And so Xu Ye woke up.

There was an extra person in his arms.

Chen Qingqing was curled up against him like a kitten, both arms locked firmly around his waist.

Xu Ye wanted to laugh. A little while ago she wouldn't have it, and now here she was, having burrowed into his arms herself.

Seeing that she was fast asleep, he held still in the same position. But before long a phone call broke the quiet in the room, and the ringtone soon woke her.

"Hello~"

Half awake, Chen Qingqing heard his voice. She yawned, and still hazy with sleep she pressed instinctively closer to his chest.

"Right. I'll send you the location in about half an hour. Just come straight over."

"Good. We'll leave it there for now."

It was Zhao Ming, asking where exactly they were eating that evening.

Xu Ye answered in a couple of lines and tossed the phone aside.

Just then Chen Qingqing came fully awake. She scooted upright and sat there, and Xu Ye spread both hands at once with a wicked grin all over his face. "Nothing to do with me. You're the one who came into my—"

"All right! Don't say it!"

Chen Qingqing glared at him, then hurried to get her shoes on and stand up.

Xu Ye sat up too and phoned Qin Zhiwei, telling him to take Zhang Ruowei and Jiang Yu to the IAPM first and then come back for him.

Once the call was over he went to the bathroom to wash his face and rinse his mouth. On the way out he saw the Hami melon from lunchtime hadn't been finished, so he picked up the fork and ate all of it.

They waited about twenty minutes at the hotel. When Qin Zhiwei's message came through, Xu Ye took Chen Qingqing downstairs, and the four of them went to an upscale restaurant on the top floor of the IAPM.

Zhang Ruowei's makeup and her outfit were both a little different from usual that day. Normally she dressed mostly in black, in the sultry older-woman line.