I Got in My Crush's Car by Mistake on Our Graduation Trip

When Qiao Qiao graduated from university, he fell out with his family over what to do with his future. His friend took matters into his own hands and signed him up for an outdoor road trip across the great northwest, so he could clear his head. Supposedly, the friend had also asked a distant cousin to look after him.

The moment he arrived at the meeting point, Qiao Qiao, who had mild social anxiety and was a hardcore homebody, felt like he was about to die. He hurriedly called his friend.

"Help!! There are so many cars here, and so many people, and they're so, " Before he could finish, he spotted a man nearly 1.9 meters tall leaning against the hood of a massive Wrangler. One foot rested on an off-road tire as he smoked, and his bulging chest muscles nearly strained the black tank top.

Without thinking, Qiao Qiao said, "So big."

The man seemed to notice him staring. He put out his cigarette and walked over.

His friend asked, puzzled, "What's so big?"

Qiao Qiao came to his senses, his face turning bright red. "...The car. The car is so big."

Then he hung up, forgetting to ask for his cousin's license plate number.

"Qiao Qiao?" The man stopped in front of him, looming like a wall, and held out a broad hand. "Need some help?"

Qiao Qiao lowered his head and handed him his suitcase. "Th-thank you."

*

From childhood onward, Qiao Qiao had been the good kid in the eyes of his teachers and parents. The most outrageous thing he'd ever done was secretly set off on a trip along the Qinghai-Gansu loop without telling his parents.

But he didn't regret it at all, because that was where he met Qin Xiao, a free-spirited, wild, and untamed soul unlike anyone he'd ever known.

Qin Xiao took him to chat with herders, ride horses across the grasslands, sandboard on Mingsha Mountain, stroll through the Gobi Desert, and kiss beneath the prayer flags in Delingha.

Qin Xiao noticed him muttering to himself during their kiss and found it funny. "What are you saying?"

Qiao Qiao looked like a middle schooler caught dating. Stunned, he held up his phone. "My mom's calling. Wh-what do I do?"

"..."

*

Qiao Qiao came away from the trip with so much: he'd seen spectacular scenery, tasted all kinds of unusual food, and, along the way, started a love affair charged with hormones.

His only worry was that he hadn't figured out how to tell his friend that he had become his "cousin-in-law."

But when they met, his friend gave him an apologetic hug. "Qiao Bao, I'm sorry you had to go through that. My brother's old Santana should've been replaced ages ago!"

Qiao Qiao stared blankly again.

Huh?? What Santana? Hadn't he ridden in a Wrangler? 0.0

Qiao Qiao x Qin Xiao

Good boy x wild man. Older man, both each other's first love, happy ending, light and sweet road-trip romance

Theme: Freedom comes first