"What?" Ji Lanfeng pushed Meng Jingwei away, glaring at her. "What did you say?"
"I said I hope to see you on the Spring Festival Gala next year, oh, no, this year... Ah... Hiss, it hurts, what are you doing!"
Before Meng Jingwei could finish, Ji Lanfeng flicked her on the head. The pain made her gasp and clutch her head.
"Last year's Spring Festival Gala, the ninth act, 'Morning Breeze,' was sung by me. You didn't even see it!"
"Ah? Hahaha, sorry, I really didn't see it. Hahaha..."
Meng Jingwei thought to herself, last year during the New Year, Qing Muye and his brothers were at her doorstep. She was so focused on Qing Muye and his brothers that she had no mind to watch the Spring Festival Gala properly.
As they were talking, Ji Lanfeng's phone rang. He took out his phone, looked at it, and said helplessly, "It's my agent. Alright, I've got to go. Bye."
"Okay, drive safe."
She waved goodbye.
Ji Lanfeng answered the call, "Qin Jie, I'm back, I'm back, I'll be there soon." As he spoke, he jogged to his car.
He honked the horn, a way of saying goodbye to Meng Jingwei, and then left.
Meng Jingwei stood in place, sighing with a hint of melancholy, "Alas, celebrities make money, but they're too pitiful, busy like dogs."
With that, she turned and entered the hotel lobby, heading straight for the elevator.
It was just past one in the afternoon, and there were fewer people coming and going from the hotel.
After Meng Jingwei got into the elevator, a man wearing a trench coat, mask, sunglasses, and a baseball cap followed behind her, appearing quite mysterious.
As other customers in the elevator got off, only Meng Jingwei and the mysterious man remained.
Through the reflective surface of the elevator walls, she caught a glimpse of the man behind her and felt a bit wary.
Ding—
The elevator doors opened. Meng Jingwei glanced at the floor and walked out.
Walking down the corridor, she subtly observed the man behind her, noticing he was still following.
Meng Jingwei's heart skipped a beat. She wondered if Han Junyan had been right, and she was being followed because she looked like Li Yun'er.
At a corner of the corridor, Meng Jingwei suddenly leaned against the wall. As the mysterious person behind her appeared, she delivered a high kick, but the man caught her ankle with his bare hand.
"Who are you?"
Meng Jingwei questioned him, but didn't stop. She executed a 180-degree sidekick, aiming for the man's chest.
The man seemed prepared. He raised his hand to grab her foot, but Meng Jingwei's attack was a feint. She shifted her foot downwards and fiercely kicked him in the chest.
The kick was full of power, sending the man staggering back a few steps.
Meng Jingwei didn't stop. She lunged forward again, throwing a left hook towards the man's face. The man suddenly bent down, cupped her buttocks with his large hand, slung her over his shoulder, and headed towards her suite.
"Who are you? Who exactly are you?"
Her guard up, she struggled and resisted incessantly.
*Slap—*
A loud slap echoed. The man had smacked her on the backside. The pain made Meng Jingwei wince, but she instantly knew who he was.
"Qing Muye? Is that you, right?!" she questioned, then leaned in to sniff him. As expected, that familiar and unique scent could only belong to Qing Muye.
Ding, the man swiped his card, opened the suite door, and slammed it shut with a bang.
He carried her brazenly into the suite, threw her onto the bed, and pressed down on her.
"Who was that person?"
Qing Muye removed his mask, casually tossed his sunglasses aside, and his cold eyes gazed down at the woman within arm's reach, his expression rather grim.
Meng Jingwei's heart raced. She stared at him, dumbfounded. "That... when did you arrive?"
She secretly marveled at her own foolishness.
Earlier, when they were eating in the restaurant, Qing Muye had called to ask when she would return to the hotel. She should have suspected Qing Muye was here.
But she naively thought Qing Muye just wanted to wait for her at the hotel to have a private chat.
And in the hotel elevator, she had even suspected the person behind her might be Qing Muye, but thinking Qing Muye was still in the country, she could only think of others.
She never expected it to be Qing Muye!
She had truly miscalculated.
"Answer my question."
Qing Muye's slender fingers hooked Meng Jingwei's chin. His eyes, as dark as ink, narrowed slightly, carrying a chilling coldness that made one's spine shiver and feel restless.
"He... he is..." Meng Jingwei pursed her lips. "Ji Lanfeng."
The last time in the underground palace, Meng Jingwei had told Qing Muye that her first love was named Ji Lanfeng, and Qing Muye hadn't paid much attention.
Only after he realized he had fallen in love with Meng Jingwei did he discover with surprise that Meng Jingwei's first love was Han Junyan.
Qing Muye had deliberately investigated Han Junyan and subsequently learned that Ji Lanfeng was the currently wildly popular star, Ji Lanfeng.
"Tell me, which of your words should I believe, hmm?"
With truths and falsehoods intertwined, Qing Muye genuinely couldn't figure out who Meng Jingwei truly liked. He asked again, "Or is it that your first love was Han Junyan, and later you fell for Ji Lanfeng?"
Heaven knows, when he was waiting for Meng Jingwei in the hotel lobby, seeing her intimate appearance with Ji Lanfeng, a fire seemed to burn through his reason.
"Ah... this..."
Meng Jingwei suddenly felt Qing Muye's train of thought was a bit peculiar. She wrapped her arms around Qing Muye's neck, her red lips curving slightly. "You're so angry, does that mean you like me very much?"
The man moved closer, his nose tip against hers, and bit her lip. "Answer my question!"
At this moment, the man exuded a clean and crisp aura, as if instantly returning to his initial self when they first met, his cold, aloof, and domineering demeanor.
Meng Jingwei couldn't help but swallow. "It's not what you think. Fengzi and I are just friends."
Fengzi?
Meng Jingwei's casual address, "Fengzi," took on a different meaning for Qing Muye, even sounding a bit intimate to him.
"Ex-boyfriend and girlfriend?"
"Oh, no..." Meng Jingwei frowned displeasedly. "Qing Muye, aren't you being too overbearing? Even if we were ex-boyfriend and girlfriend, so what? We're friends, so what? Do you have to make such a big deal out of it?"
"Make a big deal?"
Qing Muye's expression turned cold, his sharp gaze fixed on her.
"I said, you..."
Before Meng Jingwei could say anything else, Qing Muye immediately stood up, turned, and left the suite.
She quickly sat up, tilted her head, but only saw his retreating back. "Qing Muye, you..."
*Bang—*
Before she could finish, Qing Muye slammed the door shut and left.
Meng Jingwei sat stunned on the bed, ran a hand through her hair, feeling utterly helpless.
*Ring, ring, ring—*
Her phone suddenly rang. It was Shu Yao calling.
"Shu Yao, why aren't you asleep yet?"
She asked.
On the other end of the phone, Shu Yao asked doubtfully, "Who isn't asleep? Qing Muye?"