Chapter 14

Tiny Lemon Drop: I have. My new roommate made me noodles ^_^

Jin Si raised his eyebrows upon reading that.

It looked like Qi Wu was doing well for herself. It had been less than a day and she had already had someone willing to cook for her.

Jin Si: Is that so? It looks like I don’t need to cook for you then.

Tiny Lemon Drop: (=ﾟДﾟ=)

Even through the screen and the emoticon she sent, Jin Si could envision the dazed look on her face before confusion and panic swiftly replaced it.

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It would have been an interesting sight to behold if she were standing in front of him.

Before Jin Si could message back, he received a phone call from her.

Meanwhile, Tong Luo watched with wide eyes as Qi Wu leaped from her bed to dash straight into the bathroom.

She ran so fast like every second counted, acting just like someone who had done something wrong and urgently needed to pacify their partner right away.

If Qi Wu wanted to call someone, she had to hide in a spot without any cameras around. That was something Chang Xun repeatedly reminded her of.

Well, Qi Wu remembered that piece of instruction.

When Jin Si finally answered the call, Qi Wu hurriedly cried out in her sweet voice that rang clearly through the phone.

“Jin Si, your cooking is the best!”

If Jin Si listened closely, he could hear an angry huff in Qi Wu’s voice. It was as if she was accusing Jin Si of kicking up a fuss over nothing. Still, she had no choice but to pacify him in order to protect her meals in the long term.

“That’s why, you should be sad.”

Jin Si nearly burst out chuckling from anger when he heard that.

How could he be sad?

Did she think he would be sad because he could not cook for her?

“I understand,” he calmly replied.

After hanging up, Jin Si turned around only to be greeted with wide-eyed stares from over a dozen men.

Jin Si could almost read Lou Ying’s mind as the only thing missing from the look in his eyes were the words “Jin Si must be talking to that ghost again”.

With his usual aloof and icy demeanor, he ignored their looks of disbelief. He was the complete opposite of the smiling man who had spoken on the phone just now.

“Have they spoken?” Jin Si asked, glancing at Lou Ying.

Lou Ying’s gaze immediately turned serious as he turned to look at the group of men behind him. The disbelief in his eyes had been replaced with a cold and sinister anger. “They’re from Changteng Holdings. Ever since their boss was imprisoned, these men are treated as viewed as badly as street rats. That’s why they did all that to look into you, sir.”

When he said that, one of the men being pinned down so hard on the sandy beach that his mouth was filled with sand snapped their head up. “You really are from the Xi family! Who could have thought the heir of the family really is an…”

Before he could finish speaking, the man pinning him down slapped a hand over his mouth to forcefully shut him up.

Jin Si ignored the man’s desperate struggles.

“If all the information has been found, clean this up as per usual.”

He slowly pulled his gloves off as his voice boomed with the lofty cruel voice expected of someone who stood at the top of the world.

He turned to leave but soon stopped when he heard his men chattering behind him.

“It’s so quiet during the day here. The ghost shouldn’t appear at this time, right?” one of them commented.

“Don’t think about that!”

“Shut up! Must you mention the ghost?”

It was then that Jin Si remembered one of these men must have gotten a clear look at Qi Wu’s face when she appeared that night.

With that in mind, he summoned Lou Ying over.

Despite his confusion, Lou Ying respectfully walked over. “Sir?”

Jin Si glanced at the men behind him out of the corner of his eye he ordered in a spine-chilling voice, “Shut them up forever.”

As for how, well, there were many ways to shut someone up forever.

Lou Ying stared in shock as a strange thought popped into his mind. Was it because of that ghost?

However, his self-preservation instincts were strong enough that he did not voice that question. Instead, he solemnly nodded. “Yes, sir.”

*

On the next day before the sun had fully risen, the bell rang loudly through the living quarters.

One hundred contestants stumbled out of their villas, bleary-eyed and confused.

Qi Wu also spotted Tong Luo who had just returned back to the villa while dressed in purple athleticwear. She seemed to have just finished a round of exercise as her forehead was covered in a thin sheen of sweat.

Then, seemingly as though Tong Luo noticed Qi Wu’s gaze, she turned to look at her for a few silent moments before slowly walking over to stand beside Qi Wu.

Meanwhile, the loudspeaker blared as Song Qi spoke.

“Today is the first day of our training camp. Everyone, get in line. You’ll be running one lap around the area.”

As soon as he said that, many of the contestants began to wail in despair.

For most of them, the last time they were forced to run a lap was back in university. The moment they became working adults, jogging became one of the last things on their minds.

Yin Yueyue looked at Tong Luo who had just returned from her exercise and could not resist feeling glee over Tong Luo’s misfortune. “One lap around the area has to be at least around two miles, right? I wonder if you can handle that.”

Tong Luo had left the villa at around six in the morning and only returned to the villa after an hour of exercise. While she was exhausted, this was all just part of her daily routine. Hence, she was used to the ache in her muscles.

When she heard what Yin Yueyue said, she only shot Yin Yueyue a cold look. She did not even feel the desire to respond verbally.

However, when Tong Luo spotted Qi Wu’s lanky limbs out of the corner of her eye, she could not help but worry. Would Qi Wu be gasping for breath as soon as they started running?

If worse comes to worst, she would hang around to help Qi Wu later… It was to pay back the favor from the day before.

Qi Wu sincerely looked into Tong Luo’s eyes and whispered, “I can pull you along as we run.”

Tong Luo felt at a loss for words.

Finally, with a twitch of her lips, she replied, “It’s fine. Thanks.”

Her years of exercise had trained running into mere muscle memory. It was only an extra two miles for the day. It was not like she could not run at all.

With the blow of a whistle, a few of the contestants started running.

With someone leading the pack, the rest soon followed.

Yao Ning and Yin Yueyue did not want to even look at Tong Luo. Naturally, that meant they did not want to run with her either. Hence, they started running far ahead.

As for Tong Luo and Qi Wu, the two of them somehow ended up at the back of the group while trying to take care of each other.

The living quarters selected for the contestants had a large man-made lake nearby. The troop of one hundred contestants ran around the lake, occasionally filling the air with cheers of encouragement.

The group ran in an orderly manner at first. However, those who did not have high stamina or rarely exercised soon fell to the back of the group.

Jiang Xuxu was among those individuals.

She panted hard as she lagged behind the entire group. Then, she spotted Qi Wu running together with Tong Luo. In fact, they were standing very close together compared to how close others were to each other. Her eyes widened with shock.

As she gasped for breath, she hurriedly dashed over to Qi Wu.

“Are you tired, sweetie?”

Qi Wu’s breaths came out in even bursts with her feet moving to a steady rhythm. The calm look on her face did not show any signs of fatigue either.

Compared to Qi Wu, Jiang Xuxu looked dog-tired.

Qi Wu shook her head and tilted her head as she looked at Jiang Xuxu. “You look exhausted though.”

Jiang Xuxu silently stared at Qi Wu.

It was only then that she realized Qi Wu was in tip-top shape. Jiang Xuxu was simply asking to be embarrassed when she asked Qi Wu if she was tired.