Trembling At A High Altitude

After sending Doctor Ai and Chen Lei off, Li Teng felt an emptiness he couldn't shake off.

It felt like he had been hollowed out.

For a while, he couldn't even find the mood to draw his comics.

From last night to this morning, he was too tired.

Li Teng decided to take a nap to fully recover; otherwise, his body would eventually collapse.

Just as he was about to sleep, his editor called, saying he had received some royalty payments and asked Li Teng to log into WeChat.

After logging into WeChat, the editor transferred the money to him.

Five thousand yuan!

"That much?" Li Teng was somewhat surprised.

"Do you think it's too much? Then send some back to me," the editor joked.

"Not at all." Li Teng sent a laughing emoji.

"Keep it up, your comic is very popular here. Draw more while you're in the groove," the editor encouraged Li Teng.

"Yeah, yeah."

Although it felt great to have the money and he wanted to draw some more,

but after a whole morning of tossing and turning, that feeling of emptiness made it hard for Li Teng to find his groove, so he decided to take a nap first.

...

He didn't know how much time had passed.

Li Teng was woken up by the ringing of his phone.

Glancing at it, it was Mother Li calling.

"Shoot!"

Li Teng slapped his forehead; he seemed to have forgotten something important.

"Did you contact Yin Yin yesterday?"

Mother Li called exactly to ask about this.

"I did," Li Teng lied through his teeth.

"What did she say?" Mother Li asked.

"She hasn't replied yet." Li Teng continued to lie.

"You didn't contact her, did you?" Mother Li felt Li Teng was lying.

"How could I not? She really hasn't responded to me," Li Teng insisted.

"Then send me the screenshot of your chat with her," Mother Li demanded proof.

"..."

"Do you really want to age your mother by ten years all at once?" Mother Li was heartbroken.

"I'll contact her right now and send you the screenshot later," Li Teng quickly reassured his mother.

"Okay, I'll be waiting."

After hanging up with Mother Li, Li Teng reluctantly sent a message to Liu Yin.

"Still upset? Are you free today? Wanna hang out?"

Just as he was about to take a screenshot for Mother Li, Liu Yin replied.

"Sure, where are you? I'll come pick you up."

"No need to pick me, let's meet somewhere," he responded.

"Then where shall we go?"

Li Teng looked at the time... now... almost five in the afternoon? Had he slept that long?

It was mealtime already! Inviting her out would mean going to eat, right?

"Let's go to Liuyun Grand Hotel; I'll treat you to dinner," Li Teng thought for a moment and then suggested a location.

When inviting a wealthy girl like her to dinner, he couldn't possibly take her to KFC, could he?

He had just earned five thousand yuan, so treating her to a meal at Liuyun was no problem.

"Sure," Liu Yin agreed.

After settling that, Li Teng sent the screenshot of their conversation to Mother Li.

"I told you so! It's you! Just be proactive in contacting her, you might even have a child by now, but you won't listen!" Mother Li was obviously very happy.

"Mom, you..." Li Teng was speechless; how could they possibly have a child that quickly?

"You're treating her to dinner at Liuyun Grand Hotel? It's quite expensive there; do you have that much money? I'll transfer some to you," Mother Li worried.

"No need, I have money, I've earned some recently," Li Teng replied.

"Earned money? How did you earn it? Enough to dine at Liuyun Grand Hotel? You're not drawing those harmful comics again, are you?" Mother Li asked vigilantly.

"I haven't been drawing harmful comics, I've been drawing ones about harming invaders..." Li Teng argued.

"So you were drawing comics again?"

"Mom, don't worry, I'm not doing anything illegal," Li Teng felt helpless.

"Don't resort to unscrupulous methods for money. If you just settle things with Yin Yin and become their family's son-in-law or something, won't you worry about money in the future? Why can't you understand this?" Mother Li reproached.

"Okay, okay, I'll listen to you."

"Right, when you are at Liuyun Grand Hotel for dinner, just offer to pay at the end. Yin Yin's character, she will definitely insist on paying, so don't fight with her over it," Mother Li thought for a moment and added a few words.

"..." Li Teng was speechless.

"Okay, I won't lecture you anymore. Just handle it well; this is a significant opportunity in your life."

"Understood."

...

Liuyun Grand Hotel.

Li Long had originally wanted to eat a buffet.

Though the buffet seemed expensive at 888 yuan per person, at least it had a cap, and two people would just be under eighteen hundred yuan.

Ordering à la carte was uncertain; with Liuyun Grand Hotel's standards, a single bottle of wine or a dish could exceed that amount.

But Liu Yin didn't want a buffet.

Li Teng only had the option to find a private room for them.

"I'm treating, you choose," he said.

Li Teng handed the menu to Liu Yin.

Liu Yin casually ordered four dishes.

Together, they were just over five hundred yuan.

Li Teng breathed a sigh of relief.

"Would you like any beverages?" the waiter asked.

"No need, she doesn't drink alcohol," Li Teng smiled at the waiter.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but I must inform you that this private room comes with a minimum consumption of three thousand eight hundred eighty-eight yuan," the waiter said to Li Teng.

"Ah? Well…" Li Teng was about to question whether this was a form of extortion, considering his dignity in front of Liu Yin, he held himself back and decided not to argue over it.

"Then how about some red wine? Do you drink red wine?" Li Teng tried asking Liu Yin.

"Sure," Liu Yin nodded.

"Which red wine would you like to drink?" Li Teng flipped the menu to the beverages section and handed it to Liu Yin.

"Let's have this one. Mom likes this wine, and I've tried it too. It tastes really good, you should give it a try," Liu Yin quickly pointed to a wine.

Li Teng glanced at the price of the wine... 18,888 yuan.

"One thousand eight hundred eighty-eight? The money I have on hand should cover it," Li Teng silently calculated.

"Something seems off... those extra eights after?" he recalculated.

Damn it! Taking advantage of my math, aren't they?

Li Teng's face changed drastically.

The waiter sneaked a glance at Li Teng and noticed something was off with his expression. A hint of contempt and schadenfreude appeared on his face as he turned and walked out of the private room with the menu.

Running off to Liuyun Grand Hotel with a girlfriend and asking for a private room, playing rich when you're not, people are chagrined once the bill comes. They had seen such cases before, and it looked like someone was going to be unlucky today.

Of course, whether Li Teng could afford to pay was not for them to worry about; as long as the drinks had been consumed, the hotel had ways of making the customers pay.

Soon, the dishes they ordered were delivered.

The waiter uncorked the bottle of red wine and poured half a glass for each of them.

"About the incident at the movie theater last time..." Li Teng brought up a topic.

"It's okay, I'm not mad. I know you just..."

"No, I did it on purpose, purposely to make you mad," Li Teng interrupted Liu Yin before she could finish.

"..." Liu Yin didn't know what to say.

"If you continue dating me, I might do even more excessive things to you," Li Teng added a few more words.

Liu Yin fell silent, picking up her glass of red wine and starting to drink.

"Why did you agree to date me? What qualities did you see in me? Don't give me that nonsense. A rich girl like you and a poor guy like me hardly match, sharing no common language, let alone a foundation for feelings. What's your real motive for dating me?" Li Teng downed his glass of red wine in one gulp and looked at Liu Yin.

"It wasn't me who initiated it; it was your mother who approached me," Liu Yin corrected.

"Heh, don't you find such an explanation very weak?" Li Teng was unamused.

To tell the truth, he really liked the girl in front of him.

A man, after all! Who doesn't like a cute and beautiful girl? Especially when she is the daughter of the city's richest man.

But every time he thought of her, Li Teng had to connect all this with a conspiracy.

Liu Yin kept silent again, continuing to drink her red wine.

"Do you know Shen Mengying?" Li Teng asked Liu Yin another question.

"I don't know her," Liu Yin hesitated and then shook her head.

"Her family is also very wealthy, ranking among the top in He City, right? The other day she also approached me, wanting to date me, to be my girlfriend," Li Teng said while observing Liu Yin's reaction.

Liu Yin lowered her head, her body visibly trembling after hearing Li Teng's words, but she pretended nothing was wrong and continued to drink her wine.

"Is there any conflict between you and her? Did she know you were dating me, so she deliberately tried to get involved?" Li Teng continued to probe.

"I don't know her," Liu Yin shook her head again.

"But you and her, you rich girls, both looking to date a poor guy like me— isn't there some conspiracy behind this? What do you aim to accomplish? Just tell me outright, and I'll help you if I can," Li Teng kept pressing Liu Yin.

"Stop saying I'm a rich girl! My dad doesn't even like me! He never treated me as his daughter!" Liu Yin suddenly yelled, then ran her fingers through her hair.

Li Teng was somewhat stunned.

Even the usually clueless Liu Yin could get angry?

Liu Yin drained her glass of wine in one go and then poured another.

Seeing that Liu Yin's face didn't look good, Li Teng remained silent and began to eat his food.

After a while, Li Teng noticed that Liu Yin's glass was empty again, and she was about to pour herself another.

"What are you doing? Can you drink it?" Li Teng reached out and grabbed the wine bottle.

"I can hold my liquor very well!" Liu Yin pushed Li Teng's hand away and poured herself another glass.

In no time, she had finished off a bottle of red wine.

"Waiter, another bottle," Liu Yin called out to the waiter.

"Right away." The waiter promptly opened another bottle and then watched Li Teng with a look of schadenfreude.

"Trying to drown your sorrows?" Li Teng sensed something was off with Liu Yin's mood.

Liu Yin didn't speak but just kept drinking one glass after another, evidently able to hold her liquor.

"Girls who love to drink heavily don't make good girlfriends," Li Teng mused.

However, Liu Yin's tolerance was clearly not as good as she claimed.

After three bottles, she lay motionless on the table.

"Are you okay?" Li Teng had no choice but to sit beside her and help her up.

If she had a problem from drinking, and he had no evidence that he hadn't encouraged her to drink, he was assuming responsibility.

"I'm fine." Liu Yin smiled at Li Teng, her body going limp in his arms.

"This... I don't really like girls who get drunk..." Li Teng frowned.

She was in no condition to go home by herself.

And Li Teng pondered that it wouldn't be right for him to take her home.

For one thing, he didn't know where her home was.

Secondly, if the Liu family members found out that he had been with her while she was drunk, he couldn't handle the blame.

Mainly because his sister Anna was still at the Liu family company getting treatment on her leg! She was counting on standing up this time, and if they took their anger out on Anna, and stopped making the prosthetic halfway, it'd be troublesome.

Li Teng decided to rent a room at the Liuyun Grand Hotel, let her sober up a bit, and then, once she was sober, he would take her home.

"Sir, please settle the bill." The waiter stopped Li Teng, who was about to leave carrying Liu Yin.

"Oh, sorry... how much is it?" Li Teng had to stop.

"The total is fifty-seven thousand two hundred and fifty yuan." The waiter replied to Li Teng.

"Fifty-seven thousand?" Li Teng rolled his eyes.

"Correct, and that includes two hundred and fifty yuan." The waiter added.

"I don't have that much money on me..." Li Teng furrowed his brows.

"Sir, you can pay by card or scan for payment," the waiter said, barely keeping a schadenfreude smile off his face.

"I included all my money, it's not enough... Here's what, I'll rent a room in your hotel, add the meal to the room bill, and I'll settle everything when I leave." Li Teng thought of a solution.

"That's not possible, sir. The restaurant and the accommodation are billed separately," the waiter promptly rejected Li Teng's suggestion.

"Do I have to pay now?"

"Yes, sir."

Li Teng furrowed his brows.

What should he do now?

He glanced at Liu Yin in his arms.

She was sound asleep.

Borrow from Mother Li? She didn't have that much money either! And hadn't she said to pretend to pay and then let Yin Yin grab the bill?

The problem was... Yin Yin couldn't pay the bill now, right?

Li Teng had no choice but to sit back down, holding Liu Yin in one arm and scrolling through WeChat on his phone with the other, seeing who he could borrow money from at this moment.

As a homebody who didn't like to socialize much, he had never borrowed money from anyone in his life.

"God Teng, why are you suddenly borrowing such a large amount of money?" the editor asked in surprise after Li Teng had called him.

"I was dining with friends, ordered three bottles of wine, each costing 18,888 yuan." Li Teng told the editor truthfully, hoping to get an advance.

"I don't have money on me right now either, you know I'm abroad, but if you urgently need it, I can lend you two thousand... Who were you dining with? Why such expensive wine? Was it a young female?" the editor asked.

"You're amazing! You guessed right!" Li Teng laughed awkwardly.

"You weren't scammed, were you? Those scams where they claim to be your friend and then order expensive wine to get a commission are so common! God Teng, you're smart and you fell for this? Quickly, call the police!" the editor sympathized deeply with Li Teng's plight.

"Not that, we'll talk later," Li Teng hung up the phone.

Then he dialed Elsa's mobile phone.

She didn't answer.

Elsa probably left her phone somewhere again.

The waiter could barely hide the schadenfreude expression on his face any longer.

Li Teng continued to scroll through his contact list and WeChat.

Finally, he found another name: Shen Mengying.