With Yu Xiaodi gone, the biggest obstacle was out of the way. Handling three was a lot easier than handling four!

Li Yan of course could read Matsushima Kui's hint, but that wasn't how he felt inside. Given Huang Ying's personality, this really wasn't appropriate, and it was also her first time; it really shouldn't be like this. She'd just watched Yu Xiaodi leave—she must have wanted to leave too, only it was inconvenient to say so, and also awkward to go off with Yu Xiaodi together. Maybe after they went up and sat for a bit, Huang Ying would bring it up and excuse herself.

They entered the room the two girls were staying in, a luxurious suite of seventy or eighty square meters. It was very spacious for two people, and even with four inside it didn't feel crowded. But compared with being outside just now, in the restaurant, the moment they entered this room, the atmosphere changed.

Just now, whether in the roomy restaurant, the narrow elevator, or the corridor, they'd all been in public space; now they were in a private space.

All three of them had already been up here. Li Yan was the one in charge of reception and had booked the room; the two girls were staying here, so naturally they moved about at ease. But for Huang Ying, not only was this her first time up here, it was also her first time in a five-star hotel room. She felt like a guest, and with a trace of inferiority, afraid of embarrassing herself for lack of experience, she became very unnatural once she came in, a bit flustered and at a loss what to do.

If it had been at the beginning, Li Yan might have overlooked this, but when he went down to meet her earlier he had already noticed the problem. Even while they were eating just now, from her timid smile that only echoed others, and from how she spoke even less than Shinohara Mirai, whose Yun Country language was the worst of them, he could tell how uncomfortable and unnatural she felt. It was just that with Xiaodi sitting right there, it wasn't convenient for him to get too close to comfort her.

Now it was different. Matsushima Kui had already guessed at their relationship, and even if Shinohara Mirai hadn't, he believed she wouldn't react too strongly. So once inside, seeing how unnatural Huang Ying looked, he simply reached out, put his arm around her shoulders, and pulled her over to sit down with him.

His movement made Huang Ying's delicate body tremble slightly!

Before, when they were with Yu Xiaodi, Li Yan had openly acknowledged Yu Xiaodi as his girlfriend, while introducing her only as a colleague and friend. Even though she had known this long ago and had even taken the initiative to ask for it, when she actually faced it, she still felt some gap in her heart. Now, feeling Li Yan's action, besides the sense of being acknowledged, she felt even more unnatural, because the two other girls had just seen that he already had another girlfriend!

Shinohara Mirai and Matsushima Kui also sat down. Without Yu Xiaodi present in the open, official "girlfriend" role, the pressure on the two of them eased a lot. Plus they were back in the room now, and Matsushima Kui had already guessed Huang Ying's identity first; now both of them had clearly seen the ambiguity between Li Yan and Huang Ying. So they both showed knowingly ambiguous smiles.

Huang Ying forced a smile, feeling horribly embarrassed. On top of being acknowledged, there was an added sense of having been caught in the act.

"Hehe, so I really didn't guess wrong. Ying is also Li Yan's intimate girlfriend, right?" Matsushima Kui broke the awkward atmosphere.

Shinohara Mirai also recovered from her surprise. She glanced at Li Yan, and her mood relaxed a great deal. After seeing Yu Xiaodi just now, she'd felt that this time couldn't be like the last two times, with Li Yan accompanying them the whole way; at the very least, tomorrow he should be with his girlfriend, right? Now that Huang Ying's relationship was clear and it showed Li Yan wasn't devoted to just one person, she instead felt much less pressure.

"I… I must look ridiculous to you," Huang Ying answered softly with her head down. Although she was under a lot of pressure—especially now, with a feeling like she was on trial—she wasn't stupid. Hearing the words "so I really didn't guess wrong, Ying is also Li Yan's intimate girlfriend, right," she noticed the word "also"!

That "also" could mean Yu Xiaodi was Li Yan's intimate girlfriend, and so was she; or it could be understood as: the two of them were Li Yan's intimate girlfriends, and so was she! Combined with the earlier probing, questioning and Li Yan's lack of a direct answer, plus the careful observations afterward, she felt this was very likely true!

The current awkwardness and embarrassment had almost pushed her to a breaking point. With Yu Xiaodi not here, she wouldn't feel even worse from her presence; having hit bottom, she simply came out and asked the question that had felt too hard to voice.

"Miss Shinohara, Miss Matsushima and Li Yan… are you…?"

Listening to them talk, Li Yan also felt a bit ashamed. This philandering bastard really couldn't say much right now, so he might as well respond to all changes by remaining unchanged, calmly listening to their conversation among themselves.

After all, those two were relatively easy to accept things, and Huang Ying had already accepted Yu Xiaodi earlier, so he believed it wouldn't be that hard for her to accept this either.

After asking the question, Huang Ying finally felt she had a bit of initiative, which let her lift her head from under all the pressure and look at the two girls' faces. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

In that instant, she herself felt conflicted, unsure what answer she wanted. If they had nothing to do with Li Yan and were just friends of the opposite sex, then she would have to continue bearing the pressure alone, but she'd also have two fewer threats. If it was the opposite, then they were all in the same boat; the pot calling the kettle black, none of them more noble than the others, so she wouldn't have to feel so mortified. But that would also mean two more romantic rivals to share Li Yan with…

"We… with Li Yan…" Shinohara Mirai made some vague hand gestures but still didn't manage to say it. This time it wasn't a problem with her Yun Country language, it was that she really didn't know how to answer. She hadn't realized things as early as Matsushima Kui had; she had only just become aware of it herself, and hadn't expected the question to circle back to her so soon.