“Hahaha!” Ou Lu clapped her hands and burst into laughter. “Why do you kids always have such weird ideas? I stay at their hotel all the time. The rooms there have great soundproofing.”
Oh… Liang Sheng let out a sigh of relief. Another false alarm—it was just because the rooms were well soundproofed. She really was such a scaredy-cat, jumping to conclusions over nothing.
“So why’d you come here? Want me to walk you back?” Liang Sheng cradled Zhen Zhu in her arms and started to stand.
“No!” Zhen Zhu threw her arms around Liang Sheng’s neck. “I… I want to sleep with you guys!”
“Huh?” Liang Sheng scratched her head. “No can do. Teacher Dong Yue won’t see you and she’ll worry.”
But willful Zhen Zhu wasn’t one to back down easily. She deployed her ultimate weapon—crying her eyes out.
“Waaah! Waaah!” Zhen Zhu sobbed noisily.
The racket gave Liang Sheng and Ou Lu headaches, while Cha Susu shrank away to a safe distance.
With no other choice, Liang Sheng patted the stinky brat’s back. “Alright, alright, no more tears. You can sleep here. I’ll text the teacher so she doesn’t freak out in the morning when she doesn’t see you.”
Zhen Zhu’s crying stopped abruptly. Liang Sheng was speechless. It was like the tears had never happened, leaving her feeling oddly hurt.
After sending the message to Dong Yue, Liang Sheng and Ou Lu pushed the other bed over, joining it to the two already together. They even found a massive quilt in the closet, as if the hotel had anticipated guests shoving beds together for group sleeping.
Liang Sheng held Zhen Zhu close while clasping one of Ou Lu’s hands. Zhen Zhu nestled snugly between Liang Sheng and Ou Lu, warm as could be. Cha Susu slept on Liang Sheng’s other side, hugging her arm. Liang Sheng’s hand—purely by accident, of course—came to rest on Cha Susu’s thigh.
The night passed without further incident.
In the morning, Dong Yue spotted Zhen Zhu’s empty bed and nearly fainted. Her first instinct was to grab her phone and check. There she found Liang Sheng’s message.
“Zhen Zhu snuck over to my room in the middle of the night. Don’t worry, Teacher—she’s fine. It was too late, and she was tired, so I let her crash here.”
Dong Yue finally exhaled in relief. If Zhen Zhu had gone missing, even if no one blamed her, she’d have tormented herself over it for life.
Early that morning, Ou Lu rose to pack and head off to sign some contracts with the others. Cha Susu, Liang Sheng, and Zhen Zhu—the three lazybugs—slept in until Teacher Dong Yue knocked on the door of Room 205.
“Who is it?” Liang Sheng wiped drool from her mouth as she got up to answer.
Teacher Dong Yue’s face appeared, startling Liang Sheng.
Seeing her homeroom teacher during vacation was a shock to the system, even if the woman was young and beautiful—and one of Liang Sheng’s conquest targets, no less.
“A-Ah… Teacher, you’re here for Zhen Zhu, right?” Liang Sheng promptly threw her under the bus. “Come in, come in—it’s freezing out there.”
Once inside, Dong Yue saw Zhen Zhu sitting up and rubbing her eyes. Fury boiled over.
“Zhen Zhu, can’t you act your age? Do you have any idea how terrified your Great-Aunt was when she woke up and you were gone?”
It was the first time Liang Sheng had seen Teacher Dong Yue this angry. Even when scolding unruly students in class, she’d never been this worked up.
Zhen Zhu, who had likely never seen Dong Yue mad before, froze in place. Her usual bratty attitude vanished, replaced by genuine fear.
Weird—even this bear child was scared of Teacher Dong Yue?
“G-Great-Aunt…” It was the first time Liang Sheng had heard the little loli call Dong Yue that. She must have been truly spooked.
Dong Yue kept nagging on and on, like the Tang Monk reciting endless sutras. Liang Sheng and Cha Susu, mere spectators, were already getting dizzy. No need to mention poor Zhen Zhu, the main target.
“Great-Aunt! Great-Aunt!” Unable to take it anymore, Zhen Zhu cut her off and apologized sensibly. “Great-Aunt, I’m sorry—I was wrong.”
Heaven! Liang Sheng shot Dong Yue an admiring look. Next chance she got, she’d have to pick the teacher’s brain on handling little rascals like this!
With Zhen Zhu’s apology, Dong Yue gradually wound down. She stood, took Zhen Zhu’s hand, and headed out while instructing Liang Sheng and the others. “Hurry up and get out here. Breakfast won’t wait forever—it’s almost ten-thirty. You don’t want to skip straight to lunch, do you?”
“Got it, Teacher!”
As expected, traveling with a teacher meant zero freedom—everything came with rules.
Once Dong Yue left, Liang Sheng and Cha Susu were alone in the room. Two single girls sharing a space—it made Cha Susu oddly shy.
By now, Cha Susu’s feelings toward Liang Sheng had shifted in subtle ways. It wasn’t the dynamic with a sugar daddy anymore, nor quite like with a close girlfriend. Something strange and fluttery had crept in, leaving her heart all aflutter.
“Oops!”
Lost in thought, Cha Susu’s hand brushed Liang Sheng’s. She yanked it back in a panic.
Liang Sheng noticed the green tea girl’s odd vibe. The way she looked at her… Liang Sheng didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It was the exact same gaze Song An’an had given her back when she first fell for her.
“Susu,”
“Hm?!” Cha Susu tensed up like she was facing a formidable foe. Why was she suddenly so awkward around Liang Sheng after just one night sharing a bed? And why did Shengsheng smell so good? Heh heh heh—wait! What was she thinking? Cha Susu’s face flushed crimson.
In truth, Liang Sheng had only spoken to break the awkward silence filling the room.
But seeing Cha Susu so on edge, Liang Sheng was at a loss for words.
“I, uh… mind if I borrow your towel for a sec?”
“S-Sure!”
They turned their backs to each other and went about their business.
Wait a minute—Cha Susu realized something a moment later. Shengsheng had her own towel. Why borrow mine?
“Sheng…” Her voice cut off as a bold idea sparked in her mind.
No way—did Liang Sheng have feelings for her? Cha Susu clutched her burning cheeks. That’s why she wanted my towel—to get closer, to catch my scent and all that!
Aaaah! It was just like the tsundere yet attentive overbearing CEO from her favorite stories! Cha Susu’s mouth fell open in a silent scream.
“Susu?” Liang Sheng placed a hand on her shoulder. “So, I’ll go ahead and use your towel?”
“Y-Yes! Go right ahead!” Cha Susu stood ramrod straight.
Liang Sheng tried to explain. “Look, I only wanted your towel because…”
