Su Xiyan's tone sounded quite anxious, and there was also a very helpless look.
The usually so powerful person was actually also showing an anxious state because she was locked out of her home.
After all, Su Xiyan was still just a girl!
Chen Shuo frowned and asked, "Isn't your door lock an electronic lock? Fingerprint recognition, how did it get stuck?"
On the phone, Su Xiyan replied: "I don't know what's going on either. It should be because the battery hasn't been changed for a long time and the fingerprint lock ran out of power. It warned of low battery a few days ago, but I didn't care, thinking it could last a while longer. I didn't expect the little bit of battery would run out so quickly."
"The lights outside the door don't seem to be on either, it's pitch black, and I'm a little scared."
"What if I run into bad guys?"
Chen Shuo: "..."
"You're still afraid of bad guys? Bad guys would be so scared just seeing you that they'd call 110 themselves!"
Su Xiyan pleaded pitifully: "Chen Shuo, could you please come help me?"
In the days living together with Su Xiyan, Chen Shuo had never heard her speak in such a tone.
For her to lower herself like this, could she have really encountered something that made her feel afraid?
Chen Shuo struggled to regain his composure and said to Su Xiyan: "You know there's a campus curfew, if I go out now, I definitely won't make it back in time."
"Let me find a locksmith for you!"
After hanging up the phone, Chen Shuo searched on his phone for a good half day but couldn't find the number for any locksmiths.
I remember having saved a locksmith's number before! But that was back in high school, and I don't know if that locksmith is even still in business, or if I accidentally deleted it when clearing my contacts.
Chen Shuo asked his three dormmates: "Xuxu, Xiaochen, Fei, do you guys have a locksmith's number?"
The three other boys unanimously said no.
I wonder why I never noticed they were so in sync before?
Chen Shuo started looking online for a locksmith, and there were quite a few in the city. Just as he was about to pick one, he overheard his roommates talking:
Zhu Fei: "Locksmiths nowadays are too sly! Last time my sister found a locksmith, agreed on a price, but when he got there he wanted more money."
Shen Xu: "He probably saw your sister was an easy woman to take advantage of!"
Zhu Fei nodded: "That's right! My sister got herself locked out in the middle of the night, found a locksmith online that looked fierce and sinister, agreed to fifty bucks to get it open, but when he got there he jacked up the price."
Lu Chen chimed in: "Actually money is a small matter, safety is the big issue! Your sister living alone as a woman, how unsafe if someone targets her!"
"Luckily your sister practices taekwondo, otherwise it would be very dangerous!"
Zhu Fei waved his hands repeatedly: "Taekwondo is useless, those bad guys nowadays use dirty tricks you just can't defend against!"
After his three vividly descriptive dormmates planted sinister images in Chen Shuo's mind, he immediately got out of bed, grabbed a jacket, and headed out.
Behind him, Lu Chen asked: "Old Chen, it's almost curfew, where are you going in the middle of the night?"
Chen Shuo: "I have something to take care of."
"Leave the door open for me."
By the time Chen Shuo's figure disappeared around the corner of the stairs, Lu Chen had briskly closed and locked the door.
"Leave the door open for you? What are you thinking? If we left the door open, how would we explain it to the campus belle Su?"
No sooner had Chen Shuo left than the three roommates took out a huge bag of snacks and happily started feasting! Many of these snacks were imported goods or internet celebrity snacks with exorbitant prices that students couldn't normally afford.
As Zhu Fei ate snacks, he reached over to rummage through Lu Chen's snack bag asking "How many bags of those potato chips do you have? Share one with me, they're so good."
Lu Chen retorted "The snacks Campus Belle Su bought for the three of us are equal shares, you just eat the fastest!"
"If you eat the most, you should do more to help make it happen!" Zhu Fei protested with his mouth full "Didn't I do most of the talk just now to help out?"
The more honest Shen Xu meekly asked "Fei, Xiaochen, isn't it a bit callous that for a few bags of snacks we sold Old Chen to Campus Belle Su? What if Chen finds out, won't he be angry?"
Lu Chen said "How can you say we sold him out? While helping Campus Belle Su, we are also helping Old Chen!"
Hearing Lu Chen say this, Shen Xu immediately felt much more at ease.
Without Chen Shuo, the dorm room atmosphere again turned cheerful!
It had only been a few days since Chen Shuo was last at Haiyi Apartment.
But it somehow felt as if it had already been a very long time.
The security staff downstairs all recognized Chen Shuo and assumed he still lived at Haiyi Apartment.
One was an electrician holding a light bulb who saw Chen Shuo like he was a savior: "Mr. Chen, Ms. Su said the light outside your home seems to have gone out. You can change light bulbs right? I'm the only one on duty tonight and can't get away."
"Could I trouble you to..."
Before he finished speaking, Chen Shuo had already taken the light bulb and toolbox and headed for the elevator up to the penthouse.
It really seemed everything was happening at once. First the fingerprint lock broke, and now the light bulb too.
Chen Shuo truly suspected Su Xiyan did this deliberately.
When the elevator dinged arriving on Su Xiyan's floor, Chen Shuo carrying the light bulb and toolbox walked out to see Su Xiyan curled up sitting on the doormat outside.
She was slender to begin with, looking rather frail and delicate like this.
Calm down Chen Shuo! Don't let this woman's exterior fool you!
After all, she had tricked you not once or twice!
Chen Shuo reminded himself not to stumble twice in the same place.
"Isn't the light by the elevator still on?" Chen Shuo looked up at the currently bright light bulb.
Furrowing his brow, he was even more certain Su Xiyan was just messing with him.
Instantly, his disgust towards Su Xiyan grew some more.
Did this woman decide to play him like a fiddle?
Just as Chen Shuo was about to leave, the light suddenly went out.
The instant the light darkened, Chen Shuo only felt a soft and fragrant bundle appear in his arms.
The next second, the light came back on.
Chen Shuo opened his eyes to see Su Xiyan curled up in his embrace like a frightened bunny rabbit, her hands quite skillfully wrapped around his waist.
Su Xiyan looked at the light on the ceiling that had dimmed and re-brightened, saying "The light just suddenly blinked on and off like that, scared me to death."