Chapter 3: Auntie Smile
As soon as Ye Ziming entered the cafe, he noticed a small and cute maid. She stood out among the others and caught his eye right away.
He also felt a strange sense of familiarity, like he had seen her somewhere before.
As the new store manager, he had to keep up a professional image, so he quickly looked away, thinking it wouldn't hurt to find out more about her later. After all, she was clearly one of the staff.
Right after finishing his short welcome speech and just as he was about to head to his office, something unexpected happened.
That small figure suddenly tripped and fell to the floor, and to his surprise, he felt a bit nervous. He quickly walked over, crouched down, and gently reached out his hand, asking her if she was okay.
When she looked up and their eyes met, that feeling of familiarity grew even stronger. Ye Ziming was now sure he had seen her before.
The girl in front of him was incredibly cute, her face slightly red, and her soft pink lips opening and closing as if she wanted to speak, but she was so flustered that she couldn’t say a full sentence.
Maybe it was because she was too nervous, but Muqing’s almond-shaped eyes started to fill with tears, like they might fall at any moment.
“Is she hurt? Help Muqing to the break room to check her injuries.”
Seeing this, the other maids around them “smartly” chose to say nothing. Some stood, some crouched, but none stepped up to help. They all just watched, clearly enjoying the scene.
Luckily, at the critical moment, Yu Qiu stepped forward. She told two maids to help Muqing up and take her to the break room.
Even as she was being helped up, Muqing still looked nervous. Before leaving, she glanced at Ye Ziming, then quickly lowered her head and let herself be led away in a flurry of panic.
“I’ll take the new manager to his office. The rest of you, open the cafe.”
After Muqing was taken away, Yu Qiu gave the order to open the cafe, then calmly led Ye Ziming deeper into the building.
Once they had all left, the remaining maids in the cafe looked at each other and all smiled with that classic “auntie smile”. The kind that shows they're thinking, “Ohhh, how cute!” While getting ready to open the store, they started chatting.
To them, what had just happened looked like the start of a sweet romantic story, like a scene straight out of a youth romance drama.
They couldn't not gossip about it. It would be a shame to let it pass!
“Her knee’s a little bruised. Just put some ointment on it and she’ll be fine.”
In the break room, Muqing sat on a chair while two maids gave her a quick check-up.
One of them gently applied ointment to the bruise.
“Mmm... thank you.”
Muqing looked down at her slightly bruised knee. Her stockings had been taken off to make it easier to apply the cream.
Her eyes looked a bit dazed as she quietly thanked them.
Her mind was full of questions, why did Ye Ziming suddenly show up? And why is he the new store manager?
This is too much!
If she could, Lin Muqing wanted to go find a wall to hit her head against... or maybe just find a soft piece of tofu to cry into.
“No need to thank us,” one of the maids said casually as she poured a glass of water and placed it on the table in front of her.
After putting away the ointment, the other maid didn’t leave the room.
Instead, she picked up two chairs, placed them beside Muqing, and the two of them sat down. Clearly not done chatting yet.
“……”
The room went quiet for a moment. The two maids looked at the troubled Lin Muqing, both smiling with a classic “auntie smile.”
(An “auntie smile” is a warm, proud, and affectionate smile, often seen when girls see something or someone they really like.)
“Muqing, are you thinking about our new store manager?”
The two maids glanced at each other, and then one of them asked the question with a playful tone.
“Mhm.”
Still lost in thought, Muqing nodded. Her hands were on the table, holding up her head. She looked completely caught up in her worries.
What she didn’t notice was that when the two maids heard her answer, their eyes lit up and sparkled. They exchanged another look and instantly confirmed what they were thinking.
The blushing on Muqing’s face, originally caused by embarrassment from being found out, was now being misread.
To the maids, it looked like a classic reaction from a teenage girl who just saw a super handsome boy and had a rush of hormones.
“Do you think he’s really handsome? Do you want to talk to him?”
One of the maids continued the questioning with a grin.
The other maid stared into Muqing’s eyes, her gaze full of excitement and “serious interest.”
She looked so eager, it seemed like she was one step away from pulling out her phone to record a video.
“Eh?”
Hearing that, Muqing snapped out of her thoughts and looked at the maid in front of her, confused. She didn’t really understand what was going on.
“Hehe, I knew it! I was right!”
“Mhm! This is a big deal. We have to tell Yu Qiu right away!”
The two maids completely ignored Muqing after that. They happily chatted with each other, both smiling with joy.
They didn’t even need Muqing to say anything else. Just from the surprised look on her face, they were sure they had guessed correctly.
Then the two maids laughed, stood up, reminded Muqing to rest a bit more, and left the break room to return to work.
“?!”
Muqing watched them leave, still completely confused. She had no idea what just happened, like she was the only one not in on the joke.
As she sat alone in the break room, Muqing started to feel more and more anxious. Just the thought that Ye Ziming was now her boss made her feel extremely uncomfortable.
“What should I do? Ugh…”
She let out a frustrated sigh and slumped down onto the table, her head resting on the surface as she hugged it in distress.
She had two big secrets.
First, ever since the start of summer break, she had suddenly turned into a girl. In other words, her transformation has only happened for two months.
These past two months, thanks to Yu Qiu’s help, she had slowly gotten used to her new body, and also got this job.
The second secret…
Every day, she would take off her jade pendant, change into her maid uniform, and work here as a girl.
For the entire summer break, she had been constantly on edge, afraid that someone might discover her secret.
And just when she finally started to relax and think everything would be okay, fate played a huge joke on her. Her former desk mate showed up out of nowhere!
While she was still trying to figure out what to do next, there was a knock at the door.
Then, slowly, the door opened.
It was Yu Qiu, and Ye Ziming was standing right behind her.
“Eep!?”
Muqing couldn’t hold back a startled noise. She shot up from her seat, her whole body tensing up, eyes wide open. Her face, which had just started to calm down, turned bright red again.
She wanted to run.
She wanted to find a hole to crawl into.
She didn’t want to see him, and she really didn’t want him to see her like this.
“I’ll head back to work. If you have any questions, you can ask Muqing. She’s been working here for two months, so she knows the cafe really well.”
Yu Qiu smiled at Muqing inside the break room. It was that same auntie smile, but this time it had a sneaky edge to it.
Then she turned and left, without any hesitation, leaving the two of them alone in the room.
And after leaving, she made sure to let everyone else know.
“No one is allowed to enter the break room. Even if you have something to do, don’t go in!”