As there weren't any programs planned on their itinerary, it was a free and easy day for all of them.

"Where should we go today?" Xiao Yan asked curiously.

"I know! We can go to the nearby shopping mall, as there will be shuttle buses provided as well."

"Sounds like a good idea." Si Ming nodded his head in approval.

The three of them then boarded the next shuttle bus towards the shopping mall. 

Feng Jiu was pleased to know that she wouldn't bump into Dong Hua here, as she had enough of seeing him for the past few days.

They shopped and bought a lot of snacks. After awhile, they got tired and headed towards a cafe to get some drinks.

They ordered their drinks and sat down. Then Xiao Yan turned to the both of them and said, "Well, I heard that there is a rumour going on in the company."

"What is it?! Tell us!" Feng Jiu replied anxiously.

Si Ming then remained calm and said, "I'm usually not a gossiper, but there's no harm hearing it."

"Yeah sure, Si Ming. You're not a gossiper, neither am I." Feng Jiu smirked and replied sarcastically.

"Yeah yeah, we are not gossipers. We are just having a discussion about the affairs of Tai Chen Group." Si Ming chuckled and replied.

"Cut the act, both of you! Okay, so recently, everyone was spreading rumours about Ice Face being interested in a girl, and he was seen with her quite often."

Feng Jiu silently thought to herself, "This is old news, I already knew this. It's definitely Ji Heng."

Si Ming then gave a half-smile and replied, "Interesting. That Iceblock actually showed interest in a girl? I knew him back in school, and he had tons of suitors, but he was never interested in any of them. Everyone thought he was into guys at first. In the end, we all realized that he only loves himself!"

"I wonder who that girl is." Xiao Yan was totally clueless, and it didn't even cross his mind that it could have been Ji Heng.

"I guess we could only wait and see. They are just rumours anyway." Si Ming replied.

Then Xiao Yan excitedly replied, "How I wish that there will be rumours of Ji Heng and me."

Feng Jiu and Si Ming started laughing, and Feng Jiu replied, "Yeah, just stack your pillow higher and dream about it tonight."

*In some Chinese sayings, when someone jokes about stacking your pillow higher tonight, it means that you can only dream about it, and it's impossible to happen in real life."

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After they finished shopping and had their early dinner, they headed back to the resort.

Xiao Yan and Si Ming wanted to go to the resort's bar to have more drinks, but Feng Jiu wasn't feeling up for it. Then she bid them goodbye and headed back to her room.

Feng Jiu then started rolling around on the bed while browsing through her social media. Suddenly, she remembered that she still had some vouchers left, and she could use it to redeem entry to the hot springs. Feng Jiu then quickly started to pack the essentials items and headed out of her room.

After she arrived at the female-gender hot spring, she realized that it was already closed. However, the mixed-gender outdoor hot spring was still open and it will only close at 10 PM.

Feng Jiu reckons that the mixed-gender spring wouldn't be crowded since it was already 9 PM. Then she decided to check it out, and if there were too many guys at the spring, she would just head back to her room.

Then Feng Jiu walked over to the outdoor hot spring, but to her disappointment, it was closed as well. She angrily thought to herself, "Why does it have to close today of all days?!"

Then she decided to try her luck to sneak in, as they were left with only two days at the resort with a packed schedule on top of that.

Feng Jiu noticed that there wasn't anyone guarding the entrance, so she slowly walked towards the auto gantry entrance and tapped her voucher. To her surprise, it worked, and she could enter the hot spring. Then she quickly made her way in, before others caught her sneaking around.

She looked around the area trying to see if anyone was inside, before dipping into the hot spring.

"Omg, this place is beautiful! I guess sneaking in wasn't a bad idea after all, and I even have the whole place to myself!" Feng Jiu happily thought to herself.

She walked towards the corner end of the hot spring because she didn't want to be seen easily if someone came in to check.

Then she took off her clothes and accessories, wrapped herself up in a towel before dipping into the hot springs.

"Ahhhh! This feels like heaven. So glad that I decided to come here. I'm going to enjoy myself now." She thought out loud.

She started splashing around and blowing bubbles in the water. She loved the water, as long as her feet could touch the ground. Afterwards, she leaned back against a rock wall and closed her eyes.

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Out of a sudden, Feng Jiu heard some light footsteps, and she immediately hid behind the rock wall. Then she slowly peeked at who was coming her way.

Feng Jiu got a huge shock when she noticed Dong Hua walking out the changing room, all showered and dressed.

"Dong... Dong Hua?! Why is he here?!" Feng Jiu nervously held her hands up to her mouth to prevent herself from making any noises. She hid behind the rock wall, hoping that Dong Hua wouldn't notice her.

But it was too late; Dong Hua had already heard Feng Jiu splashing around in the water. Then he slowly walked over to her side, stared at her from head to toe, and said calmly, "What are you doing here?"

Feng Jiu instantly felt embarrassed, and she stuttered, "Uhh... Uh.. Can't you see that I'm enjoying the hot spring? This is a public area anyway! And why are you here?!"

"Oh, I see. I reserved the whole place to myself, so there shouldn't be anyone here. That's why I came over to check, after hearing some splashing sounds."

"Uh.. Uh. The entrance wasn't closed, so I came in." Feng Jiu was afraid to get into trouble, so she didn't want Dong Hua to know that she sneaked in.

"Oh? I guess I have to inform the resort management about the security of the resort then. To prevent more cases like this where someone could just sneak into the hot spring, and peek at me."

Feng Jiu immediately blushed with embarrassment and tried to explain herself, "Peek?! Why would I want to peek at you?! As I said, I only came in because the entrance wasn't locked, and I wanted to enjoy the hot spring. You're done with it anyway, just continue your way out."

Then she continued to ramble on about how she was only there to dip in the hot spring, and she had no intention towards Dong Hua.

Dong Hua smirked because he enjoyed teasing Feng Jiu, but at the same time, he was also amused by how daring she was. She was the first person who dared to talk back to him, and she even told him to get lost. His eyes were fixed on Feng Jiu, and he didn't want to leave.

"I reserved this place so that people wouldn't walk in on me being half-naked. What if you came in while I was still dipping in the hot spring, and I was half-naked?"

"But... you're fully clothed!" Feng Jiu exclaimed.

Right at this moment, Feng Jiu realized that she was only draped in a towel. She instantly felt even more embarrassed and immediately hid behind the rock wall again.

"What are you staring at?!" Feng Jiu started splashing the water around her so that Dong Hua wouldn't be able to see her body, and then her towel came loose.

She instantly panicked and held on to her towel tightly, and then she swam as fast as she could to hide behind the rock wall.

But Dong Hua continued staring at Feng Jiu, with a blank expression on his face. Then she shouted to him, "Stop looking! Turn your whole body away immediately!"

Dong Hua slowly turned his back towards Feng Jiu, and he gave a half-smile.

Feng Jiu then slowly came out from hiding and crept towards the edge of the hot spring. She also kept her whole body under the water with only her head on top of the surface. She was worried that Dong Hua would turn around and look at her again.

She tried to reach out for her clothes, but she was unable to do so. Then Dong Hua noticed her trying to reach for her clothes, and he started to turn back so that he could help her with it.

"Wait!! What are you doing?! Turn back!" Feng Jiu immediately retracted into the water and demanded Dong Hua not to move.

"Don't you want your clothes?" He calmly replied.

"Yes, but I can get them myself!" Feng Jiu then tried reaching out for her clothes again.

Upon noticing that she was still having a hard time, he ignored her demands and picked up her clothes. Then he slowly walked backwards and passed the clothes back to Feng Jiu.

"Thanks." Feng Jiu replied coldly. She immediately covered herself with her clothes and started swimming towards the other end of the pool, which was nearer to the changing room.

"Hold on. You missed something." Dong Hua replied calmly.

Feng Jiu immediately turned her back and saw Dong Hua holding on to her bra, and he had a poker face on.

She was too embarrassed to say anything at this point. Then she closed her eyes, reached out her hand, and fished for her bra. The moment she got hold of her bra, she swam as fast as she could and got out of the pool. Then she ran straight into the changing room.

Feng Jiu's heart was beating so hard from the adrenaline rush, and she tried to calm herself down. She couldn't stop thinking about what just happened. Then she continued to wipe herself dry, using the towel provided by the resort and squeezed the water out from her wet clothes.

Afterwards, she tip-toed to the bathroom entrance, trying to see if Dong Hua left.

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On the other side, Dong Hua noticed something on the floor, and it was a bracelet left behind by Feng Jiu. He swiftly picked it up and he put it into his pocket.

Then he decided to stop teasing Feng Jiu and leave the hot spring because he knew that she wouldn't step out of the changing room if he were still there.

Upon noticing Dong Hua leaving, Feng Jiu quickly changed back into her wet clothes. She tried to dry herself as much as possible before leaving the hot spring area to head back to her room.

Feng Jiu immediately hopped into the shower once she reached her room, and she also had a hot shower to prevent catching a cold. Then she lay on her bed, thinking about what had just happened.

"Ahhhh! Why do I keep doing such embarrassing things in front of Dong Hua? He even picked up my bra! What would he think of me now?!" She sighed. She then started rolling around the bed as she continued to think about it.

"Did he see my body?!" She suddenly thought to herself.

"I will be too embarrassed to face Dong Hua from now on!"

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At the same time, Dong Hua was lying in bed and thinking about what had just happened too.

"Hmm... She looks so slim, so I totally didn't expect that she would have such curves. Her fair skin looks so smooth as well." Dong Hua smiled to himself.

"Wait. Why am I even thinking about that? I'm so dirty-minded! And why do I keep thinking of Feng Jiu recently?"

"I need to stop thinking about her."

Dong Hua was feeling conflicted because he had never felt this way about anyone before. He was a virgin, and he had no desires for anyone. But now, Dong Hua was starting to have dirty thoughts about Feng Jiu. But at the same time, he also felt something warm in his heart while he was thinking about her.

Dong Hua was having a hard time figuring out what was his true feelings towards Feng Jiu. This was also partly due to his childhood, as he shut everyone out of his life.

Dong Hua was an orphan, and he didn't know who his parents were. As far as he remembered, he was brought up in an orphanage. He was often bullied and outcasted by his peers, mainly because he didn't talk much.

Due to the bullying, he learned that he could only rely on himself, and he needed to be stronger. From then on, he became a distant and untrusting person.

Dong Hua remembered back to when he was 6 years old; he would sit alone during lunchtime, and watch other people having snacks prepared by their parents. He craved love so badly and wished that he also had that.

Even the caregivers in the orphanage often neglected him. There were times where he got bullied, but he was punished instead of the bullies. He would also often be seen with bruises, but nobody cared about him.

He began to learn martial arts so that he could protect himself. Over time, he realized that he could only strive to be the strongest so that the bullies would leave him alone.

By age 16, Dong Hua left the orphanage and survived on his own. He worked all kinds of jobs, from washing dishes to construction work. Dong Hua saved every penny and put himself through school. He was a genius, and he was also street smart. Being alone for all those years trained him to be independent.

Then at age 20, he started Tai Chen Group. Back then, he was the only employee, and he worked his way up slowly. He took on all kinds of projects, even the ones that people refused to take. He did everything he could, and his efforts eventually paid off.

Throughout all these years, all he knew about was work. He didn't let anyone come close to him, and nobody dared to go against him too.

Dong Hua truly believed that being distant and aloof was the only way to protect himself.

But deep down, he wanted to be loved too, and he still hoped to find someone who would love him unconditionally.

Once Dong Hua found that person, he would never let go of her.