Beneath Moon Viewing Cliff, the crowd was dense.
There were young couples holding hands, players attending the grand festival, and internet celebrities live-streaming their climb while holding their phones on selfie sticks.
Everyone had come for tonight’s fireworks.
Watching those internet celebrities, Song Qiuyu suddenly remembered something.
When she had rushed up the mountain for Jiang Xiao that day, she hadn’t paid any attention to what was happening down below or along the path.
It was possible that her frantic dash in women’s clothes had accidentally appeared in someone’s live stream.
“It’s already past nine o’clock, let’s start climbing,” Song Qiuyu glanced at her phone and took the lead up the steps.
Adrenaline truly was a wondrous thing.
At that moment, scared that Jiang Xiao might be in trouble, her adrenaline was maxed out, and she felt no fatigue at all.
But now…
After only ten minutes, Song Qiuyu felt her breathing become erratic and her legs so weak she could barely stand.
“Hu…”
Delicate beads of sweat formed on Song Qiuyu’s pale forehead and trickled down her flushed cheeks.
She had no choice but to pause her climb.
At the same time, an old grandfather overtook her, running ahead.
Despite being in his nineties, his physical condition looked even stronger than hers—an eighteen-year-old’s.
He was practically a superman.
Wiping the sweat from her face, Song Qiuyu gasped for air, her breath growing more labored.
“No way, Song Qiuyu, you’re already giving up?”
Xie Zhuran swiftly passed her, then looked back with a raised brow and a teasing challenge.
Song Qiuyu clenched her fists.
But climbing a mountain wasn’t that much easier than advanced math…
If she couldn’t do it, she simply couldn’t.
She wasn’t an athlete and couldn’t turn into a superman just because she was angry.
Before she could retort, Jiang Xiao beat her to it.
“Song Qiuyu sprained her ankle two days ago. It might still be hurting, so she can’t climb too fast.”
“Song Qiuyu sprained her ankle?” Sang Tian looked at her worriedly.
“Yeah.”
Song Qiuyu neither denied nor corrected that it had actually happened the night before last, the very evening she went to save Jiang Xiao.
“But it’s much better now.”
That honest statement was automatically interpreted by others as “it still hurts but she’s pushing through.”
Sang Tian’s face showed both helplessness and worry, while Xie Zhuran quietly took a few steps back and stood behind her.
Lin An sighed.
Jiang Xiao narrowed his eyes, already thinking about tonight’s plans.
Should he massage Song Qiuyu’s ankle after they finished climbing?
But Xie Zhuran and the others were here too.
If he started massaging her ankle in front of them and made a scene…
Seeing their strange reactions, Song Qiuyu rolled her eyes and sighed.
She didn’t explain further, just urged everyone to hurry up and kept climbing.
The higher they climbed, the further the view stretched.
She saw the scenery along the path she hadn’t had time to enjoy last time.
The town below grew smaller, and somewhere among the trees, tiny glowing lights began to appear.
Carried by the cool night breeze, they fluttered toward them.
“Fireflies!”
Song Qiuyu stopped again, holding out her hands to let the fireflies land in her palms.
Xie Zhuran, Lin An, and Sang Tian, who had been struggling up the mountain, all turned toward the sound.
Their first reaction was excitement over the fireflies’ appearance.
Their second was to look at her face.
More than ten fireflies circled around her, the warm-colored streetlights and fireflies making her flushed, smiling face look vivid and adorable.
For a moment, they unconsciously started doubting her gender again.
Jiang Xiao was watching too, but after one glance, he awkwardly looked away.
His gaze soon followed the fireflies as his thoughts turned to Shen Xi.
If Xi’er were here, would she also be as excited to see the fireflies as Song Qiuyu?
Thinking that, Jiang Xiao’s lips curled into a smile.
He was certain she would be, because the Shen Xi he knew was exactly that kind of innocent and pure girl.
He planned to tell Xi’er about the fireflies tomorrow afternoon.
Right—he should take another photo!
Jiang Xiao was quick to act.
He raised his phone and snapped a picture of the fireflies.
Afterward, the camera’s focus unintentionally shifted to Song Qiuyu.
Seeing her image on the small screen, he was momentarily stunned.
He didn’t press the shutter again and hurriedly put the phone away.
His heart raced.
He had no intention of photographing Song Qiuyu; it must have been a subconscious reflex of the phone.
Was his phone suddenly developing its own mind?
Just as he put his phone away, there was a “click.”
Nearby, Sang Tian had quickly taken a photo of Song Qiuyu.
Many passersby climbing the mountain were drawn to the scene and stood frozen, watching.
Those with literary sensibilities thought of one phrase: “Unparalleled beauty.”
Anime fans immediately recalled a certain animation:
Yinghuo no Mori.
It wasn’t until Song Qiuyu started moving again that everyone snapped out of it and continued climbing.
As time passed, more people reached the summit.
By the time they arrived, the peak was already packed with a thick crowd.
“There are too many people here. Let’s go over there?”
Lin An looked around and pointed in a direction.
That direction happened to be the cliff where Jiang Xiao had gotten drunk earlier.
Song Qiuyu and Jiang Xiao immediately recognized it.
“No, no, no, I think this side is pretty good!” Song Qiuyu took a deep breath and quickly pointed the other way.
Jiang Xiao looked at her slightly surprised, maybe just his imagination.
Since that night’s incident, her strange behavior seemed to have a pattern.
Song Qiuyu was worried he’d revisit that place and attempt to jump off the cliff again, wasn’t she?
But he had already explained.
He didn’t object or say anything more.
Everyone agreed, so he quietly followed the others and sat down on the patch of open ground Song Qiuyu had indicated.
Not long after sitting down—
“Smack!”
An abrupt slap sounded by his ear.
Jiang Xiao turned to see Song Qiuyu somehow very close to him.
Her eyes reflected his astonishment.
Strands of hair, damp with sweat, stuck to her flushed cheeks.
Most notably, she held her hands together in a praying gesture…
A delicate fragrance wafted from her, oddly mixed with a faint scent of rust.
Why did Song Qiuyu smell like rust?
“There was a mosquito. You almost got bitten!”
She opened her palms, slightly plump little hands.
In each was the corpse of half a mosquito and a thumb-sized bloodstain.
“Mosquitoes on the mountain carry lots of bacteria. Wipe that off quickly.”
Jiang Xiao looked down, pulled out a tissue from his pocket, and handed it to her.
“Here, this is mosquito repellent. Spray some on.”
Song Qiuyu took the tissue and casually handed the repellent back to Jiang Xiao.
Then she carefully cleaned her hands with the tissue.
When done, she didn’t just toss it away but put it into a bag they had brought along.
They had also brought snacks and drinks up the mountain.
Later, while admiring the moon, they planned to raise their glasses in a toast, eat well, and then slowly descend.
Sitting on the grass, they chatted a little before the topic turned to photography.
Just as Song Qiuyu spoke and gestured, several clusters of colorful lights, accompanied by melodious music, suddenly shot up into the sky.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
They exploded one after another, illuminating half the sky…