I Believe in Your Aesthetic

Yoshie flipped through the photo album for more than ten seconds before handing the phone back to Li Yuanying. Almost instinctively, she turned to Su Yang and asked, “Su-san, what do you think?”

“Me? I feel the same way they do.”

Yoshie nodded with a smile. “Great, then let’s set out today!”

“Yay!” Qingxia said happily.

“But shouldn’t we book the tickets first?” Yoshie said, taking out her phone to buy them.

Su Yang stepped forward and patted her on the shoulder. “I’ll buy them. Let’s go back to the hotel first. You two can check out, then we’ll rest for a few minutes before leaving!”

“I can buy them.”

“I’ll do it!” Seeing the two of them arguing over who should pay, Li Yuanying reached out and grabbed one of their hands with each of hers. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll buy them!”

“Both of you, stop! I’ll buy them!” Qingxia said, pulling out her phone as she watched the three of them tugging back and forth.

The other three immediately turned to look at her.

“Hey, are you taking advantage of the chaos?” Li Yuanying joked.

Su Yang tilted his head. “Is that really how you use ‘taking advantage of the chaos’?”

“Oh, enough, all of you. They’re only four train tickets. It doesn’t matter who buys them. Leave it to me—I’ve already looked into it.” Qingxia began operating her phone.

Su Yang, Li Yuanying, and Yoshie exchanged glances and smiled.

“All right, all right. You can buy the tickets. Then I’ll book the guesthouse, and nobody’s allowed to argue with me over that, okay?”

“Fine.”

The four of them laughed and soon crossed two blocks, arriving at an ordinary hotel by the roadside.

Switzerland was a country of just over forty thousand square kilometers, with a population of more than nine million. It wasn’t very large, yet it had four official languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansh.

German, French, and Italian were the most widely spoken. German was the most common, used by around seventy percent of the population.

French came next. The area around Geneva belonged to the French-speaking region.

So, if you had spent a long time in France before coming to Geneva, you might feel as though you were still in France.

After all, France and Switzerland shared a border, and Geneva was extremely close to France. The city’s architecture, customs, and general atmosphere were all very similar to those of France. In any case, it was difficult for Asians to tell the difference.

The four of them entered the hotel. Yoshie took Qingxia by the arm and looked back at Su Yang and Li Yuanying with a smile.

“Su-san, Yuanying, you two can rest in the lobby for a while. Qingxia and I will go upstairs to pack our luggage. We’ll be down soon.”

“Sure. Take your time. No rush.”

“All right.”

The two women turned and walked toward the area behind the front desk.

Su Yang and Li Yuanying dragged their suitcases to the lounge area in the lobby and sat down.

This was not a five-star hotel, so even with guests sitting around, no staff came over to ask whether they wanted something to drink.

Su Yang looked around and turned to Li Yuanying. “Yuanying, what would you like to drink? I’ll go get it.”

“I’d like a cup of coffee, if they have any here.”

“Coffee? All right. I’ll go ask.”

Su Yang got up and walked over to the front desk. Looking at the female employee standing behind the counter, he asked, “Hello, excuse me. Do you sell coffee here?”

“Sorry, sir, we don’t. But if you’d like some, there’s a coffee shop about thirty meters to the right after you leave the hotel.”

“Really? All right, thank you.”

“You’re welcome!”

Su Yang turned and left the hotel. He followed the road to the right for several dozen meters and soon spotted a local coffee shop.

He pushed open the door and ordered four coffees. Ten minutes later, he returned to the hotel lobby carrying the drinks.

“That was fast.” Li Yuanying smiled as she watched him approach.

“There’s a coffee shop right next to the hotel. Here, take one.”

“Okay.”

Li Yuanying pulled out a latte, inserted the straw, and happily took a sip.

“Mmm, this coffee tastes better than the one we got at the Peninsula Hotel before.”

“Does it? European coffee is generally pretty good.” Su Yang smiled as he took out his own iced Americano and inserted the straw.

As in France, they didn’t really have Americanos here. But an Americano was nothing more than espresso mixed with water and ice. Unless someone was being ridiculously inflexible, most cafés were willing to make one for a customer and simply charge the same price as a regular latte.

Su Yang took a couple of sips before pulling out his phone and searching for guesthouses in Grindelwald.

There were plenty of hotels and guesthouses there. After all, it was a well-developed tourist destination, attracting visitors from all over the world every year.

Li Yuanying leaned over to look at Su Yang’s phone. “Remember, don’t book a hotel.”

“I know. I’m only looking at guesthouses.”

“Good.”

Su Yang browsed through several guesthouses in a row. Every one of them looked quite nice. The main reason was that no matter where you stayed, the surrounding scenery was beautiful.

“From what I’ve seen, they all seem about the same. None of them really stands out. Why don’t you take a look?” Su Yang said, handing his phone to Li Yuanying.

“Sure, let me see.”

While Li Yuanying looked through the listings, Su Yang leaned back on the sofa and leisurely drank his coffee.

A few minutes later, Li Yuanying, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly called out, “Su Yang!”

“Damn, you scared me. What’s wrong?”

“I just had an idea.”

“What idea?”

“Why don’t we rent an entire house instead? What do you think?”

“An entire house? Huh… That actually sounds like a good idea.”

“Exactly! I looked into it, and there are lots of detached little villas over there that can be rented out in their entirety. They’re similar in style to guesthouses, except guesthouses tend to be larger. But when it comes down to it, we’d still only be sleeping in individual rooms.

“If we rent a whole house, we’ll have much more space to move around, and we’ll be more comfortable. We could even cook for ourselves. Wow, just thinking about it sounds fun!” Li Yuanying said with a grin.

“Sounds good. Let’s do it. I’ll leave this to you. Find the prettiest little house in Grindelwald.”

“The prettiest? That might be a little difficult—and it’ll definitely be expensive.”

“Don’t worry about the price. Just find one. I only said the prettiest as a general idea. As long as it has nice surroundings and a pleasant interior, that’s fine. I trust your taste.”

“Okay! I’ll start looking right away. There are too many options, so I’ll have to compare them one by one.” Li Yuanying lowered her head and began searching.

Su Yang smiled and continued resting on the sofa.

Another seven or eight minutes passed before Yoshie and Qingxia came downstairs with their suitcases and went to the front desk to check out.

Once they were finished, they walked over and sat down across from Su Yang and Li Yuanying.

“You’ve checked out?” Su Yang asked.

“Mm-hmm, all done. As it happens, our booking was only until this afternoon. If you two had arrived any later, we would’ve had to extend our stay,” Yoshie said with a smile.

“Hehe, what a coincidence. Qingxia, did you buy the tickets?”

Qingxia nodded. “Yes. I bought tickets for the four o’clock train. Is that okay?”

“Of course. Let me see… We leave at four, and assuming the journey takes four hours, we’ll arrive around eight. That should work. We can check in as soon as we get there.”

“Have you booked the guesthouse yet?” Qingxia asked.

“I’m looking at them. Oh, right—we’re not staying at a B&B. Let’s book an entire villa instead.”

“An entire villa? Won’t that be too expensive?”

“It’s not expensive. You don’t need to worry about anything—just follow me.”

“That’s too luxurious, isn’t it? The four of us are really going to rent a whole house?” Qingxia blinked.

“It’ll be more comfortable this way. We can do whatever we want. We’ll find a pretty little villa, lounge on the spacious balcony with coffee, and enjoy the scenery outside. How relaxing would that be?”

“Stop talking about it! I wish I could fly there right now!” Qingxia said, her face full of longing.

Hearing this, Li Yuanying looked up and smiled. “It was my idea, you know~”

“Really? Have you found one yet?”

“I’ve already picked out three. I’m comparing them right now. Oh, why don’t you two help choose as well? We can decide together.”

“Okay!” Yoshie and Qingxia agreed, quickly walking around to sit beside Li Yuanying.

Su Yang made room for the three women, then walked over and sat down across from them. As he watched the three beauties chatting and laughing while choosing their accommodations, he suddenly felt a peaceful, comforting warmth in his heart.

[Ding! The host is thoroughly enjoying the present moment. Reward: 3 million.]

After discussing the options for quite some time, the three of them finally made their decision.

“Su Yang, we’ve chosen one. This one!” Li Yuanying said, handing him her phone.

Su Yang stood up, took the phone, and scrolled through the photos. Then he gave a thumbs-up. “Okay, this one it is!”

……