“Lord Hede, this isn’t very interesting of you. Personal emotions cannot be brought into work—that’s what you used to say constantly…”

The long corridor seemed endless. The Qing Dynasty’s Inspector General Hede had an upright figure and long legs, striding forward like a whirlwind.

Beside him, a petite Chinese girl was running to keep up. Though her proportions were reasonably well-balanced, compared to the Irish giant beside her, she looked like she had short legs. To match his pace, she ran until her cheeks flushed red, gasping for breath between every two words.

Hede wore a snow-white shirt and flax-colored vest today, his whole person lean and efficient. Lin Yuchan wore a curve-concealing Chinese jacket and skirt, yet inexplicably looked a size larger, feeling like a dwarf beside Snow White.

Even the little people had saved the princess’s life! The ungrateful foreign devil—she wouldn’t save him again!

Of course, this was just her petulant thinking. While running, she stretched out her hand, pointing at the work regulations hanging on the wall, the first line clearly stating in black and white: “Separate public and private matters.”

“I indeed brought you unpleasantness in the past, for which I express deep apology; but using personal authority to suppress innocent merchants violates the customs house’s professional ethics…”

Victor, shaking his blonde hair and humming while carrying a box of documents, walked toward them.

From his angle, he first saw Lin Yuchan and immediately beamed, planning to flirt a bit. Then he looked up—

Victor instantly assumed an ascetic expression, silently stepping aside against the wall.

Hede couldn’t shake her off. His brows were locked tight. Moreover, he had to admit that prohibition just now did indeed contain some personal emotion.

He suddenly stopped.

The floor tiles had just been mopped, gleaming like mirrors. Lin Yuchan nearly failed to brake, running several steps by inertia.

Hede appreciated her awkward appearance for two seconds, then put on a stern face.

“Fine, you have one minute to convince me why I should still trust your character.”

Lin Yuchan quickly stood at attention.

The Yixing affair was a huge misunderstanding, an unavoidable comet collision. To truly explain it clearly would cost half the Heaven and Earth Society’s territory.

Her mind raced for circumventing strategies.

“The customs house staff annual evaluation standards allow a five percent error rate.” She brushed away hair blocking her eyes, responding almost immediately. “That should be my only judgment error, within tolerance limits, at most dropping me from ‘excellent’ to ‘good.’ Besides, with the Yixing matter, you didn’t lose anything…”

“I lost a lovely holiday evening,” Hede said angrily. “I should have rented a pleasure boat to drink wine and admire lanterns inside.”

There was also the extremely infuriating humiliation of being played like a monkey by a young Chinese businessman. This he didn’t mention.

Missing her first shot, Lin Yuchan immediately switched targets: “Boya Trading House Hongkou Branch—I only hold forty percent shares, the other sixty percent belongs to Chinese merchant Mr. Rong Hong. Rather than spending time analyzing my character, why not inquire about his reputation?”

Hede was indifferent to this “third-tier college” Yale graduate fake American, sneering: “I haven’t had much dealings with him. How do I know he won’t join you in deceiving me?”

Lin Yuchan thought: unreasonable, like a child.

“Of course, there’s that risk,” she said frankly. “But all risks are calculated into the price. I know Boya’s tea retail business has just started, with relatively limited tea varieties, offering no reputation guarantee for you, but my prices will also be lower. Using a thirty percent price difference to exchange for the possibility of ‘a little liar specifically targeting Lord Hede for amusement and ending up in prison’—isn’t that quite interesting?”

Hede gritted his teeth: “Cunning Chinese.”

“—Exactly what you like. A stupid Chinese person could anger you to death. A group of cunning Chinese people would instead inspire your fighting spirit.”

After all, she no longer drew a customs salary—what could he do, fire her?

The customs house had no law enforcement authority—could he arrest her?

This wasn’t Hede’s first experience with her sharp tongue. He deeply felt this girl’s English had improved rapidly, with fewer grammatical errors.

But Lin Yuchan’s next statement nearly killed him with anger.

She said: “Lord Hede, work not going smoothly, finding a soft target to squeeze—perfectly understandable. I can continue listening respectfully until you calm down, then return to Mr. Cui’s office to continue discussions. Or, if you’re willing to share current difficulties, as Party B seeking your favor, I can play the grandson once and freely offer some lousy advice.”

From the moment Hede began unreasonably arguing with her, Lin Yuchan vaguely felt she’d stumbled into the line of fire today.

At his young age, achieving customs leadership, with half his subordinates being holdovers from the previous administration, he had to appear more mature and capable than anyone before them. There were also Chinese officials he dealt with daily, many twice his age. What to say to these aging people, how to say it, how to speak appropriately… these were all matters of learning. He had to force himself to operate daily like a well-oiled machine, systematically and efficiently, without the slightest error.

Hede was human after all, not a machine. Lin Yuchan, putting herself in his shoes, thought if she held such high position, she couldn’t mechanically operate day and night either.

She also needed outlets, needed to be unreasonable, needed to curse, needed to act on emotion…

Foreigners, being superior with abundant money, had many stress-relief channels: betting at race tracks, seeking pleasure in brothels, beating up Chinese people on the streets, or at worst, going home to scold wives and children…

Unfortunately, due to identity and religious restrictions, Hede had no opportunity for any of these.

So when a young, reckless “outsider” suddenly appeared in his customs house, sharp-edged and unreasonable, with a convenient handle in his grasp…

It was a perfect punching bag for venting anger.

If she didn’t go to hell, who would?

Initially feeling somewhat wronged by his targeting, Lin Yuchan suddenly felt relieved upon seeing those four words, “separate public and private.”

Hede’s anger would eventually pass. If he brought personal emotions to the workplace for over half an hour, his position as Inspector General should be replaced.

Of course, these were her judgments.

But even if her judgment was wrong, at worst, she’d be chased out the back door. Besides face, what would she lose?

Since becoming a working girl, showing her face publicly for over a year, when had Lin Yuchan ever cared about dignity?

After firing off some shots, Lin Yuchan said no more, her expression softening as she turned to gaze at the corridor walls.

Small blackboards hung there with grid lines, chalk writing attendance evaluations, and such information.

To accommodate the numerous foreigners’ heights in the customs house, the blackboards were hung at her head level. With slight swaying, chalk dust would fall on her face.

Without dustless chalk, writing on blackboards constantly sheds particles, causing sneezes.

She picked up a rag hanging nearby, covered her nose, stood on tiptoes, and carefully erased excess chalk marks.

Nostalgia rose in her heart as she muttered, “Did they change the corridor cleaning servants? Not cleaning chalk dust properly is bad for the heart and lungs.”

Beside the blackboard was a bulletin board with layers of various notices and decrees pasted up. Some weren’t completely torn off, leaving scraps of paper at the edges and corners. Lin Yuchan raised her arms, cleaning them one by one.

The Maritime Customs headquarters’ business volume was an order of magnitude higher than Guangdong Maritime Customs. No matter how meticulous Hede was, he couldn’t manage these details.

He hadn’t managed them. Somehow, he remembered the efficient days when this girl worked under him.

“Poor quality glue, plus not cleaning promptly—this wood won’t last long,” Lin Yuchan commented softly. “The bulletin board was imported from Europe, right? Quite an expense, unfortunately wasted. This money could hire two more Chinese auditors—or fire whoever was responsible for this procurement. I bet it was a foreigner, not knowing the cost of rice when not managing a household…”

She peeled away a layer of old notices when her eyes suddenly fixed, carefully reading the content.

“Hereby permit British merchant firms’ vessels to apply for duty-free navigation permits…”

Darkness fell before her eyes as Hede approached, blocking the brass wall lamp’s light.

“Miss Lin, did you bring samples?” Though his deep eye sockets still emanated cold air, the lines of his lips had softened. “Let me try your tea. This way, please.”

“First, the ‘bidding’ I oversee will not become the kind of Chinese social feast filled with vulgar and crude activities that Mr. Cui described.”

After Hede finished this sentence, Lin Yuchan nodded. But he noticed her slender eyebrows furrowed slightly, imperceptibly. Whether due to the descriptor “vulgar and crude” or the word “Chinese” was unclear.

“What I care about is that my employees won’t lose work motivation from lacking decent daily black tea, and every visitor to the customs house will get an excellent first impression from my teacup.”

He sipped tea and continued: “But the selected firms are all foreign companies with substantial capital, major taxpayers to the customs house. This is also a bit of return benefit I give them. I didn’t specify this in the public bidding announcement, so attracting you here today was my oversight. I can give you one chance… mm, good tea. Not the kind of street trash that only gets flavor from milk and honey.”

Hede spoke rapidly, watching the small face behind the desk brighten, her cheeks showing white with red, color slowly rising.

No makeup, only a decorative small white flower in her braid. Compared to ordinary Chinese girls with heads full of jingling gold and silver ornaments, she appeared refined and efficient.

“However, there are conditions.” He understood how to manipulate emotions, waiting until she cheered up before changing tone seriously. “You just said… having requests of me, you could play with my granddaughter once.”

Lin Yuchan’s expression stiffened: “…Play the grandson. It’s an idiomatic phrase with no gender distinction.”

“No matter,” with so many Chinese dialects, learning Cantonese and Mandarin was enough—Hede wouldn’t add trouble for himself. “I happen to have a small problem here, inconvenient for my staff to handle, but you could try. If you can help me, I’d be happy to add a position for you on the bidding list.”

Lin Yuchan: “I’m all ears.”

After saying these four words, she couldn’t control her mouth corners, which slightly curved up into a small new moon crescent.

Hede, saving face by calling it a “small problem,” might have been tormented to distraction by it; otherwise, why would he immediately find her to vent randomly?

Though she quickly pressed her lips together, Hede immediately noticed this strange smile and secretly gritted his teeth.