“Your mom checking in on you again?”
Maybe it was because Yang Xueyi’s expression while reading her phone was just too grim, but it led to a complete misunderstanding on Qiao Qianqian’s part.
She walked over, her eyes full of sympathy.
“Did your mom find out you went on this trip? But I thought she was on a business trip abroad?”
Yang Xueyi’s mother was indeed in Europe, and technically, it was a business trip, but it was a bit different from what most people would imagine.
Her mother was a live-in nanny, and she’d been working for her current employer for a full twelve years.
This year, the employer couple went to Europe for an industry exhibition, gone for an entire month, but couldn’t get used to Western food.
So, they simply brought Yang Xueyi’s mom along too.
Besides taking care of their daily needs, it was also a kind of senior-employee benefit—she could travel Europe a bit while she was there.
Yang Xueyi had taken her annual leave to come to Japan this time, and to avoid unnecessary trouble, she hadn’t told her mom about it.
Her brief silence convinced Qiao Qianqian she’d found the culprit.
“That annoying brat must have tattled, right?”
Yang Xueyi paused.
“Not necessarily.”
“How not? Who else could it be except the son of your mom’s employer? He’s always targeted you, hasn’t he? Ever since I met you, you’ve cursed him at least three times a week, and he’s made you cry at least once a year. Honestly, the only reason you’re in Japan now, apart from vacation and trying to hook up with Li Junxin, is because of him, right?”
Qiao Qianqian wasn’t wrong.
Since she was fifteen, Yang Xueyi had moved into her mom’s nanny quarters.
Her mother had worked hard for the employer family for twelve years, while Yang Xueyi herself had spent ten years living under someone else’s roof.
Fortunately, that situation was finally about to end.
Yang Xueyi had worked herself to the bone, saved up some money, and together with her mother scraped together a down payment for a small apartment.
Next month, they’d finally get the keys.
Originally, Yang Xueyi could’ve stayed in the company’s employee dorms for this one-month transition, but the dorms were suddenly scheduled for renovation—construction everywhere, noisy and chaotic.
So she moved out early.
That meant, for this one month, she had to go back to the nanny quarters at the villa.
If other people had been there, it would’ve been bearable, but now that the employer couple and her mom were gone, it was just Yang Xueyi and that infuriating son of the employer.
If she hadn’t come to Japan, she’d have to see him every single day.
But what Yang Xueyi never expected was that the annoying brat would also be shipped overseas to Japan, and, as luck would have it, she’d run into him again.
A gold miner might not find a single nugget in ten years, but Yang Xueyi had dug up the same chunk of bad luck twice—once back home, once in Japan.
“You two have lived together for ten years now. Even if you’re not family, you’re at least neighbors, right? What could possibly be so unforgivable between you?”
Qiao Qianqian looked utterly puzzled.
“What does he look like? What’s his name? Got any photos? Sounds like his family’s loaded—maybe I even know him. Even if I don’t, after hearing you curse him for so many years, it feels like I already know him. I’m dying to see what he looks like. But, you know, going by the rule that faces reflect the heart, he’s probably not much to look at.”
Yang Xueyi waved her hand.
“Forget it, let’s not talk about him. He ruins my mood.”
She never thought there was anything embarrassing about her mom being a live-in nanny.
She just didn’t want to be associated with Ying Yun, so she never told anyone her mom worked at Ying Yun’s house—not even her best friend Qiao Qianqian, who only knew what her mom did, but not who she worked for.
“Right, let’s look at some handsome guys instead.”
Qiao Qianqian, unsuspecting, picked up her camera and started flipping through her candid shots of Ying Yun.
She soon began to gush, praising his golden proportions and photogenic face, calling him unbelievably handsome, lamenting she didn’t get to take more pictures.
“What’s so handsome about him?”
Yang Xueyi couldn’t help but retort, “He always looks so sour, you can tell he’s got a terrible temper.”
“That’s called having style! An air of distance! The unattainable flower on the mountain—don’t you get it?”
Qiao Qianqian wouldn’t back down, and teasingly said to Yang Xueyi, “Why are you so hostile to handsome guys? Is it because your mom’s kept you on a tight leash all these years, and now you’re warped?”
Then she patted Yang Xueyi on the shoulder.
“Of course, I get where your mom is coming from. After what happened with your dad, she’s worried you’ll fall for the wrong guy, get married, and ruin your whole life.”
“But honestly, it’s fine not to date. In the prime of youth, you could at least find a man to have some fun with. No need to spend your whole life with him.”
At this point, Qiao Qianqian gave Yang Xueyi a look of utter exasperation.
“If I had your looks, I’d already be a femme fatale, stirring up a storm in all of Rong City. Is there any man I couldn’t catch?”
She pointed to Ying Yun’s photo on the camera.
“If I looked like you, believe me, that man would be in my bed tonight.”
Yang Xueyi glanced at the photo of Ying Yun, knowing Qiao Qianqian wasn’t exaggerating.
Ying Yun might not be a good person—he had a bad temper and a worse personality—but there was no denying his looks were out of this world.
When heaven made him, it played favorites—sharp brows, defined features, proud and cold gaze.
The words she’d just said really did sound like sour grapes, a bitter attack on handsome men.
But if Ying Yun ever ended up in her bed…
Yang Xueyi would immediately grab a pillow and smother him on the spot, ending things right then and there.
“Going too long without sex messes with your hormones, you know,” Qiao Qianqian was still on her soapbox.
“That’s why you keep getting sick. I bet your insomnia is partly because of this too. Seriously, just find a man to sleep with. It’s the best thing two people can do together. If you don’t want a relationship, fine, but how can you not even have a sex life?”
Yang Xueyi snorted, “Men aren’t that great.”
Qiao Qianqian, remembering some exceptional experience of her own, smiled with a hint of nostalgia.
“You wouldn’t know until you try. Men have their charms.”
Yang Xueyi knew Qiao Qianqian was joking, but she couldn’t help but grumble inwardly.
She made it sound like men were some sort of miracle cure.
If men were that effective, what would hospitals be for?
Besides… Yang Xueyi laughed dryly, “Modern life is so stressful. Lots of men need pills or to see a doctor these days.”
Qiao Qianqian looked mysterious.
“That’s just people with no experience. The guy you’re after, Li Junxin, he’s definitely not up to it—he can barely walk straight, his back’s always bent, just screams over-indulgence.”
“If you want to pick, pick someone like Ying Yun. You saw how you crashed into him just now—he didn’t even flinch. That’s a sign of strong core strength.”
“…Why are we talking about that annoying brat again?”
Unfortunately, Qiao Qianqian didn’t notice Yang Xueyi’s resistance.
She lowered her voice. “Plus, he’s an orthopedic surgeon.”
Yang Xueyi was puzzled.
“So what?”
“You haven’t heard the saying? ‘If you want a real man, go for orthopedics.’”
She winked mischievously, hinting, “Orthopedic doctors are like the renovation crew of the medical world—they’re all super strong. You don’t get it now, but one day you’ll know how great that is.”
Yang Xueyi sneered inwardly.
If it was Ying Yun, she’d rather never know, because the only way she’d find out would be brawling with him, not anything in bed.
Running into Ying Yun was truly rotten luck, but since she was already in Japan, she couldn’t let her plan to attract Li Junxin fall apart halfway.
She hadn’t managed to engineer a “chance encounter” with Li Junxin at the Ski Slope, but at least she had Qiao Qianqian as an inside informant.
“I just overheard some of the wedding staff talking. They said Li Junxin and the other young folks all went to Smile Beach after skiing.”
Inside Tomamu Hoshino Resort, besides the Ski Slope, there was a thirty-degree heated indoor beach with artificial waves.
After tiring themselves out on the slopes, guests could relax in the warm wave pool—quite an experience, and free for hotel guests.
Yang Xueyi had done her research before the trip, and the moment she heard “beach,” her eyes lit up.
Wasn’t this a perfect twist of fate?
After all, wearing a sexy bikini and parading in front of Li Junxin would be far more effective than the puffy ski suit that hid her figure.
This was the real “chance encounter!”
Without delay, Yang Xueyi packed her swimsuit and headed straight for Smile Beach.
Her luck really did turn around.
As she lounged on a chair by the water and spotted Li Junxin, Yang Xueyi was sure her fortune had changed. Today, she was going to leave a smile at Smile Beach.
She put on her bikini, deliberately slowed her steps, and sashayed in front of Li Junxin, feeling his gaze follow her.
At that moment, Yang Xueyi felt her luck had truly turned.
Perfect.
All she had to do was play in the water for a bit, then pretend to be tired and come ashore, and naturally sit on the lounge chair next to Li Junxin.
After that…
Everything would fall into place.
Compared to her face, Yang Xueyi had even more confidence in her figure.
Sure enough, as soon as she entered the water, several gazes followed her.
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