Both of them turned simultaneously toward the source of the voice.
For a moment, the air between the three of them froze solid.
Shen Siyang could see plain, unmistakable displeasure lingering in the depths of Sang Xiaoshi’s eyes—far more pronounced than when he had tried to push him to make new friends earlier that morning.
Noticing this, Shen Siyang glanced back and forth between himself and Ge Jiabao.
Though they weren’t standing uncomfortably close, Ge Jiabao had pulled up his shirt with one hand to show off his golden, bronzed abs, while his other hand hovered right near Shen Siyang’s hem—looking for all the world like he was about to hitch up Shen Siyang’s shirt next.
It certainly wasn’t a reassuring sight.
A sharp pang touched Shen Siyang’s heart. After living over thirty years without dating even once, he was getting a firsthand taste of the heartbreak of watching his own precious cabbage get uprooted.
He immediately reached out, yanked down the shirt of the culprit, stepped back, and looked back at Sang Xiaoshi.
Sure enough, the dark cloud in Sang Xiaoshi’s eyes faded slightly.
Sang Xiaoshi walked over to Shen Siyang’s side. This time, he addressed only Shen Siyang, his voice soft and delicate: “Brother Siyang, what were you two doing just now?”
While Shen Siyang was still scrambling to frame a decent response, Ge Jiabao piped up first with complete nonchalance: “We were comparing notes on how to build sculpted abs. Are you interested too?”
The unexpected answer left Sang Xiaoshi briefly bewildered. He looked at Ge Jiabao, shook his head solemnly in refusal, and then turned his attention back to Shen Siyang. “You want to build abs?”
Shen Siyang’s mouth moved faster than his brain: “No, I don’t! I never said that!”
This was definitely not something he could casually take responsibility for.
Ever since he was a kid, Sang Xiaoshi had been meticulous and earnest about everything, a trait that was dialed up to eleven whenever Shen Siyang was involved. Shen Siyang could easily imagine that if he admitted to it now, his life as a happy couch potato would come to an abrupt end starting tomorrow.
Seeing Shen Siyang deny it so adamantly, Ge Jiabao looked thoroughly confused. “Then why did you ask to look at my abs?”
Swish. Two pairs of eyes landed squarely on Ge Jiabao’s face.
Sang Xiaoshi’s brows knitted together slightly, while Shen Siyang’s pupils dilated in absolute shock.
Brother Jiabao, is that the kind of nonsense you blurt out loud?
When did I ever say I wanted to look at your abs?
Faced with a life-or-death choice in those crucial three seconds, Shen Siyang made a split-second decision: “Because I want to race you!”
Once again, two pairs of eyes locked onto Shen Siyang.
“What kind of race?”
Sang Xiaoshi’s voice was soft and gentle; Ge Jiabao’s was brimming with excitement.
Shen Siyang gritted his teeth, raised his hand, and pointed at the mountain behind them: “A mountain climb.”
Regret was the only emotion Shen Siyang was capable of feeling right now.
Deep, profound regret.
Right after Ge Jiabao dropped that line about “looking at abs,” he should have just packed the guy into a box, hurled him down the mountain, and then coaxed his Xiaoshi with sweet words so they could take their sweet time hiking up the trail together while munching on snacks.
Anything would have been better than this.
Only after they began ascending did Shen Siyang realize this mountain had been specially handpicked by Teacher Xu for the upcoming senior students embarking on their year-long gauntlet. Because the journey ahead was long, what they were climbing wasn’t just a single peak—it was a sprawling, continuous mountain range.
Shen Siyang’s physical stamina wasn’t terrible, but it only extended to scoring average on fitness tests and not getting winded during jog sessions. That level of endurance was nowhere near enough to sustain a near-race-walking pace up a mountain trail that would normally take five hours just to walk through.
For the first time in his life, Shen Siyang witnessed how terrifying a student-athlete’s competitive spirit could be.
Especially when he met a worthy match.
Evidently, that match wasn’t Shen Siyang.
Principal Xu and the head teacher of Class 5 had arranged a lunch spot at a restaurant up on the mountain. The original plan was to take a comfortable two-hour rest during lunchtime before resuming.
Yet before Shen Siyang could even warm his seat after finishing lunch, he was dragged back onto the trail by two people completely consumed by their competitive streak.
In Sang Xiaoshi’s dictionary, the words “competitive drive” had never even existed before!
While marveling internally at the terrifying power of love, Shen Siyang shed silent tears in his heart.
Then, paying insufficient attention for a split second, he twisted his ankle.
The moment he lost his footing, Sang Xiaoshi—who was half a step ahead of him seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. He stopped instantly and spun around to support him.
“Brother Siyang!”
Sang Xiaoshi’s face, flushed red from exertion, was filled with panic. He half-wrapped an arm around Shen Siyang and guided him toward a large boulder by the trail.
He placed Shen Siyang down on the boulder with extreme care, dropping to one knee to examine his ankle. “Which part did you twist?”
Shen Siyang was touched nearly to tears.
Even while fighting tooth and nail for love, the kid still remembered his old dad.
When a warm palm suddenly pressed against his cool ankle, Shen Siyang reflexively flinched back.
Sang Xiaoshi instantly froze, looking up at him in distress. “Does it hurt?”
It did hurt quite a bit, but Shen Siyang’s attention couldn’t fully focus on the ache right now.
The fleeting warmth from Sang Xiaoshi’s palm pressing against his ankle seemed to spread upward toward his chest in a strange, inexplicable rush, subtly threatening to overpower the pain itself.
While Shen Siyang was lost in his bewilderment, Ge Jiabao wiped away his sweat and sat down beside them, offering a genuine sigh of admiration: “Xiaoshi, with stamina like yours, it’s a real shame you didn’t join our track team.”
Shen Siyang’s attention was instantly diverted, his pride as a guardian flaring up: “Is there anything in this world our Xiaoshi isn’t great at?”
Ge Jiabao was clearly accustomed to this kind of bragging. His attention returned to Shen Siyang as he reached out and clapped him on the shoulder. “I honestly thought your stamina would give out before we reached the first peak. I didn’t expect you to push through all the way to here.”
Shen Siyang felt a sudden, urgent desire to pick a physical fight with Ge Jiabao.
Sang Xiaoshi’s eyes flicked briefly over the shoulder Ge Jiabao had just clapped.
Dropping his gaze, he unzipped his backpack and rummaged through it until he pulled out a pain-relief patch.
Shen Siyang was surprised: “You even brought one of these?”
Sang Xiaoshi peeled open the patch, offering a warm, soft reply: “I looked up the itinerary beforehand and brought it just in case.”
Shen Siyang watched as the youth carefully unpeeled the patch, inspected the swelling ankle for a long moment, and then applied it with extreme gentleness.
A sudden itch tickled Shen Siyang’s hands; in that moment, he felt an overwhelming urge to reach out and scratch Sang Xiaoshi anywhere he could reach.
His gaze settled on the smooth, pale nape of Sang Xiaoshi’s neck.
By the time Shen Siyang snapped back to his senses, his hand was already resting against it.
The skin beneath his palm flushed red at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Sang Xiaoshi kept his head lowered as he gathered up the trash. Looking up at Shen Siyang, he said, “Brother Siyang, let me carry you on my back for the rest of the way.”
Shen Siyang blinked in surprise. “Why carry me? I can still walk.”
He paused, then added with admirable flexibility: “Just, let’s not go so fast. I yield.”
Sang Xiaoshi looked at him and explained gently, “If you keep walking, the swelling will only get worse. There are only a few inns and guesthouses down at the base on the other side of the mountain; there might not be a doctor.”
Shen Siyang glanced down at his ankle.
While he was still weighing his options, Ge Jiabao’s voice chimed in from the side: “Or I can carry you.”
Swish. Two pairs of eyes landed squarely on Ge Jiabao once again.
Ge Jiabao froze under their stares. Thinking his strength was being called into question, he immediately stood up to prove himself.
He rolled up his sleeves, flexing his biceps: “We do weighted runs every single day! Forget carrying you down from here—I could carry you back up and down again without missing a beat!”
No, that’s a huge problem.
Shen Siyang turned his head to steal a careful glance at Sang Xiaoshi.
Noticing that Sang Xiaoshi’s brows were slightly knit and his handsome lips were pressed into a tight line, Shen Siyang immediately stepped in to cut short Ge Jiabao’s upcoming demonstration.
“Brother Jiabao,” Shen Siyang made a motion of zipping his own lips shut, “it’s obvious you’re insanely strong, so let Xiaoshi carry me instead.”
Ge Jiabao looked visibly deflated.
Shen Siyang quickly added, “However, we still have two heavy backpacks between us, and neither Xiaoshi’s nor mine is light.”
Ge Jiabao was instantly energized again.
The two unslung their backpacks and handed them over to Ge Jiabao.
Sang Xiaoshi squatted down in front of Shen Siyang, helping him settle securely onto his back.
Ge Jiabao, eager to display his athletic prowess, forged ahead with rapid, confident strides.
Sang Xiaoshi carried Shen Siyang, following behind at a relaxed, steady pace.
“Brother Siyang.”
“Yeah?”
“When we were little, you used to carry me on your back too.”
Hearing those words, Shen Siyang thought back to Sang Xiaoshi as a child and let out a quiet laugh. “Yeah. Time really flies, our Xiaoshi grew up in the blink of an eye.”
Gazing at the trail ahead, Sang Xiaoshi smiled along. “Mm. You carried me when I was little, and now that I’m grown up, I carry you.”
A warm current swept through Shen Siyang’s heart.
He wrapped his arms around Sang Xiaoshi’s neck, tilting his head slightly to gaze at the side of his face.
The afternoon sunlight fell across Sang Xiaoshi’s features, enveloping him in a glow that was soft and warm.
Shen Siyang watched him quietly for a long moment, then buried his face against the warmth of Sang Xiaoshi’s back.
Principal Xu was respectfully referred to as “President Xu” by every single student in Class 6 for a very simple reason.
The reason was surprisingly straightforward—if he hadn’t insisted on becoming a high school teacher after graduation, he would already be back home inheriting a fortune worth hundreds of millions.
There was also a very practical reason why this pep rally kick-off event had been held at the city’s famous mountain scenic area.
The renowned hot spring resort at the foot of the mountain belonged to President Xu’s family.
Thanks to President Xu, the students from both classes got to enjoy a complimentary one-night stay at the luxury hot spring resort.
That was also the main reason why, despite how grueling the climb had been, no one uttered a single complaint.
Students arrived at the resort in scattered groups to assemble.
When it came time to assign rooms, Ge Jiabao turned excitedly to Shen Siyang and Sang Xiaoshi. “I just checked, and we can choose between double and triple rooms! Word has it that every single room comes with its own private hot spring bath. The three of us should share a triple! We can soak in the hot spring, chat tonight, and even scrub each other’s backs after. What do you guys think?”
When Ge Jiabao brought this up, Shen Siyang was lost in thought about something else entirely.
The moment those key words registered in his mind, alarm bells started blaring wildly in his head.
A triple room?
Soaking in a private hot spring?
And SCRUBBING EACH OTHER’S BACKS?
Ge Jiabao, what kind of shameless ulterior motives are you hiding here?
Shen Siyang made a split-second decision: “No, Xiaoshi and I already agreed on a double room.”
Ge Jiabao looked bewildered. “Really? But I didn’t see your names on the registration sheet for double rooms just now.”
“Where’s the double room sign-up?” Shen Siyang asked without a trace of guilt.
Ge Jiabao raised a hand and pointed at someone surrounded by a crowd of students in the middle of the lobby.
Shen Siyang marched right over. Five minutes later, he returned holding a key card for a double room, flashing Ge Jiabao a bright smile. “Well, now it’s there.”