When Xu Ye and Chen Qingqing got back to the hotel room, Qin Zhiwei and Shen Xinyi were still sitting on one bed each.
Xu Ye glanced at Qin Zhiwei, then at Shen Xinyi, and said with a smile, “What are those faces for? Were you two up to no good just now?”
Shen Xinyi gave him a look. “You’re the ones who were up to no good, obviously.”
“We were not. Qingqing and I just walked a couple of laps downstairs. All right, it’s getting late. Let me run the two of you back to your dorm.”
Shen Xinyi picked up her bag and stood, and before long the three of them were back at the school.
Once he had dropped the two of them at the dorm, Xu Ye drove back to the hotel.
On the stairs, Shen Xinyi said suddenly, “I saw everything just now.”
Chen Qingqing’s chest tightened, and she asked carefully, “Saw what?”
“I saw you and Xu Ye kissing.”
“You’re making it up. I did not.”
“Stop denying it. I saw the whole thing from the window.”
Chen Qingqing wouldn’t admit it. “Then you saw wrong.”
Shen Xinyi gave a little hmph. “It’s not as if I’m nearsighted.”
“Well, I didn’t kiss him.”
Shen Xinyi shuffled a step closer and asked quietly, “Qingqing. What does kissing feel like?”
Chen Qingqing’s small face went red at once. “I don’t know. Go ask Ruowei.”
Shen Xinyi pouted. “All she does is talk a big game. You’re the only one in our dorm with any actual combat experience.”
“I have not.”
“Sure.”
…
Back at the hotel.
“Xu Ye, you really aren’t human.”
“What’s wrong with you? What are you swearing at me for, out of nowhere?”
Qin Zhiwei gave a cold laugh. “I saw you and Chen Qingqing up to no good down there just now.”
Xu Ye was getting clean clothes out of his bag. “Did Shen Xinyi see too?”
“Mm.”
“No wonder she said that earlier.”
“What does kissing feel like?”
“It hurts.”
“Hurts?”
Xu Ye went into the bathroom, getting undressed as he spoke. “I got my tongue bitten. It still hurts now.”
“You really are an animal.”
By the time Xu Ye came out of the shower, the phone on the bed was ringing away. Rubbing a towel over his wet hair with one hand, he answered with the other.
Xu Ye: “Hello, Boss.”
Pei Youwei: “Is Qingqing next to you?”
Xu Ye: “She isn’t.”
Pei Youwei: “Then I’ll send you the photos now. Don’t pass them on.”
Xu Ye: “Don’t worry.”
Pei Youwei: “I’ve sent them to your WeChat. Take a look for yourself. And I’ve had the operations people put the links up on the Taobao store.”
Xu Ye: “All right. I’ll have a look.”
The moment Xu Ye hung up, Qin Zhiwei crowded in like a child who has to know everything. “Who was that? What photos? Why so mysterious?”
“Go check whether the door’s locked from the inside.”
“It’s locked.”
Only then did Xu Ye open the photos Pei Youwei had sent and start swiping through them one by one. Certain parts had stickers over them, but the impact of the photos was still considerable.
It came down mainly to the models being well chosen — full where they should be full, slim where they should be slim. They had probably been retouched, but that hardly mattered.
“Christ!” Qin Zhiwei’s eyes went perfectly round.
Xu Ye pushed him away with open disgust. “Get out of your old man’s face. Stop walking around all day looking like you’ve never seen anything in your life.”
“Bro. Who sent you those?”
“The proprietress of that bar I worked at last summer. She’s changed trades — set up a factory on my advice, and she’s doing lingerie now.”
“Damn. That’s badass. Let me have another look.”
Xu Ye gave the photos a quick once-over, then opened Taobao and typed Youwei into the search box. The store link came up right away.
He tapped through, and sure enough the store already had several products listed.
Pei Youwei sent another voice message just then. “I’ve briefed the operations people. From tomorrow we start running Zhitongche to drive traffic.”
Xu Ye: “Mm. Our conversion rate is going to be very high. Just sit back and wait for the money to come in, Boss.”
Pei Youwei: “I hope so.”
Xu Ye: “I’ll put an order in now and pad it with a good review. Tomorrow I’ll get everyone I know to place one too.”
Pei Youwei: “So you should.”
Pei Youwei: “You’re a shareholder too, after all.”
Xu Ye: “Ha ha. That’s it for now, then. I’m going to sleep.”
Pei Youwei: “Mm.”
Qin Zhiwei sat down on the bed next to Xu Ye, and when he saw him put the phone down he asked, curious, “You’ve got a share in her factory as well?”
“Mm.”
Xu Ye nodded. “I’ve settled it with the boss already. My stake money’s on credit for now, and once this bull run is over I’ll put the cash in. I’ll probably be working in the factory for two months over the summer.”
Qin Zhiwei grabbed his hand at once, his face full of hope. “Bro. Take me with you.”
Xu Ye made a face. “Do you know anything about design?”
Qin Zhiwei shook his head.
“Can you work a sewing machine?” Xu Ye asked.
Qin Zhiwei shook his head.
“Do you know anything about Taobao, then?” Xu Ye went on.
Qin Zhiwei shook his head again.
Xu Ye was exasperated. “Then what are you going to the factory for?”
Qin Zhiwei said it with perfect righteousness. “Same as you. I’m a lech!”
“Bullshit. When has your old man ever been a lech?”
“Damn. I actually have nothing to say to that.”
…
What does kissing feel like?
Chen Qingqing lay in bed thinking about it all night and still didn’t come up with an answer.
Because every time they kissed, her brain crashed. Her whole body felt as though an electric shock had gone through it, and she couldn’t feel anything at all.
If she had to describe it in three words, they would probably be: dizzy, weak, and excited.
Perhaps because she had slept so soundly, Chen Qingqing was up the next morning while it was barely light. She washed, put on her makeup, and only then opened the closet to get changed.
She had bought Xu Ye two jackets in all: one denim, one baseball.
She had two of her own in the same styles.
The denim jackets were identical in cut and color; of the baseball jackets, one was black and one was white.
Matching couple outfits, both of them.
Chen Qingqing was trying to decide which one to wear today.
In the end she settled on the pale blue denim jacket, because she wanted a black spaghetti-strap dress underneath it.
Of all the many dresses in her closet, this black one was Chen Qingqing’s favorite.
She didn’t wear it lightly, because it showed off her figure, and every time she went out in it the head-turn rate was high. Most of the time Chen Qingqing didn’t want a high head-turn rate at all.
But today was different.
Today was Xu Ye’s birthday, and she wanted to make herself look a bit nicer.
So she got changed quickly, then sat down, pulled open a drawer, and picked a pair of cream crew socks out of a neatly folded pile. Then a pair of white sneakers, and the bearing of an heiress came out all at once.
At about half past seven Xu Ye drove up below the dorm.
Qin Zhiwei hadn’t come along. He knew today belonged to Xu Ye.
When the message came, Chen Qingqing took the two new jackets out of the closet — already washed — packed them into a bag, picked up her handbag, and went straight down.
She walked quickly up to Xu Ye and held out the bag with the jackets in it, beaming. “Happy birthday~”
Xu Ye felt as though he were standing in a spring breeze. He smiled. “With you beside me, I’m happy every single day.”
“There you go running your mouth again~”
(End of Chapter 225)