Chapter 254: Underground Worker
After finishing his morning exercise and while eating in the cafeteria, he received a message from Yang Qingyin.
“My dad won’t let me return to school today, so I can’t meet you on campus. But I’ll be going out shopping, and we can find somewhere else to meet up later. Wait for my message,” Yang Qingyin’s message followed by a few crying emojis.
“Alright,” Luo Ziling felt down again, but to keep Yang Qingyin from getting more upset, he replied with a joke, “Senior, then I’ll show up like an undercover agent to meet you. How about we set up a secret signal, what do you think?”
He followed it with a string of laughing emojis covering their mouth.
After Yang Qingyin sent back two awkward emojis, she replied with another message: “Okay, but you won’t dress up so I can’t recognize you, right?”
“That’s actually quite possible!” Luo Ziling added several proud laughing emojis.
“So, what code shall we use?”
“How about, I say ‘sheep,’ you say ‘wolf,’ hehe, it kind of rhymes with our last names.” After sending this message, Luo Ziling couldn’t help but laugh himself.
“You big bad wolf, are you planning to eat this little lamb?” Seeing Luo Ziling’s teasing text, Yang Qingyin’s mood improved slightly, and her text messages became less heavy.
After telling Luo Ziling the rough meeting area, Yang Qingyin sent another message saying she’d contact him later and then went silent.
Luo Ziling quickly finished his breakfast, ignored the greetings from the female classmates trying to cozy up to him, and rushed back to his dormitory.
Back in the dormitory, he thought it over seriously and finally put on a casual outfit that Ling Ruonan had given him, wore his watch, combed his hair nicely, and even used a bit of Cao Jianhui’s hair gel to fix it in place.
Seeing himself looking vastly different from usual, transformed into a rather handsome and graceful gentleman, Luo Ziling then put on sunglasses.
However, upon seeing that he looked a bit off with the sunglasses, he ultimately changed into another outfit.
Dressed in very ordinary sportswear, jeans, and sneakers, topped with a hat and a pair of large glasses on his nose, he looked at himself from all angles in the mirror and, satisfied that no one could recognize him, he finally finished dressing up.
Wanting to test the effectiveness of this disguise, Luo Ziling deliberately stood at the school gate for a while and, finding that no one paid him any attention, he went to the place Yang Qingyin had mentioned contentedly.
The place Yang Qingyin mentioned was near Qianmen.
Luo Ziling took the subway straight to Qianmen Station.
After getting off the train, he wandered around Qianmen aimlessly, looking at his phone while wandering.
He arrived at Qianmen Station around nine o’clock, but by ten o’clock, having still not received a message from Yang Qingyin, he couldn’t help feeling gloomy. However, he didn’t take the initiative to send a message or call to inquire, believing that Yang Qingyin would definitely contact him.
Just a little before eleven, he finally received a message from Yang Qingyin.
“Junior, I’m really sorry, I’ve only just become available.”
Immediately after Yang Qingyin’s first message, she followed up with another: “In fifteen minutes, I’ll be waiting for you at the Blue Mountain Coffee Qianmen Store. Once I get there, I’ll send you the number of the private room.”
After that, she also shared her location.
“I’ll be there on time,” replied Luo Ziling, and quickly headed in the direction indicated by the shared location.
When he finally found his way to the Blue Mountain Coffee after some effort, Yang Qingyin’s message arrived just in time.
“Second floor, room 206. Don’t pay attention to anyone you meet on the way up.”
Luo Ziling responded with an OK gesture.
After slipping his phone into his pocket, he walked directly into the coffee shop.
When he went upstairs, he saw Xiaoli wearing sunglasses and another tall man standing in the corridor.
Upon seeing him come up, Xiaoli glanced at him before quickly looking away, only to turn back again soon after.
It was unclear what Xiaoli said, but the man standing with her nodded and then headed downstairs.
As the man passed by, Luo Ziling went in another direction, avoiding a face-to-face encounter with the man.
Only after the man had descended did Luo Ziling turn around and head straight for Room 206.
Xiaoli seemed not to notice him at all, her gaze fixated elsewhere, without greeting or glancing at him.
When Luo Ziling turned the knob and slipped into the room, she still showed no reaction.
“I’m the sheep,” he said softly as he entered the room and saw Yang Qingyin looking over.
“The big bad wolf,” Yang Qingyin responded with a hint of a smile, “Sit down and eat something first.”
After removing his hat and glasses, Luo Ziling sat down opposite Yang Qingyin, “This is really like meeting an underground operative. A few more dates like this, and I could probably become a spy,”
“Scared?” Yang Qingyin’s smile faded as she looked straight at Luo Ziling, “If you’re scared, then I won’t ask you out again.”
Today she wanted to go to school, but her father, Yang Yunlin, wouldn’t allow it.
Under her insistence, Yang Yunlin relented, agreeing she could go to school but with two additional people accompanying her.
Yang Qingyin did not agree and changed her mind, saying instead she wanted to go shopping for clothes.
Yang Yunlin consented but still insisted she take several people with her, citing the National Day holiday crowd and his worries about her safety.
Yang Qingyin didn’t want to fall out with her father, so after some thought, she agreed. Her frustration at this situation was evident, hence her annoyance when Luo Ziling mentioned that meeting up felt like coordinating with underground operatives.
“How could that be?” Luo Ziling hastened to shake his head, “Knowing you have to go out with several people, that’s why I thought of using a secret signal.”
“Sigh!” Yang Qingyin let out a sigh, her face clouded with gloom.
Before coming out, she took great care to instruct Ye Xiaoli, asking her to help divert the other two bodyguards.
Ye Xiaoli agreed without hesitation.
Besides Xiaoli, there were two other male bodyguards following Yang Qingyin out.
One was sent by Xiaoli to guard the entrance, while the other stayed with Xiaoli at the door of the room.
However, Xiaoli convinced the other bodyguard to wait downstairs as well, arguing that being too conspicuous could complicate Yang Qingyin’s outing.
As Xiaoli held higher authority than the other two bodyguards, they ultimately agreed and sequentially took their posts at the shop’s entrance.
They both had seen pictures of Luo Ziling, so they kept an eye on everyone coming and going, ready to intercept him and prevent him from meeting with Yang Qingyin. Fortunately, Luo Ziling was clever enough to evade the bodyguards’ notice.
“Tell me about what happened when you went home last night,” Luo Ziling whispered to Yang Qingyin, “Tell me everything, okay? Let’s discuss a strategy.”