Chapter 5

By five thirty, the summer heat still clung to Qingdu. Liu Xun had spent the whole afternoon out, shopping and stopping for a haircut. His long, untidy bangs were gone, replaced by a neat, spiky style that made him look fresh and upright.

He’d intended to return to the budget hotel in the university district, but the thought of Cai Lingling staying next door made him uncomfortable. Instead, he took a taxi to the Guomao Howard Johnson Hotel and booked a suite for over a thousand yuan.

After a quick meal in the restaurant, he headed straight to the hotel spa. It was a legitimate establishment, of course. Places offering other services certainly existed, but Liu Xun was afraid of catching a disease. With all his money, wouldn’t that ruin everything?

He’d never experienced a five-star hotel in either life. Today he wanted to see what a proper five-star spa could offer.

“Sir, let me introduce our treatments—”

“The most expensive one,” he interrupted. “Two therapists.”

Within five minutes, two women a little over five foot three entered in dark, fitted qipao dresses.

“Hello, sir. Numbers 77 and 96, at your service.”

Lying on the table, Liu Xun turned his head to look. The one on the left was in her early twenties, full-figured and rather alluring. The girl on the right, eighteen or nineteen, caught his eye. She had an oval face, almost translucent fair skin, clear eyes with an innocent look, a straight nose, pale-red lips, and a pointed chin. A few loose strands of hair brushed her neck. Standing there, she looked like a white magnolia just beginning to bloom. In that clear, innocent quality alone, she surpassed Cai Lingling.

Liu Xun lowered his face into the soft opening in the table. Warm oil and the therapists’ hands slowly loosened muscles tense from a long day. Their pressure was just right, fingertips working along the points on either side of his spine as the scent of oil rose around him.

The older therapist worked deftly. Her gaze fell on his wrist, which hung over the side of the table, and paused for half a second on his green Submariner. Her expression changed at once. Her movements became gentler and more attentive, and she even softened her breathing.

“Sir, let me take your watch off so it doesn’t get damaged during the massage.” Her voice was low and ingratiating.

Liu Xun agreed. Number 77 carefully lifted the watch with both hands, which trembled slightly. She knew that even a small tip from a guest like this could equal several days of her base pay.

Liu Xun closed his eyes and enjoyed the skillful massage, feeling strangely at ease. He’d visited plenty of clubs in his previous life, but always with local bosses, getting a massage on the side and putting it on the expense account. This was the first time in either life he’d paid for a spa purely for himself.

Feeling two pairs of young, soft hands on his back, he couldn’t help doing the math. With looks like theirs, these women might command a bride price of over 200,000 yuan someday. Other men would spend two or three hundred thousand to marry them, then treat them like royalty and worry about their moods. He’d spent less than a thousand yuan to have them attend to him so respectfully. However he calculated it, he came out ahead.

The thought made him relax so completely he nearly sighed aloud. He turned his head, retrieved his phone, and opened the Qing Institute of Science and Technology freshmen’s QQ group.

It was an ordinary second-tier university, and the group chat was much as he remembered. Senior students showed off in every conceivable way, while a few incoming girls posted sweet requests for guidance. One female senior had shared a picture of her thigh in black stockings with the caption “It’s so hot in the dorm,” followed by a string of drooling emojis.

Liu Xun was finding it painful to look at and was about to leave when a photo of a Ferrari appeared, captioned: “Can I drive my Ferrari onto campus when I register tomorrow?”

The group erupted. Within three seconds, a senior replied with a picture of a Rolls-Royce: “No problem. Mine’s been parked on campus for a year.”

Someone immediately exposed him. “Bro, your picture still has a watermark in the bottom corner.”

“And isn’t that Ferrari wearing foreign plates?”

Liu Xun burst out laughing. In his previous life, all he’d thought about was pursuing Cai Lingling, pleasing her, and impressing her. How many sights, interesting people, and experiences had he missed for one woman? Looking back, it was laughably stupid.

Then another thought occurred to him. If events followed their original course, he’d be assigned to the same dorm as before. The memory made his scalp crawl. Two roommates had been appallingly unhygienic, letting takeout containers pile up until they grew green fuzz. Worst of all, clusters of grayish-white mushrooms had sprouted under one man’s bed.

He planned to move off campus, but during the two weeks of military training he’d have to stay in the dorm. He refused to endure that environment again.

He found the student assistant for human resources management in the group and messaged him, asking for a room on the side next to the women’s dorm. The assistant was a senior Liu Xun had dealt with often in his previous life, so he knew him well.

Sure enough, the reply came quickly: “One hundred to change dorms, three hundred to change classes.”

Liu Xun thought it over. His old Human Resources Management Class One had been dull; Class Two next door had been much livelier, and the institute’s campus beauty was in it. He sent the assistant 300 Q Coins. The man promised confidently to move him into Class Two.

With that settled, Liu Xun put down his phone just as the younger therapist, Number 96, was massaging near the top of his thigh. Looking at her, he couldn’t resist patting the thigh exposed by the slit in her qipao.

“Beautiful, what was your number again?”

Before she could answer, Number 77 giggled. “Sir, she’s a college student working here for the summer. School’s about to start, so you won’t find her here next time.”

Number 96 managed a smile. “Sir, if you come often, there’ll be other chances.”

Liu Xun was surprised. You never knew what hidden talent you might find among massage therapists. He’d met women who claimed to be teachers or office workers earning extra money, even one who said she was a flight attendant. Calling herself a college student was relatively modest; it was all meant to help the customer imagine a story.

Still, Number 96 carried herself convincingly. Perhaps it was true. He knew many students around the university district worked part-time, but this was the first time he’d seen one take a job quite like this.

No need to guess: a sick mother, a gambling father, a younger brother in school, and a girl broken by it all. In his previous life he’d been a little hard-hearted. Now he felt a twinge of sympathy.

But Number 96 clearly had something on her mind, and he couldn’t be bothered to ask further. He lay back and enjoyed the massage, musing to himself: A college student… that bride price would have to go up by another few tens of thousands.

Even better.

Just then his phone rang. The number was unfamiliar.

“Hello?”

There was a long silence. “…It’s me. I’m willing to be your personal assistant. About the money…”

“Fine. Nine tomorrow morning, at the south gate of the Qing Institute of Science and Technology. I’m registering for school. You can make my bed!”