I carelessly flicked my hair without showing any interest to bicker with Kang Zixian.  I could not help but feel upset.

          This morning I got up late.  At 7.30 am, I was still sound asleep and as a result, Fei Ge kicked my ass to wake me up.  I rubbed my ass and lazily glanced at the alarm clock.  Then I quickly jumped up and washed up before hurriedly leaving the house……without taking my keys with me.

          My house key, Fei Ge's house key and the car keys.......were all not with me.

          I felt upset and tonight I had to look for a place to sleep.

          But where?

          Aunt's home?  Forget it!  She is sure to give me a supercilious look and I would be offering myself on a supper plate to be criticized which would be more poisonous than deadly tetanus.  I could not stand this type of treatment. 

          Li Lisa's home, no……she seems to be cohabiting with her boyfriend.

          My friends were either married or they were not staying in the city.  I really could not think of anywhere to stay for the next few days.

          It seems that the only place I could go was a hotel but this was an unwarranted expenditure.  Recently I am not rich and it was all due to Fei Ge, that property slave.

          "What's the matter?"  Kang Zixian looked at me with a frown and asked.

          "Ah?"  I broke free from my thoughts, shook my head and said.  "Nothing, nothing."

          "Isn’t there any place you can go to?"  He must have overheard my conversation with Fei Ge.  All this could be blamed on Fei Ge who has a natural loud strong voice like a pig that howls in the slaughterhouse. 

          I felt the bad-hearted handsome man, who always makes me feel he is hypocritical, looked down on me, so I answered snappily.  "Ah, A-city is my territory.  Even if I change a place every night would not be a problem.  Humph!"

          I stared at him and muttered to myself.  "Foreign devil…..don't look down on me….."

          I turned around to leave when Kang Zixian grabbed my arm fiercely and pulled me over to face him as he solemnly asked.  "You don’t have any place to go, do you?"

          I felt very sad to have met a man who could see through me with just a glance.  I did not know how he could do it but in short, I felt really defeated.

          The more he exposed my bluff, my voice became more high-pitched and I denied flatly.  "Surnamed Kang, I have had enough of you!  I……I can go to numerous places……don’t look down on me!  I warn you, stay far away from me!  I don’t want to see you again!"

          After I had shouted at him, I cast him a glance.  Sloppily I swung my school bag over my shoulder and aggressively walked off.

          If anyone had given me a toothpick, I think I would have displayed a better image as a chic ruffian.

          In actual fact, I felt like I was stepping on clouds but my legs felt weak.

          Because of the man behind me, I felt guilty and a thin layer of sweat formed on my forehead.

          I gritted my teeth and thought.  Recently, I, Fang Liang Liang's deceptive skill is steadily declining.  Every clumsy lie that I said, it would be exposed or maybe I had met a person who is smarter than me.  His pair of wise and farsighted eyes could penetrate my cover, read and understand me.  The most terrifying was he could see through me but I could not see through him.

          Anxiously I wiped off my sweat and stiffened my back.  I was afraid to look back because once I look back, I would meet that pair of wise black eyes.

          From young to adulthood, I had been a weak student and therefore I was particularly afraid of encountering smart people or people that are not too smart.

          This kind of people, they live with the intention to hurt us, the fools' self-esteem.

          Near this gym, there was a new budget hotel that had recently opened for business.  It was not located too far away.  The rain had stopped and everywhere was wet.  Once I had walked down from the gym, straight away I crossed the street to the opposite side.  Midway I stole a look behind me but did not see any sign of Kang Zixian.  Thinking of just now, after I had roared at him, I guessed he also felt upset and had left to seek out his gentle lover.

          The thought of the man made me feel terribly confused.  Out of the recent problems I encountered, this man should be considered as my first.  Today, he had inexplicably came to seek me out, made me feel frightened, and also inexplicably made me run off.  This is not my usual style of handling matters.  My daily life is going strong and normal but when in front of him, I became a street mouse.  Thinking of this, I felt ridiculous.

          Unable to cut him off, it became messy, really messy.  It is simply a mess.

          Quickly, I went to the budget hotel and chose the cheapest room.  While waiting to check-in, a man and a woman walked out of the elevator.  Their expression was unpleasant.  Before the receptionist at the counter could put on her smile, the woman started to complain.  "Miss, this isn’t right.  Your hotel had just completed renovations and is not ready to accept guests yet but you are already opened for business.  You should go and check on the smell of paint in the room.  Nobody can stay in a room with such bad ventilation.  Do you know this is called chronic poisoning?"

          "We want to check-out!"  The man said.

          Confronted with the guest's questions and dissatisfaction, the receptionist apologized and politely completed their check-out procedure. 

          I was quietly waiting at the side while day-dreaming and was lost in my thoughts until the receptionist smiled and said.  "Miss, please give me your identity card……"

          I suddenly hesitated.

          A room filled with the smell of paint without ventilation…...perhaps a bridge underpass would be more comfortable, in any case…….it would at least be a room with the river view.

          I was about to open my mouth to refuse and unexpectedly a familiar low male voice, behind me answered first. 

          "No, she will not stay here."

          Again…..

          The strong perseverance in my heart gradually collapsed and suddenly I had a splitting headache.  Holding my head in my hands, I silently sobbed.

          I did not want to turn around and face Kang Zixian who was standing behind me.  I had no more words to say.  What am I supposed to say?  Or should I continue to say….. "There are numerous places that can take me in but I have too much money to spend.  To help the hotel and prevent it from going bankrupt and as a kind-hearted little Wealth Angel who wished to accumulate merit, I am here to distribute money."

          A poor man who has to hit his own face until swollen to act as a fat man and has to boast he is a rich man, in front of another rich man, is indeed a tragedy.  Even if the skin on my face is thick, I am unwilling to hit my own jaded face.

          So without expression, I turned around with an unwavering gaze, I stepped away without any intention to say anything to this persistent man.

          I did not want to cause trouble for anyone but people wanted to give me trouble. I really did not have a choice.

          I stood in front of the hotel door.  The rain had started to drizzle again giving me a sense of discomfort.  I looked at the endless stream of traffic on the road and for a moment I could feel the helplessness of the homeless. 

          Kang Zixian stood beside me with his hands in his pockets and we stood together looking at the road in the evening light. 

          "A girl living alone outside is not safe."

          "It's okay, I'm a police officer.  Anyway, what has it to do with you whether I'm safe or not?"

          "Nothing but…….just that seeing you have been trying to be brave, I can't stand it."

          "…..Busybody....."

          "Fang Liang Liang……"

          "What?"

          "You are showing your fangs and claws again……do you want to be a hedgehog?"

          "Hey, Kang Zixian, how many times have I said that if you don’t like to see me, then stay away from me.  It would be good for me and you.  Why can’t you understand?  …..Okay, okay, if you're not leaving then I'll be leaving but please can you stop following me?  Do you know I feel troubled by you?"

          "You feel troubled by me? ...... Looks like I'm not the only one feeling troubled.  That's good and fair."

          "What is fair?  What is good?  Do you know you make me very restless?"

          "Same here."

          "….."

          "Fang Liang Liang, don’t you realize that starting from the night we first met, we had become trouble for each other?"

          "….."

          "And even more ridiculous is that I don’t even want to settle this trouble.  Isn't that terrible?"

          "……Well, yes, it's terrible."

          "So, I have a proposal.  You can listen to it and maybe it will solve the problem between us."

          "……Speak then."

          "Since these few days you don’t have anywhere else to stay, you can consider staying with me.  Of course, you can rest assured nothing will happen.  We can try to get along for a few days……" 

Kang Zixian suddenly turned around and looked at me with his black deep eyes, deep like the sea.  His mouth lifted up sexily and he slowly said.  "Then you can work hard at stifling out those damn things that attract me to you which will be good for you and me.  So how?"

          His mouth curved into a wide smile and his voice sounded enchanting.  "Look, isn't this proposal great?"