The breakfast at the five-star hotel was beyond reproach. Li Yang found it thoroughly enjoyable, and Chen Qian had clearly never eaten a breakfast like this before either. She ate with a beaming smile the whole time and could not resist taking out her phone to snap a couple of pictures.
After breakfast, the two of them tidied up their room a little. When they left, Chen Qian took the initiative to grab Li Yang's hand. Together, escorted out by the hotel staff, they walked out of the hotel, started the car parked in the lot, and drove toward the zoo shown on the navigation.
As one of the nation's top-tier cities, Linhai City naturally had a massive zoo. The two of them bought two bottles of water on the way. Once they arrived and parked, they showed their annual passes to the staff, then walked in hand in hand with bright smiles.
Ding-a-ling...
The moment they entered, they found a vast stretch of woods and green grass. The rubber-paved path was wonderfully comfortable, but they had barely taken a few steps when Chen Qian's phone suddenly began to ring.
"Who's calling?"
Li Yang held Chen Qian's soft, delicate hand and looked over curiously. Chen Qian picked up her phone and saw a string of numbers.
"I don't recognize it."
Chen Qian thought for a moment, then turned on speakerphone and answered the unfamiliar call.
"Hello, Chen Qian, where did you go? Why did the hotel front desk say you left yesterday when I asked about you? Weren't you going to the zoo with someone? You wouldn't even go if we took you there, huh? This..."
The moment the call connected, the person on the other end immediately rattled off a long string of words. One listen was enough to identify Liu Wu's voice. Chen Qian pulled a face and held the phone farther away, only bringing it closer after he had finished his whole spiel.
Li Yang smiled. Taking advantage of the lull, he wrapped his arms around Chen Qian's soft waist and kissed her on the lips.
"Why did you delete my brother's WeChat and block him? You blocked his phone number too. What's going on?"
After Liu Wu finished speaking, a woman's voice replaced his. From the voice, the phone had apparently been handed to Liu Lili. Her tone was gentler, and after speaking, she added, "What about the house in Heyang City? You don't want it anymore?"
Even if I wanted it, I wouldn't need you to give it to me...
"My family and I aren't a good match, and neither are he and I. There's nothing to say. That's it."
Chen Qian rolled her eyes and patted Li Yang on the shoulder. After Li Yang released her, she let out a faint breath, replied crisply, hung up, and blocked the number while she was at it.
"So many people are watching. You're awful."
After ending the call, Chen Qian's face flushed bright red as she lightly punched Li Yang. Li Yang laughed heartily and hugged her to kiss her twice more. Only when he noticed the astonished looks on the faces of those around them did he let her go, then he cheerfully took her hand and walked with her into the emerald-green park.
Linjiang City Zoo was truly enormous, covering a full 645 mu. It had giant pandas, South China tigers, gorillas, golden snub-nosed monkeys, flamingos, blue-and-yellow macaws, red pandas, king penguins, Asian elephants, giraffes, hippos, rhinos, and all sorts of other animals.
There was also a marine-animal exhibit, with giant sea turtles, all kinds of fish, and even sharks.
Li Yang put his arm around Chen Qian as they wandered here and there, spending a while at every animal exhibit that caught their interest. Along the way, Chen Qian was exceptionally compliant, reading his every cue. Whether intentionally or not, she would also show off her graceful figure to Li Yang.
They entered the zoo at eight-thirty in the morning and stayed until twelve-thirty at noon. By then, both of them were a little hungry, so they finally left, still reluctant to part, and went out for lunch.
Naturally, they could not settle for anything casual. They navigated straight to a large nearby shopping mall. After the buildup from last night and that morning, Li Yang no longer bothered to hide his intentions. He went directly to a couples' restaurant and took Chen Qian into a quiet private room.
"Phew, I'm so tired. I can finally cool off and rest."
After sitting down in the cool private room, Chen Qian wiped the sweat from her forehead and could not help complaining to Li Yang as she panted.
Going to the zoo in this weather really was exhausting, and they were drenched in sweat. Fortunately, the zoo was excellent and they had had a wonderful time, which made up for that one drawback.
"I should've known better than to wear long pants today. Shorts would've been so much more convenient."
Chen Qian looked at her snug jeans. The color beside her buttocks was visibly darker than the fabric lower down; her jeans had been soaked through with sweat along the way. She immediately made a bitter face.
"Hey, why don't we go stroll around the plaza and buy some clothes after we eat?"
Li Yang raised his eyebrows. He did not want to walk much more in this sweltering weather either. He also needed to return the clothes he had rented, and now that he had money, he really did want to buy some high-end clothes. The mall would be cool, so they might as well take care of everything there.
And while I'm at it, I can pick out a couple of outfits for Chen Qian according to my own tastes...
Thinking this, Li Yang looked at Chen Qian's legs, hidden beneath her long pants and impossible to touch, and gave a sly little chuckle.
"Huh? You mean I should change into them right after we buy them?"
Chen Qian was stunned for a moment, but then she considered how the mall had air-conditioning. Buying clothes there and spending the hottest part of the day indoors did seem like a good idea, so she hurriedly agreed and happily began eating.
During the meal, she repeatedly served Li Yang food, poured his drinks, fetched his chopsticks, and brought him napkins. She was practically a personal little waitress.
Li Yang was very satisfied. The only thing he disliked was that Chen Qian's pants kept him from touching her legs, so after the meal, he took her straight to browse the major designer clothing stores.
In the past, Li Yang had always picked out clothes by himself on shopping apps, having to consider the price as well as the appearance and quality.
Now things were different. Li Yang did not have to consider anything at all; he only needed to focus on whether they felt comfortable to wear.
Women were naturally the experts at shopping. Full of enthusiasm, Chen Qian quickly picked out five outfits and three pairs of shoes for Li Yang. Once she had chosen enough to satisfy him, Li Yang began picking things out for her. Going back and forth like that, they reached four-thirty in the afternoon before they knew it.
Chen Qian's pants were soaked with sweat, so at Li Yang's suggestion, she changed directly in the fitting room into a new pair of snug shorts. Her two long, fair legs were left bare. On top of that, Li Yang had thoughtfully bought her new lace lingerie, so by the time she walked out of the clothing mall toward the parking lot, Chen Qian felt refreshed from head to toe.
"Brother Yang, why don't we go see a movie? I've been wanting to watch this one, and I'm a little too lazy to go back to the zoo."
After putting everything in the back seat, Chen Qian lifted the heel of her little white sneaker and held up her phone to show Li Yang the information.
"Never Stop"? I've seen quite a bit of publicity for this movie. Let's go watch it together.
Li Yang glanced at Chen Qian's exposed pale legs, then at the movie, which happened to interest him too. The showtime was also twenty minutes away, so he agreed at once. Chen Qian smiled and kissed him, then bought two tickets and a popcorn-and-ice-cold-cola combo on her phone. Clinging to Li Yang's arm, she hopped along happily and led him toward the cinema.
They entered the mall again, and the cool air-conditioning washed over them in a wave of refreshing comfort. Li Yang pinched her tender hand, and they waited for a while in front of the cinema. Before long, it was time to enter. The two of them walked into the theater like a couple and found their seats.
The armrest between them had not been lowered. Li Yang's hand naturally slid onto Chen Qian's leg. Chen Qian shifted closer to him, then stretched out both legs and propped them on Li Yang's lap.
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