Chapter 10: Swimsuit Party

Lin Hexi smiled, sat up leisurely from the sofa, and casually played with the car key on his fingers, but never mentioning any intention of returning it to You Chong.

You Chong, looking thoroughly annoyed, asked, “What do you intend to do with my car key?”

Lin Hexi lowered his gaze and didn’t respond. After a moment, he suddenly looked up and asked, “Are you all staying here overnight?”

You Chong nodded with a stern face.

Lin Hexi glanced thoughtfully at the car key in his palm. “Have you booked the rooms?”

You Chong scoffed, and his expression darkened. “Why? Worried you won’t have a place to stay?”

Lin Hexi admitted readily, nodded generously and sighed softly. “If there really is no place to stay, I suppose I’ll have to make do with sleeping in the car for the night.” After saying that, he then pressed his hand to his chin, and looked up at You Chong with a feigned troubled expression. “You wouldn’t be unwilling to even lend me the car, would you?”

You Chong didn’t say anything.

He could see through Lin Hexi’s affected demeanor and poor acting, but before Lin Tong said those things, he would have probably thought Lin Hexi deserved whatever he got. However, at this moment, he found himself unusually hesitant to say the harsh words that were on the tip of his tongue.

Seeing You Chong not responding, Lin Hexi’s expression grew increasingly exaggerated. “You won’t even lend me the car?” he said with a mocking tone, with roguish smile. “Or do you think someone like me would ruin your precious car?”

You Chong glanced at him darkly. “What kind of person?”

Lin Hexi was taken aback for a second. “What?”

You Chong repeated, “Someone like you, what kind of person is that?”

Lin Hexi leaned back into the sofa with a casual expression, and he said lazily. “What kind of person I am—haven’t you already heard and made up your mind?”

You Chong’s gaze showed clear disdain.

Lin Hexi, accustomed to such reactions, maintained his smile. He calmly tossed the car key back to You Chong, pretending to grumble as he lowered his eyes, “If you won’t lend it to me, fine. Here, I’m giving it back.”

It seemed You Chong had more to say, as he didn’t leave immediately after retrieving the key.

Assuming You Chong was about to mock or warn him, Lin Hexi had no interest in listening. He lay back on the giant bear with his phone in his arm, and smiled at You Chong, “Remember to close the door on your way out, thanks.”

However, You Chong, still looking down at him with that familiar disdain, said something entirely unexpected: “I asked what kind of person you are, and you brought up those rumors. Lin Hexi, if you can’t stop looking down on yourself, how do you expect others not to?”

“If before, I was six or seven parts convinced by those rumors about you, but now I believe them eight or nine parts.” As he said this, You Chong had already reached the door.

He paused for a moment and, just before leaving, he added coldly, “Instead of worrying about having no place to sleep tonight, you should worry about who among these people would even want to share a room with you.”

The sound of the door closing, accompanied by You Chong’s words, rang clearly in Lin Hexi’s ears. He sat up from the sofa, clutched his phone, and stared blankly at the direction of the door, with a complex expression in his eyes.

The afternoon race began at two o’clock, with more thrilling and intense content compared to the morning’s qualifying race. The eight people who had been in the restaurant returned to the private room before the race started.

As Yang Juan took a seat on the opposite sofa, Lin Hexi’s gaze followed and settled on his face.

Yang Juan lowered his head slightly, focused on peeling the wrapper off a milk candy. Then he placed the creamy white candy into his mouth. Sensing Lin Hexi’s gaze, he looked up, somewhat nervously.

After hesitating for a moment, Yang Juan reached into his pocket for another candy, pushed it across the table between them, and asked, somewhat awkwardly, “Do you want one?”

“Thanks.” Lin Hexi smiled at him, then took the candy, unwrapped it, and put it in his mouth, his gaze never leaving Yang Juan’s face.

Feeling increasingly nervous, Yang Juan couldn’t help but ask, “Do you want another one?”

Lin Hexi pressed his tongue against the milk candy slowly dissolving in his mouth, and said with an unwavering smile. “I don’t need another.”

Yang Juan nodded, trying hard to ignore Lin Hexi’s intense gaze, but found it increasingly difficult to do so. “Do you need something else?” he asked.

Hearing this, Lin Hexi finally shifted his gaze away from Yang Juan’s face, and with a smile, he responded, “Yes.”

Given what You Chong had said, it was clear he wouldn’t allow Lin Tong or Zhou Xuan to use tonight’s accommodations to make things difficult for him. There were nine of them in total, and if they paired up in rooms, one person would inevitably be left out. Leaving Lin Hexi on his own seemed the best option, but from You Chong’s words, it was apparent that You Chong didn’t plan to share a room with anyone else.

This meant Lin Hexi had to find someone among the remaining seven who would be willing to share a room with him. He already had someone in mind. His gaze returned to Yang Juan, and after sizing him up for a moment, he smiled and made his request. “You’ll sleep with me tonight.”

Yang Juan stopped chewing his candy, his eyes confused as he looked back at Lin Hexi, and his face displaying utter bewilderment.

The race concluded promptly at six in the evening. The spectators in the stands and the private rooms stood up and left with faces full of lingering excitement. You Chong and his group didn’t leave immediately but instead went downstairs to the teams’ rest area behind the track.

The race car driver they had seen in the morning was now sitting on a high stool, holding his helmet with one hand and energetically chatting with the team manager. Seeing You Chong enter with his group, he immediately wrapped up his conversation with the manager, got off the stool, and approached You Chong with a smile, asking, “How did I do?”

You Chong raised his eyebrow and replied, “Not bad.”

The team manager, having finished giving instructions to the others, came over in a good mood and exchanged a few words with You Chong, “Are you heading back tomorrow morning or planning to leave tonight?”

“Tomorrow morning,” You Chong replied.

“Perfect.” The team manager warmly draped his arm over You Chong’s shoulder. “Tonight, our team is throwing a celebration party. There will be food, drinks, entertainment, and even girlfriend introductions. Are you in?”

“We’re in,” You Chong laughed. “With an invitation like that, how could we say no?”

The celebration party was held at a villa in a nearby villa area.

The team manager joked about introducing girlfriends to the single guys, but in reality, it was because someone on the team was dating a beautiful and hot car model. She brought many of her attractive friends to the celebration party to set up the other guys on the team.

Summer nights come late, and when everyone drove to the villa, the orange-red sunset was still hanging on the horizon, with a grand and dazzling light. They parked their cars on the flat ground in the front yard and, with camaraderie, entered the villa with arms around each other’s shoulders.

By the pool behind the villa, barbecue grills had already been set up, and the long tables on the lawn were laid with unopened bottles of red wine and inverted wine glasses. Led by the race car driver’s girlfriend, a group of beautiful and shapely car models had changed from their usual attire into swimsuits. They were busy in the yard, carrying barbecue ingredients, prepared dishes, and desserts.

From a distance, the view of the backyard was enticing. The single guys on the team eagerly rushed towards the backyard, only to be stopped by several tall young women at the door leading outside. They pointed to a sign hanging by the door and clearly reminded, “No entry without swim trunks.”

The stopped guys looked troubled and pleaded, “We didn’t bring swim trunks. Please, beautiful ladies, be kind and let us through.”

Before the girls could respond, the team manager’s voice boomed from the living room, “Anyone without swim trunks, line up here to get a pair! First come, first served, no guarantees for the latecomers!”

The boys exchanged looks and then sprinted towards the living room, leaving the girls at the door bent over in laughter.

You Chong’s group, unaware that the team’s celebration was actually a co-ed swimsuit party, initially didn’t realize what they were in for. However, these people were used to having fun in their own circles, so they also lined up to get swim trunks from the team manager.

While they were changing, the rest of the team headed to the backyard first. Lin Hexi was the first to come out of the room, having replaced his jeans with tight black swim trunks, though he still wore his white T-shirt.

He headed straight for the door leading to the backyard.

Among the girls at the door was Chen Yao, the girlfriend of a team member. Her gaze fixed on Lin Hexi’s face, and a playful smile quickly formed on her lips. “You’re a new face, aren’t you?”

Lin Hexi smiled back. “Yes, I am. Can you ladies let me through?”

Chen Yao politely but firmly retracted her gaze and said, “Even handsome guys can’t do as they please. You have to take off your shirt to go in.”

As soon as she finished speaking, a girl beside her pinched her waist, and another whispered while licking her lips, “Ordinary handsome guys, sure, but a guy this good-looking, I think we can make an exception.”

Hearing this, Chen Yao glared at her friend with a look of disappointment and whispered back, “Is a pretty face enough for you? Don’t you want to see more?”

Her friend wisely kept quiet after that.

Chen Yao smiled at Lin Hexi again. “It’s only fair. We’ve already taken off our tops. Shouldn’t you do the same, little brother?”

Lin Hexi stood outside the door with a lazy smile. “I won’t take off my shirt, but how about I show you my abs instead? Will that be enough for you to let me through?”

The girls at the door immediately widened their eyes in excitement.

Chen Yao’s friend cleared her throat and said, “There are several of us here, so let’s take a vote. I’ll go first!”

She immediately raised her hand.

The remaining girls, no longer pretending to be reserved, quickly followed suit, raising their hands one after another.

Lin Hexi nodded calmly, lowering his voice, “Then come a little closer.”

With him as the center point, several young girls quickly gathered around him, staring at him with their eyes wide open, extremely restrained but quite expectant, without blinking. 

Lin Hexi casually smiled, reaching to grip the edge of his shirt and slowly lifting it upwards.

Just as the shirt was about to be lifted above his swim trunks, someone walked past Lin Hexi, letting out a sneering laugh with undisguised disdain.

Lin Hexi’s movement to lift his shirt halted abruptly, and he raised his eyes to look at the source of the voice.

You Chong met his gaze with a cold and distant expression.

Seeing this, Lin Hexi’s smile widened quietly.

He cleared his throat and, in a tone filled with regret and self-deprecation, said to the young car models in front of him, “Ladies, actually, I only have two abs. But the handsome guy next to me has a full set of eight abs and a beautiful V-line.”

Without blinking, Lin Hexi continued to fabricate, “Compared to his abs and V-line, my body really isn’t much to look at.”

The girls unanimously turned their gazes towards You Chong.

However, You Chong just kept his eyes fixed on Lin Hexi’s face, with a clear anger surfaced in his eyes.