Chapter 52: Wait for me, Class Monitor

Xu Heng naturally had not gotten together with Fan Xi; the two had a pretty good relationship, but it hadn't reached the level of being a couple, so he shook his head to deny it directly, which left the vice class monitor, who wanted to gossip, deeply disappointed.

Around eight o'clock, the bus slowly pulled to a stop outside the Qixia Mountain scenic area.

The sports committee member Zhang Zikuan woke up those who were sleeping on the bus, and after forty or fifty people started moving about noisily, Fan Xi was also startled awake.

She rubbed her eyes, thinking for the first moment that she was in her dormitory, but after seeing Xu Heng's face, she immediately realized where she was and sat up from his arms with a "whoosh."

"Class Monitor, don't want to sleep a bit more? I can carry you up the mountain later if you want," Xu Heng teased.

"I... I..." Fan Xi's face was so red she couldn't speak.

Although she had a high resistance after being teased by Xu Heng for so long, the fact that she had slept in a boy's arms for the entire trip was still something this conservative country girl found hard to talk about.

She felt a bit annoyed; how could she have fallen asleep on the bus, letting Xu Heng see her make a fool of herself for no reason?

Fortunately, at this moment, Zhao Gaoyang cut through the crowd from the aisle behind, walked up to Fan Xi and Xu Heng, and took out two pieces of Doublemint gum for them: "Chew some to refresh yourselves."

His interruption broke the awkward atmosphere, and Fan Xi took the gum and let out a sigh of relief: "Thank you, Zhao Gaoyang."

"It's all what I should do. Old Xu, why are you just standing there? The other piece is for you; if it's not enough, I have more," Zhao Gaoyang said with a silly laugh.

Fan Xi gave Xu Heng a look and shared one piece of gum with him, leaving him with a strange expression on his face.

It wasn't that he didn't like chewing gum, but this gum was just too... green...

Zhao Gaoyang, completely unaware of the implications of the "green" gum, also shared two pieces with Cheng Huaiyu.

"Eating green gum first thing in the morning, Old Zhao, is there something wrong with your brain?" Cheng Huaiyu threw the gum back at him with a look of disdain, then took some food and drink out of his bag, "I brought my own breakfast, no need to trouble yourself."

He felt that doing this was very mature and gave him face, gaining plenty of prestige in front of the junior female students, but he didn't know that speaking this way made Zhao Gaoyang lose face.

Zhao Gaoyang had no choice but to find other classmates to "distribute his wealth."

Having set off at six in the morning, most of the people sitting there indeed hadn't had time to eat breakfast, and while everyone got off the bus to find a place to solve their breakfast problem, Fan Xi pulled Xu Heng to the ticket office.

"Tickets are fifteen; you two little ones can buy a couple's ticket, it's five yuan cheaper, only twenty-five," the old man at the ticket window said, waving a palm-leaf fan.

"Sir, we aren't a couple," Fan Xi said embarrassedly.

Hearing this, the old man's two thin mustaches immediately stood up, his tone full of disbelief: "A man and a woman coming to this kind of place to play, if you aren't boyfriend and girlfriend, then what could you be? I'm being kind, advising you to buy a couple's ticket; if you don't want the discount, then I'm happy to collect an extra five yuan!"

Fan Xi was left speechless by the old man's few words.

Seeing this, Xu Heng squeezed her little hand, took out twenty-five yuan and placed it on the ticket counter, smiling as he said: "Sir, there are fifty-one of us in total. You only charging twenty-five is indeed kind; I want to thank you on behalf of my classmates for letting us see the Qixia Mountain scenery for free."

Only then did the old man realize he had misunderstood. He hissed through his teeth and hurriedly pushed the twenty-five back: "You little brat is quite cunning. You didn't say earlier that you were here as a group, making me misunderstand. Fifty-one people, buy a group ticket, twenty percent off, six hundred and twelve yuan in total."

It had to be said that an old man of his age who could work at a scenic area ticket office had some skills; he didn't even use a calculator and calculated the ticket price for fifty-one people in his head.

In this day and age, Qixia Mountain didn't have very formal printed tickets; the tickets were just small strips of paper a few inches long. The group tickets bought by their dozens of people were slightly different, with a red stamp of the character "Group" on the front.

After buying the tickets and returning to where the bus was parked, everyone had almost finished their breakfast, gathering in twos and threes, either taking photos with small digital cameras or chatting and laughing.

For them, the thing worth being happy about wasn't climbing the mountain, but the novelty of going out to play with friends they knew.

Fan Xi held the group tickets and explained the safety issues for after they went up the mountain one by one, such as not getting separated, not climbing around recklessly, and so on. After she had listed a dozen or so, someone became impatient and laughed: "Class Monitor, you're as long-winded as my mom. If you ask me, it's hard enough for us to come out and play once, why set so many rules? Having fun is the most important thing!"

These words immediately gained the approval of many people. Everyone felt that since even the counselor wasn't there, they should be a bit freer and more indulgent; following the rules would only make people unhappy.

Fan Xi wanted to say something else, but she was too soft-hearted and had no prestige in the class.

Even though she emphasized repeatedly that everyone should stay together and that the mountain wasn't that safe, these fifty or so people all had their own ideas and ignored her, splitting into more than ten small groups and heading toward the summit, even including some class committee members like Zhang Zikuan.

"How could everyone be like this!" After most people had left, Fan Xi stood in place and said anxiously, "Yesterday in the group chat, everyone promised to listen to me."

"Humans are animals that crave freedom from restraint. What they promised you was just an excuse to brush you off. You can't control them; this is a very normal thing," Xu Heng comforted her.

"If I had known, I would have tried harder to persuade the counselor," Fan Xi said, on the verge of tears. "If the counselor were here, they would definitely listen to the counselor. As expected, my ability just isn't enough to make them convinced by me."

"Don't be too hard on yourself. Like you said, they are all adults and have basic cognitive abilities. At least you don't have to worry about them being kidnapped by human traffickers, right?" Xu Heng teased.

His words also amused Fan Xi, and she said coquettishly: "Only you would have the heart to joke at a time like this."

"I'm being serious. Today is a holiday, and there are quite a few tourists at Qixia Mountain. With so many people, safety issues will be greatly alleviated."

While Xu Heng was comforting Fan Xi, the vice class monitor and Fan Xi's other roommates were already urging them from afar, saying that if they didn't hurry, it wouldn't be as comfortable to climb the mountain once the sun rose.

Further behind the two of them, there were a few more people.

Cheng Huaiyu was afraid that his intimate actions with Ji Meimei would be seen by others who knew about his relationship with Dan Yuyue, so he deliberately walked behind with Ji Meimei, the two of them exchanging sweet words, treating the mountain climb purely as a stroll.

As for Zhao Gaoyang, he was carrying a large backpack stuffed with mineral water and bread, and he couldn't speed up even if he wanted to. Seeing Xu Heng and Fan Xi walking further away, he couldn't help but wave anxiously and say: "Class Monitor, Old Xu, wait for me!"