Ji Bei picked up the book cover, rewrapped it, and the book looked brand new again. From the outside, you couldn't tell that there was anything fishy inside.
He put the book back on the shelf.
"You're not going to tell my mom I'm watching this, are you?"
"No, no!" Xu Xinchen hurriedly denied. She was extremely embarrassed and had no idea how to face him.
He was the one reading this kind of book, but now it was she who felt even more lost and confused.
Ji Bei walked closer to her step by step, "So you saw what was inside!"
"I didn't." Xu Xinchen subconsciously denied it, but suddenly felt a warmth beside her and realized that he had come to her side at some point, and the two were very close.
His black hair was still wet, and his eyes, hidden beneath the stray strands, were as deep and clear as the night.
She noticed the water droplets beside his ear gently sliding down to his collarbone and stopping at his bathrobe.
"Hello!"
A soft growl brought her back to her senses. She realized that she had been pulled into his arms without her noticing, and the strength of his masculine body was transmitted through her clothes.
"Be my girlfriend." His eyes sparkled, his gaze fixed intently on her face, unblinking.
After a moment of silence, Xu Xinchen forcefully pried his wrist away, took three steps back from him, and looked at him in disbelief, "Are you kidding me?"
Ji Bei's face darkened, and neither of them spoke, remaining locked in a stalemate.
He gritted his teeth and couldn't help but speak up, "That day I asked you what type you liked, and I met all the criteria you mentioned. You even said you liked men who were 185cm tall. Wasn't that an implication?"
Xu Xinchen stood there, stunned by the huge news. It took her a long time to process what had happened, and she found it a little funny. "I was talking about my ex-boyfriend."
He wasn't really an ex-boyfriend; in their generation, he would have been considered a friend with benefits. But now she could only use him as a shield.
Upon hearing this, Ji Bei's already displeased expression darkened even further. He moved closer to her, his eyes wide, "What did you say?"
"185 was a description of my ex-boyfriend's height. I'm sorry for making you misunderstand."
"You have an ex-boyfriend?" he raised his voice, repeating it incredulously.
Xu Xinchen nodded.
"You liar!" Ji Bei shouted angrily at her, then slammed the door and left.
After that day, Ji Bei clearly didn't want to talk to her anymore. Although the two were alone in a room at night, Ji Bei almost always turned his back to her, his face was gloomy, and he didn't want to say a word.
The two fell into a cold war.
Xu Xinchen didn't care much about the situation. In her opinion, Ji Bei was just an innocent child, and she had no interest in arguing with him about such trivial matters.
On Sunday, Sister Zhao went out on business, and Xu Xinchen sat at the front desk early in the morning to tally up the funds received over the past few days.
A thumping sound rang out. She looked up and saw Ji Bei coming down the stairs with a cold face and messy hair.
He didn't look at him directly, not sparing him even a second glance. Just as he was about to leave, Xu Xinchen called him back.
"Come and watch the shop for a bit, I'll go upstairs and get the sheets I changed."
After a two-second pause, Ji Bei turned around and obediently walked to the front desk.
Xu Xinchen went up to the third floor, took off the bed sheets one by one, put them in a basket, and was about to go downstairs with a basket of flyers when she suddenly saw two people, a man and a woman, at the counter. Ji Bei was checking them in.
Ji Bei handed the key to the man and pointed in a direction toward Xu Xinchen.
Xu Xinchen quickly stepped back a few paces and stood on the steps of the third floor.
The sound of footsteps approached, one after another. It was the sound of men's leather shoes scraping the ground, and women's high heels stomping heavily on the stairs.
Xu Xinchen watched helplessly as the two passed by her, turned a corner, and went into a room on the second floor.
Her mind was in complete turmoil. It turned out that she hadn't been mistaken that day; that person really was him. Why would he come back? Could it be that he came back to find her?
Xu Xinchen's heart skipped a beat at the thought of this possibility. The hope in her heart made her want to wander, but a bucket of cold water extinguished the thought. Impossible. If he came to find her, then who was the beautiful woman following behind him?
The two men had just stood in front of the counter; the man was handsome and the woman was beautiful. They looked very well-matched. Thinking of this, she felt a slight bitterness in her heart and could no longer continue.
She stood up and walked down the stairs step by step.
Ji Bei couldn't help but glance at her a few more times. Although they were in a cold war, he held back as much as he could, but he still couldn't help asking, "What's wrong? You seem lost and distraught?"
"fine."
Xu Xinchen waved absentmindedly and went to the washroom.
Ji Bei stared at her retreating figure, lost in thought.
Inside the room, Chen Ningsheng's handsome face was tense, and he looked at the woman who followed him in with displeasure. He said in a deep voice, "What are you doing in here? Your room is next door."
Ignoring his cold expression, Chen Bailing sat down on the bed and smiled, "Asheng, you've been searching for so many days, haven't you given up yet?"
"What's it to you!" Chen Ningsheng walked over, grabbed her clothes, and tried to throw her out the door. "Get out!"
"Hey, let me go." Chen Bailing struggled free from his grasp, her tone tentative. "Asheng, you promised your father that if you couldn't find someone within a month, you would go back and marry me."
“It will be a month in three days, so I went to the station early to buy the train tickets.” She took two brand-new train tickets out of her bag and placed them on the table, smiling. “These are the ones you promised your uncle. You won’t go back on your word, will you?”
Chen Ningsheng stared at the two train tickets, and his face instantly darkened.
Xu Xinchen washed the sheets and returned to the counter. Ji Bei had already gone upstairs, leaving only the logbook on the table, on which two names were clearly registered: Chen Ningsheng and Chen Bailing.
Stay for two days.
She sat down and couldn't help but think about what to do in the next two days. Taking leave was not an option, and it just so happened that Sister Zhao had gone out of town on business. At this critical moment, if she took leave again, there would really be no one to watch the shop.
But if she stayed here, she would inevitably bump into the two of them. Helpless, she came up with a solution: she went upstairs and called Ji Bei down, and went to his room to rest.
"Hey! Chen Ningsheng, you're not still looking for her, are you?" Chen Bailing stumbled after him.
Chen Ningsheng strode ahead, ignoring her completely, carrying his bag, and walked out of the hotel.
Chen Bailing hurriedly followed.
From sunrise to sunset, Chen Bailing watched Chen Ningsheng persistently go from shop to shop asking questions. He hadn't eaten or drunk anything and his stomach was already empty, but he didn't care at all and kept walking to the next shop.
Chen Bailing felt a pang of sadness and couldn't hold back any longer. She raised her hand to block his way, her neck held high, stubbornly blocking his path. "Stop being so stubborn, okay? She left a long time ago. You've turned the whole of Qingyuan upside down. No matter how long you search, you won't find anything. Wake up!"
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