After pressing for a while longer, I finished with her back and spine. There was nowhere else to press. Seeing a large towel covering the area below, I tentatively continued downward. Shen Xingyue showed no signs of objection, though I remained professional. After tending to the two mounds, as I moved further down, Shen Xingyue reacted. Her muscles instantly tensed, and she shouted at me in Thai.
In my panic, I mixed up my wires and blurted out, "Sumimasu!"
"Nani?" Shen Xingyue immediately turned her head. Upon seeing it was me, her eyes widened. "Holy crap! It's you!"
My face had been altered by Chen Ke that morning, but it had reverted to normal by noon. We hadn't put on makeup or disguised ourselves again after leaving the hospital because I was meeting Shen Xingyue.
I held up my greasy hands. "Why shouldn't it be me? Didn't my aunt tell you? I'm a professional masseuse!"
Of course, I wasn't. It was just that in college, I had neck problems and received many massages, leading to a layperson's expertise born from prolonged suffering.
Shen Xingyue quickly pulled the towel over her body as she sat up, blushing and embarrassed. "You pervert! You almost touched me!"
"But you resisted! So you weren't touched," I said.
"I resisted because... I thought you were some Tony!"
"Oh, so if you had known it was me, you wouldn't have resisted?" I teased.
Shen Xingyue's face grew redder. She kicked me lightly towards the door. "Go on, go on! I'll settle with you after I change!"
"You need to wash off the oil first," I reminded her kindly.
"I know! Hurry up and get out!"
I left the room. Zheng Bingbing was sitting on a chair in the hallway. Seeing me emerge, she ran over and whispered, "Why did you come out after only half an hour? I thought you were usually much longer!"
"...What are you talking about? I was just giving a massage, I didn't do anything else," I said seriously.
"Who would believe that? I heard Shen Xingyue moaning..." Zheng Bingbing giggled.
"She was in comfort."
"Of course she was comfortable!"
"...Believe it or not, let's go. We should head downstairs first." I said. The entire second floor was private rooms, probably not suitable for serious discussions. Shen Xingyue must have invited me here for a spa treatment, nothing more.
After waiting about fifteen minutes in the first-floor lobby, Shen Xingyue came downstairs, fully dressed. She was incognito today, not wearing her Sabia uniform, but a casual blazer with heels. Her feet were exposed, yet she didn't seem to feel the cold.
Shen Xingyue didn't exchange many words with me. She just gave me and Bingbing a look, and we left the beauty salon with her. We walked to a milk tea shop, a few doors down. Since it was a weekday and nearly two in the afternoon, the shop was empty except for two dozing staff members.
We three sat in the farthest corner. Shen Xingyue got straight to the point. "I asked you two to come because I need your help to deal with the haunting incident at the Laobie Bay villa district."
"Laobie Bay? That name sounds familiar."
"It's just a place name," Shen Xingyue said, opening her phone's map to show us. "This is a wealthy area of Lvyuan. At the beginning of last year, our Sabia developed a new high-end villa area here. Sales were good, but since the summer, there have been frequent ghost sightings in the vicinity. The rumors are getting more and more outrageous, to the point that our subsequent developments can't sell."
"...Your Sabia is also involved in real estate development?" I asked, surprised.
"Yes. We are a self-funded unit. Without earning extra income, how could we have such ample funds?"
"Oh, so what you said before about government funding was actually just you earning it yourselves."
"Because we are a national team, various regions give us face. We get the best projects and the best land at low prices, which is why we make so much profit and have ample funds. That's not important. What's important is that this villa area was developed under the leadership of a close friend of mine. Now it's not selling, and she's under immense pressure. I didn't know about this until this morning when I decided to come to Lvyuan. My friend only told me then, and naturally, I thought of you."