QQ Lost - Chapter 17
As the music ended, the dancers, in pairs, went to the bar to rest. Xu Haibing looked around, then suddenly realized something—
A pretty woman has quietly sat down across from me!
Xu Haibing picked up his wine glass, and the flickering candlelight illuminated Guo Qinqin's lightly made-up face!
"How...how did you know it was me?" Xu Haibing's voice trembled with embarrassment and nervousness.
Guo Qinqin habitually brushed a strand of hair that fell across her left forehead with her hand, and smiled in response: "I recognized that QQ number as Shen Daxing's at a glance, but the language didn't seem to be Shen Daxing's, so I thought, who else could it be?"
Xu Haibing noticed that her speech and behavior were a couple of beats slower than at school, and she had a touch of mature woman's charm and elegance.
The waitress brought two glasses of yellow drinks and placed them in front of them. Xu Haibing took the initiative, picking up his glass: "Please forgive me, the joke might have gone a bit too far. Oh, to be precise, I shouldn't have made such a joke at all. I'll offer you this drink instead of alcohol as a token of my apology."
Guo Qinqin also picked up her cup and tilted her head to fill Xu Haibing's cup.
"I'll drink first as a sign of respect." Xu Haibing tilted his head back and drank it all in one gulp.
Guo Qinqin smiled slyly.
Xu Haibing immediately noticed the taste was off, but he forced it down anyway, and his throat immediately felt like it was on fire, causing him to open his mouth and exhale sharply.
Guo Qinqin leaned forward, picked up a piece of fruit with a toothpick, and fed it to him directly.
Xu Haibing ate it without any suspicion, and asked in a hoarse voice, "This...this is wine?"
"XO," Guo Qinqin said.
Just then, a soft, melodious tune began to play. Seeing Guo Qinqin stand up and extend her hand to him, Xu Haibing snapped out of his daze and hurriedly declined, saying, "Spare me, I can't dance, all I know is how to step on people."
Guo Qinqin simply pulled him up: "You can walk, right?"
"I can walk."
"That's fine then."
The dance floor, dimly lit, was suddenly filled with all sorts of men and women who couldn't dance but could only hug each other's heads and waists. Only Xu Haibing and Guo Qinqin were still in standard ballroom dance poses.
They were tightly surrounded by pairs of affectionate dancers, and were occasionally bumped into.
Xu Haibing's nerves were on edge, his whole body stiffened, and his eyes darted furtively to his right hand.
Guo Qinqin's right thumb was subtly twirling in his right palm.
At this moment, the dancer behind her nudged Guo Qinqin, and she nestled into Xu Haibing's arms.
Xu Haibing felt a wave of dizziness and looked around nervously. Seeing that everyone around him was being affectionate and no one seemed to care, he calmed down slightly.
Guo Qinqin pressed her face against Xu Haibing's shoulder, murmuring softly, "...Sigh, life is so tiring...Always a good child in front of parents, always a good student in front of teachers, always a good role model in front of classmates...I'm constantly on edge, unable to let my guard down even for a moment...There's no other way but to sneak here and relax occasionally...Or, I seek something, something, through the internet or by talking to online friends..."
She glanced at Xu Haibing and uttered two words: "Exciting..."
Xu Haibing gasped, immediately recalling the incident that morning when he broke into Guo Qinqin's dorm room! Could it be that back then—
Guo Qinqin's face quietly peeked out from behind the lecture notes of "A New Course in Capital"!
Her eyes darted to the area under the other bed!
The bedspread is shaking abnormally!
A cold smile appeared on Guo Qinqin's lips!
...
He dared not speculate any further, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead. Guo Qinqin took a clean white napkin and wiped away the sweat for him.
Xu Haibing felt his phone ring in his pocket and quietly reached out to turn it off.
The two slowly twirled and twirled, gradually disappearing into the ambiguous, dim lights, music, and dance floor...
QQ Lost (25(1))
Amidst the chaotic dance of demons, Xu Haibing and Guo Qinqin continued to spin endlessly...
The monsters who were embracing and kissing were all scattered and knocked over by their passionate spinning...
Two police officers ran over and scolded him, patting Xu Haibing on the shoulder...
"Wake up, wake up!"
Xu's mother kept patting Xu Haibing's shoulder.
Xu Haibing, who was lying on the bed having a sweet dream, was startled awake and sat up abruptly.
Xu's mother complained, "Where did you go last night? The police called home and school, but they couldn't find you anywhere, and your phone was off."
Xu Haibing shook his head, got out of bed to get dressed, and asked in a low voice, "What is it?"
"They didn't say, and I didn't ask. I was planning to wait for you to come back and call them back, but it's past one o'clock and you still haven't shown up."
Xu Haibing left the bedroom and headed straight for the door. His mother, who followed him out, hurriedly asked, "Hey, where are you going? You haven't even washed your face or eaten a bite."
"I'll go take a look," Xu Haibing said, yawning.
Xu's mother grabbed him: "Oh dear, something must have happened last night. It's all over now, otherwise why wouldn't she call you again? Don't go anywhere today. After breakfast, get ready and go to KFC at ten o'clock. There won't be many people then. Aunt Zhang has introduced you to someone else, and she wants you to go meet him."
"Go ahead and see me if you want!" Xu Haibing shook off her mother's hand, changed her shoes, and was about to leave.
Mrs. Xu scolded, "You're not a child anymore, how can you still act like one?! Aunt Zhang was very kind, saying that the last guy surnamed Qin had a strange temper and was older, so we let it go. But this one is different. This girl hasn't even graduated from university yet, she's pretty, and her family is strict and disciplined. Her mother wants to find her a more mature government official to keep her in line as soon as possible. No wonder, her father is a high-ranking official."
"What's so special about being at the department level? The old man, the deputy political commissar of the division, is also equivalent to a department-level cadre." Xu Haibing said as he pulled the door lock.
"Your dad was demoted to a second-tier position a long time ago, but her dad is the current head of the provincial education department."
Upon hearing this, Xu Haibing stopped walking, turned around, and asked, "Which KFC?"
It's still that KFC restaurant under the overpass in the bustling Xinjiekou area.
A long-haired woman wearing purple sunglasses and an eye-catching yet pleasing casual autumn outfit walked lightly to the restaurant entrance, looked around, and then stepped inside.
The doorman bowed and greeted her, "Welcome." The long-haired woman smiled back, glanced around the empty hall, turned and went into the clean restroom, turned on a tall faucet, and carefully washed her hands.
At this moment, the door to the men's restroom opened, and Xu Haibing, who had come here twice for blind dates, came out. He walked to another low faucet to wash his hands.
The long-haired woman finished washing her hands, shook them, and looked up to see Xu Haibing reflected in the mirror on the wall, bending over to wash his hands beside her. Her face paled, and she quickly lowered her head to continue washing her hands.
Xu Haibing quickly washed his hands, turned, and left. The long-haired woman looked up, then lowered her head again.
Xu Haibing turned around, deliberately tidied his spiky hair in front of the mirror, and examined himself before walking out.
The long-haired woman playfully stuck out her tongue in the mirror, turned around and came out of the bathroom. She stole a glance at Xu Haibing, who was sitting in the hall reading the morning paper, and tiptoed straight to the door.
The doorman, watching her actions with a strange expression, opened the door and saw her off: "Welcome back again."
The long-haired woman gave a haphazard laugh, stepped out the door, patted her chest, hailed a taxi, and drove away.
The wall clock ticked away in the quiet hall...
Xu Haibing flipped through the newspaper out of boredom, reading every single punctuation mark of the small advertisement for dog skin plasters in the middle, but Aunt Zhang still hadn't come with any "clues". Disappointed, he put down the newspaper and got up to leave.
"Hey! Bingzi, don't rush off." Aunt Zhang happened to come rushing in from outside. She looked around and asked, "What? Are you all alone? Didn't a single girl come to talk to you?"
Xu Haibing, bewildered, replied, "No."
Aunt Zhang wiped the sweat from her brow: "What's that girl up to now!"
Xu Haibing said nonchalantly, "Aunt Zhang, it's alright. If they don't want to meet, that's fine. You can't force them to do something!"
"No way! She insisted on coming first. She even said that if she could recognize you at a glance in a crowd, wouldn't that mean you two are destined for each other? Sigh, it's all my fault for being delayed by reporting the case at the police station."
"Oh, you're reporting a crime? What happened? Sit down and rest for a bit, I'll go get you two drinks, then I'll tell you." Xu Haibing became interested and quickly ran to the counter to buy two drinks and brought them over: "Aunt Zhang, what would you like to drink? Orange juice? Or cola?"
Aunt Zhang glared at him: "Cola?" Xu Haibing then handed her the Coke cup.
Aunt Zhang took it and put it on the table: "Cola! It's absolutely infuriating!" Then she thought for a moment and laughed: "You know, it's actually quite funny. I'm going to the China World Trade Center to buy my grandson a birthday present..."
"Didn't my daughter and I run into each other?" Xu Haibing had somehow learned to use conversation to build rapport.
"Yeah, what happened when I went in? The floor wasn't marble, and I wasn't used to walking on it. I slipped and almost fell backward, but a young woman next to me reacted quickly and caught me..."
"Wow, you've met a good person."
"Yes, I said yes at the time too. This girl was so enthusiastic, chatting with me and shopping with me. Knowing I don't have a daughter, she even joked about wanting to be my goddaughter. When she heard I was buying a gift for my grandson, she told me that the assistant manager here was her old classmate, and that he had gotten her a VIP gold card, giving her a 40% discount on everything. She said I could use her card to pay for whatever I wanted to buy to save money. I thought that with such a discount, I might as well do what you, Bingzi, suggested and buy myself some new clothes. So, with her help, I picked out a few pieces of underwear and outerwear that fit me. When I went to the fitting room to try them on, I didn't think anything of it and naturally handed her all my jewelry, purse, and stuff. But guess what? When I came out, she was nowhere to be seen!"
Xu Haibing sighed after hearing this, "Sigh! There's really nothing we can do. There are all sorts of scammers these days, it's impossible to guard against them all. Aunt Zhang, drink your beverage, don't get upset, didn't we report it to the police?"
QQ Lost (25(2))
"It's pointless to report it."
"It's better if you can break it, but if you can't, just consider it a loss to avoid further trouble. Don't feel bad about it; it's the pain that makes you sick that's a truly irreparable loss," Xu Haibing comforted her before getting to the point: "Hey, Aunt Zhang, is the person you're introducing me to today really the daughter of the Provincial Education Department Director?"
"Yes, that's right."
"The real one? The top leader's daughter?"
"Of course it's true, her dad was just appointed at the beginning of the year during the National People's Congress meeting."
"I heard she's still in school?"
"Yes, it's on the new campus of Dalian University. Hey, you might have even seen it before."
"Hmm, that's not impossible. Does she have a round face and big eyes? Oh, and her hair is styled like this, with her bangs combed to the left side of her forehead?"
Aunt Zhang looked at him with suspicion: "...You're saying this doesn't seem like someone I'm introducing to you, but rather like that conman from heaven trying to make me his goddaughter in the business world..."
Xu Haibing's expression froze, and his hand holding the cup also froze.
He suddenly slammed down the cup, jumped up, and ran out of the restaurant!
QQ Lost Chapter 26
On campus, Xu Haibing frantically searched...
He pushed open the door to the second-year classroom and, ignoring the surprise of the teachers and students in the classroom, scanned the room.
He rushed into the apartment building, ignoring the shouts and attempts to stop him from the female building manager on the fifth floor, and went straight to room 507, banging on the door.
...
He continued his search through the bustling neighborhood, running from one shopping mall to another!
A series of images kept churning in his mind—
Behind the door of room 507, there was a pile of strange small plastic bottles!
Guo Qinqin accompanies a wealthy woman as she selects jewelry!
Guo Qinqin secretly sprayed the liquid from the small plastic bottle onto the mall floor!