Chapter 47: Who Exactly Is Making It Hard for Whom?

Chapter 47: Who’s Really Being Difficult Here

Xu Moxing carried his backpack, while Su Lichen pulled the suitcase.

“It’s pretty hot, A Li, let’s get inside where the AC is.”

They were the last ones in line. They pushed the door open, waited a bit, and soon it was their turn. Xu Moxing stepped up to handle it.

There were two people at the front desk, one man and one woman. The man in uniform was looking at his phone; he glanced up and looked at Xu Moxing.

“Do you have a reservation?”

Su Lichen gave his name and the last four digits of his phone number.

The man tapped a few keys on the computer, frowned slightly.

“One moment.”

He tapped a few more keys.

“Sorry, no rooms available.”

Xu Moxing was taken aback, a sinking feeling in his gut.

“We made a reservation. Booked it two weeks ago.”

The man looked at him, then looked back down at the computer.

“It’s not showing up here. Might be overbooked. We can give you a refund.”

“Refund?” Xu Moxing got angry. “We traveled all this way, and you’re telling us a refund?”

The man ignored him and started working on the computer.

“The money will be returned to the original account within three days.”

Xu Moxing opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say.

He wasn’t good at confrontations, and didn’t know how to assert his rights. He turned to Su Lichen.

Su Lichen’s face was expressionless.

He took out his phone, tapped it a few times, and turned the screen toward the front desk clerk.

“This is a screenshot of the successful booking,” he said. “Time, room type, and price are all here.”

The man glanced at it.

“A screenshot doesn’t prove anything. It’s not in the system.”

“Then that’s your system’s problem, not mine. You need to make this right.”

The man looked up at him.

“Sir, you don’t have to make this difficult for a simple front desk clerk. I’m just an employee; all I can do is process the refund. I don’t have authority to do anything else.”

Su Lichen said nothing, putting his phone away.

“I’m not the one giving you a hard time. You’re giving a hard time to a tourist who traveled all this way and doesn’t know anyone here. Get your manager out here. Find someone with authority to handle this.”

The man paused. “The manager isn’t here.”

The other female clerk was already burying her head in the sand, looking down, silent.

Su Lichen said flatly, “Then call him.”

The man looked at him, impatience showing on his face.

“I already told you, there are no rooms. System failure is out of our control. We can give you a refund, and you can try another place. It’s peak season now, everything’s expensive. If we refund you, you can—”

“I don’t need you telling me how to book a hotel,” Su Lichen cut him off. “I just need you to fulfill the reservation contract. If there are no rooms, that’s the hotel’s breach, not something a refund can solve.”

The man clearly didn’t expect Su Lichen to know his rights. “Then what do you want?”

Su Lichen looked at him, calm and steady.

“I’ve got one demand: find us a place to stay.

No price hike, and no downgrade from the room I booked. If the hotel really has no room, you need to book me a comparable or better hotel, cover the price difference, and pay for transportation there and back.”

“This is a basic request. Don’t act like you’re the victim here. Right now, you and your hotel are making things hard for me. If you can’t meet these basic requirements, we’ll take legal action to protect our rights.”

The man’s expression changed.

He stared at Su Lichen for a moment, then picked up the phone and dialed a number.

He said a few words and hung up.

“The manager will be here in twenty minutes.”

Su Lichen nodded.

“Fine.”

He led Xu Moxing to sit on the nearby sofa.

Xu Moxing hadn’t said a word the whole time.

He sat there, gripping the suitcase handle so hard his knuckles were white.

Su Lichen glanced at him. “What’s wrong? It’s okay, I’ve got this.”

Xu Moxing nodded, saying nothing.

Twenty minutes later, the manager showed up.

A man in his forties, in a dress shirt, came over smiling.

“Sorry, sorry, the front desk guy’s new. He doesn’t know how to deal with situations yet.”

He turned to Su Lichen.

“Are you Mr. Su?”

Su Lichen stood up.

“Yes.”

"The room type you booked is indeed full, but we can upgrade you. How about a sea view suite? It's twice the price of what you booked, but we won't charge you extra. What do you think?"

Su Lichen looked at him. "Why did you say there were no rooms earlier?"

The manager smiled.

"The front desk didn't know what they were doing. Please don't take offense."

Su Lichen nodded.

"Okay."

The manager personally took them upstairs, smiling the whole time in the elevator.

"It's the peak season, so there are many guests. The system can glitch sometimes. We've arranged the best room for you. Just give us a call if you need anything."

As long as things were handled properly, Su Lichen was fine with it. In the end, he even exchanged a few laughs with the manager.

The two shook hands, and then the manager left.

Xu Moxing didn't say a single word the whole time.

Once inside the room, they put down their luggage and closed the door.

Xu Moxing sat down on the edge of the bed.

Su Lichen glanced at him. "Are you angry?"

Xu Moxing shook his head. "Not angry, it's just..."

"Just a bit... brought my mood down."

Su Lichen didn't speak. He sat down beside him.

"I was thinking: what if we'd actually been kicked out? Were they doing it on purpose? Why did this have to happen to us? What if standing up for our rights doesn't work? If that manager had come out and said there were no rooms too, would we still be stressing about finding a place? And it's the National Day holiday, hotels are already super hard to book."

As he talked, he even started to annoy himself.

"I know I shouldn't think like this," he said, "but I can't help it."

Su Lichen listened.

"You've always been like this," he said.

Xu Moxing was taken aback.

"Before?"

Su Lichen paused. "Back then, when something like this happened, you'd keep thinking and thinking, way into the night, unable to sleep."

Xu Moxing fell silent.

He remembered just now downstairs, his hand clenching the suitcase handle until his knuckles went white. He remembered the thoughts that just wouldn't stop in his head.

He knew he shouldn't think about it, shouldn't let these things mess up the rest of his trip, but he couldn't stop.

He looked up at Su Lichen.

"Before... did you find it annoying?"

Su Lichen looked at him. After a moment, he said, "I used to think so."

Xu Moxing didn't speak.

Su Lichen continued, "Maybe I still do now, but I get why you're like this."

He reached out and ruffled Xu Moxing's hair.

"This is just how you are. It's not on purpose."

Xu Moxing looked at him, and a strange feeling welled up in his heart. It wasn't being moved—it was that feeling of—he actually gets me.

"So he knew I wasn't trying to annoy him, and he knew I couldn't help it."

"So what should I do?" he asked.

Su Lichen thought for a moment. "Based on what you said... we wouldn't get kicked out. If he forcibly evicted us, I would call the police directly, and the police wouldn't dare to just brush it off. So don't be afraid.

They were definitely doing it on purpose. If they run into someone who doesn't know the deal, that person might get taken advantage of, whether it's paying extra for an upgrade or going to another hotel. It would definitely be troublesome, especially during the National Day holiday. But we can't keep letting other people's bad intentions hurt us.

Standing up for yourself is never useless. It only becomes useless when you think 'what's the point, forget it' and just let it slide.

If that manager had said there were no rooms, it would be their problem, because they'd have to find us a hotel.

Even in the worst case, if we had to find a hotel on our own, we'd definitely find one. At worst, it might be a bit farther from the sea.

It's impossible for every single hotel in the city to be sold out. We'd just need to spend some time making calls, looking around, and rebooking. That's all.

So no need to imagine things that haven't happened—the room is already taken care of."

Su Lichen gave Xu Moxing a light kiss, to comfort him.

"Let's eat first. Afterwards, I'll take you for a walk by the sea. Once you're tired from walking, you won't think about it anymore."

Xu Moxing was stunned. "Just like that?"

"Just like that." Su Lichen stood up. "Problem's solved. Don't dwell on it. Thinking about it won't help."

He held out his hand.

Xu Moxing looked at that hand and took it firmly.

Su Lichen pulled him up. "Let's go."

After a good meal, Xu Moxing felt much better.

The seaside was not far from the hotel, just a ten-minute walk.

The sun was already low in the west, laying a sheet of golden light over the sea.

There were quite a few people on the beach—children digging in the sand, couples taking photos.