Qiu Yun had seen all too many people of this sort.
But she was a woman of dignity, incapable of the sorts of airs that come from watching someone switch from arrogance to servility. So, she humbly asked, “What misunderstanding might Assistant Manager Sun be referring to?”
The fact that he was open to negotiation meant things hadn’t spiraled beyond repair.
Assistant Manager Sun breathed a quiet sigh of relief. The last thing he wanted was to run into some hot-headed fool who’d rather see them both burn.
“Just now, my clumsy niece made you fall by accident. I’ll take responsibility—how about twenty thousand for you to get checked up at the hospital?”
“Third Uncle, she fell on her own!” Sun Qiao quickly protested.
“Shut up,” Sun Assistant Manager snapped at her.
Twenty thousand.
Qiu Yun instinctively reached for the hairpin she usually wore at her temple, but found nothing there. She dropped her hand and smiled good-naturedly. “Assistant Manager Sun, that’s hardly a sincere offer.”
Eyeing the watch in her hand, Sun Assistant Manager gritted his teeth. “Fifty thousand. Can’t go higher. Things like this have codes engraved inside—they’re hard to move.”
Qiu Yun nodded slightly.
He was right. Such items were like imperially bestowed treasures—nearly impossible to fence without being caught.
Both sides had something to lose, and she had no intention of dragging this out. Her smile turned genuine. “Fair enough. After that fall, my head’s been spinning. I’ll need some good supplements after the checkup. Lucky you thought ahead.”
“Of course, of course,” he replied with a forced chuckle. After over a decade in his position, this was the first time Assistant Manager Sun had been outmatched in the art of putting on a front by a young girl.
To avoid any last-minute complications, Sun Assistant Manager promptly transferred the money via mobile banking. Qiu Yun, unhurried, followed the steps from memory and pulled up the message.
“Your credit card ending in 5032 received an online banking transfer (UnionPay) of 50,000.00 yuan at 16:27 on June 2. Balance: -14,579.23 yuan. Available balance: 298.33 yuan. Your current bill in arrears has been settled. Reply ESH for credit card app [Industrial and Commercial Bank of China].”
She stared at the screen, disheartened.
That was precisely why she had to clear her name and stay here.
Given the original owner’s education and work history, being a housemaid for the Jiang family was the highest-paying job she could land—8,000 yuan before taxes, with five social insurances, two pensions, and a year-end bonus.
And the high school graduate original had managed to beat out junior college, bachelor’s, and even graduate-degree holders for the position, sheerly on the strength of her 176 cm height and that striking, peach-blossom face.
As a maid, no degree was required, but wealthy households often had appearance standards—a rule that held true across times.
Beyond basic good looks, the Jiang residence demanded maids be at least 168 cm tall, male servants 178 cm, and security guards 188 cm or more.
Plus, the work was in her wheelhouse. Thrust into an unfamiliar world, Qiu Yun preferred to stick with what she knew, stabilize first, and figure out the rest later.
Money received, transaction complete.
Qiu Yun reached over and slipped the watch back into Sun Qiao’s side uniform pocket, her smile polished. “Now that dinner’s approaching, it’s time for the master of the house to come home and for us to get busy. I won’t keep you from your work, Assistant Manager Sun. Goodbye.”
Sun Assistant Manager watched the young maid’s retreating figure with a sour expression, then gritted his teeth and deleted the just-completed OA approval from his phone.
“Third Uncle, I-I swear it’s my first time! I saw that the young master hadn’t worn that watch in years—it wasn’t even in its winder, just gathering dust in the cabinet—so I… And I didn’t just take it and run either. I bought a knockoff to put in its place.” Sun Qiao’s voice grew quieter, and she shrunk back, trembling, not daring to go on.
“Give me the watch.” Sun Assistant Manager led her to a corner behind the walls, away from the surveillance cameras.
Idiot. Not only steal from the family, but also be stupid enough to get caught and exposed.
Sun Qiao handed it over. Sun Assistant Manager examined it in his hand.
Eight hundred thousand—not too much, not too little. As an estate assistant manager, that was just two years of his salary.
Two years of hard work for him, but now he could get it in one move.
“Since it’s been taken out, there’s no point putting it back,” Sun Assistant Manager said, slipping the watch into his own bag. “How much did your fake cost?”
“Over thirty thousand. The ones for a few grand were too obvious,” Sun Qiao explained.
“I’ll give you fifty thousand. This ends here. Don’t ever do this again!” He shot her a fierce glare. “You’re only here because I pulled strings. Use your head before you act. If you drag me into trouble again, not even your dad’s influence will save you!”
Sun Qiao nodded frantically, then hesitated. “But Third Uncle, that Qiu Yun woman already knows I… Maybe we should just return the watch.”
The thirty grand on the fake could be her lesson learned.
“She’s smarter than you,” Sun Assistant Manager snapped at his niece. “She took the money—it’s an online bank transfer with a paper trail—so she’s implicated now too. She won’t dare expose this.”
That, of course, was why he’d insisted on an immediate transfer.
A six-figure luxury watch now sat in Third Uncle’s pocket. Sun Qiao felt both indignant and helpless. The thought of Qiu Yun exposing her still burned. “Third Uncle, are we really just letting that little maid off?”
Glancing at the surveillance camera by the roadside, Sun Assistant Manager smirked coldly. “It’s best if she doesn’t get her probation period approved.”
The estate had thousands of cameras. Besides the ones at the perimeter and main gate, which were monitored live, the others were only checked when something happened.
The coverage cycle for the recordings was three months.
If he could just keep this new maid steady for that long, three months from now, this problem would vanish.
And her probation period was exactly three months.
Moonlight Pavilion.
Qiu Yun followed memory back to her room, stepping into the bathroom.
Tentatively, she turned on the tap. Clear, pure water gushed out. She paused, then bent down to splash her face.
When she looked up, she saw a face caked in messy makeup in the mirror. Spotting the makeup remover nearby, she cleaned herself thoroughly.
After washing off all that gunk, the mirror revealed a delicate, clean face.
Arched willowy brows, a pert nose tip, plump lips. The most striking feature was a pair of captivating, amorous almond eyes. But now, with a different soul behind them, her gaze was calm and steady, making her seem much more composed.
Her eyes drifted downward. She was dressed in a black top and black skirt, with a white blouse underneath. It was a prim, somber uniform, but the original owner had intentionally left two buttons undone, revealing a generous cleavage that added a distinctive allure.
Qiu Yun scrutinized every detail.
This body bore some resemblance to her original self. Perhaps because she hadn’t been bending low to wait on masters since childhood, combined with better nutrition and development in modern society, she now looked like an upgraded, more refined version of herself.
Like the same genes, shaped differently by a different environment.
She took a deep breath, washed her hands, and walked out of the bathroom.
One thing was certain: she had traveled through time via a borrowed corpse and reincarnated soul, arriving in a completely different civilization and era. Luckily, she had inherited all the memories of her predecessor, so nobody here would notice anything amiss.
The first thing Qiu Yun did was unlock her phone and check exactly how much debt her predecessor had left behind.
