The Ice King's Little Trouble Maker

Hotel

The people who were partying with Qiao Yuxian didn’t start waking up until noon.

The men slept askew in the living room.

Two women slept in another room.

Sister Ji was the first to wake up.

After she woke up, she looked at Yaoyao sleeping next to her.

She patted her twice on the butt to wake her up.

Then she went to the living room.

Once she reached the living room, she saw Yangyang, Master Heng, and Ah Yuan sprawled across the living room sofas.

She called out to each of them.

Then she went to the bathroom.

After finishing up in the bathroom, she came out.

Everyone was awake, but they looked like they had been drained of vitality overnight.

Each of them was listless.

"Sister Ji, call the boss," Master Heng said in a dragged-out voice. "We’re discussing what to eat."

Sister Ji directly walked to the bedroom door and knocked: "Boss, wake up. It’s time for lunch."

No response.

Sister Ji knocked again: "Boss? What do you want for lunch?"

Still no reply.

Sister Ji continued to knock.

Still no response.

The sleepiness on the faces of those in the living room suddenly faded, and they all looked toward the bedroom door.

Sister Ji turned to look at them and said, "The boss didn’t drink last night, right?"

Yangyang said, "No, I kept an eye on my sister and didn’t let her touch the alcohol."

Master Heng said, "I also kept watch; she didn’t drink."

"Then..." Sister Ji pointed at the room.

Ah Yuan suddenly spoke up: "What happened after we drank too much?"

No one said a word.

The entire room plunged into silence.

A few seconds later, Master Heng slapped his leg and said, "Oh no!"

Sister Ji quickly twisted the bedroom door knob.

It wasn’t locked at all.

She went in and saw no signs of anyone having stayed there overnight.

Her heart sank.

Seeing Sister Ji freeze upon entering, the others rushed forward to look at the empty room.

Yangyang twitched the corner of his mouth, took out his phone, and called Qiao Yuxian.

Under the gaze of the others, he dialed three times with no answer.

Everyone’s expressions were not good.

"The boss isn’t in trouble, is she?" Yaoyao asked.

Master Heng pinched the bridge of his nose and said, "The chance of the boss being in trouble is low. The chances of someone else being in trouble if she drank too much are higher."

"Then why isn’t she answering the phone?" Yangyang asked.

"There’s only one possibility," Sister Ji said, "the boss has encountered a bigger problem, something even bigger than getting drunk."

"What do we do now?" Yaoyao asked.

Sister Ji: "First, find her."

As they spoke, they were about to head out.

Ah Yuan, who had been in the living room, picked up a piece of paper from the floor and said, "The boss seems to have left us a message."

The group preparing to dash out stopped abruptly and looked at Ah Yuan.

Ah Yuan said, "There’s writing on the paper."

The group huddled together to look at the words on the paper.

Sister Ji deciphered it word by word, reading aloud: "Everyone, by the time you read this note, I will be on the Twelfth Floor. Please prepare to take over the Twelfth Floor. Dubhe left."

The group looked at the crooked words on the paper.

Master Heng asked, "Is this the boss’s handwriting?"

"Yes," Yangyang said, "My sister’s handwriting gets like this when she’s had too much to drink."

"Where did you find it?" Sister Ji asked.

Ah Yuan pointed under the sofa.

The group stared at him in surprise.

After a while, Sister Ji said, "Who opened the balcony this wide? The boss’s message almost blew away."

No one spoke.

After a while, Ah Yuan said, "It must have been the boss who opened it. We were all too drunk last night."

Silence reigned again.

Master Heng: "Quickly go check on news from the Twelfth Floor. Why hasn’t the boss communicated yet?"

"I’ll go check," Sister Ji said.

Sister Ji went to gather information.

The others didn’t idle in the hotel either.

They were all searching for Qiao Yuxian.

After more than an hour, Sister Ji returned.

Master Heng asked, "How did it go?"

"Last night, nothing happened on the Twelfth Floor," Sister Ji said, "And there’s no word of someone new successfully challenging to become the new leader."

"What about the boss?" Yaoyao furrowed her brow and asked.

Sister Ji said, "No news. After so much time, there’s not a single bit of information."

"My sister took a cab last night. The cab stopped near the Twelfth Floor," Yangyang said.

He could only trace the cab she took.

He simply couldn’t hack into her phone.

"There are so many powerful people on the Twelfth Floor. My sister was drunk last night, could she have been..." Yaoyao said.

That’s what everyone worried about.

Sister Ji also said, "But it seems like the Twelfth Floor is planning something big."

"How do you mean?" Master Heng asked.

"They’ve purchased a lot of fireworks these days, yesterday and today they bought a lot of flowers and colorful lights," Sister Ji said.

"What are they up to?" Yaoyao asked.

Ah Yuan said, "No idea."

"What do we do now?" Master Heng asked.

"Prepare for a late-night exploration of the Twelfth Floor," Sister Ji decided, "From now until eleven at night, if there’s no news of the boss from anywhere else, we’re going to the Twelfth Floor tonight."

"Yes," they responded.

After agreeing, they headed out.

Head back, get prepared, and then gather more intel.

As they walked out, Master Heng said, "We can’t drink like this again. If someone had launched a night raid on our territory last night, we’d be in no shape to fight back."

"The boss being missing is the same as losing the territory," Ah Yuan said.

Once again, silence reigned.

...

Meanwhile, Qiao Yuxian was on the Twelfth Floor cooking longevity noodles for Gu Yanjing.

She had breakfast late, so lunch was postponed.

Qiao Yuxian was in the kitchen making noodles and a few dishes.

She personally cooked lunch.

After lunch, she and Gu Yanjing rested for a while.

Then they strolled in the Twelfth Floor.

Qiao Yuxian was very familiar with the place.

Because she too had gone through layers of selection and had the qualification to inherit.

But she still walked around with Gu Yanjing.

Because now that Gu Yanjing was the master here, his authority was higher, he knew more details, and could take her to more places.

As they strolled, Qiao Yuxian’s phone remained in her pocket.

She had silenced it while executing the task last night.

After drinking too much, she completely forgot about her phone.

Later, she still didn’t check it.

By the time she checked it, discovering Yuan Wei’s calls, it was already dinner time.

Gu Yanjing and Qiao Yuxian planned to go out to eat and celebrate Gu Yanjing’s birthday.

Qiao Yuxian was in the car, looking at Yuan Wei’s missed calls.

She hesitated a bit but didn’t call back. Instead, she messaged him: [I’m with Gu Yanjing. Anything up?]

Yuan Wei replied quickly: [Where are you?]

Qiao Yuxian texted back: [On the Twelfth Floor, about to go out for food.]

Yuan Wei’s reply came a bit later: [Alright. Have fun.]

Qiao Yuxian looked at his message and felt something was off.

But she couldn’t pinpoint it.

Just then, Gu Yanjing said something,

So she didn’t dwell on it, and shut her phone.