Departure: A Journey to Europe

Upon hearing this, Qin Su’s face flushed red and her heart quickened again.

But right now was a moment of sheer frenzy—who could care about such things? Since they had already gone mad, going a little madder wouldn’t matter. The kitchen it was!

She cast a fiery gaze at Su Yang, then closed her eyes and took the initiative to advance.

Two minutes later, Su Yang swept her up in his arms and set her down on a clean countertop...

An hour passed, and the kitchen no longer held Qin Su’s presence. The storm had settled.

Once Su Yang calmed down, preparing the dishes on his own went much faster.

Sure, Qin Su had said she was helping earlier, but really she was just getting in the way—she couldn’t actually do much. Anyone who knows how to cook would tell you: teaching someone else is slower than just doing it yourself.

At 6:20 in the evening, he usually would have already cooked two or three dishes around this time and been about ready to eat. But the unexpected incident had delayed dinner by an hour.

Su Yang picked up the pace—mainly because he still had a flight to catch later, or else he wouldn’t have been in a hurry.

Another hour or so passed, and by 7:30, three dishes and a soup were all done: stir-fried shrimp, braised beef brisket with potatoes, shredded pork with green peppers, and winter melon spare ribs soup—all laid out on the dining table.

He washed his hands and tilted his head toward the bedroom. After what had just happened, Qin Su had run back into the bedroom and hadn’t come out since.

Su Yang raised his voice and shouted, “Susu!! Time to eat!”

“Susu!”

“Coming! Right now!!”

It took two calls before Qin Su answered.

“Hurry up, the food’s going to get cold.”

“Okay.”

Two minutes later, Qin Su walked out wearing a purple bodycon skirt and black stockings.

Su Yang craned his neck to look. “Wait, why are you dressed like that just to eat?”

“I... don’t ask. Just eat!” Qin Su, blushing with embarrassment, hurried over to sit beside him and started eating with her bowl in hand.

Su Yang glanced at her twice and then quickly dug in too.

Neither of them spoke during the meal. Qin Su ate very quickly—she finished a bowl of rice in a few bites, then got up and headed back to her room.

Seeing this, Su Yang called out, “You’re done?”

“Yeah, I’m going back to my room to take a shower.”

“Alright.” Su Yang didn’t bother with her and continued eating on his own.

After finishing everything on the table except the soup, he wiped his mouth and stood up.

“Ah, nothing beats my own cooking.”

He walked over to the bar, made himself a cup of coffee, then pulled out a cigarette and went to the living room balcony to light it.

“Whew, that’s nice!”

[Ding, system detects that the host is thoroughly enjoying the moment. Reward: 3 million.]

—By the way, where did I put that GT3RS I was rewarded with earlier?

[Same place as always.]

—Why didn’t you put it at the new riverside mansion I bought? I could use a car in Magic City.

[The new apartment hasn’t passed inspection yet; we can’t store anything there.]

—Fine.

“Su Yang!”

Just as he was puffing away, Qin Su’s voice rang out.

“What’s up!” Su Yang tilted his head and replied.

“Come here for a second!”

“On my way!” He tossed the cigarette into the ashtray Qin Su had bought specifically for him, then got up and headed toward the master bedroom.

Pushing open the bedroom door, he saw Qin Su lying in bed under the covers.

Su Yang froze. “You’re going to sleep already?”

“What time are you leaving?” Qin Su avoided the question and changed the subject.

“8:30.”

“That soon?”

“I’ve got a 10 o’clock flight. It takes at least half an hour from here to the airport, and after that I still need to check in my luggage, so I have to leave early.”

“Dongpu Airport?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll drive you.”

“That works. It’s 8 now, so we have half an hour.” Su Yang glanced at his watch.

“Come here first.” Qin Su beckoned him.

Su Yang walked over and sat down beside her, joking, “What? Half an hour isn’t quite enough for me.”

Qin Su bit her lip. “For me, it is.” She reached out, grabbed Su Yang by the neck, and pulled him onto the bed.

......

At 8:30, the two of them headed out on time and arrived at the underground garage.

Qin Su was pleased, but Su Yang was a bit uncomfortable—still, there was nothing he could do. He had a flight to catch.

After loading the luggage, he opened the door to the G-Wagon. “You take the passenger seat. I’ll drive.”

“Fine. You driving will be faster.”

The two quickly got in, and Su Yang started the car and pulled out of the garage.

Luckily, the roads weren’t too congested. At 9 p.m., Su Yang pulled up to the entrance of Terminal 1 at Dongpu Airport and got out.

After taking out the luggage, he walked over to Qin Su and said, “Drive slow on the way back. Stay safe. I’m off now~”

“Okay. You too. Take care of yourself in a foreign country.” Qin Su gazed at Su Yang with deep affection.

Now that the shackles had been broken, she was no longer as reserved as before.

Su Yang smiled and nodded. “Don’t worry. Hurry back. I really gotta go.”

“Wait!” Qin Su grabbed Su Yang’s hand, pulled him toward her, and stood on her tiptoes to plant a kiss on his lips before letting go.

“Okay, you can go now.”

Su Yang leaned in and returned the kiss, then grinned. “Alright, I’m really going now. Bye, see you later!”

With that, he dragged his suitcase and walked briskly toward the terminal.

Watching his figure gradually disappear, Qin Su got into the car with a complicated mix of feelings and drove away.

Su Yang smoothly completed the process. His luggage was checked in, and following the staff’s instructions, he took a shuttle bus to the first-class lounge near the boarding gate to wait.

This time, he had chosen Air France and a Boeing 777 jumbo jet.

The direct flight from Magic City to Paris takes around 11 to 13 hours—a fairly long journey, and the farthest he had ever traveled on his own.

Traveling alone has its pros and cons. The upside is a high sense of the unknown and total freedom. The downside is that the trip can get boring with no one to chat with.

However, he’s the type who can strike up a conversation with just about anyone, and language barriers weren’t an issue for him, so that downside didn’t really bother him much.

It was 9:30 p.m. now. If the flight took off on time at 10, then based on a 12-hour flight time, he would arrive in Paris at around 10 a.m. Beijing time.

But since France is in Western Europe and in a different time zone from China—a significant gap, six hours behind their time—he would land at around 4 a.m. local French time.

That said, there still hadn’t been an announcement to board, and it looked like the flight might be delayed. Su Yang wasn’t in a hurry, though. He lounged on the leather sofa in the first-class lounge and played with his phone.

It wasn’t until 10:30 that the announcement finally came for boarding.

Soon, he was on the plane. Two tall foreign flight attendants stood at the cabin door, smiling and welcoming Su Yang.

Su Yang replied in English and followed one flight attendant into the first-class cabin.

This time, the first-class he purchased was what you could truly call first-class—it included a private compartment with an actual bed, making long-haul travel extremely comfortable.

Once all passengers had boarded, at 10:50 p.m., the plane taxied toward the runway.

After arriving on the runway, it stopped and waited for takeoff clearance from the control tower. About three minutes later, the plane accelerated, and soon the nose lifted off into the night sky.

The flight attendant had told him earlier that this flight would take about twelve hours and five minutes.

He had initially thought about finding someone to chat with, but the first-class compartment was very private, so the only option was to sleep.

With the flight attendant’s help, he spread out the blankets, turned off the light, put on his noise-canceling headphones, and drifted off to sleep.

...

When he opened his eyes again, nearly ten hours had passed. Su Yang got up to freshen up, and then the flight attendant began serving his meal.

The airplane food wasn’t bad: two fried eggs, a steak, a plate of curry rice, a fruit platter, and a cup of coffee.

He had been hungry after sleeping, so Su Yang gave a polite thank-you and started digging in.

The taste was average, but he wasn’t picky and finished quickly.

It was 8:40 in the morning China time, and the screen in front of him showed the plane had already flown over European airspace.

There were about two hours left before landing.

Su Yang lay on the large bed in first class. Unfortunately, this flight had no Wi-Fi, so he couldn’t play on his phone—he could only lie there listening to music and letting his mind wander.

Two hours passed in the blink of an eye.

The intercom began broadcasting the usual landing announcements: the plane’s imminent arrival, the local ground temperature in Paris, and other standard procedures.

“Phew, we’re finally here.”