Translator: Nezu
Editor: System Yaoi
Xie Ling felt satisfied. The mood around them was good. He casually asked, “How do you like the breakfast here? Do you have any opinions to share?”
Actually, he wasn’t expecting Rong Jing to say anything useful. He just found it hard to start a topic.
“I can see that it’s well-thought-out. The person who manages the hotel did a good job. Buffet meals offered in most hotels are mainly western-style but most of them are more or less the same. They’re not good to eat when they have already turned cold. But this hotel offers a variety of Chinese dishes. The ingredients are very fresh. Flavors of the dishes are authentic. The cantonese snacks were especially popular.”
Rong Jing just shared what he had noticed as he looked at the crowd. A comforting yet distinctive breakfast experience such as this was certainly good. He even felt that his money was spent wisely as he sipped his warm boat congee.
Though the tone of his voice was flat, he was very articulate as he explained slowly, giving the people around him the thought that he was sincere. It made people listen to him.
Rong Jing once went to M country to shoot for a magazine cover at Christmas in his previous life. The site was not very far from Chinatown. He found that on Christmas day, more than 90% of the stores in M country were closed, and there were almost no people on the street. The only lively place was Chinatown, where almost every Chinese restaurant was full of people. Most of their customers were locals from M country.
In those restaurants, Cantonese-style morning tea snacks were more popular than western-style snacks.
What this hotel offered was almost the same as the one Rong Jing tasted before. From this single point, one could see that the owner of this hotel had the heart to understand the likes of the customers, even taking into account the needs of both Chinese and foreign customers.
Rong Jing took a bite of rice rolls with char siu[1]. Things that he experienced before in his previous life only seemed like it happened yesterday. He couldn’t help but feel nostalgic.
The new world was interesting. There was nothing wrong with it. But he would still prefer to go back to his original world.
It was human nature to prefer the place that they were most familiar with. A place where they once had their prosperous job and the people they were familiar with.
If he could remember who Gu Xi was, would there be any hope of going back?
Xie Ling felt Rong Jing’s mood turned down. He gave him more of the soup of the crab meat dumplings, “Eat more.”
Rong Jing’s face blanked for a moment. He kept his head down, suppressing the bitter and warm feeling surging in his heart.
After hearing Rong Jing praise him, Xie Ling coughed, “Breakfast here is made by a national five-star chef.”
Rong Jing nodded, “No wonder.”
Few hotels put effort into making their breakfast. Most of them only offer food through room service but this hotel offered the opposite. There was a reason why it was expensive.
“You graduated a few months ago. Do you not consider doing something else? You really wanna pursue acting?” This question was just Xie Ling’s test.
Aside from Father Xie, he was also one of the people who tried to stop Rong Jing from taking the entrance exam to his university. What would his acting do if he couldn’t bring home money back to his house? It wasn’t good.
“Anyone could do what I did just now through observation. You’re more suitable than me to do business. I know what I want to do,” Rong Jing thought that the other party was testing whether he had an ambition in life or not. After all, he felt like the Xie family’s second son had been scrambling all day over their family’s assets.
“So now you know how to compliment people? You’ve used up all of your allowance for this month. I won’t give you anymore,” Xie Ling thought of sharing something. “You’re quite talented in this aspect. You quickly saw Xie Li’er’s characteristics at a glance. No matter how much a person ages, it wouldn’t be that simple to gain a discerning eye.”
Who? Xie Li’er? That seemed like the name of the hotel. Ha, probably just a coincidence.
Rong Jing paused and looked at Xie Ling. He now realized how Xie Ling knew which room he checked into and how he was able to enter unhindered.
Xie Ling’s expression changed and the tone of his voice sounded threatening, “You—you really forgot?”
Ah, heck. This brat really was so cold to him! How dare he ignore everything about his brother!
This brother, I don’t want him!
“No,” Rong Jing immediately concealed his shocked expression and buried his head in his food with a guilty conscience.
The original owner didn’t consider himself a member of the Xie family at all, so he wouldn’t care about their businesses, let alone Xie Ling’s assets. How would he know what the original owner didn’t?
“…”
“Young but old-fashioned, huh?”
“…”
“What, now that you’ve matured, you want to live on your own now?”
The more Xie Ling complained, the angrier he became. His words turned more cold and harsh. He really was a little irritated.
No one dared to approach their table. Except Rong Jing who still felt safe in front of his scolding, the rest of the people around obviously felt uncomfortable. The waiters around saw that the person making a scene was their boss, so they all turned their heads and ran around nervously.
Rong Jing noticed his surroundings and found that the people around were now overwhelmed by Xie Ling’s barrage of scoldings. But he felt that Xie Ling was not indifferent to him. He didn’t dislike his origin as the original owner thought before.
Now he needed to look for an excuse to go back to the university and escape.
Before he left, Xie Ling asked him to add him on WeChat. His attitude was still a bit fierce.
The past Rong Jing would’ve looked for any reason to refuse his request, but this time, Xie Ling’s little brother unexpectedly agreed.
It took ten years for Xie Ling to finally be able to add his younger brother on WeChat. He managed to stop himself from checking his brother’s contacts. He only looked at him, who looked like he badly wanted to escape now. “Don’t go missing now, you hear me. I don’t want what happened last night to happen again.”
Rong Jing understood what he meant. He wanted him to contact him regularly.
But what did his last sentence mean? Didn’t he help an Omega get a room? Was that something that he wasn’t supposed to do? Was he supposed to get only one room with that Omega, and risk his chastity?
Rong Jing declined the offer of the lobby manager to call a taxi for him. Taxi fares could turn out to be quite dubious especially during peak hours. It’s hard to commute in first-tier cities because they’re either crowded, congested, or jammed.
He checked the subway line and found that the nearest station to the University was just a ten-minute walk away from the hotel.
On the other side of the lobby, Gu Xi and his friend, Guan Honyi were asking the receptionist about Rong Jing, who now had his back on them.
They wanted to pay the fee for the hotel room, but they were told that it had already been settled. Guan Hongyi asked hesitantly, “May I know who helped me? I want to pay him back.”
The receptionist still remembered that the drunk person back then had blond hair, but now the person had turned into a handsome young man.
Trans people weren’t still quite accepted in society. Guan Hongyi could feel the strange looks of the people around him but he had long been used to it. He no longer cared.
The receptionist answered politely and handed over a note with an address, “The gentleman said that if you wanted to pay him back, you can send it here to this address.”
Guan Hongyi took the note and read it.
XXXX Film Academy. Level 12. Give to Lei Feng.
Guan Hongyi and Gu Xi looked at each other and couldn’t help but laugh.
“Film academy, so he’s your junior?”
Gu Xi nodded. He graduated early by skipping a few levels. A level 12 student would indeed be his junior.
The receptionist also felt a bit awkward. Who would’ve thought that the person who checked in last night was actually their young master. Rich men usually looked ‘rich’ but he was different from them and still gave them the choice to pay him back.
The letter seemed to tell the two that although the person helped them, since they’re basically strangers, they could pay him back if they wanted to. Of course if they didn’t, the receptionist wouldn’t take out the note.
Still, Rong Jing planned to pay for everything himself.
Guan Hongyi: “You don’t have to give us his name, you can just give us his room number. We will just go up and say thank you.” It was such a pity to let go of such a rare species.
The receptionist apologized and stated that they couldn’t disclose another customer’s private details. This story is hosted at g.com.
Guan Hongyi was unwilling to let the opportunity pass, “We just need to say thank you, please?”
The receptionist continued to refuse with a smile, “I’m sorry.” Mr. Xie had given the order himself to not disclose the young master’s information.
“That guest has already left,” He actually just walked out.
Gu Xi could read Guan Hongyi’s thoughts. He was having fun hunting the man. He dragged him out and whispered, “Don’t make it difficult for others.”
It was obvious with their attitude that they wouldn’t absolutely tell them anything.
Guan Hongyi sighed, “It’s such a pity. You’d also act like this if you saw him.”
Gu Xi smiled faintly. His smile was shallow yet still soul-stirring.
When Guan Hongyi looked at Gu Xi, he thought that the guy was thinking too much again.
Others couldn’t help but covet Gu Xi, but Gu Xi would never be interested in anyone.
It was impossible for this to happen.
***
[Restaurant.]
After Rong Jing left, Xie Ling’s expression instantly became cold. As soon as he got up, an energetic young man came up to him. His hair was dyed red. He had a flamboyant temperament, and his whole outfit looked very expensive, as if to say that he was a walking ATM.
“Brother Xie, wait up!”
Xie Ling turned around and recognized that he was a prominent figure from Shanghai. He was nicknamed as the ‘Prince’ by the younger generation since he was the sole heir of the Wu family. He was still in college. He was generous to people, and he knew how to pay people with gratitude and resentment. However, since their family changed from illegal business to being clean, he still had his ‘past’ habits and was very arrogant.
“Wu kid.”
Wu Fuyu didn’t care about Xie Ling’s poker face. He wasn’t in the same league as him. Although he was only ten years older than him, Xie Ling already had real power. He wasn’t just some son of a typical family. Even he dared not to fight with him.
He underwent massage therapy last night but his neck still hurts. When he went to the hospital and had it checked, the quack in the hospital told him that he only sprained his neck. It was nothing serious. But the quack’s expression seemed to be telling him that he was lying. He became angry and couldn’t sleep all night.
It hurt so much yet it was nothing serious at all? Were they all blind?
He was going to find that damn bastard!
He painstakingly drew a portrait of ‘that’ man with his own hands and gave it to Xie Ling, hoping that he could help him find the person.
His family was a rich local in Shanghai, so they had no contacts in Beijing. It was better to ask for help from this city’s local snake.
Xie Ling looked at the so-called portrait of the person, his face expressionless.
Behind him, his assistant, Zhou Xiang’s mouth twitched as he glanced at the confident young master of the Wu family.
The sketch looked like a drawing of a little monster. Where would they look for someone who looked like that? Even its shadow would be hard to find.
Were there people in this world who actually looked like Godzilla?
***
The author has something to say:
Wu Fuyu: Everyone tells me I’m the modern Picasso.
[1] barbecued pork