Chapter 73: Oh My! Keep Going!
After getting out of the car, the three men who had also been defeated by the cold wind were already prepared, standing stiffly in the freezing air.
Cheng Fei, who was walking in front, stopped after passing the back of the car the moment she saw them. She froze like a statue.
Zheng Qi and Bai Xi were curious too. They came over to look and instantly froze in the cold wind as well.
Then—
“Hahahaha… hahahaha!”
Shivering from the cold?
Not at all!
With the legendary warming clothes used by movie extras, military-style winter coats, even freezing winter weather could be endured.
The only problem was…
The look was extremely awkward.
At that moment, the women’s laughter sounded painfully sharp.
Even Zhou Lin, who normally did not care much about clothing, wanted to crawl into a hole from embarrassment. Gao Ming’s face was already twitching with shame as he glared fiercely at Ye Dong.
Then he put a hand on Ye Dong’s shoulder and secretly increased the pressure.
As the saying goes, if you help someone, help them all the way.
Since the long drive would probably require taking turns driving, Ye Dong used that excuse to tag along as an unimportant extra character. After satisfying his curiosity, he would return to Yunzhou to watch over “home.”
Physically, he was not as strong as Gao Ming, so before leaving, he had specially prepared these “warming treasures.”
“So this is the magical warming gear you were talking about? You did this on purpose just to mess with me, didn’t you?!”
“Hehe… urgh! My bad! But… this really is… really warm!”
Ye Dong grimaced in pain. Since he could not beat Gao Ming, all he could do was endure it.
After the joking ended, they almost missed the sunrise they had been looking forward to for so long.
The place where the car stopped was perfect. The sun had just begun to rise above the horizon.
Even if everyone wore the same clothes, at least their hairstyles were different.
Cheng Fei’s hair was half tied up, Bai Xi wore a ponytail, and Zheng Qi originally had a similar style too, but she casually let her hair down into a side-parted look.
The women sat side by side on top of the car, while the men in military coats stood below posing dramatically.
It was natural that Cheng Fei and Gao Ming, the married couple, stood in the middle.
But whether by accident or on purpose, Bai Xi ended up standing directly across from Ye Dong, while Zhou Lin stood beside Zheng Qi’s feet.
The women above made slightly old-fashioned peace signs toward the newborn sun, while below, the men leaned against the car with one foot on the ground. Gao Ming rested his arms over the shoulders of the other two.
Their smiles mixed with the cool atmosphere, freezing the perfect sunrise into that one moment.
They still had nearly a thousand kilometers left before reaching their destination.
No matter how beautiful the scenery along the road was, they still had to think about time.
After relaxing freely for two hours, they finally stepped onto the highway again, though not without reluctance.
Highways were just that boring.
Chasing efficiency too much made everything dull. It felt almost the same as going to work every day. A long, endless road with no excitement.
Still, it was the perfect chance to catch up on sleep.
After folding down the back seats, the space was almost comparable to a bed at home.
The softness was not quite the same, but for an SUV, it was already very comfortable.
In one car, three out of four people were sleeping.
For the driver, who also lacked sleep himself, this was truly a huge challenge.
Gao Ming rubbed his eyes, opened the cup holder, and took out a bottle of hot coffee.
Now *this* was the real warmer item.
He drank while occasionally glancing outside the window.
In the car behind them, which mainly carried supplies, Zhou Lin also had the same weapon in hand. Otherwise, Ye Dong’s loud snoring from the passenger seat would have dragged him into dreamland long ago.
The two drivers focused completely on fighting their exhaustion.
Unfortunately, coffee could not defeat hunger.
So after the “war drums” rumbling inside their stomachs finally calmed down, the moment a highway service area appeared ahead, neither driver eased off the gas. If anything, they almost wanted to floor it.
The boxed meals they brought were reheated using the microwave in the car, and they tasted just as good as yesterday.
Each person got one box per meal. It did not look like much, but the portions were actually very filling, more than enough for an average man.
There was even extra left over.
Yet now, more than half the food box supply was already gone.
They had done long-distance trips before, but they had never gotten this hungry.
The appetites of the three men did not even need to be mentioned.
But even soft-looking girls like Zheng Qi and Bai Xi had started eating their second box.
Normally, Cheng Fei should have been happy to receive such honest praise for her cooking skills.
But…
She glanced at the nearly empty food box and remembered trips from many years ago.
The awful highway service area food…
Ugh.
Just remembering the taste almost made her lose her appetite for the food in her hands too.
After everyone finished eating cleanly, the sun hidden behind the clouds slowly peeked out again.
Zheng Qi was like a puppy that had been trapped at home for years. Even a service area like this made her excited enough to “leave her mark.”
She ran around taking pictures everywhere with her phone, and even dragged Zhou Lin along with her.
It was not that she did not want to ask Cheng Fei and Bai Xi to join.
She just wanted an excuse to avoid cleaning up the leftovers.
Bai Xi pushed up her glasses and ground her teeth slightly. In the end, the two women carried the piles of lunch boxes to the sinks to wash them.
After everyone had relieved themselves and taken a break, it was time to leave again.
“You didn’t rest well this morning. Let others drive later.”
Hearing that, Gao Ming gently turned Cheng Fei back toward him and brushed aside the loose hair near her ear, never forgetting to act like a loving husband in front of everyone.
He smiled, but his words carried a teasing tone.
“So… are you worried about me?”
“Hmph.” Cheng Fei snorted softly, clearly worried but unwilling to admit it. “I’m afraid you’ll fall asleep at the wheel and drive into a ditch somewhere. By the time people find us, we’ll already be skinny little mummies.”
Gao Ming smiled calmly.
Suddenly, he held her soft oval-shaped face and slowly kissed her lightly on the forehead.
After the attack, her forehead felt a little cool. She did not know whether it was saliva or something else.
Eww~
While those two enjoyed themselves leisurely, Ye Dong and Bai Xi had no teammates to rely on except each other.
Ye Dong used checking on the other car as an excuse to escape, while Bai Xi thought standing there awkwardly would feel uncomfortable too, so she also followed along under the excuse of helping.
Normally, acting like this would not make her react so strongly, so why did it suddenly feel so disgusting today?
She reached up and touched her forehead, then looked at her hand.
“Holy crap!!”
This guy drank coffee without wiping his mouth and used her forehead like a napkin?!
Cheng Fei immediately threw a punch at Gao Ming.
Without panic, Gao Ming caught her fist and wrapped his whole hand around it.
“You want something even more exciting?”
“Let go.”
Cheng Fei swallowed nervously, her tone much weaker now.
Even though she had already mentally prepared herself to calmly become an ordinary woman, at this stage…
Without money and confidence backing her up, she still could not bring herself to actually cross certain lines.
Gao Ming released her decisively.
Cheng Fei went to look at the food box again.
Calculating the remaining trip, they had left at four in the morning and already eaten heavily by ten. This kind of spending was too wasteful!
Forget it. In her opinion, there was an eighty percent chance they would need to leave the highway midway to buy more supplies.
After adjusting the seats, she noticed Zheng Qi still had not returned, which was understandable.
But why was Bai Xi still missing too?
Could it be…
After getting grossed out by what happened earlier, she happened to be alone with a man nearby and could not hold back for a moment?
Cheng Fei’s expression became a little sneaky.
Bending over, she quietly slipped toward the van behind them.
Gao Ming was curious too. In his heart he looked down on Cheng Fei’s expression, but his posture copied hers exactly.
The two pressed themselves against the window and peeked inside.
The pair were still in there, and their heads were quite close together.
Listening carefully, they could even hear heavy breathing sounds.
Oh wow!
This suddenly became awkward.
The two spies slowly pulled their eyes away from the window and crouched down, staring at each other’s faces.
Both looked pretty serious normally, so why did their expressions now seem so shameless?
Rubbing their faces, the two quietly slipped back into the front car.
In their hearts they thought this kind of thing could not be rushed. Since things had already started, they should give those two some time.
Mist filled their imaginations as the scenes they could not see automatically started playing inside their heads.
But in reality, the situation inside the car was completely different.
Bang!
A screw stuck between the storage rack and the car slot suddenly popped out.
The force made Bai Xi fall backward, and she accidentally dragged down Ye Dong, who had been holding the rack.
Their heads separated for a brief moment, then bumped together again as they fell down.
After all the struggling, both were sweating lightly. Their messy appearance was honestly kind of funny.
“Hehe…”
Ye Dong gave an awkward laugh and quickly got up first, pretending to focus on the rack to ease the embarrassment.
“I was wondering why things kept shaking around even on flat roads. Turns out this thing was causing trouble. I really was careless before leaving and didn’t check it carefully enough. If it kept shaking all the way there, the armor would probably get scratched up badly. Old Gao would skin me alive.”
Bai Xi also sat up and looked at the rack.
“It looks very neat on the surface. The welding points are covered by paint, so if you don’t look closely, you really can’t tell. Did you really make this yourselves?”
“Of course… not by myself! Gao Ming helped too. Something this big needed two people. So? Does it look kind of rough?”
“No, it actually looks very professional. An elder in my family used to be a welder. You two did a really good job. If you hadn’t said anything, I would’ve thought it was store-bought.”
“When we were in school, one day a welder came to repair the metal frame on the auditorium roof. They happened to be short on workers, so the two of us helped pass tools and things around. Maybe the master was just trying to entertain us, but he suddenly let us try welding some corners ourselves.”
“Back when I was little, I used to watch roadside welding shops. Holding a welding rod looked just like setting off fireworks, so I always wanted to try it. But my family told me electricity was dangerous, so I never dared.”
“This finally fulfilled that childhood dream. I didn’t expect to get praised the first time I tried it. After that, it became a habit. Whenever we wanted to modify or add something to our cars, we just did it ourselves. Repair shops and parts stores rarely make money from us.”
After hearing that, Bai Xi smiled lightly.
She had only known they were office executives, but she had not expected their practical skills to be this good.
Then again, building a successful company from nothing…
“I still think the rack feels a little loose…”
“I’ll handle this little job. It’s just a few screws.” Ye Dong stopped her and grabbed the wrench himself.
“Okay.”
Bai Xi got out of the car, dusted off her clothes, and fixed her slightly messy ponytail.
In the distance, two burning gazes landed on her.
Looking up, she saw Zheng Qi and Zhou Lin staring at her.
No, “staring” was the better word.
Their big eyes were filled with even bigger confusion.
And at the worst possible moment, Ye Dong also jumped out of the car looking equally messy.
At this exact scene and this exact moment, Bai Xi truly wanted to crawl back into the car and hide forever.
The next second, just as she expected, the confusion in their eyes instantly changed.
Meaningful smiles spread across their faces, their eyes curving like crescent moons.
Ye Dong and Bai Xi shared the exact same expression, like black crows had fallen onto their heads, leaving them covered in dark lines of embarrassment.
Should they explain? Should they not?
“Well… in the car…”
“You two… continue! Old Zhou, let’s retreat first.”
Before either of them could decide what to say, Zheng Qi’s words already crashed down on them.
Great.
This gossip-loving woman had completely confirmed everything in her mind now. And with that big mouth of hers…
Bai Xi almost ran back to the front car.
Just as Cheng Fei opened the car door, took a deep breath, and looked ready to speak immediately, Bai Xi rushed over and covered her mouth with one hand.
“Mmph!!!”
Holding Cheng Fei tightly in her arms, Bai Xi forced out a smile.
“Feifei, something happened just now. Listen to me—”
Before she could finish, Bai Xi noticed Cheng Fei’s face looked exactly like Zheng Qi’s earlier expression.
Even using her toes to think, she could guess these two had definitely seen or heard something.
While Bai Xi was distracted, Zheng Qi struggled free and gently touched Bai Xi’s hand.
“Teacher Bai, you really don’t care about the location at all. You can even do it here… Such a calm and refined appearance on the outside, but your heart is pretty wild~ Actually, the service area has rooms inside. Renting one wouldn’t cost much money or time.”
Bai Xi slowly clenched her fingers into a fist.
Veins bulged on her smooth forehead in the shape of a cross.
Instead of getting angry immediately, she smiled.
Then, with one smooth motion, she shoved Zheng Qi and Cheng Fei into the car and slammed the door shut behind them.
Her movements were so smooth they looked like flowing water.
“I’ll teach you two little brats to keep talking nonsense!!!”
After a short moment of silence, her furious shout exploded like a tiger roaring through the mountains.
“Teacher Bai is mighty—ahh, I was wrong!”
“Big sis! Even tigers don’t eat their younger sisters!”