Chapter 320: Sweaty Palms, Extra Slippery

The atmosphere froze in awkward silence.

Sun Zhicheng saw Chen Yunyun on the uphill path, tightly hugging Jiang Nian, with Wang Yuhe hanging on behind.

His mind went blank, his whole body went numb,

a sour ache surged from his chest straight to his head, stuck in his throat. For one instant his heart felt like it was being cut by a knife, but the next instant he felt a weight lift off.

Because he was also climbing the mountain with a girl right now, he had no right to say anything more.

It was just that the joy he had piled up from climbing earlier suddenly diminished a great deal after that one glance, becoming hardly worth mentioning.

Jiang Nian looked at the four people appearing ahead one after another; the two guys were familiar classmates, so he didn't feel especially awkward.

If it weren't for both his arms being locked in a death grip by the two girls, he could probably have waved hello.

Actually... it wasn't that he couldn't break free, but there was no need. To be fair, the two of them had pretty impressive outfits.

The feel was soft—of course, I'm talking about the outfits—the fragrance steamed out by the two girls' body heat swirled around him on either side, slipping in through his nostrils. The sensation was rather wondrous.

Of course, I'm still talking about the outfits.

In short, Jiang Nian didn't want to move now, and there was no need to.

Among the four, Lin Dong was also stunned.

"Chen Yunyun? Wang Yuhe, what are you doing here?"

Seeing familiar faces, the two girls also realized that the commotion just now wasn't anything supernatural. Seeing their groupmate, they came back to themselves. "Ah..." Chen Yunyun let go of Jiang Nian, somewhat awkwardly tucking her hair behind her ear. "Group leader, you guys are also... climbing the mountain?"

The moment Wang Yuhe let go of Jiang Nian, she took the chance to punch him.

"It's all because of your ghost stories!!"

"Oh, so you admit you were scared?" Jiang Nian smiled. "I thought you had a lot of guts, turns out it's..."

"Don't you dare finish that!" Wang Yuhe punched him again.

"I'm gonna say it, gonna say it."

Chen Yunyun had a bit of a headache; these two horsing around never once looked at the occasion. Still, after this little ruckus, the awkwardness had faded quite a bit.

Her face had been a little red a minute ago, but now it had returned to normal.

Luckily it was people from their group they ran into; if it had been classmates, there'd be no shortage of rumors running wild. Lin Dong was only mildly embarrassed for a moment—after all, he basically didn't hide things within the group.

A single guy going on a weekend date—what's so strange about that?

But Ah Cheng was the pitiful one.

"Yeah... climbing with friends, what a coincidence." He coughed, then asked, "Want to walk together?"

Chen Yunyun refused—wouldn't that be awkward to the extreme?

Hearing that, Lin Dong let out a breath of relief.

That invitation of his had just been diplomatic pleasantries, a token bit of politeness. With Jiang Nian around, how was he supposed to flirt with girls?

Ah Cheng was a block of wood—he knew that only too well.

The worship-of-the-strong mentality is universal; what people fear most is comparison. In short, the nest he'd worked so hard to build—how could he let Jiang Nian lure them away?

"Alright then, we'll take this path up the mountain." Lin Dong said loudly, even pointing in a direction with his finger.

He figured Jiang Nian should be able to read his hint.

If it didn't work, he'd send him a message later.

"Bro, that fishing spot is mine."

Jiang Nian put away his phone, with no intention of fighting Lin Dong for his fishing spot. After a moment's thought, he pointed at another uphill path.

"Let's take this path, straight up the mountain."

Chen Yunyun glanced at the mountain path that couldn't have been worn in by human feet, the trail gone wild with the arrival of winter,

and reminded him,

"Be careful going up, don't fall."

Wang Yuhe heard that and puffed out her chest.

"I definitely won't fall."

Jiang Nian neither agreed nor disagreed; these mountain paths were all much the same. Wang Yuhe still took the lead, while he walked at the very back of the group from the start.

As the mountain path grew steeper, both girls were running out of steam.

After walking a stretch, Chen Yunyun's panting grew more and more frequent.

Wang Yuhe wasn't doing much better, an elementary-schooler stubbornly toughing it out. She'd force her way forward a stretch, then stop to rest and wait for the other two.

When they'd climbed to about the halfway point, Wang Yuhe finally couldn't help asking,

"How far is it to the top?"

Though Qingmu Ridge had entered winter, it still looked deep and secluded. Not like summer when you couldn't see the sky looking up, but right now it was an overcast day.

The path was full of gullies and exposed gravel, fallen leaves soaked by rain and fermented brown pine needles.

A sudden bird cry pierced the surrounding silence.

"We've probably gone about a third, and from the top still..." Jiang Nian answered, "maybe another half hour of climbing."

Wang Yuhe broke down, and stopped stubbornly insisting on being first.

So the three of them were back on the same starting line again.

When they hit a steep section, they had to step off from one pine tree, run an S-shaped route across, and grab hold of another small pine tree on the other side.

It was a bit like that steep slope in the Golden Eagle cartoon Crazy Maisy where you need to help each other sprint.

Climbing the same mountain has dozens of ways to climb it.

There are wide roads winding upward, with gentler slopes that cars can drive up. There are also small paths, difficulty varying. Right now, the route the three of them were taking was medium difficulty. Apart from a few more steep slopes, most of it was walkable.

But the steep slope before them was a bit long; Chen Yunyun and Wang Yuhe had climbed halfway and were pulling each other along, but in the end they were still running out of strength.

Mainly because Chen Yunyun was on the weaker side, her stamina drained too much.

In the end, Jiang Nian had no choice but to walk in front, pulling Chen Yunyun up at every uphill point. As for Wang Yuhe, she could still push through.

"I'm coming over now." Chen Yunyun said.

"Mm." Jiang Nian extended his hand.

Chen Yunyun made a diagonal lunge and grabbed Jiang Nian's hand just before she fell. Immediately, a great force pulled her up.

As she went up, Jiang Nian casually steadied her.

His hand on her arm, the momentum brought the two of them almost together. They bumped lightly, then she quickly pulled apart a little.

It was clearly winter, yet her palm... had already started to sweat.

Compared to the first time, it was a little slippery.

She pulled out a tissue from the small pack she carried with her, wiping her palm again and again. Until it stayed dry,

Only then did she let out a breath of relief.

Chen Yunyun thought to herself, he probably doesn't like getting sweat on him either.

After helping each other back and forth several times, the three of them cut straight through the slope) slope. Their route was simple—straight across the mountaintop.

The three of them had gone up from the side of the mountain, so the climb was especially grueling. But that was the point of mountain climbing, what set it apart from an outing.

When they learned that only one back slope remained to the summit.

Chen Yunyun stopped, looked up at Jiang Nian ahead of her. The young man's back was straight, looking entirely at ease.

"Don't you get tired?"

Jiang Nian thought for a moment, then answered.

"I play basketball."

Chen Yunyun could clearly accept this explanation. She was just afraid the other person would blurt out something like, "I often go mountain climbing with my ex-girlfriend."

Although she felt Jiang Nian should be from Chunan, when it came to dating. If the person involved wanted to hide it, it was actually hard to tell.

Like online dating—after deleting the account, not a single trace was left behind.

After dawdling for a while, the three of them finally reached the mountaintop. More precisely, a small platform on the mountain, with a simple little shop.

"It's actually a wooden house?" Wang Yuhe's eyes went wide.

"Making a fuss, hauling cement and red bricks up here is a hassle." Jiang Nian explained, "But mainly it's to save money—the owner doesn't stay here at night."

"I see." Wang Yuhe ran over and circled the little shop, looking it over and over, then pattered back, panting heavily.

"I saw someone getting hot water, asked and found out a small cup of hot water costs two yuan."

Jiang Nian had known that long ago, but this did remind him of something. He turned to Chen Yunyun.

"Are your hands cold?"

Chen Yunyun's fingers were actually already a bit numb from the cold, and she hesitated for a moment upon hearing this.

"I.... ·

Two minutes later, in the little pavilion.

The two women each held a cup of boiled water, served in disposable plastic cups. Clasping the cup walls to warm their hands, they took occasional sips to drive away the chill.

"Thank you." Chen Yunyun felt a small warmth in her heart.

She had recently noticed that the deeper her relationship with Jiang Nian became, the more she didn't know how to behave around him. Liking someone should be a joyful thing.

Especially when the person you liked was a good one.

A blazing sun she had never seen before—not too strong, not too fierce, appearing just right.

Because of that person, every day felt unusually fulfilling. She had more motivation to study, and every day she didn't want to sleep until very late—even after falling asleep, the first thing she did upon waking was reach for her phone.

Even when time was tight, she would still steal a moment to pick up her phone. Checking for new messages, either delighted or disappointed.

Counting the hours each day, afraid of getting too close yet afraid of being too far.

But sometimes she would inexplicably feel emo, in the days flowing by like water, she could faintly see a sad version of herself in the future.

Chen Yunyun calmly took a sip of hot water, pressing down all her worries the moment her eyes lowered, and the moment she raised her head she smiled at him.

"Let's go up to the top and take a look."

"Okay." Jiang Nian nodded.

The mountaintop was above the little pavilion, no climbing needed. There were stairs leading straight up—two flights of stairs and they reached the summit.

Wang Yuhe walked ahead full of enthusiasm, and ran right into Lin Dong and the other three.

Lin Dong was chatting animatedly with the two girls beside him, Sun Zhicheng followed behind with his head drooping, looking listless.

"Group leader!" She waved enthusiastically.

To be fair, although Lin Dong loved to play, as group leader and class representative. He was usually reliable and treated his group members well.

Lin Dong saw Wang Yuhe and greeted her too, but quickly turned back around. Continuing to chat with the two girls, deliberately ignoring her.

Wang Yuhe frowned, feeling the group leader must be fooling someone again.

She waited in place for a while, until Chen Yunyun and Jiang Nian arrived together. Only then did she pull Chen Yunyun aside to whisper,

Behind them, Lin Dong.

Lin Dong didn't mind this either.

He even deliberately kept his distance from Jiang Nian, to avoid the fish in his pond jumping into someone else's pot.

Jiang Nian was also tactful, not crowding over to Lin Dong's side. He stood beside Chen Yunyun and the other girl, looking down at the full view of Zhennan. "The school should be over there, right?" Wang Yuhe pointed in a direction.

"Seems not, should be the other side." Chen Yunyun was also in good spirits, and began pointing out familiar areas with Wang Yuhe.

Jiang Nian thought for a moment, and pointed in a direction.

"My home is over there."

Chen Yunyun looked back at Jiang Nian, and couldn't help but smile.

"Mm."

Sun Zhicheng stood not far away, listening to Lin Dong and the others chatting, and every now and then turned his head to look in Chen Yunyun's direction.

Setting aside Wang Yuhe, this unimportant person.

After seeing Jiang Nian and Chen Yunyun standing close together taking a photo, his heart felt even more stifled.