Chapter 319

"What nonsense—how can you call it mountain-climbing if you don't take the small path?" Lin Dong rolled his eyes. "Everyone takes the big road; it's like a picnic."

"But..." Sun Zhicheng hesitated.

"Not you, Acheng—what are you even here for?" Lin Dong shot back. "You're not seriously planning to be a tour guide, are you? With so many people around, where's the chance for intimacy?"

As the two spoke, the two Gao Er girls chattering ahead turned around curiously.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing—he twisted his ankle," Lin Dong quickly established himself as the reliable one. "I helped him back. No big deal."

"You know bone-setting?" The girl who spoke, Zhong Shulan, her eyes brightening slightly.

"Not bad—I'm from a family of traditional Chinese medicine practitioners," Lin Dong slapped on some false prestige, then added a loophole: "But I'm not interested in TCM myself."

"Then what do you like?" Gu Mengfei asked with a smile.

"Compared to TCM, I prefer traveling and photography," Lin Dong smiled faintly. "When I get to university, I'll find someone to go to Lijiang with me during breaks."

"Lijiang! I really want to go too!" Zhong Shulan blinked her eyes, then sighed. "Too bad—"

"My family won't let me go."

"No problem. Next summer you'll be an adult—you can go with friends then," Lin Dong comforted her, smoothly expanding the topic.

"Shulan will be an adult, but I won't be next summer—I'm a year younger," Gu Mengfei said, subtly revealing her youth.

"No way—what's your birthday?" Lin Dong asked. "I heard the legal age isn't based on the household registration date anymore..."

"Huh? Household registration date... I don't know."

Sun Zhicheng trailed behind the three, listening as Lin Dong had skillfully extracted both girls' birthdays and was now chatting with Zhong Shulan about Lijiang.

He couldn't help feeling defeated—what was wrong with him?

In the past, he could've joined these conversations easily. After all, Dongge claimed to love photography just to show off—but his own family actually owned a camera.

Teacher Chen had something to say.

But what was he even doing now? He couldn't even speak up about niche hobbies.

Unrequited love had turned him from a person into a ghost!

Thinking of this, he loosened his mental grip. He told himself: just this once—be himself again!

After all... they were in the mountains—who'd know?

"The first stop should be getting off by Erhai Lake in Dali," Sun Zhicheng took a deep breath and joined in. "Daytime for Erhai, nighttime for Dali Ancient Town."

"Huh? Really?"

"This way!" Jiang Nian grabbed Wang Yuhe's arm, correcting her direction. "That path doesn't lead anywhere."

"Aren't these two paths the same?" Chen Yunyun was confused.

Standing beside Jiang Nian, she glanced at the little-used trail and instinctively shrank back, drawing closer to Jiang Nian.

"Doesn't lead anywhere?"

"Yeah—it looks the same," Jiang Nian pointed to the narrow path sloping right. "But that one leads into the village."

"The few households living by the road got tired of climbers taking the wrong path, so they blocked it off and put up a sign saying 'No Through Road.'"

The deeper they went, the narrower the path became.

Wang Yuhe walked ahead, Chen Yunyun in the middle, Jiang Nian brought up the rear.

"Once we're inside the mountain, it feels... colder?" Chen Yunyun clenched her fists and blew warm air into her palms. "Do you feel it too?"

Wang Yuhe turned back. "I'm not cold at all."

"Cool, cool, cool," Jiang Nian casually praised her, then turned to Chen Yunyun. "This area at the mountain's base is shady—want a jacket?"

Chen Yunyun turned to look at him, then shook her head.

"It's fine—you'll catch a cold."

"I just had an idea," Jiang Nian suddenly grinned, inspiration striking.

Chen Yunyun's face flushed instantly, waving her hands.

"No!"

"I haven't even said it yet—you're already saying no," Jiang Nian looked disappointed. "I meant—"

"You can borrow my hoodie."

Hearing this, Chen Yunyun stumbled, nearly tripping.

"Ah!"

Jiang Nian, quick as lightning, grabbed her arm.

"Watch your step."

"O-oh, th-thank you," Chen Yunyun's face turned even redder.

They walked a little further.

Wang Yuhe grew impatient—she wanted to climb, not walk on flat ground.

She stopped and turned around.

"How much longer until we start climbing?"

"Almost there—another ten minutes," Jiang Nian replied, lowering his voice to warn the two girls. "You can look back on the path, but don't look in mirrors."

Hearing this, Wang Yuhe's blood ran cold—she thought of something terrible.

"F-for... why?"

Chen Yunyun also tensed up, her mind flashing with horror scenes: looking in a mirror, then seeing something behind her...

But Jiang Nian said:

"The soil here is loose. If you look in a mirror, you won't watch your step. If you step into a hole, you'll fall—too dangerous. So don't look."

Wang Yuhe:

Chen Yunyun:

Some people are just utterly despicable, nothing they touch is safe.

Pure despicable.

"Cough, cough, but then again," Jiang Nian said, "don't take your phone to take selfies in the mountains—it's easy to pick up strange things."

"So it's about taking photos without watching your step again?" Wang Yuhe scoffed.

The three walked past a corner and saw a gap ahead.

"That's it—climb up from there," Jiang Nian pointed to a man-made path ahead. "The mountain trail is rough; watch your footing."

"Mm, you be careful too," Chen Yunyun replied.

Only then did Jiang Nian get a chance to respond to what Wang Yuhe had said a minute earlier.

"Not exactly—I heard a few students once, at midnight, climbed Qingmu Ridge hoping to reach the summit and wait for sunrise."

"Funny thing—it was three students."

"They thought it was still early, so to pass the time, they avoided the main path and took a smaller trail up, chatting and laughing all the way."

"Somehow, thick fog rolled in at midnight."

"The three students felt something was off, so they hurried up the mountain—until one of them collapsed from exhaustion and needed to rest."

"That's when they stopped."

Here, Jiang Nian paused, lowering his voice.

"One of them pulled out his phone and took a photo to send to a classmate. Coincidentally, the classmate was awake and replied with a question mark."

"He said…: … 'Are there that many people climbing behind you?'"

Hearing this, Chen Yunyun gasped and slapped Jiang Nian hard.

"Don't… don't scare us like that!"

Wang Yuhe's face had gone pale; she glanced around and suddenly felt uneasy.

She couldn't muster any bravado now, swallowing hard.

"You're… you're lying, right?"

Buzz—Wang Yuhe's phone rang.

She picked it up; a message popped up.

【Are there that many people climbing behind you?】

"Ahh!!!" Wang Yuhe screamed—but upon closer look, the sender was… Jiang Nian!

She glanced at Chen Yunyun, who showed no reaction. She realized Jiang the jerk had only scared her alone—and instantly flew into a rage!

"Jiang Nian! I'll kill you!"

Wang Yuhe tried to push past Chen Yunyun to get revenge, grabbing Jiang Nian and beating him senseless.

"You scared me! Scared me! Wuuu!"

Jiang Nian grinned, unfazed, explaining:

"You said climbing was boring, right? I thought telling a little story would cheer you up."

"You're still talking?!" Wang Yuhe's eyes filled with tears.

Chen Yunyun had also been terrified—but she hadn't received Jiang Nian's message.

So she quickly realized: it was just another one of his made-up stories.

"You're such a…"

She felt both angry and amused, unable to find the right words.

All she could do was comfort herself: people aren't perfect; perhaps this was the price of beauty.

Suddenly, a noise came from above the mountain.

Chen Yunyun and Wang Yuhe instantly turned pale, thinking of Jiang Nian's story.

Both girls shrieked together and instinctively clung to Jiang Nian.

"Th-th-there's…"

"Don't grab me! Take Jiang Nian instead!"

Jiang Nian was hugged by the two girls, like a sloth clinging to a tree.

He sighed helplessly—what on earth was going on in broad daylight?

Probably just someone hiking, lost their way, and happened to cross through there.

Sure enough, after a rustling sound:

A group emerged. At the front were two girls. Their clothing looked fine, but their faces were ordinary—just plain pretty girls.

"? There are people down here too?" Zhong Shulan asked curiously.

She'd heard the screams and came over, seeing two stunningly beautiful girls clinging to a guy whose gaze demanded at least five seconds of attention.

What… were they doing?

She was baffled.

"What's going on?" Gu Mengfei also came over. "Was it that rock that slipped and fell just now? Scared someone?"

"No way?" Lin Dong was about to step forward.

"Bro Dong, is this little path even used?" Sun Zhicheng eagerly pushed ahead, smiling gently at the two girls. "Watch your step."

He squeezed past, glanced, and locked eyes with Chen Yunyun, Jiang Nian, and Wang Yuhe.

He froze.