Before she could even sit down properly, Xie Bingxia got up to leave. The fat man stood up too and said with a smile, "Miss Xie, why do you want to leave? We made this appointment today to discuss something important. It would be a pity to leave now."
"You're not the person I'm looking for. It's meaningless to talk to you." Xie Bingxia paused for a moment. "Call out the person behind you. There's no need to beat around the bush."
Suddenly, a tall and thin man from the next table stood up and walked towards them. He was wearing an old-fashioned vest and carrying a multi-functional backpack. It was square-shaped, probably filled with things like cameras. When the fat man saw him coming, he nodded slightly and then left straight away.
The tall and thin man sat down in front of Xie Bingxia again and stretched out his right hand. "Let me introduce myself again. I'm Zhang Wen, a journalist from Chunwen Magazine."
Xie Bingxia smiled but didn't intend to shake hands with him. "Are you testing me?"
Zhang Wen nodded and asked, "How did you figure out that he wasn't me, Miss Xie?"
"It's very simple." Xie Bingxia sat down and pointed at the thick callus on Zhang Wen's right middle finger. "People in your line of work often hold cameras. After a long time, there will surely be calluses on your fingers. The man just now had smooth fingers. He clearly wasn't a journalist."
Zhang Wen gave Xie Bingxia an admiring look and patted his multi-functional backpack. "The camera is like our wife. We carry it with us all the time. Miss Xie, you have a sharp eye."
"One more thing," Xie Bingxia continued. "Most of you journalists, especially paparazzi, smoke. Otherwise, you can't stay up late and wait for news."
"You're right." Zhang Wen took out half a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and took one out. "Do you mind if I have one now?"
Xie Bingxia signaled that he could do as he liked. He lit the cigarette and took a puff. "I specifically found a friend with no calluses on his hands and who doesn't smoke to help me. If you couldn't tell, there would be no need for us to meet."
"Are you being too cautious, Reporter Zhang?"
Zhang Wen shook his head. "You don't know. We're undercover paparazzi. We usually don't show our true faces because we've offended too many people."
What he said was true. Chunwen Magazine was well-known for gathering gossip. Whether it was movie stars or celebrities from all walks of life, as long as there was gossip, there would be undercover paparazzi from Chunwen Magazine. Once they got hold of something, there was an 80% chance it would be written into a report and become people's after-dinner talk.
More than two years ago, Xia Jingwei's car accident was used by Chunwen Magazine to make a story. But since they couldn't dig out more information, it didn't cause much of a stir.
"Miss Xie, don't blame me. Even though you were introduced by Xie Shuwen, I still have to be careful. Smart people should do business with smart people to catch big prey."
"I agree with you." Xie Bingxia took out Yuan Yiyun's photo and a list and handed them to Zhang Wen. "Take a look at this. You can think carefully about whether you want to cooperate."
When Zhang Wen saw the photo, his eyes lit up with a sharp light. "I've tried to get something on her before. Every time I thought I was about to find a clue, it was cut off."
It was probably Gu Bei's doing. Xie Bingxia smiled bitterly and said, "So, are you interested?"
Zhang Wen put away the list, crushed out his cigarette butt, and said with a smile, "Leave it to me."
"I'll share information with you, especially about the person who cut off your clues. If there's any movement, I'll inform you in advance."
"With Miss Xie as my backup, I'm at ease." Zhang Wen stretched out his right hand again. Xie Bingxia smiled faintly and shook hands with him.
*
After meeting Zhang Wen, Xie Bingxia deliberately had dinner and studied in the library until 10 p.m. before slowly returning to her dormitory.
She pushed open the dormitory door. The night light sensed her presence and emitted a dim yellow light, revealing a figure sitting at the table.
"Are you trying to scare me to death by not turning on the light?" Xie Bingxia recognized it was Gu Bei. She turned on the ceiling light and immediately gasped in surprise. The dormitory hadn't been restored to its original state. Instead, it was even more exaggerated. They had even replaced the double bed and the big wardrobe.
Gu Bei seemed to have been sitting there for a long time. His voice was very soft. "I said this morning that I'd come back here tonight."
"Do you really want to build a love nest with me? By the way, how did you get in?"
"Xiaomei made a spare key." Gu Bei put the key on the table. "I don't want it. I'm returning it to you."
The big bad wolf has a conscience? Xie Bingxia walked over and sat down beside him. She glanced at the key and pushed it back to him. "Keep it."
Gu Bei's eyes lit up. He stared at Xie Bingxia as if to confirm. Xie Bingxia said with a smile, "But you can't come in without my permission."
"Okay. I won't disturb your private space." Although Gu Bei said so, he took back the key at an astonishing speed, as if afraid that Xie Bingxia would change her mind the next moment.
"Do you have anything else to say?"
"That photo..." Gu Bei looked very distressed. "Can you delete it?"
Ah, finally getting to the point? Xie Bingxia smiled playfully but of course wouldn't agree. "It's so cute. I want to keep it and look at it every day."
Gu Bei put his hand on his forehead. "I'm really sorry. I was drunk and couldn't control myself. I've caused you trouble."
"It was really troublesome. You came up, took off your clothes, and asked me to take a bath with you. You also wanted hugs and kisses."
Gu Bei was stunned. His face flushed red all the way to his ears. "You... you saw everything?"
"I saw it all, every bit of it clearly." Xie Bingxia playfully poked Gu Bei's chest. "Do you want to know what I thought?"
"No!" Gu Bei quickly stopped her. "Just forget about it all."
"I can't forget. It's quite nice to think about it when it's quiet at night." When Xie Bingxia said the word "think about", she deliberately licked her lips.
Even Gu Bei, who claimed to have great self - control, couldn't stand being teased like this by Xie Bingxia. At the same time, a surge of jealousy welled up in him. He grabbed the little white rabbit and made her sit on his lap. With their noses almost touching, he warned her in a deep voice, "Don't do the same thing to other men."
"Other men aren't as unreasonable as you." Xie Bingxia said straightforwardly. "I'm not deleting the photo."
"You still have an agreement with me. Have you forgotten? If you delete the photo, the matter of me helping you investigate Yan Xiaoyi will be settled."
Xie Bingxia was extremely annoyed. How could she have forgotten about this? But a gentleman's word is final. So she took out her phone, reluctantly opened the photo album, and clicked delete.
"Are you satisfied?" Xie Bingxia jumped out of his arms. "Go home. It's getting late."
"I've been having serious insomnia recently." Gu Bei changed the subject. "I've had setbacks in business, and some people are causing me trouble..." At this point, he raised his eyes and glanced at Xie Bingxia. "Everything has gone wrong. I'm so worried that I can't sleep at all."
"Alas..." Gu Bei sighed continuously. He lowered his head, looking very distressed. "Only last night did I sleep very soundly."
It's because you were drunk, Xie Bingxia really wanted to retort directly. But then she heard him continue to sigh, "I think the feng shui here is very good. Maybe it can cure my insomnia."
Stop talking about feng shui. If you want to stay the night, just say so directly. Making up all these excuses. You're really a genius with strange logic.
Seeing Gu Bei looking at the newly replaced double bed again and again reluctantly, Xie Bingxia made a compromise. "Stay the night."
Gu Bei was extremely delighted. Xie Bingxia quickly added, "It's agreed. We'll just sleep. No other funny business." She turned around and took out a set of pajamas from the big wardrobe and threw it to Gu Bei. Suddenly, she felt something was wrong and asked, "Did you and Xiaomei plan this?"
"Ah, what? I don't know. Xiaomei is a little rascal. It's all her own idea." Gu Bei's behavior of trying to explain but actually revealing more was really funny. After he finished speaking in a hurry, he rushed into the bathroom to take a bath.
Fortunately, Gu Bei kept his promise. They lay facing each other. He hugged Xie Bingxia and let her rest her head on his arm, just like that rainy night.
Gu Bei remembered that night. Xie Bingxia, who had a fever, was extremely vulnerable. He had become her only support. A warm feeling welled up in his heart, and he hugged Xie Bingxia even tighter.
"By the way, you just said you had setbacks in business. Can you tell me about it?" Recently, Xie Bingxia had been focusing on Yuan Yiyun's matter and had investigated very little about Gu Bei's business. She just found out that he was worried about it. No wonder he hadn't contacted her for a few days. Maybe he had been busy dealing with work.
"I don't want to talk about these annoying things now. We'll talk about it later." How could Gu Bei let that scoundrel Vincent ruin his mood at this moment?
Xie Bingxia pouted. "Okay, okay. Hug me more. You won't be able to hug me next week."