The coach bus drove along the road. Aside from the noisy chatter at the very beginning when they set off, there was nothing much to talk about afterward, and the bus gradually quieted down.
Mu Jing felt a little carsick. After taking a sip of water, she prepared to sleep. She took two eye masks out of the small crossbody bag she carried with her.
“Do you want one?”
Xu Ge shook his head. After a pause, he added, “I’m not sleeping.”
“Oh.” Mu Jing glanced at the pattern on the eye masks, put one back, and then reached out again to hook her arm through Xu Ge’s.
He frowned slightly, feeling that her insistence on linking arms even while sleeping was somewhat unnecessary. However, after Mu Jing pointed at another couple on the other side for him to see, he compromised.
The young man over there was already completely lying across his girlfriend’s lap. Compared to that, simply linking arms like they were doing seemed rather restrained.
The weight resting on his shoulder made Xu Ge tilt his head slightly to avoid it. After the bus traveled a little further, even he leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes to rest.
It was not until Mu Jing had fallen soundly asleep and one of her hands slid down due to inertia, landing near the root of his thigh, that he suddenly jolted awake. Carefully moving her hand aside, he looked back out the window.
…
“We’re here.”
Someone gently patted her twice before Mu Jing rubbed her eyes and slowly reacted. Her voice sounded soft and confused from sleep.
“We’re here?”
Xu Ge remained silent for two seconds before replying, “Yes. We’re here.”
The bus drove them directly to the reserved summer resort. The moment they got off, someone immediately started shouting about being hungry and asking when they would eat.
After getting off the bus, Mu Jing glanced around and pulled Xu Ge—who had just taken the luggage—into the shade of a large tree that would take three people to encircle. She complained quietly.
“I shouldn’t have come. I’m going to get roasted to death in this sun.”
Xu Ge thought she was hinting at him, so he immediately opened the sun umbrella and held it above them. Because of that, he did not see Mu Jing lowering her head and rummaging through her bag before raising a bottle of sunscreen spray toward him.
Pssst.
His neck suddenly felt cool, startling him.
Mu Jing’s prank succeeded, and she laughed triumphantly. “Haha, scared you, didn’t I? Close your eyes quickly. I’ll spray some sunscreen on you.”
Xu Ge pressed his lips together. “No need.”
“Come on. You’re already dark. What if you get even darker after this trip?” Mu Jing grabbed his sun-protection jacket. “Hurry up. I get very dangerous when I’m angry!”
Remembering the money he owed and the life-saving favor, Xu Ge closed his eyes and endured it.
The sunscreen spray did not smell particularly pleasant. After spraying Xu Ge, Mu Jing generously sprayed large amounts onto the skin she had exposed as well. When she finished, she stuffed the bottle into Xu Ge’s hand.
“Help me spray the back of my neck a little. Spray from farther away so it spreads evenly. You saw how I did it just now, right?”
Life-saving favor…
Xu Ge thought to himself as his gaze fell on the slightly damp back of Mu Jing’s neck.
When she got off the bus earlier, Mu Jing had tied her hair into a loose bun. In just a short while, the skin on the back of her neck had become moist with sweat. Her skin was fair enough that no pores were visible. A few stray strands of hair clung to it, creating an unexpectedly alluring appearance.
He pressed his lips together slightly and reminded her, “The back of your neck is sweaty. Should I spray it directly?”
“Huh?” Mu Jing wiped it with her hand and grew annoyed at her tendency to sweat easily. “Then wipe it for me.” As she spoke, she quickly pulled out a tissue and handed it to him.
Xu Ge took the small piece of tissue. His slender fingers rolled it around a few times before he finally reached forward under Mu Jing’s urging and wiped the beads of sweat from her neck.
Their interaction carried none of the excessive sweetness that might make others uncomfortable. In everyone else’s eyes, it simply looked like the natural everyday behavior of a young couple.
The class monitor, Guo Luoling, was a lively girl and also one of the girls in Mu Jing’s small group chat. She took out a small flag she had prepared beforehand and waved it excitedly like a tour guide.
“Alright, alright! Welcome everyone to the Summer Resort. Let’s go eat first, and this afternoon we’ll go hiking.”
The three-day, two-night itinerary had already been posted in the small group chat yesterday. Everyone had agreed to it at the time, so there were no objections now.
Students at noble schools were not short on money, and when they went out to have fun, it was purely for enjoyment. The twenty-seven of them headed toward the barbecue restaurant they had reserved exclusively.
Mu Jing linked her arm through Xu Ge’s and slowly followed at the back of the group.
“Can you drink alcohol?” she asked.
“No.”
“Do you smoke?”
“No.”
“Can you fight?”
“No.”
Mu Jing curled her lips. As the male protagonist, how could he lie? She had read the original novel—she had seen the text describing his heroic feats of fighting multiple people at once.
“If you can’t, then you can’t.” She shook her head lightly. “Don’t try to show off at lunch. They might try to make you drink.”
Xu Ge lowered his head and glanced at her. “Okay.”
At the barbecue restaurant, everyone separated into tables of four. Sitting opposite Mu Jing and Xu Ge were the class monitor Guo Luoling and another girl, Su Youyou.
“Xu Ge, come sit with us!” someone shouted.
Soon several other boys echoed the invitation.
Mu Jing hooked her arm through Xu Ge’s and looked over there. It was a six-person gathering table that was already filled with boys planning to drink. Only one seat remained.
The person leading the teasing was called Xin Shi. He had awakened as an E-Rank earth-type Ability User and was practically guaranteed admission to the Federation University. He had pursued Mu Jing before and had never truly given up.
Mu Jing smiled. “Xu Ge doesn’t drink. And he still has to grill meat for the girls at our table. How could he have time to go over there?”
Class monitor Guo Luoling, who was close with Mu Jing, immediately supported her.
“That’s right. If you call Xu Ge away, who’s going to grill the meat for our table? Besides, we’re climbing a mountain this afternoon. You guys who plan to drink should drink less.”
Xin Shi raised his hands in surrender. “Alright, alright. The class monitor has spoken. Who would dare not listen?”
After that brief clash without smoke or gunfire, the atmosphere in the restaurant soon became lively again.
Xu Ge dutifully played the role of boyfriend. When he placed meat onto Mu Jing’s plate for the third time, the two girls sitting opposite could no longer tolerate it.
Guo Luoling was the first to knock on the table and say with a smile, “Hey, hey, hey—why is the handsome Xu only giving meat to his own girlfriend? Are we just air to you?”
Su Youyou took a sip of orange juice and nodded in agreement. “Exactly. That’s way too much.”
Xu Ge did not know what to say, so he could only look toward Mu Jing, who was enjoying the show.
“Don’t bully him,” Mu Jing immediately said, putting on the posture of a protective girlfriend. “I’ll grill for you instead.”
Guo Luoling and Su Youyou burst out laughing. The former quickly waved her hands.
“Then we’d better grill it ourselves. I still vividly remember the charcoal you made last time.”
“That was because I wasn’t paying attention. Give me another chance to show my skills!”
“Hahaha, alright then. I’ll give you another chance.”
Mu Jing took the tongs from Xu Ge’s hand, pushed the meat on the grill aside, and began placing new slices onto it.
Su Youyou, who was also part of their small group chat, examined Xu Ge with interest.
“Mu Jing, how did you and Xu Ge meet?”
Guo Luoling also became curious and began interrogating her.
“That’s right! When did you get a boyfriend without us even knowing? Are we even still good friends?”