“You can!”

Seeing Chen Qingqing like this, Xu Ye’s heart nearly melted — how could he possibly say no?

Only then did Chen Qingqing follow him back to the right side of the road.

The three roommates watched this affectionate little scene quietly from behind, doting-auntie smiles surfacing to varying degrees on their faces…

Qin Zhiwei came out of the subway station, chatted with Xu Ye for a moment, then hurried toward the gymnasium. He actually arrived even earlier than Xu Ye. But assuming Xu Ye was already at the office, he stood at the gym entrance, about to fix his hair—

“Zhiwei!”

The familiar voice sounded in his ear, and Qin Zhiwei looked up right away. But when he saw Xu Ye leading Chen Qingqing and the group toward him, Qin Zhiwei — who hadn’t broken a sweat the whole walk over — suddenly felt a wave of heat wash over him.

Seeing that Xu Ye’s girlfriend’s roommates were each prettier than the last, Qin Zhiwei felt the pressure spike. Once Xu Ye reached him, he immediately dropped his voice and grumbled, “Didn’t I tell you to stop calling me Zhiwei!”

Xu Ye smiled and introduced Qin Zhiwei to Zhang Ruowei and the others. Qin Zhiwei barely dared to make eye contact with them, just nodding with a bashful grin.

Xu Ye led them all the way to the office door. On the left side of the doorway hung the company nameplate, reading Shanghai Xinye Trading Co., Ltd. Opening the door, inside were all five of them — Zhang Xinzhou, Yang Fei, Jiang Wei, Xia Minghui, and Ruan Xiaolu — while the salespeople were all out running business over the weekend.

“Come in and take a look.”

Zhang Ruowei and the others walked into the office. As they came in together, the expressions of the people inside varied — the most exaggerated being Yang Fei, whose jaw nearly hit the floor.

The visual impact of one beauty versus a whole group of beauties was completely different — which was exactly why the entertainment industry would spend the following years forming girl groups.

“Introductions — these two are my roommates, Zhang Xinzhou and Yang Fei.”

“This is Jiang Wei, our company’s finance lead.”

“Xia Minghui, head of customer service.”

“Ruan Xiaolu, the company receptionist.”

“This is my girlfriend, and these three are her roommates — Zhang Ruowei, Jiang Yu, and Shen Xinyi.”

Xu Ye rattled off the whole roster in one breath.

Zhang Ruowei, the most outgoing one in the dorm, was the first to greet them. “Hi, everyone~”

“Hello.”

They were all university students; there was no awkward-first-meeting chill. Once everyone found seats in the office, they quickly fell into easy conversation.

When Ruan Xiaolu learned that as art-school students they only had fifteen classes a week, she even lamented not having applied for the dance program at the conservatory herself.

Girls seated together naturally gravitated toward gossip, and Xu Ye couldn’t get a word in. While they were chatting away, Qin Zhiwei, sitting beside Xu Ye, elbowed him lightly and asked in a low voice, “None of them have boyfriends?”

Xu Ye nodded, then likewise dropped his voice. “None of them. But Zhang Ruowei — forget it.”

Qin Zhiwei looked puzzled. “Why?”

“You couldn’t handle her. Besides, you two aren’t a match.”

Qin Zhiwei didn’t find anything wrong with that. Even though it was only their first meeting, Zhang Ruowei’s personality clearly read as the carefree, forward-thinking type of girl, and he hadn’t taken a shine to her anyway. But he still pressed on. “When do they head back?”

Xu Ye smiled. “Tomorrow afternoon.”

Qin Zhiwei immediately followed up. “Then where are they staying tonight?”

“A hotel.” Xu Ye said, “After dinner I’ll go book them two rooms.”

Qin Zhiwei went quiet for a moment, then suddenly grabbed Xu Ye’s hand. “Is your dorm bed big?”

“What are you getting at?”

“I want to head back tomorrow too — tonight I’ll sleep at your place.”

“How big can a bunk bed be?” Xu Ye slung an arm around Qin Zhiwei’s shoulder and said with a quiet laugh, “Tell you what — I’ll book three rooms, and tonight the two of us share one.”

“Sounds good.”

“I’ll figure out a way to get you their WeChat too.”

“Bro! You’re too good to me.”

Xu Ye added, “And tomorrow I can even engineer a chance for some close contact between you all.”

“Dad! My whole second half of life is riding on you!”

“Sure, sure.”

Girls chatting had no end to it. Around eleven-thirty, Xu Ye finally cut in on their conversation. “So, uh… it’s getting late. Shall we all go out for lunch together?”

The group quickly got up to head to a restaurant with Xu Ye, but Jiang Wei smiled. “You all go ahead. My uncle messaged me last night to come have lunch at his place.”

“Alright then.”

…

The group set off from the gymnasium and walked all the way to the school gate. Xu Ye strode to the curb, about to flag down a car to find a restaurant at Baolong Plaza.

Jiang Yu walked up and asked, “Xu Ye, are we going somewhere far to eat?”

“Not far.” Xu Ye pointed right. “Turn right from here, then head straight and you’re there. Six or seven minutes by car, probably.”

“And walking?”

“About twenty minutes.”

Jiang Yu said, “Then let’s just walk — we’re not hungry anyway.”

Xu Ye quickly checked with everyone else, and learning none of them wanted to take a car, they all walked toward Baolong Plaza together.

On the way, Zhang Ruowei asked, “Xu Ye, what’s the plan for this afternoon?”

Xu Ye shrugged. “Nothing this afternoon. There’s something tomorrow morning.”

“What are we doing tomorrow morning?”

“There’s an indoor haunted house about half an hour from here. Supposedly pretty scary. Let’s go check it out tomorrow.”

“Huh?” The moment Shen Xinyi heard they were going to a haunted house, her nerve wavered. She was as timid as Chen Qingqing, never daring to watch horror films, let alone go to a haunted house.

Xu Ye smiled. “It’s fine, there’s a whole bunch of us. Just stay behind me when the time comes.”

Chen Qingqing was actually a little scared too, but she figured with Xu Ye there, if the haunted house really was terrifying, she’d just shut her eyes and let him lead her forward by the hand.

Qin Zhiwei followed silently behind, then suddenly caught Xu Ye glancing at him, a faint smile on his face.

Qin Zhiwei blinked, and it suddenly clicked.

So that was the “chance for close contact” Xu Ye had mentioned back in the office — going to the haunted house tomorrow.

So that was it. So that was it!

The vast majority of girls were timid. Go to a haunted house tomorrow, and if it really was scary, they’d definitely be shrieking and huddling up against the guys — maybe even burrowing right into their arms.

Holy—! Lesson learned!

But the problem was… I’ve never been to a place like that either.

Qin Zhiwei felt a faint flutter of unease.

(End of Chapter 145)