Chapter Sixty-Four: Pure Chat

(Classmate Ding Chongchong, thank you very much. Your contributions to the setting have greatly helped improve certain aspects. The side character will appear at an appropriate time.)

Li Yan drove along the road and arrived at the nearest five-star hotel to S University. He had already booked a room, and after arriving at the hotel, he took Xiaodi upstairs directly.

This hotel was somewhat familiar to Xiaodi; she had been here once before with Li Yan. It was also a weekend. She initially invited Li Yan to S University to play tennis. When they got to the court, Li Yan didn’t play; he just watched her play and she used the excuse that he was her private tennis coach. After the game, someone stole her racket, causing her to get caught by a car while chasing after it. Later on, Li Yan and Li Jie teamed up to rescue her.

Thinking back to that situation, Xiaodi felt like it had happened a long, long time ago. At that time, she was still chasing after him. Li Yan had just transitioned from being a boring acquaintance to an ordinary friend, quite different from now.

However, there was one similarity: that time was also a weekend, and she came in the morning with Li Jie, which was somewhat awkward. Now it’s another weekend, and it’s night. Returning with a man and a woman makes people think they’ve come here for, you know, but not having to register at the front desk made her feel less embarrassed.

"Hey, haven’t we been here before?" Xiaodi naturally linked her arm through Li Yan’s in the elevator.

"Seems like we have."

With no one else in the elevator, she got bolder, looking up at him with a cheeky smile: "Bringing me to a hotel this late, what are you trying to do? Got any plans?"

"Heh, didn’t I say? We’re here to chat! Oh, and we can watch some TV."

"..."

In the midst of the banter, the elevator arrived. Led by Li Yan, Xiaodi followed him to a guest room. Upon entering, she was a bit surprised, took a closer look, and then confidently said, "This is the same room we stayed in last time!"

"Really? That’s quite a coincidence," Li Yan said casually as he sat down.

"Hmph! You sneaky big guy, you’re not being honest!" Xiaodi kicked off her shoes and jumped onto one of the beds, half-smiling as she remarked, "You intentionally booked the same room just to give me a sense of fateful serendipity?"

Li Yan took out a cigarette and lit it: "Actually, I don’t even remember what room number we had last time. Don’t forget, it was only for a few hours. If you feel it’s the same, it’s because the room types and designs are identical. Over such a long time, you’ve just thought they’re the same."

"Is that so?" Xiaodi sat cross-legged, looking around. "It’s really possible."

Seeing him only smoking without having prepared anything in the room, Xiaodi couldn’t help but wonder, "Big guy, do you have any surprises for me? Are you waiting for midnight or something?"

"Uh... there really aren’t any." Li Yan considered himself a veteran in socializing, but he wasn’t adept at romance, so he was only half-aware of what could delight a girl. And Yu Xiaodi was different from ordinary girls. Fancy meals, precious gifts, grand occasions that might be novel and satisfying for most were mundane for her. So, whatever he prepared would be pointless.

Therefore, there wasn’t much he could think of. Since he had just instructed 5261941 to expose the anthrax virus incident at the Prince Hotel, it didn’t feel right to overuse them, so he asked Guan Ziyi to help hack S University’s website. But old Guan, upon hearing that the purpose of hacking the school website was just to celebrate a girl’s birthday, directly said he didn’t want to embarrass himself and ignored him. Finally, he had to pressure 526 to do it.

"No flowers, cake, champagne, red wine, or gifts?"

"Well... isn’t your birthday tomorrow? Besides, I think these things should be commonplace in your life, so..."

"Dummy! It depends on who’s giving them. If it’s you, even the most ordinary things would make me very happy." Xiaodi said with a playful smile. "But it’s okay, none of that matters. Having you by my side is enough for me. But you sitting over there smoking really kills the mood! Weren’t we going to chat? You need to come over and sit with me to chat."

"Hehe, alright! You’re the star today." Li Yan took a deep drag and stubbed out the cigarette, then went to sit on the other bed.

"Here! Afraid I’ll eat you?" Xiaodi patted the space next to her.

Li Yan had no choice but to sit next to her, "We’re just chatting; I can sit over there. It’s a bit cramped here."

Xiaodi immediately snuggled up to him, ignoring the cramped space, she locked her arms around his neck and pulled him down so they were lying on the bed together. After all, you get what you pay for; four-star or three-star standard rooms are much cheaper, but their room size is generally about 20-30 square meters, with double beds 1-1.2 meters wide and large beds 1.5-1.8 meters. Here, the standard rooms have over 40 square meters of space, with double beds at 1.5 meters and large beds at 2 meters. So lying on one bed together didn’t feel cramped.

"If it’s cramped, why not book a room with a larger bed?" Xiaodi complained only momentarily before realizing, "Haha, I get it! You did it on purpose so that the smaller bed makes us snuggle closer together."

"..." Li Yan sat up again: "I’ll turn on the TV."

Nowadays, television has become a habitual background noise for people, not necessarily interesting for its content, but when you’re with someone, having it on makes a sound that avoids awkward silences. Just chatting can feel a bit unnatural.

Hearing his comment made Xiaodi fall silent for a moment, thinking about her agreement with Zhang Yurong.

...

The temporary awkwardness was nicely transitioned by the sound of the TV. Looking at the slightly familiar scene next to Li Yan, it reminded Xiaodi of the time they last came here.

"Li Yan, do you remember how long we had known each other when we were here last time?"

Suddenly hearing this question, most people wouldn’t remember. However, Li Yan chose to come here not just because it’s close to the university but also because it holds memories from before. He had come up here earlier to recall the past situation. So when he heard her question, he immediately responded, "Fifteen days. I remember at that time you even said that fifteen days is long enough, as many classic romances happen in just one day."

"Hehe, exactly, in fifteen days you saved me three times. You went from being the person I disliked the most to the one I liked the most. Isn’t that long enough?"

"..."

Xiaodi no longer had a playful expression but spoke with remembrance, "Do you remember? Because you saved me again, I said I would repay you with my life... and that’s when you told me you were married. You were very serious, even saying your wife had spoken to me on the phone."

Mentioning this, Li Yan had no mood for jokes either and smiled wryly, "Yet, I was such an honest person saying honest words, and you just didn’t believe it."

"Heh... isn’t it true! Grand promises of undying love are obviously false, yet everyone loves to hear and believe them. Conversely, the truth is often thought to be false. I never expected what you said to be the real truth!"

"Sigh, I really didn’t want to hurt you, but in the end..." Li Yan didn’t finish, stopping because it’s inappropriate for him to say this, sounding a lot like Jiang Taigong’s idea of not wanting to fish yet the fish still wanting to take the bait.

"Back then, I thought too simply... I said it didn’t matter that you were married, after all, I’m still young and not looking to get married immediately. I like you, not seeking any status from you. I didn’t care..."

Saying this, Yu Xiaodi let out a bitter laugh, "But once I truly got deeply involved, I found I couldn’t be so carefree and unseeking."

Li Yan reached out to stroke her face, "That’s normal. For most people, love is indeed selfish. Just like I didn’t care about you back then. If one day you told me you liked me and the next day you had a boyfriend, I wouldn’t have felt uncomfortable either. But now, I’ve emotionally invested, started to be selfish. If you suddenly had a boyfriend now, I’d definitely feel terrible."

(Thanks to the brothers for their rewards on the 19th: しょぅけん, liu4633, Cavalry, JK Liang, Number N in the World, dongmin8061, zjun971210, Deep Love in the Celestial River, CP Pampas) (To be continued, if you want to know what happens next, please log in to www.qidian.com, more Chapters there, support the author, and read legitimately!)