Chapter 321 My palms are sweaty and slippery

The atmosphere became awkward.

Sun Zhicheng saw Chen Yunyun tightly hugging Jiang Nian on the mountain path, with Wang Yuhe clinging behind them.

His mind instantly went blank, and his limbs tingled.

A sour feeling rushed from his chest to his brain, like a lump in his throat. For a moment, his heart was twisted in pain, but then, for another moment, he felt relieved.

Because he was also hiking with a girl right now, he had no right to say much.

It was just that the joy accumulated from the hike just now suddenly diminished greatly after that glance, becoming insignificant.

Jiang Nian looked at the four people appearing ahead. The two boys were familiar faces from class, so he didn’t feel too awkward.

If his hands weren’t being held tightly by the two girls, he would probably have greeted them.

Actually… it wasn’t that he couldn’t break free, but there was no need. To be fair, both their clothes were quite substantial.

The touch was soft, of course, referring to the clothes. The fragrance steamed from the two girls’ body heat enveloped him, one on his left, one on his right. The feeling of it entering his nostrils was quite wonderful.

Of course, he was still talking about the clothes.

In short, Jiang Nian didn’t want to move right now, and there was no need to.

Among the four, Lin Dong was also stunned.

“Chen Yunyun? Wang Yuhe, what are you two doing here?”

The two girls saw familiar faces and realized that the commotion just now wasn’t a ghost. Seeing their groupmates, they also regained their senses. “Ah…” Chen Yunyun let go of Jiang Nian, somewhat awkwardly tucking her hair behind her ear. “Group leader, are you also… hiking?”

As Wang Yuhe let go of Jiang Nian, she took the opportunity to punch him.

“It’s all your fault for those ghost stories!”

“Oh, so you admit you were scared?” Jiang Nian smiled. “I thought you were very brave, turns out you’re…” “Don’t say it!” Wang Yuhe punched him.

“I’ll say it, I’ll say it.”

Chen Yunyun had a bit of a headache; these two didn’t care about the occasion when they bickered. However, this bickering did dilute much of the awkwardness.

Her face had been a bit red a minute ago, but now it had returned to normal.

Fortunately, they met people from their group. If they had met other classmates, there would have been endless gossip spreading everywhere. Lin Dong was only slightly awkward for a moment, as he didn’t usually hide much within the group.

What’s so strange about a single guy going on a date on the weekend?

But A-Cheng was miserable.

“Yes… hiking with friends, quite a coincidence.” He coughed, then asked, “Want to walk together?”

Chen Yunyun refused. Wouldn’t that be super awkward?

Hearing this, Lin Dong breathed a sigh of relief.

His invitation just now was merely a diplomatic courtesy, just being polite. With Jiang Nian around, how could he flirt?

A-Cheng was a blockhead, he knew that all too well.

Everyone has a desire to be strong, and people are most afraid of comparisons. In short, how could he let Jiang Nian steal the nest he had painstakingly built?

“Alright then, we’ll take this path up the mountain,” Lin Dong said loudly, even pointing in a direction.

He felt that Jiang Nian should understand his hint.

If not, he would send him a message later.

“Brother, this fishing spot is mine.”

Jiang Nian put away his phone and had no intention of snatching Lin Dong’s fishing spot. After a moment of thought, he pointed to another path up the mountain.

“Let’s take this path, directly up the mountain.”

Chen Yunyun glanced at the mountain path that couldn’t be trodden by humans, a path overgrown due to the arrival of winter,

She reminded him, “Be careful when going up, don’t fall.”

Hearing this, Wang Yuhe puffed out her chest and said, “I definitely won’t fall.”

Jiang Nian was noncommittal. The paths up the mountain were all similar. Wang Yuhe still led the way, and he initially walked at the very back of the group.

As the mountain path became steeper and steeper, both girls started to struggle.

After walking for a while, Chen Yunyun’s breathing became more frequent.

Wang Yuhe wasn’t much better, stubbornly holding on like a primary school student. She would push herself up a bit, then stop to rest and wait for the other two.

Halfway up, Wang Yuhe finally couldn’t help but ask,

“How much further to the summit?”

Although Qingmu Ridge had entered winter, it still appeared deep and secluded. It wasn’t like summer where one couldn’t see the sun when looking up, but it was overcast at the moment.

The path was full of gullies and exposed gravel, rain-soaked fallen leaves, and fermented brown pine needles.

A sudden bird call broke the surrounding silence.

“We’ve probably covered one-third of the way. It’s still…” Jiang Nian replied, “Perhaps another half an hour of climbing.”

Wang Yuhe collapsed, no longer trying to be the first.

So, the three of them were back on the same starting line.

Occasionally, at steep sections, they needed to step from one pine tree’s base, run in an S-shape, and tightly grasp another small pine tree.

It was a bit like the steep slope in “Crazy Makka Pakka” on the Golden Eagle Cartoon, which required mutual assistance to sprint up.

Hiking, there are dozens of ways to climb the same mountain.

There’s a wide road that winds upwards, with a small angle, where you can even drive. There are also small paths, whose difficulty can vary. Right now, the path Jiang Nian and the two girls were climbing was of medium difficulty. Apart from a few more steep slopes, most of the path was walkable.

It was just that the steep slope in front of them was a bit long. Chen Yunyun and Wang Yuhe climbed halfway, pulling each other, but in the end, they were a bit exhausted.

Mainly, Chen Yunyun had less strength and her physical exertion was too great.

Finally, Jiang Nian had to go first, pulling Chen Yunyun up at each uphill point. As for Wang Yuhe, she could still hold on.

“I’m coming over now,” Chen Yunyun said.

“Mm.” Jiang Nian extended his hand.

Chen Yunyun made a diagonal sprint and grabbed Jiang Nian’s hand just before falling. Immediately, a huge force pulled her up.

As she went up, Jiang Nian casually steadied her.

His hand on her arm, due to inertia, they were almost touching. They bumped lightly, and then she immediately separated a bit.

It was clearly winter, but her palms… were already starting to sweat.

Compared to the first time, it was a bit slippery.

She pulled out a tissue from the small packet she carried and wiped her palms repeatedly until they were dry.

Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief.

Chen Yunyun thought to herself, perhaps he also doesn’t like getting sweaty.

After repeatedly helping each other a few times, the three passed through the slope head-on. Their route was very simple: directly to the summit.

The three went up from the side of the mountain, so the climb was exceptionally arduous. But this was also the meaning of hiking, distinguishing it from a casual outing.

Upon learning that there was only one more back slope left to the summit,

Chen Yunyun stopped and looked up at Jiang Nian in front of her. The boy’s back was straight, looking completely at ease.

“Aren’t you tired?”

Jiang Nian thought for a moment and replied,

“I love playing basketball.”

Chen Yunyun was clearly able to accept this explanation. She was just afraid the other party would blurt out, “I often hike with my ex-girlfriend.”

Although she felt Jiang Nian was probably a novice in relationships, when it came to dating, if the person involved wanted to hide it, it was actually very difficult to tell.

For example, online relationships, after deleting the account, would leave no trace.

After some lingering, the three finally reached the summit. To be precise, it was a small platform on the mountain with a simple convenience store.

“It’s actually a wooden house?” Wang Yuhe’s eyes widened.

“No need to make a fuss. Cement and red bricks are troublesome to transport up,” Jiang Nian explained. “But it’s mainly to save money; they don’t live here at night.”

“I see.” Wang Yuhe ran over and looked at the convenience store repeatedly, then ran back, panting heavily.

“I saw someone getting hot water, and when I asked, I found out a small cup of hot water costs two yuan.”

Jiang Nian already knew this, but it did remind him. He turned to Chen Yunyun.

“Are your hands cold?”

Chen Yunyun’s fingers were actually a bit numb from the cold. Hearing this, she hesitated for a moment.

“I…”

Two minutes later, in the small pavilion.

The two girls each held a cup of boiling water in disposable plastic cups. While warming their hands with the cup, they occasionally took a sip to ward off the cold.

“Thank you.” Chen Yunyun felt a slight warmth in her heart.

She recently realized that the deeper her relationship with Jiang Nian became, the more she felt at a loss. Liking someone should be a joyful thing.

Especially when the person you like is very good.

He was a ray of sunshine she had never seen before, not too strong, not too weak, appearing just right.

Because of that person, every day felt exceptionally fulfilling. She was more motivated to study, and she would reluctantly go to sleep very late every day. Even when she was asleep, the first thing she did upon waking was to reach for her phone.

Even when time was tight, she would still steal a moment to pick up her phone. She would check for new messages, feeling either joy or disappointment.

She counted the hours every day, afraid of being too close yet also afraid of being too far.

But sometimes, she would inexplicably feel emo, vaguely seeing her future sad self in the mundane flow of daily life.

Chen Yunyun calmly took a sip of hot water, her downward gaze concealing all her worries. When she looked up, she smiled at him.

“Let’s go to the very top and take a look.”

“Okay.” Jiang Nian nodded.

The summit was above the small pavilion, no climbing required. There were stairs that led directly up. Two flights of stairs and they reached the summit.

Wang Yuhe excitedly walked ahead and happened to run into Lin Dong and his three companions.

Lin Dong was chatting enthusiastically with the two girls beside him, while Sun Zhicheng followed behind, dragging his head, looking dispirited.

“Group leader!” She excitedly waved.

To be fair, although Lin Dong loved to play, as a group leader and class representative, he was usually reliable and good to his group members.

Lin Dong greeted Wang Yuhe as well, but quickly turned away. He continued chatting with the two girls, deliberately ignoring her.

Wang Yuhe frowned, feeling that the group leader must be lying again.

She waited in place for a while until Chen Yunyun and Jiang Nian arrived together. Only then did she pull Chen Yunyun aside to whisper,

behind Lin Dong.

Lin Dong didn’t care about this.

He even deliberately kept his distance from Jiang Nian, lest the fish in his pond jump into someone else’s pot.

Jiang Nian was also very sensible and didn’t approach Lin Dong’s side. He stood beside Chen Yunyun and Wang Yuhe, overlooking the panoramic view of Zhennan. “The school should be over there, right?” Wang Yuhe pointed in a direction.

“I don’t think so, it should be the other side.” Chen Yunyun was also somewhat interested and began to identify familiar areas with Wang Yuhe.

Jiang Nian thought for a moment and pointed in a direction.

“My house is there.”

Chen Yunyun turned to look at Jiang Nian and couldn’t help but smile.

“Mm.”

Sun Zhicheng stood not far away, listening to Lin Dong and them chat, occasionally turning to look in Chen Yunyun’s direction.

Leaving aside Wang Yuhe, who was unimportant.

Seeing Jiang Nian and Chen Yunyun standing close together taking photos, his heart felt even more constricted.