The waiter hesitated when he saw the unconscious Xu Ai in Su Xuan's arms.
"Hmm?" Su Xuan arched his brows.
The waiter stepped back but didn't leave right away. He braced himself and whispered, "Do you know who she is? It might not be appropriate to do so, right?"
Su Xuan chuckled, "Are you asking me if I know who my girlfriend is? Is that what you meant?"
The waiter's face twitched.
Su Xuan didn't speak; he just kept on looking at him.
The waiter struggled with his morals for a bit, but he eventually backed down under Su Xuan's gaze. He then walked away.
Su Xuan looked at Xu Ai in his arms and picked her up. He walked to The Cloud Nine Hotel in the back.
He came upstairs to the turn of the stairs. A very timid waiter stood there and said, "The rooms that you and Sister Ai-Ai reserved here are ready. Are you…"
Su Xuan glanced at him. "Where is her room?"
"I'll take you there!" The waiter guided him.
Su Xuan carried Xu Ai across the hallway to a suite. The door was already open, and he looked at it and entered the suite.
The waiter stood by the door; he was scared to enter but also didn't dare to leave.
Su Xuan put Xu Ai on the bed and sat by the headboard. He stared at her for a moment, then he stood up and walked to the door. He told the waiter, "Arrange someone to change her into pajamas. Also, boil a kettle of water for my suite."
The waiter nodded.
Su Xuan turned around and headed to his suite.
The waiter let out a long sigh of relief when he saw Su Xuan disappear into his own suite. He closed Xu Ai's door and quickly went down the stairs.
When Xu Ai finally woke up the next day, it was already noon.
She opened her eyes and perused the familiar suite with blurred vision. After a while, she suddenly got up and sat on the bed with her back erect.
Why am I sleeping in here?
I actually spent the night here?!
She searched her memory as best as she could and quickly remembered Su Xuan taking her here and forcing a glass of liquor down her throat. And then…
She jumped off the bed and dashed to the table to find her cellphone in her handbag.
It was already one-thirty in the afternoon.
Her piercing gaze focused on the date and time, almost piercing a hole through her phone.
Su Xuan!
That jack*ss!
She sat there simmering in her anger and realized she was wearing pajamas. Her face paled, and then she checked her entire body but didn't feel anything weird. She quickly opened her contact list and dialed Su Xuan's number as soon as she found it.
The phone rang, but no one picked up.
Xu Ai continued dialing. He finally picked up after she dialed three times.
"You're awake?" Su Xuan's beautifully clear voice came through the phone.
"Su Xuan!" Xu Ai barked at her phone, "I'm asking you, what did you do to me yesterday?"
Su Xuan was silent for a while, then Xu Ai heard his regretful sigh, "Unfortunately, I didn't do anything."
Xu Ai got even angrier just from listening to his voice; she was ready to tear him into pieces. He is so despicable! She asked aggressively, "Where are you now?"
Su Xuan's voice carried a hint of delight. "I'm at the Empyrean Edifice. Are you coming over to find me? If you decide to come, then I'll reschedule my afternoon events. I will just not do anything today to stay with you and let you throw your temper tantrum."
Xu Ai stomped her foot. "Why would anybody want to find you!" Then, she hung up in resentment.
Go find him at Empyrean Edifice?
How's that possible? That is his territory!
She hadn't drunk her brain dumb yet, and she knew that she couldn't defeat him at a place that wasn't her territory, not to mention at his own territory!
Xu Ai remained furious and fed up for a long time, long enough for her to admit the truth; she was indeed helpless when it came to him. He was the human-reincarnation of a thousand-year-old sly genie. She couldn't compete with his level.
She threw away her cellphone and fell back to her bed like a sack of potatoes, making a huge indent on the blankets.
All of a sudden, she remembered yesterday, remembered Lin Shen, and remembered Cheng Yanyan, and her heart ached.
Lin Shen probably wouldn't come to her in the future. She took the five percent shares that he gave her and used it as the Imperial Sword to fight his girlfriend, causing him to lose face.
She wouldn't forget. If Lin Shen wanted to protect someone, he would do so with all his strength and power…
She covered her heart with her hand, probably in desperation. After her heart ached for a while, she felt it going numb.
Maybe, someday later, when her heart no longer ached at the thought of Lin Shen or when she heard his name, she could truly let him go. Not blocking herself out, but let go of him for good.
Perhaps, it wouldn't be too difficult then.
After all, for the past three years, she never felt it was hard to tolerate like she felt yesterday in front of his face.
She had already taken the first step; would other steps be far away?
Her phone rang as her mind wandered. She took her phone and looked at it, then she picked it up lazily. "What's up?" Her tone wasn't nice.
"Did someone eat gunpowder?" Sun Pinting dissed her bluntly.
"Tell me what you want, now!" Xu Ai grunted. She could never forget that everything started because of Sun Pinting. Had it not been Sun Pinting pushing her to Su Xuan, how would it initiate a chain of reactions that happened in the past few days? And, she wouldn't have met President Chen, or President Yang, and triggered the event that happened yesterday.
"Look at the grumpy woman you are; you must have watched the news. I really didn't have to worry about you." Sun Pinting fretted, "If you're fine and still have the energy to diss me, then I don't have to worry about you. I'm hanging up."
"Wait!" Xu Ai immediately asked, "What news?"
"You haven't seen it?" Sun Pinting was a little suspicious.
"I just got up; how could I have seen the news?" Xu Ai became irritated. What the heck did Su Xuan make me drink? How come one cup was all it took to knock me out like a corpse?
"Aha," Sun Pinting laughed, "Check the news if you haven't already. It is the biggest news of the era. I almost lost my marbles when I saw it; it sure is ground-shaking breaking news."
Xu Ai frowned and asked sensitively, "Is it about me?"
"Of course it's about you. And not just you, Su Xuan as well." A perked-up Sun Pinting almost forgot Xu Ai's cold attitude towards her earlier. "The number of people who heard the news is equal to the number of people who have cellphones in China, so do the math. Oh, nope, also those that had seen it on TVs, journals, newspapers, magazines…"
Xu Ai disconnected the call and opened the news app on her phone. A series of headlines were exploding in front of her eyes, almost making her pass out again.
"Empyrean's Young Master Su Blew a Contract Worth a Few Billions with Billion Suns to Be with His Girlfriend."
"Throwing Away a Few Billions for a Woman's Heart, the Favored Son of God Proves if You Have Money, You Can Do Anything."
"Young Master Su Joins Hands With the Campus Belle of University B's Business School, a Few Billions From Billion Suns Do Not Compare to the Beauty's Smile."
…
Xu Ai saw stars twirling in front of her eyes. She scrolled down a few pages, but all she saw were about the same news. She almost died from her wrath. She acted out with Cheng Yanyan yesterday for the same reason, and the news broke out today.
Xu Ai closed the news app, found Su Xuan's phone number begrudgingly, and dialed again.
"Sorry, the number you have dialed is not in service!"
Xu Ai threw away her phone and covered her head with the blanket. She wished for an eternal slumber!
Her phone rang after she was buried under the blanket for a while. She flipped the blanket and grabbed her phone. It was Sun Pinting calling again. She placed her phone to the side and ignored it. This lousy friend of hers was probably ready to make fun of her now that she had seen the news. Wait to be made fun of by her? I'm not stupid!
Her phone went silent after a minute. She also faced reality and left her fate in God's hands. She sat up and dialed for room service using the telephone on the nightstand by the bed.
A moment later, someone knocked on her door.
A very weak Xu Ai walked to the door and opened it.
"Sister Ai-Ai, you're awake!" The waiter greeted her with a big smile. "Before Young Master Su left, he said you'll wake up around this time and asked me to prepare lunch for you. Are you hungry?"
Xu Ai had absolutely no appetite. She leaned against the door frame and asked, "Did he bring me to this suite yesterday?"
The waiter nodded.
"What did he do after he brought me here?" Xu Ai followed up on her question.
The waiter thought for a moment and said, "Young Master Su sat by the bed for some time after he brought you here, then he went back to his own room. He asked for a kettle of hot water and went to bed. Before he left this morning, he specifically asked me to prepare lunch for you. He didn't do anything else before he left."
Xu Ai paused for a second. "Who changed my clothes?"
"Young Master Su asked me to get some people to do that for you," the waiter said.
Xu Ai was finally relieved. Even though his heart and lungs are made of black sludge, he still got some morals left in him and didn't take advantage of me.
"Young Master Su got you drunk yesterday. When you passed out, he said you two will stay here. I was so scared." The waiter sighed, "Thank God when I opened the suites, Young Master Su put you here and went to his room. If anything were to happen to you, then I will be offering my head to you to be for your forgiveness this morning. I'll be dead already."
Xu Ai was filled with anger, but she started laughing after hearing what he said. "Fine, you can keep your head on your neck. Let me ask you this; what was the liquor that he reserved here? Why was it so strong?"
The waiter shook his head. "I heard it was custom-mixed by Young Master Su himself. I don't know what it's called."
"I think it wasn't liquor but poison." Xu Ai wanted to curse.
The waiter looked at her and asked carefully, "Sis Ai-Ai, is Young Master Su really your boyfriend?"
"Do you think he looks like my boyfriend?" Xu Ai countered.
The waiter thought for a bit and then shook his head.
"So, not only is he not my boyfriend, he is my enemy!" Xu Ai waved at him and turned back to her room.
The waiter was confused. He wanted to say that even though Su Xuan didn't seem like her boyfriend, he didn't seem like her enemy either. But now, as Xu Ai went back into her suite, he swallowed his words and asked, "Sis Ai-Ai, are you going downstairs for lunch or should I bring it here for you? You must eat something!"
Xu Ai scratched her head. Starve herself for Su Xuan? It wasn't worth it. She nodded. "Please bring it here!"
The waiter closed the door for her and went downstairs.
Xu Ai went to the bathroom to take a shower. The waiter came with her lunch after she freshened up. The dishes were all to her liking, a healthy balance of meat and vegetables, kind of like the way Su Xuan would order food. Even though she had only had two meals with him, she knew it must be him.
She finished eating everything aggressively. She looked at the time and headed downstairs with her handbag.
Someone stopped her as she walked down the stairs and whispered, "Sister Ai-Ai, I'll get a car ready for you at the back door!"
Xu Ai stopped walking. "What's wrong?"
"The news! It's better to be cautious." That man lowered his voice.
Xu Ai rubbed her forehead and cursed Su Xuan to death in her mind. He was the one who stopped her shamelessly and stuck around to visit Ting-Ting's grandmother, and he just so happened to have won over the hearts of three old ladies, one of them being her own grandmother. In the end, he gave up a few billion for her.
He had been acting high-key ever since he came back to China. Is he not afraid of karma and getting struck by lightning?
She nodded her head fretfully. The news she saw was indeed terrible, but she didn't know what it was like out there on the streets. She should pick the safer route!
When she entered the car, she thought things over. She probably shouldn't go back to school; the news was probably blowing up there. Now that she couldn't go back to school, she should probably just go home.
When she arrived home, she saw her grandma sitting on the couch and checking something on her phone.
Xu Ai threw away her handbag and went to her grandma. "Granny, are you calling someone? To whom?"
The old lady realized Xu Ai came home and looked up from her reading glasses. She waved at her. "Ai-Ai, you're home? Come here and take a look at my phone; is it talking about you and Little Xuan?"
All of a sudden, Xu Ai's feet were glued to the floor. Her eyes were wide open in shock and disbelief. "Granny, are you reading the news?"
Since when did this old lady get so trendy?
And how come I didn't know?
Check the news on her phone, play games, watch videos, go on Weibo… aren't these things only young people would do?
The old lady nodded. "Since you assembled the internet thing that has the letter F in the name, your mother had sent me a phone from overseas. New things keep popping up, so I just check it when I have nothing to do…"
Xu Ai's entire body, down to her toes, was emanating cold air. She cursed herself, Why the heck did I set up WiFi here? She almost cried, "What did you read?"
"Little Xuan is actually the heir of the Empyrean Corporation; I knew it! Average Joe employees couldn't possibly have good looks like his! He looks like a really capable man. Now that he fell for you, he surely has a great eye." Her grandma chatted as she continued scrolling down her phone, "But he is perhaps too good-looking; you probably have to worry about him a lot. You have got to stop acting out on him in the future. Men need to be cared for too, especially men like him..."
Xu Ai was speechless. "Grandma, this is what you've concluded from reading the news articles for such a long time?"
The old lady put down her phone and took off her reading glasses. She rubbed her eyes and massaged her shoulders. "Oi, I'm old, and my eyes get so blurry just from using the phone for a short time. Even the reading glasses don't help. Thank God Little Xuan is pleasant to look at…"
Xu Ai came closer to her and started massaging her shoulders. She refused to give in to the situation and said, "He clearly has the power to make sure no news like this gets leaked out. I don't know what's going on in that mind of his! Think about it, Grandma, how am I supposed to go to school after this? I'm so annoyed."
"Why would it affect you?" The old lady didn't think it was a big deal. "Just continue with your studies as you normally would. Don't universities allow students to date? Does your principal have any rules against dating?"
Xu Ai choked a little. "The university doesn't care, but I'm afraid I will be stabbed to death by all those piercing eyes."
"Little girl, how dare you speak of death at such a young age?" Her grandma didn't wish to hear that and smacked her on the head. "The news had it right though, Little Xuan really did set aside his business to go to the hospital with us yesterday. And you whined about him not picking you up and stayed angry at him the entire morning. Little Xuan has a great temper; he let you have your ways, and I couldn't even stand how you were treating him…"
Xu Ai closed her eyes in despair. Now, there was really nothing she could do to clear her name!