He is Too Stingy, This Sand Sculpture Cannon Fodder

Just at that moment, Lin Mingxu’s phone received a daily pop-up notification from Shu You.

Shu You: [On the third day of the business trip, I miss you, miss you, miss you, lots of love~~]

Lin Mingxu: “…”

The cleaning aunt entered the room with a cloth in her hand and saw Lin Mingxu standing at the door without moving. She kindly asked, “Young man, did you lose something or are you looking for someone?”

Lin Mingxu: “I’m looking for someone.”

“Oh, looking for someone!”

The aunt warmly reminded him, “The person has already checked out! Next time, come earlier!”

Lin Mingxu: …I made a mistake.

He forgot to ask for Shu You’s specific itinerary.

With a stern face, he returned to his room. As soon as he entered, he found Tang Le standing against the wall like a gecko, with his upper body and hands pressed tightly against it, motionless.

Lin Mingxu frowned, “What are you doing?”

Seeing his superior enter, Tang Le immediately straightened up, his face turning red. “S-Sorry, Manager Lin. It seems like there’s some noise next door, and the sound insulation is not good.”

Taking a deep breath, Lin Mingxu asked, “What kind of noise?”

“I-I don’t know.”

Tang Le felt embarrassed and at a loss, quickly explaining, “I heard a pattern of three long and one short knocks from next door… It sounded like a distress signal, so I…”

Three long and one short?

Lin Mingxu listened attentively and indeed heard a similar noise.

It seemed like…

“Thud, thud—thud, thud—thud, thud—”

At first listen, it was quite distinct.

But as Lin Mingxu recalled the first aid knowledge he had learned, he knew it wasn’t a distress signal.

Tang Le let out a relieved breath and said, “Manager Lin, should we report this to the front desk?”

“No need.”

Lin Mingxu glanced at the daylight outside. “It’s still daytime, and the front desk can’t do much about it.”

Indeed, it was still bright outside, and the noise wasn’t considered disruptive during the day.

Tang Le quickly found an excuse and left. Lin Mingxu sat alone in the room and opened his laptop.

…He came here to work, not specifically to meet Shu You.

That’s right, whether Shu You was here or not wasn’t the main point.

But…

Just as he focused his attention, the strange noise from next door resurfaced.

“Thud, thud, thud!”

Lin Mingxu furrowed his brow, stood up, and the sound suddenly stopped.

He had no choice but to sit back down.

“Thud, thud, thud!”

His facial muscles twitched, and he stood up again.

…The sound stopped once more.

Lin Mingxu: “…”

For some reason, he had a sense of familiarity with this headache.

This time, the next door remained quiet for a while, allowing Lin Mingxu to resume reading the documents.

But after half an hour, the noise started again.

“Thud, thud, thud!”

“Thud, thud, thud!”

“Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!”

It even had a rhythm to it.

Unable to bear it any longer, Lin Mingxu happened to be next to the wall. He raised his hand and knocked twice.

The noise from the other side ceased.

Lin Mingxu: …I hope they understand my message.

As he

flipped to the next page of the document, Lin Mingxu suddenly noticed an error. Just as he was about to correct it, the noise from next door started again.

“Thud, thud.”

“Thud, thud.”

“Thud, thud.”

They even changed the pattern!

Lin Mingxu furrowed his brow deeply, got up, opened the door, and walked to the door of the neighboring room, knocking on it.

Instantly, the noise from the other side quieted down.

…Hopefully, this time should be enough of a hint.

Lin Mingxu turned around and returned to his room. Just as he sat down, his phone rang.

It was a call from Shu You.

Instinctively, he glanced at the outside sky. It was indeed dark, but it was only a little past 8 p.m. Since he wasn’t very hungry, he had asked Tang Le to have his meal, while he himself had been busy until now.

Was Shu You going to bed so early today?

Lin Mingxu pressed the answer button, maintaining a calm tone. “It’s me, what’s the matter?”

“Lin Mingxu!”

Shu You’s voice on the other end lacked the usual liveliness and instead carried a hint of seriousness. “Are you still working overtime?”

Having worked late the night before last and last night, it was reasonable to assume he would be working overtime tonight as well.

The night before last, I worked overtime. I also worked overtime last night. By the same reasoning, I must be working overtime tonight as well.

Shu You felt smart and clever and secretly praised himself.

Lin Mingxu nodded in agreement. Based on the actual situation, he was indeed working overtime.

Shu You nervously asked, “Are you free?”

“I am.”

Lin Mingxu furrowed his brows slightly, sensing that today’s Shu You was different.

It seemed like something had happened.

On the phone, Shu You held the phone tightly in his hand, huddled under the covers, and whispered, “Lin Mingxu, I suspect there are ghosts in the hotel.”

“Ghosts?” Lin Mingxu was a firm materialist and atheist.

He raised an eyebrow and asked, “Why do you say that?”

“Either there are suspicious individuals, like in the movies, such as spies or assassins preparing for something.”

Shu You tightened the blanket around him and said mysteriously, “I was listening to a song just fine, but there were constant knocking sounds from the wall.”

Lin Mingxu’s eyebrows twitched, and his tone unconsciously became subtle. “Knocking sounds?”

“I don’t know what’s going on.” Shu You was puzzled.

“At first, I thought someone was next door, but there is clearly no one living next to me.”

“I tested it a few times, and the person on the other side responded to me.”

“This must be a ghost.”

Lin Mingxu suddenly had a bad premonition.

He composed himself and asked cautiously, “Where are you?”

Shu You confidently replied, “I’m in the hotel.”

Lin Mingxu’s mouth twitched, and he asked again, “I mean, which city are you in?”

“Oh.”

Shu You didn’t think much and answered, “Wasn’t I here to shoot in Binhai City? I spent two days shooting and two days enjoying the cool breeze. I caught a bit of a cold.”

“Coincidentally, the production team doesn’t need me for today’s scenes, so I decided to take a day off. They all went to Luohai City.”

Wu Youzhe was also in Binhai City, but he and Shu You couldn’t stay in the same hotel. They were on different streets.

Lin Mingxu’s temple throbbed. “So you’re in your own room?”

“Not anymore.”

Shu You cleared his throat and said with a hint of pride, “Duan Siqi’s room is a large suite, twice the size of my standard room, and the bathtub is high-end. I switched to his room.”

Lin Mingxu understood.

It was hard to say whether he felt more delighted or upset by the emotions surging in his heart now.

With a blank expression, he asked, “Are you staying in room 1618?”

Shu You was shocked, “How did you know?”

“Is your room at the corner of the hallway?

“Shu You was astounded, “Lin Mingxu, you actually…”

“No.”

Lin Mingxu walked out of the room with the phone, turned a corner, and arrived at the opposite corridor. He took a deep breath and calmly said, “Open the door now.”

“But what if something happens when I open the door and I get assassinated?” Shu You cautiously yet firmly said.

Lin Mingxu took another deep breath. At this moment, he really wanted to assassinate him.

He was already standing outside the room, and Shu You was most likely hiding under the covers.

Don’t ask him how he guessed it.

Helpless, he had to speak, “I’m outside the door. Open the door.”

“What?”

Shu You was stunned, “Why are you at the door? Did you teleport here?”

“I came over for a meeting.”

“But how did you end up in this hotel?”

“Tang Le booked it.”

“nside the room, chaos erupted, followed by a series of banging sounds. After a while, Shu You cautiously walked to the door and looked outside through the peephole.

“Lin Mingxu!”

Shu You was both shocked and delighted. “Come in quickly and help me check.”

Lin Mingxu stiffened for a moment, suddenly unsure whether he should reveal that he was in the neighboring room.

After careful consideration, he decided…The man entered the room, looked around, and calmly said, “It should be the sound from outside the window.”

Shu You immediately pressed himself against the window and looked outside, saying, “No, there’s nothing.”

Lin Mingxu replied, “It might have been a bird.”

“A bird?”

“It flew away now.”

“Really?”

Shu You widened his eyes and stared at him intently, saying, “Lin Mingxu, you know a lot.”

“…”

Lin Mingxu lowered his gaze and calmly sent a message to Tang Le.

Lin Mingxu, please change my room immediately.

“Oh wait, something’s not right.”

Shu You snapped back to reality and finally noticed the bug, asking, “How did you know?”

Lin Mingxu suddenly averted his gaze and casually said, “You knocked first.”

“Uh…”

Speaking of that, Shu You’s attention was diverted, and he guiltily said, “I was wearing headphones and playing games, I didn’t notice and kicked the wall a few times.”

It seemed like he was playing the game intensely.

And with a rhythm.

Upon receiving a message, Tang Le came over to find out why Lin Mingxu wanted to change rooms, but the door was open. He heard some commotion nearby and found his way to the corridor.

“Hey, Mr. Lin.”

He looked in the direction and saw Shu You, instantly surprised, “Mr. Shu.”

“You guys…”

Lin Mingxu remained expressionless and said, “If you leave now, I’ll triple your travel expenses.”

Tang Le…

His brain hadn’t fully processed the situation yet, but he caught the word “triple.”

In the next second, Tang Le turned around and walked away, muttering to himself, “I suddenly remembered I have to call my girlfriend.”

Shu You, “…”

He looked suspiciously at Lin Mingxu, “Lin Mingxu, you…”

Lin Mingxu froze, “Shu You, I…”

“You…”

Suddenly, Shu You burst into laughter, with a smile in his eyes, “You’re really good, boyfriend.”

Lin Mingxu was taken aback, “Why do you say that?”

“I’m feeling sick with a cold today.”

Shu You reasoned, “Regardless of the reason, it’s great that you showed up at this time.”

He immediately put on a smiling face, “Have you had dinner yet?”

“No.”

“Even better,”

Shu You smiled mischievously, “I haven’t eaten either. Hurry, hurry, hurry, we must have missed a lot of excitement at the barbecue stall downstairs.”

Lin Mingxu, “…”

A strange feeling surged in his chest, but before Lin Mingxu could fully grasp it, Shu You had already climbed up using both hands and feet, put on his coat, and came over to pull Lin Mingxu.

But he didn’t budge.

“Hey.”

Shu You turned to look at him, “Aren’t you going to eat?”

Lin Mingxu hesitated for a moment and said with difficulty, “I remembered that I was given two hotel meal vouchers at the business meeting.”

Knowing the outcome of saying it out loud, he still said it.

Shu You’s eyes immediately lit up, “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go.”

What are they waiting for?

Two minutes later, two more people were present in the hotel’s third-floor banquet hall.

In this kind of situation, with some unspoken agreement, Lin Mingxu and Shu You quickly went their separate ways, heading in different directions.

Lin Mingxu went to attend to business matters, while Shu You accurately found the table with seafood and before long, his plate was full.

Perhaps due to the cold, Shu You didn’t have a big appetite and only ate half of his usual portion. After finishing, he put his plate in the designated area and decided to find Lin Mingxu.

Lin Mingxu seemed busy.

Shu You saw him from a distance, talking to several people. The man’s side profile was as handsome as a painting, his well-fitted suit making him the absolute center of attention. With elegant gestures, he held a glass of champagne, exuding grace with every move.

Shu You couldn’t help but admit that Lin Mingxu was the most attractive person in the world.

He admitted that he was a fan of handsome men. When he first read this novel, it was also because of the handsome guy on the cover that he clicked on it.In order not to disturb Lin Mingxu, Shu You stopped a few steps away and studied the toothpick box on the hotel table.

Wait a minute, from the visible part, this isn’t a toothpick box, it’s a vinegar bottle.

Why would a vinegar bottle be here?

Shu You’s gaze shifted as he looked for a hotel staff member, but couldn’t find one. Just then, the two people who were talking to Lin Mingxu finished their conversation and walked toward the table.

Standing next to the table, they talked to each other while grabbing food. Shu You hadn’t turned around yet when he heard a familiar name.

“I didn’t expect it, the young master Lin from the Lin family has also seen such days.”

“Tsk, that’s right, I almost didn’t recognize him just now. When rich people fall, they’re no different from ordinary people in my opinion.”

“Hey, he wouldn’t have looked at this kind of place in the past. By the way, what do you think of his project?”

“Not good, hahaha. He has nothing now, who would want to discuss a project with him? I just recognized him and wanted to show you something interesting. If it were before, there wouldn’t be such fun.”

The two spoke with an air of superiority, freely criticizing the man, their words filled with arrogance.

Then one of them suddenly exclaimed, “Huh,” and said to Shuyou, “Are you a waiter?”

Shu You blinked, “I can be.”

The person…

They looked Shuyou up and down, not entirely sure but not entirely uncertain either. Then they seemed indifferent, looking down on him from above and said, “So you say you are, then pour me a glass of wine.”

“Okay.”

Shu You nodded eagerly, turned his back, opened the vinegar bottle, and poured it directly into an empty glass. He even shook it a bit, “This is a new sauce-flavored wine, sir, please give it a try.”

The person continued talking and didn’t pay much attention. He picked up the glass and drank it all in one go.

“Oops.”

Lin Mingxu was not far away, just putting down the champagne glass in his hand, when he saw Shu You rushing over like an untied husky, grabbing his hand and turning to run.

“Lin Mingxu, run! They’re coming to kill me from the next room!”

Lin Mingxu: ???