Ever since that unspoken communication between the two of them, Bei Ze had disappeared from her sight for a few days. Only when it was time to head for the Mt. Shaoyang outing did he show up.
Shi Sheng was standing outside the bus calling Fu Qin’s number. The moment it went through, the person on the other end hung up and the phone was turned off.
Shi Sheng lifted her phone as the expressions on her face went through rapid changes. ‘Just getting killed would be too good for him… I want him to suffer!’
Shi Sheng switched to calling Fu Qin’s bodyguard’s number. It managed to go through quickly this time.
“Where’s Fu Qin? Didn’t he want to die?! He’s regretting it after the tickets got booked? Tell him we don’t accept returns! Tell him to get his arse over here!”“Ms Bei, where are you bringing the Young Master?” It was Uncle Jian who answered. Shi Sheng blanked out for a moment and checked the number on the screen. ‘It’s the bodyguard’s number so why did the steward pick it up?’
“To Mt. Shaoyang.” Shi Sheng answered truthfully.
“For?”
“To look at the stars and enjoy the moonlit scenery. Maybe talk about life while we’re at it.” Shi Sheng started spouting bullshit.
Uncle Jian didn’t manage to answer yet when a commotion could be heard from the other end before she heard Fu Qin’s voice. He only said two words: “School gates.”
‘Fuck!’ Shi Sheng’s face went dark as she shoved her phone back in her pocket and went to go inform the teacher. The bus stopped just as it went past the gates.
The bus had been slowly making its way out of the academy grounds after attendance was taken, but upon seeing that it had stopped, the rest of the students were puzzled. They could only see Bei Zhi get up from her front-row seat and off the bus.“That looks like Fu-shao?”
“Where?”
The people on the cars got excited and squeezed towards that direction. Fu Qin was standing alone under a large tree outside the academy’s gates.
The handsome young man wearing white clothes was standing in the light breeze and dappled sunlight. Time seemed to halt around him, giving the illusion as if he was in a painting.
“It really is Fu-shao! Fu-shao wants to go too? Chang Sheng’s not here, is he?!”
“I don’t see him. I only see Fu-shao… Since when was Bei Zhi and Fu-shao’s relationship so close?”
Bei Zhi brought Fu Qin onto the bus, causing everyone to fall silent. Quite a few people craned their necks to check and see if Chang Sheng was behind him. Upon verifying that the dog’s large figure was nowhere to be seen, they let out a collective sigh of relief. ‘That fellow Chang Sheng is too scary to even look at!’
Fu Qin was also a third-year student so the teacher naturally recognised him. Seeing him come up, he didn’t say anything and the bus started up again.
By the time they reached Mt. Shaoyang, the people from other classes who were in the other buses had spotted Fu Qin and were all peering over.
When Bei Ze saw Bei Zhi and Fu Qin standing together, he turned gloomy.
“We’ll be arranging your teams now! You seniors have to take care of your juniors! Students in the same team, go and stand together!” The teacher shouted through a loudspeaker.
And so the different classes were arranged into their groupings, with each team consisting of two classes that had drawn the same number.
There weren’t many people in one class; at most, there’d be 30. So there were only around 50 to 60 people in every team.
As one of the settings for the male and female leads to nurture feelings for each other, the male and female leads’ class were naturally paired up together.
Shi Sheng’s gaze at Bei Ze contained some sympathy nowadays. Back then, she had found it strange why he’d just yell at her for no reason and thought maybe there was something wrong with his brain. But it turned out, he actually liked Bei Zhi.
The story hadn’t mentioned anything about this. However, if you looked closely, you’d be able to discover that at times, the author had implied that Bei Ze gave his sister complicated looks from time to time.
The author had probably been intending on revealing how Bei Ze had liked Bei Zhi for the sake of making the romance tougher for her leads. However, it turned out she completely went off track and forgot about this hidden detail.
And without Bei Zhi’s mischief-making, Bei Ze wouldn’t lose heart in her. So, right now, this ship was pretty much doomed even without her lifting a finger.
Once the teams had been assembled, the first task was to climb the mountain and the team that reached the top first would be rewarded with a lavish dinner.
There were plenty of paths to the top of Mt. Shaoyang and every team was given free rein to pick from them. The final destination was at the vacation resort at the top of Mt. Shaoyang.
Shi Sheng’s class had chosen a somewhat difficult road but it was comparatively shorter.
At first they could still handle it but soon, complaints sprung up, causing quite a ruckus. Shi Sheng and Fu Qin ended up at the back of the group because Fu Qin’s physical abilities were a bit lacking; his face was already pale and his movements were very slow.
For the sake of keeping pace with him, Shi Sheng could only slow down her speed. Bei Ze and Ji Xiaoyu had also somehow managed to end up behind them at some point. They were around a few metres away so Shi Sheng could hear Ji Xiaoyu speaking in a somewhat spoiled tone, “Ze, let’s rest a bit.”
Ji Xiaoyu gasped for air and fanned herself with her hands.
Bei Ze turned to look at Bei Zhi and nodded slightly. Ji Xiaoyu immediately brought a bottle of water out from her backpack and handed it to Bei Ze after opening it. “Ze, drink up.”
Fu Qin lifted his head and glanced towards Ji Xiaoyu’s direction. Having noticed his gaze, she immediately smiled. “Does Senior Fu Qin want a drink too?”
Fu Qin’s brows furrowed before he turned his head away.
Ji Xiaoyu rubbed her ears awkwardly and looked at Bei Ze innocently. “Xiaozhi didn’t bring much stuff. We’re going to be staying out here for quite a few days so what will she do?”
“What does it have to do with you whether I brought stuff or not?” Shi Sheng immediately spoke upon hearing Ji Xiaoyu’s words, “Ji Xiaoyu, just bother about your own stuff! Can you not try and drag me into everything?!”
‘I didn’t even go up to you! How did you manage to pull me into this?!’
“I’m just being concerned about you.” Ji Xiaoyu spoke innocently.
“For what? I’m not the one dating you! You know I don’t like you yet you still want to come and irritate me at every turn! Ji Xiaoyu, I think you have a death wish!” Shi Sheng’s tone turned chilly.
“Xiaozhi, how can you say that? We’re schoolmates and you’re also Ze’s sister. Of course I should be concerned about you!”
“Please, don’t. I’m afraid I won’t be able to resist snapping that neck of yours.” Shi Sheng gave a smile filled with ill-intent. “You’d best not irritate me while we’re still out in the middle of nowhere, or else…”
Ji Xiaoyu’s face paled and she looked at Bei Ze for help, but he was only gazing deeply at Bei Zhi. He seemed to be distracted by his thoughts for he didn’t pay attention to Ji Xiaoyu. The air seemed to thicken.
Thus, Ji Xiaoyu could only bite her lips and direct her somewhat vexed gaze at Bei Zhi. However when their gazes met, she felt cold; it was as if she was being stared at by an emotionless machine that could kill her at any time.
“Water.” Fu Qin looked at Shi Sheng, breaking this strange atmosphere. Shi Sheng shifted her gaze and dragged Fu Qin onwards.
Only when they could no longer seen by the two behind them did Shi Sheng make a bottle of water appear from thin air and give it to Fu Qin. He indifferently took it, not curious at all about what she had just done.
They continued on with many breaks and only managed to catch up with the rest of the students when they were nearing the peak.
The first teams to reach the top could go and get first pick of the rooms from the teacher-in-charge, but because there were too many people for everyone to get their own rooms, everyone had to share with someone else. Shi Sheng especially requested to stay together with Lin Yin for the sake of preventing a situation where she had to share a room with the female lead.
