Chapter 5
Lan Shuqing followed Jiang Bai's pace. She glanced at the road ahead and found that there were not many ups and downs.
Jiang Bai saw Lan Shuqing following him. To make the atmosphere less awkward, Jiang Bai started chatting, "Have you ever climbed a mountain before?"
Lan Shuqing recalled and said, "No." She was only in her second year of high school before. Lan Zhaoting and Li Liyue didn't supervise her strictly, and they often went out to travel, but they had never walked through the mountain path step by step like this.
Jiang Bai smiled and said, "I've been to Xiaocheng Mountain before, but according to the guide on Xiaohongshu, climbing Damei Mountain is much more difficult than Xiaocheng Mountain."
"If you've never climbed a mountain, aren't you afraid of getting tired?"
Lan Shuqing saw the bright smile in Jiang Bai's eyes and felt even more curious. She first replied, "I'm not afraid," and then asked, "Do you like climbing mountains?"
Jiang Bai hummed, "It's okay..."
Lan Shu's eyes were smiling, and it was okay, so he probably just liked her.
There were not many people on the mountain road. All that could be seen were green forests. The sunlight filtered through, bringing a touch of warmth. There were also a few ancient buildings in the front, which actually sold some special products from the scenic area. In such a quiet and pleasant environment, Jiang Bai turned her head and saw the smile in Lan Shuqing's eyes. She was a little dazed for a moment. Lan Shuqing was really the most handsome person she had ever seen.
Jiang Bai leaned on a bamboo stick and asked, "How old are you?"
Lan Shu replied lightly, "Nineteen."
Jiang Bai calculated that if Lan Shuqing was already 19 in her third year of high school, she would have started school a year later than others, so she would have been 18 when she graduated from her third year of high school. It turned out that Lan Shuqing was more mature than other children.
"Sister, how old are you?" Lan Shuqing asked.
Jiang Bai smiled and said, "I'm five years older than you." She really deserved the title of sister, but Jiang Bai continued, "Just call me by my name, no need to call me sister."
If it were someone of the same generation, Jiang Bai might be embarrassed to tell her age, but there was still an age gap between her and Lan Shuqing, so she didn't mind. After all, she had to be a few years older, after all, the other kid was still in his senior year of high school.
Lan Shuqing and Jiang Bai walked side by side, happy to listen to her, "Okay, I'll call you Jiang Bai." Although sister sounds more intimate, she likes to call Jiang Bai by his name.
So does Jiang Bai.
After walking for about twenty minutes, there were no more small shops on the mountain road. There were groups of pedestrians walking up the mountain in front and behind them, as if they were traveling together.
Jiang Bai had read the travel guide, which said that Damei Mountain had mountains and rivers. She was looking forward to it. The mountain road extended to a stream with a gurgling sound. Jiang Bai's eyes lit up suddenly, but because of Lan Shuqing's presence, she restrained herself a little. The stream was actually a river, about five meters wide. Jiang Bai saw a river channel composed of several large rocks in the river not far ahead.
Several elderly men and women walked down from the other side of the river. Jiang Bai took two quick steps forward, staring at the clear stream. When Lan Shuqing walked up to her, she said to her, "I want to walk down. Do you want to come with me?"
Jiang Bai's eyes were bright. Lan Shuqing's heart skipped a beat for some reason. She glanced at the stream and smiled, "Okay."
It just so happened that she had never walked through such a river before. Lan Shuqing followed Jiang Bai and saw Jiang Bai walk down the path beside it in just a few steps and face the old men and women.
Lan Shuqing heard Jiang Bai ask with a smile: "Auntie, is this way possible?"
He no longer looked unfamiliar with the person and was not awkward at all. Lan Shu tilted his head slightly and thought that Jiang Bai was a really interesting person.
After receiving the aunt's affirmative answer, Jiang Bai's pace became noticeably faster. After turning a corner, a river several dozen meters long appeared before him. Jiang Bai walked to the river and squatted down to touch the stream water.
A little icy.
Jiang Bai breathed a sigh of relief. The stream water slid across her palms, feeling a little heavy and a little cold. If there wasn't someone next to her, she really wanted to take off her shoes and walk in.
Lan Shuqing followed Jiang Bai quietly. Seeing Jiang Bai's excitement, she thought it was even more fun. It turned out that she liked water.
A few more elderly people came up and stopped by the river to take pictures. Jiang Bai stood up, glanced at Lan Shuqing, and asked, "Do you want to take a picture?"
After all, the scenery here is quite good. Jiang Bai himself is not photogenic, but Lan Shuqing should look good in photos, after all, she is good-looking.
Lan Shuqing stared at Jiang Bai for a few seconds. Shouldn't a normal person say: Come on, let's take a picture instead of you taking the picture?
Seeing that Lan Shuqing didn't answer, Jiang Bai held the bamboo stick and smiled, "Then let's go."
Jiang Bai walked forward, and Lan Shu walked briskly up to them, walking side by side. Suddenly, she felt like teasing him, so she deliberately called him the wrong name and asked sweetly, "Sister, how about I take a picture of you?"
You said you would call me Jiang Bai, why are you calling me sister now?
Jiang Bai tilted his head, his eyes flickering across Lan Shuqing's pretty face, then turned back to hide his discomfort, "I don't look good in photos."
That's what I wanted to take a picture of. Lan Shu smiled softly. She looked at Jiang Bai's slightly red earlobes and said, "I'm very skilled. The picture will definitely look good."
Jiang Bai quickly shook her head. "No, no," she said, fearing Lan Shuqing might say something else. She hurried forward and said, "Let's go. The auntie just mentioned there are lots of monkeys to see up ahead."
Jiang Bai walked very fast, as if Lan Shuqing was some kind of monster. Lan Shuqing chuckled, it was really fun.
Lan Shuqing followed Jiang Bai's pace, suppressed his smile, and said in a serious tone, "Then we'll shoot later."
Jiang Bai's pace quickened.
Seeing this, Lan Shuqing's smile deepened.
After walking for about ten minutes, there were two rocks close together in front of her. Looking up, she saw only a line in the sky. This was the "line of sky" mentioned in the guide. Jiang Bai walked forward, but found that the line of sky was very short and the mountain was very low, not as high as she had thought. She felt a little disappointed, but then she thought, it's all scenery, it doesn't matter, as long as it looks good.
Lan Shuqing glanced at the sign next to her, which introduced the scenic area and a road sign. She knew the monkey area was ahead, and behind them was a narrow strip of sky. She stood beside the sign and asked Jiang Bai, not wanting to change her address, "Sister, are we going to the monkey area?"
I just said I wanted to go see the monkeys.
Calling her sister again, Jiang Bai glanced at Lan Shuqing nonchalantly, holding the bamboo stick, and pretended to be calm and said, "Just call me Jiang Bai."
Lan Shu chuckled and tilted his head slightly, "But now I think sister sounds better."
Jiang Bai was choked. She glanced at Lan Shuqing and thought, "This kid is so difficult to deal with."
"Then let's go to the monkey area."
Lan Shuqing walked beside Jiang Bai and asked, "Sister, what do you do for a living?"
Jiang Bai didn't want to talk about it, "Little kid, don't be so curious."
"I'm not a kid."
"Anyone five years younger than me is a child."
"I'm an adult now."
"But I'm five years older than you."
"Then you can't call me kid!"
"Then don't call me sister."
"...You hold a grudge."
Jiang Bai's eyes widened. She looked at Lan Shuqing, who was also looking at her. Jiang Bai didn't know how to react for a moment, so Lan Shuqing took the opportunity to ask, "Jiang Bai, what exactly do you do for a living?"
Lan Shuqing compromised temporarily and decided not to tease her too much. Anyway, what she called out depended on her mood.
Jiang Bai suddenly smiled. She looked at Lan Shuqing, her brows relaxed, and her whole body softened. She touched her nose and smiled, "I work in finance."
Lan Shu uttered a soft "Oh," and asked, "Is finance the only thing you study in college?"
Jiang Bai nodded, "Yeah."
Following the stream upstream, Jiang Bai and Lan Shuqing returned to the main road. After walking for another twenty minutes, the road ahead changed from a stone path to a wooden plank path. And not wooden planks, but a path made of sticks lined up with tree trunks. Lan Shuqing spotted several gray things moving in the distance. Looking again, she saw a few monkeys squatting by the river. She pointed them out to Jiang Bai, "Sister, look, monkeys."
Jiang □□'s spirits lifted, "Hurry up and go."
This time I don't mind the name anymore.
Jiang Bai took a few big steps and rushed in front of Lan Shuqing, and Lan Shuqing followed her.
They climbed the steps, gradually climbing higher, until they reached the monkey gathering area, two or three meters above the stream. A dozen people were already standing by the railing, some feeding the monkeys, others taking photos. Half a meter from the railing, a thick tree trunk with several branches extended. Two monkeys sat in separate places, each holding a piece of bread given by a tourist and eating it with gusto.
Jiang Bai squeezed to the front of the railing and took a few photos of the monkeys. Lan Shuqing also squeezed over. At this moment, one monkey jumped off the branch to pick up food, while the other one dealt with the grains on the spot and sat directly on the branch to poop.
Jiang Bai stared, watching a few lumps of things fall to the ground. She tilted her head and glanced at Lan Shuqing. They retreated tacitly and walked a little forward. Then they smiled at each other. Jiang Bai had never thought of such a scene, and neither had Lan Shuqing. She turned her eyes away and looked into the distance, only to see a few little monkeys hanging on the trees by the river opposite. There were ropes tied to the trees on both sides of the stream in the distance, tied into the shape of a ladder. A big monkey walked slowly towards them from the opposite side, with a light and elegant posture.
The little monkeys started fighting. Someone threw a few orange slices into the water. One of the slices fell into the water and floated down the stream. A little monkey kept chasing the orange slice. He chased it for three or four meters before he caught it. He picked up the orange slice, put it in his mouth, and then ran away.
Lan Shuqing watched the whole process. She leaned on the railing. The sunlight fell, bringing with it the moisture from the mountains. Lan Shuqing also relaxed. Along the way, it was not only Jiang Bai who was nervous. In fact, Lan Shuqing was also a little nervous, but now she relaxed. It seemed that nature had such charm that it slowly calmed people down.
The little monkey ran up the mountain. Lan Shuqing followed the little monkey and saw that there was a stairway on the opposite side, but it was now closed. She saw two pairs of four monkeys on the railings hugging each other tightly one meter apart, as if to keep each other warm. Lan Shuqing narrowed her eyes slightly and a smile appeared at the corner of her mouth. It was the first time she could remember seeing creatures other than humans cuddling each other, and she had never seen it in the zoo.
Jiang Bai took out his phone and snapped a few photos of each monkey. The sun was still shining, so the photos looked beautiful. This was the first reward of this trip, and Jiang Bai was a little happy. Lan Shuqing was standing next to her. When Jiang Bai turned around, he saw her leaning on the railing and smiling. Jiang Bai reached out and poked Lan Shuqing's shoulder, "Do you want to feed them? I have some bread here."
The sign next to it said not to feed, so Lan Shuqing decided not to feed him and listened to the staff. Jiang Bai didn't plan to feed him either. She continued, "Let's take a break, we still have to keep going."
Lan Shuqing nodded. There was a bench nearby, so they sat down. Jiang Bai put down his backpack, took out two jellies from it, and handed one to Lan Shuqing. Lan Shuqing looked at the Xizhilang strawberry jelly, then glanced at Jiang Bai and happily took it.
Jiang Bai opened the jelly, ate it in one bite, and then breathed a sigh of relief. Even though they had only been walking for an hour, they were still a little tired. Eating some jelly was just the right thing to replenish their energy.
It was Lan Shuqing’s first time eating this kind of jelly, and it was surprisingly delicious.
After sitting for a few more minutes, the two set off again. After walking for about ten minutes, Jiang Bai felt hot again. In fact, she felt hot in the monkey area just now. In addition, she had a sweaty physique. Sweat dripped down after walking for more than ten minutes. She was also wearing a thick sweatshirt inside, which made her even hotter.
There was no one around, so Jiang Bai stopped. Lan Shu took two light steps and saw that no one was following. She looked back and saw Jiang Bai taking off his backpack. She walked over and asked, "What's wrong?"
Jiang Bai replied: "It's a bit hot, I'll take off some clothes."
As he spoke, he put his backpack aside, unbuttoned his coat, revealing a gray sweatshirt. Jiang Bai took off his coat and then the sweatshirt, revealing the white long-sleeved shirt underneath. Lan Shuqing could vaguely see her white waist. She turned her eyes away, pretending to look at the scenery, but turned her gaze back in less than a few seconds.
Jiang Bai folded the sweatshirt, moved the things in the backpack left and right, and stuffed the sweatshirt in, but the zipper would not close.
Lan Shuqing saw that she couldn't fit anything in and said, "Would you like to leave some things here with me?"
Jiang Bai looked up at her and shook his head, "No need." As he spoke, he took out a transparent plastic bag from his bag, then took out two bottles of water and put them in the plastic bag, stuffed the sweatshirt in, zipped it up, put it on his back, and then tied the plastic bag to the backpack and dropped it at his waist.
Lan Shuqing was stunned by the operation, especially when he took out two bottles of water from his bag. Lan Shuqing couldn't help but say, "Jiang Bai, you always carry water with you."
Jiang Bai nodded, "Yes, I brought four bottles." As she spoke, she took out a bottle from the plastic bag and handed it to Lan Shuqing, "Here's one for you." Since the water had been taken out, Jiang Bai simply gave it to Lan Shuqing. Anyway, it was impossible for the two of them to drink a bottle of water together, so she just let her drink it herself.
Lan Shuqing had completely forgotten about drinking water. Jiang Bai's four bottles of water probably had half of hers. Lan Shuqing took the water and placed it on the right side of her backpack. She smiled sweetly and said, "Thank you."
So thoughtful.
Jiang Bai pretended to casually glance at Lan Shuqing's pretty face, then took out another bottle, opened it, took a few sips, and put it back. "Let's go."
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