Shen Xuan's smile deepened as he watched the woman's adorable actions.
Before the door across the street opened, he strode nimbly into his own room.
Just as he closed the door, he heard it creak open outside, accompanied by a woman's disgruntled complaint: "Ahua, what's wrong now?"
Gu Baiwei pressed herself almost against the door and heard the commotion. She listened quietly, her breathing as soft as she could.
She only breathed a sigh of relief and completely relaxed when she heard the door close again; this night had been too exciting.
She made a ruckus until almost midnight, and although her stomach pain had subsided, she felt completely exhausted, both tired and sleepy.
She yawned and was about to get into bed when she suddenly sensed something was different in the room.
She remembered clearly when she left that the slippers placed in the entryway were neatly arranged side by side with the toes facing outwards, but now one of the slippers was slightly off-center.
Moreover, she seemed to faintly smell a disinfectant odor in the room.
There was also a window. It should have been closed before we left, but now it was a crack open, and a breeze was blowing in from outside, causing the curtains to sway slightly.
The white, semi-transparent curtains billowed in the wind, and Gu Baiwei vaguely saw a black figure standing quietly behind them, causing her heart to leap into her throat.
She took a step back subtly, placing one hand quietly on the doorknob.
Another gust of wind blew by, lifting a corner of the curtain and revealing a section of black fabric.
Gu Baiwei felt a chill run straight to the top of her head. Without thinking, she quickly turned the doorknob open and rushed out the door.
As night deepened and the corridor grew quiet, Gu Baiwei could vaguely hear footsteps behind her, and her heart leaped into her throat.
She rushed to Shen Xuan's door and pounded on it, shouting, "Shen Xuan, it's me, open the door!"
Shen Xuan must have just fallen asleep, for he responded softly and opened the door. His beautiful peach blossom eyes were still moist, as if veiled by a thin mist.
"Sister, what's wrong...?"
He looked at Gu Baiwei with some confusion. Perhaps because she hadn't woken up properly, she looked completely different from her previous carefree self. Her fair and handsome face was filled with confusion, and there was a faint blush around her eyes and brows. Her bewildered appearance even looked somewhat cute.
But soon, he raised an eyebrow and returned to his usual demeanor: "Sister, are you unable to sleep because you miss me?"
He smiled, but then noticed that Gu Baiwei's hand, which was gripping his sleeve, was trembling slightly. He immediately became serious and asked, "Sister, what's wrong?"
"Someone's in my room."
Gu Baiwei took two deep breaths to calm herself down. She was now very certain that someone had indeed been in the room, and that person was probably still there.
Her small face was pale and fragile, and her usually smooth long hair was somewhat disheveled. She gripped his sleeve tightly, almost tearing it.
Shen Xuan lowered his gaze to the sleeve that was being grabbed, paused for a moment, then looked away, casually took out a folding knife from his pocket and placed it in his palm: "Wait here for me, I'll go take a look."
Gu Baiwei followed along, somewhat worried: "I'll go with you."
Two people are definitely stronger than one, and if that person rushes out, she can lend a hand.
Shen Xuan glanced at her, said nothing, and walked towards her room.
As they approached the door, Gu Baiwei suddenly remembered something: "Wait a moment."
As she spoke, she looked around, then quickly ran to the stairwell, emerging with a fire extinguisher in her hand.
Small hotels in rural towns are not strict about fire safety inspections. To avoid surprise inspections, fire extinguishers are often left haphazardly in the corners of stairwells, which Gu Baiwei noticed on her first day there.
In her past life, she was burned to death when a cable car plunged off a cliff and caught fire, so she had a latent fear of fire. On her first day here, she checked the location of the hotel's fire hoses and fire extinguishers, and she never expected that they would actually come in handy now.
Seeing that she was small but carried a large fire extinguisher, and walked with a rather imposing manner, Shen Xuan couldn't help but smile again.
Before the smile on her lips could even fade, Gu Baiwei grabbed her sleeve: "Wait, there's a sound."
In the quiet corridor, the only sound was their breathing.
Gu Baiwei clearly heard a slight click from her room door, like the sound of the doorknob being turned. She immediately gripped the fire extinguisher in her hand and stared at the door with a tense expression.
With a snap, the corridor lights suddenly went out. As darkness enveloped the surroundings, Gu Baiwei saw a figure emerge from her room. Before the person could react, she grabbed a fire extinguisher and sprayed it at them.
Shen Xuan reacted quickly, took a long stride, and kicked the man to the ground with precision. He then swiftly twisted the man's arm behind his back and pinned him to the ground.
"Ah... Help! Murder!"
A scream rang out; it was the voice of a young man.
The corridor lights snapped on again, illuminating the entire corridor and revealing the man on the ground.
Because Gu Baiwei had sprayed the man's face directly, his body and face were covered in white powder, making him look like he had just crawled out of a flour sack, and his features were barely recognizable.
However, under the white powder, one could clearly see that the man was wearing an orange floral shirt, ripped jeans, a ring of earrings, and a few strands of dyed yellow hair, giving him a sleazy look.
No, the person she saw in the room was clearly dressed in black, but apart from those two black eyes, the person was all flashy like a peacock, without a trace of somber black.
Could it be that he has accomplices?
She tightened her grip on the fire extinguisher: "Tell me, where are your accomplices?"
The man, who had just been sprayed in the mouth, spat out several mouthfuls of white powder before speaking: "What accomplice? I have no accomplice. I just saw that your room door was open and wanted to see what was going on."
After saying that, as if afraid they wouldn't believe him, he hurriedly added, "The proprietress here is my sister. I really didn't mean any harm, and I didn't intend to steal anything. I just saw the door was open and took a second look out of curiosity."
Just as the young man finished explaining, a series of hurried footsteps suddenly sounded at the bottom of the stairs.
"Damn it, who's so blind as to steal from my place?"
The proprietress, wielding a stick as thick as her wrist, charged forward menacingly. Upon seeing the man pinned to the ground by Shen Xuan, she immediately exclaimed, "Young man, move aside! I'll show this brat the harsh realities of society today!"
As he spoke, he grabbed a stick and started beating the man who hadn't gotten up yet.
The young man cried out in pain as he was beaten, and hurriedly covered his head with his hands, pleading, "Sister, it's me, please stop hitting me!"
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