Entangled with the Future Tycoon

“We need to prepare gifts, right?” Bai Yuxuan said.

Xu Wei nodded. “And a cake is indispensable. Song Wanwan is a die-hard foodie-having no food at her birthday is practically the same as skipping it altogether.”

“What about flowers? Shouldn’t we go for a bit of that classic ‘woman’s trump card’ charm?” Bai Yuxuan suggested.

“The woman’s ultimate trump card isn’t flowers; it’s sparkly diamonds, isn’t it?” Xu Wei replied while jotting down a checklist of things to prepare on her phone.

“That’s the trump card men use to please women,” Bai Yuxuan rolled her eyes. “I’m talking about flowers as a trump card for setting the mood!”

Xu Wei nodded in agreement. “Oh! Then yes, obviously we need them. Isn’t being a flower fairy Song Wanwan’s childhood dream? We’ve got to arrange a miniature flower field for her!”

“A flower fairy? Did she tell you that? I always thought her childhood dream was to be a flower maiden,” Bai Yuxuan teased, even as she excitedly planned the surprise birthday party. Despite Song Wanwan’s absence, Bai couldn’t resist poking fun at the birthday girl.

“A flower maiden?” Xu Wei shook her head firmly. “No, no, no, that’s not her dream! That’s just how she’s been living her life since she was little.”

“Pfft!” Bai Yuxuan laughed so hard she nearly had tears in her eyes. “If you talk about her like this behind her back, isn’t your conscience going to hurt?”

“Does yours hurt?”

“Nope.” Bai Yuxuan’s expression was completely serious.

“Then mine doesn’t either!” Xu Wei blinked innocently as she replied.

“By the way… we need to quietly loop Ji Rou in on this. We’ll save the big surprise moment for the finale. But hey, we’re all pregnant-should we get a professional team to help us out? And where are we setting up this flower field?” Bai Yuxuan raised an eyebrow, considering whether to enlist Lin Feng and some of the others for help. As long as Shen Shang didn’t find out, it shouldn’t be a problem.

“If we hire a professional decorating team, won’t Shen Shang find out? And if Song Wanwan does, I swear I’ll get an earful! Right now, with my pregnancy, my ability to defend myself is seriously compromised. But we could tell Gu Yuan and Lin Feng. Let’s leave Lan Jingtu out of it, though-he’s practically glued to Shen Shang.”

“Why don’t the four of us make a group chat? We can send out a Rallying Call to figure out the location and how to set everything up. As for gifts and the cake, we can just hang out with Wanwan at the hotel to keep her distracted so she doesn’t notice anything.” Xu Wei squinted her eyes as she brainstormed.

Bai Yuxuan nodded. “I’ll create the group chat. Should we include Ji Rou right now?”

“Not yet. If Wanwan accidentally sees Ji Rou’s phone, the whole plan will be ruined. Let’s secretly fill Ji Rou in first, and then we can add her to the group.” Xu Wei downed the last spoonful of soup and finally set down her chopsticks.

“The chat group name will be ‘Rallying Call!'” Bai Yuxuan announced as she created the group and typed in the name.

Thus, the Rallying Call group was officially born.

Bai Yuxuan: “Alright, everyone who’s online, type ‘1’ to check in.”

Xu Wei: “1.”

Lin Feng: “1.”

Gu Yuan: “1.”

Bai Yuxuan: “Great-looks like we’re all perfectly synchronized. Now, let me assign today’s tasks. Lin Feng, Gu Yuan, you both need to handle the following things.”

Bai Yuxuan looked up at Xu Wei. “Are you done putting together the list? Go ahead and send it.”

Xu Wei nodded and quickly sent the message:

Xu Wei: “1. Secure a romantic venue and decorate it in a dreamy pink floral theme.

Arrange for elegant classical music.
Get a super-sized, three-tiered fruit cake and prepare 29 candles.
Plan a lavish candlelit dinner.
Gu Yuan, prepare a thoughtful gift for me, and Lin Feng, pick one out for your wife.”

Gu Yuan: “What’s your definition of a thoughtful gift?”

Xu Wei: “Anything a 29-year-old woman would love! Or, better yet, ask your sister for ideas. Just make sure everything is ready by 7 PM tonight!”

Lin Feng: “What kind of theme is this supposed to be, anyway?”

Bai Yuxuan: “It’s Song Wanwan’s birthday. We’re planning a surprise party for her. Keep it top secret, okay? Oh, by the way, have any strangers contacted you or Gu Yuan recently?”

Lin Feng: “Nope. Strangers? What are you talking about?”

Gu Yuan: “Why would any strangers be contacting us?”

Xu Wei: “Good, no news is good news. Just focus on making everything as beautiful and romantic as possible, and we’ll be all set!”

Meanwhile, Gu Yuan sat in his car, glancing at the figures of two women framed in the window of a nearby Chinese restaurant. A small, wry smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He turned his head to look at Shen Shang, seated in the passenger seat beside him. “Honestly, Lin Feng might have the quickest brain among us. We were just racking our heads trying to figure out how to help you, and now, look-an opportunity has basically fallen into our laps.”

Lin Feng, busy messaging his wife and asking her what gift she might like for no apparent reason, feigned complete ignorance of the situation. Still, his eyes remained locked on the two women in front of the restaurant as he remarked dryly to the men in the car, “Spending the whole morning tailing them hasn’t been a waste, after all. Let’s get going.”

Shen Shang leaned back against the passenger seat, his lips curving into a faint smirk. “Then we’ll take their surprise and give it a little extra polish of our own.”

Gu Yuan nodded in agreement, and Lin Feng gave a quick thumbs-up. Without another word, the three men quietly set their plan into motion.

After finishing their meal, Xu Wei and Bai Yuxuan leisurely strolled back to the hotel, carrying two large bags of lunch for Ji Rou and Song Wanwan. Bai Yuxuan had bought some fruit, while Xu Wei used her phone to check Meituan for nearby eateries, ordering afternoon tea to be delivered after 2 PM, including spicy and sour noodles, garlic scallops, roasted pig trotters, glutinous rice lotus root, stir-fried rice cakes, and spicy enoki mushrooms.

When they returned to the hotel, Ji Rou had already freshened up and was lying on the sofa with a face mask on. Xu Wei placed the items on the table and glanced at Song Wanwan, who was also lying on the bed with a face mask. “You two… are really into beauty, aren’t you?”

Song Wanwan sniffed the air, quickly got off the bed, and fixed her gaze on the bags Xu Wei and Bai Yuxuan had placed on the table. She could already smell the enticing aroma. As she drifted towards the food, she casually remarked, “Rou said you two would definitely bring lunch back, so we just needed to wait here looking pretty.”

Ji Rou got up, slipped on her shoes, and headed towards the table while peeling off her face mask. “If you hadn’t come back soon, I was going to put on another anti-aging mask.”

“Another? So how many have you used?” Xu Wei watched as Ji Rou tossed the used mask into the trash without washing her face, ready to dig into the food with Song Wanwan.

“Her! The first was for hydration, the second for whitening, and the one she just threw away was for pore tightening,” Song Wanwan explained, tossing her own mask into the trash at her feet and deciding to start with half a bowl of soup.

Bai Yuxuan took off her coat and tossed it onto the wardrobe divider, then leaned against the headboard, finding a comfortable position to sit and tapping away on her phone.

Xu Wei threw her trench coat and bag onto the sofa, then climbed onto the bed to sit shoulder-to-shoulder with Bai Yuxuan, both of them exchanging glances over their phones.