What? Traveling during the Mid-Autumn Festival could earn money and count for credits too?
The students immediately became excited when they heard that.
They had been getting sleepy from the boring class meeting, but now every one of them was wide awake!
There were plenty of fun places near Jiangcheng University, and quite a few people had already planned to go out during the holiday.
After all, the Mid-Autumn Festival only made for a three-day break when combined with the weekend. Students who lived far away generally did not consider going home.
They could shoot a vlog while they were out having fun. If they got lucky, they might earn money and credits; if not, they lost nothing, since they were going to have fun anyway.
Seeing the students' enthusiasm rise, Xia Lin announced again,
"I contacted a class from the Academy of Arts to hold this event together with our class. I'll create a big WeChat group shortly. You can look for partners there and form teams freely. Those who want to visit the same place can form a team and go together."
"Of course, in principle, each team should have no more than eight members."
"Anyone who wants to be a team leader can privately message me."
Holy shit, there was even a mixer?
Awesome!
At that, quite a few boys' eyes lit up as they rubbed their hands together in anticipation.
After all, the gender ratio in the Computer Science Department was extremely unbalanced.
Engineering guys were introverted and shy, and they had no idea how to get to know unfamiliar girls. Now they had a group travel event, giving them the perfect chance to hit on girls in the chat.
The class from the Academy of Arts probably thought the same way, except their situation was the exact opposite: more girls than boys.
"Director Xia, you're seriously amazing. We adore you!" Xue Tao began sucking up again.
"Cut the flattery. Save that energy for chatting with girls in the group," Xia Lin said with a smile.
"Dude, you already have a girlfriend. Why are you so excited?" Chu Mingzhe mocked.
Xue Tao glanced at him, looking completely justified. "Who says having a girlfriend means I can't attend a mixer with girls from another class? We're just going out to have fun, not doing anything sleazy. Su Bai, don't you agree?"
"Me? I don't care."
Su Bai genuinely did not care. He could join the event.
He could see whether there were any beautiful art students worth getting to know, preferably ones with an S-rank charm score who could earn him cashback.
If there had not been this event, he would have invited Chen Yusheng or one of his upperclassmen to spend the Mid-Autumn Festival with. He would not have been lonely.
As long as rich people wanted company, it was hard for them to be lonely.
Xue Tao's idea was not a problem, though he did not know whether the girls at the mixer would pay him any attention. Girls studying art had high material expectations, so it was hard to say whether they would think he was good enough.
"What's so interesting about girls studying art? They're all materialistic, and their heads are empty," Chu Mingzhe once again proclaimed his tastes. "I'm not interested."
Yet not long after, Xia Lin created the large mixer group for the two classes.
Chu Mingzhe secretly clicked into the girls' social media feeds and browsed through them, then changed his tune. "Actually, it might be pretty nice to experience this event..."
"Oh my, weren't you not interested, Hu Ye?" Xue Tao said sarcastically.
"That's incorrect. I looked through some girls' social media feeds and realized they actually have pretty good taste. Take this one, for example. She even knows to use Sennheiser headphones. Girls who understand Sennheiser have taste. Ordinary girls only mindlessly buy Apple."
"...They're just headphones. What do they prove?"
Xue Tao grumbled indignantly, then leaned over to look at Chu Mingzhe's phone. "Huh, this girl is from Goddess Dormitory too. Jiang Qiuran—I remember she's a freshman in the broadcasting and hosting program. Who would've thought our mixer would happen to be with her class?"
"Yeah. I always thought Jiang Qiuran was the shallow kind of art student. Who would have thought she understood music so well?"
"..."
Xue Tao looked somewhat displeased.
Jiang Qiuran was actually the girl Xue Tao had taken an interest in when he first started university and first learned about Goddess Dormitory.
It was said that she had originally studied dance from elementary school, only switching to broadcasting and hosting in high school. Yet she was exceptionally talented, earning admission to Jiangcheng University with the top professional exam score in the Academy of Arts.
In other words, she had both the incredible figure of a dance student and an angelic, captivating voice.
Her doll-like, delicate face, pure yet alluring, combined with her slender and graceful curves to perfectly embody the phrase "fair, thin, and youthful."
Any young boy who saw her for the first time would be captivated.
There had even been a rich guy whose family assets exceeded one billion yuan, and he confessed to Jiang Qiuran on the first day of school.
That was why, despite how much Xue Tao wanted her, he did not dare entertain any fantasies about Jiang Qiuran.
Her competitors were simply too formidable. Xue Tao was not up to the task.
That rich guy supposedly drove a Porsche.
From the way Chu Mingzhe was talking, could he be interested in Jiang Qiuran too?
Xue Tao wondered uneasily.
It was not impossible.
After all, Chen Yusheng had been getting close to Su Bai lately. Perhaps Chu Mingzhe had given up because of that and switched targets.
When Su Bai heard the name "Jiang Qiuran," a meaningful smile curled at the corner of his lips.
But he did not join Xue Tao and Chu Mingzhe's discussion.
At school, he had to pretend that he did not know Jiang Qiuran.
That was their agreement.
The class meeting had actually ended already, but everyone was busy chatting in the mixer group, and the boys were all showing themselves off.
So quite a few people still remained in the classroom.
Xue Tao and Chu Mingzhe transformed into masters of group-chat banter, their battle of "Hu Ye versus local" continuing from the dormitory into the mixer group.
Before long, keywords like "four apartments in Jiangcheng," "driving a Magotan as a freshman," and "from a family of Magic City executives and scholars" unsurprisingly flooded the chat.
The group was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.
Su Bai could not even be bothered to change his group nickname. He would just go with the flow.
Yu Xie: Big White Goose, are you going?
A message from Chen Yusheng came through.
It was brief, but Su Bai understood her perfectly.
This travel event was voluntary, and it did not matter if someone did not want to participate. Su Bai had initially thought that with Chen Yusheng's withdrawn personality, she definitely would not go.
Yet she had suddenly messaged Su Bai privately to ask him. The little thought behind it was obvious.
Crispy Big White Goose: I want to go. Come with me.
Crispy Big White Goose: [Transfer—15,000 yuan]
Yu Xie: ??
Yu Xie: Why are you sending me money again?
Crispy Big White Goose: I figured you probably don't like traveling, but I really want to go with you. So this is your travel companion fee, sort of like paying someone to accompany you for fun.
Yu Xie: Why would it cost so much?!
Crispy Big White Goose: I'm not lying. That's the market rate. If you don't believe me, search online for "Sanya travel companion." Three days and two nights costs about this much.
Yu Xie: [Cat looking doubtful sticker]
Chen Yusheng searched for it, and what came up made her eyelids twitch wildly as her breathing quickened.
Th-this, what kind of travel companion was this? This was clearly not proper companionship, was it?!
Yu Xie: [Scared cat sticker]
Yu Xie: Y-you mean that kind of travel companion includes those services, but I, um...
Crispy Big White Goose: I definitely won't ask you to do that kind of thing. Don't worry.
Yu Xie: But travel companionship without those services shouldn't cost anywhere near that much, right?
Yu Xie: Big White Goose, I can't take this money. It's too much.
Tsk, this adorably clueless top student was pretty sharp!
Su Bai only had to keep flexing his sophistry skills:
Crispy Big White Goose: But to me, the emotional value you provide is equal to the value Sanya travel companions provide their clients. I feel happy when I'm with you.
Crispy Big White Goose: Take it. You know how I think about spending money—I'm different from normal people.
Yu Xie: But I think, um...
Crispy Big White Goose: I don't care what you think. I only care what I think.
Yu Xie: ...Okay.
Yu Xie: [Cat rolling around sticker]
Before you continue