Shu Bai zipped up her sleeping bag before slowly glancing at him: "The past is the past, the present is the present."
Li Yuheng lunged forward to grab his wrist, but was easily dodged.
"No! You have to tell me! Otherwise, I'll climb the mountain carrying you on my back today!"
Shu Bai paused in adjusting her coat, then looked up at him: "You really want to know?"
"hold head high!"
Shu Bai didn't answer, and instead lowered his head to operate the communicator.
Li Yuheng held his breath and leaned closer, only to see Shu Bai open the group photo on his phone and swipe his finger across the editing area.
[Cancelled], [Cancelled], [Cancelled].
The pale pink cat ears disappeared, and the fluffy tail was gone.
The photo returned to its original state: in front of the vast sea of clouds, Li Yuheng smiled brightly, with a faint curve at the corner of his white lips.
Li Yuheng was stunned: "...That's it?"
Shu Bai turned off the screen and looked up at him: "Otherwise?"
"You went through all that trouble just to...restore the original image?! And you even lied to me and said it was just a backup! And you smiled so mysteriously!"
“Yes, there is a backup.” Shu Bai stood up and pulled open the tent flap.
A crisp morning breeze swept in, dispelling the barely audible chuckle in his voice, "I've backed up evidence of how uniquely stupid you are."
Li Yuheng stared blankly at his backlit figure, then after a few seconds suddenly lunged forward and hugged him from behind around the waist: "Fine, you tricked me!"
Shu Bai stumbled forward half a step after being bumped by him, then turned around and raised an eyebrow: "So tell me, did you manage to fool me or not?"
In the distance, Chen Niansha's whistle pierced the valley.
"Gather together! Let's head to the summit to watch the sunrise!"
The campsite instantly sprang into action, with tents being quickly dismantled and packed up, sleeping bags rolled up, and trash carefully collected.
Chen Niansha stood on a high rock and counted the number of people: "The last stretch to the summit! The steepest and most dangerous! Check your equipment and keep an eye on each other! Safety first! Sunrise second! Got it?"
"clear!"
The final summit section is almost vertical, with rough stone steps barely wide enough for half a foot. On one side is a cold rock wall, and on the other side is a swirling cloud and a dizzying abyss.
The team was stretched out in a thin line.
The sounds of panting, the clatter of trekking poles against rocks, and the occasional tumble of small stones were amplified; apart from these, only the howling mountain wind could be heard.
Li Yuheng was arrogant in his words, but his movements were extremely steady.
He always lagged behind Shu Bai by half a step, one hand gripping the protrusion of the rock wall, the other hand hovering loosely behind Shu Bai's waist.
His gaze was fixed on Shu Bai's footsteps. As they passed a particularly slippery corner, he said, "Watch your step, and don't look down."
Shu Bai responded and became even more cautious as he stepped forward.
A short, startled cry came from ahead.
Yu You slipped and fell to his knees on the stone steps. Fortunately, Wu Yue and Chen Niansha reached out and pulled him back.
Yu You's face turned deathly pale, and her voice trembled as she thanked him.
The atmosphere within the group became even more solemn.
"Hold on tight to the rope!" Chen Niansha shouted back, "We're almost there!"
The sky gradually changed from grayish-blue to crimson-gold, with intense light shining through the clouds.
They had to reach the viewing platform at the summit before sunrise.
Shu Bai suddenly turned around and glanced at Li Yuheng.
Li Yuheng raised an eyebrow: "Oh, you're worried about me?"
Shu Bai had already turned back and continued upwards, her voice carried on the wind: "I'm afraid if you fall, no one will be there to cushion your fall."
Li Yuheng smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'll make sure you get the most comfortable padding."
"No, you absolutely have to climb to the top of the mountain."
"Why?"
Yes, why?
Shu Bai's personality doesn't seem like that of someone who would be enthusiastic about such a strenuous and self-inflicted group activity.
Back then, the military command department had so many clubs: tactical simulation, Starcraft, and even mech simulators...
Which one wouldn't suit his taste better than this mountaineering club with its jumbled rocks?
But Shu Bai chose the mountaineering club.
The movie flashed through Li Yuheng's mind.
On the day of registration, Shu Bai's eyes swept across the room so quickly that he hardly lingered on any other clubs. He went straight to the mountaineering club, filled out the form and paid the fee in a flash.
"...You should climb up first and then we'll talk."
"Tsk."
The slope is gentler in the last few dozen meters, but the sense of exposure is stronger.
The fierce wind came crashing in without any shelter, almost knocking people over.
At the end of the stone steps, the outline of a huge platform appeared in the gradually brightening sky.
Li Yuheng exerted his strength and caught up with Shu Bai in a few steps, standing shoulder to shoulder with him, his fingers still tightly wrapped around the shared rope.
"Hurry up!" he shouted, his eyes shining brightly. "It's coming out!"
They jumped onto the platform almost simultaneously.
In an instant, the view opened up.
Beneath my feet, a sea of clouds surged and stretched towards the horizon, while directly ahead, on the distant horizon, a blazing red sun was about to emerge, burning the clouds with scorching golden edges, and its rays of light tore through the morning mist and poured down.
Those who arrived earlier scattered across the platform, quietly gazing at the magnificent sight, their faces bathed in a golden-red light.
Li Yuheng was panting, his chest heaving violently, but he immediately turned to look at Shu Bai.
Shu Bai squinted slightly, gazing at the sunrise. His profile was clear and serene in the bright light, and the wind blew the black hair on his forehead back.
Li Yuheng stared at it, suddenly forgetting to breathe.
He tugged at the rope he had been holding, drawing a sidelong glance from Shu Bai.
"What?" Shu Bai asked.
Li Yuheng didn't speak, but simply raised his tightly clenched right hand and slowly opened his palm in front of him.
At the end of that rough climbing rope, he clumsily but firmly wrapped it into the shape of a crooked heart with red braided rope from who-knows-where.
The bright red rope stood out starkly against the gray climbing rope, looking both silly and jarring in the rising sun.
“Look,” Li Yuheng smiled, brighter than the rising sun behind him, “I found your little heart.”
Shu Bai's gaze slowly moved from the uniquely ugly red heart to Li Yuheng's face, which was soaked with sweat but smug.
A strong mountain wind blew, causing clothes to flutter loudly.
Shu Bai reached out and took it, her fingertips carefully stroking the rough woven texture, and suddenly chuckled very softly.
"...A bit ugly."
Just as Li Yuheng was about to retort triumphantly, a sudden wave of noise surged from the platform entrance.
"Awooo—!!! We're up! We're up!!"
"Sunrise! Sunrise! Quick, take a picture!"
"Brothers! We have conquered Cuiyun Peak!"
It was the group with the pink headscarves; they rushed onto the platform noisily, instantly shattering the previous tranquility.
The group immediately started taking pictures like crazy, striking all sorts of exaggerated poses and shouting at the sunrise.
Li Yuheng clicked his tongue, his annoyance at being interrupted just beginning to surface. But when he turned around, he found that Shu Bai had already left and was sitting alone on a large protruding rock not far away, quietly drinking water from his kettle.
He immediately forgot about the pink headscarves, took a few steps over, and sat down on the rock facing Shu Bai, his knees almost touching Shu Bai's.
Shu Bai looked up at him but didn't say anything.
Li Yuheng didn't say anything. He casually picked up a few pebbles from the edge of the rock and slowly arranged them in a row along the edge of the large rock.
"Little system." Li Yuheng began pushing the first pebble.
0090: [Your Highness, what's wrong?]
"It's been a while since I chatted with you. Let me call you to play around." Li Yuheng started pushing the second pebble.
0090: […Thank you, Your Highness, for not forgetting me.]
"Okay. You're welcome. Let's play a game. If I push down the third pebble and you still haven't told me why Shu Bai insisted on choosing the mountaineering club, you'll have to list two hundred of my good points within a minute."
As soon as he finished speaking, Li Yuheng's fingertips touched the third pebble, and with a slight force, the pebble wobbled precariously at the edge.
0090: [...]
Just then, Shu Bai's voice came clearly, interrupting his actions:
“Li Yuheng”.
Li Yuheng paused, then looked up.
"For you."
Shu Bai's voice was very calm. As soon as he finished speaking, he turned off the screen of the communicator in his other hand.
But even in that instant, the words that flashed across the page were still clearly visible:
"As an Alpha, what would be a cool thing to say when giving someone a ring?"
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