Chapter 64, Chapter Eleven: The Fantasy Mansion
These people acted so quickly, starting the search at seven o'clock.
Still feeling a bit dizzy from the nightmare, Wen Ting steadied herself and opened the door: "Coming."
The man in the lead smiled at her. "We're here to check our food supplies. Did we disturb your rest?"
Wen Ting shook her head. "No, come in."
She stood at the door, watching four or five people rush into the lounge, while the others went to knock on the door of the room across the hall.
Wen Ting chatted casually with them, while glancing at them as they moved the bed boards, opened the wardrobe, checked the paintings on the wall, and some even opened the window to peek out.
"Hey, what's going on here?" Wen Ting asked her colleague who opened the window.
"You don't know, someone put a hook on the outside wall and hung food on it."
"My God," Wen Ting exclaimed in surprise, "You even thought of that."
"Who can argue with that? There are plenty of people who resort to petty tricks at times like this, showing absolutely no sense of the bigger picture."
The search was over, and they found only a few candies in the room. After registering them, they told Wen Ting, "You don't have many personal belongings. Go to the cafeteria for breakfast later. Food is scarce; we only provide two meals a day, morning and evening."
And you?
"Look, there are still so many rooms to check."
"You've really worked hard," Wen Ting said with concern. "Thanks to your quick thinking and taking charge, otherwise someone like me with no food reserves would have starved to death."
The girl next to her raised an eyebrow. "Windy, you're worried about starving? Plenty of people will be vying to bring you food."
She just tore down the posters and paintings on the wall.
Wen Ting had no idea what she was checking. The staff break rooms were next to each other. Did she think she could make a hole in a partition that was less than five centimeters wide?
"I'm so glad you do," she replied with a smile. "Anyone who would give me food at a time like this is someone I could seriously consider marrying for a lifetime."
The female team member chuckled, "That's right, you should seize the opportunity, you might just turn misfortune into a blessing in disguise."
“Look, you said it yourself,” Wen Ting pulled her along and slipped a piece of candy into her hand, “Cherish me.”
"Alright," the other person laughed, a little speechless, "I'm not usually polite with you, but you can keep it for yourself now."
"Really don't want it?" Wen Ting smiled. "Would you be willing to spend your whole life with me even without sugar?"
“Yes, yes,” she waved her hand dismissively, “What do you need candy for? You’re sweet enough.”
"Oh dear, that's something I feel embarrassed to say."
The group went to check other rooms, and Wen Ting put the returned candy into her pocket.
She watched their check-up process for a while at the door, and soon it was Chaochao DD's turn to go to his room.
The two saw Wen Ting in the corridor and came over to meet her.
That bread and eight-treasure porridge sealed the bond between the three.
Wen Ting was physically exhausted, but having two young and energetic children by her side was a great help.
The three of them went to the cafeteria to get breakfast and were stunned when they saw the Panpan mini bread rolls they received.
The food was distributed by two groups, Animal Group 4 and Field Group 5.
"Fourth Brother, let me ask you something," Wen Ting leaned closer to the eldest brother, who was supervising from the side, "What are we having for dinner tonight?"
"Let me see." The older brother opened the OA system.
The inspection team sent the inspected employees' personal food reserves to the OA system. Employees who already have their own food cannot collect public food until the inspection team has assessed the number of days they can consume.
"Ha, three penniless bums." After looking at Wen Ting and Chaochao DD's personal food records, he tapped his phone screen. "You'll each have a bowl of plain noodles tonight."
Wen Ting glanced at the two small bread rolls in her hand, each no bigger than her fist. "It's only just begun, are you already this nervous?"
The older brother shook his head helplessly, "There really aren't many left."
Wen Ting glanced around and lowered her voice, "Fourth Brother, tell me honestly, is the food distributed according to salary?"
The older brother shrugged. "With so many people watching, how could we dare to send someone from each department to oversee the grain depot? At least it's fair now."
"Then," Wen Ting probed, "was the director also checked? Did he eat the same food as us?"
The older brother bluntly stated, "Director Xu still has some face to give, but who would respect this new young man? Yesterday, after it was decided to search, his office was the first place they searched."
Wen Ting was surprised, "He agreed?"
"Why should he disagree?"
Wen Ting sat down and asked, "Brother, have you met with the new director? What's he like?"
"No, he's a homebody. He hasn't come to the meetings lately, I heard he's always holed up in his office." The older brother waved his hand, "You can tell just by looking at him."
"Yes, his personality is like a technology."
The older brother sensed that Wen Ting wanted to find out the director's identity, but he didn't know who this person was either. "Whatever his personality, we don't need him to run the team right now. Let's talk about it after we get out of here."
No information was obtained regarding the director.
Wen Ting looked at the two small bread rolls in her hand, ate one herself, and put the remaining one in her pocket.
She didn't share with Chaochao DD. Giving them food at this time would not only fail to win her favor, but would also make them think she had hidden food.
She simply gestured to them with a shushing gesture, "Save some before the food runs out."
DD had just taken a bite of the second piece of bread.
Hearing Wen Ting's reminder, he hesitated, unable to bite, and got stuck there.
Wen Ting smiled and said, "Never mind, let's start tomorrow."
DD swallowed it.
"If it's this difficult now, what will we do later?" Chaochao worried.
“I just talked to my fourth brother, and he said the cafeteria still has a few cabbages, half a basket of potatoes, and sweet potatoes left. They will remove the potted plants and plant vegetables instead.” Wen Ting handed them two candies. “There’s always a way out.”
"You can grow vegetables?" Chaochao's eyes lit up immediately. "That's amazing!"
Her hard-won sense of crisis vanished instantly, and Wen Ting exclaimed in amazement, "You're so easy to please, you'll flourish with just a little sunshine."
"Sis, you can really be optimistic. Don't you think this is similar to the development of 'I've completely remade a horror game into a happy farm' or 'I'm eating and drinking my fill in the rule-based ghost stories by farming'?"
Wen Ting chuckled, "Okay, I hope so."
She squeezed the small bag of bread, her mood and expression showing a stark contrast – a solemnity.
It wasn't because of the food, but because they realized their predicament.
A new organizational structure has been established.
Those responsible for inspections, distributing food, managing grain warehouses... all these important resources and key positions exclude them from the nine-person team.
In the early stages of building the new force, she was marginalized.
"Any boys here?" A voice poked out from the kitchen. "Come help me carry some things."
Wen Ting immediately patted DD's back, making him choke on the last bite of bread he had just swallowed.
"Go and help," she whispered to the two of them. "Stay here and get involved in whatever you can."
DD looked at her and saw that Wen Ting's expression was serious, so he didn't ask anything, rolled up his sleeves and walked over.
Chaochao asked curiously, "Sister, what about you?"
Wen Ting sighed, "I'll go socialize with someone from the upper class."
She walked to the 13th floor, stood in front of the director's office, and was about to knock when she suddenly heard a sound, like a musical instrument.
A faint, mournful melody drifted from under the door, ethereal and plaintive.
Wen Ting stamped her feet. The new director could be described as cold-blooded, but I never expected him to have such a melancholy and sentimental side.
She listened for a while and identified it as an xun (a type of ancient Chinese wind instrument), but couldn't discern the specific melody. It sounded like a mournful song from a secluded palace, filled with desolation and loneliness.
Wen Ting planned to wait until the song ended before knocking on the door, but the sound of the xun (a type of ancient Chinese wind instrument) stopped very soon.
She waited a while longer, but the music stopped, so she tentatively knocked on the door. "Director?"
"Come in."
Wen Ting pushed open the door and saw the man standing in front of the tea table by the window, his eyes half-lowered, adding incense powder to the incense burner.
He lit incense, and wisps of red smoke rose as the lid of the incense burner, with its openwork bird beak, was closed, making a soft tapping sound.
He closed the incense burner and glanced at Wen Ting.
Those phoenix eyes were dark and empty, no longer filled with the previous fervor and excitement, leaving only a cold and lifeless silence.
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