Chapter 79

Chapter 79

Hearing the timing, Su Xingyao was a little surprised.

"Today?"

What a coincidence, huh?

Lu Jiuxu nodded with a smile on his lips, "Don't you have time?"

"It's not that, but..." Su Xingyao said as he pulled out his phone and started searching for a number while asking Lu Jiuxu, "How many days are we going?"

"Three days and two nights."

"Okay."

As soon as Su Xingyao finished speaking, the call went through.

He called Zhou Mengxue to let her know he'd be going on a trip for three days.

Zhou Mengxue was very understanding on the other end.

"It's okay, there aren't any major announcements recently, you can relax for a few more days if you want."

"Take some time to relax."

That last sentence left Su Xingyao feeling a bit puzzled.

Last night, he and Lu Jiuxu had watched the stars and listened to music together until they fell asleep.

He had completely missed all the online drama.

However, Zhou Mengxue wasn't aware of Su Xingyao's situation and, worried that he might be feeling stressed out, was all for his decision to go on a trip.

After a smooth and pleasant conversation with Zhou Mengxue regarding work stuff, Su Xingyao finished eating and immediately returned to his room to take a quick shower, then packed his luggage in record time.

As he went downstairs, Lu Jiuxu saw that Su Xingyao was so busy that he hadn’t even dried his hair, so he quickly grabbed the hairdryer.

"Don't worry, we’re not leaving until the afternoon."

Only after hearing this did Su Xingyao, usually more organized, realize that he'd been rushing to pack without asking any questions...

It was almost as if his actions were saying...

He seemed really eager to go on a trip with Lu Jiuxu.

Su Xingyao silently dried his hair, then pulled his luggage back into his room.

Since they were heading to a friend's Airbnb, which was owned by Lu Jiuxu, Su Xingyao had originally planned to bring Luor and Shanhu along.

But Lu Zhiyun somehow got wind of their trip and, before they could even leave, showed up in a flashy sports car and took his beloved cats and dogs away.

"With Daddy not at home, Uncle will take care of you for a couple of days."

Lu Zhiyun, petting both the cat and dog, looked as if he had found some great treasure, waving at the two.

"Have fun, stay for a few more days, I’ll take care of the kids."

Before Lu Jiuxu and Su Xingyao could refute his nonsense, Shanhu swatted him in the face with her tail.

After the cat rubbed its face against his, it started acting cute: "Meow~~ Smiling face."

After settling the cat and dog, Su Xingyao finally felt at ease and sat in the passenger seat of the car Lu Jiuxu was driving.

This time, Lu Jiuxu was driving a car Su Xingyao had never seen before.

The interior was quite spacious, clearly suitable for mountain roads.

As Lu Jiuxu leaned over to help Su Xingyao fasten his seatbelt, he seemed to know what he was thinking and explained, "Old Li's homestay is in the mountains, so I switched to this car."

After fastening his seatbelt, Lu Jiuxu started the engine.

"We're going to pick up a friend first. Someone you're familiar with."

When Lu Jiuxu had mentioned going to the homestay, he had said there would be other friends joining them.

Now that he brought it up, Su Xingyao immediately thought of one person.

"Is it Dr. Lin?"

After Lu Jiuxu had initially rescued him, Dr. Lin was the one who treated him throughout.

Although at that time, he and Lu Jiuxu weren't very familiar, they seemed to be quite close based on their conversation.

"Yeah," Lu Jiuxu smiled, "You're spot on with your guess."

"After all, he did save me," Su Xingyao added, "Hard to forget."

Mentioning Lin Chengyi, Su Xingyao couldn't help but think back to the time he fell off a cliff.

It had only been a couple of months, but now it felt like a long time ago.

It was the same with Lu Jiuxu, as if they had known each other for ages.

As Su Xingyao was lost in thought, the car came to a sudden stop.

A familiar voice called out from behind Su Xingyao.

"On such a hot day, making me wait by the roadside, I was about to melt away."

Lin Chengyi, with a playful grin, climbed into the car and teased, "Mr. Lu, you really have a heart of steel."

As he spoke, his eyes fell on the passenger seat, "Let me see who's sitting in Mr. Lu's passenger seat."

Hearing this, Su Xingyao quickly turned to look back.

When their eyes met, Lin Chengyi's surprise quickly turned into a smile, and he warmly waved at him.

"So it's young Su."

Su Xingyao nodded politely, "Dr. Lin."

Seeing a familiar face, Lin Chengyi dropped any pretense of formality and directly teased Lu Jiuxu, who was in the driver's seat.

"He said he was bringing someone along but wouldn't tell me who."

"If he had said it was young Su, it wouldn't have been a secret. We know each other well, tsk."

Lu Jiuxu raised an eyebrow, "What was hidden?"

It was obvious Lin Chengyi was implying something.

"True, nothing was hidden. He's here to show off."

Lu Jiuxu couldn't be bothered to respond, but he didn't bother denying it in the end.

Seeing Lu Jiuxu's aloof and brooding attitude, Lin Chengyi directly took out his phone and asked Su Xingyao for his contact.

"Xiao Su, want to add each other on WeChat?"

Su Xingyao looked puzzled, "Didn't we add each other before?"

"Oh, that was my work WeChat."

As he finished speaking, Lin Chengyi quickly pulled up his QR code and immediately handed it to Su Xingyao.

They heard a beep after scanning the QR code, and the two successfully added each other as friends.

Lin Chengyi, having a very lively personality, hadn't stopped talking once he got in the car, engaging Su Xingyao in various topics. He could chat with Su Xingyao about anything.

After tactfully asking about the relationship between Su Xingyao and Lu Jiuxu, he immediately started showing off in his small group chat with a few friends.

Lin Chengyi: "I've met the person Mr. Lu brought."

Lin Chengyi: "Proud" "Proud"

As soon as Lin Chengyi sent this message, the previously silent group chat immediately blew up.

Xiao Fei: "Quick, describe it."

Lao Zhao: "Ears"

Lao Hu: "Ears"

Your Brother Fang: "Ears"

Lin Chengyi: "Goddess."

Xiao Fei: "Damn it!"

Your Brother Fang: "666666"

Lao Zhao: "Mr. Lu is amazing."

The friend's inn Lu Jiuxu was visiting was quite far.

They drove for several hours before finally reaching the mountains.

Away from the city's hustle and bustle, the mountains were much quieter and more peaceful.

Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows on the road. Su Xingyao gazed out the window at the layered mountains in the distance and felt a sense of calm wash over him.

In the early evening, the three of them finally arrived at the friend's inn.

By the time they arrived, they were the last ones. Everyone else was already standing in the courtyard waiting for them.

Su Xingyao actually wasn't very fond of interacting with strangers.

But thinking that these people were Lu Jiuxu's friends, he felt much more relaxed.

However, Lu Jiuxu didn't let him feel awkward for a moment. After getting out of the car, he immediately introduced everyone to him one by one.

"Li Xiaofei, the boss hosting us today."

"This gentleman next to him is Zhao Qian, the esteemed engineer."

Lu Jiuxu introduced the first two, and the remaining two took the initiative to introduce themselves.

"Hu Yan, just call me Lao Hu. I'm in business."

Another person who had just come out of the house smiled and chimed in, "Yes, a crafty businessman."

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Su Xingyao and immediately ran up to him. "Mr. Su!! Oh my god, how fortunate am I to meet you in person!"

The person who spoke was Fang Ge.

He knew Su Xingyao and was a big fan of his songs.

In disbelief, Fang Ge confirmed several times that it was indeed Su Xingyao. After that, he directly asked for a photo with him.

"It's still our Mr. Lu who's incredible! Truly a fairy!"

After the introductions, Li Xiaofei enthusiastically handed him the room key.

Lu Jiuxu took him to the second floor, where their rooms were directly across from each other.

After swiping the card and tidying up his luggage, Su Xingyao decided to lie down and rest for a while.

Since he hadn't rested well during the intense pre-competition period, and after sitting in the car for several hours, Su Xingyao felt a bit tired as soon as he lay down.

Not long after lying in bed, he fell into a deep sleep.

When he awoke, Lu Jiuxu was already lightly knocking on his door.

"Su Maomao, come and eat."

Su Xingyao woke up and opened his eyes.

He looked out the window and saw that the previously bright sky had dimmed considerably since they arrived, and even the glow of the setting sun had dimmed.

Hearing Lu Jiuxu's familiar voice outside the door, Su Xingyao got up and opened the door himself.

"I must have dozed off," he explained, justifying why it had taken him a while to open the door.

After explaining the delay, Su Xingyao followed Lu Jiuxu downstairs.

In the courtyard downstairs, Lin Chengyi and the others had already gathered around a table. As soon as they saw Su Xingyao coming down, they enthusiastically urged him to take a seat.

Lu Jiuxu's friends came from various industries, but not all of them were rich and powerful.

However, these differences didn't create any barriers between them, and their relationships were ironclad.

In front of his friends, Lu Jiuxu was especially at ease. Although he didn't say much, he looked completely relaxed.

After sitting down, Su Xingyao felt hungry and began to eat the dishes silently.

Perhaps Lu Jiuxu had specifically instructed it, but none of the home-cooked dishes contained anything he was allergic to.

All the dishes tonight were prepared by Li Xiaofei alone, and they were quite delicious. The friends were very supportive and finished everything.

The meal was casual, with everyone eating and chatting about various topics, and in no time, it was already 9 PM.

After cleaning up the table together, Li Xiaofei took out a big watermelon and some iced grapes from the fridge.

However, when it was time to divide the watermelon, a guest suddenly arrived at the homestay, so Li Xiaofei handed the knife to Lu Jiuxu.

Lu Jiuxu skillfully gave everyone a piece of watermelon, but when it came to Su Xingyao, he specifically peeled it and cut it into small blocks for him.

Seeing this, Lin Chengyi across the table couldn't help but tutted, "Mr. Lu is playing favorites, huh? How come I don't get this kind of treatment?"

Lu Jiuxu glanced at him and pushed the knife on the table towards Lin Chengyi.

Lin Chengyi took the small knife, shook his head, and waved his hand, "I want peeled watermelon, not the knife."

Unable to bear Lin Chengyi's tone, Hu sitting next to him moved farther away, "Lin, aren't you ashamed of yourself at your age? Scram, scram!!"

Fang Ge also laughed at him, "Can you even compare to Xiao Su?"

Li Xiaofei's homestay was a renovated old house of his family and featured a beautiful yard.

The yard was lit with many ambient lights and planted with many jasmine and gardenia flowers. A gentle breeze which carried a faint floral scent through the air.

After eating the fruits, it was still early, and everyone wasn't ready to sleep just yet, so Fang Ge directly suggested playing a game.

"Let's play a game everyone can participate in."

Curious, Su Xingyao glanced up to see what game it would be.

"Adults should play Truth or Dare!"

Upon hearing it was Truth or Dare, Su Xingyao couldn't help but smile, and at the same time, he subconsciously turned to look at Lu Jiuxu.

Su Xingyao couldn't quite imagine what Lu Jiuxu would be like in this game.

To his surprise, the other person didn't say anything to refuse. Instead, he quietly placed the glass in front of him.

Li Xiaofei quickly brought several jugs of beer from the counter, and Lin Chengyi quickly poured everyone's cups.

Truth or Dare was a very common game, and no one went over the rules much. They simply started playing.

To increase the difficulty, they opted to roll dice first, with odd numbers for Truth and even numbers for Dare.

The first judge was Fang Ge, and he rolled a three on the dice.

"Truth, let's find out who the first lucky person is."

The bottle spun around the table and slowly stopped in front of Su Xingyao.

"Fang Ge, did you deliberately land it on Xiao Su on the first try?"

Fang Ge quickly waved his hands to explain to Su Xingyao, "Xiao Su, I really didn't."

After firing back at the jokes from Lao Hu and Lao Zhao, he said, "If it lands on either of you, I'd rather not ask anything and just make you both chug the whole cup."

Lin Chengyi, looking visibly impatient, smiled and urged him, "Come on, hurry up and ask."

Fang Ge stroked his chin, acting all thoughtful, "Hmm, what should I ask~"

Though he seemed unsure, his eyes darted suspiciously between Lu Jiuxu and Su Xingyao.

After thinking for three seconds, he finally spoke.

"Does Su have a girlfriend or boyfriend?"

It wasn't a hard question for Su Xingyao to answer.

With everyone watching curiously, he shook his head.

"Not yet."

At that, the others immediately turned to Lu Jiuxu, looking surprised.

"Come on, Lu, are you not up for the task?!"

Lu Jiuxu, with his friends all watching him, remained calm and even raised his cup to toast everyone.

By the time he put the cup down, it was already empty.

Lu Jiuxu casually refilled his cup and muttered, "Alright, who's next."

The next person to spin the bottle was Lao Zhao, and the dice still showed an odd number.

This time, the bottle didn't land on Su Xingyao but on Lu Jiuxu.

"I'll keep it simple then. Mr. Lu, do you have someone you like?"

Lu Jiuxu replied immediately, "Yes."

As everyone cheered, Su Xingyao immediately looked at him.

The moment their eyes locked, Su Xingyao quickly looked away.

He blanked out for a moment, and by the time he snapped back to reality, he heard Lin Chengyi's voice.

"Another odd number! This time, I'm going for something exciting. The person who gets picked has to answer honestly: Is the person you like here right now?"

As soon as Lin Chengyi finished speaking, everyone got excited.

Clearly, this question was meant to follow up on what had just been revealed about Lu Jiuxu.

But unfortunately, after spinning, the bottle landed on Lao Hu.

The chosen Lao Hu gave Lin Chengyi a look of bad luck and gritted his teeth, "They're not here!"

The bottle spun a few more times around the circle.

But it seemed to have eyes, perfectly avoiding both Su Xingyao and Lu Jiuxu every time.

The other five people got picked every time and all started to find the game boring.

After a few rounds, Fang Ge found a deck of cards and upgraded the game to "King's Cup."

Not only did the game change, but the alcohol in the cups was also directly upgraded to baijiu.

"Come on, if we're going to play, let's play big!"

Li Xiaofei brought out a box, which contained many small cards.

"One of my clients gave this to me. I haven't played it yet. Tonight is the perfect time to try."

The box Li Xiaofei brought out contained cards with various assigned tasks.

The new round of the game was clearly much more exciting than the previous round of Truth or Dare.

In the first round, Lao Zhao and Fang Ge immediately shared a close hug.

After they separated, they each made a gagging motion, and the next round had already started.

This time, Su Xingyao was the King and drew a task card.

"Show each other the most recent photo on your phone."

Su Xingyao turned the card over and showed the content to everyone.

The people let out a sigh of relief.

Lao Zhao, who had been made uncomfortable by the hug, looked gratefully at Su Xingyao.

"Xiao Su, you're gentle, and the task you drew is gentle too."

Su Xingyao gave a small smile and continued to draw two more cards.

"Queen and the Ten."

After Su Xingyao announced the cards, Lao Zhao immediately flipped his card.

"Hehe, I'm an Ace, so I'm safe this round."

Li Xiaofei flipped his card too. "It's me, I got it."

He then looked around; his eyes darted among the remaining four people. "Who's the Ten?"

Fang Ge, Lin Chengyi, and Lao Hu all flipped their cards. "None of us are the Ten."

Everyone's attention turned to Lu Jiuxu.

"Mr. Lu, it's you!"

When Fang Ge saw that Lu Jiuxu was the one chosen, he looked unenthusiastic.

"Mr. Lu never takes photos, there's nothing to see."

"His photo album is probably blank."

"Xiao Su, you're too kind to Mr. Lu. This is basically a free pass for him."

Actually, several people had no intention of looking at Lu Jiuxu's phone anymore.

But who knew that after Lin Chengyi teased Lu Jiuxu, the latter didn't make any move to take out his phone. Instead, he simply picked up the cup in front of him and knocked back the half-glass of baijiu in one swift gulp.

Lu Jiuxu's drinking speed was so fast and his movements so carefree that everyone thought they had just seen wrong.

"No way..."

"No way!!"

"What's going on??"

"What kind of photo is on your phone that you're hiding from us?"

"Or... did you take a picture of someone?"

Faced with everyone's questions, Lu Jiuxu remained completely silent.

Su Xingyao, who had drawn the task card, stared in shock at what had just happened.

With everyone watching, Lu Jiuxu calmly smiled and said, "There's nothing worth seeing."

No one could believe his nonsense. They kept pushing him.

"I don't buy it. Show me."

"There's definitely something. Come on, spill it."

"Come on, did you secretly snap a pic of your crush!"

The crowd kept pushing, but Lu Jiuxu wasn't giving in. He refused to show his album or reveal any information.

When they realized they couldn't get anything out of him, the game finally continued.

Each round of tonight's game didn't seem to take long, but as one round after another passed, it quickly became late.

As midnight approached, everyone decided to play just two more rounds before calling it quits.

"Last two rounds, let's see who's the lucky one tonight."

Li Xiaofei was the second-to-last to draw a card.

He swiftly pulled out a card.

"Kiss on the cheek."

After seeing the task, Li Xiaofei couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow."

The task was too risky, so fearing he might get hit, he quickly announced the card numbers.

"J and A."

At this, Lin Chengyi looked absolutely horrified.

He slammed down the Ace of Hearts and glared at him.

"What the hell kind of task is this!"

After saying that, he started searching everywhere, "Who the hell is J!"

Before the others had even revealed their cards, Lu Jiuxu lazily threw his card onto the table.

"Me."

He didn’t even bother lifting his eyelids.

Lin Chengyi had been about to quit the game, but when he saw that Lu Jiuxu was the one with the task, he couldn’t help but joke with him.

"Oh, it's Mr. Lu. In that case, I don’t mind reluctantly giving you a kiss, bro."

Lu Jiuxu couldn’t care less and simply took the glass in front of him.

"I mind."

Su Xingyao frowned as he watched Lu Jiuxu gulp down three glasses of white liquor without blinking.

He wasn’t sure about Lu Jiuxu’s alcohol tolerance, but based on his own, he figured that if Lu continued drinking like this, he would probably be in for a rough time later…

And before this, Lu had also drunk quite a bit of beer during the truth or dare game.

Mixing white liquor with beer—it was enough to make anyone nervous.

Su Xingyao reached out and gently touched his arm, asking in a low voice, "Will you get drunk drinking like this?"

The cool touch of Su Xingyao’s fingertip against Lu Jiuxu’s warm skin, along with the gentle night breeze, made for an incredibly comfortable sensation.

Before Lu Jiuxu had a chance to respond, Fang Ge’s voice cut through the air.

"Yo, yo, yo, the last task is to hug and kiss!!!"

After reading the task card he drew, Fang Ge couldn’t help but ask Li Xiaofei.

"Man, what kind of card is this? Why are all the tasks so suggestive?"

Li Xiaofei scratched his head and, after a few seconds, finally remembered.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, this is the couple edition..."

Everyone: “……”

"No wonder the tasks are so extreme!"

"Do any of us look like we can handle this kind of game?"

Li Xiaofei laughed and moved to calm everyone down. "Alright, alright, brothers. It’s the last round anyway, let’s just power through it. Who got lucky enough to draw such an exciting task for the final round?"

Li Xiaofei successfully diverted everyone’s attention.

All eyes were on Fang Ge’s hand, eager to see who had the "luck" to draw such a stimulating task for the final round.

Perhaps it was because it was the last round, or maybe because of the nature of the task, Su Xingyao, who had been particularly calm during the game until now, suddenly felt nervous.

He picked up his card and looked at the number on it.

Just as he was checking his own card, Fang Ge flipped over the card he’d drawn.

"The first card, Q!"

"Who's the unlucky person who got the Q?"

As soon as Fang Ge finished speaking, Lu Jiuxu calmly flipped his card.

"It's Mr. Lu again."

As soon as everyone saw that Mr. Lu had drawn the same card again, someone immediately went to top off his glass.

"Looks like this round's already decided."

"Let's check the second card."

Fang Ge didn't hesitate and flipped the second card right away.

"The second card, J!"

Su Xingyao's nerves suddenly tightened.

Because the card in his hand was... a J.

"Who, who's the J??"

As Fang Ge asked, Su Xingyao slowly flipped his card over.

Those who thought nothing would come of it were suddenly excited when they saw that Su Xingyao was the one.

"Wow!!! Little Su!!!"

"The last round, and it's Mr. Su!!"

"What's our task this round?"

"Hug and kiss each other~"

"Yooooooo, this task is really exciting!!!"

Amid the crowd's teasing, Lu Jiuxu didn't touch his glass. Instead, he leaned in close to Su Xingyao's ear and quietly answered the question from earlier.

"Not yet."

"But after this drink, I'll definitely get drunk."

His shallow breath lightly brushed against Su Xingyao's neck.

His voice was low and a little seductive.

"Little Su, will you help me?"