The hotel was situated at the bottom of the mountain and the hygiene standards of the hotel were very good, but the cost to stay there was also very high. Majority of their guests were tourists. Su Le's boss was a very generous person since he booked a room for each of his employees. This slightly altered Su Le's impression of bosses being leeches.
The rain worsened. As Su Le stood at the window edge, she started to believe that she was going to spend this holiday stuck in the hotel because it was simply too dangerous to climb the mountain in this weather. After all, no matter how beautiful and spiritual the mountain looked, if someone slipped and fell, even if they did not see God during the climb, they would probably meet God very soon.
Knock. Knock. Someone knocked on her door. When Su Le opened the door, she saw Wei Chu standing outside. He had changed from the suit he wore earlier into something more casual and comfortable. Su Le stared at him as he smiled at her. All Su Le could come up with to describe him at that moment was exceptionally attractive.
"I heard that there's a pretty good hot pot restaurant nearby. Everyone is getting ready to go there together." Wei Chu carefully observed Su Le's expression. She didn't seem as tired as she was on the coach. "Have you had enough rest?" After he finished speaking, he reached out and grasped Su Le's hand. She did not retract her hand.
—————-
Since the hot pot restaurant was not located too far, it would not be suitable if they drove there, so everyone grabbed an umbrella and began to head out. Drip. Drop. The sound of rain splashed against their umbrellas. As the rain carried on, it made people feel a sense of peace.
At the front, a male and female was sharing an umbrella. The pair attracted everyone's attention. Even the umbrella they were sharing was incredibly attractive, even though the umbrella had just been bought randomly at a roadside store.
"Handsome man, beautiful woman. So it turns out that the talented young man already belongs to Su Le, we don't even have any hope."
"The best might be taken, but there are still many excellent options out there. Don't be so picky."
Jiang Ting exposed a small smile when she heard the quiet discussion between two female colleagues. It seems like the relationship between Su Le and Wei Chu was really good. Could she be considered their matchmaker? If she hadn't told Su Le to go to JinChu for the collaboration, the great CEO Wei would not have been able to get Su Le to be his girlfriend so quickly, right?
"What are you looking at?" Wei Chu asked since he saw Su Le's gaze fluttering around. Then, he smiled and asked her, "Do you want to buy something?"
"I need an umbrella urgently. The penetrating gazes from behind are too strong." Su Le couldn't help but clutch her arm. She looked like she couldn't stand it anymore. Then, she turned her head and looked at the hand holding the umbrella. His fingers were clean, his skin was light and each of his fingers looked like as if they were sculpted. Su Le felt slightly envious as she poked the back of his hand. Why did a man's hand looked beautiful?
"I already knew that having a rich boyfriend was not safe and if the boyfriend is both rich and handsome, it's just a disaster waiting to happen," Su Le huffed as she poked his hand again. "Ah, I sure suffer a lot when dating you. Besides the fact that I am constantly apprehensive, I still need to suffer from being examined as if I am under an x-ray. I suffer from so many losses," Su Le sighed.
"In the future, I will make sure you'll gain instead of suffering a loss," Wei Chu replied good-heartedly. His reply cooled Su Le down instantly, who was annoyed at being stared at for the whole day, but she was still somewhat displeased so she snorted as she replied, "Don't try and coax me like I'm a child." She felt like her pride had been damaged slightly.
Wei Chu laughed in a low tone. "We have arrived."
Su Le looked up and saw the bright red sign of the restaurant. There was even an image of a spicy red hotpot displayed. Just glancing at it made people feel that it would be extremely spicy. Su Le turned around and looked at the 30 people behind her. She wondered how many of them could actually handle the spice, and if there would any howling.
They all entered the hotpot store. There were about 10 tables for 4 people that had plates set up, but there was no one seated on them. When a waiter saw the group of them by the entrance, he approached them and asked a few questions before he led them to the empty tables.
So someone had already called earlier and booked a reservation. Su Le chose to sit by the window while Wei Chu followed to sit beside her. Everyone was soon quickly chose their seats and sat at their tables. Meanwhile, no one came to sit with Su Le and Wei Chu; it was still just the two of them at their table.
Su Le fiddled with her plate while cursing on the inside. If there was really just her and Wei Chu at the table, she would most likely suffer from indigestion today.
"Boss, all the other tables are full. It seems like I have to join you." Chen Xu was aware that he had committed a grave crime as he sat opposite from the couple. Chen Xu coughed dryly when he saw Wei Chu smiling warmly and added, "Actually, you two can just treat me like I'm thin air."
Wei Chu passed the menu to Su Le and warmly said, "Just choose whatever you like since the person opposite has already told us to treat him like he's not there."
Chen Xu's, who happened to be scooping out some salt, trembled. Salt was scattered all over his plate. Boss, can you not treat my words that were said out of courtesy so seriously?
Su Le gazed at Chen Xu with sympathy while she held the menu. In the end, she did occasionally ask for Chen Xu's opinion when ordering so she didn't really treat him like he didn't exist.
Fortunately, Su Le kindly ordered a hot pot with 2 bowls of soup and not just a spicy chilli soup hot pot. If Chen Xu couldn't eat spice, at least he could eat from the non-spicy side of the hot pot to save his pitiful stomach.
During the meal, Chen Xu was dumbstruck as he watched the two people in front of him who constantly ate from the spicy soup hot pot. As he watched them cook the lamb and various types of mushrooms and vegetables in the spicy soup, Chen Xu couldn't help but drink some Sprite before he felt his taste buds become normal again.
Chen Xu suspected that perhaps the duo could only be together because their taste buds were so similar.
After the meal, Su Le drank a small bowl of white fungus soup that was given for free by the restaurant. Then, she grabbed a slice of watermelon to nibble on. This made Chen Xu, who was already full, feel amazed by her appetite.
"Are you full now?" Wei Chu took a tissue and passed it to Su Le before glancing outside. It was still raining, "I don't even know if it will stop raining by tomorrow."
After wiping her mouth, Su Le took a look at the weather outside, "It will probably stop."
"It would be a pity if the rain doesn't stop," Wei Chu sighed as he felt somewhat regretful.
"If it doesn't, then it would be a waste of a trip," Su Le said as she touched her full stomach. It was rare that she could eat such an authentic hot pot. She was content.
"I heard that the temple at the top of the mountain is accurate in its divination, especially when its asked about love." Wei Chu still had a regretful expression on his face.
The corners of Su Le's eyes twitched a little. She reached out and poked Wei Chu's forehead. "My great CEO Wei, we came to visit a Buddha temple, not a matchmaking temple."
"Yes, I am certainly yours," Wei Chu reached out to take a hold of Su Le's hand while he smiled helplessly.
Su Le rolled her eyes. People who called Wei Chu the 'great God Wei' were surely blind. "Is there a limit to your shamelessness?"
Wei Chu smiled widely, revealing his white teeth. "In front of my wife, can things like 'limit' be said?"
The poor Chen Xu, who was still with them, sat silently as he covered his eyes. How his Lao Da was acting now was just too shameless.
—————-
When the group left the restaurant, the sky had already darkened. Su Le stared ahead at the streetlights, which were slightly blurred by the rain. For no reason, her mood started to worsen.
A gentle hand clasped onto hers. Su Le looked at the person beside her. His other hand that was holding a flower print umbrella edged closer to her to shelter her head from the rain. That little bit of unhappiness that she had felt for no reason now evaporated like smoke.
As the two walked ahead, everyone behind them saw the usually prideful man protecting his girlfriend. Even when a vehicle drove over a muddy puddle, not a single drop of the muddy water would splash onto the woman next to him.
When Jiang Ting saw this scene, she laughed secretly. She suddenly remembered a line from Qi Jiu's book, 'It's nothing praiseworthy when a man holds an umbrella for a woman in the rain. What's important is whether that man is willing to protect the woman from all the muddy water, disasters, and cold in the journey.'
Su Le walked very slowly. Wei Chu also slowed down to match her pace. In that moment, there was a sense of peace that was indescribable.
"I think…" Su Le suddenly spoke but she was hesitant.
"What's wrong?" Wei Chu was worried as he saw the tentative expression on Su Le's face.
"Eating too much is truly not good," Su Le said as she gracelessly rubbed her stomach.
"…" Wei Chu was speechless.