At noon, she was given a hair net, a face mask and a serving spoon to serve heavy gravy. Gu Yuan had only served out food for fifteen minutes before her hands started aching.
For the first time she cursed the stupid body for not doing any manual work from the day she was born. If it hadn't been for the fact that she wanted to scare Yue Zhe away from homeless shelters, she would have damped the spoon and walked out.
"Miss," a sultry voice called out to her.
Gu Yuan breathed heavily. She had been looking down at her hand pitifully, "Just a second," she let go of the spoon and stretched her hand.
"Your hand is cramping up?" The sultry voice asked again.
"Yeah, no joke, this gravy is really heavy," Gu Yuan looked up at the girl waiting to be served and paused.
In an instant, she saw that face on billboards, in large brand commercials, on television as an ambassador.
This girl, Nuan Xi, was actually a homeless person before she hit it big!?
The original Gu Yuan had never met this girl in person but knew her name due to her popularity.
Nuan Xi smiled and waved at Gu Yuan, "Miss, is something the matter?"
In her heart; she must find me face very pretty.
"Ah! No. No," Gu Yuan picked up the spoon and raised it to her plate," Actually, Yes," she served her.
Nuan Xi raised her eyebrows, "mmh?"
" Have you ever thought of joint the entertainment industry?"
Nuan Xi burst out excitedly, "OH MY GOD! YES! YES!"
Gu Yuan apologized to whoever was going to be score Nuan Xi in future. It's not her fault that she has a cheat. What's the purpose of a cheat if she can't use it? Besides, life isn't always fair.
In the hall that was moderately quiet, Nuan Xi's burst of excitement drew at lot of eyes towards the pair.
Nuan Xi, a beauty with hazelnut brown hair, was jumping up and down, looking like her life had never been better. The girl opposite her gleamed, her Phoenix eyes beaming.
Yue Zhe stood in line, waiting to be served. He just glanced at the girls before focusing on more pressing matters.
"Miss, you're holding up the line," one of the volunteers told Nuan Xi.
Nuan Xi bowed lightly and apologized, "I'm sorry," then she turned her expectant gaze to Gu Yuan.
"Meet me after the meal," Gu Yuan urged her.
Nuan Xi happily bowed one more time before proceeding.
Gu Yuan felt suddenly re- energized. In the future, for some reason, the Gu family chain of companies begun to decline at a dreadful rate. A lot of investors pulled out and a few companies had to be sold. Despite the fact that Father Gu was able to stabilize the business, it never regained its former glory.
For most people, this would be good enough, but for someone like father Gu, it was a major blow to his ego. He had never faced that kind of unforeseen blow. He had completely miscalculated and it ended up being fatal without any warnings.
How could he live after that? He lived with a growing anxiety of the unexpected. He even started to miss a few deals due to his mindset of 'unexpected failure is always around the corner'.
Gu Yuan couldn't do much about that in the original and the current life. Either way, she wasn't ready to watch the Gu family slowly spiral out of the limelight.
Nuan Xi would be able to help. Her popularity may give the Gu companies the boost they need to up business when the time times. As for father Gu, if Nuan Xi doesn't work for him, Gu Yuan planned to take him for hypnotherapy, if not, then she will advice an early retirement.
What kept Gu Yuan's mind itching was whether or not to debut Nuan Xi earlier than in the last life. She didn't want to ruin chances by deviating too far from the past life.
Zhe Yue had been looking at the girl serving gravy for at least a minute and without keeping a beat, he had known that it was Gu Yuan. What gave her out more was the Gu family servant standing behind her. But what kept him looking was-
Gu Yuan, that snake, to set set foot in a homeless shelter? Isn't it too much torture for the 'Princess'?
In all honesty, he couldn't believe it although he would never mistake Gu Yuan for any other girl. He knew Gu Yuan was a snobby brat. Charity was not a word in her book. Helping the less fortunate was a sin and all less fortunate people were sinners.
In Gu Yuan's language, "Who gave them permission to be poor? They should pick their lazy asses up and work. If the work for honest money they wouldn't be crying about not having any?"
What was this Gu Yuan doing there? Why was she serving the homeless?
Zhe Yue looked at the thick gravy with a cautious look.
Did she, perhaps, poison it and was here to personally serve out a side of death to people she felt were undeserving to breathe the same air as her?
Zhe Yue had to agree with this theory. Gu Yuan would never do something without some sort of selfish motive behind it.
With that in mind, he dashed past the pan of gravy while Gu Yuan was busy struggling to lift the spoon for the next person.
Gu Yuan, I will not die today because of you.
When she had served the last person, Gu Yuan dropped the spoon and heaved in relief. She went to the volunteers table behind the serving point and grabbed a bottle of water. She didn't want to do that kind of work ever again.
"Miss," someone whispered next to her ear.
Gu Yuan squirmed, spilling some of the water. "What?" She spat, irritated.
"My apologies Miss," the servant bowed his head, "Mr. Zhe Yue is in the dining area."
Gu Yuan finally recalled why she had been hustling. She had even forgotten to take notice of the faces.
"I'll talk to Nuan Xi first, get some place that's private and make sure he doesn't leave," she ordered.
Gu Yuan approached Nuan Xi's table when most of the people had finished eating and left.
Nuan Xi stood to welcome Gu Yuan with an expression full of happiness. Gu Yuan patted her to sit and immediately started off by asking her about her current situation.
Gu Yuan decided there and then to bless her with an opportunity to become a silent Gu family ambassador. "Since the Gu family doesn't deal with the entertainment industry, this is the best I can do. But I want you to go out there and look for a company that will sign you. The Gu family will give you the necessary boost especially when you're signed with a good company. As an ambassador, their are always privileges, just don't announce it anywhere until you are required to. Let me give you my number so that the details can be discussed later."
"I don't have a phone," Nuan Xi admitted.
"Okay," Gu Yuan turned and nodded at the servant next to her, within five minutes, Nuan Xi had a brand new phone.
By the time these two were done talking, the place was empty.
Zhe Yue had seated himself in the most crowded space and buried himself under a hoodie to avoid being seen by Gu Yuan. He tried to down his food as fast as he could but who knew- before he could even get half way, a Gu family servant came over and told him to stay behind.
He was not an idiot, after eating, he tried to make a stealthy escape, only to be stuffed into a Gu family car and warned not to try to escape. He didn't bother to. He had been in a Gu family car a few times, enough for him to know that the glass was unbreakable: escape was futile.
He never wanted to get further entangled with the Gu family than he already was. Whatever it was that they had up there sleeves, he didn't want to know. So of they were going to ask him to do some garbage job over there, he wasn't ready to accept.
Zhe Yue looked at the place around with loathing. The seats weren't made of leather but cotton: soft, gentle, lush, steel grey with a touch of baby pink. To the side were warm moist toilettes, blankets, sweets, tiny foods and a small refrigerator for drinks. The place had plenty of leg room.
This place would make anyone envious. Anyone expect Zhe Yue. What irritated him even more was the soft lavender and lilac scent that kept wafting around- this was Gu Yuan's custom scent. It was printed firmly into his mind, he would notice it at a single breathe. Even if she changed perfume brands or maybe stopped using the lavender and lilac scent for a month, he would still smell it on her. His brain was conditioned to. When she is around, he wouldn't smell anything else but soft lavender and lilac.