A Must-Drive in This Lifetime: 0328

"I'll go return these, you guys wait," Chu Qiunan said, taking the two extra room cards back to the front desk to cancel two rooms.

Afterwards, everyone took the elevator upstairs together.

Inside the elevator, Meng Wenzhou looked at everyone. "It's still early. Let's all go back to our rooms and rest for a bit, then head out for dinner around four or five."

"Sounds good. Oh, wait, I can't rest. I have to accompany Yueyue to the mall to buy some gear. You guys go ahead and rest," Chu Qiunan said helplessly.

With a ding, the elevator opened on the fifteenth floor.

This time, everyone's rooms were on the same floor, but because the hotel was quite large, the rooms weren't right next to each other.

After greeting the others, Su Yang and Pan Ning arrived at the door of room 1523 and swiped their card to enter.

This deluxe river-view room was larger than the one they had stayed in back in Xicang, and the amenities were more complete.

The room was airy and very comfortable. Standing by the floor-to-ceiling windows, one could overlook most of downtown Ya'an and the beautiful scenery of the Qingyi River; the view was excellent.

After closing the door, Su Yang walked over to a lounge chair by the window, sat down, and sighed, "So comfortable~"

"By the way, where is our next stop?" Pan Ning, true to her habits, liked to unpack and arrange her things first. She asked while organizing her belongings on the small sofa.

Su Yang leaned back in the chair, thought for a moment, and said, "Kangding."

"Oh, okay."

"Have you been there?"

Pan Ning shook her head. "In Sichuan Province, I've only been to Rongcheng."

"Alright then. By the way, it seems we only had breakfast. Hurry up and finish, and I'll take you to get something to eat."

"That's right, we haven't had lunch yet. Let's call the others to join us."

"Okay, I'll mention it in the group chat."

As he spoke, Su Yang took out his phone and opened the main group chat: @Everyone, did we forget to eat lunch?

Liu Bo: You're right! I was wondering what felt missing~

Meng Qianyu: Let's all go look around and grab a bite then.

Meng Wenzhou: Works for me. I didn't feel it before, but now that you mention it, I am a bit hungry.

Chu Qiunan: You guys go eat. Yueyue and I are going shopping.

Liu Bo: OK. Meet in the hotel lobby in ten minutes?

Tang Ziyun: Sounds good~

Zhong Qing: Received.

Ten minutes later, everyone gathered in the hotel lobby.

Chu Qiunan took Gao Yue and drove Meng Wenzhou's car to the mall.

The rest walked along the streets of Ya'an looking for local delicacies.

After casually eating some special snacks, they headed over to the Qingyi River and found a riverside café with a great atmosphere to sit, drink coffee, and chat.

The café had a retro decor, quiet and comfortable overall. The classic soundtrack from Interstellar was playing inside.

Su Yang immediately felt as if he were drinking coffee in a cornfield.

Two tables by the window on the second floor were taken over by the ten of them. Small potted plants sat on the wooden windowsill.

Everyone ordered a coffee and nestled into the soft sofas to admire the river view outside, taking the chance to enjoy a peaceful, slow-paced lifestyle.

"Are there any fun places in Ya'an?" Su Qingci asked, leaning on the windowsill.

"I don't think any of us have been to Ya'an before, but if you search online, there are tons. There are definitely plenty of fun places," Zhang Ziming replied while drinking his coffee.

"It just depends on whether everyone wants to stay in Ya'an for a couple more days or continue setting off tomorrow."

"Let's search first and see what fun places there are," Meng Qianyu said, picking up her phone from the table.

"There's Bifeng Gorge, Niubei Mountain, Mengding Mountain, Dawagengza, and so on. But looking at them, they're basically all mountains. Do you guys want to go?"

Hearing that it was all mountains, several of the girls shook their heads.

Tang Ziyun laughed, "My legs go weak just hearing the word 'mountain' right now."

Su Yang followed up, "Is it that dramatic? Didn't we just climb Yulong Snow Mountain?"

"We did only climb one Yulong Snow Mountain, but we climbed up and down, back and forth more than ten times. It completely wore me out; I still haven't recovered," Tang Ziyun said with a smile, sticking out her tongue.

"Hahaha, then let's not go mountain climbing. We'll rest for half a day today and set off again tomorrow."

"Is our next stop Kangding?" Zhong Qing looked at Su Yang and asked.

Su Yang nodded. "I checked. Ya'an isn't far from Kangding, only about 140 kilometers. If we take the highway, it takes less than an hour and a half, but..."

"But what?" Zhong Qing asked.

"Since we are driving to Tibet, of course we have to take National Highway 328. If we take the 328, it will probably take more than four hours."

Liu Bo laughed at this moment. "We must take the 328! This Life, Must Drive 328!"

"Exactly. We've made it this far, why take the highway?"

"Yes, starting from Ya'an, we'll basically be taking National Highway 328 for the subsequent sections."

"I suddenly feel like we've only truly started 'road trip mode' after arriving in Ya'an," Meng Qianyu said with a slight smile, resting her chin on her hand.

"Oh? Qianyu, what makes you say that?" Zhang Ziming looked at Meng Qianyu and laughed.

"Before, we were always on the highway. It felt like we were just going from one city to the next without really feeling a strong road trip atmosphere in between."

"It wasn't until we arrived in Ya'an and I saw so many cars on the street with 'This Life Must Drive 328' stickers that I suddenly got that road trip feeling."

"Hahaha, really?"

"Mhm, really~"

"It's true, because the route we chose was a bit winding, and the earlier part of the journey wasn't the traditional route."

"Normally speaking, entering Tibet usually starts from Rongcheng, so your feeling is quite accurate," Meng Wenzhou said indifferently while sipping his coffee.

"So, starting tomorrow, we'll get on the 328 and enjoy the scenery along the way."

"Sounds good~"