"Have you been here before?" he asked the woman who kept looking around the crowded place."… When I was still in high school, this was one of the destinations for our field trip," she answered.
The man smiled. He had already been here since for the past few months, all he did was to travel around, either to seek the second male leads and pull them to his side or simply treat the soul-deep fatigue that he kept plaguing him for months. The famous mountain city had been one of the places he visited before.
Yet he still said, "Perfect! You tour me around then! I"m not familiar with the area. And the guides online are not always reliable. It"s better to have somebody who knows the are leading me around to save both money and time."
Selena gave him a glance. She then tilted her head and smiled knowingly. "Sir. As usual, your shamelessness knows no bound. And you sure know how to invent a story."
"... I would have believed you if I didn"t hear from my cousin that for months, you have been jumping from one city to another for an inexplicable reason. Very good. At least you lived up to my expectations of you, Mr. Zheng."
"You"re indirectly calling me a liar, but you"re a liar too, my girl. The cousin you mentioned only lived in your imagination."
The man laughed but still insisted that she led the way. As he foresaw, the scriptwriter almost pummeled him down using her expensive limited-edition peach shoulder bag.
A minute later, she took him into a relatively large and air-conditioned department store. The woman changed her clothing into a more normal pairing, with no brand in fact. She also changed her bag into a black cheap one, the kind which no pickpocket would target.
To his surprise, she also bought him a regular s.h.i.+rt and a pair of faded jeans… but from an adjacent second-hand goods store. Mischief was dancing in her eyes when she pushed him to a fitting room.
"Wear all of these. You"re not allowed to come out if you don"t."
"Huh?" By that time, the door already closed and locked from the outside. The girl ignored his calls so his eyes could only fall onto everything she shoved in his hands.
Not long after, he walked out of there. Since he was not really putting on a complicated attire similar to the ones n.o.bles wore from the previous world, he only needed a couple of minutes to change.
As they headed to the department store which offered baggage services, he could not help but voice out.
"… You should compensate me. You"ve been unfair. There are other ways to be lowkey and not attract attention or pickpockets to us."
His complaint got a beautiful smirk from her. "Who asked you to make me the guide? Now, you have no choice but listen to me. And I"m telling you it"s the proper way of securing expensive items in a bustling but insufficiently guarded places like this. Go there and change your bills into smaller denominations. I"ll line up to get our stuff stored in the baggage counter."
Once again, surprise flickered in his eyes as it was just hard to believe he would hear those words from her mouth. Why did she know all of this?
"Ah, right… She"s a girl who grew up from a place like this. I"m an idiot for not remembering this earlier."
With a wry smile, he headed over the money-changer booth. The person there gave him a weird look since he was not asking for another currency to be exchanged into yuan. Although, his request was still fulfilled, he couldn"t help but wonder if this was also deliberately arranged by her to make fun of him.
Shaking his head, he went back and then walked with her side by side towards the exit. "Will our things be safe there?" he asked.
To which she only shrugged and answered, "At least, safer than carrying those with us as we roam around. This mountain city is quite a good tourist destination but because it has become densely populated, the marketplaces, plazas and some other crowded places became favorites of robbers and pickpockets. Wait, hail that cab."
The place was the sidewalk opposite the famous park. There were many people there. So he was not surprised when the taxi only pa.s.sed by him. He shrugged at her and waited for the next one. Yet he had already signaled to more than ten cabs yet all ignored him since they already have pa.s.sengers inside!
Jiang Li felt that this was more awkward. He didn"t know the situation would be like this without bringing their own vehicles. The last time, he did this, touring through public transport, was when he was still He Chen… Ugh, that was four worlds back. Did he encounter this kind of situation back then?
Selena who was not really that patient. She sat on a public bench and pulled up her phone to type some scenarios and ideas. She made sure her spot was only three or so meters away from a bank"s burly and tall security guard so people with bad intentions would think twice.
From time to time, her head would lift up to see the helpless man blankly watching a white car with no taxi sign above. A corner of her lips also lifted up. The fool must have mistaken a normal car for a taxi.
…
"Why did I go with this guy again?"
An hour later they arrived at a green park which offered various services including horse and boat rental. Selena looked at the hand extended to her, hesitating whether to accept it.
Jiang Li asked, "What are you waiting for? Aren"t you always looking at me with envy whenever I have horseback riding scenes?"
She was stunned for a while before her expression turned complicated.
In the end, she reluctantly let him help her up, but only after warning him, "Don"t ever think of taking advantage of me."
The man pulled her up and placed her in front of him. She thanked her foresight when she changed into regular blouse and jeans since she wouldn"t have to sit sideways and be worried that the wind would lift her skirt up… She had her hair tied into a ponytail so from time to time she could feel the warm breath on her nape. Her back too was almost plastered onto his upper body, plus there was his arms enveloping her. But for some unknown reason, she was not feeling any rejection towards their excessive body contact.
"You make sure to hold tightly."
"Hmm? Wait…"
The woman could no longer think too much about it because the horse suddenly started running. The start had been unpleasant for her since when it ran, it was as if it was racing against an invisible opponent. The speed was just too fast! Selena barely managed not to scream, but colors were drained from her face.
For a while, she began to regret again why she impulsively let this b.a.s.t.a.r.d pull her into this trip. Throughout the ride, when she recovered and adapted, her eyes never warmed up to the annoying man.
Jiang Li received a cold treatment after. This was even if he moderated the speed to what wouldn"t frighten her and brought her to the fantastic landmarks in that park.
It was past one pm when they entered another floating restaurant to dine. The woman placidly glanced at him when he laughingly said he would be treating. Then before he knew it, she had already ordered at least five servings of each kind. How much was the total? He didn"t say anything and let her do as she pleased. Thankfully he had been a tyc.o.o.n from one of his lives so he knew that the best not to have a heart attack was not to ask but directly swipe the card.
"There"s a masked woman with orangish hair who kept looking our way." While sampling a baked mushroom and bean custard with Portuguese sauce, she raised her head towards him, her eyes briefly darting towards her left.
Jiang Li also raised his head and looked at her, trying to see through her eyes the reflection. He lowered his voice and asked, "A stalker? Or somebody with malicious intent."
The scriptwriter did not hesitate to answer, "Obviously the latter. If only eyes could kill, I might have died ten thousand times over now. Who do you think she is?"
She looked downwards, her long lashes casting shadows on her pale cheeks and nose.
He had taken note of her sarcastic tone. But there was no change in his expression. It took a minute for them to finish what they were eating. The rest of the food there that was left untouched, they both told the staff to give those to the street children loitering the park outside.
As they made way towards the exit, they walked side by side, his arm wrapped around her shoulder as he pulled her near him, making their distance zero.
Selena"s gaze momentarily lingered at the hand grabbing on her thin shoulder. She then looked up at him again. "…. Do you know? When that masked lady briefly raised her hand to order something and her s.h.i.+rt got lifted for a while, I saw a mole on the left side, a few centimeters up the waistline. It"s quite familiar. Since I just saw something like it this week."
"Many people share that trait." He laughed.
Her head was lowered but her sight was straight ahead, staring into the reflection in the gla.s.s wall. "At least, I know who she is. And that she just stood up. If my guess is correct, this woman will either storm out or stop you. Do you know the reason I"m familiar with the mole is that I just saw many interesting vids and pics starring her?"
The corners of her lips lifted up when she added, "I just want to say... it"s that kind of videos and pictures, labeled not safe for work."