Chapter 42
Perhaps it was because today's almanac indicated an auspicious day for travel, but Yuncheng, a city usually known for its rain and snow in winter, was unusually sunny.
Today, Chen Che drove his own car. Since it was quite hot, he opened the windows, and the wind blew through the entire car, carrying a slight coolness.
"It feels so good, I haven't felt this way in a long time. I was just watching a video and it said there might be a shooting star passing by here tonight. Do you think we'll be able to see it?" Ning Wensong relaxed back in her chair, enjoying the breeze.
Shen Che wasn't sure either, so he cautiously replied, "If there weren't any trees blocking the view at the foot of Songqing Mountain, we should be able to see it, right?"
The weather is great today, and there shouldn't be many clouds tonight.
Ning Wensong looked into the distance, suddenly becoming excited. He nudged Chen Che's arm and pointed into the distance, "That's Song Qingshan! We're almost there!"
She was excited to see everyone soon, and her heart started racing.
To avoid distracting Chen Che while he was driving, she stopped talking and just kept staring at the mountain, feeling herself getting closer and closer to it, until the car stopped.
"Okay, baby, we've arrived." Chen Che opened the car door for her from the passenger side. The exact location of the campsite couldn't be reached by car; they had to walk.
Ning Wensong then came to her senses. She took Chen Che's hand and got out of the car. With his help, she put on her small shoulder bag and they walked up the mountain hand in hand.
The mountain has existed for countless years, and the forest is extremely dense. The two were blocked by waist-high wild grass as soon as they tried to go in.
"Is it really true that the foot of this mountain requires passing through a small grove of trees?"
“Since it’s basically the same as camping on the street here, Xu Lin chose a flat area a little below the mountainside. He just messaged us saying there’s a small path nearby, and he wants us to go up from there.” Shen Che patted her head, comforting her. He then took her hand and led her around, searching for something.
There is a village at the foot of Songqingshan Mountain. Many people pick or grow things on this mountain. That path was probably maintained by them, otherwise no one would bother to prune such dense and tall grass.
The two wandered around for a while but still couldn't find any trace of the path. All they could see was greenery.
Ning Wensong seemed to sense something and walked to the left for a while. She smelled a fragrance that made her unable to resist moving closer. Shen Che let her arrange things and was led by her to walk slowly.
"Can you smell it? It smells so good!" she exclaimed as they walked, and as the fragrance grew stronger, they walked even faster.
After crossing a dense patch of grass, the view opened up into a clearing, revealing a path.
Shen Che was a little surprised that the fragrance had led him to the real path. Could this fragrance have been created by Xu Lin...?
"Let's go, it must be Xu Lin who's helping us."
"Hey! Could this smell be catnip?" Ning Wensong guessed. She had never smelled it before, but she had heard a lot about catnip.
She looked at Chen Che and found that he was not tempted by the fragrance at all, but instead remained calm. She couldn't help but wonder, "Don't you like this smell?"
He was rather distressed, "I've lived this long, and this tastes pretty much like ice cream to me—fragrant but not addictive."
Long ago, Shen Che lived in a place that was a catnip paradise. After that time, he became immune to it, but he still couldn't let Ning Wensong know about this memory, as he was a little embarrassed to talk about how he had inhaled catnip.
Ning Wensong scrutinized him with an inquiring gaze. Just as Shen Che was about to give up, she looked away and said regretfully, "Alright."
She secretly smiled as she watched Shen Che visibly relax, determined to force him to reveal the truth later.
The two walked slowly along the empty path, and soon came to a wide open plain. As they got closer, they could see that four large tents had already been set up there.
"Sister! Come quick!" Xu Lin, with her sharp eyes, spotted them immediately and stood up, waving frantically.
He was accompanied by Yun Que and Gu Ci, a brother and sister.
Ning Wensong was amused; her brother was too lively. She grabbed Chen Che's hand and rushed towards them.
The mountain breeze carries a fresh fragrance. Song Qingshan truly lives up to its name. This flat area is surrounded by greenery, and looking up, the mountaintops are tinged with white—that's accumulated snow.
Most of the animals are hibernating, and only sparse bird calls can be heard in the mountains.
"Hehe, you guys got here so quickly!" Ning Wensong went straight to Gu Nian and hugged her tightly. "Mmm... I missed you so much!"
Gu Nian was moved to tears by the hug; her spirit, which had been driven to the brink of madness by group assignments at school, was saved at this moment.
Ning Wensong was hugged so tightly that she almost couldn't breathe, so she quickly patted her back.
"Phew, hahaha, looks like you missed me too!"
"Hehe, I quickly packed my things and went home yesterday when Chen Che mentioned camping. I really don't want to stay at school any longer!" Gu Nian pulled her aside to ask about the competition details. The official announcement only revealed the rankings; they knew nothing about the details.
The two whispered to each other and went to play on the other side, leaving behind four men—no, three men and a little boy.
Yun Que looked up at the three lonely men, pouted, and took out Xu Lin's phone to start playing games.
The game is so much fun!
The three of them looked at each other in silence, and standing there seemed awkward, so Xu Lin called for them to sit down together. "Chen Che, has my sister decided on her look for the final?"
When this topic came up, Chen Che got excited. He raised his head slightly and said smugly, "I'll style my hair."
Xu Lin, Gu Ci: ......
You've made yourself famous, haven't you?
"That's great, hehe, that's great! If I had a real-life counterpart, she would definitely be willing to be me!" Xu Lin couldn't help but want to argue, but he regretted it as soon as he opened his mouth. He secretly glanced at Ning Wensong to make sure she hadn't heard him.
Chen Che shattered his delusion and said directly, "Don't think about it. He knows you've lost your cat demon identity, he's just keeping it to himself."
After he finished speaking, he remembered something else and couldn't help but laugh, "Just you wait, she was talking in her sleep about killing you a few days ago, it's only a matter of time before she comes to you about this. Although she knows you mean well, you have to think about this from her perspective."
No one spoke after he finished speaking. Xu Lin looked nervous and hesitated for a long time before finally saying, "I will take the initiative to admit my mistake."
Just as they were wondering what to do, Xiao Li and Hei Yin hurriedly arrived.
Now everyone was present. Ning Wensong, the protagonist of this camping trip, had everyone sit down and introduced each person to those she didn't know. Her introductions included not only names and identities but also a few things that highlighted their unique characteristics.
After the introductions, everyone got to know each other quite well, especially the three girls who couldn't wait to start playing.
Xu Lin spoke up promptly, smiling at everyone, "It's almost noon, and our plan for today is a barbecue! We'll also have afternoon games, and there's a small lake nearby where we can go fishing; tonight we'll have hot pot! I've prepared a lot of things, let's begin!"
The group cheered and began cooking.
When Ning Wensong opened the groceries Xu Lin had brought, he was genuinely shocked. Had he emptied the entire supermarket?
But it's great, you can grill whatever you want to eat.
Today, the sun shone warmly, slowly climbing to the zenith as they grilled their meat. The warm sunlight shone down, and their laughter drifted into the distance, reaching the ears of someone who had been smuggling himself down the mountain.
A gentle breeze blew, carrying a scent that excited the cat.
"It's catnip again! Who brought this? The smell is so strong, I'm going to turn into a cat!" Ning Wensong was in the area with the strongest fragrance. As soon as she finished speaking, she couldn't resist and turned into a cat. A moment later, a Devon cat crawled out of the pile of clothes, meowing.
Gu Nian, who was sitting next to her, felt a jolt in her heart as she looked at the scene before her. She turned to look at the others, who had all turned into cats one after another, as long as Chen Che was still persisting.
Xu Lin stood there, stunned and somewhat at a loss. Staring at the murderous glares of all the cats, he weakly began, "I thought you'd like it. It's been so long since I've been a cat, so I bought some high-quality catnip worth 200,000..."
He never expected that the catnip he bought for 200,000 yuan would be so powerful.
"......"
Everyone present fell silent. What kind soul would buy such expensive catnip for a bunch of cat demons?!
Ning Wensong was the first to speak, "Xu Lin, what is your crime?"
Her tone was flat, but her cat-like face betrayed her anger; she could sense that she wouldn't be able to turn back into a human for at least two hours.
Oh dear, his sister isn't calling him brother anymore. Xu Lin clasped his hands together and squeezed out a few tears. "I really didn't mean to! Please forgive me."
All the cats sighed helplessly and went to their own tents to rest. They thought that if they stayed here for another day, they might turn into humans.
Ning Wensong was the last to enter the tent. She shouted, "Seal this catnip tightly. Don't open it anywhere the cat demon is!"
After saying that, she followed Chen Che inside without looking back.
Xu Lin stood there and sighed helplessly. He had meant well but had made things worse. He resigned himself to cleaning up the catnip. Gu Ci and Gu Nian found it funny and went to help him.
The planned games were cancelled, and everyone went to the tent to rest.
A gentle breeze blew by, this time carrying no unusual fragrance, but instead bringing a person.
Attracted by the burst of laughter, the monk turned down a small path from the long ladder. Having lived on this mountain for almost his entire life, he knew it like the back of his hand and quickly found the safe path.
When he slowly strolled to the source of the sound, he saw only four tents. The monk wondered if someone was camping here.
Songqingshan is quite a niche area; almost no one comes here for anything other than hiking.
He was hesitating whether to go over when he saw a black and white kitten emerge from the middle tent. It looked left and right before finally fixing its gaze on him.
The monk was a little puzzled. He took a few steps to the left and right before he realized that the kitten was indeed looking at him.
He tried to walk a little closer to the tent, but before he got close, the black and white kitten ran towards him.
As the kitten drew closer, the monk suddenly realized it looked familiar. He crouched down, looked at the kitten, and whispered, "Little kitten, haven't we met before?"
Ning Wensong's round eyes slowly welled up with tears as she looked at the monk's face, which gradually overlapped with the face of the little monk who had carried her out of the tree hole.
She called out a few times in a hurry, only to realize that what came out was a cat's meow.
After a moment's hesitation, he spoke in human language this time, "I've seen you before, you saved me! Do you remember that winter?"
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