CHAPTER 200: CHAPTER 200: OLD COUNTY TOWN HOTEL

The night deepened, and Li Jing and Zhou Li finally found a place to rest in the county town.

The hotel’s front was not large, with a sign reading "Happiness Hotel" casting a somewhat old-fashioned glow in the night. The edges of the letters were worn, silently telling of the long years it had been through.

This hotel didn’t have a parking lot, so Li Jing had to park on the curbside like other vehicles without designated lines.

Zhou Li, carrying the suitcase, instinctively moved a little closer to Li Jing, staying closely behind him.

If it weren’t for Li Jing’s presence, given her personality, she wouldn’t dare venture into such a seemingly unpopular small hotel by herself at this late hour in an unfamiliar place.

However, Li Jing didn’t feel much about it. During previous business trips for projects, the places he stayed in were far more remote than this.

Once the two entered the hotel, they found the lobby as cramped as expected, with an area of only a few dozen square meters.

The small front desk took up only a tiny space, with a few registration books with curled edges placed on it. Occasionally, a busy tone would emit from an old-fashioned landline beside them.

However, the inside appeared livelier than the outside of the hotel. At this moment, there were two groups arguing with the receptionist.

Although the noise was a bit chaotic, it breathed some life into the place, making Zhou Li, who had been a bit nervous earlier, involuntarily relax a little.

Li Jing simply listened to a few sentences of the argument and generally understood the issue.

These two groups seemed to be out-of-towners coming off the highway; one group was a big family, a couple plus two children, and the other two were a pair of lovers.

Both groups had found the hotel online, but only discovered upon arrival that the hotel had temporarily raised its prices, more than a hundred above the online price, leading to the dispute.

"Probably because they saw that quite a few people came to the county to stay in hotels today, so they temporarily raised the prices..."

Zhou Li also understood the crux of the argument and whispered in Li Jing’s ear.

Li Jing nodded, not caring about the price, but found it somewhat troublesome since the two groups were blocking the front desk, preventing him from checking in.

Luckily, although the hotel wasn’t big, they had two women working at the front desk.

One of the curly-haired middle-aged women noticed them and quickly approached when Li Jing entered the lobby, leaving a young receptionist to continue arguing with the two groups.

"You were the ones who called earlier, right?"

Seeing the curly-haired middle-aged woman quickly approach, Zhou Li stepped forward a bit and nodded, "Yes, are there still rooms available now?"

"We do, but only suites are left. It costs three hundred and ninety-nine per night."

As she spoke, the curly-haired middle-aged woman pulled Li Jing and Zhou Li aside, glanced at the arguing crowd at the front desk with displeasure, and then turned to Li Jing, "Are you staying or not?"

"Three hundred and ninety-nine?"

Zhou Li understood why the group was arguing, for she had seen the online price of one hundred and twenty-nine, and the woman’s quoted price was already double that, which would naturally cause dissatisfaction.

"You guys must be from out of town, right? You probably know that all the hotels here are fully booked tonight. We’re the only place with vacancy, and though the price is a bit high, I assure you the rooms are clean and tidy. Plus, suites are always more expensive."

Saying that, the middle-aged woman didn’t forget to smile at Li Jing, "Handsome, since you brought your girlfriend home for New Year, you should stay in a decent room, right? Letting a young lady stay in poor conditions in a foreign place isn’t right."

"I’m not..."

Hearing the word "girlfriend," Zhou Li’s expression changed. She almost denied it but quickly closed her mouth, thinking of sharing a room with Li Jing.

"Not? Not what?"

The curly-haired woman was taken aback, then laughed, "Are you not boyfriend and girlfriend? Girl, you can’t fool me. I saw your actions when you came in, sticking close to this handsome guy. You two are a couple, aren’t you? Couples always stay in one room; what else can you be if not a couple?"

Seeing Zhou Li gradually blushing, Li Jing proactively responded to the woman, "Yeah, we’re a couple. We’ll take the room. How should we proceed now? It seems your front desk is quite busy..."

"Oh, this handsome guy looks like a straightforward person. Girl, you’ve got a great boyfriend!"

Seeing that Li Jing had no objection to the price, the curly-haired middle-aged woman was delighted and immediately said to Li Jing, "No problem, I have a computer here and can help you process it."

Then, the middle-aged woman quickly moved to the other side of the front desk to start processing the check-in for Li Jing.

Meanwhile, the two groups turned to look at Li Jing and Zhou Li. Seeing them handling the check-in, just as they were about to speak, Li Jing spoke first:

"You guys are stuck on the highway too, right? The traffic jams during New Year are exhausting. We’ve been driving for over half the day and are just too tired. We’re heading up to rest first."

The groups, originally intending to persuade Li Jing not to book here, had nothing to say upon hearing his words laid out like that.

The curly-haired woman, fearing that the groups might drag Li Jing and Zhou Li into making a fuss, quickly completed the check-in procedure and took them upstairs with the room card.

"Those people are so calculative, arguing over a hundred yuan for more than an hour."

The curly-haired woman muttered in a low voice while leading Li Jing and Zhou Li into the elevator, "Isn’t it normal to raise prices over New Year? Such bother!"

Hearing this, Li Jing remained calm and did not respond.

In his heart, just like Zhou Li, he understood that this place had temporarily raised its prices.

However, he had neither the energy nor interest to argue at the front desk over a hundred or so yuan for an hour or two, so he didn’t bother to dispute.

But this didn’t mean he was siding with the curly-haired woman, so he maintained a neutral expression, not intending to respond to her grumbling.

Noticing this, the curly-haired woman realized Li Jing didn’t seem particularly agreeable, gave a wry smile, and then took the two to the suite on the fifth floor.

"It’s the third room up ahead. You can go with the card; I’m heading back down first."

The woman said and left without waiting for Li Jing to reply, taking the elevator down again.

Following her directions, Li Jing and Zhou Li finally settled into the hotel room.

Once inside, the suite was exactly as Li Jing expected, just a name. It was worlds apart from the suites he had stayed in in Tianhai.

Forget about several rooms; there was only one bed.

Li Jing heavily suspected that this room was a standard room just yesterday, renamed as a deluxe suite today by that woman.

"Why is there only one bed?"

Zhou Li immediately noticed the room’s main issue.

Compared to the old decorations and narrow space, having only one bed was her top concern.

She had been willing to share a room with Li Jing thinking there would be two beds. Now this single bed disrupted her original plan.

Li Jing also knew this was a problem, especially for Zhou Li.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "How about I sleep on the sof..."

Before he could finish, Li Jing looked around and realized this so-called deluxe suite didn’t even have a chair, let alone a sofa.

The whole room consisted only of a large bed, a TV cabinet, and a combined shower and toilet without any separation of wet and dry areas.

Furthermore, the glass of the shower was actually transparent.

Following Li Jing’s gaze, Zhou Li obviously noticed the issue with the shower room too. Her face immediately turned red, and she quickly said, "Let’s not shower tonight."

"Ahem, well, in this weather, skipping a shower for a day is fine."

Li Jing agreed.

He feared that saying more might make Zhou Li genuinely unwilling to stay here.

"Well, nevermind... the bed is quite big; let’s sleep separately, a bit apart. It should... be okay."

Zhou Li suggested her plan with a blushing face.

Hearing this, Li Jing nodded, "Alright, if you’re okay with it, I have no problem."

Zhou Li looked at Li Jing’s expression changes, hesitated for a moment, then softly asked, "You won’t do anything at night, right?"

"Of course not."

Li Jing understood what she was worried about and explained, "Though I’m not a saint, I’m not a scoundrel either..."

Suddenly, he paused, realizing he was indeed akin to a scoundrel, rendering his reasoning unconvincing.

Zhou Li noticed his pause, guessed his thoughts, and couldn’t help but laugh behind her hand, "You’re actually calling yourself a scoundrel? Who does that?"

Having made up her mind, Zhou Li stopped dwelling on it and said, "Alright, no need to explain; I said I trust you."