What are you chatting about

After 70 minutes, the lights in the room came on.

Nishino, her face flushed, straightened her clothes, exchanged a few words with Su Yang, then picked up her suitcase and turned to leave.

Su Yang didn’t linger either; he put on his own clothes and walked out.

At that moment, Meng Wenzhou and Liu Bo also emerged from their respective rooms.

Meng Wenzhou turned to Su Yang with a grin. “Not bad, this place, right? The massage?”

“It was... yeah, pretty decent,” Su Yang nodded.

Liu Bo approached with a sly smile. “I thought it was just okay.”

“Just okay?”

“Yeah, I don’t speak the language, and that crappy translation app on my phone is so inaccurate. Couldn’t even have a proper chat.”

“What were you chatting for?” Meng Wenzhou shot back.

Liu Bo froze. “What else was I supposed to do? 70 minutes of silence is torture for me.”

“What were you chatting for?” Su Yang echoed, also looking at Liu Bo.

“Hey? What’s with you two? Acting in sync? You just sat in silence the whole time just pressing buttons?”

“You think we just pressed buttons?” Meng Wenzhou asked with a smirk.

“What else?” Liu Bo caught on as he saw their ambiguous expressions.

“Holy shit?!”

The two swiftly moved in, each grabbing one of Liu Bo’s arms as they clamped a hand over his mouth.

“I suggest you keep your voice down!” Meng Wenzhou said coolly.

“Alright, alright, I get it. So you didn’t get massages?”

“Who said we didn’t get massages? That’s why we came here, right? Pure massage. What’s going on in your head?” Meng Wenzhou gave Liu Bo a light smack.

“Then why cover my mouth? Am I overthinking?”

“Obviously. Come on, let’s go grab a smoke.”

The three of them walked over to the lounge area in the lobby, sat down, and lit up cigarettes.

After waiting ten minutes, the women finally strolled into the lobby.

“You guys finished so fast?” Zhuang Mengli asked, looking at Su Yang and the others.

“Yeah, ours was only 70 minutes. Free ones are shorter, naturally.”

“Ours was 80 minutes.”

“You guys just had footbaths. Oh wait, ear cleaning took 80 minutes too?” Meng Wenzhou asked.

“That’s right, ear cleaning and foot therapy were both 80 minutes.”

“Wouldn’t your ears get bored through?”

The women rolled their eyes. “After the ear cleaning, they also massaged our arms and heads a bit.”

“Oh, that’s not bad. Pretty good value for money.”

“Yeah, I want to come back tomorrow night.” Meng Qianyu said with a smile.

“Let’s talk about it tomorrow. Come on, let’s go.”

“Where to now?” Meng Qianyu asked.

“Back to the rooms to sleep. Where else do you want to go?”

Meng Qianyu smiled and linked arms with Lu Yun. “I thought you guys might want to hit the bar for drinks.”

“Not in the mood. Do you guys want to?” Meng Wenzhou shook his head.

“You three guys decide. If you don’t go, we won’t either.”

“It’s almost midnight now. Let’s call it a night. We’ve got to head out to play tomorrow. Let’s rest well and drink tomorrow.”

“Fine then, everyone back to their rooms.”

As the group left the SPA, Pan Ning approached Su Yang. “While we were getting our ears cleaned, we chatted and decided to go swimming at the beach tomorrow and also take a hot air balloon ride.”

“Hot air balloon? Sounds good. Is there one nearby?”

“Yeah, Qianyu checked.”

“If it’s possible, then sure. Did you all agree?” Su Yang glanced at the other women.

“Mm-hmm, all of us.”

“Alright, we’ll all go together tomorrow.”

“Great~”

Chatting as they walked, the group soon reached a fork in the path. After exchanging goodnights, they headed toward their respective guest room areas.

Su Yang was accompanied by Zhuang Mengli, Ren Lingxi, Han Suyan, Jin Xiangmei, as well as Jiali and Wenni.

A few minutes later, the seven of them returned to the courtyard.

Just then, Jin Xiangmei’s phone rang. She glanced at it, waved goodbye to everyone, and headed into her room first.

“Everyone, head back to rest. Sleep early. You’re planning to go for the hot air balloon tomorrow, right?” Su Yang asked, looking at Zhuang Mengli and the others.

“Yeah, the weather’s supposed to be good tomorrow. We’ll swim at the beach and take the hot air balloon.”

“Alright, sounds good. Goodnight, ladies.”

Everyone headed to their rooms. Su Yang, Han Suyan, and Jiali arrived at the doors of rooms five, six, and seven.

Just as Su Yang was about to go inside, Jiali turned and gave him a meaningful look.

Han Suyan didn’t pay it any mind; she said goodnight to the two of them and opened her door to go inside.

Su Yang turned to Jiali. “What was that look supposed to mean?”

“No... nothing, Su-san. Goodnight~” Jiali blushed, quickly opened her door, and scurried inside.

“Hey, this cherry blossom girl—definitely up to something. Forget it, I’ll let it slide.” Su Yang shook his head with a smile and entered his own room.

After showering, Su Yang lay down on the bed.

It was ten past midnight—still early for Su Yang, who was used to sleeping at three or four in the morning.

Besides, Nishino had stirred up some heat in him during the massage, but nothing major had happened; it was just a different technique.

After all, Su Yang wasn’t the type to hook up with just anyone.

Of course, who knew if Meng Wenzhou had gotten into something? One thing was for sure: Liu Bo hadn’t. It all came down to looks.

After scrolling through Douyin for a few minutes, a message popped up.

“Su-san, are you asleep?”

Seeing Jiali’s message, Su Yang’s heart skipped a beat as he typed a reply: “Not yet. Just got out of the shower and messing around on my phone.”

“Then... do you want to go for a walk?”

“Right now?”

“Yeah, just the two of us~”

Seeing that, Su Yang smirked to himself. “But it’s a bit cold outside.”

“That’s okay, I’ll dress warmly.”

“Alright, I can’t sleep anyway. Put on your clothes and come out.”

“Okay~”

Su Yang put down his phone, got up, grabbed another set of clothes from his suitcase, changed, and stepped out of his room.

As soon as he opened the door, he saw Jiali standing there.

“Su-san~” Jiali, wearing a pink tracksuit jacket, waved at him.

Su Yang closed the door behind him. “Where do you want to go?”

“Let’s just stroll around the garden outside.”

“Alright, let’s go.”

The two walked side by side out of the courtyard.

After leaving the yard, the sound of hurried footsteps came from behind.

Su Yang instinctively grabbed Jiali and pulled her behind a large tree. Seconds later, Jin Xiangmei jogged out of the courtyard, heading toward the garden, and disappeared into the shadows. Su Yang thought to himself, ‘What the hell? Massage, garden, walk—this scene feels way too familiar.’

‘Old Fatty?’

‘Damn, never would have guessed. Little Jin likes playing outdoors too?’

“What’s wrong, Su-san?” Jiali whispered beside him.

“Nothing, let’s go.”

“Okay. Who was that person? I couldn’t get a good look.”

“Doesn’t matter. Probably another guest.”

“Oh. So why did we hide?”

“Uh... never mind that. Let’s just go.”

The two then made their way into the garden.

This garden was different from the one Su Yang had taken Meng Qianyu to for a casual stroll on a previous night. That garden had no lights, pitch-black and perfect for sneaking around, but this one definitely wasn’t—there were night lamps everywhere.

Su Yang didn’t feel like overthinking it. He took Jiali for a walk around the garden.

Late autumn nights on Beihai Road were still quite cold. Although Jiali was wearing a jacket, she wrapped her arms around herself, shivering as she walked.

Seeing this, Su Yang asked, “I notice you’re trembling. Are you cold?”

“It’s okay.”

“If it’s really too much, let’s head back. We don’t want you catching a cold before we go out tomorrow.”

“I’m fine, Su-san. By the way, how many days are you planning to stay here?”

Su Yang thought for a moment and replied, “Same as you, not sure yet. We’ll play it by ear—stay longer if it’s fun, maybe leave the day after tomorrow if it’s not.”

“Are you going to continue exploring the island nation or head back home for the next stop?”

“Probably head home. Our visa only lasts fifteen days, so we can’t really stretch it much further.”

“Oh, I see.”

In the evening garden, besides Su Yang and Jiali, there were also a few couples taking a stroll.

As gusts of cool wind came through, Jiali unconsciously edged closer to Su Yang, until finally she reached out and linked her arm with his.

After walking for more than twenty minutes, Su Yang said, “We should probably head back soon.”

Jiali nodded. “Alright, let’s go back then.”

Seven or eight minutes later, they arrived at the doors of their respective rooms. Jiali seemed like she wanted to say something, but kept hesitating, unable to bring herself to speak.

Su Yang looked at her with a smile. “Jiali, is there something you want to say?”

“Huh?” Jiali was startled, then gently pushed her door open and shook her head. “No... nothing.”

“Okay then, good night, see you tomorrow.” Su Yang said, opening his own door.

Just as he was about to step inside, Jiali turned around and hurried over to his doorway, grabbing his hand and saying, “Su... Su-san, why don’t you come sit in my room for a bit?”

......