Chapter 18

“Brother Shen, you’ve changed your look?”

Duan Weiwei quickly went from the surprise of seeing familiar faces to the disappointment of her two-person world being broken. She almost suspected that Yan Jiaqi was here to ruin things for her, but she was quickly attracted by Shen Yang’s different attire.

Shen Yang said awkwardly, “Jiaqi helped me choose them.”

He really didn’t mean to show off, he was just stating a fact. He was clearly the one accompanying her shopping, but Yan Jiaqi only bought one bag for herself and kept picking out clothes for him, urging him to buy, buy, buy, and even forcefully gifted him a jacket.

If he didn’t know Yan Jiaqi’s character, he would almost think she was a salesperson from the store, specifically tricking him into buying things to boost her sales performance.

But to Duan Weiwei, who had been working all day, it felt like Shen Yang was showing off his affection, and she felt suffocated.

What, was Yan Jiaqi not only going to compete with her for Su Hanying but also for Shen Yang?

“It looks good.” She forced a smile and asked, “Why are you here?”

“Shen Yang brought me here.” Yan Jiaqi originally thought that Shen Yang had made plans with them in advance when she saw Su Hanying and Duan Weiwei. Now, seeing that Duan Weiwei also looked confused, she couldn’t help but laugh. “What a coincidence!”

Shen Yang wanted to explain the so-called coincidence, but Su Hanying suddenly came over to help him carry the bags and said, “The owner of this restaurant is a friend of mine.”

“Friend?” Shen Yang was stunned. Su Hanying hadn’t mentioned it yesterday…

Su Hanying hummed in agreement. “Using the show to advertise, dinner’s on the house tonight.”

Shen Yang immediately believed him without a doubt.

So, after Su Hanying gave his name, the waiter led them to the most luxurious private room.

They took their seats and chatted while eating appetizers.

“Where did you guys go today?” Yan Jiaqi saw that Duan Weiwei’s complexion wasn’t very good and naturally had to “show concern”!

Duan Weiwei’s hand holding the teacup tightened. She subconsciously wanted to lie to cover up her disheveled appearance, but Su Hanying was right next to her and could expose her at any moment… She was considering how to phrase it to her advantage when she heard Su Hanying say, “We went to the flower fields in the suburbs.”

Yan Jiaqi was quite surprised. “A picnic? How romantic!”

Duan Weiwei looked at Su Hanying gratefully, thinking that he was helping her out. Her smile unconsciously became sweet and smug, and her gaze towards Yan Jiaqi was once again full of fighting spirit.

However, the next second—

Su Hanying: “No, planting.”

“Pfft—”

Yan Jiaqi spat out her tea. If it weren’t for the cameras around, she would have burst out laughing—Su Hanying was truly ruthless, he actually took a girl farming?

The smile on Duan Weiwei’s lips gradually disappeared. She took several deep breaths before suppressing the urge to scratch Yan Jiaqi’s face and forced a smile. “Older Brother Su rented a lot of flower fields in the suburbs, and we went to plant zinnias.”

Shen Yang, who was looking at the menu, suddenly looked up. “Zinnias?”

Duan Weiwei: “Yes, what’s wrong?”

Shen Yang: “My grandparents planted a lot of them.”

Duan Weiwei knew that Shen Yang’s hometown was a small town with a courtyard, so she said, “They must be very beautiful.”

Shen Yang’s smile was tinged with nostalgia. “They are very beautiful.”

Back then, his grandparents strongly opposed him dropping out of school and didn’t understand what he was pursuing. At that time, he was young and impulsive and didn’t contact his family much for more than half a year, nor did he go back. Later, he achieved some small successes and suddenly received a WeChat message from his grandmother. The message only contained a picture of his grandfather standing sternly in a field of fiery red zinnias, with a line of text added below the picture in that very old-fashioned colorful fluorescent font—Wishing Yang Yang’s career to be as prosperous as these zinnias.

Shen Yang still remembered how he felt at that moment: guilt, heartache, emotion, gratitude… so many emotions almost overwhelmed him. Later, he avoided others, hid in his room and cried. When he came out, he asked for leave and bought himself a plane ticket home.

When he got home, he learned that his grandparents had actually been following his news all along. The two elderly people, over a hundred years old combined, had learned how to use the internet, edit pictures, watch livestreams, and even control comments and fight back against haters during those six months…

Of course, since he wasn’t a celebrity, there weren’t many haters, so the two elderly people didn’t have much work pressure…

For Shen Yang, zinnias had a different meaning. Even when reporters asked him what gift he wanted if his dream came true, Shen Yang smiled and said, “A bouquet of zinnias.”

In his heart, zinnias represented his grandparents’ expectations of him.

Shen Yang had sworn twice that he would achieve success and earn honor.

The first time was when he left home for City B, filled with youthful rebellion;

The second time was when he stood in the flower field where his grandfather had taken the photo, his heart warm, facing the sunlight.

Unfortunately…

“Let’s order!” Shen Yang smiled again and chose two dishes he liked from the menu.

Dinner passed by in casual conversation. When they were leaving, Su Hanying’s friend came over to greet them. To Shen Yang’s surprise, he looked like he was in his thirties.

After chatting with him for a while, Shen Yang learned that he was actually the former owner of the KK team.

It seemed that Su Hanying’s decision to join the KK team had something to do with this friend?

When they came out of the restaurant, they found that it was raining, so they hurriedly got into the car.

The girls sat in the back, and Shen Yang sat in the passenger seat.

After a long day, everyone was tired. Duan Weiwei and Yan Jiaqi, who had been chatting intermittently, gradually fell silent. Shen Yang turned around and saw that they had both fallen asleep, their heads leaning against each other, looking particularly close. Who would have thought that they usually bickered so much?

“Tired?”

Su Hanying suddenly asked. Shen Yang shook his head, then nodded. “A little tired, I walked a lot today.”

He took out his phone and was shocked when he saw the number of steps. “I actually walked over twenty thousand steps?!”

Su Hanying chuckled. “You can sleep for a while if you’re tired. There’s a blanket in the glove compartment.”

“It’s okay.” Shen Yang rubbed his face. He couldn’t let Su Hanying drive alone, so he casually started a conversation. “Actually, you being on the show is also a kind of promotion for your team. The KK team didn’t have many fans originally, maybe they’ll become a popular team now.”

That wasn’t quite right.

Shen Yang believed that as long as Su Hanying was there, even if the club didn’t have any promotional plans, the KK team would still become popular.

Su Hanying: “Popularity earned through achievements is more meaningful.”

“That’s true.” Shen Yang suddenly said, “Maybe the idol you want to invite will see the show and become interested in your team?”

Su Hanying looked at the rain outside the car window and said slowly, “I hope so.”

It was past nine o’clock when they returned to the small western-style building. Yang Tianchi and Long Nu had been waiting for a long time. Seeing them come in together, Yang Tianchi said dramatically, “Did you four go on a date together? Are you trying to isolate us?”

Shen Yang quickly explained and asked, “Where did you guys go today?”

“The aquarium!” It was Long Nu who answered, a trace of excitement still lingering on her face.

After hearing Long Nu’s detailed explanation, everyone learned that Yang Tianchi had pulled a smooth move.

Halfway through their visit, he excused himself to buy water and asked Long Nu to wait for him at the shark exhibit. He then changed into a diving suit and went into the water, performing a “human-shark dance” for Long Nu and all the visitors.

Finally, Yang Tianchi even threw a rose towards where Long Nu was standing. Although she couldn’t catch it through the glass, it was still very impressive.

“That’s so cool!”

“Oh my god, that’s so romantic!”

Duan Weiwei and Yan Jiaqi were envious and said, “Let’s go to the aquarium again when we have the chance!”

Yang Tianchi said proudly, “Sure, but this time it was the program team who helped me coordinate it. I don’t know if I’ll be able to go into the water next time…”

Shen Yang saw the girls’ sparkling eyes and thought that Yang Tianchi would definitely get the highest score for today’s date arrangements. His own first half was a failure, the second half was barely passable, so overall, he should get a sixty.

As for Su Hanying…

Shen Yang put himself in Duan Weiwei’s shoes and decided to give him a negative rating.

He wondered if the girls’ picks would change after this date. Shen Yang looked at Yang Tianchi, who was surrounded by girls, and thought that Older Brother Tianchi couldn’t possibly be forgotten again, right?

Apparently, Yang Tianchi thought so too, because during the text message segment that night, he was even more excited than usual and seemed very confident.

Shen Yang glanced at Su Hanying, who still had a calm expression, not revealing any emotions.

At 10:30, Shen Yang sent his text message on time, to Yan Jiaqi.

It wasn’t that he suddenly had romantic feelings for Yan Jiaqi, but since they had gone on a date together, he had to give her face.

He believed that this was what a mature and considerate man should do.

After sending the text message, the three people in the lounge were silent.

In the silence, Shen Yang felt his phone vibrate.

His heart leaped, and he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Shen Yang composed himself and opened the message—

“Baby, you’re so cute!”

???!

“Baby”? What the hell?!

Before he could process this term of endearment, his phone vibrated again—

“It’s a pity that you weren’t my date today, but I still hope you’re happy. Good night.”

Shen Yang was stunned. He never expected that after such a disastrous date, he would actually receive two text messages, breaking his record?!

Taking a deep breath, Shen Yang didn’t dare to appear too smug, but the little man in his heart was jumping with joy—he, Shen, the central air conditioning, was ten meters tall today!!!

His persona, a success!

His final payment, secured!

Shen Yang’s heart was completely at ease, but he suddenly felt something was wrong.

Based on his intuition, the first text message was from Yan Jiaqi.

Was she so dedicated to dressing him up today that she found joy in raising a baby?

Then what about the second one?

Shen Yang read the second text message again and drew two conclusions: first, the sender wasn’t his date; second, the sender wanted to be his date.

Then could he interpret it as the sender being the one who picked him the previous two times but didn’t get to choose him this time?

Who was it? Duan Weiwei… or Long Nu?

Actually, Shen Yang had suspected Long Nu before, because both Duan Weiwei and Yan Jiaqi had shown obvious interest in Su Hanying, only Long Nu’s attitude was unclear.

But he hadn’t interacted much with Long Nu and couldn’t find a reason for her to pick him, so he wasn’t sure.

And after today, Shen Yang no longer thought Long Nu would pick him. In his opinion, any girl would be hard-pressed to remain indifferent to the surprise Yang Tianchi had prepared. In fact, Long Nu’s gaze had indeed been fixed on Yang Tianchi just now…

Shen Yang silently formulated an equation: assuming the sender of the second text message was the same person who sent him messages the previous two times, and given that Long Nu would send a message to Yang Tianchi today, the conclusion was that Long Nu wasn’t the one who picked him before.

It was complicated, but after eliminating Long Nu and Yan Jiaqi, only Duan Weiwei remained.

But Shen Yang felt that it was more likely that…

His gaze inadvertently fell on Su Hanying, then quickly shifted away.

Tsk! I must be crazy!

It must be Yuan Kai, that lunatic, who influenced me!

Shen Yang scolded himself, feeling extremely ashamed.

Forget it, he wouldn’t think about it anymore.

When the show aired later, he would naturally know the result.

Shen Yang didn’t want to use his brain anymore and started to secretly observe the other two competitors—between Yang Tianchi and Su Hanying today, someone would definitely end up miserable!

He saw that Yang Tianchi was looking down at his phone, his expression unreadable, while Su Hanying suddenly stood up and said, “Let’s go back.”

As expected!

Shen Yang thought he had seen through the ending and looked at Su Hanying with sympathy.

However, Su Hanying only gave him a cold shoulder.