. She felt her reasoning made perfect sense.
Her goal was simple and pure, she just wanted a raise. If not for that, she wouldn’t care about this secretary stuff at all.
Earlier, someone had passed on a message from Sister Yu, saying that the new manager needed a special secretary and everyone could compete for the role.
That’s how all of this started.
So, Lin Muqing sat quietly in the chair, letting the other maids doll her up, and followed everything they told her to do.
“?!”
Everyone suddenly froze.
Something felt off…
Did we maybe overthink this?
The break room went quiet for a moment.
Then, another maid stepped forward and stood in front of Lin Muqing. She stared into her eyes and said in a calm voice:
“Normally, a secretary is the closest person to the boss. They work together every day, and they usually know each other’s secrets, secrets no one else knows.”
She spoke slowly and carefully, keeping an eye on every little movement Lin Muqing made.
“Knowing… each other’s secrets?”
As soon as she heard that, Lin Muqing clearly panicked. A light blush spread across her cheeks, and her eyes started darting around nervously. She even took a small step back.
Her biggest secret… was her real gender.
If her best buddy ever found that out, she’d be finished!
Not only would he think she’d been lying to him all this time, but if the news got out… she wouldn’t even know how to face anyone anymore!
“Well, of course! What do you think being a secretary means?”
The maid winked and gave her a sly smile. She was very pleased with Lin Muqing’s reaction, this was exactly what she was hoping for.
All the maids thought the same thing.
Then, they all gave her that ‘auntie at your wedding’ kind of smile. A mix of warmth, pride, and bittersweet feelings.
“I…”
Lin Muqing’s face turned even redder. She bit her soft lips, frowned slightly, and instinctively curled in on herself a little.
Suddenly, she wasn’t so sure she wanted to be the secretary anymore.
Yes, a promotion and a raise sounded great.
But the risk of her secret being exposed? Way too dangerous.
She didn’t realize that the look of hesitation on her face… looked like shy nervousness to the maids.
They stared at her quietly, their smiles growing wider the redder her face became.
“She’s here! Sister Yu just sent a message!”
“Attention, everyone! Attention!”
“This is not a drill! I repeat, this is not a drill!”
As soon as someone spotted the message from Sister Yu, one of the maids gasped out loud. Instantly, everyone around tensed up. Then, complete chaos broke out in the break room.