A Temporary Abode

[Clearheaded Quitter VS Hotel CEO Awaiting Salvation]

| Mutual salvation | Love-triangle battlefield |

Blurb

After handing in her resignation, Shen Qing packed her bags and flew 3,000 kilometers from Jingzhou to northwestern Yunnan.

It was a haven for white-collar workers who had quit without another job lined up, and a paradise for hikers.

She refused to keep working in a mentally demanding job, but to keep her social insurance and housing fund contributions going, she took a job at Tuqi, a resort hotel halfway up a mountain, making beds for a salary with one zero knocked off.

Lin Muye used to be a well-known young master of the Lin family in Jingzhou. He drove luxury cars, lived in a mansion, and his biggest worry was which gathering to attend tomorrow and which vintage to drink.

A hiking trip years ago left Lin Muye with a deep-seated trauma. He fled to these mountains in northwestern Yunnan, where not even a high-speed train ran, and bought a mountain inn that had been on the verge of going out of business.

He found a designer, renovated the property, and persuaded villagers to join Tuqi. Lin Muye thought that was the end of it.

He kept watch over the mountain, and the mountain buried his past.

Until Shen Qing arrived.

She was like a mischievous rabbit, always hopping right onto Lin Muye’s sore spots.

She had such an impressive education, yet chose to come work as a bed-maker in the mountains.

Maybe she, too, had a past she didn’t want to talk about, and had made a choice that seemed incomprehensible to others, just like he had?

One day, Shen Qing was trapped on the mountain by a blizzard after rescuing someone. That night, Lin Muye broke free of the vow he had made never to enter the mountains again and plunged into the blizzard, where visibility had dropped to zero.

Shen Qing ended the call and stared at her phone screen until it went dark.

She thought she had moved on long ago, but it turned out she hadn’t.

All the grievances, resentment, and self-doubt she had been suppressing finally came pouring out in a moment like this, overwhelming her.

She tipped her head back and downed the rest of her drink. She drank too quickly and choked, bringing tears to her eyes.

Then she heard faint footsteps behind her. Shen Qing didn’t turn around, but she knew who it was.

Lin Muye sat down beside her without a word and asked the bartender for a glass of ice water.

The bottom of the glass touched the counter with a crisp sound.

Shen Qing’s voice was nasal. “What brings you here, Mr. Lin?”

“I’d just finished a meeting when I saw you here.” Lin Muye’s long fingers wrapped around his glass as he swirled the water.

Jazz drifted through the lounge, the saxophone playing a plaintive melody.

“Just now...” Shen Qing began, then stopped. She wasn’t sure how much he had heard.

Lin Muye was blunt. He turned to look at her. “You have a boyfriend.”

“An ex-boyfriend,” Shen Qing corrected, forcing a crooked smile.

“So...”

Lin Muye crossed one leg over the other.

“Did you break up with him for me?”

Content warnings: The female lead has an ex-boyfriend. The leads are each other’s first and only, and the story has a happy ending.

The early chapters are light and sweet; later on, the story explores some weightier, more profound topics.

Theme: Advocate a simple material life and a rich inner life