Cheng Mingjiao was silent for a long time before saying, "You might have neurasthenia."
One of the symptoms of neurasthenia is sensitivity to sound—even the slightest noise feels unbearably loud.
Zhang Xiyue pretended not to hear his baseless diagnosis.
Neither of them spoke again.
The temperature in the mountains dropped as expected, but thankfully the raincoat kept them warm enough that they weren't shivering in the June cold.
Zhang Xiyue didn't know when she fell asleep, only that she was warm now.
More than warm—she was practically hot.
Hot…?
Zhang Xiyue's eyelashes trembled, and it took her a while to force her eyes open.
Starlight, forested mountains, vines… and an emperor burning with fever.
"President Cheng! President Cheng!"
Zhang Xiyue sat up, grabbing Cheng Mingjiao's arm and shaking him forcefully. Seeing that he showed no sign of waking, she steeled herself and raised her hand high…
That was when Cheng Mingjiao opened his eyes.
Zhang Xiyue: "…Are you doing this on purpose?"
Cheng Mingjiao stared at her silently, a pitiful glimmer of moisture in his eyes, clearly not understanding what she meant.
Zhang Xiyue lowered her hand. "President Cheng, you have a fever."
Cheng Mingjiao caught on. "You were going to hit me?"
Zhang Xiyue immediately denied it. "No, I wasn't."
Cheng Mingjiao was weak, but he still pressed the accusation. "I saw you raise your hand."
"I was going to feel your forehead," Zhang Xiyue said, quickly touching his brow to prove she wasn't lying. "You know you have a fever, right?"
"I can feel it…" Cheng Mingjiao closed his eyes, his voice hoarse and strained, his back leaning against the tree as if he'd lost all sensation in it.
Although the champion of the underage wilderness survival group hadn't been much help in this actual survival situation, at least when he was lively and energetic, Zhang Xiyue hadn't been overly anxious about being lost in the deep mountains.
But now the healthy emperor had turned into a dying sick chicken, and all the worries she'd been suppressing suddenly grew wild like weeds.
When Cheng Mingjiao opened his eyes again, he met Zhang Xiyue's concerned gaze directly.
The air suddenly went quiet.
Zhang Xiyue held back for a long time, but ultimately couldn't stop herself from anxiously admonishing him: "President Cheng, please don't die on me."
If she'd said nothing, it would've been fine—but the moment she opened her mouth, she said something so unpleasant.
Cheng Mingjiao refused to engage with her.
Zhang Xiyue was used to his erratic moods, so she set the raincoat aside and sat back down beside him.
"Cover…" Cheng Mingjiao reminded her.
Zhang Xiyue said, "No more covering. You need to cool down right now."
Cheng Mingjiao's lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't.
Zhang Xiyue understood what he meant and casually pledged her loyalty: "I won't cover myself either. I'll live and die with President Cheng."
Smooth talk.
Honeyed words.
A silver tongue.
Cheng Mingjiao had a whole arsenal of idioms waiting for her, but because he was exhausted and sleepy, he could only mutter them repeatedly in his dreams.
He didn't sleep well that night. In his haze, he felt someone touching the back of his neck and heard a worried murmur about why his fever wasn't going down.
Listening to her voice, he finally fell into a deep sleep.
The long night ended when sunlight pierced through the darkness. When Cheng Mingjiao woke, the first thing he saw was a soft fabric.
He was dazed for a long moment before realizing it was the clothes Zhang Xiyue was wearing.
He had slept with his head on her lap and his arms around her waist all night.
Zhang Xiyue was still asleep when she suddenly felt the weight on her legs lift.
It was like a stone pressing on her nerves had been removed—the moment blood flowed freely again, a wave of numbness and tingling rushed in.
She let out a soft groan as she woke, paused when she saw Cheng Mingjiao, then reached out to feel his forehead.
"Still feverish." She frowned, looking troubled.
The feel of her palm, the softness of her voice—for a moment, it pulled Cheng Mingjiao back into last night's dream.
He thought he must be delirious from the fever, so he suddenly shook his head hard.
A minute later, the dizzy and lightheaded Cheng Mingjiao stubbornly shuffled over to the tree and let out a huge sigh of relief the moment he leaned against it.
"…So why were you shaking your head for no reason?" Zhang Xiyue said with a helpless tone.
Cheng Mingjiao gave her a dark look, his throat burning with pain, refusing to speak.
Zhang Xiyue knew he was suffering, so she stopped provoking him and went to look around the area by herself.
This was a completely unfamiliar environment.
Chaotic vegetation, directions impossible to discern, no water source, no food—even the traces of where they'd walked yesterday had disappeared.
Zhang Xiyue didn't dare go too far. She familiarized herself with the surroundings and quickly came back.
Cheng Mingjiao, who had been watching her the entire time she was gone, silently averted his gaze when she returned.
"Given the current situation, retracing our steps from before is basically impossible. But I have a new idea that might help us find our way back." She shared this in good spirits.
Cheng Mingjiao was still running a low fever and felt completely listless. "What idea?"
Zhang Xiyue: "Climb a tree."
Cheng Mingjiao: "?"
Zhang Xiyue: "I'll climb up with your phone. Maybe we can catch a signal up there, and then we can just make a call…"
Before she could finish her sentence, Cheng Mingjiao handed over his phone, which had already gone black and shut down in the early morning.
"It's out of battery," Zhang Xiyue changed tack. "Then plan B—I'll climb a tree to figure out the direction and location of the camp, and we'll just walk back. How about that?"
Cheng Mingjiao closed his eyes. "Not a bad idea."
Zhang Xiyue's eyes lit up. "Then…"
"First, you'd need to be as light as a swallow, able to climb to the highest treetop without other branches blocking your view. Second, you'd need the stamina of an ox, climbing back up every so often to reorient yourself so you don't go off course. Finally, you'd need the climbing skills of a monkey, able to scale the trunk without any tools and completely unaffected by the moss on the bark."
Cheng Mingjiao's voice grew increasingly hoarse, like a burned-out fire—a layer of ash on top, faint embers beneath.
The rising sun shone over the hill, light shifting as the surroundings fell so quiet that even the birds had gone silent.
It took him a while to realize that Zhang Xiyue had been quiet for a long time.
Cheng Mingjiao's eyelashes trembled. Before he could open his eyes to see her expression, something round was popped into his mouth.
A lemon flavor instantly spread through his mouth, the sweet-and-sour taste stimulating saliva and finally soothing his parched, burning throat.
He stared blankly at Zhang Xiyue, who gave him a gentle smile in return.
"A get-out-of-jail-free card," she said, popping one into her own mouth as well.
Cheng Mingjiao's lips moved, but he said nothing.
Zhang Xiyue let out a sigh and sat back down beside him. "If climbing trees won't work, then we'll just have to stay put and wait for rescue. I wonder what Dr. Liang and the others are doing right now—whether they've noticed we're missing."
Cheng Mingjiao said with certainty, "They've definitely noticed. Just wait—rescue will be here soon."
Zhang Xiyue nodded and waited with him.
With the phone dead, there was no way to check the time. Fortunately, Cheng Mingjiao had extensive wilderness survival experience and could estimate the time based on the sun's position.
When the sun rose to mid-sky, Cheng Mingjiao finished his candy.
When the sun reached its peak, the lemon flavor in Cheng Mingjiao's mouth had faded.
When the sun was about to set, Cheng Mingjiao's fever finally broke, though his muscles still ached and he looked listless.
And the rescue team still hadn't arrived.
As a new night approached, Cheng Mingjiao's expression grew darker and darker. After sulking for half the day, he finally said coldly, "They never called for help at all!"
"How could that be? It must be because Lanlan Mountain is so big—it takes time to search for us. Just be patient." Zhang Xiyue tried to soothe him.
Cheng Mingjiao remained adamant. "They didn't call."
Zhang Xiyue didn't understand why he was so sure. She was about to offer more comfort when a thought suddenly struck her. "Our car is in the parking lot."
Cheng Mingjiao lifted his eyelids.
Zhang Xiyue stared at him blankly. "Their cars are all at the campsite, but ours is in the parking lot!"
Cheng Mingjiao instantly understood what she meant.
Given his reputation among his friends, the moment Liang Xiao and the others realized the two of them were missing, their first reaction would be that he disliked the camping environment and had gone back early.
And the parking lot was far from the campsite. As long as Liang Xiao and the others didn't specifically go to the parking lot to check, they wouldn't discover that the car was still there while the people were gone.
But who would go out of their way to check the parking lot for no reason?
Realizing this fact, the two of them fell into silence for a moment.
After a while, Zhang Xiyue spoke weakly. "Um… when they notice you're gone, they'd at least give you a call, right?"
Cheng Mingjiao: "Mm."
Zhang Xiyue refused to give up. "And if you didn't answer, wouldn't they think something happened to you?"
Cheng Mingjiao: "They'd think it's perfectly normal."
After all, he often didn't answer their calls.
Zhang Xiyue took a deep breath. "Is there not even the slightest chance… that they'd think something happened to you, mobilize all their connections for an urgent search, and eventually discover you never came down the mountain, so they'd rush to call for rescue?"
Cheng Mingjiao: "The longest I've ever unilaterally cut them off was seventy-three days."
Zhang Xiyue: "…"
Perhaps her look of despair was too obvious, so Cheng Mingjiao thought for a moment and said, "Based on my experience of cutting them off, if they can't reach me for more than three days straight, they'll come looking for me at the office or at home. Even if they don't, when Monday comes and there's company business that needs my decision, Li Dong and the others will find me."
Tomorrow was Monday.
This answer put Zhang Xiyue somewhat at ease.
Cheng Mingjiao lifted the rain poncho, and she immediately sat down close beside him.
The poncho covered their bodies but couldn't cover the rumbling of their stomachs.
"There are only three candies left." Zhang Xiyue hadn't expected that the candies she'd brought to cheer up Cheng Mingjiao would now become their lifeline. "Want one?"
Cheng Mingjiao rubbed his stomach. "Before rescue arrives, let's ration them."
Zhang Xiyue thought that since tomorrow was Monday, there was no need to deprive themselves, but after a moment's consideration, she decided to follow his lead.
A night passed. It was Monday.
No one came to rescue them.
Zhang Xiyue and Cheng Mingjiao waited through the entire day, then used the same rain poncho to keep warm through the night.
"They should have noticed we're missing by now," she said softly.
Cheng Mingjiao remained confident in his friends and employees. "Mm."
Zhang Xiyue let out a gentle breath. "That's good then."
She felt drowsy and unconsciously pressed closer into Cheng Mingjiao's arms.
Cheng Mingjiao stiffened slightly, then expertly wrapped an arm around her shoulder to keep them both from slipping out of the rain poncho if they fell asleep.
Yes, hypothermia was dangerous, so it had to be avoided at all costs.
His expression was serious as he held her a little tighter.
Another night passed. It was Tuesday now.
Still no one had come to rescue them.
The last three candies had long been eaten. Relying on his extensive wilderness survival experience, Cheng Mingjiao had managed to find some fresh water, along with a few non-toxic wild vegetables and some absurdly sour berries.
Zhang Xiyue was already lightheaded and dizzy. She forced down a couple of sips of water to stave off hunger, but the wild vegetables and berries were so unpalatable that she only took one bite before setting them down.
Cheng Mingjiao expressed strong disapproval of this.
"What matters most right now is maintaining your vital signs, not being picky about taste. Zhang Xiyue, you need to understand what's urgent and what can wait."
Zhang Xiyue genuinely couldn't stomach it and silently shook her head.
"No, you have to eat." Cheng Mingjiao demanded firmly.
Zhang Xiyue suddenly felt a surge of irritation and shot him a look, barely holding back her frustration.
Cheng Mingjiao was taken aback by her gaze, then turned his back and fell silent.
Zhang Xiyue knew he was angry again.
But she didn't have the energy to appease him, nor did she want to.
She had inexplicably transmigrated into this crappy novel world, struggled for so long just to find a way home, and in the end, the yandere male supporting character's capture progress was still at zero—while she was about to starve to death in a foreign world.
How could she possibly be in the mood to soothe him, let alone—
A faint crunching sound came from Cheng Mingjiao's direction. She didn't need to guess to know he was eating the berries.
It didn't seem like he needed appeasing anyway.
Zhang Xiyue fell silent for a moment, trying to numb her hunger with sleep.
It was hard to fall asleep when starving. She struggled for a long time, and just as she was finally getting drowsy, Cheng Mingjiao suddenly spoke up. "Zhang Xiyue."
"…What?" She opened her eyes reluctantly.
In the moonlight, Cheng Mingjiao held out a berry with a bite taken out of it. "This one isn't sour."
Zhang Xiyue paused and noticed the scattered pits beside him.
He must have taken a bite out of every single berry, picked out the sweetest one, and eaten the rest himself to avoid wasting them.
Zhang Xiyue stared at the berry in his hand for a long moment, then said, "I'm… sorry about earlier."
"You should be sorry," Cheng Mingjiao said, tilting his chin up with arrogant disdain as he coldly enumerated her faults. "Ungrateful, throwing a tantrum for no reason, and glaring at me."
Zhang Xiyue couldn't help but laugh. "I'll grudgingly accept the first and third accusations, but I don't think I threw a tantrum."
Cheng Mingjiao: "You did."
Zhang Xiyue: "Hm?"
Cheng Mingjiao: "You did it in your heart."
Zhang Xiyue: "…"
Three days of starvation, and His Majesty was still putting on airs.
Good for him.
Seeing that she'd gone quiet again, Cheng Mingjiao looked displeased, but he still lifted the rain poncho and gestured for her to move closer.
Zhang Xiyue moved closer.
"Once it's light out, let's try to find our way again," Cheng Mingjiao said.
Zhang Xiyue: "Yesterday you said it was best to stay put and wait for rescue."
Something about conserving energy, avoiding secondary dangers, and making it easier for search teams to locate them.
"Theoretically, yes," Cheng Mingjiao said, his face clouded with frustration. "But if no rescue comes, we can't just wait to die either."
Zhang Xiyue was quiet for a moment, then decided he had a point.
Searching for a way out was a gamble, but compared to hopelessly waiting in place, at least it offered a new possibility.
Zhang Xiyue went to sleep early, and with full anticipation, waited for Wednesday morning to arrive.
They had been in the mountains for three and a half days now.
Just three and a half days, yet Zhang Xiyue felt like an entire lifetime had passed. The state of hunger, thirst, and utter weakness made her desperately want to return to human civilization.
As for the yandere, the mission, the real world—she didn't care about any of it anymore. She just wanted to leave Lanlan Mountain alive and have a proper meal.
She woke up just as dawn was breaking.
Cheng Mingjiao was still asleep, his brows furrowed and eyelashes trembling slightly, as if he were having a nightmare.
Zhang Xiyue woke him up.
Cheng Mingjiao struggled to open his eyes, his brows still knitted together.
"You look terrible," Zhang Xiyue said.
Cheng Mingjiao: "…Let's go."
He braced himself against a tree and stood up with difficulty, then bent down to pick up the rain poncho. But the moment he lowered his head, he swayed slightly.
"Are you okay?" Zhang Xiyue quickly steadied him and noticed his lips were deathly pale.
Cheng Mingjiao slowly exhaled a warm breath. "I'm fine."
That's what he said, but his right hand was pressed firmly against his stomach.
"Is your stomach bothering you?" Zhang Xiyue asked hesitantly. "Was it those berries from yesterday…"
"The berries are fine." Cheng Mingjiao, who had won the junior division of a wilderness survival competition at age twelve, declared with absolute certainty.
Zhang Xiyue: "…"
If His Majesty said they were fine, then they were fine.
Zhang Xiyue waited for him to recover for a moment, then helped him walk forward.
"Really, I'm fine." Cheng Mingjiao emphasized again.
Zhang Xiyue smiled. "Of course you are."
Cheng Mingjiao could tell she didn't believe him and started sulking again.
Zhang Xiyue pretended not to notice, supporting him as they walked in fits and starts, trying to find a familiar path.
The sun slowly climbed to its peak in the sky, and the coolness of night and early morning was driven away by the sunlight. The dampness absorbed the warmth but refused to dissipate, turning the entire mountain forest into a steam box.
Cheng Mingjiao's complexion grew worse and worse, until finally, as they passed through a patch of wild grass, he collapsed uncontrollably.
He looked thin, but his muscle mass was high. When he fell heavily, Zhang Xiyue couldn't hold him up at all, and could only fall to the ground with him.
To be precise, he fell to the ground, and Zhang Xiyue fell on top of him.
Both of them let out a soft grunt. Zhang Xiyue was fine, but Cheng Mingjiao looked half-dead.
Zhang Xiyue quickly scrambled off him: "President Cheng, are you okay?"
"I…" Cheng Mingjiao had just uttered a syllable when he suddenly stared fixedly in a certain direction and froze.
Zhang Xiyue followed his gaze and saw a round-faced tabby cat.
That little thief.
The little tabby wasn't afraid of people. After glancing at them, it went back to playing with its own tail.
"President Cheng…" Zhang Xiyue lowered her voice.
Cheng Mingjiao: "Follow it, and we'll find the way back."
Zhang Xiyue nodded. When the little tabby had finished playing and was about to leave, she immediately went to pull Cheng Mingjiao up.
Cheng Mingjiao's face was even paler now. He tried several times with her help but couldn't get up, and his breathing grew more and more rapid.
"I can't go on," he panted, making a firm decision in his heart. "You go. Remember to call for rescue for me."
Zhang Xiyue turned and left without a word.
Cheng Mingjiao: "?"
Although he was the one who told her to go, wasn't she leaving a bit too fast?
Not even a moment of hesitation?
Watching her figure disappear into the tangled shadows of the trees, leaving only his breathing alone on the entire wild mountain, Cheng Mingjiao's lips moved as if to say something, but not a single word came out.
Forget it.
He lay on his back on the ground, letting the mountain forest swallow him whole… swallow him whole…
The sound of footsteps gradually grew closer, from far to near.
Cheng Mingjiao immediately opened his eyes. In his upside-down field of vision, Zhang Xiyue was running toward him.
"President Cheng, pull yourself together. Let's go together." As she spoke, she pulled him up with all her strength again.
Cheng Mingjiao instinctively used all his remaining strength and, with her help, managed to stand. Zhang Xiyue immediately draped his arm over her shoulder, half-supporting and half-carrying him as they moved forward.
"You…" He was stunned for a long moment before managing to utter a single syllable.
Zhang Xiyue glanced at him and said, "President Cheng, you've got to hold on. The little tabby is waiting for us up ahead."
Cheng Mingjiao's lips moved, and it was a long while before he asked: "Why?"
Why.
Why wait for him?
Because the little tabby walked in fits and starts at a very slow pace, and she figured that even carrying dead weight, they should still be able to catch up.
Because she couldn't be sure the little tabby would definitely lead her out either. If they separated and she still got lost, that would be true despair.
Because he looked like he could die at any moment, and she was afraid he wouldn't last until she could bring help back. If that happened, she would never be able to win over the male supporting character in this lifetime, never be able to leave this world.
Zhang Xiyue had countless reasons to do this, but she only said one thing: "Because I don't want to leave you behind."
Cheng Mingjiao stared fixedly at her sweaty profile, lost in thought, when suddenly he heard a tremendous roar.
It wasn't until the little tabby playing with leaves up ahead had its fur stand on end and turned to leap into the grass that Cheng Mingjiao realized that enormous sound hadn't come from within his own heart.
The two of them looked up in the sudden gust of wind and saw more than a dozen red helicopters. The people on the helicopters were highly trained, using instruments to search the area.
The commotion was so great that the entire Lanlan Mountain could feel it. No wonder Cheng Mingjiao had been so certain earlier that there was no rescue coming.
Zhang Xiyue looked at those aircraft and suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of having narrowly escaped disaster—
Thank goodness she had come back to find him just now.
She didn't dare imagine what His Majesty would do if she hadn't returned.