“Boss, don’t you belong to the Shaws?” Carol quickly followed her and asked carefully, “Why do they call you James?”
Grace stopped at the door of her room. She turned around and landed her gaze on Carol, whose eyes were filled with fear. Grace understood at a glance that the girl in front of her had changed. Carol was no longer the innocent girl that she used to be. Instead, she had become increasingly cautious.
“Carol, you’re afraid of me, aren’t you?”
Grace asked. But Carol didn’t answer her question.
Her tender face turned red in a second. Everyone could tell her embarrassment. She said, “No, boss. Why would I be afraid of you? You are the kindest to me.”
Grace touched Carol’s face with her cold hand. Carol trembled and secretly looked at her boss through the eyelids. However, she didn’t expect that she would bump into a pair of eyes filled with grief. Grace looked thoughtful yet helpless. Carol was at a loss of words, “Boss …”
“Carol, I don’t know my name, either.
My grandfather named me Grace James when I was born. He is a James. So is my father. I was the daughter of the James family.
Then, Grandpa passed away. I made a mistake by offending someone that I shouldn’t. I was no longer a James since then.
Afterwards, some people told me that my surname was ‘Shaw’, and I was Grace Shaw from then on.
I don’t know what my name is, but I feel more at ease when you call me boss.”
She wiped the tears off Carol’s face with her thumb and said, “Good girl, what are you crying for?” After thinking for a while, she walked into her bedroom and waved to Carol at the door. “Come in,” she said.
With that, she opened a safe in the corner and carefully took out a file bag from it, saying, “Carol, what’s wrong? Sit down.”
As she spoke to Carol, Grace sat down on a chair beside her and opened the file bag in her hand. She said, “If I leave this world one day, take this and go find Mr. Nielson of HC Law Firm. Jonas Nielson.
‘Memory Inn’ is very important to me. It’s more important than my life. If I die, be strong and help me take care of this place, won’t you?”
Naïve and innocent as Carol was, she could still tell that something was wrong. “Boss, you’re not going to...leave, are you?” Actually, Carol felt that Grace’s words were more like a note saying goodbye.
Nonsense! Long live the boss!
Carol tried to comfort herself.
Grace stood up and said, “I’ll take you somewhere.” Without explaining away Carol’s doubts, she walked out of the room with the file bag in her hand.
“Boss, where are you going?”
Grace walked in front, a little anxious, a little staggered. Carol mumbled, “Boss, you are having trouble with your feet! Slow down.”
Following Grace, Carol stood in front of the door in the most remote corner of Memory Inn.
“Boss, you always tell us to stay away from here, don’t you?”
Grace ignored her words. She put a key in the hole. With a twist, the door creaked open. Then she pushed the door and walked in. The room was a little dark. She turned on the light.
Carol gasped before saying, “A picture…of the dead...”
“Carol, don’t be afraid.
Her name is Leona. She is a very, very kind girl, like you.”
Grace stepped forward to light the lamp and pray for Leona, saying, “Leona was a good girl. She lost her life to save me.
She lay on my laps and passed away, just like that.
Before closing her eyes, she was still talking about her yearning for this world.
She said that she liked the scenery of Erhai Lake, as well as the distant Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.
Her only wish was to run a homestay on the edge of Erhai Lake. It didn’t need to be big, and she hoped that people could be free and happy in her homestay. She didn’t want people to be trapped in worldly disputes.
She left without fulfilling her lifelong wish.
She saved me with the price of her life.
So, I have decided to view her wish as my own.”
Carol was indeed afraid when the picture of Leona suddenly came into sight, but she gradually calmed herself as hearing the story of this girl in the Grace’s soothing tone. When she looked at the unfamiliar girl in the picture again, she could sense her kindness and warmth.
“Boss, you are a good boss. Boss Leona was also a good person.”
Hearing this, Grace, who was in front of the incense table, was shocked for a moment. A good person… She chuckled and stretched her eyebrows. “Leona, this girl said that you are a good person. In these days, only Carol can use ‘a good person’ to praise someone.” Only a simple girl like Carol would say such words.
“Boss, did I say anything wrong? Boss Leona saved your life. Of course, she was a good person.”
“No, you’re right.” After burning the incense for Leona, Grace wiped her hands and turned around to smile at Carol. She said, “You are right, Carol. If possible, I hope that you can always be yourself for the rest of your life.
It’s good.”
She spoke very seriously, but the girl opposite her was obviously confused. Grace thought for a moment and shook her head … Forgot it. It was best if she couldn’t understand.
If Carol could understand, then she would become a complicated person… That was not a good thing.
She picked up the file bag that had just been put aside, and handed it to Carol, saying, “Carol, do you like Memory Inn?”
“I like it.”
“Then, if I am about to leave Memory Inn for a long time, can you take care of this homestay?”
“I’m very familiar with the procedures of checking in and checking out. The aunts will take care of the restaurant and tidying up the rooms, and the garden will also be made neat... Boss, what’s wrong? You’re strange today.”
“Carol, listen carefully. When I leave, take this portfolio and go to find Mr. Nielson of HC Law Firm.
Mr. Nielson will help you handle all the inheritance formalities for my estate, including the transfer of this lodging to your name.
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