At five in the morning the next day, before dawn, the man was the first to wake from sleep. He glanced at the girl still sound asleep beside him, gently withdrew his arm, and got up to dress.
Walking back to the bedside, he looked at the girl sleeping peacefully in bed, bent down slightly, and placed a light kiss on her brow.
He lowered his voice. "Good morning."
Tucking the blanket around the girl, the man strode out of the room.
"Can you stop bothering me? I'm working outside!" Yang Sisi was jolted awake by her boyfriend early in the morning, holding breakfast in one hand and her phone in the other as she stood in the hallway. "Can you be more mature? I told you I'm working!"
She hung up in irritation and, as she looked up, suddenly caught sight of a tall, straight-backed figure emerging from the doorway of An Ruo's room...
The man had a slender build, wrapped in a long black leather trench coat, with an innate elegance that made even his back view striking.
How could there be another man in Director An's room?
Yang Sisi had a sudden flash of inspiration and opened her camera to capture the scene.
After a good night's sleep, An Ruo sat up in bed, stretching her limbs and yawning. Last night had been the best sleep she'd had in the few days she'd been in Yucheng.
She pulled out her phone and saw a call log showing a one-hour conversation with the man from the night before!
She was stunned—had she not been dreaming when she heard the man whispering in her ear last night?
How much had she drunk? After stumbling back to her room in a daze, she couldn't remember a thing!
Just as she was kicking herself for drinking too much and messing things up, she suddenly received a message from the man.
[Awake?]
An Ruo grabbed her hair, lightly patted her face to sober up, and dialed the man's number.
On the other end, Shen Xiaoxing had just gotten off the helicopter. As he entered the secret passage, he calculated that the girl would be waking up around this time and sent her a message.
Unexpectedly, just a few seconds later, the girl called him back.
He found a quiet spot and answered. "Awake?"
An Ruo bit her lip. "Mm... I didn't say anything crazy last night, did I?"
"You did."
"Huh?" An Ruo panicked. "What did I say?"
"You called my name and said you loved me, wouldn't let me leave, and promised to stay with me forever, never to abandon me."
"..." An Ruo awkwardly pressed her forehead. Had she really spilled her true feelings after drinking?!
The man teased, "What, sobered up and not owning up to it?"
"No..." An Ruo pursed her lips, then raised an eyebrow. "We're married, aren't we? Shouldn't we support each other forever and never part?"
This was the most touching confession Shen Xiaoxing had heard in recent years, warming his heart on that bitterly cold winter morning.
"I recorded it," the man said with a sly smirk. "Mrs. Shen, remember what you said today. Don't go leaving me later."
This man loved to speak with sarcastic undertones. When had she ever said she'd leave him? She'd clearly said they'd never part!
Shen Xiaoxing stopped teasing her. "Just woke up? Get up and wash up. I've ordered breakfast for you; a hotel staff member will bring it up soon."
"Okay."
After hanging up, An Ruo stared blankly at the dark phone screen, then suddenly covered her flushed face in shyness. Had she really been that passionate when drunk?
...
Because everyone had gotten completely drunk the night before, today's shoot was postponed to the afternoon. With most of the footage already done, everyone started organizing outings.
Since it was a rare trip out, General Manager Gu hadn't set a deadline for their return to Beijing, so they took the chance to stay a couple more days in Yucheng.
An Ruo really wanted to go back early. She was worried about the man and An Che—she'd been away for five days and didn't know how they were doing.
And Shen Xiaoxing—without her by his side, did he go to bed early every night?
She had bad sleeping habits, often kicking him or even lying on top of him. Without her there, he probably slept better, right?
Sigh, it seemed she was the only one who felt out of sorts away from home.
"Director An."
Yang Sisi interrupted her thoughts. "There's something I want to tell you."
"What's up?" An Ruo was packing her bag, about to leave.
"This morning, I saw a strange man at your door, acting all sneaky..." Yang Sisi showed her the photo she'd secretly taken.
An Ruo took the phone and saw that the photo only captured the man's back. From his build and height, he looked familiar. There weren't many men around with such good posture and physique.
"Could it be some creep you've offended, who followed you in last night when you were drunk?" Yang Sisi covered her mouth, afraid to speculate further.
"He might have just been passing by."
"Impossible. I saw him come out of your room with my own eyes. He definitely wasn't just passing by!"
An Ruo took a deep breath, her gaze growing heavy.
She didn't remember offending anyone. Though she'd been drunk last night, she'd still had some awareness when she entered the room. No one could have followed her in.
She calmly handed the phone back to Yang Sisi and said with a smile, "I ordered takeout yesterday. It might have been the delivery guy..."
"Since when do delivery guys dress so stylishly?"
"Uh... maybe it's a special feature of this hotel."
Seeing that An Ruo didn't seem too concerned, Yang Sisi pouted, told her to be more careful in the future, and left with her phone.
But An Ruo was troubled. A strange man had somehow gotten into her room and been photographed. The more she thought about it, the more scared she became.
If she had truly offended someone, aside from An Qing and Shen Tingfeng, she couldn't think of anyone else.
She went back to the hotel front desk. "Hello, I'm a guest in room 1203. I've lost a necklace in the hotel and want to check who entered my room. Could you help me look at the surveillance footage?"
The front desk receptionist paused, recalling the man she'd encountered during her shift the night before. He'd also had a key card for room 1203.
If a guest had lost something important, the hotel would be liable.
So, after a moment's thought, she said, "Last night, a very handsome man asked for the key card to room 1203..."
An Ruo frowned slightly. "Why didn't the hotel notify me in advance when a stranger entered my room?"
"Well..." The receptionist hesitated, then decided to come clean. "That man had a black card. He's a shareholder of our hotel, so... he has the right to enter other guests' rooms."
An Ruo was furious. "What if it had been a criminal next time? If I'd ended up dead, would you still be so calm saying he had the right to enter my room? Is your hotel's security system this lax?"
The front desk manager heard the commotion and stepped in to mediate. "Miss An, I'm really sorry. That distinguished guest holds an ultimate black card, and his status is beyond what we can stop..."
"Whatever your difficulties, you shouldn't leak guest information, let alone give my key card to someone else." An Ruo said coldly. "This is an invasion of privacy. I can take legal action against you!"
The manager bowed and apologized repeatedly.
They were in a tough spot too. The other party had immense influence and was a hotel shareholder. When he entered that night, he said he knew her.
So they hadn't thought much of it.
An Ruo hadn't actually lost anything, but if a stranger had really gotten in, how could she feel safe staying any longer?!
"I want to see the surveillance footage."
The manager looked troubled. "Our hotel has rules. Outsiders can't just view the footage..."
"I've lost something, and you let a stranger into my room. Can't I even take a look at the surveillance?"