He was beginning to suspect that he himself was the one stalking the girl ahead of him. Perhaps it was because he had been smitten by her beauty?
At the high-speed rail station, the girl had walked in front of him, passing through security a step ahead.
Now, she was walking ahead of him again, checking into the hotel right before his eyes.
He desperately wanted to shout and ask why she was staying in the same place as him, but he probably had no right to do so.
After all, she had checked in first. If anyone asked, it would be her questioning whether he was some kind of stalker who had followed her all the way to the hotel.
He wasn’t!!!
Thanks to the girl’s mercy, she hadn’t called the cops—not even given him a suspicious glance.
She had simply said lightly, “What a coincidence,” waved goodbye to him at the front desk, and headed upstairs first.
This came as a relief to Mo Xiangwen, who had seen far too many news reports of that nature.
Maybe it really was just a coincidence. After all, he had been overly paranoid all day.
The hotel was conveniently close to the scenic area, with a pleasant environment and easy access to dining options.
It was a bit pricey, but otherwise had no real drawbacks.
So, it made perfect sense that they had both chosen the same hotel.
Mo Xiangwen comforted himself with these thoughts as he handed his ID to the receptionist.
The young woman at the front desk was efficient and polite, though for some reason she kept eyeing him with a strange look.
Mo Xiangwen instinctively touched his hair and face, wondering if a strand was sticking up. But it seemed fine.
“Is there a problem?” he decided to ask directly.
“Ah, no, no problem at all,” the receptionist replied. Her professionalism shone through as she bowed slightly in apology. “I’m very sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”
“It’s not that serious. Has my check-in been processed?”
“Yes, Room 513. Please take the elevator on the left.” She handed him a keycard with both hands and pointed in the direction the girl had gone. “This is your keycard. The deposit will be refunded to your account within twenty-four hours after checkout.”
“Thank you.”
He took the keycard and rounded the corner, only to find the girl still waiting at the elevators.
It was almost as if she had been waiting for him to arrive. The moment he reached the elevator area, the doors slid open.
They were on the same floor, which spared him the need to swipe his card again.
In the cramped elevator, he instinctively glanced at her a couple of times. Before he could look away, she noticed.
Their gazes met in midair, her face still bearing that faint smile.
As he hesitated over what to say by way of explanation, she spoke first.
“When do you plan to visit the Sword Gate Pass attractions?”
“Me?” Mo Xiangwen glanced around, confirming they were alone.
“Yes, of course. Who else is here besides you and me?” The girl seemed a little amused. “You don’t have to be so on guard, you know.”
But he did have reason to be cautious.
The prettier the girl, the more likely she was to deceive.
He was too naive, too young and foolish to heed warnings, and that was how he always ended up toyed with by women.
With someone of her caliber, he half-expected her to pitch him on some shady three-hundred-thousand-yuan deal any second now.
Mo Xiangwen ranted internally for a moment before replying, “Tomorrow morning. I don’t like crowds, so I’ll probably go early.”
“Mm—” The girl nodded, drawing out the sound. “I see.”
With a ding, they reached the fifth floor. The elevator doors slid open slowly.
They stepped out one after the other. Suddenly, the girl quickened her pace, dragging her suitcase along. Just as Mo Xiangwen wondered what was up, she turned back to face him.
Something seemed to sparkle in her purple eyes as she looked at him. The corners of her mouth curved up, her faint smile becoming more pronounced. “In that case, want to go together tomorrow? It’d be nice to have someone watching your back.”
“No thanks. I’m used to going alone.”
He didn’t need to think twice; it was pure reflex.
“Oh, okay then.” She seemed to have expected as much and simply smiled. “See you around.”
By then, they had reached her room. She stepped inside and gently closed the door.
Mo Xiangwen wasn’t sure, but for a fleeting moment, he thought he had glimpsed disappointment on her face. For some reason, he felt like she really was a bit let down.
Whatever. They hardly knew each other anyway.
Mo Xiangwen shoved aside the oddly tangled feeling in his chest and found his own room. He swiped the keycard, and with a beep, the door unlocked.
The room was nicely appointed overall. To the left upon entering was a bathroom with a dry-wet separation, and the floor was laid with well-maintained wooden planks.
Opening the window offered a view of distant mountains, but he wasn’t in the mood to admire it.
He tossed his backpack onto the nearby sofa, let out a soft sigh, and collapsed onto the soft bed.
No matter what she was thinking, it was always better to be cautious when traveling alone.
So what if he was a guy? Guys needed to know how to protect themselves too.
He joked to himself in his mind to ease the tension, then closed his eyes for a quick nap.
When he woke again, judging by the light outside the window, it was already evening.
He ordered some takeout on his phone—and suddenly found himself thinking of the girl again. He sighed inwardly.
Women’s hearts were like needles at the bottom of the ocean.
Kid, she’s way out of your league. You can’t win.
The thought even made him chuckle.
As he lost himself in random musings, his phone rang with a call from the delivery guy.
“Got it, I’ll come down to grab it.” He hung up, grabbed his essentials, and headed downstairs.
To his surprise, the first thing he saw upon descending wasn’t the delivery guy, but the silver-haired girl.
She sat on a sofa in the lobby, fiddling with her phone while occasionally glancing around. Her mind clearly wasn’t on the screen; she looked utterly bored.
Mo Xiangwen didn’t dwell on it, since the delivery guy was waiting at the entrance with his food.
After confirming the order details, he reached for the bag—only for a familiar voice to sound from beside him.
“Hey, you ordered takeout?”
He turned to find her familiar smile right there, faint and somehow carrying the subtle scent of jasmine.
“Yeah, places around attractions tend to be pricey.”
For some reason, that smile of hers felt oppressively intense, and his hand froze midway to the bag.
“Plus, I’m not local, so I don’t know which spots are any good. Takeout seemed easiest.”
He was nothing if not honest about it.
“That makes sense. I’ll do the same next time.”
She nodded as if she got it, gave him a little wave, and walked out.
“Uh, bro, is that your girlfriend?” the delivery guy asked.
“Uh, I don’t think so?” Even Mo Xiangwen wasn’t entirely sure now. If not, then why had she seemed upset?
She hadn’t shown it obviously—barely at all, really—but he had definitely sensed her anger.
“Oh, well then, here you go, bro. Your food.”
Why get mad, though? Had they met before?
Impossible. A beauty like her? He’d never forget her if he had.
Even if he blanked on her face, that cascade of silver-white hair would have stuck with him.
He wasn’t some forgetful light novel or anime protagonist who couldn’t remember something like that.
“Bro, your food,” the delivery guy prompted impatiently.
Mo Xiangwen startled out of his thoughts.
“Sorry, man. You can have the food. I’ve gotta go chase after her—don’t let it go to waste.”
He rubbed his temples and sighed. Takeout in tourist spots was ridiculously expensive, dozens of bucks at least.
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“I don’t want it anymore. Gotta catch her.”
The guy blinked, then gave him a thumbs-up. “Nice, bro. Good luck.”
Good luck? As if. They weren’t even friends—what charge was he supposed to sound?
Mo Xiangwen sighed and bolted in the direction she had gone.
Luckily, she wasn’t walking fast. In the time it took to exchange those words, she hadn’t even settled on a restaurant yet.
He jogged a few steps and caught up.
Surprise flickered across her calm face at the sight of him, then the corners of her mouth lifted into that familiar faint smile.
“Sorry.”
The apology caught him as off guard as his chasing her down had.
“Why?” he asked on instinct.
She merely smiled at him and tilted her head slightly. Her silver-white hair, like a waterfall, cascaded to one side.
She said nothing, as if utterly certain that he already knew exactly what she was apologizing for.
Mo Xiangwen caught on quickly, a strange sense of familiarity rising in his heart. He smiled wryly and asked, “Have we met before?”
“No, we haven’t,” the girl replied, shaking her head softly.
“Then why?”
“Um… sorry.” The girl’s delicate brows furrowed slightly as she apologized again. “It just feels like something’s still missing. I think I want to hold off a little longer.”
Mo Xiangwen scratched his head in mild frustration, then let out a heavy sigh. “That makes it hard for me to trust you.”
The girl mimicked him with a sigh of her own. “I know I’m being a hassle, so I’m really sorry.”
That was it—that exact feeling, just like the one he’d gotten from her on the bullet train.
Her rational thoughts blended perfectly with her emotional side, forming an inseparable whole while each asserted its unique presence.
She knew full well that asking for his trust without explaining anything was unreasonable.
Yet she did it anyway. She wouldn’t force him, but she would apologize.
What a contradictory person.
Even if he hadn’t followed her, she probably wouldn’t have blamed him. Instead, she’d have quietly reflected on herself.
For some reason, Mo Xiangwen felt certain of that. He couldn’t explain why, but imagining the scene made him chuckle inwardly.
“Friend, may I ask your name?”
For a split second, the girl’s eyes widened before she quickly composed herself.
“I figured it’d take you a bit longer to think of asking my name.”
There was a hint of teasing in her tone. “We’ve bumped into each other more than three times now. Isn’t it ‘third time’s the charm’? Am I really that scary?”
“Twice,” Mo Xiangwen corrected earnestly, holding up two fingers. “Once in the tourist area, and once at the high-speed rail station—right up to now. Strictly speaking, we can still say it’s under three.”
“You’ll ask on the third?”
“Third time, I’d probably call the cops.”
She couldn’t hold it in. A soft giggle escaped her lips amid a tremble of her shoulders, quickly masked by a smile.
“Yan Nuoya. Yan as in ‘appearance,’ Nuo as in ‘a promise worth a thousand gold,’ and Ya as in ‘elegance appreciated by all’. You can just call me Nuoya.”
He knew full well that when strangers gave their names, they were often fake.
As Mo Xiangwen hesitated, he noticed her watching him with a gentle smile, her purple eyes glimmering with faint expectation.
If he gave a fake name, she’d be disappointed.
No—why should her feelings matter to him?
Still, he had this inexplicable certainty that she wasn’t lying. And somehow, he felt she could tell if he was.
“Mo Xiangwen. Xiang as in ‘direction,’ Wen as in ‘literary.’ Call me whatever.”
He sighed softly to himself, giving in.
Mo Xiangwen had lost count of how many times he’d sighed today, and nearly every one was because of the girl in front of him.
“Great, then I’ll call you Xiangwen.” Nuoya’s eyes blinked, lighting up as if delighted by his response.
“Mm.”
It wasn’t the first time a girl had called him by name, but for some reason, today it felt a little embarrassing.
Even more embarrassing was that Nuoya seemed to notice, covering her mouth with a small hand as she let out a light laugh to tease him.
“Anything you feel like eating? My treat,” Nuoya said once she’d finally stopped laughing.
“No need for you to treat. We can just split the bill.”
Mo Xiangwen shook his head. He didn’t like being treated like an ATM, but he also wasn’t comfortable with random free meals.
If it were his college roommate, a bro, or even a long-time online buddy, that’d be fine.
Because if you cared, you’d always find a chance to return the favor.
Nuoya’s eyes sparkled with curiosity. “Hey, that takeout earlier wasn’t cheap, right?”
Mo Xiangwen grumbled, “Twenty or thirty bucks, and that was with a coupon. Tourist spots do have outrageous prices.”
He still felt a pang about that takeout, but he comforted himself that at least the delivery guy wouldn’t let it go to waste.
Nuoya shook her head with a smile. “Hard to find a place that cheap these days.”
Mo Xiangwen shrugged indifferently. “That’s why it’s no big deal. I don’t have anything in mind. If you do, we can check it out.”
“Um…” Nuoya looked troubled. “We can’t go to a Shaxian noodle shop now that we’re here, right?”
Mo Xiangwen shuddered, memories flooding back of the terror once ruled by Shaxian noodle shops and pig trotter rice.
“No, anything but that.”
