Let's go traveling.

Chapter 132

Early the next morning.

Gu Ran woke up very early, and the first thing he did was head straight for the balcony.

That little rabbit was frightened last night, so as an attentive and good younger brother, he had to send his morning greetings.

He placed his palm on the French window and gave it a hard push.

It didn't budge.

Gu Ran raised an eyebrow, looked down, and thought—good heavens, the lock was secured, and a bolt had been added.

"Heh, even guarding against a gentleman?"

He was amused.

Since this path was blocked, he could only take the main road.

Gu Ran turned and left the room, crossed the living room, placed his fingertips on the door handle of Ye Zhenzhen's bedroom, and gently twisted it.

"Click."

It opened.

The smile on Gu Ran's lips became playful.

Locked the balcony but forgot the main door.

Doctor Gu diagnosed: Patient Ye's brain indeed needed treatment, and it required the emergency room.

He pushed the door open and entered.

Cold air mixed with a faint scent of locust flowers rushed towards him.

Ye Zhenzhen was curled up in the blanket like a little kitten.

Half of the quilt was kicked off, a long, fair leg casually stretched out, her nightgown rolled up to the root of her thigh, and she was tightly hugging that giant panda doll in her arms.

The panda's face was squeezed out of shape, making a certain someone's eyes heat up.

"Tsk."

Gu Ran stood with one hand in his pocket, looking down and admiring this "beautiful picture."

Without the halo of the school beauty, she was soft and squishy, like a heartless little fool.

This was the real Ye Zhenzhen.

He slowly squatted down until his line of sight was level with hers.

The young girl's breathing was long and even, completely defenceless.

Gu Ran's Adam's apple bobbed. His slender fingers hovered over the tip of her nose, and then—

He pinched it without mercy!

"Mmm..."

Her breathing obstructed, Ye Zhenzhen frowned tightly, subconsciously opening her mouth to breathe, hugging the panda in her arms even tighter.

The sunlight was too bright, and Gu Ran felt his eyes dazzled.

"Time to get up, the sun is shining on your butt."

"Mmm..."

Ye Zhenzhen struggled to peel her eyelids open.

As her focus adjusted, an enlarged, handsome face was smiling and staring at her.

Ye Zhenzhen: "???"

Her brain's CPU instantly burned out.

Did she wake up too fast? Did she see Gu Ran teleport?

Didn't she lock the balcony door?!!!

Rubbing her sleepy eyes, Ye Zhenzhen completely woke up and widened her almond-shaped eyes: "How did you get in?!"

"I walked in."

Gu Ran pointed to the wide-open door, looking innocent: "Doctor Ye, next time you want to guard against thieves, remember to set up all-around surveillance. Just locking the balcony is useless."

"..."

Ye Zhenzhen was choked with anger. Just as she was about to flare up, Gu Ran suddenly leaned closer, pointed at the corner of her mouth, and looked disgusted.

"How old are you, still drooling in your sleep."

"Ah?"

The aloof goddess persona instantly shattered into pieces.

Ye Zhenzhen hurriedly pulled her hand back and wiped her lips vigorously.

Dry and clean.

She was tricked!

"Gu 'Dog' Ran!"

This roar shocked the cicadas outside the window into silence.

Ye Zhenzhen flew into a rage out of humiliation, grabbed a pillow, and smashed it at that bastard smiling so brilliantly: "I'll kill you!"

"I was wrong, I was wrong! Spare my life, heroine!"

Ye Zhenzhen bounced up from the bed, grabbed the tortured panda doll, and swung it like a meteor hammer with fierce momentum.

The bedroom was instantly in chaos, with pillows and pandas flying everywhere.

It wasn't until Ye Zhenzhen was panting and her hair was a mess like a chicken coop that Gu Ran's quick eyes and hands caught her wrist, twisted her arm behind her back, and smoothly pulled her into his arms.

"Stop!"

Gu Ran looked down at the young girl with flushed cheeks in his arms, his voice carrying a smile: "If you hit me again, I'm going to fight back."

"You dare!"

Turning the tables!

Ye Zhenzhen glared at him like a little wildcat baring its fangs and brandishing its claws.

The two were pressed extremely close.

The clear mint scent on Gu Ran enveloped her, and the young girl's struggling movements paused, almost crashing on the spot.

"Alright, let's stop messing around."

Gu Ran let go, helped her tidy up her messy bangs, and his tone suddenly became serious: "Ye Zhenzhen."

"What... what is it?"

This sudden gentleness made Ye Zhenzhen's heart panic.

But in an instant, she didn't forget to kick him, "Call me sister, no respect for your elders!"

For the young girl's fixed routine, Gu Ran was already too lazy to retort. He just stared into her eyes and dropped a bombshell.

"Let's go on a trip."

"Huh?"

The topic jumped too fast, and Ye Zhenzhen's processor overloaded: "To do what?"

"A graduation trip to Jiangnan, Wuzhen."

Gu Ran's voice was bewitching: "To see the small bridges and flowing water, take an awning boat, and eat Dingsheng cakes. Just the two of us."

Just the two of us.

These five words hit her heart like a heavy hammer.

Isn't this... eloping?

"N-no, I don't think so..."

Ye Zhenzhen subconsciously wanted to retreat, her eyes dodging: "My mom and Uncle Gu are just going to Hainan to play for half a month... Besides, travelling costs a lot of money, and we're still students..."

When Gu Ran said yesterday that he made a million, she didn't believe it at all, just thinking that he broke his brain and was bragging.

"You don't need to worry about the money."

Gu Ran magically pulled out a folded piece of A4 paper from his pocket and unfolded it.

A hand-drawn itinerary.

From the high-speed rail schedule to accommodation, from local delicacies to the best photo spots, even which shop's cat was the most clingy, it was clearly marked.

Obviously premeditated.

"I made it overnight last night."

Gu Ran pointed to a waterside homestay on the map: "Open the window, and you'll see the river. It's especially suitable for taking pictures in Hanfu."

He paused, leaned in close to Ye Zhenzhen's ear, and unleashed his ultimate weapon:

"Doctor Ye, think about it. When you study medicine in the future, with an eight-year combined bachelor's, master's, and doctoral program, you'll be in the lab every day, and your hair will all fall out. Where will you have the chance to go out and have fun?"

"You right now are the you with the thickest hair in the next ten years."

This stab was precise and vicious, piercing straight to the heart and lungs.

Ye Zhenzhen subconsciously touched her hair, and a picture of herself wearing a white coat with a balding head popped into her mind...

Too terrifying!

She swallowed, and her eyes fell on that "waterside homestay" again.

Misty rain, dim lights.

That was the Jiangnan in the Chinese textbook.

And... with Gu Ran.

Away from her parents' nagging, going to a place where no one knew them.

The temptation of this kind of "escape" was simply fatal to an eighteen-year-old obedient top student who had just finished the college entrance examination.

"But..." Ye Zhenzhen bit her lip, making her final struggle, "What if my mom asks?"

"Lao Gu and Aunt Ye are enjoying their sweet two-person world in Hainan right now; they've long forgotten about us."

Gu Ran shrugged, looking certain: "Besides, do you know what it means to act first and report later?"

Act first and report later.

So exciting.

The seed of rebellion at the bottom of her heart sprouted crazily.

Ye Zhenzhen looked up and crashed into Gu Ran's eyes full of doting.

"Where... where did you get the money?" she asked in a low voice, her momentum ninety percent weaker.

"Didn't I tell you? I have a million."

Ye Zhenzhen: "......."

So this guy really broke his brain, didn't he?

Seeing the disdain in the young girl's eyes, Gu Ran was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on and instantly bristled.

"Come on, look for yourself. The bank arrival text message from last night, count how many zeros there are yourself! Is it more than Chengdu?!"

Seeing this, Ye Zhenzhen leaned over and was instantly dumbfounded.

Units, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands...

There really are a lot of zeros...

Immediately after, her expression changed, looking like a heartbroken old mother who saw her child go astray.

"You... did you rob a bank?! Or are you running some kind of scam?"

No matter how she looked at it, this money seemed highly illegal!

Gu Ran was speechless. He dragged her back to his room, pushed her into the chair in front of his computer desk, and showed her the transaction logs in the developer backend. It took a whole lot of explaining before the girl's racing heart finally settled down.

"Ye Zhenzhen, am I packing or what?"

Gu Ran showed off beside her, his face practically begging for a compliment.

But upon hearing those words, the first thing that popped into the girl's mind was all the dirty "Pei-style literature" her best friend, Pei Susu, had educated her with.

Her gaze involuntarily drifted downwards.

"What the hell are you looking down at?!"

Noticing her eyes wandering, dark lines formed on Gu Ran's forehead as he immediately gave her a harsh scolding.

Deep down, however, he was utterly heartbroken, cursing Pei Susu to hell and back in his mind.

Such a perfect, pure, and aloof beauty—how did she get corrupted into this?!!!

That woman should be thrown into a river!

Ye Zhenzhen blushed furiously. She quickly turned her head, stared awkwardly at the computer screen, and spat lightly.

"I... I wasn't looking at anything..."

Feeling that her denial lacked conviction, the girl seized onto his slip of the tongue and immediately activated her bossy older sister mode.

"Show some respect! Is that how you talk to your sister? You need a spanking!"

The two bickered and messed around for a while before Ye Zhenzhen finally accepted the shocking reality.

However, she had no intention of just comfortably spending Gu Ran's money.

Growing up, she had managed to save up quite a bit from her scholarships. So, she lifted her chin, revealing her fair, swan-like neck.

"Going on a trip is fine, but let me make one thing clear first: we are splitting the bill."

Looking at the stubborn girl in front of him, Gu Ran stayed silent for a moment before laughing. "Even if you wanted to freeload off me, I wouldn't let you."

"Get out of here."

The girl's serious facade broke instantly, and she gave him a playful kick, smiling as beautifully as a blooming flower.

"Wait a minute!"

The very next second, she thought of something. She hastily stopped Gu Ran, her expression turning peculiar.

"What is it?"

The girl twisted her hands together, her toes curling so hard from embarrassment that she could have dug a three-bedroom apartment out of the floorboards.

She kept her head down, her voice as quiet as a mosquito, but she had to ask:

"Then... where are we staying?"

"A homestay," Gu Ran replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"I... I mean..."

Ye Zhenzhen suddenly shot her head up, her face so red it looked like it could drip blood. She gritted her teeth and asked:

"Is it one room... or two?"

The air suddenly fell dead silent.

Gu Ran looked at the fiercely blushing girl, the corners of his mouth curling up inch by inch until he wore the wicked grin of a big bad wolf eyeing a little white rabbit.

He waved his phone and slowly tossed the question back at her:

"Dr. Ye, what do you think?"