Chapter 26: Going up the mountain. Who the hell is pulling us little cats to do hard labor? ...
Because I haven't been out much, Chang Xile hasn't even seen Anping much these days. After we went to Changle Mountain, everyone went their separate ways for National Day, so we haven't seen each other much since.
After hearing what Chang Xile said, Yang Guisi suddenly suggested, "Why don't you ask him if he wants to go with us this weekend?"
Chang Xile's first reaction was to ask with concern, "Would you feel uncomfortable traveling with someone you don't know?"
Yang Guisi felt puzzled: "Why should I feel uncomfortable?"
After a while she suddenly laughed: "Let's make a bet. I guess he doesn't dare to go."
The word "dare" in "dare not go" is used very cleverly. Usually, when someone refuses an invitation, they often say they "don't want to go" or "can't go." But when it comes to "dare not," it means that they want to go, but something they fear is holding them back.
What is there in Changle Mountain that Anping should be afraid of?
Chang Xile wondered, "Why?"
Fang Xinai chimed in, "From my experience, it's possible a man doesn't have the stamina to complete the climb, but he's afraid of embarrassing himself in front of his girlfriend, so he simply doesn't go."
Chang Xile couldn't reconcile this cheesy reason with Anping no matter what.
Ren Qing nodded in agreement: "But he does look like a weak scholar.
Chang Hele tried to defend Anping's reputation: "Wherever I go, Anping will be with me."
Yang Guisi raised his eyebrows. "There's no point in arguing. Just ask and you'll know."
Chang Xile asked, "What's the bet?"
The other three said in unison, "Whoever loses is responsible for bringing dinner!"
Just ask, Chang Xile opened his phone and started talking.
(T_T): [Anping, do you want to go hiking with me this weekend?]
Anping: [OK]
Anping: [Why are you still crying?]
(＾ｖ＾): [Oh, I forgot to change it back]
Chang Xile raised his phone screen and said with a smug smile, "Look!"
Yang Guisi was unconvinced. She raised her chin and said slowly, "Which mountain did you tell him to climb?"
"Changle Mountain is the highest mountain in the mountain city. In order to protect the environment, the man-made road only reaches halfway up the mountain. You have to take the trail by yourself in the second half, which is very troublesome." Ren Qing explained to the somewhat confused Fang Xinai.
Since Anping had already promised Chang Xile, he would keep the appointment no matter what. But after all, we can't expect others to understand Anping. In order to avoid going out to buy dinner, Chang Xile asked:
(＾ｖ＾): [Don’t you even ask what kind of mountain it is?]
Anping was very cooperative: [What mountain?]
(＾ｖ＾): [The highest mountain in the entire mountain city is Changle Mountain!]
Anping: [Will you be unable to climb? I can carry you then.]
Oh no.
Fang Xinai, who was watching the show from the side, let out a "hmm" and gave a thumbs-up. Yang Guisi was puzzled and muttered, "That shouldn't be the case?"
Chang Xile smiled and tapped her forehead with her fingertips: "Go buy dinner, dear Guisi."
Yang Guisi was still puzzled when he reached the cafeteria door: "This shouldn't be right!" He scared the young couple who were taking a walk next to him after dinner.
Chang Xile flipped through the calendar and continued to ask:
(＾v＾): [Anping, are you planning to go home for National Day?]
Anping: [I plan to visit my teacher.]
(＾v＾): [Where is your teacher?]
Anping: [In the mountain city]
Anping considered his words for a while before saying: [a certain hilltop]
Chang Xile had never heard Anping mention his mentor, but she was curious about this description: [A certain mountain?]
Anping: [The teacher likes to visit various places, so it takes time to look for him.]
He really looks like Yang Guisi's master. No wonder they say that those who are sages like to travel the world. The mountain city gets its name from being surrounded by mountains. It is blessed with beautiful scenery and is known as one of the most livable cities in Country C.
So the day before departure, Yang Guisi and Chang Xile were packing their luggage, while Fang Xinai was leaning on the back of a chair watching their discussion.
Chang Xile found her eager look funny and asked, "Do you want to go too?"
Before Fang Xinai could nod, Ren Qing interrupted her: "I've just recovered from a serious illness. It takes me a long time to catch my breath even after climbing a teaching building. Please don't interfere with me."
Fang Xinai lowered his head like a wilted balloon: "Okay..."
After a while, Ren Qing pulled out the suitcase next to the wardrobe, spread it out, and began to pack.
Fang Xinai said in disbelief, "You're not going too, are you? I'll be the only one left in the dormitory!"
Ren Qing looked a little worried: "I've been having too many nightmares lately. My mom told me to take a leave and go home early."
Fang Xinai burst into tears: "I don't want to sleep alone, I'm scared too, sob ...
Ren Qing was originally struggling to decide which doll to take home, but when she saw Fang Xinai crying—though it was just a dry howl—she stuffed the largest doll into her arms. Ren Qing treasured these dolls so much that Fang Xinai wasn't allowed near them without washing her hands.
Fang Xinai stopped crying, looked at the soft baby in her arms, squeezed it, and sighed, "It feels so good."
Ren Qing snorted, raised his head and said, "This is my favorite character peripheral. Let it accompany you in my place."
"Wow, Sister Ren, I knew you were the best to me!" Fang Xinai pounced and hugged Ren Qing. The person being hugged was frowning and thinking about which baby to take home.
The next day, Chang Xile turned off the alarm clock, washed up quietly, and left the dormitory with Yang Guisi.
Before leaving, Yang Guisi gestured to Chang Xile to wait a moment.
She bit her index finger and used the blood from her fingertip to draw some symbols on a piece of yellow paper. She then handed it to Chang Xile and whispered, "Keep it."
When Yang Guisi bit her finger, Chang Xile took out a Band-Aid from the drawer. She took the yellow talisman and put it in her bag, then dragged Yang Guisi to the bathroom quite forcefully to clean the wound and properly put the Band-Aid on her.
After they got out of the door, the two began to communicate in normal volume.
Chang Xile finally had time to examine the yellow talisman carefully. Hmm... it was even harder to recognize than the doctor's signature handwriting. She muttered to herself, "What kind of words are these?"
Yang Guisi laughed at her: "This isn't a word, of course you don't recognize it."
She carefully explained to Chang Xile the importance of this talisman: "This is a gathering talisman. It can temporarily lock your luck around you. Otherwise, I'm afraid you won't be able to make it to Chang Xile's side."
Chang Xile looked at the dried blood and suddenly asked, "Why use blood?"
The last time she gave Fang Xinai the talisman, it was written with clear water.
"It lasts longer." The principle behind this was too obscure for Chang Xile to understand. Yang Guisi only explained the result. She then said self-deprecatingly, "After all, I'm not strong enough. If my master were here..."
"I wanted to say," Chang Xile was moved, "Guisi, how can you be so nice...!"
"Huh?" Yang Guisi didn't understand the reason for this sudden praise. She scratched her head, "This amount of blood isn't enough to cover the amount of blood I've been sucked by mosquitoes this week, right?"
"Didn't you say that you don't like to interfere with other people's karma, and you help us only because you influence us?" Chang Xile asked.
Yang Guisi nodded: "Yes."
"But Fang Xinai was possessed by a starving ghost, and I was asked for a title by a weasel, both happened long before you moved back. It's obviously nothing to do with you." After analyzing everything one by one, Chang Xile concluded that Yang Guisi was a good person.
Yang Guisi was speechless for a moment. Honestly, she had been meddling in too many other people's affairs these days, which was very unlike her usual style.
"You look like an old friend of mine." That's all she said.
So, help as much as you can.
When they got downstairs, Anping was already waiting by the big banyan tree opposite. Chang Xile yawned and walked over to greet Yang Guisi side by side: "Anping, you're up so early."
After seeing Anping's face clearly, Chang Xile felt something was wrong. She took a big step forward, pinched his face, looked around, and then said sadly, "Why are your dark circles so heavy?"
Anping is fair-skinned, so the dark circles under his eyes are even more obvious.
Anping blinked and didn't struggle, but his words were slurred because his face was pinched: "I'm going to check the route."
Chang Xile let go of his hand: "Hmm?"
He took out a scroll from his bag and unfolded it to reveal a map of Changle Mountain. Every detail of the map was recorded in it, making it a fairly complete map.
It would be said that Yang Guisi herself was more familiar with Changle Mountain, but she had carefully looked at the map, and several major landmarks were consistent with her impression, and some difficult-to-understand details were also marked by him one by one, even including where there were caves and streams.
"Did you draw all this in one night?" Chang Xile exclaimed.
Yang Guisi was puzzled: "Even professional bloggers on the Internet can't write such a detailed roadmap. How did you do it?"
An Ping glanced at her and replied to Chang Xile, "I asked some friends for help."
Yang Guisi snorted: "What friend? Take Xile to meet him next time."
The tone was unfriendly, and Chang Xile remembered the time when Yang Guisi advised her to be careful about Anping.
An Ping exchanged glances with her, then turned to ask Chang Xile, "Why didn't you tell me in advance that she was going too?"
Without waiting for Chang Xile to answer, Yang Guisi snorted coldly, "I can hear everything, okay?"
Chang Xile: Oh no, I forgot they don’t get along.
Chang Xile hurried to smooth things over: "Guisi has helped me a lot these past few days. Anping, stop being rude!"
Yang Guisi felt a little regretful. When she originally proposed the idea, she had never thought that Anping would agree to the date, otherwise she would not have shot herself in the foot.
But this was a good thing. With more contact, maybe Yang Guisi would reveal Anping's true colors along the way. No person, animal, or ghost could escape the sight of the Buddha of Eternal Joy. She didn't lose heart, but instead stared at Anping's back unkindly, waiting for the person she suspected to reveal a flaw.
This person simply took the bag from Chang Xile's hand and walked towards the outside of the school.
When Fang Xinai woke up, her dorm was empty. She watched videos for a few hours, sang a song, and then happily opened her WeChat Moments.
One of her pleasures is to review the submissions to the confession wall every day.
She scrolled down to the top and refreshed the page, and a post appeared.
Campus Wall Post: Oh my god, who's making our school kittens do hard labor late at night? (bushi) Today, I went to feed the kittens with snacks as usual, but I found them all sleeping, one by one, like they'd been thieves all night. Is this normal?
There were not many people who replied, only one sentence:
[I stayed up late last night and did see many cats walking around late at night. I don’t know what they were busy with.]
Fang Xinai was bored and held the doll left by Ren Qing. After a while, he fell asleep again.
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