Wu’an Mountain was a fair distance from the capital. It took several hours even by plane, let alone high-speed rail. On a whim like this, booking flight tickets for so many people on short notice wasn’t easy.
Yet, Yu Lingbo and Yue Xiu still followed Kong Ning along.
The reason was simple: Xiao Kong’s hospitality was far too attentive.
Not only did she cover all room and board, but her itinerary planning was remarkably thorough. She was practically a must-have travel whiz, missing only a few companions to help hold the national flag for pictures at the mountain peak.
The short video Kong Ning had originally watched featured several people posing together for photos.
Doing it alone just lacked zest.
The two club “laborers,” dragging their exhausted bodies on their way to the cafeteria for lunch, saw the message sent by Kong Ning.
Kong Ning: Free trip, anyone? Just bring your brains.
Right after, she sent the luxury Wu’an Mountain itinerary table she had bought at a high price within a minute.
Financial power, it’d be a waste not to use it.
The two laborers tallied it up and realized this was the perfect excuse to request leave from the club and unwind.
Count us in!!!
Inside a certain massage club.
“Xiao Kong, ah, your arrangements are way too thorough! Massage right before climbing a mountain?” Yue Xiu was lying down enjoying a foot soak while a staff member behind her kneaded her shoulders. She ate a bowl of noodles while gazing at the unimaginably luxurious super-screen in front of her, letting out a sigh of admiration.
“Of course! That’s just how thoughtful I am. Enjoy it while you can, just don’t cry fatigue tonight.” Kong Ning speared a cherry tomato into her mouth, then closed her eyes to rest her mind.
“Whoever becomes your partner in the future is truly blessed, this drive, this brain, this itinerary!” Yu Lingbo flattered their big benefactor.
“Who told me to be blessed with such a smart head?” Kong Ning sighed contentedly, casually crossing her legs horizontally, only to be reminded by the attendant to keep them soaking. She didn’t reveal that she had simply paid for the guide.
Hey now, being able to buy a guide so swiftly is a kind of intelligence too, okay~
Yu Lingbo couldn’t bear to look and choked on her words.
“Still, Ning-a~ are we really doing a night climb?” After the compliments, Yu Lingbo shifted the topic, wanting to persuade Kong Ning to give up on this terrifying idea of night climbing.
“You bet! The sunrise, how could we miss that?” Kong Ning opened her bright, sparkling eyes and spoke excitedly.
“Let’s climb, let’s climb, my friends!”
That was how it was done in the short video she had watched.
Kong Ning was pursuing a one-to-one replica, so she absolutely had to take that photo on the Golden Summit.
So cool~
Beside her, Yu Lingbo looked at the slight bit of muscle on her legs, cultivated solely from sprinting during cafeteria meal rushes, and felt a deep sense of foreboding.
She had acted too impulsively after all.
Wouldn’t she be a walking corpse after the climb?
She still felt that daytime cable cars and helicopters were much better suited for her.
“Climb! What we’re climbing is precisely the nighttime Wu’an Mountain!” Yue Xiu was already immersed in the joy of the movie, mindlessly echoing the idea of the night climb upon hearing it.
Seeing Yue Xiu finish a bowl of noodles and accept another cup of milk tea handed over by the attendant, Yu Lingbo felt utterly helpless toward this foodie.
What a useless teammate.
“Yue Xiu, I really want to beat you to death.”
“Why beat me? Go beat up some ‘vigor pills’ instead, eat ’em for strength, good for climbing!” Yue Xiu, completely unaware of her actual stamina limits, babbled mindlessly with a silly grin.
“You two remember to try on the windbreakers, shoes, backpacks, and stuff later to see if they fit. Once the massage is done, we set off.”
Kong Ning was a meticulous person.
Windbreaker, hiking shoes, hiking backpack, trekking poles, sunglasses, and so on, the essential kit for looking cool, not a single item missing.
From this, we can see that Kong Ning’s childish flare for dramatic flare hadn’t fully cured; it had merely evolved into an adult format, breaking out intermittently in a more subtle manner.
If you were to ask how Kong Ning bought everything and had it delivered to the door so fast, financial power.
Kong Ning’s “stinginess” was reserved only for herself.
“Aaaaaghh, ”
This was not the three of them screaming while the massage auntie worked on their feet, nor was it a helpless wail during a waist massage.
It was that embarrassing cry during the night climb.
“Aaghh, my legs~ Why are you… so… powerless~” Yue Xiu sang a mournful song as she leaned heavily on her crutches, no, her trekking poles, crawling upward like a rigid zombie.
At this very moment, she regretted everything.
Especially since before climbing, she had deliberately bought a watermelon, a rare find for this season, and boasted that she would eat it at the mountain peak.
This girl had also watched a few mountain climbing videos on the high-speed rail, wanting to experience that blissful moment from the clips: “When you are climbing, thirsty, and starving, your dear best friend pulls out a giant watermelon.”
Yue Xiu had even told Yu Lingbo how to shoot it and how to caption it.
The title was going to be “My Kind and Powerful Roommate.”
To this, Kong Ning had raised both hands and feet in agreement, even offering to carry it for the second half.
Only now, Kong Ning was staring stubborn-faced at the stone steps, not mentioning a single word about “taking a turn.”
Wu’an Mountain, I, Kong Ning, shall surely conquer you!
Yu Lingbo had tried to stop the two of them, but Yue Xiu, who felt refreshed right after her foot soak, had stubbornly picked out the biggest one available.
Fine then. Yu Lingbo facepalmed and gave up. They brought this doom upon themselves.
“What’s wrong? Realized how much you actually weigh now?” Yu Lingbo, carrying a light pack with only some water and food, remarked as she took a sip of water.
Her load just got a bit lighter again.
“Um, how about… sob… we just eat it right now?” Yue Xiu finally couldn’t hold on any longer and plopped down onto the stone steps.
Kong Ning, walking at the front of the group, saw this and felt a prank coming on.
She turned around and snuck behind Yue Xiu.
“Yue Xiu, have you ever heard that on a mountain at night, the one speaking behind you… is a person?”
“…Is a GHOST!!!” Kong Ning suddenly blared out.
“Aaaaaaghh! A ghost! Help!” Yue Xiu leaped straight onto Yu Lingbo, closing her eyes tightly. “Heavenly Lord bless me, Heavenly Lord bless me, Amitabha, Amitabha,” Yue Xiu prayed desperately.
“Yue Xiu, hurry up and get down! Kong Ning is tricking you!” Yu Lingbo was rendered completely speechless by the two childish people in front of her.
Can someone please come cure this childish brat Kong Ning, and the scaredy-cat riding on her back?
“Not opening them, not opening them! I really saw a ghost just now! It was wearing red, a wedding gown!”
“We’re doomed, we’re doomed, we’re completely doomed!” Yue Xiu hugged Yu Lingbo even tighter.
Kong Ning felt that perhaps she had taken the joke too far.
Just as she was about to apologize, “Um, Yue Xiu, actually I just…”
“Little benefactor, actually, you really shouldn’t scare people randomly like that.”
Kong Ning watched with wide eyes as a young woman emerged from the nearby bamboo grove. Her appearance was accompanied by a gust of chilly wind, eerie and rather frightening.
The other party looked about the same age as them, except her hair was bound up with a “wooden twig.”
A bit… ancient style?
Perhaps a Hanfu enthusiast, Kong Ning thought. Still, she looked quite quaint and interesting. If she weren’t lacking a Taoist robe, Kong Ning would have thought she was a Taoist priest.
Then again, Wu’an Mountain did have a Taoist temple.
Wait a second, did she just call me… benefactor?
She really IS a Taoist priest.
As she thought this, Kong Ning heard the person add, “If you get scared out of your wits late at night, you might actually end up seeing a real one, you know.”