The sun had climbed a little higher. The mist in the distant mountains grew thinner and thinner, people’s shadows stretched long, and the chill in the air had faded somewhat.
All of a sudden, Chen Chuan stopped. His dark gaze fell heavily on her. “You want to get the certificate?”
“Mm?” Yu Ning answered, not understanding, the clear ending note of her voice carrying a hint of laziness.
“Fine.”
Yu Ning paused and turned back to meet his eyes. Her brows shifted slightly as she asked uncertainly, “What’s fine?”
Chen Chuan’s expression did not change. With a cold snort, he asked, “Scared?”
Yu Ning glanced sideways at him and let out a laugh. “What would I be scared of? Getting the certificate is fine. If we can make it work, we make it work. If we can’t, we get divorced. How big of a deal is it?”
She looked completely relaxed, her tone light and indifferent, as if what she was talking about was not a major life event like marriage, but something as trivial as what to eat for lunch today or where to go tomorrow.
Chen Chuan’s expression darkened. “Marriage isn’t a game. Don’t provoke me!”
Yu Ning shrugged slightly. “I never said marriage was a game.”
“Your attitude toward marriage and relationships is full of insincerity and irresponsibility! I’m telling you clearly right now: I’m not interested in you, so don’t waste your time on me!”
His face was stern, his tone stiff. After throwing down those words, he did not even look to see her reaction and simply walked off in anger.
The smile on Yu Ning’s face faded. She tugged at the corner of her mouth, and an inexplicable irritation rose in her heart.
Once she got irritated, her craving for cigarettes came back.
But she had not even brought her phone, let alone cigarettes.
Watching that figure grow farther and farther away, she did not chase after him again. Instead, she stood in place for a dozen seconds.
Toward Chen Chuan, she did indeed have a bit of appreciation for his looks, which was why she had taken the initiative to flirt a little.
But if he wasn’t interested, what could she do?
Nothing, really.
She was indeed the kind of person whose enthusiasm lasted only three minutes, but… there were not many things or people that could make her interested either.
Alas, the beautiful encounter she had been looking forward to had, in the end, turned into nothing but a bubble.
Besides, it was too sunny.
She had not planned to go out today in the first place. She had wanted to rest properly for a day.
She had not even put on sunscreen before going out.
Since there was no need now, she might as well go back the way she came.
When she returned to the guesthouse and stepped inside, she saw a woman around thirty-four or thirty-five carrying a laundry basket. Inside were sheets and duvet covers that had just been stripped off.
From the looks of it, she was heading to the backyard to wash them.
The woman’s appearance was rather ordinary, average-looking. When she saw Yu Ning, she froze for a moment. “You are…”
Mother Chen happened to come in from the backyard. “Ah, A-Ning, weren’t you going out with Chuanzi to stroll around town? Why are you back?”
“I forgot to take my phone. I was afraid of delaying his business, so I let him go ahead. It’s a little sunny right now, so I’ll just wander around nearby by myself in the evening.”
Yu Ning smiled and found an excuse to gloss it over, then nodded at the middle-aged woman.
“This is an employee at our guesthouse. Her name is A-Yan. If you want your room cleaned or the sheets and duvet cover changed, you can tell her.”
Mother Chen acted as the go-between and introduced them. “A-Yan, this is the guest in Room 302.”
A-Yan said readily, “Oh, I see. Hello, hello. If you need anything, just call me anytime.”
Yu Ning was polite and courteous. “Then I’ll have to trouble Sister A-Yan for the next three months.”
A-Yan felt as if her eyes had been dazzled by the friendly beauty before her. She wanted to wave her hand, but both her hands were occupied. “No trouble, no trouble. It’s all what I should do.”
Yu Ning’s brows and eyes held a smile. After chatting with her briefly, she used her phone to scan the WeChat QR code on the front desk and directly transferred over one thousand two hundred yuan.
“Auntie Chen, this is one month’s payment for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I’ll transfer it to you first.”
After saying that, she did not give Mother Chen a chance to react and went straight upstairs.
She first smoked two cigarettes to suppress the gloom in her chest, and then…
Then she was a little at loose ends.
At this time in the past, she would usually be rushing through the morning commute, arriving at the company right on the dot, preparing materials for the morning meeting, and then either developing clients or holding sales negotiations.
In short, every day had been busy—running around for fieldwork, going on business trips, entertaining clients, customizing all kinds of plans, writing all kinds of reports.
For her, in the eight years after graduation, two-thirds of her time had been filled with work.
The remaining one-third included eating, sleeping, and… dating.
When her mother passed away, she had inexplicably felt as if she could finally undo the shackles binding her.
That bastard superior stealing her credit had actually only been a fuse.
A fuse that reminded her she was already thirty, that it was time to live for herself, and that it was time to bury her past life underground together with her mother’s passing.
She lay on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. After an unknown amount of time, someone suddenly knocked on the door.
She gathered her thoughts, got up, walked over, and pulled the door open. A tall figure that surprised her somewhat entered her sight.
As soon as Chen Chuan lowered his eyes, he was caught off guard by the sight of her collarbones, like white porcelain cups, as well as the valley inside her camisole, faintly visible.
It was an alluring curve.
After only a second, he quickly shifted his gaze away, raised his hand to cover his lips, and furrowed his brows in the same motion.
Yu Ning noticed his gaze. She lowered her head to glance at her own neckline, froze for a moment, then suddenly laughed aloud.
She hadn’t been able to tell—he was actually quite innocent.
Hearing the teasing in her laughter, Chen Chuan’s brows furrowed even deeper. He lowered his hand and got straight to the point. “You transferred one thousand two hundred just now?”
“Mm. One month’s meal expenses.”
Yu Ning leaned lazily against the doorframe. There was still a smile on her beautiful face, but it did not reach her eyes.
Chen Chuan pressed his lips into a straight line and said after some thought, “Take it back. I’ll keep accounts on my end and settle it once a month.”
One thousand two hundred was already too much to begin with. If there were times she did not eat at the guesthouse, then it would be more than just twenty yuan extra.
He was unwilling to take advantage of that.
“Just for this? You specially came up to knock on my door?” Yu Ning lifted her brows. “I thought you came to apologize.”
“Apologize for what?”
“For rejecting me.”
Chen Chuan found it unbelievable. “Why would I need to apologize for rejecting you?”
Yu Ning raised a hand to cover her chest, looking wounded and pained. “Because you hurt me.”
“…”
He really didn’t know why she had such a flair for drama.
Chen Chuan did not play along with her act. He tapped on his phone again and again. “I’ll refund the money to you on WeChat.”
He had just entered 12 and had not yet had time to type the two zeros behind it when a fair, slender finger blocked his phone screen.
Beside his ear came her clear, lazy female voice. “Don’t refund it. I’ll be staying here for three months. This money won’t stop you from keeping accounts either. If there’s extra, just put it toward next month.”
Chen Chuan’s pupils paused. He lifted his eyelids slightly and looked at her.
Thinking that her method was acceptable too, he put his phone away and asked, “Have you decided where you want to go tomorrow?”
“Where to go? I don’t know.” Yu Ning took the opportunity to admire the nude manicure she had just gotten the afternoon before yesterday and asked leisurely, “May I ask, Guide Chen, where are you planning to take me to have fun?”
“There’s a group of tourists going to the orchard tomorrow morning for an experiential activity. If you want to go, you can go with them.”
“…”
Yu Ning looked at this blockhead with speechlessness written all over her face. “I suddenly kind of understand why you’ve been single all this time. You deserve it.”
Such a straight man!
After saying that, she took two steps back and, with a snap, shut the door.