The room manager awkwardly glanced in Tan Zhizhi’s direction, unsure how to begin.
A young female receptionist, however, could no longer stand it. She quickly stepped out of the crowd and launched into an angry tirade at Wu Yuejiao.
“What kind of unreasonable guest are you? Last night, you were the one who insisted on staying on the second floor.”
“Now your room has been affected by the disaster, and you’re demanding that the hotel compensate you with Room 803 by forcing someone else to move out. You’re both valued guests, so why should she have to give in to you? If everyone behaved like you, would there still be any sense of fairness or reason in society?”
The receptionist who stepped forward was named Li Li. She was the unfortunate receptionist who had checked Wu Yuejiao into her room the previous night.
Wu Yuejiao recognized her at once from her uniform and familiar appearance. Her already foul mood immediately worsened.
“Heh! You have the nerve to blame me? Isn’t it all your fault that I ended up staying in that cursed room? If you had refused to give me a room on the second floor last night, would I have ended up looking this miserable after getting drenched in the rain?”
Li Li had never encountered someone so shameless in her life. She was so furious that she nearly lost her breath and dropped dead on the spot.
Just then, a fair and slender hand landed on her shoulder and gave it a light pat.
Li Li turned around, but before she could see who was behind her, a black figure swept past her like a gust of wind.
It charged straight toward Wu Yuejiao. Before anyone present could react, the figure yanked Wu Yuejiao out of Liang Shuo’s arms.
Then came five crisp slaps across her Sadako-like face, followed by a clean and decisive over-the-shoulder throw.
Only after hitting the ground did Wu Yuejiao finally come back to her senses. She touched her swollen cheeks and endured the pain shooting through her back as she struggled to her feet.
“Tan Zhizhi, are you out of your mind? Why are you hitting me? Can’t you talk things out properly?”
“Talk things out properly? Do you deserve that?”
As soon as she finished speaking, Tan Zhizhi delivered another swift roundhouse kick, sweeping straight across Wu Yuejiao’s pig-like legs.
People who were domineering, unreasonable, and impossible to reason with could not be convinced with words.
They could only be beaten into submission.
After being battered by the cold wind all night, drenched by the rain, and then beaten up, Wu Yuejiao’s grievances surged up like a tidal wave.
With nowhere else to vent her emotions, she turned to the room manager and launched into a mindless tirade.
“Are you blind? Can’t you see that I’m being beaten by this hooligan of a guest? Why aren’t you stopping her? Did you get your position as room manager by sleeping your way into it? If I were your boss, I would have fired you a long time ago!”
The room manager had originally intended to step forward and intervene, but after hearing those words, she instantly decided that even if her boss scolded her and fired her afterward, she had to straighten the backbone that life had nearly worn away.
Seeing that the room manager did not move, Wu Yuejiao sneered and turned her gaze toward the burly security guards.
“What about you? Are you security guards just here to collect your salaries for nothing?”
The twelve security guards silently hid their stun batons behind their backs in perfect unspoken coordination and pretended not to hear her.
Wu Yuejiao was driven nearly mad by the attitude of the hotel staff. She angrily swept her gaze across everyone around her.
“What? Are you all deaf too? You people just stand there watching the show and don’t know how to help someone weaker than you? Don’t you have even a little compassion?”
Everyone: “…”
For some reason, they all felt that compassion depended on the person.
Some people simply did not deserve anyone’s sympathy.
When no one paid her any attention, Wu Yuejiao could only grit her teeth and turn her gaze toward Liang Shuo, who had his head lowered and did not even dare to glance in her direction.
“And what about you? As my boyfriend, shouldn’t you actually do something to spoil your girlfriend and stand up for her?”
“Hurry up and record a video of me getting beaten. Post it online and make the title sound as tragic as possible. And call the police while you’re at it!”
One minute.
Two minutes.
Time passed second by second. Liang Shuo tightly gripped his phone and hesitated for a long time without doing anything.
His gaze shifted back and forth between Tan Zhizhi and Wu Yuejiao, as if he were carefully considering which one would bring fewer consequences if he offended her.
Wu Yuejiao, whose anger was already boiling over, immediately gave Liang Shuo two slaps before turning to leave.
However, before she could even reach the entrance of the restaurant, Tan Zhizhi grabbed her and dragged her back as if she were hauling a pig.
She pinned Wu Yuejiao firmly against the wall and asked in a low voice.
“Miss Wu Yuejiao, don’t be in such a hurry to leave. You still haven’t told me your answer. Do you still want Room 803?”
Left completely isolated, Wu Yuejiao looked at the sinister smile curling at Tan Zhizhi’s lips and shivered.
She did not dare nod again.
She could not understand it. They had only been apart for two weeks.
How had Tan Zhizhi, who used to lose to her even when arguing, suddenly become so terrifying?
She resorted to beating people at the slightest disagreement.
Afraid that if she continued resisting so arrogantly, she might actually be beaten to death, Wu Yuejiao finally admitted defeat.
Very obediently, she raised her hand and slapped herself across the face six times before answering in a voice as soft as a mosquito’s buzz.
“No, no. I’ll stay on the fourth floor. Room 803 isn’t something I should even think about!”
Everyone: “!!!”
Why hadn’t she done that from the beginning? She deserved to be beaten!
As Wu Yuejiao was supported away by Liang Shuo, the farce finally came to an end.
The room manager gratefully glanced at Tan Zhizhi and told everyone to remain patiently inside the hotel while waiting for rescue. They were not to move around recklessly.
The hotel would provide free meals every day until the torrential rain stopped and the floodwaters receded.
Although the guests from the second floor who had been affected by the disaster still had some complaints, the hotel’s arrangements and compensation were more than adequate. No one raised any further objections, and after breakfast, they gradually dispersed.
…
After returning from the restaurant, Tan Zhizhi curled up on the sofa and used her phone to download offline maps of every province and city across the country.
That way, even if the internet went down in the future, she would still be able to plan escape routes.
Outside, the torrential rain continued without pause.
The terrible and unbearable weather lasted for three days.
By the fourth day, the rain finally stopped.
The floodwater had already submerged the hotel’s second floor, and the guests staying on the third floor began to panic.
They found the room manager and firmly demanded to be moved to the eighth floor.
The hotel room manager clutched her head, arguing with the guests in frustration.
Tan Zhizhi happened to be standing outside the room and overheard part of the conversation.
Her expression darkened slightly. Then, she put on her earphones and prepared to head toward the gym on the third floor.
However, just as she took a step forward, she accidentally caught sight of a solitary bamboo raft floating on the water.
The bamboo raft was a vibrant green, and the boy sitting on it wore a pristine white shirt.
As if sensing Tan Zhizhi’s gaze, the boy suddenly turned his head.