Chapter 55

Chapter 55 5. Curve-01

Before the New Year, major cases occurred frequently, and the city bureau, from logistics to frontline officers, was all busy nonstop.

But as extremes often reverse, or perhaps the criminals didn’t want to bring bad luck to the New Year, starting from Lunar New Year’s Eve, the bureau’s main duty phone remained quiet, allowing everyone to smoothly enjoy the nine-day holiday.

After finishing the last shift on the eighth day of the lunar year, Qi Shanyu, on the morning of the ninth day, handed over his shift to a colleague, then dragged his suitcase straight to the airport.

Yes, starting today, he was going to H City’s Bailin Hot Springs Resort for a four-day vacation, and his companion, of course, was Liu Yi.

Actually, when Qi Shanyu drew the free voucher for the hot spring resort that day, he had no hesitation and intended to give it to Liu Yi.

In his mind, being perpetually lucky, he drew the grand prize this time, which meant that Liu Yi, as his companion, must have a “lucky koi” aura. Therefore, it was only natural to transfer this luck to Liu Yi.

However, Liu Yi only gave him a meaningful “hehe.”

“Comrade Qi, this is a couple’s suite voucher.”

Liu Yi took the newly redeemed voucher from his hand and lightly brushed the folded corner against Qi Shanyu’s face. “Are you mocking me for being single?”

Qi Shanyu felt extremely wronged.

“By that logic, I shouldn’t use this voucher either,” he lowered his eyelashes and said, “I can’t very well bring my sister to the hot spring, right?”

“Exactly, it wouldn’t be convenient for you to bring your sister.”

Liu Yi smiled and pocketed the voucher. “So, the two of us single dogs can make do and go together.”

…

Thus, according to their respective schedules, they arranged a vacation from the ninth to the twelfth day of the lunar year, heading to H City in the northern part of the country to enjoy hot springs amidst the snow.

The holiday had just ended. Although flights on the ninth day weren’t extremely tight, they weren’t leisurely either.

Liu Yi said that since Qi Shanyu covered the accommodation, he should naturally take care of the round-trip tickets, then unhesitatingly bought two first-class tickets.

What Qi Shanyu didn’t know was that after Liu Yi pocketed the voucher, he silently paid the difference to upgrade from a standard couple’s suite to a presidential suite with a private hot spring pool.

&&& &&& &&&

Qi Shanyu and Liu Yi landed in the afternoon and took the hotel shuttle. An hour later, they arrived at Bailin Resort.

Bailin Resort is nestled in a valley on the outskirts of H City, surrounded by mountains on three sides and facing a small forest plantation on one side, with a ski slope at the back—an exceptionally beautiful environment.

At the center stood an eight-story hotel with a touch of Russian style. Behind the hotel, gardens led to outdoor hot spring pools of varying temperatures, allowing guests to enjoy the steaming water while admiring snow-dusted pine forests. The top-floor presidential suite had a private two-person hot spring on the terrace with even more stunning snow views.

When they arrived, the lobby was surprisingly crowded, with seven or eight people in line at the front desk, all waiting to check in.

Liu Yi queued with the reservation, while Qi Shanyu stayed with their luggage in the sofa area.

Eight young people sat in the sofa area, probably all in their early twenties, and seemingly colleagues from the same company on a trip.

One girl immediately elbowed another girl when she saw Qi Shanyu a few steps away, signaling her to look.

Like a game of “pass the flower,” they all noticed the tall, handsome officer. Several single girls exchanged glances, their expressions screaming the same obvious thought—such a gorgeous guy, someone go talk to him!

Finally, the girl nearest Qi Shanyu came up with a plan, nudged her companion aside, and cleared a spot, patting the sofa: “Handsome, standing isn’t tiring, is it? Sit!”

Qi Shanyu glanced at the narrow seat, hesitated, but seeing their eager expressions, he couldn’t refuse and sat, only letting half his hips touch the chair, leaving a two-fist gap between him and the girl.

Once Qi Shanyu extended his long legs, the girls’ eyes lit up, while the two nearby boys scowled.

“Hey, handsome, where are you from?”

The girl next to him leaned closer, excited.

Qi Shanyu smiled. “Xinhai City.”

“Oh, that’s close to us!”

Another girl excitedly said, “We came from neighboring C City! We’re all from the same animation company. This time our team-building brought us here for the hot springs!”

“Mm.”

Qi Shanyu nodded politely, a single syllable, clearly not continuing the conversation.

The girls exchanged confused looks.

“So, what do you do?”

The prettiest short-haired girl leaned across a coffee table to ask.

Out of courtesy, Qi Shanyu answered honestly: “I’m a police officer.”

“Wow!”

The girls gasped in unison.

“No wonder your stance looked so perfect earlier, clearly trained!”

The short-haired girl claimed, pointing at herself: “I’m a concept artist, studied anatomy, can read people very well!”

The other girls, muttering about her cleverness, also introduced themselves.

Qi Shanyu learned that all eight were employees of a C City animation company, on a team-building trip. Among them, one couple, the remaining six—especially the five girls—were single.

Just as the girls pulled out their phones to get the stranger’s WeChat, Liu Yi finished check-in and came to rescue Qi Shanyu.

“What are you chatting about?”

Liu Yi suddenly appeared, hands on Qi Shanyu’s shoulders, eyes smiling, full of charm: “Check-in done, let’s go upstairs.”

“Hiss!”

The girls, seeing Liu Yi, gasped.

Compared to tall, handsome Qi Shanyu, Liu Yi’s meticulously groomed appearance was visually more striking.

They assumed he was a model or celebrity shooting an ad, even scanning for cameras.

They watched helplessly as the girl nearly about to talk to Qi Shanyu, got pulled along by Liu Yi as they entered the elevator with their luggage.

“Damn! We didn’t even get WeChat!”

The short-haired girl suddenly stomped in frustration.

“It’s okay, there’s still a chance,” another said. “They just arrived, staying a few days. Meals are in the restaurant, we’ll bump into them there.”

The only couple’s guy scoffed, “Hmph, like they’ve never seen a man before!”

“Enough,” his girlfriend replied without looking, “he’s definitely more handsome than you.”

The guy pouted, eyes on his girlfriend, silently resentful.

Meanwhile, Liu Yi and Qi Shanyu used their room key to access the presidential suite.

The suite was large, three sections: a living room with full sofa, coffee table, and mini bar; an arched doorway led to a high-foot double bed with an elaborate canopy; the innermost section was a terrace hot spring pool connected to the bathroom, with a half-human-high Persian leopard relief on the wall.

Qi Shanyu looked at the black and silver bedspread, frowning deeply.

“…A free voucher can get us a room this nice?”

Though he rarely traveled, he knew by instinct this room’s value was astonishing.

“The front desk said our original room type was unavailable, so they upgraded us to this one,” Liu Yi said with a smile.

He didn’t lie, just omitted the fact he had quietly paid the difference.

Qi Shanyu silently glanced at Liu Yi, then dragged the luggage inside and placed it on the rack.

“Ah, I’m exhausted!”

Liu Yi dropped his heavy leather coat onto the bed, rolled around, hugging the comforter. “I’ll nap now, get up for dinner later.”

He peeked one eye from the pillow, winking at Qi Shanyu: “Want to join?”

“Mm, you nap first.”

Qi Shanyu turned away, pretending not to hear, though a blush betrayed his feelings.

“Don’t be shy, there’s plenty of room!”

Liu Yi patted the space left for Qi Shanyu with a mischievous smile.

Qi Shanyu had no choice but to busy himself unpacking their luggage.

Author’s Note:

About the story:

Some readers might wonder why the baby seemed less sensitive to sound, but the hearing test came out normal.

That’s because the baby’s mother is deaf-mute.

A baby’s auditory and language development heavily depends on caregivers. If the caretaker doesn’t speak, over time the baby receives less language stimulation, becoming less sensitive to speech sounds. Without responses to babbling, the baby gradually stops vocalizing.

Such a baby may seem unusually “obedient” due to rarely crying, but it’s not necessarily good.

Infants raised without a normal language environment will develop delayed speech and sound tracking.

Rest assured, we’ll find reliable adoptive parents for the baby as the story progresses!