The air conditioner hummed loudly inside the second-floor consultation room.
Shen Muran poured a cup of warm water and handed it to Jiang Li, then pulled a membership application form from a folder. His tone was stiff as he asked, “Miss Jiang, would you like a quarterly or annual membership?”
He felt utterly uncomfortable.
Having just finished cleaning the venue, he was drenched in sweat, his hair damp and clinging to his temples. His entire body felt stiffer than a mummy preserved for thousands of years.
The manager sat nearby, exasperated.
So what if the client was a bit more beautiful and taller than average?
How could just a few words make him radiate such clumsy awkwardness?
The manager flashed a highly professional smile at Jiang Li. “Haha, Miss Jiang, you see, he’s just here for cleaning duties and might not be familiar with the club’s services. Perhaps it’s better if I introduce them to you…”
The young lady raised her hand lightly, cutting off the manager’s words. Her voice was calm. “No need to trouble you.”
The manager was taken aback for a moment.
Seeing how her eyes seemed glued to Shen Muran, and having lived all these years, how could he not understand?
Immediately, his smile widened even further. “Of course, then let Xiao Shen assist you.”
The manager made a swift exit.
As soon as the door closed, only she and Shen Muran remained in the consultation room.
Jiang Li warmly offered a tissue. “Here, wipe off the sweat. It’s scorching outside. Are you feeling cooler now?”
Although the ten o’clock sun wasn’t too harsh, it was still relentless.
“Are you here to join the club?”
Shen Muran hadn’t forgotten his actual purpose for coming upstairs.
“Well, actually, I just wanted to find a place to work on my stamina. I failed my freshman fitness test, you see,” Jiang Li said, taking small sips of water.
“If I don’t pass the make-up test this semester, my brother will probably train me himself.”
Jiang Lintian was the best brother in the world.
But Jiang Li had witnessed firsthand how he trained Jiang Fan—it was downright devilish.
Even the training intensity for K-pop idol trainees wasn’t as brutal as his.
If she fell into her brother’s hands, she’d probably end up in a box within a week.
“This venue seems quite spacious, and the equipment looks new,” Jiang Li said, skirting around the topic. “By the way, do you only do cleaning work here? Is your salary fixed, or do you earn commissions?”
She chattered on and on, always circling without getting to the point. Her words trailed off lazily, making her seem like a languid cat.
Sitting close together, a few loose strands of the young lady’s hair, not tied up, were blown by the air conditioner and brushed against Shen Muran’s arm, sending a tickling sensation straight to his heart.
The man shifted his chair slightly away. “What exactly do you want to say?”
With her intentions exposed, Jiang Li took a deep breath and spoke directly.
“I want you to be my personal trainer.”
To be honest, she didn’t like physical contact with people she wasn’t familiar with.
But Shen Muran was different.
They were familiar.
Their bodies were familiar with each other.
Besides, a certain amount of physical contact could effectively help their relationship progress.
“Since you’re already working here, teaching me wouldn’t take up your part-time hours.”
Shen Muran remained silent.
Jiang Li moved her chair closer, their arms nearly touching. “If I join the club, you’ll get a commission too, right?”
“For both of us,” the young lady tilted her head and gave a playful wink with her right eye, “win~win!”
Her bright, lively features animated with expression, and the curve of her eyes held a sly smile.
When such a beautiful girl acted coquettishly and pleaded, any normal man’s heart would melt.
What wouldn’t he give?
What wouldn’t he agree to?
“I can’t teach.”
Shen Muran averted his gaze, the tissue clenched in his palm nearly tearing apart.
Even after being rejected so many times, Jiang Li still felt a bit down.
But this time, it wasn’t too bad.
“I’m just a cleaner here, no commission,” Shen Muran said, lifting his eyelids slightly to glance at her. “But I can be a training partner at school.”
The sudden reversal caught her off guard.
Jiang Li’s eyes lit up instantly, “Really (?ω?)?”
Her voice brimmed with barely contained excitement as she lightly tapped the young man’s arm, praising, “Haha, you really are clever! I’ll just pay you directly for the sessions, cutting out the middleman and saving on the markup!”
Shen Muran didn’t pull away, instead awkwardly placing the membership application form back into the folder.
“No need to pay.”
“You can apply for a sports assistant at school.”
Students from the physical education department could train students from other majors—one side could pass their fitness tests smoothly, while the other could earn credits.
A win-win situation.
“┗|｀O′|┛ Wow~~, I had no idea about that before,” Jiang Li exclaimed. As a freshman, she wasn’t familiar with such unconventional ways to earn credits at school.
Heh, her hopeless physical fitness was saved.
But why did Shen Muran seem so businesslike about it?
It seemed credits were more appealing than her charms.
Afraid he might change his mind, Jiang Li immediately set a time: “Then we’ll start next Monday. Even if I’m hopeless, you’ll have to see it through.”
Shen Muran gave a quiet “Mm.”
He had worked as a sports assistant before his junior year, but after Bo Lingzhou caused a scene, no one had applied to train with him.
With credits on the line, he wouldn’t go back on his word.
The manager had been watching the entire interaction from outside the consultation room. Seeing them chatting and laughing inside, he grew even more impressed with Shen Muran.
This deal was as good as done.
Just as he thought Jiang Li was about to follow him downstairs to pay, the young woman sighed deeply and apologized sincerely.
“Sorry, your personal trainers show too much skin. Those perfectly defined abs scare me, so I don’t plan to join.”
The manager’s mouth twitched, his face full of surprise.
Their gym’s signature feature was its team of muscular, well-built trainers!
He never expected a female member to reject it for that reason.
Ah, such a conservative, unappreciative soul!
At noon, all the gym staff gathered in the cafeteria for lunch. The manager couldn’t hold back any longer and sat down next to Shen Muran, leaning in slightly to ask.
“Hey, Xiao Shen, that rich lady this morning wanted to hire you privately, and you turned her down, right?”
Pfft—
Shen Muran had been eating quickly. Though the manager’s voice wasn’t loud, the question hit him like a bombshell, leaving him stunned. The rice he hadn’t swallowed yet caught in his throat, making him choke violently.
Cough, cough.
“Whoa, why are you so worked up?” The manager quickly unscrewed a bottle of water for him.
Shen Muran’s face flushed bright red. After coughing hard a few times, he asked the manager why he thought that.
“Hey~ I just saw you two chatting quite happily,” the manager said, his eyebrows dancing animatedly as he got into gossip mode.
“That rich lady watched you from the second floor for over half an hour, then specifically asked you to introduce the annual membership to her.”
“I thought you had convinced her, but who knew she ended up refusing to join?”
The manager stroked his chin as if smoothing an imaginary beard. “Based on my years of watching short dramas, she must have been trying to show interest in you, but you, being the blockhead you are, didn’t catch on and rejected her. That’s why she didn’t choose our gym.”
His speculation was well-founded.
Having worked with Xiao Shen for years, he knew his personality better than anyone.
He spoke as little as a silent gourd, only burying his head in work like an ox. No one had ever seen him exchange more than a word with any woman.
Oh, except for those little girls under ten.
The manager thought it over and became more convinced that this was the case. After all, their gym had private trainers of every type—plump or slender, graceful or robust.
He let out a long sigh.
Why did young girls nowadays insist on hanging themselves from the same tree?
Shen Muran still felt something stuck in his throat. He lowered his head and took a few more bites of rice, saying nothing more.
It was indeed settled.
Just cutting out the middleman…