Chapter 221: Chapter 227: The Feeling That You Can Be Snatched Away at Any Time_1
As soon as they arrived at the entrance of the "hotel," Fang Ren was completely dumbfounded. Looking at the dozens of towering buildings, he had a silent thought that he didn't know how to express.
"Is this... sure this is a hotel?" Fang Ren looked up at the skyscraper in front of him and couldn't help but swallow.
He had thought that such buildings in Tianjiang would all belong to some major companies or be some special architectures, but he had not expected a hotel to look like a super apartment complex.
Bai Qi glared at him when she saw his stunned expression, "Why do you look like a country bumpkin entering the city for the first time?"
Fang Ren glanced at her and said, "I am indeed just a country bumpkin from a small town..."
"A country bumpkin who casually carries a bank card with hundreds of millions in it?"
As Bai Qi started walking inside, Fang Ren followed her, thinking that he couldn't even find the front desk of such a massive hotel.
...
"What? There's only one room for the two of us?"
Just as the two had found the hotel's front desk, Bai Qi couldn't help but exclaim loudly after hearing the staff's words.
The female receptionist smiled awkwardly and said, "I mean... Your Highness Princess and Young Master Fang, aren't you fiancés?"
"So what if we are." Bai Qi immediately shouted unhappily, "I don't want to share a room with him! Open another room!"
The receptionist, looking helpless, said with a smile, "But... all the rooms in the hotel are fully booked because of the competition. Although many students from other places haven't arrived yet, their room cards have already been distributed by the competition staff..."
"So the two of us sharing one room is a regulation given by Central Area?" Bai Qi asked.
"Actually, this matter... was arranged by your grandfather," the receptionist said.
Bai Qi looked despairingly resigned, knowing that for such a major event, even if she was only coming over as an attendant, the event staff should have been considerate of the differences between her and Fang Ren and arranged two rooms. However, she had not expected that this was all arranged by her grandfather!
Fang Ren walked up and said to the receptionist, "Then one room will have to do."
Seeing this, the receptionist took out a room card from under the counter and said, "Since Young Master Fang arrived early, the Orchid Bamboo Guild notified us in advance, so the room card was not distributed from the shuttle bus."
No sooner had Fang Ren taken the room card than Bai Qi was stunned. She stared blankly at Fang Ren, with countless thoughts flooding her mind in an instant.
"What do you mean, one room will have to do?" Bai Qi immediately spoke up, "What are you concluding on your own for? I haven't agreed to live with you; can't you ask for my opinion? You're being narcissistic!"
Fang Ren looked at her and said, "You're overthinking it. I mean, you stay in this room we got, and I'll go and get another one for myself."
Then, Fang Ren placed the room card in Bai Qi's hand, turned around, and started walking towards the exit.
Suddenly, Bai Qi turned her head and watched as Fang Ren left without another word; her beautiful eyes flickered with many complex emotions.
Thud—
The glass door swung open, and Fang Ren's figure stepped out of the hotel lobby. In a matter of seconds, his silhouette disappeared into the darkness beyond the light of the doorway.
Bai Qi stood still, her gaze fixed on the doorway, but her feet made no move.
"Your Highness?" The female receptionist called out to her in a soft voice, "Do you need anything else?"
"Ah? No, nothing."
Suddenly coming to her senses, Bai Qi smiled at the receptionist before starting to walk towards the stairs.
As she made her way to the stairs, many of the service staff in the entire lobby were looking at her. She clearly noticed this and immediately covered up the expression on her face, reverting to a look of great displeasure, and muttered to herself, "How could I have such a fiancé!"
Clearly, this comment was meant for the group of servers who were watching her, as she had been showing a face full of disgust towards Fang Ren ever since she had come in, leaving everyone with the impression that she did not like him.
If she now appeared silent or somewhat regretful because Fang Ren had left, wouldn't these servers think that her previous behavior was just throwing a tantrum at him on purpose? Or that she was being haughty towards Fang Ren?
How could that be!
How could she, a princess, leave an impression of being haughty in the people's hearts? Of course, that would be unacceptable, so she had to carry through, in front of these servers, the image that she hated Fang Ren. Only then would it seem that she did not regret his departure at all, that she didn't try to hold him back, that she was just that cool and consistent.
Tap tap tap...
Just as Bai Qi reached the corner leading to the stairs, she quietly looked back to ensure that no staff could see her, and after confirming that no one was around, she immediately quickened her pace and ran swiftly to the second floor.
Tap tap tap!
The displeased expression on her face vanished, replaced by an urgency that stemmed from deep within her heart.
After a burst of running, she arrived at a windowsill on the second floor's corridor, flung open the window with force, leaned out, and with her eyes searched the bustling street for the man who had just left.
But no matter how carefully she scanned the garments of passersby on the street, she still couldn't catch sight of that familiar figure.
"He really left..."
Suddenly, Bai Qi felt something clogging her heart, her hands hung powerlessly at her sides, her cheeks slightly downturned, and her long hair cascading down.
Since this afternoon, ever since Fang Ren and Mu Huanqing met, a feeling of anger had been festering in her heart, as if she couldn't vent it no matter how she tried.
She came to know that she was not the person Fang Ren liked, as he had claimed; it turned out she had always been mistaking herself for Mu Huanqing.
This realization filled her with an inexplicable sense of loss.
Then there were the times when Fang Ren, Mu Huanqing, and she were together. Each time Fang Ren gave Mu Huanqing a few extra glances, Bai Qi felt a deep sense of dejection and defeat, and when Mu Huanqing actively spoke to Fang Ren, Bai Qi's heart soured.
It felt as though something that belonged to her could be snatched away by Sister Hui Qing at any moment.