Chapter 319 Hey, I know a shortcut

After eating, Xu Qianqian asked while walking on the street.

“Where to?”

“How about hiking?” Song Xiyun suggested.

Hearing this, Xu Qianqian’s expression changed, and she refused.

“No, what’s there to climb on that small hill?”

“Qianqian, why are you so nervous?” Song Xiyun was a bit puzzled, subconsciously thinking there was a story. “Could it be that mountain has…” “No, I just remembered climbing that mountain with a certain jerk when I was little, and it makes me want to vomit just thinking about it.”

Xu Qianqian gritted her teeth.

“Did something happen?” Song Xiyun was a little curious.

She was only taciturn in front of the trio, but she was still a young girl at Heart-Nature. Naturally innocent and romantic, she had a natural curiosity for gossip.

Of course, if the gossip involved her, she wouldn’t be so cheerful.

And now, the gossip involved Xu Qianqian and Jiang Nian. Thus, her curiosity was piqued.

Xu Qianqian hesitated for a moment, then recounted an old story.

“When I first started junior high, Jiang Nian and I went hiking. Halfway up, we went into the woods and it got a bit dark. He pretended to be possessed to scare me!”

Hearing this, Song Xiyun couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing.

“And then?”

“It scared me to death, so I… kicked him hard.” Xu Qianqian felt a bit guilty. “Then he lay there clutching his stomach for a long time.”

Song Xiyun giggled for a while and didn’t mention going to Qingmu Ridge anymore.

“Let’s go, to that milk tea shop from last time.”

As her mother’s job became stable, the family only needed to support two people. They had ample money and provisions, allowing her some small expenses.

Moreover, as soon as the college entrance exam was over, their family would also leave Zhennan.

Perhaps they would go to the Demon Capital, or another city.

Xu Qianqian thought for a moment, couldn’t think of a better place, so she accepted the suggestion to go to the milk tea shop.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Outside Riverside Park, by the side of Qingmu Avenue.

Sun Zhicheng tightened his clothes as the cold wind blew, his exposed fingers already starting to stiffen.

“Brother Dong, what’s so good about climbing Qingmu Ridge?”

“You’re wrong, there are girls.” Lin Dong waved his hand, interrupting Sun Zhicheng’s complaint. “Two girls, one for you and one for me.”

Hearing this, Sun Zhicheng was stunned for a moment, then mumbled.

“I’m not interested.”

Qingmu Avenue was near the river, and the land here wasn’t expensive. The road was naturally wide, and looking out, it appeared somewhat empty and desolate.

Across the road were low-rise sales offices, and further away were factory tin houses.

Lin Dong turned to look at Sun Zhicheng, hesitating for a moment before saying.

“A-Cheng, what you’re saying sounds like…”

“Seeing through the Mortal World?” Sun Zhicheng stood with his hands behind his back, his expression calm. “I do have that thought now, too many messy thoughts, it’s better to…”

“No, what I mean is…” Lin Dong paused, correcting him, “like someone whose ‘thing’ has shrunk, a living eunuch.”

Sun Zhicheng immediately fell silent in the wind, turning to stone.

“I’m not… it’s mainly that I’m not very interested in these things. Besides, Brother Dong, I don’t know where you found these people.”

“Two second-year high school girls, what are you blabbering about?” Lin Dong smoothed his hair. “I’ve been chatting with them for a long time, the key class girl and her best friend.”

“Why would they look for you?” Sun Zhicheng didn’t understand.

“Are you stupid? I’m the math class representative for the Olympiad class.” Lin Dong glared at him, quite proudly, “Their scores combined aren’t as high as mine.”

Sun Zhicheng was immediately dumbfounded, thinking, ‘This works too?’

What about all the people he’d chatted with then?

“They might not even be pretty, Brother Dong, have you been hungry for too long?” Sun Zhicheng retorted, unconvinced, “I’m not an easy person.”

Lin Dong was about to say something else when he suddenly turned his head and saw something, immediately exclaiming with joy.

“Hey, they’re here.”

Hearing this, Sun Zhicheng turned to look.

He saw two seemingly slender girls, who weren’t good students, waving towards them, their smiles full of Origin Qi, holding milk tea in their hands.

At that moment, he froze.

His gaze moved down, seeing short skirts and ‘light leg Divine Artifacts’.

Warmth.

A hundredfold warmth, bringing both clarity and warmth to this winter. The jacket draped over them enveloped their slender and long figures.

Their faces were small, and the lines of their chests were like steep mountain ridges.

Sun Zhicheng couldn’t help but gasp, and he suddenly began to feel flustered.

“Dong… Brother Dong.”

Lin Dong had just waved from afar, then turned to see Sun Zhicheng’s pathetic state, and couldn’t help but warn him.

“A-Cheng, don’t look like a pervert, rein it in, understand? Otherwise, if there’s such a good thing next time, I really won’t bring you.”

“Understood, understood.” Sun Zhicheng nodded vigorously.

“You’re really watching classes at an internet cafe?” Wang Yuhe stood behind Jiang Nian, looking incredulous. “Doesn’t anyone think you’re weird?”

Internet cafe.

Chen Yunyun and Wang Yuhe went upstairs to look for him and found Jiang Nian in the back of the hall.

“You’re easily surprised, can’t stand to see me improve, huh?” Jiang Nian closed the online class, preparing to log off. “Let’s go, I’ll take you to buy snacks.”

“Aren’t we going hiking?” Chen Yunyun was stunned.

“The mineral water up there is expensive, and the road is boring.” Jiang Nian got up and led the two girls out, reminding them to watch their step as he looked back.

Wang Yuhe suddenly had an idea and asked.

“Are there toilets on the mountain?”

Jiang Nian thought for a moment and replied.

“Vast world, much to be done.”

“What does that mean?”

“Find a bush, squat down, and you’re done. I’ll just make do with being on lookout for you.”

Hearing this, both girls’ faces turned pale.

After entering the snack shop, they deliberately only brought one bottle of water and some snacks that wouldn’t upset their stomachs, bringing some candy and biscuits.

Leaving the snack shop, both girls were stunned.

“Which way do we go?”

“Let’s wait for the bus, walking is tiring and slow.” Jiang Nian glanced at the bus stop across the street, pointed, and said, “Let’s go over there first.”

Buses came every twenty minutes.

The trio was lucky; they only waited about seven or eight minutes at the bus stop before the bus arrived. There were quite a few people on the bus, so the three of them could only sit in the back row.

The bus drove along the county center all the way to Qingmu Avenue, and more and more people got off.

Until they got on Zhennan Bridge, there were suddenly only five or six people left on the bus: two middle-aged people and Jiang Nian’s trio in the back row, the carriage was empty.

As the bus drove into the mountains, the scenery immediately changed.

“That’s the Nanjiang tributary.” Jiang Nian pointed to the large river outside the bus window. It was the dry season, and the calm river surface shimmered.

“What a big river.” Wang Yuhe pressed her face against the bus window, thought for a moment, “If I could swim, I could swim to the other side.”

“You truly are a Genius.” Jiang Nian gave her a thumbs up.

“Naturally!” Wang Yuhe snorted softly.

Jiang Nian chuckled, “As far as I know, it takes three days for a corpse to drift from upstream to downstream. As long as you enter the water, you can cross the river.”

Chen Yunyun sat in the middle, her leg only five centimeters away from Jiang Nian’s.

“Isn’t going into the water very dangerous?”

Wang Yuhe’s cheeks puffed out, and she said defiantly.

“I don’t think it’s dangerous.”

“It’s still a bit dangerous. What if you encounter a water ghost?” Jiang Nian said seriously, “My great-grandfather swam across the Nanjiang.”

“He entered the water at noon, but halfway across, he ran out of strength. He could only float on the water to rest, but as he floated, he felt something pulling his foot underwater.”

“What was it?” Wang Yuhe became nervous, her eyes wide and round.

Jiang Nian lowered his voice, describing it vividly.

“My great-grandfather also found it strange. People back then were brave, and he thought he couldn’t just wait to die, so he decided to be bold and take a look.”

“He took a deep dive into the water, and guess what… he saw?”

“What?” Wang Yuhe held her breath.

“He saw a person! There was a person underwater grabbing his foot.” Jiang Nian’s voice also became hurried. “That person! That person spoke!”

“She said… I am Wang Yuhe, floated down from upstream.”

Hearing this, Wang Yuhe was stunned.

Then she exploded in rage!

“Go to hell! Go to hell! Don’t let me see you underwater, I’ll catch you every time I see you.”

“You’ve already put yourself in the role of the water ghost, haven’t you?” Jiang Nian chuckled.

He didn’t care about Wang Yuhe’s anger; after all, Chen Yunyun was between them, so she couldn’t hit him.

Chen Yunyun, on the other hand, was a bit speechless. She was quite nervous at first, but halfway through, she felt something was off and suspected it was mostly made up.

She was caught between the two, used as a human partition.

One side was saying “I’ll kill you,” and the other was saying “Can’t hit me, nah nah nah.” It gave her a huge headache, making her feel like a kindergarten teacher.

“Stop messing around, we should be almost there, right?” Chen Yunyun changed the subject.

Jiang Nian glanced out the window and nodded.

“Indeed.”

Then, he seemed to remember something again, slapped his thigh, and exclaimed.

“Oh no, I forgot to bring an umbrella!”

Chen Yunyun rubbed her own thigh and asked faintly.

“Why did you slap my leg?”

“Sorry, our legs were too close.” Jiang Nian apologized, patted it twice, then returned to the previous topic, “It’ll be troublesome if it rains.”

“No, it won’t. I checked the weather forecast yesterday, it’s going to be sunny…” Chen Yunyun’s words trailed off as she suddenly saw dark clouds floating in the distance.

Chen Yunyun:

6

The car stopped at the foot of the mountain, and Jiang Nian’s trio got off.

Wang Yuhe looked around and noticed that the surroundings were all mountainsides covered with withered trees. Looking up, she could see a few houses in the distance, their outer walls painted white.

A dirt road stretched far into the mountains.

At the foot of the mountain, a dilapidated large umbrella stood, featuring an advertisement for iced black tea.

“Let’s climb the mountain first, it might not rain.” Jiang Nian hesitated, then made a decision. “There are umbrellas for sale at the summit, and also rest pavilions.”

“Okay, we just need to come down early.” Chen Yunyun nodded.

Wang Yuhe, however, felt nothing. She looked up at Qingmu Ridge. She walked in, her steps uneven, frowned, and complained.

“This mountain is so short, we’ll reach the summit in no time, won’t we?”

Hearing this, Jiang Nian stopped.

“If you take the main road, it’s indeed not very strenuous. But since you said that, I know a shortcut that cuts across Qingmu Ridge.”

Chen Yunyun was stunned and turned to look at Jiang Nian.

“A shortcut?”

On the mountain path.

Sun Zhicheng glanced at the entrance ahead, couldn’t help but swallow, and quietly pulled Lin Dong from behind the group, asking in a low voice.

“Brother Dong, the shortcut isn’t easy to walk.”