They hiked all the way up the mountain, reaching the summit just as the setting sun was about to dip below the horizon.
The setting sun hung halfway across the vault of heaven, unsparingly releasing its gentle evening glow. Golden light struck each person, making them feel as if they were wrapped in a soft, flattering filter.
The young girls in the group were jumping for joy, eager to take commemorative photos and dragging everyone else in the group to pose together. Yang Qianqian and He Qing wandered back and forth across the summit, grabbing people to snap pictures. Zhang Chengjun chuckled and remarked, “Youth really is full of energy.”
Yang Qianqian walked over to Du Jinchen’s side and smiled, asking, “Handsome, do you want to take a group photo?”
“Sure.” Du Jinchen took off his sunglasses and flashed a peace sign at the camera.
The orange-yellow evening glow fell into Du Jinchen’s pupils, reflecting a faint, warm hue in his dark eyes and bathing him in a layer of gentleness. The teenager stood atop the summit with one hand shoved in his pocket, his tall and upright posture resembling an arrogant eagle preparing to take flight. His unbridled and unrestrained bearing seemed to make the very heavens and earth pale in comparison.
After finishing the photos with Yang Qianqian and the others, Du Jinchen squinted through the crowd to search for Jiang Chu’s figure, though he found him very quickly.
Jiang Chu was sitting quietly on a boulder, his slender and straight legs half-bent. He wore a pair of over-ear headphones on his head, pressing down his soft and fluffy pink hair. The warm light of the setting sun gently and generously spilled over Jiang Chu’s cheeks, bathing them in a layer of molten gold. His amber eyes chased the setting sun without blinking, and his exquisite profile made people’s breathing involuntarily hitch, not daring to disturb this piece of scenery.
Jiang Chu’s temperament was probably just this cold and calm. It seemed as though no matter what happened, he would face it with such poise. Right now, he was simply and quietly appreciating the beautiful scenery before him, neither surprised nor delighted, neither arrogant nor impatient.
It wasn’t until Du Jinchen walked closer that Jiang Chu sensed it and turned his head, locking eyes with Du Jinchen.
Since he had already been spotted, Du Jinchen didn’t beat around the bush. He generously sat down beside Jiang Chu, mimicking Jiang Chu’s posture with his legs half-bent, settling into the most comfortable position possible.
“The sunset at the summit is really beautiful,” Du Jinchen said leisurely. “It has been a long time since I saw such a nice view.”
Jiang Chu let out a soft sound of agreement, pulling back his gaze and raising a hand to take off his headphones, hanging them around his neck. “It is very beautiful.”
As if acting casually, Du Jinchen leaned back and glanced at Jiang Chu’s nape. That small patch of fair skin was covered by his collar, with the edge of a suppression patch faintly visible.
Even leaning this close now, Du Jinchen couldn’t smell Jiang Chu’s pheromones, which made him unable to help asking, “Did your suppression patch not fail today?”
“Ah?” Jiang Chu turned his head with a trace of panic, twitching his nose like a small cat to sniff and confirm there was no pheromone leakage before calming down. “No. No.”
“No is good.” Du Jinchen spoke as if asking offhandedly without showing too much concern, then immediately pivoted the topic. “With this light, should I take a few more pictures of you?”
Jiang Chu raised a hand to block the glare, casting a small shadow over his eyes. It blocked the sunset light, but made those hazel pupils appear even brighter. He turned his head to look at Du Jinchen. “Didn’t we already take a lot this morning?”
“How can pictures ever have enough variety?” Du Jinchen curled the corners of his lips upward and raised his camera to snap a candid photo of Jiang Chu. Raising his paws like a little cat, Jiang Chu’s slender and fair hands looked as though they were bathed in light, extremely pretty. “Really nice. You are very photogenic.”
Jiang Chu’s cheeks began to flush uncooperatively once more. His delicate Adam’s apple rolled once, and he turned his head away to look at the sunset, not refusing Du Jinchen.
The hiking team chose to watch the sunrise at the summit the next morning, so they had to rent tents and sleep here for the night, two people per tent.
Couples did not need to split up, so Yang Qianqian and He Qing naturally slept together. That left Zhang Chengjun, Du Jinchen, and Jiang Chu.
The three grown men were easy to sort out. Realizing that Jiang Chu was unaccustomed to physical contact with others, Du Jinchen naturally proposed to Zhang Chengjun that the two of them share a tent, leaving the extra one for Jiang Chu.
Zhang Chengjun naturally had no objections. Having climbed countless mountains, what harsh conditions had he not encountered? Two people sharing a tent was completely normal to him. He chuckled and teased, “Just don’t let me snore in the middle of the night and keep you awake.”
After the tents were assigned, a team member they had met during the hike walked over and asked if their group had any single members left over so they could share a tent for the night.
Du Jinchen turned his head to glance at Jiang Chu, who was obediently pitching his tent, and his brow furrowed involuntarily.
The Alpha standing before them was tall and broad-shouldered, with long limbs and a build nearly twice the size of Jiang Chu’s. Leaving aside whether Jiang Chu would be willing, if Jiang Chu’s pheromones got out of control again in the middle of the night with a strange Alpha sleeping right next to him, the consequences would be simply too dreadful to contemplate.
Zhang Chengjun naturally thought of this as well. He patted Du Jinchen on the shoulder and said to the Alpha, “What a coincidence, our team happens to have one extra person. Why don’t the two of us rough it together tonight? You don’t need to rent a tent; we’ve already rented them all.”
The Alpha slapped his thigh and immediately agreed, going off to pitch the tent alongside Zhang Chengjun.
Du Jinchen returned to Jiang Chu’s side and helped him pull open the outer tent flap.
Jiang Chu had clearly overheard the conversation just now. He tilted his head to clamp a flashlight in place, pulled open the tent while wearing gloves, and followed Du Jinchen’s movements to pitch the tent. His pretty lips pressed together lightly, wanting to say something but remaining silent.
Thinking that Jiang Chu was feeling awkward, Du Jinchen said in a soothing tone, “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to you.”
Jiang Chu tilted his head halfway to look at Du Jinchen, the flashlight on his shoulder swaying slightly with the movement of his body. The pristine light shone against the tent, casting a patch of white illumination whose halo rocked back and forth.
Like an innocent kitten, Jiang Chu tried to understand the meaning of Du Jinchen’s words and fathom Du Jinchen’s mood.
“It is not that,” Jiang Chu said softly. “I am not afraid of you. I am just a bit curious because this is my first time spending the night at a mountaintop.”
“The mountain at night is so empty and quiet, but right now this place is brightly lit, and everyone is gathered together looking forward to the same sunrise, yearning for the same beauty in their hearts. This yearning and pursuit makes everyone harbor a belief in their hearts. This feeling is very wonderful.”
It was the first time Du Jinchen had heard Jiang Chu say so many words. Alongside pleasant surprise, there was also a magical feeling; Jiang Chu seemed to have come to view him as a friend, no longer maintaining his guard as he would with a stranger, but instead acting like a friend with whom he could share emotions and feelings.
Upon realizing this, Du Jinchen’s mood inexplicably relaxed a great deal. He stood up, smoothed out the wrinkles on the hem of his jacket, took a stone from Jiang Chu’s hand to hammer down a tent peg, and said warmly, “It is very wonderful. Living in the present and enjoying happiness is the happiest thing of all.”
The tents were pitched quickly. Conditions on the mountain were limited, and everyone had hiked light without carrying extra supplies, so they had no choice but to temporarily pool together to bulk-buy instant noodles for dinner.
After nightfall, the temperature at the summit dropped sharply. Everyone shivered as they finished their instant noodles, then turned and ducked into their tents to rest. Having climbed the mountain all day, they were exhausted.
Du Jinchen took the initiative to propose going stargazing, telling Jiang Chu to rest first. He deliberately wanted to leave behind a comfortable and quiet environment so that Jiang Chu could relax and get some proper rest.
Du Jinchen found a patch of grass at the mountaintop to brave the cold wind alone. There was virtually no signal on the mountain; he had missed Chen Wen’s call yesterday and still hadn’t returned it. Du Jinchen tried to dial out, but the environment where the cold wind howled directly blew away the final bar of signal.
With no other choice, Du Jinchen gave up on dialing, tossed his phone onto the grass, and lay down casually.
The teenager lay flat on the soft turf, crossing his hands behind his head with one knee bent. The unbridled fearlessness in a young person’s eyes could not be concealed. The all-enveloping starlight looked like a brilliant oil painting, cascading down into those obsidian pupils and filling the fields with fallen stars.
Du Jinchen zipped his windbreaker all the way up to the top, biting down on it lightly with his sharp teeth. He half-squinted at the starry sky, replaying his acquaintance with Jiang Chu in his mind and half-dreamily pondering a few things.
It wasn’t until a gust of cool wind blew past that Du Jinchen snapped out of it. He glanced at his watch and saw that the hour hand had already turned to nine. He sat up, brushed the grass clippings off his clothes, and prepared to head back.
Returning to the tent, the dark space made it impossible to see anything. Du Jinchen hunched over as he crawled inside, reached for his backpack, and fished out his power bank.
The tent was dead quiet, amplifying every single sense. Du Jinchen could hear the sounds of insects and birds outside the tent, the rustling of the cold wind passing through the treetops, and that light, even sound of breathing.
Jiang Chu was curled up in a corner of the tent, lying on his side with his arm pillowed beneath his head. Scattered, wispy strands of hair covered his eyelids, revealing a small patch of fair cheek.
In a semi-enclosed space, every sense became extremely sensitive. Du Jinchen could even clearly smell that mint fragrance, the cold, detached scent of fresh snow, as if he had been placed right in the middle of a boundless, white snowy field.
Du Jinchen’s hand holding the power bank paused. After enduring the burning sensation across his chest, he finally resumed moving.
The even sound of breathing stimulated Du Jinchen’s sense of hearing, and the cool pheromone scent teased Du Jinchen’s sense of smell. Du Jinchen had to muster his utmost self-control just to force himself to stay calm.
Through the faint glow of his phone screen, Du Jinchen looked at Jiang Chu. Those round, crystal-clear eyes were tightly closed right now, and the lips that usually loved to be pressed into a line were parted unconsciously in deep sleep. His fair neck was wrapped deep into the quilt; clearly, his gland was not visible, yet Du Jinchen felt as though the cool, fresh-snow scent in the air had grown even stronger.
Like a little cat.
He secretly rejoiced in his heart: Fortunately.
He hadn’t let that Alpha sleep in the same tent as Jiang Chu.
Holding his blanket, Du Jinchen walked over to the opposite corner of the tent and lay down, positioning himself almost diagonally across from Jiang Chu.
With his eyes wide open in the dark, Du Jinchen warned himself, “Du Jinchen, act like a decent human being, and don’t let me find you rolling over to that side tomorrow morning.”