Chapter 785 - 300: Xingguang Killed a Pig Again (3)

Ying Ziyao brought Xu Xingguang to the hotel front desk, maintaining a silent demeanor, only saying: "Please book another single room for me."

The night shift clerk at the front desk stared at Xu Xingguang’s face for a few more moments, recognizing her as a guest from three months ago, and gave her a friendly smile.

"Nice to see you again, guest."

Xu Xingguang stared at the clerk’s ordinary face for a while before nodding and saying: "Thank you."

The clerk didn’t ask for her ID, instead preparing the room card while saying: "We need to charge an extra fifty silver coins, totaling 290 silver coins. Please settle the bill."

Staying in a room without an ID card requires an extra fifty silver coins under industry rules.

Ying Ziyao didn’t say anything, pulling three hundred-dollar silver coins from his wallet and handing them to the clerk, eventually receiving ten silver coins in change.

It was a ten-yuan silver coin in the shape of a coin, not very large.

Xu Xingguang reached out to receive the silver coin, flipping it over to see the portrait of Medicine King Ying Chong.

Finding it inauspicious, Xu Xingguang handed the silver coin back to the clerk’s palm, saying: "This is your tip, thank you for your hard work."

The clerk paused, gratefully saying thank you.

Holding the room card, Xu Xingguang walked with Ying Ziyao towards the elevator. The clerk suddenly reminded them from behind: "Guests, it’s late, please avoid wandering outside, it’s unsafe."

This was mainly a reminder for Xu Xingguang.

"Thank you." Xu Xingguang turned back to nod gratefully at him, and then she and Ying Ziyao got into the elevator.

Their rooms were next to each other, both facing the street on the fourth floor.

The room was as cramped as ever, with only a bed, a bedside table, and a small dry-wet separated lavatory. Xu Xingguang took a shower and changed into a black and white sportswear-style leisure suit.

She opened the window and sat at the window sill to gaze into the distance.

Across the street from the hotel stood a three-story circular tube-shaped building.

The previous heavy rain had been too intense, leading to flooding in the courtyard on the first floor. The entire first floor had been inundated. The courtyard was brightly lit, with residents from the entire building still awake, gathering to clear the flood water.

From her higher floor, Xu Xingguang could see the busy scene in the courtyard opposite.

Such crowded living conditions, such poor drainage facilities, Xu Xingguang had never seen during the Xia Country Era.

In her memories of Xia Country, every citizen lived a stable and thriving life.

Except for the slightly cramped housing in major cities due to expensive real estate, every place had independent houses, with everyone having their own room, a separate toilet, and a kitchen with good sanitary conditions.

In Xia Country’s Era, everyone had a ’home’.

Xu Xingguang felt a bit suffocated inside. She went down to the first floor, bought a pack of cigarettes from the vending machine in front of the lobby. Taking a cigarette from the pack, she bit it in her mouth, thought of something, and asked the front desk clerk: "Do you have a lighter?"

The clerk handed her an electronic lighter.

Xu Xingguang lit the cigarette and leaned against the front desk to smoke.

After a puff, noticing the clerk still watching her, she belatedly asked: "Is smoking prohibited here?"

The clerk shook his head, "There’s no such rule here." Only within the city are these rules applied.

"Okay." Xu Xingguang continued to smoke.

Her way of smoking was unique, even more uninhibited than many of the men the clerk had seen smoking.

"Miss, is something on your mind?" Xu Xingguang’s face was expressionless, but the front desk clerk could still sense she wasn’t in a good mood.

Nodding, Xu Xingguang replied: "Yes."

The clerk, knowing the rules, didn’t ask further about why she was upset.

He sat on a stool reading a book, it was a book about infant education. Since Xu Xingguang was tall, she glimpsed the book’s content out of the corner of her eye and asked the clerk: "You seem young, do you have a child?"

The clerk shook his head, saying: "It’s my nephew, my sister’s child."

"Are you helping to take care of him?"

"No, my sister died. After giving birth in the bathtub, she drowned with the child in her arms. But the child somehow survived, knew how to hold his breath from birth. I am his only blood relative."

He spoke of these painful experiences with a calm voice.

Perhaps he had become numb.

Xu Xingguang flicked the cigarette ash into a cactus pot and asked: "What about the child’s father?"

"In the Cold Water District," the clerk’s eyes remained on the education book but appeared dazed, evidently not taking in a single word of the text.

He spoke in a muffled voice, saying: "There were too many who violated her, I don’t even know who the child’s father is."

Xu Xingguang frowned, feeling even worse.