Liang Wenpei said he'd just be a passerby acting out of justice.
Huang Ling let him do as he pleased.
When they reached room 4110, the occupant inside stood with his hands on his hips, looking fierce and menacing.
Huang Ling went in and apologized immediately: "I'm truly sorry this happened. Is the child alright?"
The man hugged his child tightly, as if afraid Huang Ling would see at a glance that the kid was perfectly fine.
"Apologies are useless. I'm asking what you plan to do to compensate us." The man shielded his child, patting the kid's back in a show of comfort.
Huang Ling bowed: "We'll upgrade your room type, charge you at the current room's rate, and give you an additional thirty percent discount."
The man waited for a moment, and when he saw Huang Ling wasn't going to say anything more, he stomped his foot: "No cash compensation?"
"After all, the child doesn't seem to have been injured." Huang Ling tried to negotiate. "Would that be acceptable to you?"
Hearing this, the man raised his phone and shoved it in Huang Ling's face, ready to film her. "Look at this, look at this! This is supposed to be a five-star hotel, and the glass exploded—so dangerous, so terrifying—and they won't even pay compensation!"
Huang Ling instinctively turned her head away, raised her hand to cover her face, and tried to stop the man from filming.
Only then did Liang Wenpei's voice come from the doorway.
"According to Article 1198 of the Civil Code, hotels have a duty of safety protection toward their guests. The glass exploding means your hotel has safety hazards and inadequate routine maintenance."
He leaned against the doorframe, acting as if he didn't know her at all—just a random stranger passing by.
Huang Ling frowned. Whose side was this man on?
Could he be so cunning and treacherous that he'd choose this moment to kick her while she was down?
Hearing someone echo his sentiment, the man straightened his back even more: "Exactly! If you don't pay up, I'm posting this video online."
"Sir, please put down your phone first—"
"But legal compensation requires fault, damages, and causation. Without a hospital visit, without medical expenses, without a diagnostic certificate, there's no basis for mental distress damages under the law. What you're doing, though, is illegal extortion. Under Article 49 of China's Public Security Administration Punishments Law, you'd be detained for five to ten days—or ten to fifteen days for aggravated circumstances." Liang Wenpei walked in as he spoke, positioning himself in front of the phone camera, and smoothed his hair in front of the lens. Also, you're now violating my portrait rights."
The man immediately lowered his phone, pointing at Liang Wenpei in frustration: "Fine, fine! You two are in this together, aren't you?"
"Add defamation to that list." Liang Wenpei nodded.
Huang Ling stepped in at the right moment to play the good cop: "We're truly, deeply sorry. We'll also send you and your family two portions of fruit and dessert. Would that work?"
The man took a deep breath, calmed himself, and seemed to realize he wouldn't achieve his goal today. Since an out was being offered, he had no choice but to take it, grudgingly agreeing.
Huang Ling called the concierge to help the guest move his luggage, and Liang Wenpei's food delivery had already arrived downstairs.
He picked it up on his way and followed Huang Ling back to her office. Luo Shuang had already finished dinner and gone on duty.
Huang Ling's takeout had gone a bit cold. She took off her headset, snapped apart her chopsticks, and was about to eat when her bento box was moved away. Liang Wenpei pushed his own takeout toward her, then began eating Huang Ling's slightly cold meal with complete naturalness.
"Do hotel workers always have to put up with this much crap?"
Huang Ling stared blankly at the takeout in front of her, then looked up at Liang Wenpei. His stray bangs slightly obscured his eyes.
She thought back to her first impression of him in university.
—Fair skin, beautiful features.
A straight nose bridge, long lashes, eyes full of tender affection, and a barely noticeable little mole at the corner of his eye. It was as if the goddess Nüwa had studied under fairies and, just as she had given Diarmuid a love spot, had also gifted Liang Wenpei one.
"The service industry is just like this—never talk back even when cursed at." Huang Ling looked away from him.
Hot food tasted better.
Thinking of his kindness, Huang Ling couldn't help but think of the love triangle between him, Song Mingyue, and Tang Shengeng.
Taking a bite of sweet-and-sour pork ribs, Huang Ling rehearsed her words twice in her head before speaking: "Liang Wenpei, you're actually a pretty good person…"
The man eating across from her froze, looked up to meet Huang Ling's eyes, and couldn't bear to look away for a long time. He felt his heart begin to race in his chest, and a ridiculous voice in his head kept filling in the second half of the sentence Huang Ling hadn't finished.
"So, can you please not be the other man?"
"I do."
"Huh?"
"Huh?"
Two completely mismatched responses.
Huang Ling was stunned: "Huh? You're willing to not be the other man?"
Liang Wenpei looked at her like she was a dumb kid still counting on her fingers when asked what three plus two was: "How exactly am I the other man?"
Did she have a boyfriend?
As a hotel employee, professional ethics kept Huang Ling from participating in gossip about guests behind their backs.
But this time, she had to spell it out: "Everyone at the hotel is saying that Miss Song has a handsome lover, and that she's planning to divorce her husband for this handsome lover."
Liang Wenpei's furrowed brow slowly relaxed. "Thanks for the compliment."
"Cut it out." Huang Ling raised her hand as if to hit him. "Is that the point?"
"So you thought I was that lover." Liang Wenpei pointed at himself, laughing despite being annoyed, but didn't forget to amend his statement. "That handsome lover."
"Just a tiny bit of gossip." Huang Ling made a small gesture with her hand, trying to make the matter seem trivial for the sake of her professional integrity and the hotel's image.
Liang Wenpei's tone turned threatening. "Article 1024 of the Civil Code—should I recite it for you, or will you look it up yourself?"
Huang Ling didn't need to look it up to know it was likely a law related to defamation and slander. Realizing she had misunderstood, she flashed a fawning, ingratiating smile. "I take back what I said. Handsome, that's the point. Just listen to those two words."
Seeing how she could bend and stretch with such ease, Liang Wenpei's smile deepened—no longer the kind from being irritated earlier.
His eyes held a smile as he looked at her, the corners of his mouth lifted, yet his tongue remained sharp. "How many pigs did I slaughter in my past life to deserve having you reincarnate into my life in this one?"
"Insulting and cursing people—doesn't that carry a prison sentence?" Huang Ling shot back with renewed boldness.
Lawyers had sharp tongues.
The cold bento had originally tasted mediocre, but now Liang Wenpei found his appetite surprisingly good.
He twisted the facts. "I'm thanking fate for bringing us together."
Only a fool would believe him.
Huang Ling couldn't out-argue him, so she had no choice but to concede for now.
After finishing the meal, she felt her uniform skirt pressing a bit tightly against her stomach, but she was too embarrassed to unzip it in front of Liang Wenpei, so she just asked when he was leaving.
"What about you?"
Huang Ling let out a burp. "I'm on the night shift tonight."
Liang Wenpei cleaned up the trash on the table before leaving. As a manager-level staff member, Huang Ling had a guest room for her shift. She worked in the office as usual until nearly eleven before heading to the room to sleep.
She still had a few years before turning thirty, but Huang Ling could feel her neck getting worse and worse. Head bowed, rubbing her neck, she walked toward the guest room. She sensed the door beside her opening and instinctively moved to greet the guest, but when she looked up, she saw it was Tang Shengeng's younger brother.
The door he had just come out of was slowly closing behind him, and the room number 2608 came into view.
He seemed not to have expected anyone to be in the hallway this late. A brief flash of panic crossed his face, but he quickly composed himself, straightened his disheveled clothes, and walked off without acknowledging Huang Ling.
Huang Ling had been staring at client files in the office for quite a while, and her mind was now a jumble, stuffed full of work.
She could only use the remaining brain cells she had to analyze what she had just seen.
The keywords that surfaced were horrifying. She shook her head and tried to comfort herself with a wry smile. "I must be losing my mind."
Huang Ling kept telling herself she was overthinking it, but the next day, after the morning meeting in her department, as she was leading people to the storage room to place dehumidifiers, Song Mingyue stopped her on the twenty-sixth floor.
"Manager Huang, can you come over for a moment?" Song Mingyue waved at her. "There's something."
Huang Ling told the rest of the housekeeping staff to continue their work and followed Song Mingyue into her guest room.
Song Mingyue was staying in the hotel's second-best suite, complete with a balcony, living room, and walk-in closet.
On the coffee table in the living room sat a cake and some fruit. She sat down on the sofa and patted the spot beside her. "Manager Huang, come."
Huang Ling hesitated for a moment, then sat down. "Miss Song, is there anything I can help you with?"
"I just wanted to thank you for taking care of me all this time. This cake shop is my favorite—please, try some." Song Mingyue handed the cake to Huang Ling.
Huang Ling raised her hand to decline. "Our hotel has regulations…"
"Can't even eat cake?" Song Mingyue tapped her own head, seeming a little frustrated at not having thought things through. "What about fruit? It should be fine to have a little. No one will know."
Huang Ling kept her tone professional. "Is there something you need me to do?"
Song Mingyue fell silent, sitting on the sofa like a puppet, motionless. After a long moment, she took a deep breath and spoke as if throwing caution to the wind. "You saw Tang Qian leaving my room last night, didn't you."
Huang Ling's heart jolted. The very fact that Song Mingyue had come to her about this already proved that Huang Ling hadn't been imagining things yesterday. Just as she was wondering how to respond to the fatal question Song Mingyue had asked, Song Mingyue let out a bitter laugh.
Tears gradually welled up in her eyes.
"It really was an accident. I wanted to pretend nothing happened, but Tang Qian wouldn't let it go. I truly have no other choice. Old Tang has been so good to me. I never had parents growing up—he paid for my education, found me a job. Everyone says I found myself a man thirty years older, that I'm shameless and only after his money, but I genuinely love Old Tang, and that's the only reason I'm with him. But after what happened, I can only divorce Old Tang. I thought I'd just disappear far away. I know I'm disgusting too, but Old Tang doesn't want a divorce—how could I possibly tell him that the person was his own brother? I just can't…"
Song Mingyue grabbed Huang Ling's hand as she spoke, "I really have no other choice. Please, don't tell anyone about this, okay?"
As if afraid Huang Ling would refuse, Song Mingyue even knelt down.
Huang Ling quickly pulled her up.
Song Mingyue still refused to get up.
Huang Ling had worked at the hotel for over two years now, not to mention the winter and summer breaks during college when she was sent by the school as free labor to various hotels in Xunchuan. In that time, there was no storm Huang Ling hadn't weathered—catching cheaters in the act, a regular guest who came seven times in one month each time with a different companion, a married couple whose account had a free one-day presidential suite, only for the husband and wife to each bring their lovers to check in at different times, and all four of them running into each other before brawling in the hotel lobby.
Huang Ling let out a sigh and crouched down to meet her eyes: "The first rule in the employee handbook is absolute confidentiality regarding client privacy—no recording, no reporting."
Only after receiving Huang Ling's assurance did Song Mingyue relax.
Once Huang Ling left, Song Mingyue's face slowly darkened. She walked to the bathroom door and slid it open. In the bathtub, Tang Qian was dozing.
The hot towel covering his eyes had already gone cold. The fruit and wine set aside beside him were half gone—he seemed to have quite an appetite.
Song Mingyue walked over and unceremoniously snatched the towel away: "You can rest easy now. Manager Huang promised to keep it a secret for us."
The man in the tub slowly opened his eyes. Seemingly bothered by the sudden change in light, he closed them again, his voice weary yet indifferent: "Us? She only promised to keep it a secret for you. I couldn't care less whether my brother finds out."
"Shameless." Song Mingyue hurled the towel at him.
A wet towel stings when it hits. Tang Qian rubbed his reddened chin, not annoyed but smiling instead.
Song Mingyue feared nothing more than Tang Qian in this state. She instinctively stepped back to run, but she was still a step too slow. Water splashed everywhere as he reached out and yanked her toward him. Song Mingyue stumbled and fell into the tub.
Tang Qian was strong. He trapped her in his arms, raising a hand to grip her chin and force her to meet his gaze: "I just don't get it. What's so good about my brother, that old man?"
Song Mingyue struggled, but she couldn't break free from Tang Qian's hold no matter what. Water splashed out of the tub from her movements until she was finally exhausted: "At least your brother isn't as shameless as you?"
The moment she finished speaking, pain shot through her lip—it wasn't a kiss but a bite. After the sting came a gentle, soothing lick from his lips and tongue: "If he had any shame, he wouldn't have married a woman thirty years younger than him. His history of heart disease is older than you."
"Pfft."
That level of attack was barely worth acknowledging.
Seeing her like a drenched little kitten, Tang Qian was mindful of the wound on her wrist. He sighed and lifted her out of the tub with him: "Divorce is good for both my brother and us. As long as you agree to divorce, I won't make a move against my brother at the company."
Song Mingyue turned her head away without responding.
Tang Qian didn't hear her voice. He mischievously loosened his grip, scaring Song Mingyue into clinging tightly to him.
Feeling the warm, soft body pressed against his own, Tang Qian's throat tightened, but he knew his brother could come looking for them at any moment: "Eat more. You've gotten too thin lately."