When Will My Childhood Sweetheart Marry Me?-Chapter 170: Catching up on Sleep at the Hotel

Chapter 170: Chapter 170: Catching up on Sleep at the Hotel

Half an hour later, with the rush over and two customers gone, the small shop was still crowded.

Wen Lin was tidying up the equipment and called out to the room inside, "Zhong Yuan, pour five cups of tea for me."

The most responsive was Jiang Shuyao.

Subconsciously she thought it was just a common name, but when that figure lifted the curtain and came out, she realized the world was really small.

For the first time, she saw an emotion other than indifference in the eyes of this roommate.

With a brief look of surprise, Zhong Yuan shifted his gaze away from Jiang Shuyao and picked up the tea tray and cups to pour water at the counter.

"Yaoyao, isn’t she the folksong singer, a girl, right?" Tang Xing came over with quick, small steps, her eyes sparkling with delight, as though she’d stumbled upon an unexpected treasure.

Hmm.

A girl, one who didn’t care much for socializing, looking even more difficult to deal with than the one standing beside her.

Jiang Shuyao’s glance floated towards Pei Yan, who was still drooping his eyelids, looking as though he hadn’t woken up yet.

She asked softly, "How late did you stay up last night?"

"Until six."

"!"

...Which meant he basically hadn’t slept at all.

In just a short while, the five cups of tea were ready.

Chen Jin blew a whistle and inquired of Wen Lin, "Aren’t you going to introduce her?"

"My sister."

Your sister?

Their different surnames naturally led to the assumption that they might be cousins.

After finishing with the tea, Zhong Yuan entered with an expressionless face. Soon after, intermittent guitar sounds came from inside.

Wen Lin spoke up at the right moment, "She’s been practicing a new piece. If it bothers you, I’ll ask her to practice later."

The two sisters were actually quite similar, one cold, the other indifferent, both scarcely smiling when they spoke.

But someone like Wen Lin, damn, everything about her was enchanting.

Chen Jin watched her, eyes almost spinning, getting Tang Xing annoyed to death.

During military training, Zhong Yuan often practiced guitar outside the dorm balcony, but after protests from the other rooms on the same floor, it stopped.

The tattoo shop was probably her last sanctuary.

After a silent pause, Jiang Shuyao broke the quietness and said to Wen Lin, "It’s all right, let her practice. After this weekend, there’ll be even less time to practice."

Her soft voice mixed with the light melody of the guitar and was unexpectedly comfortable to the ear.

From the moment the girl walked in, Wen Lin had noticed her.

The first order of July was thanks to this unknown girl in front of her.

In fact, upon seeing her today, she was much more charming than the sideface on her phone’s lock screen.

Two months ago, the boy who came to get a tattoo here was sullen and lifeless, his eyes dull and dead.

Now, Wen Lin glanced at Pei Yan sitting opposite her without being obvious.

That face, blessed by the heavens, still had hard lines, but every inadvertent gesture and look was now tinged with a hint of lazy liveliness.

Such was a man in love.

Wen Lin withdrew her gaze and turned to Jiang Shuyao with a faint smile, "She values her guitar more than her textbooks. Since school started, I honestly don’t know how many times she’s shown up in class."

"Apart from occasionally missing morning self-study, Zhong Yuan usually has a decent attendance rate."

She inadvertently said this, drawing the gaze of several people in the room all at once.

Jiang Shuyao explained calmly, "Zhong Yuan is my roommate."

"..."

When leaving, Wen Lin gave each of them a discount card, and specially brought up the first time Chen Jin and Xu Kanfeng came to the shop, wanting to get Blue Dragon and Xuanwu tattoos.

Chen Jin laughed it off, heat of the moment returning him to his flirtatious ways.

"Since Boss Wen welcomes all, let me think, next time I come over, should I also get a tattoo on my back like Brother Yan..."

Before he could finish, Chen Jin rolled his eyes back and his face turned red.

"Holy shit, boss, you!"

...Pei Yan smiled without reaching his eyes, his arm twisted behind Chen Jin’s neck, "Think it through before you say it."

Um.

The atmosphere fell into an odd silence.

Off to the side, He Qingzhou couldn’t help but give a clear cough, signaling that a certain imbecile was beyond redemption.

Tang Xing was completely baffled.

But Jiang Shuyao was clever, quickly capturing the key information. Although her heart was full of doubts, seeing someone who seemed intent on keeping secrets for life, she could only pretend as if she hadn’t heard anything.

The minor episode concluded with her understated reaction.

As soon as they stepped out of the elevator, Pei Yan directly took her by the shoulders and headed in the opposite direction, waving his hand at the three behind him, "Don’t follow, go have your fun."

As men naturally understand each other, Chen Jin laughed heartily and spread-eagle.

Tang Xing once again felt like an exclamation mark was hanging over his head...

"Chubby, do you want to go to a fun place with the guys?"

"Screw off!"

Fucking hell, ate gunpowder or what?

Chen Jin, feeling dejected, turned around and said, "Old He, let’s go, we can soak up the bar scene."

Seaside City was so vast, and Tang Xing suddenly felt superfluous, standing alone in the middle of the street like an abandoned puppy.

For some reason, today he was quite sensitive, as if from lunchtime onwards, he had slowly drifted off course.

He turned his head, watching Chen Jin walk further away, pouted, and almost cried out in a fit of pique.

Jerk! Scumbag! Pest!

So you fancy 32Ds, huh? Dream on, as if they’d look at you?

Pssh.

Tang Xing scoffed scornfully and left in a huff.

They had agreed to go out together, but now to abandon a friend like that, what kind of behavior was that?

Jiang Shuyao forced herself to stop walking and looked up, "We should take Tang Xing with us, or at least drop her off at school on the way."

It was better than leaving without a word.

"You needn’t worry, Chen Jin will take her," Pei Yan said definitively, settling the matter, "Find a hotel, I need to catch up on some sleep first."

"?"

She had no chance to argue when the person beside her took a long stride and headed towards a nearby budget hotel.

"Um, my ID won’t work," Jiang Shuyao stuttered.

"Didn’t you bring it?"

"I did." But...

Pei Yan’s pace imperceptibly paused, as if he had also remembered something.

He frowned and asked, "Is it that your ID shows you one year younger?"

Asking the obvious.

Jiang Shuyao nodded gloomily, "Yeah."

A guy taking a minor to a hotel room, even if they’re staying in the same room just to nap temporarily, can’t exactly be upfront about it.

Who would believe it?

"Let’s just head back to school then. The dorms don’t have an age restriction," she said teasingly, seeing his frustrated face.

Her glee lasted all of two seconds before Pei Yan pulled out his phone and made a call to someone.

In a tired voice he instructed the other end, "Send me the location of the hotel closest to Seaside City."

With just that one sentence, he hung up the call.

Jiang Shuyao stood there, dumbfounded, as he opened the address in WeChat and zoomed in on the map.

The entire distance was about 620 meters, the destination: Huoersi Hotel.

Huoersi...

Ten minutes later, Pei Yan led her through the hotel lobby with an air of calm, received by the front desk staff who bowed at a ninety-degree angle and greeted them with obsequious smiles.

The two went straight to the elevator without checking in.

Jiang Shuyao didn’t understand why those people were giving this guy so much face. Could it be that Huoersi had some kind of strategic cooperation with Zhizhen and they were showing deference because of Uncle Pei, so...

Seeing her confusion.

Pei Yan said indifferently, "Just acquired it."

Oh.