I feel right at home in the world of the courtyard house.

The guesthouse had just finished its early shift change. The customer service staff gathered in twos and threes at the entrance of the lounge, waiting for their supervisor, Song Yun, to assign them the day's work.

Shortly after, Song Yun arrived with Wang Defa. She was dressed in clean, crisp work clothes, looking capable. She raised her hand to signal everyone to be quiet, cleared her throat, and began:

"I have something to say. Starting today, Wang Defa, our staff member, has been officially transferred to our customer service department. From now on, he will be responsible for linen management, laundry scheduling, and cleaning coordination. He will also assist with housekeeping. We'll all work together as much as possible."

After saying that, Song Yun turned her head to look at Wang Defa, and said in a more polite tone, "Then I'll have to trouble you to take care of things here from now on."

"It's no trouble at all. It's all for the sake of the revolution, it's what I should do." Wang Defa stood up straight, his face showing a deliberately composed demeanor.

"Okay, I have something to do, I'll head over now. If you have anything to say to everyone, just let them know."

"Okay, Section Chief Song, take care."

Wang Defa politely watched Song Yun's figure turn the corner at the stairwell, his initial restraint vanishing instantly, replaced by barely suppressed smugness. He slowly turned around, his gaze sweeping over the row of waiters in front of him, inwardly scoffing: That's more like it. He should be in a management position; that's more befitting his status and expertise. Back in school, he was a proper Youth League branch secretary, managing people and leading teams. If Li Jing'an hadn't haphazardly placed him in a marginal position in the first place, that whole mess wouldn't have happened, leaving him with an indelible stain.

Thinking of this, his resentment towards Li Jing'an deepened. He then cleared his throat, preparing to deliver an inaugural speech to establish his authority as a cadre.

But just as he was getting into the mood, the area in front of the lounge erupted into chaos.

As soon as Song Yun left, the waiters no longer cared about hiding their true feelings. A buzzing sound immediately filled the air as they whispered among themselves, their eyes all glancing at him, their words dripping with blatant barbs.

"Some people are really shameless. After such a big incident, they still have the nerve to show up in our customer service department."

"Of course! They're so precious. They 'secured' huge 'benefits' for us as soon as they arrived. From now on, if we work overtime at night, we won't even get a hot dinner."

"That's right, college students are different. With just a few words and a few pens, they can deduct the little bit of money we work so hard to earn for dinner, and it all goes into filling holes."

"He's not very capable, but he's a master at causing trouble; all he has is a lot of face."

"Shh—keep your voice down. They're sent from above, they're all high and mighty. Be careful they don't make things difficult for us later."

The murmurs weren't too loud, just loud enough for Wang Defa to hear clearly. No one named names, but every word and every glance felt like a needle pricking him. Contempt, disdain, and mockery fell upon him without any attempt to conceal it, as if he were some kind of filthy, unlucky creature.

Wang Defa froze on the spot, his previously high-spirited expression instantly crumbling. His cheeks flushed red and then turned pale, burning from his ears all the way to his neck. He clenched his fists, wanting to lash out and reprimand them on the spot, but he swallowed the words back—he was in the wrong to begin with, and making a scene would only make him look more humiliated.

In his mind, he cursed Xu Damao a thousand times: This scoundrel must have been stirring up trouble behind the scenes! Director Li had repeatedly told them not to spread the word, and yet, in such a short time, the entire customer service department knew!

What's the point of giving an inaugural address?!

Wang Defa was embarrassed and didn't want to stay a moment longer, so he turned around and walked away to the linen room.

Having learned his lesson, he couldn't afford to make any more mistakes after the recent deficit. The first thing he did was to thoroughly check the linen accounts and verify the quantities. He absolutely couldn't let anyone find fault with him again and make him take the blame.

He had just sat down at the table in the linen room and taken out the account book when there was a knock at the door.

"Officer Wang, you're busy, aren't you?"

Wang Defa looked up at Qin Huairu standing in the doorway. He frowned. "You're... the class monitor from earlier?"

"Yes, I am Qin Huairu, the early shift leader." Qin Huairu had a gentle smile on her face.

"Squad Leader Qin, what can I do for you?"

"Here's the thing, when we were changing the bed sheets and duvet covers in the guest rooms this morning, we found that two sheets were badly torn. I brought them over for you to see." As she spoke, Qin Huairu handed over the two folded white sheets in her hand.

Wang Defa didn't even lift his eyelids, nor did he reach out to take it. He merely raised his chin slightly, gesturing for her to place it on the table, and asked with a slight frown, "How did you handle this situation in the past?"

"Reporting to Officer Wang, we'll mend the parts that weren't too badly damaged and use them at a lower grade; if they're too badly damaged to be used, we'll take them apart and make pillowcases from them, and use the scraps as rags," Qin Huairu replied softly.

"Then let's just do it the old way." Wang Defa waved his hand dismissively, his mind not on the tattered bed sheet at all. He was preoccupied with how to establish his authority in the customer service department and regain his face; he couldn't keep holed up in the linen room dealing with these sheets and blankets forever.

Qin Huairu paused for a moment, then gently reminded her, "This... according to the institute's rules, you need to sign your consent first."

"Okay, I'll sign it and have the laundry staff take it away in a bit. Go get two clean ones to change into." Wang Defa was still absent-minded, his gaze fixed on the ledger, not even glancing at her.

"Okay, then you go ahead and get back to work."

Qin Huairu said no more, quietly retreating and closing the door to the linen room behind her. Once in a secluded corner, she secretly pondered: with Wang Defa's perfunctory and careless management attitude, the linen disposal process would definitely become chaotic. After work, she would have to quickly ask her mother-in-law, Jia Zhangshi, to go to the recycling center to see if they could collect any usable old sheets and blankets so she could work on them inside.