A couples' private room was great. But what made it so great?
Two computers sat side by side in a tiny room filled with massive ambiguity.
Once the little door closed, nobody gave a damn about anyone else.
Su Bai knew that some students with serious gaming addictions loved going on dates at internet cafés, jumping straight into sweet duo queues as a couple.
The bolder ones even saved on hotel room fees.
A more upscale evolution of that was an esports hotel, though naturally, the price went up another level too.
Su Bai was no longer troubled by price, but with Chen Yusheng's socially anxious personality, an esports hotel would probably have been hard for her to accept. A couples' private room, though? After a brief bit of hesitation, she still followed Su Bai inside.
Mostly because Su Bai had directly topped up five thousand yuan at the front desk. The place was running a promotion: top up five thousand and get another five thousand free.
Then Su Bai said that whenever they came here to game together in the future, they could just spend the money on his card.
Chen Yusheng initially refused, but Su Bai patiently persuaded her. Since I hired you, I have to provide decent working conditions. Spending my money at the internet café is like a boss paying rent for office space. It's perfectly natural.
Would the rent for an office building be paid by the employees?
On second thought, Chen Yusheng felt that seemed to make sense!
As a straightforward science-and-engineering girl, she cared a great deal about logic. Since Su Bai had convinced her with logic, she obediently followed him into the couples' private room.
They powered on the computers.
Clocking in... no, logging on.
"You picked up your car this morning?"
"Yeah."
"What were you doing this afternoon?"
Chen Yusheng looked at Su Bai with confusion in her eyes, then added with a faint blush on her pretty face, "I'm not trying to pry. I'm just curious. Um, just making conversation. If you don't want to talk about it, forget it."
"It's fine. We're friends. Sharing daily life is normal. I went shopping this afternoon and bought some pastries too. I brought them over, so we can eat them if we get hungry while gaming."
Su Bai placed the pastries from that Chinese bakery on the table between his and Chen Yusheng's monitors.
These trendy little pastries, whatever else could be said about them, certainly looked good.
Chen Yusheng made an obvious swallowing sound, but still kept her face blank.
"I'm not hungry."
"Oh."
"I'm logged in."
"I'm ready too. Come on."
The happy times began.
Intense gaming sessions always passed quickly. By the time Su Bai came back to his senses, their agreed two hours of gaming companionship were almost over.
The room service he had ordered for dinner really hadn't been filling. It was only a little after nine, yet he was already hungry again.
Su Bai reached for the box of pastries, only to touch an empty box.
Huh??
No, seriously?
When had she eaten them?
Su Bai had not noticed at all. Not bad, Chen Yusheng. She had skills.
When his gaze landed on Chen Yusheng, she put on an innocent act.
Only after becoming embarrassed under his stare did she mumble softly, "Sorry. I accidentally finished them all."
"Hey, what's there to be embarrassed about... You came here without eating dinner?"
"I ate."
"Then you didn't eat enough."
"Mm."
"Are you really so short on money that it's come to this?"
"It's not that I can't afford food. I've just been busy lately, so I haven't had much of an appetite... Your pastries were really good."
Chen Yusheng licked her lips, still wanting more, like a greedy little kitten that had gone hungry for days.
Her adorable appearance formed a striking contrast with her cool exterior.
Su Bai's heart stirred. "Then I'll help work up your appetite. Come on, let's get some late-night food."
Chen Yusheng originally wanted to refuse. Su Bai was treating her to late-night food, which meant spending extra money again.
Though Su Bai was not short on money.
It was simply because Chen Yusheng had rather strong self-respect.
Ever since her mother had fallen ill, Chen Yusheng had experienced plenty of society's malice. In contrast, Su Bai had already shown her far too much kindness.
Good people should not have guns pointed at them, and good men should not be treated like ATMs.
Faced with Chen Yusheng's conflicted hesitation, Su Bai's solution was...
He opened WeChat and transferred four hundred yuan to her.
Chen Yusheng: "?"
"I'll give you a job. Accompany me for hot pot. We'll start by counting it as two hours, the same rate as gaming."
"...That's not good."
"What's not good about it? It's not like I'm going to eat you."
"I'm not worried about that. I... sigh, fine."
Chen Yusheng chose to comply.
Su Bai said they were having hot pot. Hot pot probably would not be too expensive.
They arrived at the underground parking garage of the building.
The sound of the Mercedes-Benz GLE unlocking, combined with its flashing lights and black, imposing silhouette, made it emerge from the darkness of the garage with a distinctly oppressive presence.
Luxury cars, especially SUVs with a relatively high stance, really did carry an inexplicable sense of pressure for people who rarely saw them.
"This is the car you picked up this morning?"
"Mm."
"It's so pretty." Chen Yusheng suddenly thought of something. She stood beside the car and considered it for a moment before asking, "Can I sit in the front passenger seat?"
"Why wouldn't you be able to?" Su Bai laughed.
"I heard the front passenger seat is for a girlfriend or wife. You can't just let other girls sit there."
"So what? I don't have a girlfriend."
When he said that, Zhou Jialu's image suddenly surfaced in Su Bai's mind.
To be fair.
He did not seem to have ever said that his senior was his girlfriend.
Now that he was a tycoon, why bother with traditional romance?
Wouldn't having a few more confidantes be nice?
Chen Yusheng was adorably naive and could play games with him; Zhou Jialu had that flirtatious contrast and could go shopping with him.
One had long legs, while the other had huge boobs.
Each occupied a different lane, without interfering with the other.
Wonderful, truly wonderful!
When it came to romance, Su Bai was a steadfast reformist.
"You don't have a girlfriend? Um... then it's fine."
Only then did Chen Yusheng get into the car with peace of mind.
If Su Bai had a girlfriend, she definitely would have kept her distance.
But Su Bai said he did not.
That could not help but stir some unnecessary thoughts in Chen Yusheng's heart.
Lost in wild thoughts, she soon arrived at the hot pot restaurant.
Looking at the grand, imposing façade before her, Chen Yusheng complained, "Is this really a place for hot pot? It doesn't seem like it."
"Then what does it seem like?"
"Like one of those Western restaurants that are expensive and taste terrible."
"Hahaha, true!" Su Bai laughed. "But I asked a friend. This place is good. They serve a rather special sour soup hot pot, a signature flavor from the southwest that can help improve your appetite."
"Oh."
The moment they entered, Chen Yusheng smelled the sour soup hot pot.
Her stomach immediately let out a longing sigh, yearning to be filled.
She felt a little embarrassed, and since it was her first time entering such an upscale dining establishment, she kept her head down and stayed silent in a self-isolated state.
That was just how social anxiety worked.
Whatever. Su Bai had it all arranged. Anything on the menu that looked good, they ordered one of each, filling the table with a luxurious spread.
The trend of upscale hot pot had basically been started by villa hot pot restaurants in Magic City. Now that wind had blown to River City. The format might have changed somewhat, such as the sour soup specialty, but the core factors supporting its price had not changed.
An "upper-class" dining environment, "upper-class" service, and "upper-class" ingredients.
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