Monster Inn Rectification Report: Chapter 1

"Name?"

"Xie Fei."

“Age?” 

“18.”

　

“Are you sure you want to apply at our inn?”

“Yes.” 

At the reception desk, a boy with fair skin smiled brightly, causing the dimples on his cheeks to appear. The staff looked at the boy blankly, no expression on his face. If one only looked at the staff’s style and stature, one would think that the boy was applying to be a “Tony Teacher1." However, the fact was that they were in an inn.

“Hold on, I’ll go get the manager.” With one hand in his pocket, the staff with flamboyant appearance2 languidly made his way to the back door. As he reached the door, he turned around and looked back at Xie Fei. The dim yellow light obscured half his silhouette, inexplicably giving him a dark and gloomy air.

　　

In the blink of an eye, Xie Fei was the only one left in the lobby.

　　

It was said that the lobby was golden, 26 square meters3 in size. At the southeast side, a small tea room could be found connected to the lobby reaching around 33 square meters4 .

Contrary to what was expected, the sparrow’s house was rather small and dirty--it even felt incomplete. In the lobby, only a reception desk with blotchy paint could be found. On the walls, black and white framed photographs were hung, showing men in long coats and suits. Seeing those pictures against the damp and yellow walls gave a strange and eerie feeling. 

Xie Fei glanced at the price list posted on the reception desk and felt his eyes twitch in pain: 499 a night.

However, Xie Fei could only endure since conditions were poor. His pockets were empty and if he didn’t get a job, he would end up sleeping under a bridge; a corpse lying on the side of the road. 

After waiting for a while, Xie Fei heard the clack of heels against the floor. As the sound grew closer, a touch of red was reflected in his eyes. A woman, around twenty five or twenty six years old, arrived in the lobby. She had bright and striking features and wore a large, red dress which did not fit in with the rest of the old and rundown inn. 

　

The woman, who had been impatient at first, froze. A dumbfounded expression crossed her face as she approached. Then, her eyes flickered and she laughed without saying a word.

“Mr. Xie?”

Xie Fei bowed slightly. He sincerely and politely greeted the woman. “Hello.”

“I am the inn’s manager, surname Xiang.” Her voice was soft and mellow, giving a tender and sweet impression. “Three drops of water and a phase of yearning5. You may call me Ah Xiang, or Xiang Xiang.”

“Sister Xiang.” Xie Fei chose option C.

Ms. Xiang smiled and pointed to the tea room at the side. “Mr. Xie, let’s discuss these matters there.”

After the two settled down, Ms. Xiang lifted the lid of the teapot and checked its contents. Turning back, she yelled, “Ah Fu, prepare two cups of tea.”

“Oh.” The receptionist suddenly came back and responded in a lazy way, as if he didn’t respect the manager at all. 

Xie Fei observed Ms. Xiang, doubt filling his eyes, while the other party looked at him in the usual manner. With a smile, the woman introduced the staff she just called.  “Ah Fu is an old employee of the inn. If you get the job without problems, then in the future you can ask him anything you don’t understand.”

　　

Ms. Xiang saw Xie Fei nod obediently at her words and learned more about his personal circumstances. Then she added: “Our inn belongs to the Dahuang group. Presently, the group is in its development stage so it’s still small in scale and the work is relatively casual. The inn provides food and lodging and there are day and night shifts. Employees have 12 days of annual leave in addition to legal holidays. As for the salary...the monthly salary is 8000 before tax. Quarterly and year-end bonuses are not yet included.”

Xie Fei’s eyes brightened and his dimples deepened. 

Ms. Xiang smiled wider. “Mr. Xie, do you accept?”

“Yes!”

　　

At this time, Ah Fu came over with the tea. Ms. Xiang handed a cup to Xie Fei and asked, “Do you have any more questions?”

Xie Fei thought it over and honestly asked, “Does the company offer the five insurances and one gold?”

“No.” Ms. Xiang ignored the disappointment written all over the young man’s face and calmly sighed. “We have six insurances and one gold, including the commercial insurance. For that, we will buy them after one month of employment.”

　　

Xie Fei had a look of surprise and said, “I’ll be alright, thank you Sister Xiang.”

　

“Well then, do you have your ID card with you? I will sign a probationary contract with Ah Fu later.”

Stunned, Xie Fei asked, “Am I qualified?”

　

”Of course,” Manager Xiang said, red lips smiling deeply at him. “I am very satisfied with you.”

The interview only took ten minutes and the signing of the contract went smoothly.

Xie Fei received a key card and listened to Ah Fu’s words. “Your room isn’t ready yet. Stay first in the guest room on the second floor, the one with the “Chrysanthemum” sign on the door.”

“Yes.”

“I live on the first floor’s duty room. It’s the back door to the left. It’s getting late today, so I’ll show you around tomorrow.”

Xie Fei thanked Ah Fu and seeing that the man had nothing else to say, went upstairs first.  

　　

　

Upon reaching the second floor, Xie Fei found four rooms named “Plum,” “Orchid,” “Bamboo,” and “Chrysanthemum” respectively. Xie Fei reached his room, swiped his key card, and closed the door. When the lights came on, Xie Fei stood by the door and took in the room’s furnishings. There was a bed, a set of tables and chairs, a TV, and a few hangers in the room. Xie Fei glanced at the gray walls and found a few dirty shoe prints left their mark. Shoe prints……

All in all, the room can be described in one word: “shabby.”

　　

Can an inn, as unreliable looking as this one, offer a guest good treatment?

“Well, ghosts believe.”  Xie Fei tossed his burlap bag and laid down flat on his bed.

According to his understanding, if there are no guests = no work. Small scale = only two employees: Manager Xiang and Ah Fu. As for his salary and holidays...Do you find the moon reflected in the waters beautiful? Too bad, you’ll never get it. 

Even though he knew it was a pit, he jumped in without any hesitation. He figured that to stall time, the idea of  “packing and eating” shouldn’t be considered as cheating.

Xie Fei heaved a sigh at his bad luck. Fate was really too much; he had a long way to go. To think that a week ago, he was the owner of a popular bed and breakfast house with more than a dozen rooms where people can casually live in. Now that he crossed over, he was reduced to rubbing.

That’s right. Xie Fei transmigrated and found himself inside a novel.

Originally an orphan, Xie Fei was picked up by his grandparents when he was a child. Then, his whole family lived well by running a “bed and breakfast” house. When he reached 16, his grandparents died one after another. Thus, Xie Fei decided to drop out of school and focus on the house business.

Six days ago, he happened to stumble upon a strange novel in his app favorites. Out of curiosity, he browsed through a few chapters and realized that the cannon fodder in the book had the same name and age as him. He was also an orphan! But, the similarities ended there. The cannon fodder was not as lucky as him. The cannon fodder grew up in an orphanage until a middle-aged couple came, claiming to be the cannon fodder’s biological parents. Due to the hospital’s mistake that year, the cannon fodder was alone for seventeen years.

Naturally, he was brought back home. In a flash, the once poor orphan became a rich young man. He began acting like a god of heaven and earth, thus madly targeting the adopted son of a magpie’s nest. Once his parents found out his father rejected him, his mother hated him, and finally he was smashed into a vegetative state by a falling object.　

Reading this, Xie Fei immediately deleted the book and went to sleep. When he woke up, he found himself lying on a bed in a nursing facility with a group of white coats surrounding him and shouting “Medical Miracle!”

After gaining memories that didn’t belong to him, Xie Fei confirmed that he had indeed transmigrated into the novel he read last night and became the unlucky cannon fodder.

Hearing that the doctors informed his family of his awakening, Xie Fei’s mood soured. This was because he knew that the adopted son of the family was not only the protagonist of the novel, but also the son who had awakened the lucky koi blood within him. He even had a supernatural power that science could not explain.

Having offended such a person, the protagonist no less, could he still survive?

　　

Xie Fei mentally prepared himself for the worst, but as he gradually recovered, he never saw a single family member. 

It was as if he was forgotten or abandoned.

Xie Fei immediately made his next decision--run.

He took his wallet, containing all his cash and his ID card, and escaped the nursing facility with the counter-surveillance skills he learned on the internet. He traveled all the way to Nanshan city, which was more than 2,000 kilometers away. 

Xie Fei heard that the city had a large film and television base with numerous bed and breakfast inns all around. Since he was in urgent need of money to live on, he concluded that the most suitable job for him would be his old line of work. So he went to the town of Shaoyang by car, where the base was located. However, he didn’t expect that no inns were recruiting at the moment. Afterwards, he walked for two more hours before discovering the “Dahuang Inn6” in Xining village which was far away from the base.

　　

In any case, he now had a place to live. He could change his job later. For now, he could stay here for a while. 

Xie Fei turned and sat up, moving his aching shoulders. He grabbed his only set of clothes from his burlap bag and prepared to take a bath. But, there was no bathroom in the room. There was only the public bathroom on the second floor. Holding his clothes in his arms, he had to go downstairs to ask Ah Fu for help.

　　

There was no one in the lobby so Xie Fei turned and went directly to the back door. Behind the door was a courtyard. The courtyard was dark with only the moon shedding light. Under the moonlight one could faintly see the plants’ outlines as well as their branches, as if they were claws stretching deep in the night. Xie Fei looked to his left and caught sight of a lonely cabin. The door was half-hidden and no light could be seen under the cracks. Although dark, Xie Fie heard muffled sounds of music coming from behind the door. 

　　

As he walked closer to the cabin, Xie Fei heard a man singing hysterically. Xie Fei thought it was only Ah Fu and was about to knock on the door. He raised his hand half-way and froze.

Inside, a half-human-half-bat hung itself upside down on the cabin’s beam, an iPad hooked to its front paws. In the dark, the iPad screen glowed a bright blue light, illuminating a hairy face with a microphone hanging around his neck.

“Bang--”

Xie Fei quickly slammed the door shut.

　　

The evening breeze blew, carrying the chill of early autumn. Xie Fei stood in front of the door for a moment and decided to confirm what he saw again. Just as he was about to open the door, a pale and white hand reached out from the darkness, resting gently on his shoulder. 

Xie Fei’s reaction was so great, he sharply turned around and saw Manager Xiang standing behind him. The other party smiled and asked: “What are you doing here?”

“I saw a big bat…” Doing what? Playing an iPad? Shouting into a mic? Xie Fei rubbed the tip of his nose and thought it was too funny.

“Bats?” Manager Xiang frowned. “How can there be bats?”

“Yes, how can there be bats?” It was a total mystery.

“Where did you see it?”

Xie Fei pointed at the closed door. 

　　

Manager Xiang turned the handle on the door and pressed a switch on the wall. With a “snap”, porcelain-white light drowned the room. Xie Fei squinted subconsciously and saw nothing but a pile of debris and a steel bed in the room. 

“There’s nothing here.” Manager Xiang circled the room and leaned on the steel bed’s railings. “Did you see it wrong?”

“......maybe I’m just too tired and was seeing things.” Xie Fei smiled in embarrassment. This time, he noticed that Manager Xiang only wore a cool silk nightdress with a low neckline and a skirt that covered just above her hip.

Xie Fei averted his eyes and stepped out of the room. 

　

“Were you looking for Ah Fu?” Manager Xiang came out and closed the door. She approached Xie Fei quietly and said, “He must be in the bathroom.”

“Yes! I wanted to ask where the bathroom is.” Xie Fei thought that he would get an answer from Ms. Xiang but the other person didn’t reply. Instead, she lightly touched his arm and clung to him as if nothing happened.

The bright lights from the lobby flooded into the courtyard showing Ms. Xiang’s charming and passionate eyes. Under the corner of her eye, a dark red tear-shaped mole could be seen. 

“Xiao Xie Ah, I’m a little cold…”

“I’m cold too.” Xie Fei nodded his head, as if unaware of his manager’s actions. He continued with concern: “Sister Xiang, you should quickly go back to your room to rest so you don’t catch a cold. I’ll wait for Ah Fu a little longer.”

“......”

Manager Xiang noticed the floating, bright red scarf on Xie Fei’s chest. She tried to say something again but Xie Fei turned away and covered his mouth and nose. 

“A-achoo! Achoo!”

Seeing the impeccable timing of Xie Fei sneezing twice, Manager Xiang wasn’t sure if it was intentional or not. Her lips twitched and gave a short laugh. “Then you should go and take a hot bath. Follow the stone path and pass through this garden. There’s a well in the middle and the public bathroom is right across it.”

Xie Fei clutched his clothes and thanked her. “Okay, thank you Sister Xiang!”

　　

As soon as his figure disappeared, Manager Xiang’s face sank and kicked the wooden door behind her. “Are you looking for death ah? You didn't close the door!”

There was a man sitting in the originally empty room. The “missing” Ah Fu crossed his legs, feet covered by blue and pink plastic slippers. “I’m not used to it. I forgot we had a newcomer.”

“What’s in your head? Is it full of hair too?” Manager Xiang angrily pushed him away and sat down on the edge of the bed. “If you scare him away, how will you pay me back?”

Ah Fu raised his eyebrows and asked: “Are you serious about him?” 

“Nonsense.” Manager Xiang took the cigarette box on the pillow and lit a cigarette. Eyes half-lidded, she drew a breath.

“He looks good, how nice ah…”　　

Ah Fu hummed disdainfully and said, “You can’t keep a good-looking man. You don’t have enough money in your account. How will you pay for insurance?”

“Oh--” Manager Xiang smiled, biting the lit cigarette in her mouth. She glanced at the gray smoke rising in the air. The greed in her eyes flashed and went away. “What payment? In one month, a good guy like him will be sucked dry by me.”

　

At this time, Xie Fei didn’t know he was being targeted. He entered the garden and saw how large it was. It had three sides enclosing it: the west, south, and north side. Each side had a row of houses with electric lights hanging on the porches to reflect the view of the garden.

　　

The light and lingering smell of plants and flowers floated in the air. Suddenly a gust of wind came, dispersing the faint fragrance and causing some flowers and leaves to float down, copying the first snow. A petal gently brushed Xie Fei’s eyes. They were black as ink, no light escaping it. It felt empty and hollow, as if the soul was taken away.

Xie Fei walked step by step to the center of the garden where the well was located. In the silence, only his footsteps could be heard. He stopped by the edge of the well and gazed into its mouth. Slowly, he leaned over……

“Flap--”

He heard a strange noise behind him. Xie Fei swiveled around and a white shadow flashed by.

“Who?!”

Xie Fei shouted and saw a snow-white bird perched on the large tree behind him. He calmed himself down and wondered if the bird’s body was too heavy. It’s a pity though because the bird was too far away and he couldn’t see it clearly.

　　

It was only then did Xie Fei realize that he was standing by the well. A drop of cold sweat slipped down his brows. Wasn’t he going to the bathroom? Xie Fei squeezed his knuckles and carefully backed away. He couldn’t understand how he got there. It was like he was intoxicated and his memory was broken into fragments. He couldn’t remember at all. 

　　

Xie Fei stared at his clothes scattered on the ground. He found the inn too strange--a bat holding a microphone, a female boss with a tendency for sexual harassment, and a well that couldn’t be explained……He didn’t think the bat was an illusion but he just agreed with whatever Manager Xiang said. 

Xie Fei never thought that he was timid and had no guts. But then again, he was a young man who grew up under the red flag of socialism. In the face of these baffling mysteries that prevailed over science, how could he not feel afraid? Otherwise, why would he escape from the nursing facility?

Or…or should he just go?

Tomorrow, let’s quit!

He still wants to be careful and strive to live through three chapters! 

T/N:

1. Exceptional teacher

2. 杀马特 - Chinese subculture of young urban migrants, with exaggerated hairstyles, heavy make-up, flamboyant costumes, piercings etc.

3-4. 说是大堂其实很贴金了，七八平，加上右南侧打通的小茶室也就十来平 but I converted it into square meters. MTL says it's an adj. but I thought it'd be the size

5. 三点水加一个相思的相 I'm not sure what this phrase means so I just placed the literal sense.

6. 大荒客栈 literal trans: "Great Waste" but I'll keep it in pinyin for the name's sake. 

Thanks for reading and if there are any corrections please don't hesitate to tell me! Again, I'm new to this so if there's a way to improve my translations please be my guest (just be kind tho lol). I did this for fun and because I wanted to read through a novel with okay grammar and good sense. Now that I did this I realize...editing and translating is hard :<

I'll be updating again once I stockpiled enough chapters. For now, thanks for reading!

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