Chapter 159: She's Playing with Fire, Are You Still Being a Gentleman?
Chongshan Ancient Town was a famous tourist spot.
Maybe it didn’t have much else, but there were lots of newly built houses with fancy roofs and painted beams. Even the entrances to the hotels and inns had red tiles and decorative roofs.
The front desk lady was very friendly and smiled brightly as she greeted him.
“Hello, sir. Are you here to stay the night? Right now, we have a summer discount going on, if you get a membership card and spend 299 yuan, you get 100 yuan off, plus a free breakfast! Would you like to check it out?”
This was already the third hotel Xia Changyu had asked at, and he started to feel like something was wrong…
Why was it so easy to find a place to stay?
How was he supposed to pretend to be a gentleman now?
Discounts? Summer deals?
Pfft. He didn’t even want to stay at any of these places.
But of course, he had to keep up the act. So he stepped up to the front desk and asked in a serious tone.
“Wait… isn’t this place supposed to be a tourist hotspot? And it’s summer vacation, the peak season. Why are there still so many hotels with empty rooms?”
The front desk lady found him more strange than the question. Still, she gave a polite and professional smile as she explained.
“At the start of summer break, things were super busy. But now it’s been more than half a month, so things have gone back to normal. And anyway, this is a tourist city, wouldn’t it be weird if there weren’t enough hotels?”
Xia Changyu: !!
Oh no! That means he didn’t even need to keep pretending.
There was no point in checking other places. In a big tourist city like this, there were plenty of inns, hotels, and guesthouses. It would never be truly hard to find a place to stay.
At that moment, the front desk asked again.
“Sir, are you sure you don’t want to check out our special summer deal?”
Xia Changyu said, “I’ll think about it.”
And of course, after thinking… he decided not to stay.
Why? Because he wanted to go to the double room that Lin Yibai had booked.
But… wasn’t that kind of dishonest?
There were clearly lots of available rooms, but he had lied to her and said there weren’t any. Just so he could stay in the same room with her?
Wasn’t that kind of… exciting?
Holding the room key Lin Yibai gave him, Xia Changyu went to the small place called Xinxin Inn. After showing his ID, he was allowed to go to the room.
The environment wasn’t amazing, but it wasn’t bad either.
For 188 yuan per night, it was pretty decent.
Inside the room, there were two large beds. On the bed by the window, there was a travel backpack, some chargers, power banks, and other things, scattered messily across the bed.
Clearly, Lin Yibai had left in a rush, probably because she was in a hurry to do her wedding planning job at the hotel.
Finally, Xia Changyu’s eyes landed on a small shelf on the desk. There were some drinks, Red Bull, peanut milk… and… cond*m?
“Ah~”
“Hiss~~”
Xia Changyu’s heart suddenly started to heat up.
He talked to himself. “She’s not even here right now, but just being in this kind of room… why do I feel so hot all over?”
Maybe it was that teenage energy, his body was starting to feel restless.
In this kind of place, with this kind of setting. It was hard not to let your mind wander.
Gentleman? Whoever wants to be one can go ahead, I’m done pretending!
But sadly, reality didn’t quite match his fantasies.
Her job isn’t a simple 9-to-5 job. If she was doing an evening work, she would probably have to wait until the wedding banquet ended before she could go take down the decorations.
Luckily, things went pretty well today. At least there weren’t any drunk guests who refused to leave. By 9:30 in the evening, most of the crowd had already gone.
After taking more than an hour to pack up the wedding decorations, the company van headed back to the main office in Fucheng before 11 p.m.
But Lin Yibai stayed behind, walking alone through this beautiful old-style tourist city. She sent a message to Xia Changyu.
“Want to grab some late-night snacks?”
Ding dong~
Xia Changyu replied, “No, I’m good.”
Lin Yibai: “Oh~”
Then he typed again. “Why didn’t you tell me you were off work earlier? Where are you now? I’ll come find you.”
What? He’s coming over?
Normally, Lin Yibai wouldn’t mind, young people staying up late is no big deal. But today, she had done two wedding jobs in a row.
She started working at 8 in the morning, and now it was almost 11 at night. Even with a short break in between, she had still worked for over ten hours straight.
She was just too tired.
So walking around or going out again? No, thank you.
Besides, she had already turned down her next day’s job just to stay longer. Wouldn’t it be better to get some rest and enjoy tomorrow instead?
After a short pause, Lin Yibai replied with just five words.
“I am a little tired.”
Xia Changyu seemed to realize what she meant. Even he was tired after just driving around, and she had been working all day. He felt a little bad and said, “Sorry, I wasn’t thinking. So, where are you now? Send me your location.”
No need to say sorry. It was already nice that they understood and cared about each other.
When people are super tired, they often want to eat something hot and heavy.
After sharing her location, Lin Yibai went to buy food. A big pizza, some roasted chicken, a hamburger, and an ice-cold Coke.
She wasn’t being selfish. She bought extra, because she even counted her love rival’s portion in too. Also, the roast chicken wasn’t even ready yet!
Just then, she saw a person quickly walking toward her.
She smiled and said, “You’re here?”
“Yeah!”
Lin Yibai naturally handed him the pizza and some drinks and said, “I’m really too tired. Can you help carry this?”
After working for so long, Lin Yibai could really feel the difference between girls’ and boys’ stamina. Girls just couldn’t compare in terms of physical strength.
Looking at the tired look on her face, Xia Changyu suddenly felt moved.
What a sweet and hardworking girl!
He didn’t just want to help carry things, he’d gladly carry them for her for a lifetime.
Soon, the roast chicken was ready.
The two of them walked side by side back toward the hotel. Along the way, Lin Yibai asked:
“By the way, did you find a place to stay?”
Xia Changyu immediately sat up straight and answered seriously and loudly.
“A place to stay? This is the famous tourist city Chongshan Ancient Town, and it’s the summer travel season! Of course it’s super hard to find a place to stay!”
Just as he finished speaking, a red LED sign on a hotel up ahead lit up brightly with a message about their big summer discount.
It was flashing so red, it almost hurt the eyes.
Lin Yibai raised an eyebrow and asked, “Are you sure you didn’t find a place to stay?”
Xia Changyu’s face turned a little red, but he still said firmly.
“I’m a gentleman, I swear… Please, you have to believe me!”
The two of them walked a few hundred more meters. This tourist city might not have much else, but it definitely had no shortage of hotels and inns. Some of them even had loudspeakers playing music outside.
At this point, the guy was almost in tears, and the girl stayed quiet. Xia Changyu wished he could find a hole and crawl into it.
Lin Yibai also seemed to understand what was going on, but she still teased him.
“A gentleman, huh? What a gentleman you are! Is this really how you act like one?”
Xia Changyu was so embarrassed he didn’t know what to say. Should he just go back, pack up his things, and leave right away?
When they returned to the hotel together, he really was thinking about doing just that.
But after stretching lazily, Lin Yibai suggested, “Even if you’re going to leave, at least eat the food first. Otherwise, it would be a waste to throw it all away.”
Xia Changyu: “Hmm?”
Lin Yibai said, “I’ll take a shower first, then we can eat.”
The room wasn’t big, and the bathroom was just separated by frosted glass. So while she was showering, her blurry white silhouette could still be seen through the glass.
Xia Changyu’s throat went dry from watching. He felt like he was going to explode.
Seriously, was she playing with fire?
Fizz~
Even the ice-cold Coke couldn’t cool him down.
Not long after, Lin Yibai came out wearing a loose bathrobe. Her hair was still a little wet, and she sat down by the table next to the window.
She saw that the food hadn’t been touched, but her “love rival’s” Coke was already more than half gone. She asked curiously, “Were you really that thirsty?”
Xia Changyu tried to hold it together and said, “What do you think? And aren’t you worried something might happen by leaving me here?”
Lin Yibai smiled and replied, “But didn’t you say you were a proper gentleman?”
Xia Changyu suddenly remembered a meme that said, ‘Then I guess I don’t need to pretend to be a gentleman anymore.jpg’
Right now, he really wanted to slap that meme down on the table in front of her.
This wasn’t okay. He was getting way too tempted.
Xia Changyu felt like the longer he stayed here, the more likely something dangerous might happen. He couldn’t even promise he’d be able to control his desire for the beautiful girl in front of him.
So, he hurriedly finished his pizza and chicken, grabbed his bag, and got ready to leave.
But just then, Lin Yibai spoke slowly, “It’s so late now. Maybe... just maybe... all the hotels really are full, right?”
Come on. Since when do hotels close at night?
There was no way they were full, she was clearly teasing him.
Xia Changyu didn’t know whether she was testing him, or if she was trying to hint at something. But he didn’t want to take risks, so he said carefully.
“If I look around, I think I can still find something.”
Lin Yibai took a small bite of her pizza, leaving a cute crescent-shaped bite mark, and said, “Yeah, yeah, sure. There are places to stay. Worst case, didn’t you drive here? Sleeping in your car for one night isn’t impossible.”
Xia Changyu: “!”
“Just answer me. Are you staying or not?”
She’s playing with fire, and what about you?
Tell me, still trying to be a gentleman?