Early Saturday morning, Yan Yan got up to wash and dress.
By the time she was done with everything, it was almost eight o'clock.
Just as she was about to leave, Cao Jie woke up and rustled, blocking Yan Yan's path.
"Where are you going? It's the weekend."
Yan Yan glanced helplessly at Cao Jie.
Usually, she slept until noon on weekends, why was she awake so early today?
"I'm going to Lishui to have some fun with friends."
As she spoke, Yan Yan deliberately avoided Cao Jie's gaze.
The perceptive Cao Jie noticed something was off at a glance.
"With... Chen Pingjiang?"
"Mm."
Cao Jie sighed and scanned her best friend from head to toe:
"Our formerly aloof campus belle has now fallen into the clutches of love. Go on, go on. Remember to give me a detailed account of what happened when you get back."
Yan Yan hastily fled the dorm, her face flushed.
She had received a call from Chen Pingjiang the day before yesterday, inviting her to a farmhouse resort in Lishui for the weekend, and somehow, she'd vaguely agreed.
Downstairs, Yan Yan stood prettily beneath the dorm building, carrying a small bag filled with a change of clothes and toiletries.
Not long after, a brand-new Audi A6 pulled up in front of her, and Yan Yan got in.
This scene startled quite a few boys who had been secretly peeking.
"That's Yan Yan, isn't it? Why did she get into someone else's car?"
"What's the big deal? Maybe it's a relative or friend?"
"Are you blind or what? That guy is quite young."
"Her boyfriend? Didn't they say last time she had a boyfriend?"
"..."
Today, Yan Yan wore a black overcoat.
She was already tall, and the black coat perfectly accentuated her aloof demeanor.
Chen Pingjiang admired her secretly, thinking, this woman is not only beautiful, but her figure is really good too.
After getting into the car, Yan Yan was still a little reserved, and it took her a while to adjust.
"Is this the car you bought a few days ago?"
"Huh? How did you know?"
"Don't you know there are exposé posts on Renrenwang?"
Chen Pingjiang then realized how boring students were now, exposing his privacy.
Although Renrenwang was his creation, he never looked at it.
Last weekend, due to the cocktail party, the farmhouse resort trip didn't happen.
Lü Lizhen had been longing for it and invited them again, also inviting Chen Pingjiang.
When she learned Chen Pingjiang planned to go alone, Lü Lizhen strongly objected, insisting that Chen Pingjiang bring a female companion no matter what.
Otherwise, with both their families being couples with children, Chen Pingjiang wouldn't be able to fit in and would appear awkward and bored.
Chen Pingjiang understood Lü Lizhen's kind intentions, but where could he find a female companion? Out of options, he could only try asking Yan Yan, and hadn't expected Yan Yan to agree.
"Whose songs do you want to listen to?"
Yan Yan didn't talk much, so Chen Pingjiang, feeling the atmosphere was a bit dull, asked.
"Jay Chou's, I guess."
Chen Pingjiang played "Thousands of Miles Away".
"Eaves like cliffs
Wind chimes like oceans
I await the swallows' return
Time is arranged"
When he was in school, Chen Pingjiang didn't like Jay Chou, but more than ten years later, these popular songs were still trending, and only then did he gradually come to like this musical genius.
Xianlin to Lishui almost spanned the entire Dongjiang City.
Taking the ring highway, it still took Chen Pingjiang almost two hours.
By the time they arrived at the farmhouse resort booked by Lü Lizhen, it was almost half past ten in the morning.
Lü Lizhen and Qin Han's families had already arrived, sitting in the courtyard, cracking sunflower seeds and chatting.
Seeing Chen Pingjiang, Lü Lizhen greeted him with a smile:
"Where's your little girlfriend?"
No sooner had she spoken than Yan Yan, dressed in a black wool coat, walked through the courtyard gate.
"Oh my!"
Lü Lizhen exclaimed:
"What a beautiful girl!"
Compared to the warm and outgoing Lü Lizhen, Qin Han's praise was much more subtle.
"Chen Pingjiang is truly blessed."
Liu Cheng and He Zhiyu both laughed and teased:
"Why didn't you bring your little girlfriend to the cocktail party last time? You kept her well hidden. If your Sister Lü hadn't strongly insisted this time, we probably wouldn't have seen her."
Faced with everyone's compliments, the usually aloof Yan Yan surprisingly blushed for the first time.
One must know, she had heard similar praises since childhood and was long immune to them, but this unprecedented time, she felt a little bit happy.
Qin Han appeared dignified and composed, but actually had a bit of an aloof demeanor and could be slightly arrogant towards people of lower social standing.
However, her and He Zhiyu's daughter, He Rui, was much more lively and cute, even having a bit of a social butterfly personality.
Seeing the incredibly beautiful Yan Yan, she bounced up to her.
"Wow, sister, you're so beautiful! If I could be like you, I'd definitely make the class monitor fall head over heels for me!"
Yan Yan smiled faintly and said to He Rui:
"You're very pretty too."
After introducing Yan Yan to everyone, Chen Pingjiang went to play Three-Person Dou Dizhu with Liu Cheng and He Zhiyu, while the women chatted on the side.
As soon as Liu Can saw Chen Pingjiang, he circled Chen Pingjiang like a shadow, insisting on joining the game, so the group switched to Guan Dan.
On the way here, Yan Yan knew this farmhouse resort trip was family-oriented.
She hadn't thought much of it at the time, but only realized it after arriving.
After all, she and Chen Pingjiang weren't a couple.
Being grouped with two families would seem strange.
But when chatting, there was no way to clearly state their relationship.
"Xiao Yan, who pursued whom, you or Chen Pingjiang?"
Lü Lizhen skillfully found a topic to help Yan Yan integrate.
Qin Han said with a smile:
"No need to ask, it must have been Chen Pingjiang who pursued first. Xiao Chen is outgoing."
This question stumped Yan Yan too.
Who pursued whom?
How to answer this question?
She cast a glance at Chen Pingjiang, but Chen Pingjiang was fully engrossed in Guan Dan and didn't notice her.
"Neither of us pursued the other, we just naturally got together."
As she said this, Yan Yan felt a strange emotion inside, as if she and Chen Pingjiang were truly a couple.
Their relationship was indeed a bit bizarre.
Initially, Yan Yan used Chen Pingjiang as a shield.
Then Chen Pingjiang "retaliated" by publicly calling her his girlfriend.
And now they were attending someone else's family gathering as nominal lovers.
It really felt like a fake act turning real.
"Xiao Chen is tall, handsome, and capable, achieving such great things at a young age. Xiao Yan, you're also as beautiful as a little fairy. You truly are a perfect match."
Chen Pingjiang didn't hear these words.
If he had, he would definitely give Lü Lizhen a thumbs up.
"You really know how to flatter people."
Two worldly ladies chatting with Yan Yan, wasn't it a piece of cake to confuse Yan Yan?
A while later, the farmhouse resort owner came to announce dinner.
Seeing this, Lü Lizhen called out to the men's table:
"Stop playing, it's time to eat! Xiao Chen, go to the front desk and get the room card. Go with Xiao Yan to put your bags down."
Chen Pingjiang put down his cards with a grin:
"My Sister Lü really cares for me. Such thoughtful arrangements."
After a while, Chen Pingjiang returned from the front desk, looking at Yan Yan with a strange expression on his face.
Yan Yan, standing on the stairs, asked confusedly:
"What's wrong?"
Chen Pingjiang raised the room card in his hand,
"Sister Lü only booked one room."
Yan Yan said nothing, but walked to the front desk, intending to book another room, only to be told there were no rooms left.
No one spoke, but an ambiguous atmosphere hung in the air.
The two of them, each with their own thoughts, opened the room door.
Given Lü Lizhen and Qin Han's family backgrounds, the farmhouse resort they booked was also quite high-end, so the room decoration was excellent, a pure Chinese style suite with one bedroom and one living room.
Especially, the bedroom had a large floor-to-ceiling window, offering a full view of the outdoor rockery and small lake.
After looking around, Chen Pingjiang was very satisfied with the room, but Yan Yan's attention was on the single large bed.
Seemingly noticing Yan Yan's worry and dilemma, Chen Pingjiang comforted her:
"You sleep in the bedroom tonight, I'll just sleep on the living room sofa."
Yan Yan nodded, automatically skipping over the slightly awkward topic.
"Rich people really know how to enjoy themselves."
Even if Chen Pingjiang looked at this Yongquan Farmhouse Resort with a 2023 perspective, he couldn't help but marvel.
Perhaps this shouldn't even be called a farmhouse resort, but rather a farm estate or mountain villa.
Yongquan Farm Estate covered nearly two thousand mu.
The ground was all flat and very spacious.
Not only were there thousand-person lawns, B&Bs, barracks, and firefly hotels, but even conference rooms.
There were also many activities, including off-road go-karts, jungle ziplines, horse riding, archery, canopy barbecues, fruit and vegetable picking, hearthside tea brewing, indoor hot springs, and more.
Yan Yan also found it novel.
Temporarily escaping the hustle and bustle of the city, returning to the countryside, feeling the rustic charm of the village, and looking at the beautiful scenery, her entire inner being seemed to calm down.
"Such a huge place, yet so few rooms? Or are people nowadays so rich that they've filled them all?"
Chen Pingjiang complained.
The two walked together, crossed the thousand-person lawn, and arrived at the dining area.
A table of local specialty wild game had already been served in the private room.
"Xiao Chen, Xiao Yan, come quickly and try this! Their roasted free-range chicken is absolutely superb. This isn't some quick-grown chicken from a farm."
Liu Cheng's son, the boss, got along well with Chen Pingjiang, which made Liu Cheng fond of Chen Pingjiang by association.
Chen Pingjiang said with a grin:
"Then I must give it a try."
Liu Can, as if presenting a treasure, handed bowls and chopsticks to Chen Pingjiang and Yan Yan, and sweetly called Yan Yan "sister-in-law," which made Yan Yan blush.
"Shall we play mahjong this afternoon?"
Lü Lizhen suggested.
Her husband, Liu Cheng, shook his head,
"This afternoon, Old He and I are going fishing. When can't we play mahjong? Coming to such a beautiful place and playing mahjong is a complete waste of time. Oh, by the way, Xiao Chen, can you fish?"
Chen Pingjiang patted his chest, a proud look on his face:
"Absolutely, I'm an old hand at it."
Chen Pingjiang spent the entire afternoon with Liu Cheng and Old He, and caught two silver carp.
Yan Yan and the women soaked in the hot spring.
Even though Yan Yan tried desperately to toughen up her skin, she couldn't resist the married women's teasing.
In the evening, the farm estate prepared a bonfire barbecue.
Enjoying the fragrant roasted lamb chops and watching faces illuminated by the bonfire.
Back in the room, their eyes met, and that awkward, ambiguous atmosphere resurfaced.
Although she had already experienced being alone in a room with Chen Pingjiang once, Yan Yan's heart was still pounding, far less composed than she appeared on the surface.
"Why are you just standing there? Go take a shower."
Chen Pingjiang, looking at Yan Yan's flustered appearance, felt a desire and uttered something that sparked imagination.
"Oh!"
Yan Yan quickly shut the bedroom door with a click.
Listening to the rushing sound of water from inside the room, Chen Pingjiang suddenly felt a bit restless.
Strange images popped into his mind.
He wanted to smoke a cigarette to calm down, but found he couldn't calm down at all.
The last time he was alone with Yan Yan, he was, after all, completely drunk.
This time was different.
What about a psychological age of forty?
Don't even think about controlling a twenty-year-old body.
Chen Pingjiang lay on the sofa.
The wooden sofa made him toss and turn.
He didn't know how long it was until the sound of water finally stopped, and Yan Yan opened the bedroom door and came out.
Chen Pingjiang felt that the inventor of the idiom "lotus emerging from water" had described it perfectly.
Yan Yan, whose cheeks were flushed pink from the steam, with wet hair and cautiously wearing an outer jacket and long pants, was a little shy and dared not look directly into Chen Pingjiang's gaze, frantically searching for a hairdryer.
"Are you that afraid of me? You're wearing so many layers after showering. The air conditioning is on full blast in the room, it's over twenty degrees. Aren't you hot?"
He wanted to laugh looking at Yan Yan like this.
After finding the hairdryer, Chen Pingjiang directly turned it on and started blowing Yan Yan's wet hair.
He occasionally ran his fingers through her hair to ensure the hot air blew more thoroughly.
When Chen Pingjiang's thumb touched her scalp, Yan Yan shivered all over, her body stiffened, too nervous to speak, and it took a long while for her to slowly calm down.
What was surprising was that Chen Pingjiang's skill at blow-drying hair was quite high; his movements were practiced, and he could even style it.
"Did you often help girls dry their hair before?"
"Does my mom count as a girl?"
Yan Yan pouted and said nothing more.
"Alright, you can do it yourself now. I'm going to take a shower."
There was still residual warmth and steam in the bathroom, damp and humid.
Yan Yan gathered up all her intimate apparel and even took away the used bath towel.
After showering, Chen Pingjiang, whistling and bare-chested, returned to the living room to find clothes, and saw Yan Yan curled up alone on the edge of the bed, covered by a quilt, feigning sleep.
He didn't know how much time had passed when Chen Pingjiang was drowsily dozing off, Yan Yan's voice rang in his ears:
"Go sleep on the bed?"
"Huh?"
Chen Pingjiang, who was almost asleep, instantly lost his drowsiness, opening his eyes wide in surprise as he looked at Yan Yan, suspecting he had misheard.
Seeing Chen Pingjiang's surprised look, Yan Yan knew he had misunderstood, and quickly, with a flushed face, explained:
"Although the indoor temperature is quite high, it's still winter, and without a quilt, you'll catch a cold. And this is all wood, how could you possibly sleep on it?"
"Okay!"
Chen Pingjiang immediately put on a smile and trotted into the bedroom, flopping onto the bed, letting out a comfortable groan.
"Oh, so comfortable."
That Chinese-style sofa just now made him so uncomfortable he wanted to die; he couldn't straighten his legs and woke up with a backache.
On the 2.2-meter wide bed, the two lay in strange positions.
Yan Yan had only decided to call Chen Pingjiang in after a complex internal struggle, but after calling Chen Pingjiang in, she felt a bit embarrassed again, so she only dared to sit at the head of the bed, hugging her knees, staring blankly at the moon outside the window.
"What are you looking at?"
Chen Pingjiang asked curiously.
"I... I was just wondering why there are so many handprints on the window."
"Hmm?"
He looked towards the floor-to-ceiling window and indeed saw handprints.
They weren't very clear in the strong daytime sun, but were easily discernible at night.
The handprints were all very small, clearly not a man's hands.
How could Chen Pingjiang, being an old man, not know? He casually made up an excuse:
"Maybe some girls were leaning on the window, watching the moon just like you."
Yan Yan blinked her bright big eyes and asked with some uncertainty:
"Really?"
Alright, it seems that's the only explanation.
"Hey, are you planning to do what you did last time, where I sleep the whole night and you sit at the head of the bed the whole night?"
After a long time, seeing Yan Yan make no move, Chen Pingjiang couldn't help but say:
"Just go to sleep honestly. I'm not going to eat you. If you're really scared, I'll go out."
"Oh."
Yan Yan responded softly, then carefully lay down and pulled up the covers, with her back to Chen Pingjiang, staying close to the edge of the bed.
Chen Pingjiang figured Yan Yan could only accept this much, so he simply stopped bothering her and fell into a deep sleep.
Yan Yan's big eyes stared out the window.
Chen Pingjiang's even breathing reached her ears, and a different kind of feeling arose in her heart.
Lying in a bed with a man, and this man wasn't her boyfriend, made her heart fluctuate like waves.
Awkwardness, shyness, trepidation, a hundred emotions filled her heart.
She kept watching until around two in the morning before she finally couldn't resist sleep and drifted off.
Chen Pingjiang had a long dream, a bizarre and fantastic world.
Opening his eyes, Chen Pingjiang found that at some point, he had rolled to the middle of the large bed, sleeping on his side, facing Yan Yan, and his right hand was naturally wrapped around Yan Yan, his palm resting on Yan Yan's lower abdomen, his nose touching the fair skin on the outside of Yan Yan's neck.
Fearing Yan Yan would wake up and scream "pervert," Chen Pingjiang quickly and carefully removed his right hand from Yan Yan's stomach, his movements light and slow.
Don't mention it, it felt quite good.
Yan Yan's lower abdomen was flat and surprisingly resilient.
Yan Yan, with her back to Chen Pingjiang, suddenly opened her eyes and let out a tiny sigh of relief.
She had woken up earlier than Chen Pingjiang.
Last night, she had drowsily fallen asleep at some unknown time, and woke up to find them pressed together.
She dared not make a sound, just tensed her entire body, and her mind raced with wild thoughts.
What made Yan Yan most embarrassed was that something had been pressing against her bottom, making her feel hot all over and her skin flush, yet it also brought her a strange pleasure she had never felt before.
She wasn't an ignorant person from nine-year compulsory education.
Although the teacher hadn't covered the part about male and female physiology in junior high biology class, she had seen it in the textbook, and it didn't take long for her to realize what was pressing against her bottom.
Immediately, her heart pounded wildly, feeling like it was about to jump out of her throat, but she dared not move or scream.
She could only feel the strange sensation from her bottom with trepidation.
At first, she thought Chen Pingjiang was doing it on purpose, and was somewhat angry, but after hearing his faint snoring, she realized Chen Pingjiang was still asleep.
That sense of shame lingered in her heart, yet she dared not move for fear of waking Chen Pingjiang and putting them both in an awkward situation, so she could only force herself to feign sleep.
It wasn't until the faint snoring stopped, and she felt the slight movements behind her and the large hand subtly withdrawing, that she dared to let out a small sigh of relief.
Little did Chen Pingjiang know that Yan Yan was feigning sleep.
Feeling the fiery surge in his lower body, "Damn it!" he remembered in his dream, it felt like he had instinctively pushed forward.
"Good thing, good thing. Good thing Yan Yan was asleep, otherwise, it would definitely be social suicide," Chen Pingjiang thought to himself.
When Chen Pingjiang returned to his original sleeping position from last night, Yan Yan beside him stirred.
Realizing Yan Yan might be "waking up," Chen Pingjiang quickly closed his eyes and played dead.
"Good morning." Yan Yan greeted.
Not listening, not listening.
Chen Pingjiang continued to feign sleep and ignored her.
What his closed eyes didn't see was Yan Yan's radiant smile.
Not exposing Chen Pingjiang's feigned sleep, Yan Yan quietly got dressed and washed up.
Chen Pingjiang, feeling relatively safe, only "woke up" after a long delay, and naturally put on a sleepy-eyed look, greeting Yan Yan:
"Good morning! How did you sleep last night?"
"It was alright. I just kept feeling something pressing against me."
Seeing Chen Pingjiang's constant pretense, Yan Yan, who had originally been afraid of the awkwardness that would follow if she exposed everything, suddenly developed a mischievous streak from nowhere and wanted to deliberately tease him.
Chen Pingjiang broke out in a cold sweat thinking,
"Does this woman sleep so lightly?"
"You must have felt wrong. Probably dreaming."
Yan Yan shook her head:
"No, it wasn't a dream."
Chen Pingjiang shook his head like a rattle-drum:
"Then it definitely wasn't me."
A statement completely lacking confidence and somewhat self-incriminating.
Yan Yan gazed at Chen Pingjiang with a knowing look and only turned and walked away when Chen Pingjiang felt a chill down his spine.
Seeing Yan Yan finally walk away, Chen Pingjiang finally let out a sigh of relief, then muttered to himself:
"Does this girl know something or not?"
When they arrived at the restaurant, both families were already having breakfast.
The men gathered together, and the women gathered together.
They saw Lü Lizhen leaning into Yan Yan's ear, whispering something, and Yan Yan's cheeks quickly flushed crimson at an incredible speed.
Today's itinerary was strawberry picking in the morning, horse riding in the afternoon, and they could head back after dinner in the evening.
Chen Pingjiang planned to find a good time to talk with He Zhiyu about the cooperation of Yuanfang Supermarket joining the food delivery platform.
Yesterday, Chen Pingjiang held back from discussing this matter for a whole day, as everyone was purely socializing.
It was time to discuss it later.
The reason he was willing to spend two days here, wasn't it precisely for He Zhiyu?
The strawberry picking location was not within Yongquan Farm Estate itself, but at a nearby strawberry cultivation base.
The vast expanse of greenhouses looked spectacular.
One hundred yuan per person for unlimited picking and eating.
Approaching December, although a bit early, some strawberries had already begun to ripen.
Yan Yan was inspired with unimaginable enthusiasm, and accompanied by He Rui, picked two or three baskets of strawberries before stopping.
Chen Pingjiang and the other men set up small stools by the roadside outside the greenhouses to smoke and chat.
"Cooperation is definitely not a problem. College students are also a main customer base for our Yuanfang Supermarket. It's just that our closest Yuanfang Supermarket to Xianlin University Town is still six kilometers away. How do we resolve this?"
He Zhiyu thought for a moment and asked regarding Chen Pingjiang's proposed collaboration.
"This isn't a big problem. For supermarket deliveries, unlike food, there's no need to keep it hot. I can arrange specialized riders to commute between Yuanfang Supermarket and University Town. Delivery within one or two hours will suffice."
He Zhiyu nodded,
"I heard you're going to charge a commission?"
Chen Pingjiang didn't hide anything:
"We have to pay riders' salaries and website server fees. If we don't charge a commission, wouldn't that be a huge loss?"
(End of chapter)
---------------------
Support me on P@treon
[email protected]/charaz
$3 -> 15 chapters in advance
$5 -> 30 chapters in advance
$10 -> 60 chapters in advance
Check my pinned post on P@treon