Yangcheng, Baiyun Airport.
"Brother, where's your boss? Has he gone home?"
"I don't know, he said he went traveling, probably not home."
Zhang Xupeng cursed,
"This damn guy, his standards are getting lower and lower. Forget him, let's get in the car and go home."
"What do you mean? What standards?"
Zhang Xuhui looked at his cousin curiously.
With a five-day National Day holiday, he really hadn't thought about going home.
Having just graduated, he wasn't particularly sentimental about family, so he took Tan Jincheng's advice, got a ticket, and came to Yangcheng to visit his cousin.
Of course, he was too embarrassed to ask his cousin to reimburse him for the airfare.
"Nothing much, how many days off do you have?"
Zhang Xupeng replied casually while driving.
Zhang Xupeng was originally a tight-lipped person.
Now, having been a boss for a year, he clearly understood what could and couldn't be said even among relatives.
Moreover, he was the one who recommended Brother Xuhui to be Little Tan's assistant, so some private matters definitely couldn't be told to him.
As for Aunt Zhang, that was an irresistible force.
He had eaten Aunt Zhang's cooking since childhood, could he hide things from her if she asked?
Besides, Little Tan hadn't refrained from tattling on him to his mother.
"Five days off. What's fun in Yangcheng?"
"Yangcheng, huh? The fun places in Yangcheng are in Guancheng."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"I'll take you to see for yourself in a couple of days."
If Tan Jincheng knew, he would definitely curse Zhang Xupeng for being an irresponsible person.
You're taking a dignified university student to travel to Guancheng?
A few days later, after Zhang Xuhui experienced it, he let out a wail.
There's no going back, truly no going back.
Once the door to the new world has been opened, it can never be closed again.
——
"Ah, as expected, people in love have low standards, traveling during National Day,"
Tan Jincheng sighed inwardly, looking at the bustling crowds.
Previously, Tan Jincheng detested long holiday travel the most.
The crowded scenes were simply dreadful, and the experience was extremely poor.
Now, he not only accepted Gu Qingqing's invitation but also became a driver and part-time photographer.
Not to mention, ever since he first entered the apparel industry, Tan Jincheng took many of the sample photos himself.
His photography skills weren't as good as Teacher Chen's, but they weren't like the widely mocked ones on certain later social media platforms.
He had learned a bit about composition and photo editing techniques.
I wonder if Teacher Chen has taken those photos yet?
What year were they exposed?
This person practically opened the door to a new world for countless young people, and at the same time, it ripped off a layer of filter from celebrities.
Fortunately, it was 2005.
There weren't many private cars, and almost no high-speed rail, so the tourist flow in scenic spots was much lower compared to what would be seen in later news.
"Wow, it's so beautiful here, Boss Tan, hurry up and come take a picture for Qingqing."
"Wow, there's no one here, Boss Tan, hurry up and come take a group photo for us."
"This place is great, this place is great, Boss Tan, you and Qingqing come take a group photo, I'll take it for you."
On the first day of National Day, Boss Tan transformed into a photographer, taking various photos in Hongcun Scenic Area.
His subjects were naturally Gu Qingqing and her three roommates.
It must be said that Hongcun in October was truly beautiful.
The border area between Zhejiang and Anhui is actually very suitable for self-driving tours.
Originally, these few planned to go to Hangzhou because of convenient transportation, but after hearing that Tan Jincheng agreed to travel with them, they changed their route to Hongcun, which was the place they most wanted to visit.
They had all done their research beforehand.
Ctrip was still the dominant travel guide website in China at the moment.
They had been listed in the US for two years by now.
Ctrip, founded in 1999, despite its poor reputation in later years and frequent exposures for price gouging, was truly impressive.
The biggest characteristic of the internet is its fast pace.
For an internet company to adapt to the internet pace of various eras while its main business remains unchanged, and to continue to thrive, is inherently a very difficult thing.
"Are you tired?"
Gu Qingqing sat down next to Tan Jincheng and asked softly.
At this moment, the other three were busy taking various individual photos.
Except for Xu Manli, everyone else was using mobile phones, which made Tan Jincheng secretly complain.
Could photos taken with mobile phone pixels these days even be decent?
Tan Jincheng smiled at Gu Qingqing and said,
"You won't be tired if you call me Gege."
There were no intimate forms of address between the two.
Tan Jincheng usually called her Qingqing, and Gu Qingqing used to call him Boss Tan.
But now that their relationship was different, she naturally couldn't call him that, but at the same time, she hadn't thought about what to call him.
Most of the time, they called each other by their full names, which Tan Jincheng found somewhat novel.
In neither his past life nor this one had many people called him by his full name.
However, more often than not, he liked to tease her and make her call him Gege.
Her long, flowing hair and pure white T-shirt made her look very innocent, while her light blue jeans perfectly outlined her curves, giving Tan Jincheng a feeling of both purity and desire, making him want to tease her even more.
Ah, speaking of which, although Boss Tan often attended social events and frequented entertainment venues, he was still a magician so far.
Gu Qingqing gently thumped Tan Jincheng's arm, but still softly said,
"Gege."
Tan Jincheng was overjoyed, tightly gripping Gu Qingqing's small hand.
If it weren't in public, he really wanted to kiss her.
"You said you rented a new factory building before, I thought you wouldn't have time during National Day, that's why I agreed to come out with them,"
Gu Qingqing said, blushing as she changed the subject.
"Life can't be all work. Busy is busy, but you still need to rest when it's time to rest."
"I don't believe it. It must be that others also had a holiday, so you had to take one too."
The essence of travel is eating and drinking, and with Tan Jincheng's addition, the quality improved significantly.
The place they went for lunch was a very authentic Huizhou-style restaurant.
It was located in its own small building, with no seafood in terms of ingredients, only local fresh chicken, fish, and bamboo shoots from the bamboo forest on the hillside behind the house.
The tofu was also exclusively supplied by a local workshop, and the chef's cooking was quite excellent, serving very authentic Huizhou home-style dishes.
One pot of kill-pig dish made Tan Jincheng finish three bowls of rice.
Gu Qingqing and her two roommates preferred the stewed chicken soup more.
Tan Jincheng also specially ordered a bowl of clear noodle soup for them, tearing some chicken meat and pouring two spoonfuls of chicken soup over it; it was truly delicious.
"Wow, this is too delicious, Boss Tan, have you been here before? How did you find this place?"
Xu Manli exclaimed exaggeratedly.
"No, I haven't been here before, but I'm from Anhui province, and my hometown isn't far from here. I just looked at guides online and found it."
"Boss Tan, where in Anhui province are you from?"
"Yicheng. It's also a tourist destination. You're welcome to visit my hometown when you have time."
"Oh, Yicheng, I know. Many famous people are from there. Mr. Zhongfu is from your Yicheng."
"What else do you know?"
"Huangmei Opera! Can Boss Tan sing it?"
"Not the whole thing, but people from Yicheng can all sing a line or two."
At the dinner table, Gu Qingqing and Tan Jincheng didn't interact much.
Instead, her roommates asked many curious questions, and Gu Qingqing mostly sat and listened attentively.
Through her roommates' questions, she was able to learn more about Tan Jincheng.
In the afternoon, they continued to stroll and eat, and Tan Jincheng continued to play the role of photographer.
However, it might have been the delicious lunch that won over the three roommates, as in the afternoon, they often looked for opportunities to have Tan Jincheng and Gu Qingqing take photos together.
Many joint photos of the two were left in every corner of Hongcun.
During the photography process, Gu Qingqing went from initial shyness to later daring to actively link arms with Tan Jincheng.
In the evening, Tan Jincheng chose not to stay in Hongcun but drove an hour to stay at Huangshan International Hotel in Tunxi District.
This was a five-star hotel, and Tan Jincheng had already booked three standard rooms there before arriving.
When traveling, Tan Jincheng wasn't very fond of quaint guesthouses.
If conditions allowed, he would stay somewhere nicer; if not, he would primarily choose chain hotels, which generally offer convenient transportation, relatively complete facilities, and make travel easier.
In Qian Zhongshu's "Fortress Besieged," there's a saying that roughly means: travel is most likely to test a person's character.
If you want to get married, you must first take a trip with the other person.
If after the trip, both parties don't dislike each other and haven't had a falling out, such a couple is unlikely to divorce.
Women seem to particularly believe this passage, and thus, using travel during courtship to discern a man's true character is considered one of the best methods by most women.
Gu Qingqing and the others were no exception.
Ever since Tan Jincheng accepted the four women's invitation yesterday, Xu Manli and the other two had encouraged Gu Qingqing, collectively deciding to carefully observe Tan Jincheng's behavior during the trip in the coming days.
Would he show impatience during the trip?
Would he be considerate?
Was the itinerary reasonably planned?
"Wow, a five-star hotel! Boss Tan is really generous,"
Xu Manli said comfortably, flopping onto the bed after returning to the room.
"Won't this be too much? Boss Tan paid for everything today, and now we're staying in such a nice hotel,"
Zhao Wenjia said, looking at Gu Qingqing.
"Yeah, shouldn't we split the room and meal expenses?"
Chen Yanan chimed in.
Three rooms were on the same floor.
Tan Jincheng occupied one, and the other two were for the four of them.
However, after dinner, the four were lying in one room, chatting softly.
Gu Qingqing said with a smile,
"We've lived together for over a year, and I'm always left out during group activities. Consider this my treat; just relax and have fun."
"But isn't that not so good? It must cost several thousand yuan a day,"
Zhao Wenjia still hesitated.
"Hey, just do as Qingqing says. She's not short on money, and she'll talk to Boss Tan. We can just treat Qingqing and Boss Tan to dinner a few more times in the future,"
Xu Manli said breezily.
Among the four, Zhao Wenjia's family background was slightly less affluent, but her father was at least a village head, so it wasn't that bad.
As for the other three's family backgrounds, occasionally staying in a five-star hotel was really no big deal.
Many times, when you're not short on money, your horizons broaden.
With Xu Manli's interruption, everyone dropped the topic of money and shifted to discussing Tan Jincheng's performance throughout the day.
"I found Boss Tan to be quite attentive. Qingqing is lucky, hehe."
"Where did you notice that?"
"I noticed it just after dinner, while we were walking to digest. When Boss Tan walked with Qingqing, he unconsciously shielded Qingqing to the inside, while he himself walked on the side closer to the road."
"I didn't notice that, but I did notice when ordering. Qingqing said a dish was delicious at lunch, and Boss Tan ordered it again in the evening."
"He even remembered to get Qingqing a light jacket during their walk, hehe."
As she spoke, Xu Manli winked:
"Hey, Qingqing, Boss Tan is staying alone, it must be lonely. Do you want to go over?"
(End of Chapter)