He turned abruptly, pointing towards the dark forest:
"A perfect fart shouldn't just be a sound and a smell; it should have form! It should be like an invisible shockwave! Exploding with a bang! Devastating everything! Twisting the surrounding air! Making the leaves tremble! Making mosquitoes instantly faint! It's an extension of Alpha dominance! It's a clarion call announcing the existence of territory!"
Li Yuheng's eyes lit up instantly, and he excitedly grabbed Shu Bai's arm and shook it vigorously.
Shu Bai stared back at him expressionlessly.
Li Yuheng was dejected and clutched his chest in anguish.
The fart expert continued, his hands clasped together as if in prayer:
"And urine! Like a mountain stream! Like a waterfall plunging three thousand feet—"
"Stop! Stop! Stop!!!"
President Chen Niansha finally lost her temper and stood up abruptly: "You lot! Did you eat too much for dinner and want to throw up some to feed the ants? You'd better stop now!"
Everyone then realized how strangely the topic had taken off, and a burst of awkward, suppressed coughs and chuckles followed.
"...Alright, alright, pack up and get ready to rest! We need to get up early tomorrow to climb to the top and watch the sunrise!"
…
Shu Bai zipped up the tent, shutting out the chill of the mountains and the afterglow of the campfire.
He turned around and saw Li Yuheng sitting cross-legged on the moisture-proof mat, his hands forming a mudra on his knees, his eyes closed in concentration, looking solemn and dignified.
"What are you doing?"
Shu Bai unbuttoned his coat and asked casually.
Li Yuheng's eyelashes did not move, and his voice was calm and distant, as if it had its own reverberation: "Shh, don't disturb me, I am absorbing the essence of the sun and moon."
Shu Bai paused, looking up at the tent top: "There's no moon tonight."
Outside the tent, only the howling mountain wind and the occasional cry of an unknown night bird could be heard.
"Then let's absorb the power of the stars."
Li Yuheng immediately changed his tune, his brows furrowing slightly, as if he were struggling to connect with some kind of energy deep in the universe.
"Can you feel it? The Big Dipper is pouring its energy into me... The Purple Star shines brightly, the Imperial Star glitters, reflecting my destiny..."
Shu Bai spread out her sleeping bag: "...I really didn't feel anything."
A crack appeared in Li Yuheng's solemn appearance.
He opened one eye: "...Little Shubai, can't you cooperate a little and let me quietly put on a complete act of arrogance?"
“…Okay. You can continue then.” Shu Bai lay down in her sleeping bag, turning her back to him. “You absorb your star power, and I’ll sleep. We won’t disturb each other.”
Li Yuheng immediately stopped his practice, crawled over on all fours, and squeezed into the sparse white sleeping bag: "That won't do! After absorbing the energy, I urgently need a vessel to harmonize Yin and Yang and consolidate my cultivation!"
Shu Bai stumbled as he jostled her: "Li Yuheng! This is a single sleeping bag!"
"It's alright, I'm not fat, I can fit in. Besides, I just absorbed so much star power, I'm all hot, so this will warm you up. You're welcome, it's what I should do."
Shu Bai tried to kick him out, but failed.
The space inside the tent is cramped, and making large movements could easily tip it over.
He sighed and gave up struggling: "...You're not absorbing any essence at all, you're just bored."
Li Yuheng rubbed against him, taking advantage of the situation, and chuckled, "Who said that? I've absorbed so much. I absorbed the essence of the apple you gave me, the essence of the look in your eyes when you glared at me just now, and the way you're helplessly indulging me now... Tsk tsk, very nourishing."
The mountain wind outside started to howl.
Shu Bai, unable to resist his pestering, closed her eyes and hummed, "...You're noisier than the mountain wind."
Li Yuheng chuckled softly, tightening his grip on Li Yuheng's arm and nuzzling his head with his chin: "How about I tell you a bedtime story? I promise it'll be gentler than the mountain breeze."
"I won't listen."
“Once upon a time, there was a mountain,” Li Yuheng began to say to himself, his voice low and slow, like the velvety night, “and there was a temple in the mountain.”
"...outdated."
“There are no monks in the temple,” Li Yuheng quickly added, “but there is a prince.”
Shu Bai paused slightly in breathing, but did not respond.
“The Crown Prince is good in every way, except he can’t sleep.” Li Yuheng said lazily, “The mountain wind bothers him, the stars dazzle him, and he even finds the sound of the grass turning over noisy. But the more he can’t sleep, the more he insists on sleeping. He sleeps during the day, he sleeps at night, he sleeps in the sky, he sleeps on the ground, and as a result, his eyelids are wide open and more energetic than copper bells.”
"The prince went to ask his parents why, and they coaxed him, saying, 'Because you're a little angel, and little angels don't need to sleep.' The prince didn't believe them; he was sure he had insomnia. So he found a book that said, 'Excess energy easily leads to insomnia. You must play until you're exhausted and fall asleep.' Then, this prince started causing trouble as much as he could."
"And then?" Shu Bai's voice was muffled inside the sleeping bag.
"And then?" Li Yuheng smirked smugly. "Then he found a little moon. The little moon didn't like to shine or talk, but when he put it in his arms, it was more effective than any calming incense."
He lowered his head, his nose brushing against the back of Shu Bai's neck: "Then the Crown Prince fell asleep. Look, like this."
Shu Bai remained silent for a moment, then suddenly turned over.
In the darkness, they could hear each other's breaths, and Li Yuheng could clearly see the thin shadow cast by his eyelashes.
“You are the moon,” he suddenly said.
Li Yuheng was stunned.
Shu Bai had already closed her eyes, her forehead resting on his shoulder: "...She's radiating idiocy."
Li Yuheng felt a jolt in his chest, and a laugh welled up, but he suppressed it tightly.
In the end, he simply pulled his arms around "Little Moon" and hugged her tightly.
"Hmm," he sighed contentedly, "Now that you're protected by the light, go to sleep."
Outside the tent, the mountain breeze swept through the treetops and indeed became quieter.
…
As the pale morning light began to appear outside the tent, Shu Bai woke up first.
Li Yuheng's arms were still wrapped heavily around his waist, and his steady breathing swept past his ears.
He tried to move, and the person behind him immediately gave a muffled "hmm" and hugged him even tighter.
“Li Yuheng,” Shu Bai said softly, “it’s dawn.”
"...Battery is charging...Do not disturb..."
Shu Bai was speechless after being taken aback by his silly comment about the battery life. After a moment of silence, she suddenly spoke up: "Li Yuheng."
"Um……"
Li Yuheng was still immersed in the warm, half-asleep state, responding with a heavy nasal tone.
"Do you want to know what I was doing when I backed up that photo before you took my communicator yesterday?"
Li Yuheng's drowsiness vanished almost instantly.
His eyes were still closed, but the hand around Shu Bai's waist tightened suddenly, his tone filled with alertness and intense curiosity: "...What did you do? You really did have a backup plan!"
Shu Bai said no more.
He even slowly pried open Li Yuheng's fingers that were wrapped around his waist, sat up, and began to tidy up his sleeping bag, as if he had just mentioned it casually.
Li Yuheng was now fully awake, sitting up abruptly, his hair sticking up in a messy updo, staring at Shu Bai's profile:
"No... you only said half of what you meant? Shu Xiaobai, you've gone astray! You weren't like this before!"
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