43: down-to-earth breakfast

After the two finished eating, they headed back to the hotel and didn't go out sightseeing again that night.

They said they were resting, but in reality, they went back to "exercise."

They carried on until the middle of the night, even changing the sheets before the lights finally went out completely.

When he got into bed after showering, Jiang Yuan casually picked up his phone. The screen lit up, showing several unread messages, all from Liu Zhuoyun.

"Brother Jiang, I've been reviewing my lessons recently, so I might be quite busy."

"Brother Jiang, are you having fun in Qingdao?"

"Brother Jiang, when the holidays start, I want to follow you and go traveling too."

The timestamps were displayed first; all of them were sent during his livestream that evening, or slightly afterward.

Jiang Yuan stared at the lines of text for a few seconds, his fingertips pausing slightly before he opened and replied to each one.

"Study hard, don't get distracted."

"It's alright, the sea is quite beautiful."

"When your holidays start, we'll talk about it if there's time."

None of the replies were long, but they weren't perfunctory.

It was just too late now; the other side had long since turned off the lights and gone to sleep, so no new notifications popped up after he sent the messages.

He put his phone aside, then picked it up again to glance at the chat window before finally locking the screen.

On this side of the bed, Gu Xinyu hadn't completely fallen asleep.

She lay facing away from him, the quilt pulled up to her shoulders. Her eyes were closed, but her breathing was uneven.

She hadn't failed to notice the slight curve that unconsciously appeared at the corner of Jiang Yuan's mouth when he was looking at his phone just now.

But she was very smart and didn't ask anything.

For a person of Jiang Yuan's status, she knew better than anyone else how many people and how many stories existed around him.

Being able to openly stay by his side this time—riding in his car, staying in the same room, and standing next to him while others viewed her as his girlfriend—was already a privilege she had never dared to imagine before.

She hadn't even considered the word marriage.

Being able to remain his girlfriend was enough to satisfy her.

Her only extravagance was probably hoping that Jiang Yuan's slight affection for her wouldn't arrive too quickly, nor disappear too quickly.

As for the idea of tying down Jiang Yuan, she had never entertained that thought herself.

She knew very well that this time, she had taken a step forward—an impulse that wasn't entirely impulsive.

She had no regrets and wouldn't ask about the outcome.

As long as she still existed in his heart, that was enough.

The mattress dipped slightly.

After replying to the messages, Jiang Yuan turned onto his side, pulled her into his embrace from behind, and rested his chin on the crown of her head.

Gu Xinyu had originally been pretending to sleep, but when he hugged her, she completely relaxed, and the hand gripping the corner of the quilt slowly opened.

She shifted closer into his arms, snuggling up a little tighter.

The warmth emanating from him brought a sense of peace to her heart, and her eyelids slowly grew heavy.

Before long, her breathing became even and steady.

(A maximum of three female leads; I won't write too many.)

Early the next morning, Jiang Yuan woke up.

He stood bare-chested in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out at the sea. The lines of his shoulders and back were smooth, and he leaned casually against the window frame.

Outside, the sky was still a spotless blue, cloudless for thousands of miles. The sea surface glowed brightly under the morning sun, making one feel instantly comfortable just by looking at it.

Weather like this today looked perfect for going into the sea and messing around for a bit.

"Brother Jiang, morning..."

Gu Xinyu walked out of the bedroom, her eyes still heavy with sleep, her voice carrying the slight nasal tone of someone who had just woken up.

She was only wearing black and white spliced underwear. Her skin was fair, her waist slim, and her legs long, without an ounce of excess fat, showing that she routinely managed her figure.

Jiang Yuan glanced briefly and then withdrew his gaze.

"Mhm, you're up? Let's go grab breakfast first."

"Okay..."

She rubbed her eyes and went to wash up and change clothes.

This time, the two didn't eat at the hotel buffet.

Jiang Yuan drove the car out of the hotel, circled along the seaside, found a nearby parking lot to park the car, and then walked with Gu Xinyu toward the morning market.

The pagani's head-turning rate on the road was as exaggerated as ever.

However, once the car entered the parking lot, the number of onlookers decreased significantly.

After walking along the street for a few minutes, the two turned into a bustling small road.

This was a morning market frequently visited by locals. Stalls were lined up in rows, oil sizzled on the iron griddles, and the smells of soy milk, fried dough sticks, Jianbing Guozi, steamed buns, and congee all mixed together. It was a bit chaotic but full of life.

Jiang Yuan chose the breakfast shop with the most customers and the fastest table turnover.

The shop wasn't small. The decor wasn't exactly aesthetically pleasing; the floor was a bit old, and a few simple menus were pasted on the wall. However, the tabletops were clean, the kitchen was open, and soup was bubbling in the pots.

"This place looks decent."

He pulled out an inner table and sat down, casually propping his phone on the corner of the table.

A waiter quickly walked over: "What would you two like to eat?"

"We'll take two bowls of sweet foam, then two bowls of Claypot Wontons, and a basket of steamed buns."

Jiang Yuan ordered very skillfully.

Actually, these were all items he had searched for on his phone that morning under "Qingdao Local Recommended Breakfast," and he ordered them because they looked appealing.

Eating too many delicacies gets boring. When he was poor, he often ate at these types of stalls and morning markets, and that down-to-earth atmosphere actually made him feel more relaxed.

Gu Xinyu was also used to eating this kind of food. She took the disposable chopsticks and unwrapped them naturally. However, both of them were dressed cleanly and sharply, and their temperaments were too outstanding, making them look somewhat "out of place" here, causing many people to glance over and size them up.

Jiang Yuan opened TikTok and started a livestream immediately.

Perhaps because it was early morning, the initial number of viewers was only a few hundred, and the bullet comments weren't numerous.

He glanced at the count, gently tapped his finger, and issued a lucky bag worth 30,000 Dou Coins.

In less than half a minute, the number of people in the livestream room skyrocketed from a few hundred to several thousand.

"Wow, is the Big Boss's schedule this disciplined? Up this early?"

"Where is the Big Boss? The background is so noisy, sounds like a wet market."

"Looks like a morning market. Is the Big Boss eating breakfast?"

"This table, this bowl, this tile... Local reporting in. This must be the morning market in the XX area."

The bullet comments were scrolling extremely fast, but Jiang Yuan still managed to catch a few lines.

"I'm currently at the morning market in XX, Qingdao, grabbing a simple breakfast."

As he spoke, he picked up his phone and casually panned the camera around the surroundings.

The scene was full of life and bustle.

In the back kitchen, someone was scooping soup, someone else was wrapping wontons at a cutting board, and at a nearby table, someone was biting into a freshly steamed bun, the hot steam rising straight toward the camera lens.

"Hey, isn't that the street downstairs from my house!"

"Holy crap, the Big Boss actually came here to eat near my home? No way, I need to rush downstairs to see!"

Someone shouted in the comments.

"I originally thought the Big Boss would be eating delicacies in the morning, served by a dedicated nutritionist..."

"I never expected him to be sitting in a small shop drinking sweet foam just like me. Who wouldn't say that's down-to-earth?"

"Local online recommendation: you absolutely must drink the sweet foam, it's genuinely delicious!"

"Big Boss, try our large steamed buns! Also, the Mackerel Dumplings, they definitely won't disappoint!"

When the locals saw that he was genuinely sitting there eating, instead of just posing for a few photos and leaving, they instantly became enthusiastic and began recommending their favorite delicious local foods in the comments section.

Shortly after, the sweet foam and the small steamed buns were served first. The wontons would take a little longer because they were being freshly boiled.

The sweet foam in the bowl was golden and thick, with a thin layer of oil floating on the surface, and its aroma was strong.

Jiang Yuan picked up his spoon, scooped a large spoonful toward his mouth, raised his eyes to look at the screen, and was just about to speak.