“Travel Date”
Jiang Zhi had always prided himself on being calm, but this Fu Yunting truly made him feel as if he had punched a piece of cotton—frustrated and helpless.
The moment he arrived home, he sat blankly on the sofa acting like a wooden man.
He doubted what kind of charm he had actually emitted to this person, allowing him to want to marry himself so without grievance or regret.
Gentle and considerate, emotionally stable, and additionally wealthy and golden—why worry about not being able to find a wife?
Jiang Yan came back in the middle to look for documents; going up and down several times, he didn’t see him blink his eyes even once.
“What are you doing? Was your head squeezed by a door?”
Jiang Zhi slowly cast a glance at his own grievance-generating older brother, fiercely throwing the jacket on his body onto his face. “Don’t care about me!”
Jiang Yan was startled by his roar, and silently put the clothes away nicely for him.
“Suit yourself.”
After doing ideological work for himself for another bit, Jiang Zhi opened the plan schedule once again. His work nature and Fu Yunting’s were not the same; if there was no effect today, then tomorrow then!
In any case, he had plenty of time.
Having made up his mind, Jiang Zhi sank his thoughts and sent a text message to Fu Yunting.
Zhizhi: 【What time do you generally get off work?】
Fu Yunting seemed to be truly very busy; only after half an hour was there a message. The other party’s WeChat name was a simple “t,” and the avatar was a dark black square, without a bit of liveliness.
T: 【Five-thirty.】
Jiang Zhi thought for a bit and directly called over. This person cherished words like gold; some matters must rely on being spoken, then the other party could feel his enthusiasm.
This time Fu Yunting picked up very quickly, his tone additionally having some obvious hesitation.
“Jiang Zhi?”
Originally he was still quite self-righteous, but the moment he heard the other party’s deep voice, he became a bit cowardly. “……Mm, it’s me.”
“What’s wrong?”
The other party seemed to still be working; Jiang Zhi could still hear the sound of paper being flipped through. “It’s nothing either. My schedule recently is not much, and I want to check out a handmade burger shop. Can you… accompany me to go together?”
Fu Yunting was silent for an instant. “Sure, where is the address, I will arrange it.”
“Country D. It’s very close, right? Wait until you get off work tomorrow and we’ll go to the airport; it’s just a two-hour flight duration and we’ll arrive.” Jiang Zhi worked hard to make trouble out of nothing.
“……Mm, it’s not counted as far,” Fu Yunting said.
Hearing this, Jiang Zhi directly climbed up along the pole. “Then we’ll settle it like this, lo? Tomorrow after work I’ll go pick you up.”
Fu Yunting rubbed the corner of his forehead, putting down the pen in his hand. “……Okay.”
…
Hanging up the phone, he took off his glasses and leaned back a bit. He didn’t know what kind of ghost Jiang Zhi was up to here, but… he indeed hadn’t heard Jiang Zhi speak to himself with so much vitality for a very long time.
One year or two years?
Although they had already started over again, the things that happened between the two of them were realistically engraved inside his brain. Within Jiang Zhi’s cognition, they might have just met, but with Fu Yunting here, the two of them had already experienced life and death; the timeline was exactly a full double length compared to Jiang Zhi’s.
His persistence also exceeded his own imagination.
Thinking up to here, he dialed the intercom to let him notify the secretary to cancel all schedules from tomorrow after work until the weekend.
Shan Shan reminded him, “President Fu, aside from the dinner social engagement, on Saturday you still need to go to the hospital to see Old Master Fu, mm… your father is also there.”
“Cancel them all together.”
“Yes.”
Fu Yunting’s work had always been very efficient; canceling social engagements and overtime at night meant needing to do more things during the day. The entire daytime of the next day, he stayed in the office all along, meeting clients ahead of time during lunch hours, and finally managed to arrange all matters before Jiang Zhi’s arrival.
…
Jiang Zhi’s driving age was very short, basically counted as driving only after returning to the country. Yun City’s planning was not bad, the roads were wide, and the traffic order was very strong; he hadn’t encountered any incidents up until now, which caused his self-confidence to swell severely.
Until he entered Fu’s underground garage.
Fu’s headquarters currently had more than two thousand employees; the garage had five floors up and down, and the parking spaces were packed full. With great difficulty he found one, but the car on one side was pressing against the line. He cast a glance at the position, calmed his mind and sank his breath to stuff inside, but unfortunately, with a thousand and ten thousand cautions, in the end he still scraped the side of the car body next to him.
Jiang Zhi drew in a breath of cold air, hurriedly getting out of the car to go look.
The next door actually happened to be a big Benz. He squatted between the two cars in sorrow, currently calculating how much money needed to be compensated, when the garage manager had already arrived in front of him.
Jiang Zhi let out a hollow laugh, “Please trouble you to help contact the car owner, I will be responsible.”
This floor basically had the cars of the management tier—either rich or expensive. The other party cast a look of sympathy at Jiang Zhi, then went to the side to make a phone call.
A moment later, the car owner in question and Fu Yunting appeared one after the other.
Because he had to take an airplane, Jiang Zhi at this time was wearing his own most comfortable short sleeves and short pants, which his mom bought for him while strolling the mall on discount—a domestic brand whole set for 199, especially down-to-earth.
The car owner, seeing the situation in front of him, clutched his heart looking like he was about to pass out, especially upon seeing the conspicuous big logo on the back of Jiang Zhi’s clothes.
“I say, this gentleman, such a wide parking space and you could still scrape it—were your eyes grown on your buttocks?”
Jiang Zhi hurriedly stood up to explain.
“Sorry, I……” Finishing half of it, he then saw Fu Yunting who was coming toward this side, and was somewhat embarrassed. “It was me who was too anxious, you call a professional person to come over then, however much money it is I’ll come be responsible.”
“Compensate? Can you afford to compensate, ma?” The other party cast a glance at Jiang Zhi’s Buick. “Any kind of person come to this floor now? Where is the security? How did he get in?!”
Fu Yunting stood firmly in front of the two of them, looking closely at Jiang Zhi’s not-too-good complexion. “What’s wrong?”
Jiang Zhi spread his hands, saying in a small voice, “Just like what you see. Didn’t you say five-thirty? How come you came down so early?”
“Worried about you waiting anxiously, got off work ahead of time.”
The moment the car owner saw Fu Yunting, that arrogant energy instantly deflated, his voice unconsciously tuning down by two degrees, “President, you and this… know each other?”
Fu Yunting swept a glance at the car accident scene squeezed together, “Your car?”
“Yes, ah, this is a treasure bought using my wife-capital [savings for a marriage].” The other party gave a hollow laugh, “But since it is the President’s friend, leave it to me, I’ll come handle it and it’ll be fine.”
Jiang Zhi hurriedly waved his hands, “No, no, no, this gentleman, you should still call a professional person to come for a bit, however much money it is I’ll come pay it to you.”
The other party was embarrassed, “How can this be okay.”
Fu Yunting cast a glance at the time, sending a message to his secretary, “Manager Tian, Shan Shan will come down right away, let her send it for repairs in a bit.” After finishing speaking, he extended his hand in front of Jiang Zhi’s eyes.
“What?” Jiang Zhi was bewildered.
“Car keys,” Fu Yunting said.
“……” Jiang Zhi felt it was losing face, attempting to defend himself on his own behalf, “……Actually, my car skills are quite good.”
“Mm, good.” Fu Yunting was expressionless, greatly having a kind of meaning that whatever you say is what it is.
Jiang Zhi, “……”
…
Jiang Zhi’s car was given by Jiang Yan; the Jiang family parents had their own set regarding the education of children—there was no such talk as wealthy-raising.
Therefore, for Jiang Zhi’s first car, Jiang Yan also didn’t give those eye-stabbing brands; it was just the most ordinary Buick small sedan. The price of the two cars differed by more than ten times; the corresponding compensation could be imagined.
It wasn’t that Jiang Zhi couldn’t afford to compensate either; nowadays his family’s company had recovered to normal, and his monthly pocket money and his public announcement salary were both entering his account normally.
It was just that the things he wanted to do became more compared to before, and concerns also came one after another; his consumption view had already quietly had a change. Wanting to do charity and also wanting to save money, his purse was flat like a beggar. With things coming to this today, his whole person was a bit deflated.
“That Manager Tian should have car insurance, right?” Jiang Zhi couldn’t resist confirming toward Fu Yunting.
“Have already let Shan Shan go handle it, leave it to her,” Fu Yunting said. “What time is the flight ticket?”
“Seven-thirty.” Jiang Zhi propped his head looking at Fu Yunting being expressionless. In a strict sense of meaning, this was their fourth time meeting, not counted as very familiar, but there was one point he could be certain of… this person was very skilled at hiding emotions. “There is time.”
“Next time you want to go anywhere, send the materials to me, I’ll let the secretary go arrange it,” Fu Yunting said.
“How can that be okay, this is also counted as our first date, it must be me personally coming.” Jiang Zhi fabricated words smoothly; only last night did he memorize an entire book of love ultimate skills.
Hearing this, Fu Yunting’s peripheral vision squinted a sideways glance at him, “I still thought yesterday’s hotpot was our first date, so it turns out it doesn’t count?”
Jiang Zhi choked, “I was saying… a travel date, mm, travel!”
“Travel? Want to play for how many days?” Fu Yunting was helpless; whatever matter Jiang Zhi did seemed to be a temporary impulse.
Casual and willful.
Jiang Zhi thought for a bit, “Let’s play while we look,呗,” he said. “Recently is Country D’s tourism peak season; not only food, the scenery is also very good. If you like it, we can play for a few more days.”
“Since when did you start to like eating burgers?” Fu Yunting did not find this memory within his mind.
Jiang Zhi said casually, “Mm… after going abroad, bar. At the beginning I didn’t love to eat it, later eating and eating I then liked it.” He said, “You taste it too, say no object [perhaps] you will also like it?”
Fu Yunting suddenly recalled some previous matters. Jiang Zhi had once said inside an interview some reasons why he chose to return to the country for development.
Aside from being homesick, the first one was food; he said, outside for four years, he had already reached the degree where seeing a burger made him want to vomit.
“Okay, try it.” The man did not pierce through him, but instead accompanied him to make trouble together.
After all… looking at it according to the timeline, this kind of opportunity was not much anymore.
…
The airport concourse had people coming and going, all people traveling in a hurry bringing big boxes. Only Jiang Zhi entered the arena with light equipment; aside from his mobile phone, he only took a backpack.
Fu Yunting checked Country D’s situation, letting his secretary pack out a convenient boarding suitcase—small, very business-like.
“Does this count as our ‘say-and-go’ travel?” Jiang Zhi stretched his body, finally forgetting that little broken matter just now.
“In the past, did you frequently go play like this?” Fu Yunting asked him.
“Mm… counted as it.” Jiang Zhi cast a glance at the attire on his body, having a bit of an urge to use two claws to rummage it into a mess for him. This person seemed to be straight and proper, meticulous wherever he went. “European countries are not big; driving a car for one day can cross several national borderlines. Occasionally I would backpack and travel with friends.”
“Quite good.” Fu Yunting liked listening to Jiang Zhi talk about his life very much, just as if… he also had the fate to participate in it before. “In the future wherever you want to go, I will accompany you.”
Jiang Zhi, listening to these words from the man, felt a bit of guilt for no reason. He didn’t know whether after getting on the plane, he could still speak to himself so calmly.
“Sure, ah.”
The luggage of the two of them was not big, not needing to be checked in. Taking the tickets on the self-service machine, they directly did a security check and boarded.
…
Fu Yunting looked down at the seat where his legs completely had no way to straighten, the corner of his forehead throbbing twice. “Jiang Zhi, do we absolutely have to go like this?”
Jiang Zhi gave a smile of embarrassment, “Sorry, ah, bought the tickets late, there was only economy class left.”
This travel was named by Jiang Zhi as wanting to go, and the flight tickets and what-not he had spontaneously wanted to buy. But with the way he was stingy even over eating a hotpot, of course it was impossible to book any first class or business class.
The man did not look into it deeply, only saying, “The return flight tickets, I’ll come buy them.”
“Sure, ah.” Jiang Zhi hurriedly smiled to compensate, and then quietly shut his mouth.
Originally, when Fu Yunting didn’t speak, it was quite terrifying; this time Jiang Zhi didn’t even know whether his running outside to provoke him was right or wrong. Fortunately, Fu Yunting’s emotions throughout the whole process were very peaceful; in the middle when the plane meal came up, he specially helped Jiang Zhi on the inner side twist open a bottle cap.
While Jiang Zhi felt relieved, he was also somewhat sorrowful, not knowing whether his doing this was after all right or after all wrong.
A two-hour flight duration—just arriving in the air they ate a meal and then immediately began to descend. The entire process jolted so much that Jiang Zhi thought they came riding horses; landing, he directly vomited in the restroom, completely without image.
Coming out, he sat weakly in the airport concourse, seeing his own wretchedness through the clean and brightly polished wall. Jiang Zhi somewhat doubted life—was his unlucky days truly about to come?
Fu Yunting went to the self-service machine and brought a bottle of water over, “Drinking a couple of sips will make you feel a bit better.”
Jiang Zhi’s face was white, his lips not even having a single color. Thinking about how in the past his ten-or-so-hour flight durations were all like playing, at this moment looking closely at Fu Yunting, however he looked, he felt the birth dates of the two were incompatible.
“Too uncomfortable, I want to go home.” He wanted to cry a little.
Fu Yunting raised his brows, “Say-and-go travel is going to be abandoned so quickly?”
Jiang Zhi half-leaned on the long bench, greatly having a posture of wanting to lie on the ground and cry loudly to a parent, but the front was not the Jiang family parents or Jiang Yan—he could only bottle it back completely intact.
“Where would I know that a two-hour flight duration could cause motion sickness; before going out of the door today I should have looked at the yellow calendar [almanac].”
“Truly want to go back?” The man found it funny, “The handmade big burger is not being eaten?”
Jiang Zhi looked at the smile faintly exposed at the corners of Fu Yunting’s lips, suddenly recalling yesterday’s failed hotpot game.
No way—if it was losing every time like this, the two of them were going to receive their lunchboxes [die/meet a bad end] right away.
“Want it!” He instantly branched up [braced himself].
“Okay.” Fu Yunting cast a glance at the time, standing up his body, “We’ll go rent a car first.”
…
Jiang Zhi followed without strength or spirit. At this time it was already almost ten o’clock; burgers and what-not definitely couldn’t be eaten tonight. For convenience, the two directly rented a car at the airport.
The driving direction on this side was opposite to the domestic one. Projecting on this side having the exact same driving habits as Europe, Jiang Zhi automatically climbed toward the driver’s seat the moment he arrived in front. Yet just having opened the door, he was seized by the back collar by Fu Yunting.
Jiang Zhi paused, straightening his waist and turning his body around, only to see a big hand slowly extending in front of his own eyes—exactly identical to the one in Fu’s parking lot a few hours ago.
He flattened his mouth, once again attempting to argue with him, “……My car skills are very good.”
“Mm, good.” But Fu Yunting’s hand still did not retract.
Jiang Zhi instantly leaked his spirit, obediently placing the keys into the palm of the man’s hand.