How many times has this happened now? Zhu Yangqi felt like surrendering on the spot, wanting to tell Chen Luzhou, “Just give in to her already.” What kind of unique fate was this? They really could meet anywhere.
Truly, you two are a match made in heaven.
However, Chen Luzhou didn’t feel this was a particularly special fate. Qingyi was small, with mountains and sea close by. Citizens’ summer entertainment activities were either boating or hiking. If you caught the right time, you’d always bump into one or two familiar faces you didn’t want to see. Chen Luzhou automatically categorized Xu Zhi as one of those he “didn’t particularly want to encounter.” Why? Because she was too dangerous.
How should he greet her?
Hello?
No, that’s awkward.
What a coincidence!
No, that sounds like he’s trying to pick her up.
“What a coincidence,” Xu Zhi spoke first.
See? She just wants to chat me up, Chen Luzhou thought. Were you checking my itinerary? But as he looked up, he realized Xu Zhi wasn’t even looking at him. Her gaze went straight past him to Zhu Yangqi behind him. “Fancy meeting you here—Zhu Yangwo.”
Zhu Yangqi:?
Chen Luzhou wasn’t happy, and neither was Zhu Yangqi, who was being chatted up.
Xu Zhi suddenly realized her slip of the tongue and quickly corrected herself, “I’m sorry, Zhu Qizuo—no, Zhu Yangqi.”
Zhu Yangqi thought seriously and realized it was his fault. That day, he introduced himself like this: “Hello, I’m Zhu Yangqi, as in ‘yang’ from lying down and ‘qi’ from sitting up.”
…
Chen Luzhou glanced at him.
Zhu Yangqi immediately raised his eyebrows—Young master, don’t fall for it. She’s just trying to get your attention. It’s a typical player’s trick. Then Zhu Yangqi cleared his throat dramatically and pointed at the kid beside them, “Yeah, what a coincidence. This is CY’s little brother. What happened?”
Fu Yuqing had already taken off his small felt hat and placed it on the table. He spoke languidly, “I’m the owner of this resort. It’s like this: your brother thinks there’s something wrong with our water. Unfortunately, we don’t supply bottled water here. If you don’t want to drink our resort’s water, you’ll have to go down the mountain to buy some. We don’t have many buses running daily, and it’s quite troublesome to go back and forth. I suggest you change to a different hotel.”
Zhu Yangqi: “Can’t you have it delivered?”
Fu Yuqing: “We only do one delivery every two hours. Who’s going to deliver it up the mountain for you? The spring water is very clean. All our guests drink it. If you can’t accept it, you should check it out.”
Hearing this, Xu Zhi realized Uncle Fu didn’t intend to do business with them. Oh, the duck that was about to be in their mouths was about to fly away.
“I can drive down the mountain to buy it for them,” she said.
“Shut up, do you even have a driver’s license?” Fu Yuqing glared at her disapprovingly. “Do you want to go to jail? You’ve always been so reckless. Didn’t you learn your lesson last time? Have you forgotten what the police told you?”
Xu Zhi apologized quickly: “Okay, I’m sorry. I was wrong. I shouldn’t test the boundaries of the law.”
Zhu Yangqi: “…”
Chen Luzhou: “…”
Chen Xingqi and his young companions: “……”
Chen Luzhou, without looking at Xu Zhi, directly negotiated with Fu Yuqing: “Could you roughly point out where we can buy water? Or do you have any vehicles we could borrow? I can pay. Bicycles or cars are fine.”
He was very calm and polite.
Xu Zhi thought Chen Luzhou was impressive. Not everyone could handle Fu Yuqing’s temper. He had a bit of a childish temperament. Although he looked like a gentle uncle, he could argue about eighteen generations of ancestors even with a dog. That’s why he was still single—because no one could tolerate his temper.
Zhu Yangqi had also heard before that the owner of Fu Yu Manor was incredibly difficult to please. While others open businesses to make money, he seemed to open his doors just to make like-minded friends. If you suited his temperament, forget a few bottles of mineral water, he’d let you stay for free without a second thought. But if he encountered young masters like Chen Xingqi who were picky, he’d use all sorts of sarcastic remarks to persuade them not to stay. And who knows what kind of background this Manager Fu had—no matter how many people he offended, his business continued to thrive.
Fu Yuqing raised an eyebrow: “You have a driver’s license?”
Chen Luzhou nodded, “Yes, I got it last summer vacation.”
Fu Yuqing didn’t have a bicycle, but he did have a car that he occasionally used to drive down the mountain for deliveries. However, that kid had been so infuriating earlier that he was reluctant to lend it. “No, you’ll have to figure it out yourself.” After saying this, he asked the front desk staff to handle their check-in procedures, then leisurely picked up his pet dog from the floor. He turned back to Xu Zhi with enthusiasm, “Come on, let me show you the new stones I’ve been polishing recently.”
Xu Zhi was very straightforward: “No.”
Fu Yuqing: “…”
Zhu Yangqi: “…”
Chen Luzhou: “…”
Fu Yuqing darkened his face: “…Fine, do as you please!”
Seeing how stubborn this manager was, Chen Xingqi sulked with his mouth turned down, looking like he was about to call his father to complain. Just as he took out his phone, his brother snatched it away and slammed it on the front desk counter. Though it didn’t make a sound, it was meant as a reprimand. “Do you have nothing better to do?”
Chen Xingqi stubbornly argued, “I didn’t know! The tap water at home can be drunk directly, and in the hotels where I stay with mom and dad, it’s the same!”
“You drink our milk directly too,” Chen Luzhou gave him a withering look, “When we visited the dairy farm, you were quite rational. I didn’t see you rush up to hug and bite the cows.”
Chen Xingqi: “I don’t care. I’m paying you 800 a day, and this is all you can do?”
Chen Luzhou ruffled his hair roughly again: “If I had known you’d be such a troublemaker, I wouldn’t have come even for 8,000 a day.”
Chen Xingqi felt his brother was truly annoyed with him now. Feeling wronged and frustrated, he angrily grabbed a room key card from the front desk counter, intending to go upstairs. However, he was blocked by someone. With a pile of suitcases beside him, he saw it was Xu Zhi and became even more irritated. For some reason, he directed all his anger towards his brother at Xu Zhi, shouting at her, “You’re in my way! Move!”
Xu Zhi let out a slow “Oh,” but still didn’t move.
Chen Xingqi, completely embarrassed and enraged: “Are you deaf?”
“Are you blind?” Xu Zhi calmly pointed at the key card in his hand, “—That’s my room key.”
She had come down to find Uncle Fu earlier and had casually placed her key card on the front desk counter when she saw them in conflict. She didn’t expect this kid to just grab it without looking.
Chen Xingqi was silent for a moment. He apologized quickly, possibly intimidated by her earlier statement about “not testing the boundaries of the law.” He obediently put the card back: “Okay, sorry!”
…
The check-in process took nearly an hour. Because they were all minors without their parents present, there were some issues with the identification information for two of the children. They needed a faxed confirmation from the local police station; otherwise, they wouldn’t be allowed to check-in. Fu Yuqing was unyielding towards them. Chen Luzhou had no choice but to ask Zhu Yangqi to take the two kids to his room to rest first while he waited downstairs for the check-in procedures to be completed.
At this time, it was the laziest moment in the entire Fu Yu Manor. In the afternoon, the soft and extended sunlight clung to the ground. Everything was quiet as if everyone was taking a nap. The keyboard clicks from the front desk staff seemed particularly clear.
Xu Zhi hadn’t left either, so Chen Luzhou felt a bit awkward as if they were the only two living beings left in the world. It didn’t seem appropriate to say something, but it also didn’t seem right not to say anything.
Chen Luzhou: “Aren’t you going to see the stones Manager Fu polished?”
“No,” Xu Zhi said, “If he invites you, you shouldn’t go either. It’s very boring.”
Chen Luzhou sat on the sofa with his back arched, his elbows resting on his legs, his eyelids drooping lazily. He had somehow picked up an advertisement paper and was absent-mindedly folding something. “He probably won’t invite me.”
Xu Zhi thought for a moment, “Oh, that’s true.”
Chen Luzhou glanced at her with a look that said, “If you don’t know how to make conversation, then don’t.”
In the center of the lobby was a rectangular fish tank with several colorful small tropical fish. They looked like vibrant ribbons freely swimming through the sparse seaweed. Xu Zhi leaned against it, looking down at Chen Luzhou. She noticed that Chen Luzhou seemed even more handsome now. He had probably tidied up before going out; his hair wasn’t as messy as that night, sticking out all over his head. His excessively handsome features made him appear somewhat cold.
In the daylight, he looked especially like a snow cedar that had been rained on—tall and lush, always vigorous, and always too sharp.
Xu Zhi: “You didn’t tell me last time, what kind of movies do you like to watch?”
“Why are you asking this? Is there a cinema here?” Chen Luzhou kept his head down, not stopping his paper-folding.
Xu Zhi nodded: “There is, just behind the parking lot. It’s a small theater in partnership with Global Cinema. They have all the recent releases, just not many showings. If there’s something you particularly want to watch, I can help you book tickets in advance.”
Chen Luzhou drooped his eyes without much emotion, focusing on folding paper. He thought to himself, why are you being so kind? Didn’t you just pretend not to know me?
“Mm, we’ll see about that later,” he said. “Are you very familiar with Manager Fu?”
Xu Zhi said: “He’s a good friend of my dad’s. When I was little, I used to call him godfather.”
Chen Luzhou: “Oh, doesn’t he have a wife?”
Xu Zhi: “He’s always been single.”
Chen Luzhou: “What about girlfriends?”
Xu Zhi thought for a moment and said: “I’ve never seen him with one. As far as I can remember, he’s always been alone. Are you wondering how he deals with his physical needs?”
Chen Luzhou: “…”
By the time everything was settled at the front desk, it was 2:30 PM. The abundant sunlight shone through the glass doors, illuminating the entire lobby. The potted plants were glossy and green, like a casually painted but vibrantly colored watercolor painting. Fu Yu Manor used an all-mortise-and-tenon structure, with no nails used in the entire building. From the entrance sign to every room and public entertainment facility, they all used ingenious original wood mortise-and-tenon designs, simple and clean, with a modern rational style.
Chen Luzhou didn’t intend to keep her company any longer. He threw the finished paper craft on the low table, ready to go upstairs. Walking to the fish tank, he looked down at her languidly.
“I just wanted to ask why his temper is so bad?”
With that, he left.
Xu Zhi let out an “Oh,” looking back at his retreating figure. She hurriedly pointed at the object on the low table and asked: “Aren’t you taking your paper airplane with you?”
Chen Luzhou didn’t even turn his head, his voice as lazy as ever: “Are you a girl? That’s a paper rose!”