Important Announcement

Jiang Xiaotang did not dawdle; she placed the bags on the checkout counter.

Su Yang looked at the cashier and said, "Miss, I will take all of these together."

"Right away, sir."

"Mengmeng, your boyfriend is actually quite nice. What does he do?" Jiang Xiaotang pulled Zhuang Mengli aside and asked in a low voice.

Zhuang Mengli ignored the word boyfriend. She thought for a moment and said, "Anyway, he is quite rich and runs his own company."

"Oh, no wonder. But how come I have never seen him before? Is he the son of one of your dad's friends?"

"No, he is from Haicheng."

"Haicheng? Then how did you guys meet?"

"Gosh, are you doing a background check on me?" Zhuang Mengli said impatiently.

"Hehe, I am just trying to help you vet him."

"Vet my foot, I already told you he is not my boyfriend."

"Tch, making excuses. Oh, I know, is he pursuing you right now?"

"No! Neither. He probably has a girlfriend."

"He has a girl... ah?" Jiang Xiaotang exclaimed in shock at this point: "No way? You guys play that wildly?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

"You said he has a girlfriend?"

Zhuang Mengli nodded: "I am not too sure either. He probably does, anyway there are a lot of girls around him."

"Holy crap? Then what are you doing?"

"What do you mean what am I doing?"

"According to what you said, isn't he just a playboy? Although with your looks, taking down this kind of man is definitely no problem, but..."

"Ugh, I cannot explain it clearly to you in a sentence or two. Anyway, he is a very good person, and we are just purely friends."

Hearing this, Jiang Xiaotang shook her head and muttered to herself: "Oh no, Mengmeng, you are doomed. I completely understand now."

"What do you understand now?"

"It seems it is not him pursuing you, but you pursuing him. And you have already fallen for him. You know he has a lot of beauties around him and you actually do not mind, although he is indeed very handsome."

Zhuang Mengli rolled her eyes at Jiang Xiaotang speechlessly: "Can you stop talking? I will explain it to you properly when I have time."

"Fine."

On the other side, the cashier had packed all eight bags. "Sir, the total is 2.348 million yuan."

"Okay, swipe the card."

"Okay."

Soon, Su Yang finished paying. He picked up the bags, turned to look at the two people not far away, and called out: "What are you guys whispering about? Come get these yourselves."

"Oh, okay." Zhuang Mengli walked up to Su Yang first and took her five bags.

Jiang Xiaotang did not hesitate anymore. She stepped forward and thanked him with a smile: "Thank you, handsome Su Yang, sorry for making you spend so much."

"It is nothing. Do you guys want to buy anything else?"

"No more buying, let's go."

"Alright, where to now?"

"Let's drop off the bags and find a cafe to sit for a while, then I will treat you guys to dinner tonight."

"Didn't your dad say to go back and eat?" Su Yang asked.

Hearing Su Yang say this, Jiang Xiaotang on the side started letting her imagination run wild again.

"Well, we ran into Xiaotang, so we won't go back. I will just call him later and let him know."

"Alright, whatever you want."

The three of them chatted as they left the mall, went to the parking lot, and tossed the bags into the car. Then Zhuang Mengli looked at the two and said: "I know there is a pretty good cafe nearby. Let's go sit for a bit."

"Okay."

...

More than ten minutes later, the three arrived at a roadside cafe called MODEL.

They walked into the shop and found a quiet spot in the corner. After ordering coffee, someone sent a message in Su Yang's WeChat group.

He leaned back on the sofa, picked up his phone, and opened it to take a look.

In the road trip group, Liu Bo tagged everyone: @Everyone, is everyone here? Come out and gather, there is a big announcement.

Su Yang typed a reply: What's up?

Zhang Ziming, Su Qingci, Tang Ziyun, and others also chimed in: Same question?

After almost everyone came out, Liu Bo sent a sticker of a beckoning finger and then added: Brother Meng and I were just chatting about our next plan. We are getting people together for a trip.

Ji Bo: Another trip?

Zhang Ziming: Yeah, didn't we just get back from a road trip not long ago?

Liu Bo: Life is about constantly setting off, experiencing different scenery in our limited time!

Zhang Ziming: But aren't we busy with the racetrack renovation recently?

Meng Wenzhou: That doesn't affect it. The team I contacted already went to inspect the track on-site yesterday. The conclusion is that if we want to change the track, it will be very troublesome. Money is one aspect, but the most important thing is that it requires reporting and approval from superiors. So after studying it, we decided not to touch the track. We will just renovate the other areas and add a north grandstand.

Seeing this message, Su Yang immediately replied: @Meng Wenzhou, you guys already went to see it yesterday?

Meng Wenzhou: Yes, I was originally going to ask you and Ziming to come along, but I heard from Pan Pan that you went to Shanghai, so I didn't call you guys. Anyway, we don't need to change the track, so it doesn't matter if you go or not. We will just split the renovation costs equally when the time comes.

Su Yang: Alright, I do have some things keeping me in Shanghai.

Liu Bo: So we don't need to worry about the racetrack for now. Brother Meng and I were thinking we should go out and play again.

Su Qingci: Where are we going this time?

Liu Bo: The island nation!

Tang Ziyun: The island nation? Going abroad?

Liu Bo: Yeah, the previous few times we played domestically. This time we should go abroad. So I need to ask everyone about their upcoming schedules. Whoever can go, speak up first, because we still have to apply for visas and stuff. Oh right, does everyone have a passport?

Meng Qianyu: Yes.

Ji Bo: I have one, but I probably won't be able to go with everyone this time.

Liu Bo: Why? You actually have a time when you don't want to join the fun?

Ji Bo: My dad arranged some other things for me recently, so I can't get away for now.

Liu Bo: Alright, anyway we are just tallying the headcount for now. The people currently confirmed to go are me, Brother Meng, Brother Yang, Sister Pan, and Qianyu.

Seeing this, Su Yang paused, smiled, and typed a reply: When did I confirm I was going?

Liu Bo: Hehe, I decided for you.

Su Yang: Hey? You brat...

Liu Bo: Didn't we chat about this together before? You definitely have to go!

Su Yang: Fine, fine, fine. I don't have much to do anyway.

Pan Ning, who hadn't spoken the whole time, also came out to reply: @Liu Bo, and when did I confirm? How come I don't know it myself?

Liu Bo: Hehe, Brother Yang is confirmed, doesn't that mean you are confirmed too?

Pan Ning: Okay, okay, okay.

Liu Bo: So what about the others? Currently, the only one confirmed not to go is Xiao Ji. For those who don't speak up, I will assume you are all going.

Tang Ziyun: I'm OK.

Su Qingci: I should be OK too, I shouldn't have anything going on during this upcoming period.

Zhang Ziming: I am not OK this time.

Liu Bo: What is wrong with you now?

Zhang Ziming: I already agreed with some friends in advance to go to Huacheng for an event in a few days, so I won't be joining everyone this time.

Liu Bo: Fine, what about the rest?

Zhong Qing: I can't go either.

Chu Qiunan: I can't go either.

Liu Bo: Hey? Are you all busy?

Chu Qiunan: Yeah, I've got a lot on my plate lately, so I can't get away for now.

Liu Bo: Alright, we'll leave you guys to it then.

After exiting the group chat, Liu Bo created a new group called Japan Trip.

He pulled everyone who had confirmed they were going into the new group.

Liu Bo: @Everyone, are we a bit short on people this time?

Meng Wenzhou: It's alright. We have seven so far, which isn't too few.

Liu Bo: Right, there are some other friends who weren't in the group chat just now. Should we ask them?

Meng Wenzhou: Might as well ask.

Pan Ning: I'll go ask Yixue; you guys can ask the others.

Su Yang: OK, I'll go ask Little Lu and her friends.

Meng Wenzhou: Sure, you guys ask first. If they want to go, just pull them into this group.

Su Yang: OK.

As they were chatting, Zhuang Mengli, who was sitting across from him, tilted her head and asked, "Su Yang, what are you doing? You've been staring at your phone ever since you sat down."

Su Yang looked up and said, "Oh, nothing, I'm just chatting with my friends."

"With those beautiful female friends of yours?"

Su Yang rolled his eyes at Zhuang Mengli. "Just friends, both guys and girls."

Zhuang Mengli nodded and smiled. "Oh, I see. What fun things are you guys talking about?"

Su Yang shifted his gaze in thought and said, "We're gathering people for a trip to Japan."

"What? Japan?" Hearing this, Zhuang Mengli leaned forward with great interest and asked, "Are you guys planning a trip to Japan?"

Su Yang nodded. "Yeah, we talked about this before, and now they're organizing it in the group chat."

After Su Yang finished speaking, Zhuang Mengli bit her lip and asked, "Can I go with you?"

......