Chapter Two: Ha! Women!

At the front desk of the Heaven and Harmony Hotel, Zhang Dahai was swiping through short videos on his phone, occasionally glancing at the guests coming and going.

An hour later, the moment he spotted a pure-looking girl with a ponytail, a white T-shirt on top and a plaid skirt below, the sort that looked like a college student, walking in with a takeout bag, his small, bean-like eyes suddenly lit up.

"It must be her!"

Zhang Dahai instinctively felt that the girl before him was the one Wei Lin had been waiting for.

The girl was in her prime, about five feet four tall, with fair skin and a delicate face touched with light makeup. She kept her head down as she made her way toward the elevators.

"Young women these days really are worrying."

Zhang Dahai muttered inwardly, leaning closer to the surveillance screen and fixing his gaze on the elevator area on the fourth floor.

"So it really is Room 407! What a scumbag!" the bald middle-aged man cursed enviously. "The room was paid for by the first one, and for a four-hour day-use room he even found time to call in another one. Not a second wasted!"

"Absolutely shameless! Disgusting!"

"Though his body really is impressive, damn it. Can he even handle it?"

"But how the hell did this kid pull it off?"

The bald man suddenly found the lively dancing girl on his phone screen rather dull.

...

"Brother Wei, I brought you barbecue."

After entering, Gao Xue smiled brightly as she unpacked the foil bags one by one and arranged the skewers, cartilage, and other items neatly. In a soft voice, she said, "Eat while it's hot. It won't taste as good once it gets cold."

Wei Lin was not polite. He grabbed a handful of cartilage and crunched through it noisily, saying vaguely, "Been busy lately? Has Old Jiang at the bar been skimping on your commission?"

"No, he hasn't. Thanks for your concern, Brother Wei."

Gao Xue took her toiletry bag and slipped into the bathroom.

When she came out, she had changed into a revealing hollowed-out set of lingerie, her long legs wrapped in black stockings, and she shyly and obediently slipped beneath the newly changed quilt.

...

After the storm had passed, Wei Lin, his eyes closed, held Gao Xue and chatted idly with her while nervously watching the progress bar beneath the luminous green orb in his mind.

Then he saw that the affection value was still glaringly fixed at 1/10.

"Hah. Women."

Wei Lin laughed, his disappointment deepening, though his tone remained gentle. "Xue, have you ever loved your brother?"

"Of course I have."

"If I didn't love you, Brother Wei, why would I come every single time you call me?"

Gao Xue played with her phone without looking up, then added sweetly, "Brother Wei, there’s an event at the bar this month. If you top up ten thousand, you get fifteen hundred extra. Will you come by and have some fun soon?"

"When I'm free, I'll go. I'll book a spot with you in advance." Wei Lin tugged lightly on her ponytail, making her face turn from the softly glowing phone screen back toward him.

Gao Xue quietly locked her screen and looked at him in confusion. "What's wrong, Brother Wei? You're in a bad mood today?"

"No."

Wei Lin shook his head and said wearily, "You know how it is, post-release exhaustion. It hits hard for a while."

"I know."

Gao Xue looked obedient and understanding. She leaned in and took the initiative to kiss him, then said softly, "Brother Wei, I know work is hard for you, but you should take better care of yourself too. Smoke a little less."

"Mm." Wei Lin nodded lightly, glanced at the affection value that still had not changed at all, and grew sullen. Then he tactfully urged, "Xue, I want to sleep for a bit. You should head to work early."

"Okay, Brother Wei. Then I'll... go back to the bar first?"

Gao Xue's eyes held a faint trace of grievance, as if he were not giving her a shred of emotional value after the fact.

Wei Lin pretended not to notice, lit a cigarette on his own, and began to smoke.

In the dim room filled with curling smoke, facing Gao Xue's false display of reluctance, Wei Lin let out a silent sigh.

Ten-odd seconds later, the room door shut again with a soft click.

"Hah. What a load of crap love is."

Wei Lin stubbed out his cigarette, rinsed off briefly, and stood at the mirror cabinet, staring at his reflection.

The figure in the mirror was gaunt, the face sharp-featured yet somewhat pale. Wei Lin said, "Even if it weren't for the tumor in my chest, I'd still max out that experience bar!"

...

"Man, impressive!"

When Wei Lin went to the front desk to return the room key card, Zhang Dahai could finally not hold back and gave him a thumbs-up, praising him sincerely. "Three and a half hours, two of them!"

"Brother, you don't understand. I was toyed with by women, body and heart."

Wei Lin turned and left with little spirit.

After his figure disappeared, the bald middle-aged man cursed enviously, "Showing off! Damn it, I wish I could be played like that by women with such bodies! And twice, too!"

"Love? You've got no damn love!"

...

Night, Star River International Residential Complex, Riverside City.

After returning home, Wei Lin felt no trace of sleepiness.

He opened the study computer, searched online for knowledge related to lung cancer, then closed his eyes and examined the green spherical star in his mind.

The progress bar for affection had still not changed at all.

The sudden events of the day had dealt him a tremendous psychological blow. To him, the star with the affection value beneath it was like a lifeline, something he wanted desperately to seize.

Though he did not know what it was, or why it had suddenly appeared, he had a strange intuition: the growth and changes in affection value really could help him fight the tumor showing itself in his lungs.

Only, increasing affection value seemed far harder than he had imagined.

Wei Lin came from a good family. His mother was a teacher at Riverside University, and before his father died, he had run a manufacturing company.

After that accident, the company came under Wei Lin's control. Through his efforts over the past few years, and with the strong support of several uncles, the business had actually become more profitable than before.

The Star River International apartment he currently owned was still one of the most famous wealthy districts in Riverside City, all large flats, with a minimum size of 190 square meters.

His unit was on the twentieth floor, with five bedrooms and two living rooms, totaling 250 square meters.

As the marital home he had once shared with Liu Qi, the renovation alone had cost over two million.

Now twenty-nine, Wei Lin was considered quite a capable rich second generation: young and promising, tall and handsome, outgoing in temperament, and smooth-tongued to the core.

Since his student days, Wei Lin had never lacked women. Among them were many who had taken the initiative to show him favor and even pursued him in return.

Perhaps women had come too easily to him, or perhaps his nature was simply rather rotten, unable to cherish the person before him. In the end, that led to the failed marriage between him and Liu Qi.

After the divorce, he threw himself into career success and lived ever more recklessly, regarding women as mere seasoning, never investing real emotion.

Always self-assured, he had long believed that the few women he maintained relationships with all had feelings for him.

But today, the performances of Lin Nanxi and Gao Xue had landed him two resounding slaps across the face.

He suddenly realized that he had been far too presumptuous, far too self-righteous.

He had once thought that accumulating and breaking through the affection value would be no difficult task for someone like him. Now he no longer thought so.

"Affection? Does it have to be true love for me?"

After staring blankly for a long while, Wei Lin began tapping at the keyboard, searching for "professional" knowledge on the subject, determined to take the troublesome problem before him seriously.

"How do you make a woman fall in love?"

"What kind of man has such strong allure that he leaves women unable to resist?"

"How do you manipulate women?"

"The seven traits of a man most likely to fascinate a woman."

"...."

A large amount of fragmented knowledge appeared one item after another on the screen.

Wei Lin steadied himself and studied them all carefully, pondering each point with full attention.

"So there are quite a few tricks hidden in this."

Wei Lin casually purchased some paid courses and continued reading, thereby learning the so-called "law of attraction," "sexual tension," "physiological liking," and women's tendency to admire the strong, along with other specialized terms.

"So even a relationship hides this many mysteries? So profound?"

After ordering several "professional" books recommended by emotional bloggers, planning to study systematically, Wei Lin closed the computer with mixed feelings.

Not long after.

"Huh?"

Rubbing at his dry, itchy eyes, Wei Lin had just closed them when he suddenly noticed that the affection value on the progress bar had quietly increased by one.

Affection value: 2/10!

A scene abruptly appeared.

Lin Nanxi, wearing pajamas and holding a glass of red wine, stood by the window, gazing dazedly at the traffic outside.

Not far away, on the small coffee table in the living room, sat a bottle of red wine nearly drained dry.

"She's thinking of me?"

"Could a sudden thought of me also increase the affection value?"

"Toward me, could Lin Nanxi actually... have feelings?"

While Wei Lin was still stunned in thought, the image in his mind quietly vanished as well.

After a moment of contemplation, he picked up his phone and scrolled through the chat records between himself and Lin Nanxi, only to find that their conversations had always been simple and direct.

Either he invited Lin Nanxi, or Lin Nanxi invited him. Whenever both had free time, they would quickly settle on a time and a hotel.

That was all.

Beyond that, there was no extra exchange in the chat window, no greetings and concern that belonged only between lovers, and no sharing of daily life.

"She can't feel that I have feelings for her?"

"So even if she has a little fondness for me, even just a tiny bit of affection, she would suppress it tightly because she can't feel any love from me?"

Analyzing this, Wei Lin's lips gradually curved upward. "Then I'll make her unable to suppress it!"

Since he had met Lin Nanxi until now, the two of them had always only texted each other. They had never once made a voice call.

At this moment, at half past midnight, Wei Lin chose to place the first voice call to Lin Nanxi.

Of course he remembered that among the emotional knowledge he had just read, there were a few crucial moments for breaking through a woman's heart.

Women at night were more likely to be sentimental and easier to win over than when they were fully awake during the day.

A woman who had been drinking was easier to charm than one who had not.

At night, and after drinking a great deal, a woman was at the best moment for breaking through her defenses.

"Hello? Wei Lin? What do you want in the middle of the night?"

The instant the call connected, Lin Nanxi's impatient, cool voice came through first.

Wei Lin held the phone and deliberately remained silent.

"Is that you, Wei Lin? Speak! What is it this time?!"

Lin Nanxi grew even more impatient, her voice rising.

"Nothing. I just suddenly missed you a little and wanted to hear your voice."

"Lin Nanxi, there are a few things I've always wanted to say to you, but I never knew how to put them."

"Ah, forget it. I can't seem to say it. It's too late anyway, so I won't disturb your rest."

"Good night, Lin Nanxi. Sweet dreams."

With that, before Lin Nanxi could speak, Wei Lin took the initiative and ended the call first.

A few minutes later, the affection value in Wei Lin's mind suddenly jumped from 2 to 4, and his phone began ringing nonstop.

It was Lin Nanxi calling him back.

Wei Lin did not answer. He put his phone on silent and went back to the bedroom to sleep.

...