Du Jinchen and Jiang Chu walked quickly, soon catching up with the main group. Zhang Chenjun watched the two of them walking up the mountain and casually asked, “Where is that golden boy?”
Du Jinchen lazily explained, “He didn’t want to climb anymore and went back.”
“Oh,” Zhang Chenjun didn’t ask further, instead pulling Du Jinchen back into their previous conversation, “Do you know how the path we are walking on was built back then?”
Continuing upward for a stretch, they arrived at an open mountain terrain. A vast expanse of green grassland on the slope stretched downwards, and wooden steps surrounded by shade on the mountain peak wound upward, disappearing into the distance at a single glance.
A light mist rose from the mountain stream, obscuring the end of the path quite a bit. Amidst a boundless expanse of white emptiness, two or three figures could be vaguely seen, looking as if they had reached the end of the world and were searching for the door leading to life.
Jiang Chu fell behind once more. His personality was naturally cold and somewhat socially anxious, causing him to instinctively want to reduce his presence during group activities, stay away from the crowd, and enjoy some alone time. Right now, everyone else was walking in groups, and no one paid any attention to him.
However, Du Jinchen unconsciously turned his head to look for Jiang Chu. On the way just now, they had encountered quite a few hiking enthusiasts, and Zhang Chenjun had started chatting with them.
Seeing Jiang Chu lagging behind out of the corner of his eye, Du Jinchen naturally patted Zhang Chenjun on the shoulder to let him go ahead, then slowed his pace and waited for Jiang Chu to catch up.
Gusts of wind blew across the mountain peak, dissipating the heat from their bodies. Du Jinchen stopped in his tracks, opened his water bottle, and took a sip. When Jiang Chu walked up beside him, he asked, “Are you tired?”
Jiang Chu was slightly startled, not expecting Du Jinchen to be waiting specifically for him. He then stopped as well and gently shook his head.
Seeing that Jiang Chu’s bangs were dampened by the morning dew, Du Jinchen took off his hiking cap and placed it back on Jiang Chu’s head, patting it over the hat the way one might pet a cat, “Walk ahead a bit, and I will take a picture of you.”
Surprise flickered in Jiang Chu’s eyes. He raised a hand to press against the brim of the hat and muttered in a low voice, “No need, go play by yourself.”
Du Jinchen gave Jiang Chu a gentle push forward, propelling him into the frame of his camera, “When you come out to play, you definitely have to take pictures. Come on, smile at the camera!”
For a moment, unsure of what expression to make, Jiang Chu looked at Du Jinchen with those beautiful eyes. His pure pupils were untainted by the slightest bit of emotion, making them seem capable of seeing through any worldly impurity. His rounded pupils held a bit more bewilderment and a bit less chill, making him appear more approachable.
Jiang Chu stood between heaven and earth, the unknown white mist behind him and the lush green grassland beside him filling the blank spaces of the camera. The overwhelming brownish-green all around served as a backdrop for the elf-like figure, and Du Jinchen pressed the shutter button, preserving the tranquility of that moment.
In a daze, Du Jinchen seemed to catch the pleasant scent of Jiang Chu’s pheromones once again, a cool, detached fragrance that blended with the scenery of the mountain peak, as if pulling him into an incomparable fairyland where he became intoxicated.
Du Jinchen instructed Jiang Chu to step back a bit so he could take a full-body shot. Jiang Chu stood coldly and cleanly on the wooden steps. Although he was expressionless, Du Jinchen seemed to sense Jiang Chu’s shyness, prompting the corners of his lips to curve into a smile as he asked Jiang Chu to switch to a few more poses.
Jiang Chu pretended to be cool on the outside while obediently changing his poses according to Du Jinchen’s ideas, unable to stop the tips of his ears from burning red.
After seeing the finished photos taken by Du Jinchen, amazement flashed in Jiang Chu’s eyes. Du Jinchen’s photography skills were indeed commendable, as he looked high-and-mighty and cool in the camera, giving off the aesthetic vibe of a blockbuster film.
The boundless white clouds and endless green grassland in the background made him look tiny yet indispensable.
The teenager stood between heaven and earth, looking as though he might soar like an eagle.
Jiang Chu handed the camera back to Du Jinchen and offered a sincere compliment, “The pictures you take are really good.”
Sensing Jiang Chu’s relaxation in his presence, Du Jinchen felt that the sense of distance between them had narrowed significantly. This made him inexplicably happy, and he modestly replied, “I think it is because the model is pleasing to the eyes, which really elevated my photography skills.”
Jiang Chu felt his cheeks heat up, and his gaze instinctively drifted away. His bright pupils flickered a few times as the corners of his lips curved upward, visibly happy.
Before they knew it, they had walked more than half of the mountain trail, and Jiang Chu had fallen to the very end of the group, slowly climbing upward.
Du Jinchen rested on a viewing platform with the main group for a short while before Jiang Chu finally caught up.
Jiang Chu sat down on the wooden bench next to Du Jinchen, placed his hiking backpack on his lap, and breathed evenly.
Glancing sideways at Jiang Chu’s movements, Du Jinchen noticed that after walking for so long, Jiang Chu hadn’t taken out any water to drink. He couldn’t help asking, “Aren’t you thirsty?”
Jiang Chu gently shook his head, tucking his fallen hair back behind his ear, and said, “I am fine.”
However, Du Jinchen noticed that Jiang Chu’s lips were slightly dry. They had walked a long mountain trail with the sun beating down on them, and not drinking water made it very easy to become dehydrated.
Actually, Jiang Chu had brought water, but he had just run into a little girl and given his water to her.
That little girl had come to climb the mountain with her parents. The mountain trail was too long, and after climbing for a bit, the girl grew tired, rolling around and refusing to move forward. The water she brought had spilled, leaving her with nothing to drink, so she threw a tantrum and cried about going down the mountain.
Her parents weren’t the type to pamper her either. Her mother stood in front of her with her arms crossed, reasoning with her rationally, “You promised to climb the mountain with us and guaranteed you would persist all the way to the top, but we’ve only climbed a third of the way, and you are already losing heart and refusing to continue. The water you brought was spilled, and there are no water stalls along the trail. I can only buy water for you at the summit. So stand up right now, persevere, and climb to the top with Mom. Be a good girl.”
But an adult’s rationality was hard for a little girl to accept. She only knew that she was currently exhausted and thirsty. Squatting on the stone steps, she pouted with grievance, tears swirling in her eyes, and rested her chin in her hands while sulking.
“No, Mom,” the little girl said stubbornly, “I want to drink water right now!”
The little girl’s father, wearing rimless glasses, bent down and looked at her levelly through his lenses, “Well, we have no other way either. If you don’t want to walk, Mom and I will stay here with you until you want to walk.”
The family was locked in a stubborn standoff. Seeing that her daughter was still sulking, the mother simply gave up caring, turned around to lean against the railing to admire the scenery, and occasionally looked back at her husband, telling him with great interest, “The scenery here is really nice!”
The father glanced at his daughter from time to time, but the sulking girl seemed to have no intention of paying attention to him, stomping her little foot and burying her head down low.
Seeing this scene, Jiang Chu quietly walked up and handed the bottled water he had brought to the little girl.
The little girl had been staring down at the moss on the stone steps when a bottle of mineral water suddenly appeared before her eyes. The hand holding the water bottle was slender and clean. She raised her head in surprise, her gaze tracing along the hand up to the face of the older boy in front of her.
“Drink my water.” Jiang Chu curved the corners of his lips into a slight arc and spoke to the little girl in a friendly tone.
Actually, the mother’s gaze had never left the little girl either. Noticing Jiang Chu approaching, she looked at him with a hint of wariness. However, she quickly let her guard down because Jiang Chu looked utterly harmless, so pretty and devoid of any aggression.
Jiang Chu showed the unopened bottle cap to the little girl’s parents, then handed the water to the little girl, blinking his apricot eyes gently, “Keep it up! Actually, you’ve already taken ninety-nine steps. Take just one more step of perseverance, and you’ll successfully reach the summit.”
The little girl’s hands were itching to take it, but she first looked toward her mother. Upon receiving her mother’s approval, she happily reached out to take it, and her first words were, “Thank you, big sister. Big sister is so pretty.”
“Xiaozhi, you’re wrong,” the mother chimed in, “It’s big brother, not big sister.”
Xiaozhi blinked her big eyes, dewy tears still clinging to her long eyelashes, and opened her mouth wide in surprise, “Big brother!”
Jiang Chu bit his lower lip and nodded.
Imitating Jiang Chu’s action, Xiaozhi blinked her eyes and asked, “Is what big brother said true? Am I almost there?”
“Yes,” Jiang Chu couldn’t help raising a hand to gently pat Xiaozhi’s head, “Hold on, big brother will wait for you at the summit.”
Because Jiang Chu had given his water to the little girl, he had been holding out without drinking anything until now.
Xiaozhi, who had climbed up the mountain behind her parents, saw Jiang Chu resting and happily shook her water bottle, “Thank you for the water, big brother!”
Only then did Du Jinchen understand what had happened. It wasn’t until the little girl’s figure had walked far away that Du Jinchen finally asked, “You gave your water to someone else, so you aren’t going to drink anything yourself?”
Jiang Chu’s cheeks flushed red, the blush gradually creeping up toward his fair neck, whether from the sun or from shyness, it was hard to tell. He turned his face away, his tender fingertips tapping against the wooden railing, “I’ll endure it until we get there.”
There should be small water stalls at the mountain summit.
Du Jinchen didn’t know what to do with Jiang Chu, so he could only helplessly hand his own water bottle to him, “Drink mine. There’s still a stretch of the road left before we reach the top.”
Jiang Chu had just wanted to say no, but looking at that slender, knuckle-sharp hand extended toward him, with the sleeve of the windbreaker rolled up to his mid-forearm, revealing a lean and sturdy lower arm, and his long, slender fingers gripping the transparent water bottle while the clear water swayed with Du Jinchen’s movements:
Whether it was from looking at that beautiful hand or seeing the pure water, Jiang Chu swallowed back the refusal that had been right on the tip of his tongue. His small Adam’s apple bobbed with a very slight movement, and he took Du Jinchen’s water bottle, whispering a word of thanks.
Although Jiang Chu had claimed he wasn’t thirsty, he proved quite honest once he took the water bottle, drinking more than half of it.
The teenager was probably truly thirsty, drinking a bit hastily as sparkling droplets of water rolled down his attractive chin, only to be casually wiped away by the back of Jiang Chu’s hand.
It was the simplest wiping motion imaginable, yet the way Jiang Chu performed it felt both seductive and pure.
Out of the corner of his eye, Du Jinchen watched Jiang Chu’s Adam’s apple bob up and down as he swallowed the water, and saw his lips, moistened by the water, turn pink again with a plump luster, looking as alluring as a summer peach.
It made Du Jinchen wonder what it would feel like to kiss him.
But immediately afterward, he was stunned by his own thought, hurriedly pulling back his gaze in a panic. A wave of heat rushed across his cheeks, and he couldn’t help clenching his hand into a fist and coughing lightly against his lips.
How bold of you, Du Jinchen.