Mountain Romance

Jiang Yichun plopped down in the water, her ankles creating ripples, and casually placed one hand on He Yinxin's waist.

The stream beneath her was icy cold, and the currents of water swirled around her calves, making her gasp for breath.

The boy in front of him was panting heavily, with a lukewarm smile on his face.

His glasses fell to her side, leaving only his almond-shaped eyes meeting her gaze without any concealment.

Although their lips did not touch, it was as if they were kissing silently, a silent kiss that belonged only to their souls.

The kiss spread silently under the bright sun, intertwining and finally merging into one.

Her gaze shifted downwards, where the splashing stream had soaked his T-shirt, revealing some... muscles that made her hands itch.

She had touched him a few times while drunk and one night, and from then on, she couldn't stop.

Jiang Yichun's face immediately flushed, and she looked away to meet his eyes.

She suddenly noticed that his eyelashes were very long, reflecting a soft light.

Her hand moved from his back to the back of his neck, her breath tickling his ear: "Yes, now you're all alone."

"My prospective boyfriend, my first love, and only you."

"I... only allow you to do this, um, hold me."

He Yinxin's cheeks flushed red. He gently released his hands from her waist, broke free from the ground, and intertwined his other hands with hers.

His warm palms burned her fingertips, and his scalding body heat ignited the dry tinder in her heart.

Even though he was soaked to the bone, his whole body was still like a giant furnace.

Jiang Yichun was somewhat lost in thought, his gaze shifting from him to the sky behind him.

The summer sun shone through the gaps in the trees overhead, illuminating her eyes, and she glimpsed a corner of the azure sky through the saplings.

"Xiaochun?" He Yinxin's voice rang in her ears, still mixed with some panting.

Jiang Yichun snapped out of her daze and turned to look at him.

She finally realized that the two of them were sitting in the water in an extremely ambiguous position, her body completely enveloped by him and shrouded in his shadow.

When I first saw him, I realized that his slender figure had become much more muscular, with more defined muscle lines on his arms.

She noticed the faint red marks on his collar, and then...

Her heart was pounding faster and faster. Silently, she reached for his glasses, which had fallen into the water, and gently placed them on the bridge of his nose.

She closed her eyes, gently touched his lips, and before this silly robot dog could process and analyze the data, she pushed him away from her chest.

He Yinxin's eyes were glazed over. She plopped down in the water and stared blankly at her.

Jiang Yichun stood up, tugging at her wet skirt, and reached out her hand to him: "Silly boy, I... I didn't even understand when I confessed to you."

"No, I understand. It means there's too much adrenaline, which leads to..."

"Shut up, you stinky robot dog!"

Jiang Yichun angrily scooped up another handful of stream water and gently dripped it onto his face, then lightly kicked his calf again.

He Yinxin stepped forward, shook his damp hair, and raised the corners of her mouth: "I'm here to get my revenge on you, Xiaochun!"

He scooped up a handful of water and gently swished it over her.

Jiang Yichun hurriedly raised her hand to block the water, but the water didn't splash on her face. Instead, she felt a warm touch on her waist.

She was pulled into the man's arms, his hands encircling her waist, as he casually poured the scooped-up water back into the stream.

"You've been tricked. This is a carefully designed scheme of mine, so that... I can hold you in my arms."

"Liar!" Jiang Yichun angrily pinched his waist muscle.

He Yinxin chuckled softly: "Then how will you punish me? Hit me, or force a kiss?"

Jiang Yichun steeled her resolve and wrapped her arms tightly around him, saying, "No, I finally understand now. Both of these things were actually a reward for you!"

"so……"

She released him abruptly, scooped up the water again, and splashed it on him.

"You deserve this punishment!"

He Yinxin had no time to dodge and was soaked to the bone again.

The last trace of warmth on his face was washed away into the stream with the handful of water.

"Jiang Yichun!"

He Yinxin scooped up the water and splashed it carelessly.

Water splashed around him, adding ripples to the babbling brook and leaving a few drops on the rocks, but hardly any water fell on Jiang Yichun.

Jiang Yichun nimbly dodged, but the splashes of water from her feet did wet her skirt.

She burst into laughter: "Old He, you're so bad!"

He Yinxin lowered her eyes, scooped up another handful of water, and chased after Jiang Yichun's feet, splashing it all the way, but in the end, the water always returned to the stream.

Jiang Yichun continued his provocations: "Man, you're no good, you spilled it all so quickly!"

She turned around and stirred the stream with her arm, splashing water all over He Yinxin.

"Can't I?" He Yinxin chuckled and strode up, wrapping his wet hands around her shoulders and gently scratching her neck.

Jiang Yichun's legs went weak, and she pushed him away while yelling, "Stop tickling me! I'm ticklish!"

But she remained tightly clung to him.

"Is it really not possible?"

"No! The contract says you can't touch it without my permission!"

"Then why won't you let me go? Besides, the contract says it's above the neck, I haven't breached the contract."

"None of your business!"

He Yinxin's hand continued to stubbornly scratch her neck: "If you don't let go of me, I'll keep scratching."

Jiang Yichun was tickled until her whole body went limp, and she pushed him away with a grin: "Stop tickling me, you're the best, okay, robot dog?"

"How come you're so big but still look like a primary school student?"

"Likewise." He Yinxin finally let go of her, her cheeks still flushed.

After laughing and joking around for a while, the two sat on a large rock protruding from the water and listened to the babbling brook.

Both of them were soaking wet and could only look into each other's eyes.

"How are you? Happy, Lao He?" Jiang Yichun smiled at him and gently took his wrist.

He Yixin met her gaze. His glasses were still wet with tears. He held her hand tightly and said, "I'm so happy, Xiaochun, so happy."

"From childhood to adulthood, apart from the birthdays you celebrated for me, I've never been this happy, never laughed like this, and never..."

She leaned against his shoulder and intertwined her fingers with his: "Me too. Except when I was little and didn't realize it, I've never had so much fun with a boy."

“Xiaochun.” He Yinxin took a deep breath.

"Hmm?" Jiang Yichun looked up at him.

He Yinxin looked down at her and raised his hand to smooth her damp hair.

In his eyes, she was always clear and bright, like a patch of light falling on her, which could still illuminate her face even through layers of lush greenery.

She still had the same bright eyes as when he first met her. He thought that he couldn't understand the emotions in her eyes back then, but today, he could truly grasp the glimmer of happiness dancing in her eyes.

The lonely giantess planted flowers within her walls, just like herself, vibrant and full of life, giving herself endless oxygen.

He wanted to know the past of those flowers, and he also wanted to pour out his own past to her.

But he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue, and instead expressed his love with words like, "I like you, I feel like I can't live without you anymore."

He Yinxin leaned against her shoulder and rubbed against her gently. He was soaking wet, looking like a golden retriever that had just finished playing in the water.

Jiang Yichun took the opportunity to grab his head and continued to verbally attack him: "You cheesy monster, I never knew you could be this cheesy when I first added you on WeChat."

"Back then, you even asked me in a very serious tone if I had added you on Xianyu (a second-hand marketplace platform)."

"Pfft, hehe." He Yinxin laughed. "Yeah, because at that time I had just taken on a thesis tutoring job on Xianyu, and I was quite surprised when you sent me a message."

"The other person's profile picture on Xianyu (a Chinese online marketplace) clearly belongs to a boy, but the profile picture of the person who added me is so cute."

He took her broad hand and whispered, "I didn't expect it to be you. You're just as cute as your profile picture."

Jiang Yichun's tone stiffened as well: "Stop being so mushy, you stinky robot dog. Hey, so when you first met me... was it really in the school cafeteria?"

He Yinxin nodded, drawing circles in her palm with her fingertips: "Yes, back then, when I saw you over there gnawing on pig's trotters, it gave me the feeling of ignoring everyone else and enjoying the food."

"At that time... to be precise, it wasn't love at first sight in the typical sense, but rather my body started releasing dopamine and adrenaline..."

"Isn't this love at first sight?" Jiang Yichun said reproachfully.

He Yinxin shook her head: "No, it's just that a very strange feeling has formed in my mind, baby. Actually, I don't know when I started to like you."

"But by the time I realized it, I realized I'd liked you for a long time."

He felt the shoulder he was leaning on stiffen noticeably, and then he heard her cat-like voice in his ear: "He Yinxin! You, you, you... that's too cheesy!"

"And how could that be? What do you mean by liking someone only after the fact?"

He stroked her palm: "But the first time I left home, the first time I wanted to get rid of those two people, was essentially because I thought of you."

"Those two people wanted me to give up my master's degree at University A, go back to my hometown to find a job, and... wanted me to marry a girl I didn't know at all."

Jiang Yichun kept glancing in his direction out of the corner of her eye. She frowned and sighed, "So, you want to pretend to be my boyfriend to spite your parents?"

"Ah, Xiaochun, what exactly is going on in your head?" He Yinxin looked up at her, but quickly looked away and picked up a shirt from the side and draped it over her shoulders.

"I mean, at that time I was thinking of you eating pig's trotters."

"What? Can't you think of something romantic? You might as well become my fake couple and annoy your parents!" Jiang Yichun pinched his waist and wrapped his coat tighter around him.

He Yinxin shook her head, sat up straight, pulled her into her arms, and ran her fingers through her hair: "That won't do. If I had made you my fake girlfriend back then, I'm afraid I would have been hit by your Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms."

Jiang Yichun laughed: "Yeah, that's right, I'll even give you a nickname, hmm... let's call you Contract Bro!"

He Yinxin chuckled a few times in agreement: "Contract Brother? Then I'll choose the robot dog instead."

"Xiaochun's Exclusive Robot Dog".

Jiang Yichun stood up and held out his hand to him: "Then let's go home, robot dog?"

Her cheeks flushed red, and she refused to look directly at his body: "Our clothes are so wet right now, let's go home first and then we can be all lovey-dovey."

"You cheesy bastard."

He Yinxin nodded, took her hand, and the two waded across the stream and re-entered the jungle.

On their way back, He Yinxin continued to ramble on, explaining, "Xiaochun, when I think about you eating pig's trotters, I realize that people can really ignore other people's opinions and do what they want."

"Okay, okay, stop saying 'pig's trotters' all the time, it sounds weird."

Jiang Yichun pinched his palm, and He Yinxin shut his mouth and lowered his eyes.

She took a small step closer and whispered in his ear, "But, hearing that you liked me so early on, and that you chose to be brave because of me, actually makes me quite happy. So... I'll tell you a secret too?"

"Actually, the first time I met you wasn't when we were drinking milk tea in the cafeteria."