Chapter 11

After resting for less than forty minutes, Yuan Fei called Lin Langyi on WeChat to go to the tenth floor of the west building.

That floor has a whole sky garden, behind which is a semi-open infinity pool. At the far end, a huge projection screen can be raised, allowing people to enjoy movies while sipping red wine and having a good time.

Before leaving, Lin Langyi knocked on the door next door. Xiao Pucheng opened the door first, and he didn't have any extra equipment in his hands, so it was obvious that he had even changed into his swimming trunks.

Seeing her standing at the door where Cheng Yanjin should have been, he yawned and asked, "He's here?"

Lin Langyi naturally knew who "he" referred to, and shook her head: "It's Yuan... Brother Yu."

Before Xiao Pucheng could finish his yawn, his eyes widened suddenly: "Doesn't he have a suite he owns all year round?"

The door suddenly opened.

Xiao Pucheng: "What's wrong with you? Are you tired of staying in your own room?"

Yuan Chuyu didn't bring anything with him, but his clothes clearly indicated that he didn't plan to go into the water: "I'll be leaving in a bit."

Xiao Pucheng said "Oh," and jumped over to nudge his chest with his elbow: "What do you mean? You don't want to fry fish, huh? The butterfly swimmers don't bother playing house with us, do they?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Langyi's gaze couldn't help but drift towards Yuan Chuyu's chest and abdomen.

However, Yuan Chuyu changed into a simple loose T-shirt and simple black pants, covering himself up completely. Only his superior shoulder and neck lines and the little bit of hidden beauty that was occasionally revealed in his gestures could be seen.

It's hard to guess through clothes.

Yuan Chuyu seemed to sense the probing gaze. He glanced briefly at Lin Langyi and replied, "Yan Jin isn't here, and the number of people is odd, so I won't go down."

Lin Langyi raised her hand: "I didn't bring a swimsuit, I'm not going into the water, you can play."

"Do you want to play?" Yuan Chuyu asked. "There are swimsuits for sale over there."

Xiao Pucheng suddenly reacted by glancing at Yuan Chuyu with a strange expression.

Lin Langyi didn't notice. She waved her hand and smiled, "No need to trouble yourself. Let's go take a look first. People aren't so strict about it being seven against seven. We can play even with fewer people."

The group headed to the swimming pool together. The entire tenth floor of the West Building was booked out, and there were various exquisite afternoon tea refreshments in the garden pavilion.

Lin Langyi finally realized the value of a day trip to Jinshaxi Island and immediately invited Yuan Fei to have some desserts in the garden.

There were so many flavors to try, and the beautiful desserts looked more and more tempting. It would feel like a waste not to try them, but one dessert was too filling. So Lin Langyi and Yuan Fei shared one dessert, which freed up their stomachs to try more different kinds.

Just as they were enthusiastically trying two kinds of small cakes, a waiter suddenly came in and respectfully interrupted them, cutting the desserts on the tea break table into even smaller portions.

That's great! The girls were all quite happy. Lin Langyi turned her head and looked around. She only saw Yuan Chuyu in another pavilion far away, with a baseball cap covering his face, seemingly resting with his eyes closed.

"What are you looking at?" Zhuang Lan asked alertly.

"Look at the tree." Lin Langyi turned her gaze away, picked up a small piece of lychee mousse with a fork, and found the fresh lychee flesh sweet and delicious, with a hint of jasmine matcha flavor in the cake. It was quite delicious. She commented, "I think this flavor is the best!"

Another girl, Tao Shu, immediately leaned over and asked, "Really?"

Lin Langyi picked up a piece for her: "Really! It's not very sweet, and it tastes refreshing. You should try it."

"What trees are you looking at?" Zhuang Lan wasn't about to let Lin Langyi off the hook so easily, still eyeing her intently. "There are flowers all here, what trees are worth looking at?"

Lin Langyi smeared the cream off her fork and laughed, "A money tree, huh?"

Zhuang Lan ignored her banter, staring at her with a harsh tone: "Even if we get married, my relationship with Brother Yan Jin will not change."

Lin Langyi nodded: "Yes, you don't need to ask me about your relationship with him. What happened before will happen in the future. You don't need to worry about me."

Zhuang Lan still glared at her: "I don't believe it. All of you said that at the beginning, but you all went back on your word."

After she finished speaking, she threw the small plate on the table and walked away. Yuan Fei leaned over and whispered to Lin Langyi, "Zhuang Lan just had a younger brother, so the people around her, including her family, are... quite disappointed in her."

Lin Langyi paused for two seconds, then looked at Zhuang Lan again. She was looking around. It seemed that she usually disdained socializing with the girls here, so she ended up sitting alone on a bench in the pavilion.

During her time alone, Zhuang Lan finally focused her attention on one person and called out, "Hey shorty, come here."

"Zhuang Lan, I told you not to call me that!" Chu Hong snapped. "How old am I? I'll grow taller."

"What can you grow after you're over eighteen? Come here, I have something to tell you."

As Zhuang Lan and Chu Hong left, the other people who wanted to play in the water also headed towards the pool one after another. Lin Lang stared at the last piece of lychee mousse on the table with lingering interest, but finally reluctantly gave it up.

Not eating the last piece seems to be an established, unspoken etiquette.

She accompanied Yuan Fei to the poolside. The girls had all changed into brightly colored swimsuits: light green halter tops, maple leaf-colored bikinis, and burgundy backless dresses...

Lin Langyi looked at her several times, her eyes darting back and forth. When she turned her head, Yuan Fei had already taken off her coat, revealing a very cute golden yellow two-piece swimsuit with a string of soft white lace at the hem.

"So cute!" Lin Langyi reached out and touched her embroidered lace, soothing Yuan Fei, who was as reserved as a snail after taking off her coat. "I see there are water guns over there, they're probably just playing around, don't worry."

As if to confirm her words, just as Lin Langyi finished speaking, a soft balloon filled with water was suddenly thrown from the side, hitting her side with a "bang" and immediately bursting open, splashing the icy water inside all over her clothes and pants.

She subconsciously turned her head to look at the source, and as soon as she turned her head, a jet of water shot out from there. Chu Hong was holding a water gun that was longer than his arm and shooting it straight into her eyes.

"I heard you're going to have a marriage alliance with Brother Yan Jin?" Chu Hong suddenly confronted her as if he had taken the wrong medicine, glaring at her menacingly.

Seeing Lin Langyi turn her face away to avoid him, he maliciously took two steps closer and turned up the water gun: "Why isn't Brother Yanjin coming? Are you avoiding me because you're annoying?"

Lin Langyi took several steps back. Her clothes were soaked through and clung to her body.

But she didn't flinch or shrink back because of the discomfort of her clothes; she still stood straight.

Lin Langyi ignored the clothes, turned her head and slowly looked Chu Hong up and down, then slowly looked him up and down again, before shaking her head and laughing.

"What are you laughing at?" Chu Hong stopped using the water gun and took two steps forward. "What's with that expression?"

"Yan Jin isn't coming, of course, because he's too lazy to talk to you..." Lin Langyi stopped herself in time, giving him a meaningful look, "So what they said about you was true."

"What?"

"It's nothing, it's nothing." Lin Langyi waved her hand. "Go have fun."

"Looking down on me? Treating me like a child?" Chu Hong hated this kind of attitude the most. He threw the water gun at Lin Langyi's feet and immediately got angry.

"Isn't that right?" Lin Langyi looked at him lazily, then suddenly exclaimed as if struck by a sudden inspiration, "I'm 171cm, how tall are you?"

Chu Hong's face suddenly turned bright red, and his voice rose sharply: "Are you guys sick? I'm not even 19 yet, I'll grow taller."

"Okay, okay, keep playing with your water gun. I thought it was a competitive water polo game, but it turned out to be a team-building activity where people throw water balloons at each other. The kids went to play in the shallow water area. Oh, by the way, I'm really 171cm tall."

Chu Hong shouted in a fit of anger, his voice cracking, "I'll grow taller!"

“Okay, but I’m 171.” Lin Langyi suddenly understood why men over 180cm would want their height engraved on their tombstones. This thing really works! So she continued to egg him on, “Try to grow to 171 first.”

"I'm the only heir in my family, the only son. How dare you treat me like this? Do you think you can do whatever you want just because Uncle Cheng and Aunt Cheng misjudged you?!" He completely lost his temper and shouted, "Keep dreaming!"

Lin Langyi's perspective was quite unique: "Huh? The only heir? Then your mother can just have another one, right?"

Chu Hong stared in shock, his mouth agape.

Seizing the opportunity, Lin Langyi quickly grabbed the water gun at his feet and sprayed it into his wide-open mouth.

"Ugh..." Chu Hong swallowed twice before he could react, and immediately choked, vomiting until his face turned red and his neck bulged.

Lin Langyi pouted: "Whose fault is it that you're an only child? Isn't it because you're bad luck for your younger siblings? Business people love to burn incense and pray to Buddha. Go back and listen to your family's prayers and see if there's a line about having many children and grandchildren."

Chu Hong was still coughing. Upon hearing this, he craned his neck to look up at her in disbelief, a finger waving as he pointed directly at her. He was completely stunned.

He had never heard of anyone daring to speak so disrespectfully to the Yuan and Chu families.

Lin Langyi's teasing smile never stopped. As a newcomer, she could only blur the lines between jokes and retaliations, arguing the fiercest with the sweetest smile.

"And what's wrong with having a bad personality?" Lin Langyi said. "What's the point of altruistic disciplinary praise like being well-behaved, sensible, and obedient? It's nothing more than making people obey orders and receive praise on the surface, but in reality, they don't get any real benefits."

Zhuang Lan suddenly looked in her direction.

Lin Langyi glanced at her almost imperceptibly, and when their eyes met, Zhuang Lan immediately looked away.

Lin Langyi smiled and turned to Chu Hong again: "On the contrary, it is the troublemakers like you who are difficult to manage who can get everything. But I advise you to broaden your horizons and stop looking for enemies in the air all day long. Instead of wasting your time, go swimming and see if you can grow taller through exercise."

Chu Hong's face flushed red. He heard the hushed laughter around him and knew that everyone was treating him like a child again.

He was seething with anger, like a pufferfish swelling with air, and in his fury, he spotted the ball floating on the water, pointed at it, and provocatively said:

"What's wrong with playing with water polo? We're here to play for real. I'll show you whether I'm a kid or not."

He thought that water polo, also known as water football, requires extremely high physical fitness and swimming skills. How could Lin Langyi, a slender girl, possibly beat him, a man?

Moreover, they had played this sport before, while Lin Langyi was here for the first time, and it was hard to say whether she had ever played water polo in her life.

Chu Hong thought more and more that he had a better chance of winning. He had the advantage and was determined to show everyone who was the king of trash talk: "I don't think you can last four quarters. We'll play for two quarters. If you lose, don't ever show your face in front of us again. This is not a circle for you."

"Oh," Lin Langyi said, her expression unchanged, "So, you lost?"

Chu Hong looked down on him with an air of superiority: "How much do you want?"

"Tch..." Lin Langyi sneered, "Money? How could you possibly ask a child for money?"

His eyebrows were about to stand up again.

“Telling your parents isn’t a good idea either. Snitching is something only little kids do.” Lin Lang pondered for a moment, then smiled with his eyes crinkling. “But it’s the father’s fault if the son isn’t taught properly. I’m sorry to bother your parents, so if you lose, you should have your cousin apologize to me.”

She said, word by word, "From now on, every time you have an event to attend, your cousin will have to drive to pick me up personally. Hey, I happen to be involved in every circle."