"How was it? Did you enjoy your time over there?" The driver, who happened to be Jia Xiaoming, turned around with a cheerful smile.
Laila only just realized that Xiaoming was driving. "What do you think?" she replied with a hint of annoyance, giving him a sidelong glance.
"Haha," Xiaoming laughed. "Of course, it's fun to go there, and it's fun to come back. The food in the East is fantastic, isn't it?"
"That's true," Laila agreed. She had spent most of her time eating during her stay there, even relishing street food like spicy hot pot.
Nostalgia, like wine, only improved with age. The change from one lifetime to another couldn't erase the deep-seated love for the East in her bones. Initially, she had planned to stay there for a few months, but after the events involving Roy and Keira, how could she stay there peacefully?
Xiaoming chuckled and said, "I'll tell you, you didn't need to come back. Things over here have been taken care of."
Laila nodded. "I saw that online. You did a good job. But is that Roy with the earring reliable? I wouldn't want him to resurface and turn the tables on us." She switched to speaking in Chinese for the last two sentences, so that the assistant, Demi, wouldn't understand.
Xiaoming understood her intention and replied in Chinese, "Don't worry, we're on the same side."
"Good," Laila said, expressing her trust in him.
When they initially discussed the situation over the phone, they realized that the hotel surveillance footage was a significant vulnerability that could potentially leak. Laila had hoped he would destroy the video at the time, but Xiaoming had a better idea. He had a colleague disguise himself as Roy and used various methods to cover up the original recording. This way, if anyone tried to retrieve the video, they would only see a fake Roy.
This was possible because the surveillance system at the time wasn't very advanced, with low pixel density. They didn't need the disguise to be an exact match; as long as it was around 60-70% similar, it would deceive others.
"I must say, I put in a lot of effort to help you this time. Don't forget the favor you promised!" Xiaoming reminded her. This time, to assist her, he had used some privileges and done things beyond his regular duties. If his superiors found out, he would surely receive a scolding.
Laila gave him a disdainful look. "Do I look like someone who would go back on my word?"
Xiaoming wanted to retort with a "Yes!" but refrained from doing so. Unfortunately, even the higher-ups thought it was a good thing that he was getting along with this wealthy young lady. They hoped he would cooperate well, so what else could he say?
The car sped along and arrived at the company's entrance around noon.
Seeing Laila appear, the receptionist, who was in the middle of eating lunch, nearly choked on her hamburger.
"Miss Moran, you're back?"
"Yes," Laila smiled and waved. "You can continue eating. I'll go upstairs." She looked at the two receptionists, who seemed as startled as deer, and chuckled helplessly. It was clear she affected them, despite the age gap.
"Demi, do I look so scary? Why do so many people in the company look frightened when they see me?"
Demi swallowed and forced a smile: "How could that be? You It's not scary at all, I think they're just nervous." Even someone who has been with her for two years would find it hard to breathe when seeing her, let alone other people.
Well, Laila knew she had asked the wrong person. She was also a frightened deer...
She couldn't blame them, given that she held the power over their salaries. Sometimes, it was amusing how much respect she received.
Back in her office, she asked Demi to call Roy.
Roy hadn't arrived yet, but Louise was the first to receive a notification from the front desk and hurried over.
"Laila, have you finished with everything?" She hadn't expected Laila to return so soon. However, seeing Laila in person seemed to stabilize her mood, which had been fluctuating for the past few days. She couldn't imagine how these past two days had felt for Laila, who was much younger than herself.
"It's almost done," Laila smiled. "You've done a great job with this situation. At least you've managed to keep things under control."
Louise shook her head. "I didn't do much; we were just lucky."
"Our luck has been quite good," Laila said with a meaningful smile.
Louise suddenly had a strange feeling when she looked at Laila's smile. Was it really luck that had led to everything going smoothly? She felt that if anything had gone wrong, she couldn't imagine the consequences. Even though Laila was 20 or 30 years younger, she was far more reliable than herself.
At this moment, there was a knock on the door, and Roy entered from outside.
Laila let Louise leave the office to attend to other matters before turning her gaze directly on him, not saying anything for a while.
Roy felt uneasy under her scrutinizing gaze. "I'm sorry."
Other than apologizing, he didn't know how to begin.
Laila sighed softly. "Do you know what disappointed me?"
Roy didn't reply, just looking at her.
"I was disappointed because when trouble arose, your first instinct was not to rely on me, but to try and solve it on your own." She felt as though her efforts had been wasted, as she hadn't been trusted fully. "If you had told me from the beginning about your injuries, I could have arranged for your recovery. Would all of this have happened?"