Who Would Fall in Love After Being Reborn?

TL: Etude Translations

Thus, time began to slip away bit by bit. Puzzlingly, during the half-hour wait that followed, the front desk attendant who said he would help them find their luggage never appeared again.

Soon after, a lobby manager named Bian Qiang hurried over upon hearing the news, saying that he would help them deal with the matter.

After a round of circuitous talk, everyone finally understood what Manager Bian meant. His message was simple: he refused to acknowledge that they had stored fifteen pieces of luggage, instead insisting adamantly that they had only stored thirteen.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

This was because the storage receipt did not specify the number of luggage pieces, only the storage fee.

“Sorry for the inconvenience and affecting everyone’s mood upon arrival. We can refund the storage fee, would that be alright?”

Would that be alright? To hell with that.

The people of Room 208 almost laughed. The combined value of the two missing pieces of luggage was nearly thirty thousand yuan, and they thought refunding three hundred yuan would make it as if nothing had happened?

“Manager Bian, if we really only stored thirteen pieces of luggage, then why offer us a refund? Your words seem a bit contradictory.”

Manager Bian’s face changed. He had thought they were naive and clear-headed young college students, not expecting them to avoid such a simple trap, which took him by surprise.

How could he know that working under a shrewd boss like Jiang Qin, such low-level tricks were too simple for them?

“No matter whether you agree to the refund or not, we indeed only received thirteen pieces of luggage.”

Su Nai frowned slightly, “What about that attendant earlier? He already confirmed there were fifteen pieces and said he would help us find them.”

“Sorry, miss, we have over fifty attendants here. Do you know his name? I’ll call him over right away.”

“…”

Wei Lanlan was stunned for a moment but quickly understood. That attendant had gone into the staff passage the second time to hide, pretending to be absent to help the manager deny they had stored fifteen pieces of luggage.

“That attendant’s name is Zhao Jiale.”

Jiang Qin, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up; “Jiale as in the ‘jia’ from ‘jiajie’ (festival) and ‘le’ from ‘kuaile’ (happy).”

The manager was taken aback, not expecting them to actually know Zhao Jiale’s name. He stuttered for a while before speaking, “Uh… I’m also new here and don’t know all the attendants. Do you know his employee number? I can use the walkie-talkie to call him.”

Jiang Qin laughed, “Who remembers an hotel attendant’s employee number? Besides, would knowing the number help us find our luggage?”

“It should, sir, but if you don’t remember the number, it’s going to be difficult because we have many temporary workers here for the summer.”

“Since you said so, I’m forced to remember it then. His number is AC050031. Call him.”

Manager Bian: “…”

After a long pause, Manager Bian spoke into the walkie-talkie, and the missing attendant reappeared. He claimed he wasn’t the one who handled their luggage storage and knew nothing about it.

In fact, he was telling the truth since the hotel operated in morning and afternoon shifts, and the attendant who had helped store the luggage in the morning wasn’t him.

“If you don’t know how many pieces of luggage there were, then what were you going to look for?”

Zhao Jiale, the attendant, lowered his head, “I just went around the storage room. I didn’t confirm there were fifteen pieces of luggage.”

Jiang Qin was getting annoyed, “Stop the bullshit. Check the surveillance footage. It’s annoying.”

“Our surveillance…”

“Is your surveillance broken?” Jiang Qin stood up, snatching the walkie-talkie from him, “Then let’s call the police and see. You choose.”

Manager Bian pursed his lips, “Please come this way, guests. I’ll take you to the surveillance room.”

Thus, the group from Room 208 followed Manager Bian to the surveillance room and after reviewing the morning’s footage, it was confirmed that there indeed were fifteen pieces of luggage.

Manager Bian’s face turned ugly, not expecting the footage to be so clear. Jiang Qin, not wanting to waste any more words, directly had Wei Lanlan call the police.

When the police arrived, Manager Bian’s attitude noticeably improved. He admitted the hotel’s negligence and promised to help find the luggage, but couldn’t guarantee when it would be found.

“We have a lot more to do and can’t wait for you to find it. Since the luggage was lost by your hotel, let’s settle with the original price as compensation first. When the luggage is found, we can refund you the money.”

Jiang Qin raised a finger, signaling the amount the hotel needed to compensate.

He wasn’t after the thirty thousand yuan but knew that without holding the money, they wouldn’t seriously help find the luggage, and who knows how long that would take.

“Compensate first? That’s definitely not possible. We haven’t inspected the contents of your bags. We can’t just pay thirty thousand yuan because you claim it’s that much.”

Manager Bian looked at the police officer sitting beside him, “We will cooperate with the police to find the luggage later, but no hotel has a rule to compensate first.”

Jiang Qin thought for a moment, “Manager Bian, can you guess where my accent is from? If you guess right, I’ll go back and wait patiently.”

“Maybe further north?”

“Damn it, you know I’m from out of town and want to drag this out? Then every time I call to ask, you’ll say you’re still looking?” Jiang Qin slammed the table.

Manager Bian: “…”

The police officer on the sofa spoke up, “Sir, please don’t worry. We will also actively investigate and help you find your luggage as soon as possible.”

“Our computer has very important data in it, and we must retrieve it today. It’s the hotel’s responsibility, and we shouldn’t have to bear the consequences.”

“However, searching for the items will take time. At the moment, we can’t confirm whether they were stolen or misplaced somewhere.”

In summary, after an afternoon of negotiation, the hotel refused to agree to compensation in advance, and Jiang Qin was equally unyielding. He knew that once they left Shanghai, the hotel would find various ways to shirk responsibility.

If an internal staff member took the items, even the police might not be able to find them. He had seen too many such cases, where the strategy was to trivialize major issues and dissolve minor ones, leaving the victim at a loss.

But this time, it was different because the lost item was Su Nai’s computer.

The upgrade of Zhihu depended entirely on Su Nai and the project team. If the computer couldn’t be found for two or three months, or was lost forever, all the initial work would have been in vain.

Seeing that negotiation was futile, Manager Bian had no choice but to call the general manager of the hotel.

The hotel’s general manager, surnamed Qiu, was very firm, willing to assist in the search but refusing to provide advance compensation.

“We will definitely help look for the luggage, but advance compensation is impossible. Moreover, we never inspected the contents of your bags, so we can’t confirm their value. Please don’t be unreasonable and just wait for the outcome.”

His use of “unreasonable” infuriated everyone from Room 208: “Unreasonable? We paid for the storage!”

Manager Qiu unapologetically said, “Sorry for the slip of the tongue, but the principle remains the same. If we find the luggage, we will notify you immediately. Let’s leave it at that for today.”

His tone was both soft and hard, as if indifferent to their concerns, with a rather high-handed attitude.

Jiang Qin couldn’t help but laugh, thinking they were putting on an act, treating them like naive college students, playing good cop and bad cop.

But as outsiders, they had neither the connections nor the time to wait, unable to afford the delay. Despite their anger, they had to compromise in the end.

So, the stalemate continued, with neither party willing to budge, until a gentle voice suddenly broke the tense silence.

“Hello, Auntie.”

“I’m in Shanghai for a visit. I didn’t tell you on purpose. Also, I lost my luggage.”

Feng Nanshu mentioned the hotel’s name and, realizing everyone was looking at her, clung tighter to Jiang Qin’s arm, her expression growing colder but her voice softer.

Seeing this, the police officers, managers, general manager, and the watching staff all glanced at the young girl, but nobody paid much attention, dismissing it as a minor interruption, and the silence resumed.

If negotiation was impossible, the stalemate would continue. Some were tourists, others locals; it was clear who could afford to wait and who couldn’t.

Advance compensation was out of the question. Even if the luggage was truly lost, the most they would offer was ten times the storage fee.

Fifteen pieces of luggage with a storage fee of three hundred yuan, the two missing pieces’ storage fee was forty yuan. Even with tenfold compensation, it would only be four hundred yuan, plus the storage fee of three hundred, totaling seven hundred yuan.

As for thirty thousand? That was out of the question.

Manager Qiu, who had managed the hotel for years on behalf of the owner, had handled various tricky situations. He knew that many guests, although initially furious, ultimately felt powerless and had to compromise.

He was very confident.

However, what happened next far exceeded everyone’s expectations.

About half an hour later, three police cars suddenly arrived at the hotel, led by a middle-aged man in plain clothes, followed by several officers, who walked over steadily.

Seeing this, the two officers mediating the dispute immediately stood up and saluted.

“Captain Chen, why are you here?”

“Didn’t they say luggage was lost? Tell me what happened.”

The officers were puzzled, wondering how their chief knew about the situation so quickly without a report.

Manager Qiu, trying to maintain his composure, was equally surprised and confused.

Before the officers could speak, the sound of engines roared outside the hotel. Then, three black cars pulled up, and three men in suits hurried into the brightly lit lobby, heading their way.

Manager Qiu immediately stood up, recognizing them as the hotel’s major owner and two shareholders.

He had never seen the owner this anxious since he started working at the hotel.

“Boss, Mr. Zhang, Mr. Sun, why are you all here?”

“Where’s the luggage?” The hotel owner glared at him.

Manager Qiu was startled, “Wh… What luggage?”

“The luggage lost by the Feng family in our hotel. Such a big incident has happened, and you’re sitting here comfortably. Don’t you know to look for the luggage?!”

“…”

…

You don’t see the young masters in novels be on the mc’s side often do you, haha? Exciting!!