Chapter 37: CH 37

Zhang Man opened her mouth in surprise, can she really kiss a dolphin?

The trainer whispered the steps in her ear, and it turns out it wasn’t really a kiss, but just a very close contact. She bent down slightly, and Beibei cooperated by raising its little head.

Zhang Man looked at its round head and was a little embarrassed, but the little dolphin was so enthusiastic that it came over with a pout and was only a short distance from her.

Zhang Man also cooperated, giving a good expression.

This action, however, looked like a tangible kiss to the audience in the arena.

They cheered and raised their cell phones to take pictures.

……

When she returned to her seat, Zhang Man was still in a state of excitement, pulling the youth’s sleeve and chattering: “…… I thought it was just a handshake or something, but I didn’t expect to be able to kiss the little dolphin! Li Wei, did you take a picture of me just now?”

“No.”

The youth heaved his jacket into her lap, his voice was stiff and in stark contrast to her incessant rambling.

Zhang Man looked at him sideways, his face hidden under the baseball cap and his expression not visible.

She held him carefully, “What’s wrong?”

Why does he seem to be unhappy all of a sudden?

“Nothing. It’s fine.”

The youth’s voice was muffled, and he coughed softly to hide the difference: “The show is over, let’s go out.”

The two of them walked out with the crowd, the narrow passage was crowded with people so the youth put his arm around her waist and protected her towards the exit.

At this time, the exhibition hall was breaking up, and in the midst of the noise, a little girl of about 7 or 8 years old, with a flat mouth, asked her father timidly, “Daddy, the brother with the hat who was sitting next to us just now, does he particularly dislike the little dolphins?”

The man stroked his daughter’s little head and picked her up: “How does Nui Nui know? The little dolphin is so cute, what kind of person doesn’t like little dolphins?”

The little girl’s voice trembled as she buried her head into her dad’s shoulder, grabbed his collar and mumbled in a milky voice: “—I-I just know! Th-that brother simply doesn’t like them! The way he just looked at Beibei was so fierce and scary, boohoo…”

……

After watching the dolphin show, it was time to leave and Zhang Man was led out of the Oceanarium by the youth and was surprised to find that the snow outside had piled up knee-high.

The snow is getting more and more aggressive, it cannot be described as goose feather snow anymore as most of the view is covered by the dense snow and the wind is blowing so hard that as soon as Zhang Man goes out, she can’t even open her eyes. The sea next to them all became foggy, and it was impossible to see the horizon.

The blizzard is coming.

In fact, when it snows on this side of Z City, people generally don’t use umbrellas. Snow is not like rain, it doesn’t melt fast and when you get into the room, it will be clean with a single tap.

The youth is also not used to using an umbrella.

But today, he opened a large transparent umbrella, wrapped his arm around her shoulders and walked into the wind and snow, their footsteps treading a deep and shallow footprint in the snow.

He held her so tightly that he didn’t let her get even a tiny bit wet.

Zhang Man suddenly felt a little dazed and remembered some fragments in her mind.

In the previous life, on this day of the second year of high school, January 10, is also Li Wei’s birthday.

She didn’t go out to play, but sat at home with the curtains drawn and the lights off, lying sickly in bed, not wanting to move. It was not until the evening that Zhang Huifang brought Zheng Zineng back for dinner again that she went to the living room. Only then did she find that a snowstorm was falling outside the window.

She flipped open her phone and wanted to call Li Wei’s home to ask him what he was doing on his birthday, but forced herself to stop thinking about it.

It was none of her business how he celebrated his birthday.

It is possible that someone else is celebrating it with him so where is her turn to worry about it.

There are some things she will never be able to know again, like, for example, how he spent his birthday that year.

Or, did he simply forget about it?

Under the transparent umbrella, Zhang Man’s hand gently went around and hugged the youth’s waist.

–Fortunately, fortunately, this year, on his birthday where there is still snow in the winter, she is with him, under his umbrella, in his arms, walking with him step by step under the snowy sky.

……

The bus ticket back is for seven o’clock, only an hour or so from now. The two stood at the crossroads in front of the Oceanarium, calling a taxi.

This year, ride-hailing software is not popular throughout the country and the only way to get a taxi is to make a reservation by phone or stand by the side of the road and hail a taxi.

The two waited for more than 20 minutes to get a car, the middle-aged driver in his 40s and 50s lamented the snowstorm outside, saying that if it wasn’t for the road, he wouldn’t want to take customers in such bad weather.

However, to make matters worse, when the two arrived at the bus station in a hurry, they were told that today’s schedule had been cancelled due to heavy snowfall and road closures.

Zhang Man helplessly watched the increasingly violent snowstorm outside the window. Suddenly it occurred to her that they might be able to take the train back.

She immediately opened her phone to check the train ticket schedule—the latest class of train tickets back to N City will have to be tomorrow morning.

In other words, no matter what, they both have to stay in Z City for one night, and she can’t pick up the cake she ordered for Li Wei in N City.

But where should they stay…… Zhang Man bit her lower lip, squeezed her sleeve, and involuntarily began to blush.

The day is very short in winter, it’s only seven o’ clock, and it’s already completely dark outside. At this time, the waiting hall is crowded with people who have bought tickets but can’t go back.

In the waiting room, there is no space between the seats, there are several uncles who directly occupied two or three seats a person, curled themselves up and began to sleep, apparently planning to spend the night in the waiting room.

Unfortunately, Zhang Man and the others arrived when it was already late, and there were no more seats left. The two stood under the central air conditioner in the waiting room, thinking of countermeasures.

Although there is air conditioning, the waiting room floor tiles are still cold, cold from the feet up, causing Zhang Man to shiver from time to time. Seeing this, the youth pulled her over and put his hands over hers to keep her warm.

Her physique is cold, and sleeping on the ground overnight is definitely not realistic on such a cold day.

Zhang Man mulled over half a day, thinking that they can only go to stay in a hotel and her face reddened as she then thought, they can just book two rooms—you know, so they can have separate rooms.

“How about…going to a hotel?”

When the youth heard her offer, he coughed slightly, his voice a little heavy: “En.”

The two did not speak again and awkwardly headed out. It was clear that holding his hand and hugging him had gradually become natural throughout the day, but the mention of going to the hotel was still awkward and embarrassing for them.

Zhang Man swears that she really didn’t want to be crooked, but…this topic is really very strange for a couple of 16 or 17 years old.

She walked to the entrance and suddenly remembered, “Wait! Li Wei, do you have a resident identity card?”

She herself does not have her own and only did it in her previous life before the college entrance exams. If she does not have her resident identity card, she should not be able to stay in a hotel.

The youth also froze at the word, and replied reluctantly: “I have, but I didn’t bring it.”

He lived alone and would have had trouble without it so he got it in his middle school year with a certificate issued by the orphanage.

— All this was an accident, and he never premeditated this would happen, so…he didn’t bring it either.

He was calm, opened the umbrella and put his arm around her: “Man Man, let’s go to the hotel first and ask, maybe some hotels don’t need it. The later it is, the worse the search will be.”

The long-distance bus station is in the west corner of the city, far from the city center and there are not many big hotels, but a bunch of short-term hotels with signs nearby.

The two went to the nearest one, the sign reads “Jinshan Hotel”. Pushing open the door, the interior is decorated in the unique gold glittering KTV style of this era, which is very tacky.

The receptionist is a young woman with heavy makeup, in her twenties, dyed with fiery red hair, with a very pretty side face. Unfortunately, the makeup is too thick and has a slightly dusty smell.

She is leaning back in the recliner to watch a very hot soap opera this year, the one that Zhang Huifang has been catching up on every day for updates.

When she saw them enter, she was not too enthusiastic and put both legs off the stand and sat slightly more upright.

The woman expressionlessly took out the list, pressed the automatic ballpoint pen and didn’t even look at them: “Luckily, there are two standard rooms that guests have checked out, do you want them?”

Li Wei nodded: “Yes, both rooms.”

Money is not a problem as long as she has peace of mind.

“Your identity cards please.”

The woman spoke mechanically again. This job, from beginning to end, is always like this, repeating these few words every day over and over again.

Zhang Man was a little embarrassed: “Didn’t bring it…”

The young woman finally raised her eyes, lightly glanced at them and saw the looks of the two, probably judging their ages.

She apparently meets a lot of these things in a day and this is why she coldly puts the list and pen down, lies back on the recliner and points to the door: “Go out and turn left, go up the stairs, there is a small hotel on the third floor that does not need identity cards, underage people can also stay.”

She spoke in a flat tone, but the last five words with the “underage” word were much more emphasized and the tone of her voice rose, obviously deliberately teasing them.

Zhang Man’s face flushed—she immediately tugged Li Wei’s sleeve and walked out, not daring to look back again.

She was silent and unsocial in her previous life, shrinking in her closed life in her own power every day, when in fact she has always been a very thin-skinned person at heart.

How can she stand this kind of snarky comment?

She even thought about going back to the station for the night, but the blizzard and freezing temperatures outside the door dissuaded her from doing so.

Li Wei looked at her red face and was a little amused. He squeezed her palm to calm her and led her left into the door of the next unit and walked upstairs towards what the woman had just said.

The building is obviously a private house and is very old, like the old house built in the 70s and 80s. The lights in the hallway are dim, and as Zhang Man took a closer look, the handrails and bulbs were all wiped clean.

On the third floor, there was a big sign that read “Yunbin Guest House”, and the youth led her in.

This place is much simpler than downstairs. Two tables are put together on the front table, and a big-bellied old man is playing Dou Dizhu on the computer. Hearing someone come in, he looked up at the two of them, and his cloudy gaze brought some warm smiles.

Much more welcoming than the female receptionist downstairs.

“Do you minors want to stay here? Only one queen room is left, will you be staying?”

Zhang Man’s scalp tingled at the words “Queen Room”… She looked up at Li Wei and gently shook her head.

The old man is obviously very good at reading people’s opinions, seeing that they do not seem to want to stay, his face suddenly cold down and faintly said: “Today, there is a big snowstorm outside. The hotels near the station must be full.”

He stretched his voice again: “And except for me here, basically they all need identity cards, minors like you guys will only be refused.”

He emphasized the word “minors” again.

Zhang Man has been completely numb.

It’s just a big bedroom……

“We’ll stay!”