No one in the Mansion knew that things were far more too complicated than the way they seemed. Everyone, from the pathetically proud head of operations to the naively unsuspecting vets, a.s.sumed that Dr. Piper Xu was a brilliant veterinarian.

On the vets and researchers meeting, Dr. Cyan thought how gullible his co-workers were, praising Piper Xu and almost wors.h.i.+ping her for allegedly saving their a.s.sess, where as a matter of fact, she did not even managed to create a worthy alibi on how she was able to cure the horses by herself.

He almost spilled a laugh while sitting in the conference table, seeing the happy expectant faces of his colleagues and Piper Xu, who was sitting proudly on the chair in front of him, cross legged, the sensitive part of her tight was peeking through her tight mini-skirt.

They really had no idea, poor saps.

When the head of the operations, Mr. Hasley flew in the room, everyone grew silent and stood up to acknowledge the arrival of their leader. He stood alone in front, hands braced against the front of the rectangular table.

"Well," Mr. Halsey began "I guess we found our luck."

He threw Piper Xu an approving look and everybody clapped their hands and there was a round of good-humored chuckles and whistles.

"Thank you everyone" Piper Xu stood on her feet and made a bow to everyone, making sure she had enough charisma to capture everyone's admiration "It is my pleasure to be of great help"

"Dr. Piper, of course I congratulate you for a job well done" Mr. Halsey said and extended a handshake to the woman.

"Thank you, Mr. Halsey, this is the least thing that I can do for the team" She said humbly, which made Dr. Cyan choke in his seat. Everyone turned their heads to him with varying looks in their faces.

"I'm sorry" he said biting his lips and reaching out a to fistful of tissues nearby. He made sure everyone saw the glint of sarcasm in his eyes.

Piper Xu made eyebrows at Dr. Cyan the moment her eyes fell on him. She though that he was making such a fuss to ruin her moment. "h.e.l.lo Doctor Cyan, are you not going to congratulate me for a job well done.?"

"You had no idea how much I wanted to congratulate you Dr. Piper" He answered back with a grin.

"And you definitely had no idea how it felt to have accomplished anything" She said cynically.

"I sure do, believe me Piper. I know how it felt, better than you do probably to be honest" He said and let go of a false cheerfulness. He liked the look at her face whenever she cannot win an argument with him. She looked like a street cat who was very confident of luring a rat, not knowing the type of rat she was dealing with.

"Okay… okay… so much with these compliments" Mr. Halsey interrupted. "Let's start discussing the crux of the matter today"

"All of you must have heard the news already that the lady boss is coming to check the current improvements in the east barn" Mr. Halsey added further. Everyone's expression turned serious. The lady boss was the real deal, and they knew her visit was something they need to prepare for.

"Dr. Piper, I hope you could impress the boss the way you impressed me" he turned to Piper Xu who was still acting as if she was the real highlight of the gathering. "This will be a big plus to your promotion not to mention to your credentials"

"I will not fail you boss" The woman replied confidently. She had already been lucky that the horses in her barn improved so sudden and she was expecting that few more lucks will be at her side.

"Team, for the lady boss's visit, I'll have Dr. Piper in charge" Mr. Halsey formally revealed, and such revelation drew different reactions from the crowd. He opened the floor for the woman, and she instantly rose on her heels and made a clicking sound toward the center aisle. This moment was something she looked forward of having.

"Well, I am glad to be given this opportunity to lead you" She started. She nodded her head to one of their colleagues—her minion—and that person stood in her feet to give everyone set of folders.

"This will be your new a.s.signment for the following days" She tallied further when everybody started opening the folders. "Since the lady boss is here and there is a need for us to take care of the rest of the horses in other barns, I had to change your tasks and schedules to what seemed to me was the best"

As soon as everyone opened their folders, the room was then filled with sighs and 'ohs' and a few head shakes. Everyone knew then that those whom Piper Xu liked got the 'acceptable jobs' and the rest were a.s.signed to scutworks.

"Look, these are for the betterment of our operations" She said with a smirk that seemed to dismiss right away everyone's protest. Right at the moment, Piper Xu stepped into the throne and earned the power of discretion. Everyone's position and standing in the team was something to be decided by her.

Dr. Cyan didn't mind looking at his folder. He knew by then that Dr. Piper had something in her sleeve for him. The woman seemed to have a deep grudge on him by being her rival. Everyone knew Dr. Piper was just one h.e.l.l of an unforgiving b.i.t.c.h, specially with someone who stood in her way. From the looks of it, Dr. Piper will surely get rid of him, far away that he won't have a chance to show off his abilities to the bosses, probably far enough that he won't even have a chance to even just say h.e.l.lo to them.

However, Dr. Cyan was not really bothered in whatever scutwork Piper Xu threw at him, the only thing he was concerned was, how can he and Xhemin go unnoticed in treating the rest of the horses now that he was not anymore tasks to make rounds each night.