Hired

'I am not interested in that part-time job. I'm interested in you,' is what was on Gu Xin Ye's mind as she heard Qin Zhan's question.

Of course, she did not say those thoughts out loud. She was already in the middle of a misunderstanding. It would be troublesome if those words would create another misunderstanding.

Before Gu Xin Ye could say anything, Qin Zhan had spoken again.

"But, you don't look like a local here. Weren't you in this small town for vacation?"

Luo Qi let out a loud frustrating sigh beside Qin Zhan. "Little uncle. You have lived in the city for so long. Have you not heard about this trend where tourists work a part-time job to support their accommodation and food?"

"Those things are what foreigners would do."

"And? You mean to say that local tourists cannot do the same thing?"

Meanwhile, Gu Xin Ye was watching the two of them arguing back and forth. Her gaze stopped at the teenage girl for a while and wonder whether Qin Zhan decided to stay in Z Town to watch after his niece and nephew. If she was not mistaken, the smaller boy who was helping around the noodle stand had called Qin Zhan as his uncle, right?

After a while, Qin Zhan put a hand on his forehead and felt a headache coming. Why does this girl love arguing with him so much?

"You are right," Gu Xin Ye spoke, gaining the attention of those two in front of her. "I am here for vacation and escape city life. Actually, I wasn't thinking about getting a part-time job until your niece mentioned it. Since I came here alone and did not have much to do, then why not? With a part-time job, I will have something to do and when I'm not working, I can go and explore this town."

Qin Zhan stared at her for a few seconds longer. "You shouldn't be saying that you came here alone. With this information, are you not afraid that I or anyone here would do something to you?"

Gu Xin Ye blinked but did not say anything. She realized that she was wrong. She was too focused on trying to get close to Qin Zhan to think over what she wanted to say.

"Little uncle," Luo Qi gave him a little warning. It was rare that they would find a candidate who was interested in the job.

First of all, there were not many people around the small town. Most of the younger generation chose to leave this town and move to a bigger city. Thus, it was harder for them to look for someone to help. Anyway, they were planning to hire a part-timer for a short period. Once the others heard of the short duration, they have lost their interest to work at the noodle stand.

Luo Qi thought that it was fortunate for them to find a tourist who was interested in that job.

Wait. She seemed to have forgotten about an important thing.

As the thought came to her mind, Luo Qi turned to Gu Xin Ye and was about that matter. However, Qin Zhan moved faster than she had.

"You said that you're planning to take a long break," Qin Zhan said. "How long are you planning to stay? A couple of weeks?"

Gu Xin Ye stared at Qin Zhan in puzzlement. When did she say anything to him about her plan to take a long break? However, as a thought came to her mind, Gu Xin Ye's face turned a few shades darker.

This man! It turned out that he was listening to her phone conversation earlier! And he was shameless to say that he was not listening to it!

Taking a deep breath to calm down, Gu Xin Ye then said, "Could be a couple of weeks, could be a month. It depends on when I am ready to leave."

Anyway, she can only leave Z Town if she managed to convince Qin Zhan to come back to the city with her or if Qin Zhan started to wave around his knife once he found out who she was and what was her intention to come to Z Town.

"Do you know how to cook?" Qin Zhan asked.

"Some simple dishes," Gu Xin Ye said. Her mother had passed away when she was younger. Sometimes, she would cook a few simple dishes for her and her father. But, after her father had passed, she had not cooked anything else. It was not so fun to cook and eat alone. It was better for her to walk around the night market and find something to eat.

As her thought went to her late parents, Gu Xin Ye's cast down her face.

"Well, I don't need you to do a lot of things," Qin Zhan said. "Mostly, on weekdays, you will have to help me with taking orders and serving as the two little helpers here had to go to school. Sometimes, I might call you to help on the weekend whenever there are too many tourists coming to visit. And twice a week, I will leave the noodle stand to you as I will have to make a quick run to a nearby city."

…

"You're hired?" Lin Qiao was surprised when she heard of that news. She knew that Gu Xin Ye had gone to Z Town to talk to Qin Zhan into joining the company as a pastry chef. It hasn't been a day since Gu Xin Ye went to Z Town. But now, she was hired for a part-time job at the Qin Zhan's noodle stand?

"Un," Gu Xin Ye nodded. She walked towards the balcony in her hotel room and enjoyed the sea breeze.

"What happened to your plan to convince Chef Qin to work for GDB?"

Gu Xin Ye then told Lin Qiao about what was happened at the noodle stand earlier. "I don't think I can find an opportunity to talk to Qin Zhan about that offer until I know more about him. The reason why he quit his job and his reason to stay in this small town. Once I found out his weakness, only then will I make a good offer to him, right?"

"Are you sure it will work?" Lin Qiao was anxious upon hearing her friend's new plan. "What if he found out who you are?"

Gu Xin Ye was silent for a while. "Well, if he finds out, I can only come clean and tell him my reason. But hopefully, he won't find out about my identity before I can figure out about him."

Lin Qiao let out a long sigh at the other line. "What about work?"

"You can send everything on my email. Or else, you can find Wang Zhi Wei for anything urgent," Gu Xin Ye said. "I have told Wang Zhi Wei that I will be taking a long break. And it seemed that he had already known that I have taken a break to look for Qin Zhan. Right. I think someone had disclosed my movements to Wang Zhi Wei and the members of the director. Lin Qiao. Help me to investigate this."