A few days later.
Lin Ting and Jin Anazi had planned to go camping together, spending a night outside before heading home.
The first task of camping was to find a flat spot to set up tents.
Lin Ting didn’t want to think too hard for now—she ignored the thick instruction manual and watched a tent-pitching tutorial video to learn.
There were six of them in total.
They originally planned for every two people to share a tent, but Lin Ting was restless when sleeping at night, and Duan Xinning was quite weak, so it was risky to have her beside Lin Ting.
They decided to split up and set up an extra tent.
Lin Ting was quick and finished her own tent in no time, then went over to help Xinning.
Before Lin Ting arrived, Xia Zimo was already there, but he clearly belonged to the type raised in comfort with money at home—rarely doing any chores.
Even with the instructions and the tutorial video, he was slow at pitching the tent.
As for Xinning, she hardly did any work either, only handing tools to Xia Zimo without actually setting up the tent.
After Lin Ting joined, their speed skyrocketed, and they finished quickly.
Pitching two tents in a row took over half an hour, which counted as a workout.
Lin Ting felt thirsty and wanted to find some drinks.
Before she could go, Duan Ling came over carrying several bottles of drinks, handing them out—first to her, then to Xinning and Xia Zimo.
Lin Ting twisted open a bottle and drank half of it.
Actually, Duan Ling had thought about coming over to help while she was pitching the tent, but Lin Ting didn’t allow it.
Not because she was afraid of being seen alone with him—it wasn’t anything unusual—but because she subconsciously worried she might make a move on him and get caught.
Not far away, Jin Anazi looked over at them: “Are your tents all set up?”
Lin Ting nodded at him.
Xie Qinghe walked over to the car Xia Zimo drove, opened the trunk, and brought some food down, placing it on the picnic mat laid on the ground.
“Come over here and eat something.”
Mentioning food, Lin Ting immediately went to sit down.
Duan Ling followed and sat to her left, with Xinning on her right.
Xia Zimo didn’t care where Xinning sat as long as there was a seat next to her for him.
Jin Anazi sat opposite them and casually teased, “You two siblings are like goalkeepers—one on each side guarding Lin Ting.”
“Mind your own business,” Lin Ting put on gloves and handed sushi to Xinning.
Xinning felt a little embarrassed by Jin Anazi’s words.
“We’ve always sat together wherever we go since we were little. It’s just a habit. If you want to sit here, I can switch with you.”
“Me, sit next to her?” Jin Anazi waved his hand without hesitation, disgusted.
“No thanks. She can get violent when she’s in a mood. Only you two siblings can handle her.”
He recalled that it was true—whenever the three of them appeared somewhere together, they were either standing or sitting side by side.
Jin Anazi felt a bit impressed by them.
“Jin Anazi, you want to die, huh? If you don’t speak up, no one would think you’re mute.” Lin Ting continued feeding Xinning, “Don’t mind him, open your mouth.”
Xinning obediently opened her mouth and ate the sushi Lin Ting fed her.
“This sushi is delicious. Let’s buy from that shop again next time.”
Duan Ling glanced at them.
Xie Qinghe said, “I heard there will be shooting stars tonight. I wonder if we’ll get to see them.”
Lin Ting wasn’t really interested in shooting stars and kept her head down, eating.
Pretending casually, she pushed a box of sushi toward Duan Ling.
Duan Ling raised his hand and took a piece.
Xinning said, “They say wishing on shooting stars really works. I hope we see some tonight.”
Hearing “wishing really works,” Lin Ting became interested.
Li Jingqiu was superstitious and would take her to temples during holidays to burn incense and pray for the family’s safety.
Lin Ting herself was more of a believer in “better to believe than not,” always begging any Bodhisattva she saw to let her get rich before graduating university and then just relax and travel the world after graduation—a sort of casting a wide net wish.
Tonight, she’d try wishing on shooting stars.
Lin Ting took out her phone and privately messaged Duan Ling on WeChat, some things better left unsaid in front of others or it would be too obvious.
Lin Ting: “I’ve decided. Tonight I absolutely have to see a shooting star, you’ll come with me.”
Duan Ling: “Want to make a wish?”
She sent a “nodding like a spinning top” emoji, and he agreed.
They set their phones to vibrate mode today so notifications wouldn’t ring.
Even if others saw them checking their phones or chatting on WeChat, they wouldn’t guess they were having a private conversation.
Xie Qinghe sat fairly close to Duan Ling and leaned forward to grab something to eat, casually glancing at Duan Ling’s phone screen.
He didn’t see the name or chat content but noticed the chat wallpaper—a photo of a man and woman together.
Though Xie Qinghe didn’t clearly see their faces, he could tell the man was Duan Ling.
Xie Qinghe had known Duan Ling for some time and understood him well enough to know he wouldn’t use intimate couple photos from the internet as his chat wallpaper.
Since it wasn’t a stock photo, it must have been taken in real life with a girl.
Thinking this, Xie Qinghe couldn’t help but ask, “Duan Ling, are you dating someone?”
The room fell silent immediately.
All eyes turned to Duan Ling.
Except for Lin Ting, whose heart raced as she wondered why Xie Qinghe would suddenly ask this.
Duan Ling kept his calm.
Sometimes when faced with questions, he wouldn’t answer right away but would respond with a question of his own to get the other person to talk first.
Today was no different.
“Why do you ask?”
Their gaze shifted to Xie Qinghe.
Xie Qinghe didn’t lie, “I accidentally saw your WeChat chat wallpaper just now. It’s a photo of a man and woman, and the girl looked like she was kissing you… kissing the guy.”
Lin Ting’s mind immediately flashed back to the recent beach photos they’d taken—was Duan Ling using one of those as his chat wallpaper?
Xia Zimo said, “Could it be a stock photo? I’ve seen plenty like that online.”
Duan Ling was still very calm and straightforwardly admitted, “That photo isn’t a stock image. I am indeed dating someone, and we’ve been together for several months.”
Lin Ting felt things today were getting out of control.
Xinning looked at Duan Ling curiously and asked, “Second brother, you really are dating someone? A girl you met after starting university?”
He shook his head, “No.”
Gossip was human nature.
Xia Zimo chimed in, “You met her outside school?”
Since university students often left campus, and Duan Ling rented a place off-campus, it would be easier for him to meet someone outside.
Duan Ling: “No, that’s not it either.”
Jin Anazi, rarely joining in, finally spoke, “If it’s neither a university classmate nor someone met outside, could it be a high school classmate?”
“She is indeed my high school classmate.” Duan Ling swept a glance at Lin Ting without expression.
Lin Ting lowered her eyes to the ground.
She wasn’t just his high school classmate—she was also his kindergarten, elementary, middle school classmate, and university schoolmate.
Jin Anazi raised his eyebrows with a look that said, “I knew it would be like this.”
“Who is she? Do we know her?”
Jin Anazi had only transferred to North High School in his senior year as a sports student and wasn’t in the same class as Duan Ling, so he didn’t necessarily know Duan Ling’s “high school classmate” girlfriend.
Before Duan Ling could answer, Jin Anazi noticed Lin Ting was unusually quiet today.
In the past, with her gossip nature, she would have asked more questions than they did.
“Lin Ting, why so quiet today? Don’t you want to ask Duan Ling anything?”
Lin Ting paused for a few seconds. “I…”
Xinning turned to stare at her and asked, “Ting Ting, you wouldn’t have found out about second brother’s relationship early on and kept it from us, would you?”
Lin Ting looked toward Duan Ling, quickly looked away, thought for a moment, then finally made up her mind.
“That’s right. I knew about Duan Ling’s relationship early on and helped him keep it from you all.”
Xia Zimo’s inner gossip flame burned brighter, “Who is his girlfriend?”
He couldn’t imagine what kind of girl Duan Ling would date and racked his brain, randomly guessing from high school.
“I remember there was a quiet, gentle girl in your class—is it her?”
Lin Ting: “It’s me.”
She didn’t want them to keep guessing who Duan Ling’s girlfriend was, mainly out of possessiveness—not wanting anyone else to be guessed.
Besides, since fate meant for Xie Qinghe to see that photo, she might as well be honest.
Also, over this period, their relationship had truly felt like a secret affair, which made things inconvenient.
Now that she thought about it, giving Duan Ling an official title earlier wasn’t a bad idea.
She repeated, “It’s me.”
Xia Zimo didn’t react at first.
“So it’s you…” Then he realized and widened his eyes.
“What? You? No way, that’s too big of a joke.”
Lin Ting found herself feeling lighter after saying it out loud—no longer as awkward as she’d imagined.
“Do you think I’m joking?”
A smile flickered in Duan Ling’s eyes.
Xinning was so shocked she couldn’t speak, her gaze bouncing between Lin Ting and Duan Ling.
Jin Anazi found it hard to believe because they’d been friends all their lives.
When did friends’ feelings change?
He couldn’t quite empathize but sensed everything was traceable.
Their past interactions had indeed been different from ordinary friends.
Xie Qinghe had long anticipated this and smiled in relief, “Congratulations.”
Xinning still felt like she was dreaming and pulled Lin Ting into the tent, wanting to clarify what was going on.
Half an hour later, they came out.
Everyone was still somewhat unaccustomed to them suddenly becoming a couple, so they kept sneaking glances at them during whatever they did next.
At first, Lin Ting pretended not to notice, but she couldn’t help herself and made an eye-gouging gesture.
“If anyone looks at us with those eyes again, I’ll gouge their eyes out.”
Jin Anazi clicked his tongue lightly and deliberately gave them that look.
“You have the guts, then gouge away.”
Lin Ting pounced and reached for Jin Anazi’s eyes.
He was caught off guard and nearly got caught.
“Lin Ting, you’re serious!”
The atmosphere gradually returned to normal.
At night, Lin Ting sat beside Duan Ling waiting for shooting stars.
It was colder on the mountain at night than during the day, so she openly slipped her hand into his palm to warm herself.
Jin Anazi, sitting in front, happened to turn around and saw this.
Silently, he turned back around only to see Xinning doing the same—warming her hands in Xia Zimo’s.
Jin Anazi thought: ‘The signal on the mountain is so bad, I can’t even use phones. I should have brought a dog camping.’
Xie Qinghe held a warm pack while gazing at the night sky.
Jin Anazi pushed him lightly with his cold hand and said in a cool tone, “Where did you get that warm pack? Give me one.”
Xie Qinghe gave Jin Anazi one.
Lin Ting, sitting behind them, took advantage of their distraction and bit Duan Ling’s cheek lightly.
It was dark, so no one could see the teeth marks.
For some reason, the longer they dated, the more she wanted to leave marks on his body.
She would bite his shoulder and neck during sex and pinch his hand or bite his face when they met normally.
Just then, a shooting star streaked across the sky, fleeting and bright.
Everyone looked up in unison, but Duan Ling turned his head to look at Lin Ting.
There was a faint bite mark on his face.