Chapter 64: Birthday Party

  After waiting for two days, the domestic tour group finally arrived. When the tour group arrived at Tyler's ranch, the tour guide girl called and asked Ju An to go over and retrieve the things Wu Ming had brought.

  Looking at the luggage, wow, a whole suitcase. Looking at the little girl, apart from her own big box of clothes, she also had to bring so many things for herself. She said to the little girl: "Wu Ming brought me so many things, it's really too much trouble for you, thank you."

  The little girl smiled and said, "It's okay, our Wu boss said that he didn't know what suits your taste, so he thought of things that are easy to find in Jiangnan, and according to your requirements, they are all tens of dollars worth of stuff. Also, Wu boss wants you to go on QQ, and Wang boss has some things to ask you."

  Ju An smiled and said: "You three or four people are still nagging, Wu Ming doesn't even find it troublesome."

  "This month we've hired a few more people, now the company is no longer just the three of us, there are eight people now, and I'm considered an old employee too," said the little girl happily.

  "Another recruitment? Business is still good, huh?"

  "Yes, the first tour group had a great time and all the members were very satisfied with the food and accommodation when they returned. The company of that boss known by Wang also organized a second batch of tourists to come over. Now, individual travelers have also formed a group and are applying for visas. Wang even gave us red envelopes." The little girl smiled, with a shallow dimple at the corner of her mouth.

  Living a comfortable life, smiling and joking with the young girl: "So you two are also considered veterans now."

  "This is my business card, take a look" The little girl pulled out a card from her pocket and handed it to Ju An with both hands.

  Received a business card from Xiaolan XIA, Business Manager. The card is designed with simplicity and elegance on both sides, one in Chinese and the other in English.

  "You've been promoted," he said with a smile.

  Xiaolan happily said: "Only the two of us are managers, the new employee is a business assistant."

  After chatting with the little girl for a while, Ju An put the box in the car and drove back to his own ranch.

  Then he brought the box back home, opened it and took a look. There were quite a few things inside, small items from Jiangnan, such as Da Afu, Zisha teapots, etc. Among them, there were three or four Peking Opera facial masks, several Chinese paintings, calligraphy and other items, and several silk scarves with dragon and phoenix patterns.

  She rummaged through the box several times, still unable to decide what to give as Diana's birthday gift. She looked at the silk scarves, masks, and big fortunes, all of which seemed suitable for a girl. Scratching her head, she finally closed her eyes and randomly pointed to one. Opening her eyes, she saw that it was a red Peking Opera mask. Alright, you're the chosen one.

  On the day of the party, Ju An finished his work and drove into town with a Peking Opera mask. He also wanted to pick out greeting cards. After coming out of the store, Ju An's head was spinning - there were so many cards inside! There were cards for parents, friends, birthdays, and even Chinese-style wedding congratulations. There were ordinary cards, electronic cards, and fold-out cards in all sorts of styles. It seemed that American merchants had thought of everything. As soon as he entered the store, it was like a sea of greeting cards. After wandering around the "greeting card ocean" for half a day, Ju An's head was spinning. In the end, with the help of a sales clerk, he finally chose an ordinary greeting card, which cost him three dollars - although the merchant had priced it at $2.99. Then, under the guidance of the sales clerk, he paid and went to the service desk to have his mask packaged. After packaging, they even gave him a beautiful tote bag as a gift. Of course, there's no such thing as a free lunch - Ju An had paid out shiny dollars for all this.

  He changed into a white dress shirt, swapped his jeans for dark casual trousers and put on black leather shoes. At nearly 5:50 in the evening, Ju An finally set off from the ranch, as Nancy reminded him that if he didn't know how many guests were invited, it was better to arrive late, half an hour or so later, which she called "fashionably late" in English.

  Following the route provided by Diana, Ju An drove for nearly forty minutes before arriving at the entrance of Diana's farm. From Lily's mouth, Ju An learned that Diana's farm mainly planted pasture and produced hay to supply sheep and cattle farms.

  Arriving at the farm's intersection, I saw a snow-white sign with the name "Diana's Farm" and an arrow pointing in the direction. Following the arrow for another few minutes, a large white gate appeared before my eyes. Looking at the name on the gate, Ju An knew she had arrived. Driving inside for not far, more than ten buildings of various sizes appeared before Ju An's eyes.

  Under the guidance of an elderly woman, Ju An parked the car in a vacant lot next to the house, where four or five cars were already parked. With gift bags in hand, Ju An had just gotten out of the car when the elderly woman who had guided him earlier laughed and said: "You must be An, I'm Diana's mother, Melina. Diana told me you're her first Chinese friend, hope you have a great time tonight."

  He sat quietly for a moment, then hastily said, "Thank you."

  Marina pointed to a small white wooden building and said: "The party is being held there, some friends have already arrived, go in."

  As soon as he entered the house, Ju An discovered that it was decorated quite nicely inside. The walls were painted blue and there were balloons hanging all around. There were already seven or eight people in the room, chatting in groups of two or three. When they saw Ju An enter, everyone took a glance at him before continuing their conversations. Diana, seeing Ju An arrive, warmly welcomed him: "An, welcome to my birthday party!"

  Ju An handed the bag in her hand to Diana and said: "Diana, happy birthday".

  Diana said thank you, then unwrapped the gift. When she saw a Peking Opera mask with a backboard that could be hung on the wall, she happily said: "Thank you, I really like it.I've seen this on TV before, it's a kind of Chinese opera."

  He explained, "It's a kind of Chinese opera. You can tell if the main character is good or bad from the makeup on their face. I'm not too familiar with it myself, I rarely watch operas." He spread his hands and said.

  "Diana smiled and chimed in: "Just like many of our young people don't like Puccini's operas?"

  "It's probably about right," said Ju An with a nod.

  Diana led Ju An into the house, introduced him to two people, and then walked away to take care of the other guests. After chatting with the two newly acquainted people for a while, he saw Lily and Ruzi bring in a handsome young man. Diana and Lily, Ruzi hugged each other separately, and after Diana received the gift, Ju An apologized to the two people he had just met and walked over.

  Lily saw him, walked over to Ju An, warmly greeted him and introduced: "This is Tom, my sister's boyfriend. Tom, this is An, I've mentioned her to you."

  And with that, Tom shook hands and everyone walked over to the table, picked up their drinks, stepped aside, and started chatting. After a while, Tom excused himself and went off to greet others, taking Ruth with him.

  Lily said to Ju An, "Is this your first time attending a birthday party?"

  "How did you know?" Gu An said with a strange tone.

  Lily glanced at Ju An, smiling and saying: "Looking at you, I feel a bit uncomfortable. Actually, attending parties is about having fun and making new friends. It's really simple to communicate with people. You just walk up and say hello, then start chatting about the weather, what you like, or sports games. You should know that it's not just you who wants to interact with others, everyone feels this way. If you think about it, you'll relax a lot. If you're really struggling, you can have a drink, and remember to find someone simple to approach. At every gathering, there will be people standing alone in the corner with a glass of wine, thinking the same things as you. So, go over and chat with them. The first time might feel awkward and abrupt, but after a few times, you'll get used to it. This is how you can improve your ability to interact with strangers."

  Looking at Lili's incessant chatter, Jūān burst out laughing: "Thanks, I get it. So you're here alone, don't you have a boyfriend?"

  Lily said: "I'm single now and I don't plan on finding a boyfriend anytime soon, later I'll be going to university in the east, no time".

  "Going to college?" said Ju An Qi Guai.

  Lily proudly said: "I've already transferred from community college to state university this year, you know, now many state universities don't allow transfers from community colleges, the competition is very fierce, I made it."

  "Wow, Lily is so amazing!" said Ju An, raising his wine glass. He clinked glasses with Lily and then everyone sat down to eat as Diana invited them to take their seats. As they ate dinner, the conversation at the table was lively, discussing interesting topics such as who made a fool of themselves during the election campaign. Ju An just listened quietly.

  After finishing dinner, it was time to sing the familiar birthday song and eat cake. A two-layer chocolate cake was placed on the table, candles were lit, and everyone started singing "Happy Birthday". Just as Ju An was about to join in, he realized that the foreigners were not singing the traditional tune. He cursed under his breath, "Damn it!" After listening to them finish the song, they dug into the cake, and then it was time for dancing. A group of young foreigners started twisting their bodies to the music.

  Went with Lily to twist a few times, Ju An found a place to sit down, took a bottle of Coke and drank it. Before long, Diana came over: "An, why aren't you dancing?"

  Jū An replied: "I'm not very good at dancing, I prefer quieter things."

  Diana said: "Well, I don't like noise either, let's go out and talk."

  Heidi walked out of the house and felt much more at ease. She turned to Dina and said, "Why do so many people like parties?"

  Then listen to Diana talk about why young people are keen on parties. In Diana's words, some people like the noise, some people like to get to know the opposite sex at parties, and then use a little wine to do something else, such as embracing beauty back home. Some people attend parties to expand their social circle.

  After a while, Ju An bid farewell and left the party. Diana thanked Ju An again for the gift.