Liu Chen pulled her small suitcase, swiped her card, and entered the room. After changing into slippers, she placed the suitcase in the cloakroom to the right of the entrance. Then, she turned left, walked through the corridor, and arrived at the center of the room.
This hotel seemed to have opened not long ago, and the renovation was quite new. The overall style leaned towards a modern Chinese aesthetic. Liu Chen walked to the window and saw the West Lake bathed in the sunset.
Light boats occasionally glided across the West Lake, with people on board gazing at Leifeng Pagoda in the distance, seemingly listening to the boatman tell stories of the pagoda.
Tourists on the shore were walking in the direction of the mountain. Likely tired from a day of walking and feeling thirsty and hot, many chose to stop at the small shops by the West Lake for an ice cream or a cold drink to quench their thirst.
Others squatted on the roadside steps, gazing up at the fiery sunset, letting the warm breeze caress their faces, with willow leaves swaying gently behind them.
Those who enjoyed the scenery were by the West Lake, while Liu Chen was inside the hotel, watching the people who were enjoying the scenery.
After watching for a while, the sky gradually darkened. The boaters on the West Lake had long since returned home, and the small boats were now quietly tied to the shore. The streetlights along the West Lake road had all lit up.
Liu Chen tilted her head slightly to look at this scene, feeling a sudden urge to feel the warm breeze by the West Lake.
She turned her head and looked at Ren Yu, who was standing behind her.
"Shall we go for a walk by the West Lake?"
-
A walk by the West Lake, even though it was summer, the sight of the swaying willow branches along the bank indicated that the wind at night would not be light. Wearing athletic shorts was naturally not very suitable.
After receiving Ren Yu's affirmation, Liu Chen turned and walked towards the cloakroom. She picked up a pair of thin trousers, a jacket, and the surveillance detection equipment drawn by the system.
Despite staying in a five-star hotel, Liu Chen remained cautious. She didn't want to see photos of herself changing on Weibo one day. However, every time she took out the detection device, it remained silent. If it weren't for the fact that it was from the system, Liu Chen might have thought she had bought a counterfeit product.
Holding the device, which resembled a flashlight, Liu Chen had just turned it on when she saw a red light.
Honestly, this was the first time Liu Chen had seen this thing light up red. For a moment, she was stunned. Liu Chen then remembered to pick up the detector and follow the direction of the red light.
Upon looking, Liu Chen discovered that a piece of chewing gum had somehow attached itself to the side of her suitcase wheel.
The gum was attached in a very hidden spot, on the inner side of the wheel. If Liu Chen hadn't had the detector, she might not have discovered it even after a trip to Hengdian and back to C City.
Liu Chen sent Ren Yu a text message using her phone, informing him that she had found an electronic device wrapped in chewing gum on the side of her suitcase wheel.
When Ren Yu received the message, he read it calmly and then walked over.
"It's windy outside, do you still want to go for a walk?"
Liu Chen knew that Ren Yu was asking if she still wanted to go out after discovering this suspected listening device.
Liu Chen thought for a moment.
"Yes, I'll just put on a jacket."
Saying that, Liu Chen, holding the trousers and jacket in one hand and holding Ren Yu's arm with the other, walked out of the cloakroom and closed the door.
She then pulled Ren Yu along and scanned the entire room with the detector. The detector, as it had countless times before, showed no reaction.
Only then did Liu Chen feel relieved. She slightly lifted her heels, used one hand to steady herself by holding Ren Yu's arm, and whispered into Ren Yu's ear, which was slightly turned towards her:
"We're right by the West Lake, it's only a five-minute drive to the Public Security Bureau. It's better to expose those tails now than to live in constant fear in Hengdian, isn't it?"
As Liu Chen spoke, her voice carried an undisguised excitement. The people behind the scenes, who had been dormant for so long, were finally about to reveal themselves?
Ren Yu listened to Liu Chen's words and looked at her eager eyes. He finally nodded silently.
Seeing Ren Yu nod, Liu Chen's smile deepened. She then raised her iPhone 4, tapped the screen, and showed it to Ren Yu.
"Dada."
The crisp sound indicated that Liu Chen had contacted Xia Tian and Dong Tian via phone, as well as the personnel from the National Security Bureau sent from behind her, whose identity was unknown.
Since she said she wanted to take a walk, Liu Chen was going to take a walk. Although there was a breeze by the West Lake, it was still August, and a light sun protection jacket would be enough.
Liu Chen, wearing a white sun protection jacket, walked ahead with Ren Yu, while Xia Tian followed behind them, dressed in a full black tracksuit, appearing as if he was also out for a stroll.
In a suite on the 30th floor of the Junyue Hotel, Lili and her partner each held a pair of binoculars, standing by the floor-to-ceiling window, tracking Liu Chen's movements along the West Lake shore.
"They're out."
"Is the stuff ready?"
The woman holding the binoculars chewed gum and asked Lili beside her without looking away.
Lili nodded, put down her binoculars, turned, and sat on the sofa. Her fingertips flew across a hefty laptop, one end of which was connected to a network port. Soon, the hotel's surveillance footage appeared on the screen.
On the screen, Lili meticulously rewound the surveillance timeline a bit, confirming that after the female bodyguard came out, the male bodyguard had remained in the room, presumably resting.
"Coco, start as planned."
With Lili's command, Coco, who had been tracking Liu Chen with binoculars, put them down, slung a backpack over her shoulder, pulled up the hood of her sweatshirt, and then put on a baseball cap over it.
Her athletic shoes were unchanged. Coco walked out of the hotel room with a calm expression, entered the elevator, swiped a universal floor card for cleaning staff, and pressed the button for the 28th floor.
From the 30th to the 28th floor, it was only two floors, but Coco still chose to take the elevator. It wasn't because she didn't want to climb the fire escape stairs; it was entirely because she had absolute confidence in Lili's skills.
They had partnered up to steal things since middle school. Later, they were captured by a mob boss. They both thought they were doomed, but the other party fed them some unknown drug.
They needed to get an injection every month to alleviate the symptoms, or they would die from the drug, just like the others who were captured.
After death, their bodies would be thrown into the sea to feed the sharks. She and Lili had personally witnessed a body being thrown in, the calm sea surface quickly churning up waves, followed by a mass of red dyeing a large area of water.
But any amount of blood would soon be diluted in the vast ocean.
The boss had said that if this mission was completed, they would each walk away with a hundred thousand US dollars.
Thinking of this, Coco looked at her reflection in the mirrored surface of the elevator and drifted into a daze.
"Ding! Arrived at the 28th floor."
The elevator doors slowly opened to the sides. Coco blinked, a little exasperated. Perhaps because this mission was in China and not as dangerous, she had actually gotten distracted while on a mission.
Pressing her lips together, Coco put her hands in the pockets of her hooded sweatshirt and walked with composure to room 2816.
It was likely because it was peak dining time, and most of the hotel guests were out eating, leaving the corridor deserted.
As Coco swiped her card to enter the room, she didn't notice a red light flash from the corridor camera.
"Click."
The room door opened backward. Wearing gloves, she pressed the handle and pushed the door open.
Inside the room, it was the same type of room as hers. Combined with the sound of a door closing she heard on the listening device, upon entering, she first turned right, opened the door to the cloakroom, and then skillfully retrieved the listening device that was stuck to the side wheel of the suitcase with chewing gum.
Then, she put it into her backpack.
Next, she poured the aromatherapy diffuser from the washroom into the toilet. Then, she took out a bottle of old mineral water from her backpack, unscrewed the cap, poured the water in, and then inserted the diffuser reeds.
After that, she replaced all the mineral water bottles in the refrigerator with those from her backpack.
Coco evenly coated the TV remote and the doorknob with a colorless and odorless liquid. If there were surveillance cameras in the room, Liu Chen would have noticed a woman entering her room and covering everything she could reach with a colorless and odorless viscous liquid.
Liu Chen couldn't see it, but she had brains.
Watching the two of them walk by the West Lake for almost an hour without anyone rushing out to apprehend them or attempt an assassination, Liu Chen said,
"Never mind, let's go back. We've walked for so long, and I'm hungry."
As Liu Chen spoke, she instinctively took Ren Yu's hand and turned to walk back the way they came.
Ren Yu's gaze fell on Liu Chen's hand as she took his, and the corners of his mouth curved upwards. His steps quickened slightly.
Xia Tian followed behind the two, feeling a sense of helplessness at their demeanor. One might think these two were actually out for a stroll.
By the time they returned to the hotel, the lights outside were blazing. Hangzhou in the summer of 2010 had one significant similarity to Hangzhou in Liu Chen's previous life.
"Traffic jams."
Liu Chen looked at the endless string of orange-red taillights stretching out from the restaurant, silently feeling fortunate that she didn't have to go out during peak hours.
"Why did you think of coming to this restaurant?"
Ren Yu put down the "Grandma's Home" menu in his hand, took a sip of tea on the table, and asked with some surprise.
Liu Chen recalled a time in her previous life when she was famished after running errands. Standing in a crowded bus, she alighted near the station closest to the hotel booked by her company. At that moment, she only heard the call-out from "Grandma's Home."
"Number 121, Grandma is calling you for dinner!"
It was just a simple call-out, but Liu Chen suddenly felt a wave of sadness.
With teary eyes, she walked past the entrance of the "Grandma's Home" restaurant. A young girl standing at the entrance, handing out flyers, gave her one. Because she was hungry, she actually slowed down and began to seriously look at the restaurant's flyer.
58, 88, the cheapest Hangzhou xiao long bao cost 18 yuan for six.
Even though her stomach was rumbling, Liu Chen silently folded the flyer, turned the corner, and threw it into the trash can.
That night, her dinner was a bowl of braised beef noodles from a large supermarket near the budget hotel. In fact, because she was so hungry, the instant noodles tasted very good.
However, for some reason, this time, returning to Hangzhou with Ren Yu, Liu Chen really wanted to bring her lover to try "Grandma's Home."
The dishes were served quickly. This time, Xia Tian didn't eat at a separate table but joined Liu Chen and the others.
It had to be said that "Grandma's Home" was excellent at choosing its locations. This branch by the West Lake was packed during peak dining hours in the summer. Liu Chen and her group were seated at a corner table by the window. The diners at other tables were busy eating, and no one noticed that the people sitting beside them were Liu Chen, the traffic magnet since the creation of Weibo.
To be honest, Ren Yu was a bit curious when he called someone to queue for this restaurant. However, this curiosity was answered after the meal.
Ren Yu wiped his mouth and put down the napkin, his eyes fixed on Liu Chen, who was still drinking an iced Coke opposite him.
"You want to invest in this restaurant chain?"
As Ren Yu spoke, Liu Chen paused her habitual chewing motion and then looked up at Ren Yu.
"What do you think?"
Ren Yu couldn't tell if his guess was correct from Liu Chen's reaction, but since Liu Chen had asked, Ren Yu offered his opinion as much as possible.
"This restaurant's operational status is excellent. From the moment we were seated until the order was taken and served, it only took three minutes. The serving time was also very short. I think the restaurant must have had the dishes prepared in advance. This is a restaurant that doesn't lack investment."
Liu Chen nodded at his words, giving Ren Yu a look of admiration. Their relationship was like this: they wouldn't interfere with each other's career development, but if asked for advice, neither would hesitate.
For a mature woman like Liu Chen who valued her personal space, this mode of romantic interaction was very comfortable.
"You're right, this restaurant will definitely grow. If they're willing to accept my investment, that would be great. But today, I really just came to try it out, it's a Hangzhou food spot I saw on Weibo."
After speaking, Liu Chen stood up and walked towards the cashier counter at the entrance, holding the receipt.
As the three of them got up and headed towards the entrance, three young men sitting at the table behind Liu Chen were stunned, gazing at Liu Chen's profile.
After Liu Chen had walked further away, one of the young men snapped back to reality and looked at the other two.
"Holy cow, Gangzi, did I just see that correctly? Did we just meet the campus beauty and academic star? You know, the one who's like Weibo's darling?"
"Gaizi, I thought the people at the table behind us were just bragging earlier, talking about investing all the time. With such a large establishment by the West Lake, would they be short of investment?
Now that I think about it, if it's the campus beauty and academic star, with that much money, it seems, it seems she really could invest? Dunzi, why aren't you saying anything? Stunned by her beauty?"
The young man called Dunzi, asked by Gangzi, shook his head, coming back to his senses.
"Gangzi, I'm going out for a bit. You guys wait for me."
Saying that, Dunzi ran towards the main entrance. Fortunately, by the time he got there, Liu Chen was waiting for her change. Nowadays, there was no Alipay, and people still preferred to use cash when dining in restaurants.
"Excuse me, hello, are you Liu Chen, the founder of Meimei Brand? I just heard you talking about investing in our store."