A Dog Out of Nowhere Chapter 73

During this period, Sun Wenqu’s sleep had always been the kind where even an ant burping would wake him. It had actually always been like this. When Fang Chi was by his side, he could sleep more soundly. Although the time Fang Chi stayed beside him while he slept wasn’t long, once that feeling was replaced again by “an ant burping,” it made a person extremely uncomfortable.

That night, he slept very well. He didn’t wake up halfway, and only woke up for the first time in the morning when Fang Chi’s phone rang.

“Isn’t this too early?” Fang Chi answered the phone and ran into the bathroom to speak softly, “then… okay, okay, half an hour… mm, at the school gate.”

“Cheng Mo?” Sun Wenqu asked with his eyes closed when he heard him come out of the bathroom.

“Mm, he’s urging us, said there’ll be too many people if we’re late,” Fang Chi touched his face, “sleep a bit more, I’ll buy you breakfast.”

“No need,” Sun Wenqu stretched, “slept pretty well yesterday. Let’s just go after we get ready. After all, it’s their first date, give them some face.”

After getting ready, the two of them went out. They didn’t eat breakfast, planning to wait until everyone was together.

Cheng Mo stood at the school gate with a backpack, holding several food boxes. Sun Wenqu laughed as soon as he saw him from the car: “Looks like breakfast’s already bought.”

“Get in.” Fang Chi rolled down the window and waved at Cheng Mo.

Cheng Mo ran over and jumped into the car: “Have you eaten? I bought potstickers.”

“I want some,” Sun Wenqu immediately reached out, “haven’t had them in a long time.”

Cheng Mo handed him a box: “Fang Chi, want to eat first before driving?”

“It’s fine, I’ll just eat a couple from Sun Wenqu.” Fang Chi said.

Sun Wenqu pinched one and held it to his mouth. When the car jolted, it bumped his face first before being stuffed into his mouth.

“Provoking people,” Cheng Mo muttered from the back seat.

“Even this kind of rough feeding can provoke you?” Fang Chi clicked his tongue and wiped the oil off his face.

“Fang Chi, let me ask you,” Cheng Mo patted the seat, “is Xiao Yiming physically strong?”

“Huh?” Fang Chi’s eyes widened in shock. Only when he saw Sun Wenqu quickly turn his face toward the window laughing did he realize what Cheng Mo meant, and he immediately felt a bit embarrassed, “he’s okay, I guess. We used to play ball together a lot.”

“Then I can take him up the peak behind. There’s no cable car, have to walk a bit,” Cheng Mo said, “are you two going? The scenery there is better.”

“How far?” Fang Chi asked.

“About forty minutes, all stairs, pretty easy to walk…” Cheng Mo was cut off before finishing.

Sun Wenqu and Fang Chi said at the same time: “Not going.”

“…Alright then.” Cheng Mo was stunned for a moment.

After picking up Xiao Yiming, Sun Wenqu switched to driving. Fang Chi didn’t drive often, and he wasn’t used to this car, so he felt a bit rusty. But after Sun Wenqu took over, he first set the navigation, this guy could even forget the way to restaurants he always went to…

The two people in the back seat were very quiet. Cheng Mo stared ahead in a daze, while Xiao Yiming slowly held a box of potstickers and ate.

Fang Chi felt that although he wasn’t a matchmaker, the atmosphere between the two in the back made him feel uncomfortable all over. He tugged at his seatbelt and turned sideways, trying to find a topic.

“You…” He had just started speaking to Xiao Yiming when the car suddenly jolted hard, and his teeth nearly bit through his tongue.

“Ah!” Cheng Mo was also startled, his hand reflexively reaching toward Xiao Yiming, wanting to catch the lunchbox in his hand.

“Hm?” Xiao Yiming looked at him, holding the box steadily.

“Are you an acrobat or something?” Cheng Mo stared at him in surprise.

Fang Chi laughed immediately: “This is his special skill, holding two bags of roasted chestnuts while fighting and running for his life, and not dropping a single one.”

Xiao Yiming smiled: “If one drops, that’s one less to eat.”

Cheng Mo glanced at him, then turned his head and laughed.

Cheng Mo was right. When the car was still a kilometer from the mountain entrance, it was already moving very slowly. If they had come any later, it would probably be hard even to find parking.

It took nearly half an hour to reach the parking lot and park. After getting out, Sun Wenqu looked toward the entrance: “If this were summer vacation, people would probably bury the mountain, right?”

“Pretty much,” Cheng Mo smiled, “there’s not much else to do around here. Back and forth it’s just one mountain and two lakes. There are more places to have fun where we’re from.”

“For example, my place,” Fang Chi immediately said.

“How about going to your place next summer vacation?” Cheng Mo said.

“Sure.” Fang Chi nodded.

The entrance for the cable car and the entrance for hiking weren’t in the same place. There were slightly fewer people here, it seemed more people were willing to walk up the mountain slowly.

If Sun Wenqu hadn’t absolutely refused to climb stairs, Fang Chi actually would’ve liked to walk up. In fact, Sun Wenqu had no problem walking up, last time when they went hiking in the mountains with no path at all, he hadn’t complained about being tired.

He was just lazy, and maybe a bit too tired recently.

Fang Chi glanced at Sun Wenqu, subconsciously wanting to wrap an arm around his waist. Only after raising his hand did he suddenly realize there were people everywhere, so he instead casually patted Sun Wenqu’s shoulder twice.

“Hm?” Sun Wenqu turned his head.

“Nothing,” Fang Chi said quietly, “almost wanted to hug you.”

Sun Wenqu laughed and patted his shoulder back.

“Let’s go!” Cheng Mo shouted from the front, “we can go straight up!”

“Coming.” Fang Chi ran over. Since they didn’t need to queue for tickets, they boarded the cable car in less than two minutes.

The cable car had four seats facing each other, surrounded by glass, making the view quite nice.

Cheng Mo stood outside the car, letting the three of them sit first before sticking his head in to ask: “All seated?”

“Yeah,” Fang Chi looked at him, puzzled, “why does it feel like your next line should be ‘see you at the top’?”

“Hurry up!” the cable car attendant shouted from behind.

“Oh.” Cheng Mo responded and quickly got in, sitting beside Xiao Yiming.

The attendant came over, closed the door, and the cable car rattled forward along the track.

Once it moved out, the surroundings suddenly opened up.

Although looking down you could still see large crowds of tourists and various rest stops on the mountain, completely lacking the quiet and leisure of real mountains, Fang Chi was still quite happy. After all, it was a mountain! As long as it’s a mountain, he likes it!

“We’re going backward,” he stood up, turned around and knelt on the seat, patting Sun Wenqu, “do you get dizzy going backward?”

“No,” Sun Wenqu leaned back in his seat, turned sideways, put one leg on the chair and stretched the other long, looking out the window, “if walking, it would be from that path below, right?”

“Yeah,” Fang Chi switched windows again, then asked Cheng Mo, “you can also go up from this side, right?”

“Don’t move around.” Cheng Mo didn’t move.

“I’m not moving around,” Fang Chi knelt back on his seat again, “hey I’ve got snacks here, want some soda crackers? And chocolate.”

“I want chocolate,” Sun Wenqu said.

“Me too,” Xiao Yiming stood up, took the chocolate, then turned back to Cheng Mo, “do you want some?”

“No… don’t move.” Cheng Mo held onto the bar beside him, sitting completely still.

It was quite cool today, but there were actually fine beads of sweat on his forehead.

Everyone looked at him like that and froze, not speaking for a while.

Xiao Yiming looked at him, hesitated for a few seconds, then braced himself on the cable car and pushed lightly with his legs. The car swayed slightly.

“Ah!” Cheng Mo shouted.

Xiao Yiming stopped and said softly, as if afraid of scaring someone: “Are you afraid of heights?”

“…Yeah.” Cheng Mo said.

“Seriously?” Fang Chi was stunned, “you don’t look like someone afraid of heights.”

“D*mn,” Cheng Mo gripped the bar tightly, “is there a fixed look for people afraid of heights?”

Sun Wenqu laughed and slapped Fang Chi’s waist: “Sit properly, stop shaking it.”

“Oh.” Fang Chi sat down.

Xiao Yiming carefully returned to his seat and continued his original question: “Do you want chocolate?”

Before Cheng Mo could answer, he added: “You probably don’t feel like eating. Eat it after we land.”

“…Okay.” Cheng Mo sighed.

“If you’re afraid of heights, you should’ve said earlier. If you had, the two of us could’ve just walked up, and those two could take the cable car, would’ve saved some money too,” Fang Chi said.

“Climb a mountain with you? Then why the h*ll would I even come?” Cheng Mo said.

“D*mn,” Fang Chi laughed, “like I’d want to.”

Luckily, the cable car ride wasn’t too long. When they reached the top, Cheng Mo got off looking like he’d just been rescued from an execution ground, letting out a long breath.

Fang Chi looked at him and laughed for quite a while: “That was tough for you.”

“You’re welcome,” Cheng Mo clicked his tongue, “let’s go check out the viewing platform.”

“Dare to go up?” Fang Chi said, “want me to help you?”

“As long as I don’t get close to the edge, it’s fine,” Cheng Mo grabbed a piece of chocolate from Xiao Yiming’s hand, peeled it, and stuffed it into his mouth, “there’s also a temple and some kind of monument behind here to see. There are viewing platforms along the way.”

“Mm.” Fang Chi nodded and quickly went up to the viewing platform ahead with Sun Wenqu.

The platform was quite large, and there weren’t too many people. They stood by the railing; when the wind blew, it felt quite comfortable.

“Where are those two going later?” Sun Wenqu leaned against a pillar on the railing, “get me a bottle of something cold to drink.”

“Probably over there,” Fang Chi pointed to a stone stair path beside the platform, “what do you want to drink?”

“Anything,” Sun Wenqu squinted into the wind, “as long as it’s sweet.”

When Fang Chi went to buy drinks, he saw Cheng Mo and Xiao Yiming standing under a tree beside the platform talking.

He didn’t go over, just glanced a few times. Cheng Mo was thick-skinned and usually wouldn’t feel awkward. Xiao Yiming would also relax once he got familiar with someone, he wasn’t hard to get along with. Seeing them like this now, the atmosphere seemed pretty good.

After buying the drinks, Cheng Mo saw him and called out.

“Want some?” Fang Chi shook the drinks in his hand.

“No, we’ll go drink tea over there later,” Cheng Mo said, “you guys really not coming over?”

“You two going?” Fang Chi looked at Xiao Yiming and asked.

“Mm, we’ll go take a look. Since we’re already here.” Xiao Yiming smiled.

“Then you go ahead. If we go, we’ll come find you later. If not, we’ll wait here for you,” Fang Chi said.

“Alright.” Cheng Mo nodded.

Sun Wenqu took the drink and gulped down half the bottle in one go, then looked in the direction Cheng Mo and Xiao Yiming had gone: “Those two have a chance.”

“I think so too,” Fang Chi chuckled twice, “Xiao Yiming’s pretty stubborn. If he didn’t want to, even if Cheng Mo jumped down from here, he wouldn’t go with him.”

“Smiling so lewdly.” Sun Wenqu glanced at him sideways.

“Lewd?” Fang Chi chuckled again, “I just think it’s pretty fun… want to go walk over there?”

“Let’s go,” Sun Wenqu tilted his head back and finished the remaining half bottle, “but wait a bit. Following right behind them isn’t great.”

“…You were that thirsty?” Fang Chi took the empty bottle and threw it into the trash, looking at him in surprise.

“I’ve been low on sugar these past few days.” Sun Wenqu smiled.

“Then when we get back, I’ll make you hot chocolate. Twice a day, let you replenish sugar,” Fang Chi said.

“Just looking at you is already too sweet.” Sun Wenqu patted his face, then turned and leaned on the railing, looking into the distance.

“Hey,” Fang Chi nudged him with his arm, “you said you wanted to plant flowers and stuff in the yard, what flowers are you going to plant? I saw a lot down by the road… want to go dig some up?”

“Where’s your sense of morality, college student!” Sun Wenqu laughed as soon as he heard that, “why are you just like Uncle Liangzi.”

“What did he do?” Fang Chi asked.

“When we went to the botanical garden, he dug up one of their succulents and got caught,” Sun Wenqu said, laughing, “he stutters really badly when he’s nervous, so the staff thought something was wrong with his brain and let him go without making him pay.”

Fang Chi laughed for quite a while, rubbing his face: “Then think about what you want to plant.”

“Let me think… how about…” Sun Wenqu thought for a moment, “lily of the valley.”

“What does that look like?” Fang Chi asked.

“Like a string of little bells.” Sun Wenqu answered very perfunctorily.

“…I might as well hang a yard full of bells for you.” Fang Chi clicked his tongue and took out his phone to look it up himself.

The sunlight on the mountain was great. Near noon, the wind had also lessened a lot, and the sunlight flickered bright and dim as clouds passed.

Fang Chi and Sun Wenqu walked around this side, including the temple and that monument Cheng Mo mentioned.

Sun Wenqu stood in front of the monument for quite a long time, looking very carefully. Fang Chi had no interest in this sort of thing, and the characters on it didn’t look like the usual kind. They were probably written very well, but after staring for a long time, he didn’t recognize a single character.

He had originally thought that since it was a monument, maybe it would have the word “monument” written somewhere, but after searching around, he didn’t find anything that looked like that character, so he just sat to the side watching Sun Wenqu.

Sun Wenqu looked better anyway.

The way Sun Wenqu looked at the monument reminded Fang Chi of how he looked when writing, making pottery, or playing the violin, that kind of indescribable but very captivating state.

Even though Sun Wenqu dismissively categorized all of that as useless show-off skills, Fang Chi felt that deep down he liked those things, even though he had never said so.

Sun Wenqu stood there for twenty minutes before turning around and flicking the back of Fang Chi’s head with his finger: “Let’s go, time to go beat apart the lovebirds over there.”

“What lovebirds?” Fang Chi stood up.

“Lovebirds hugging, when will it end…” Sun Wenqu said with a smile.

Fang Chi immediately laughed: “And the other one just watches the show?”

“Mm,” Sun Wenqu draped an arm over his shoulder, “that line probably existed when I was young… you were probably in elementary school back then?”

“Oh, give me a break!” Fang Chi laughed, “why not say I wasn’t even born yet.”

“Generation gap.” Sun Wenqu stretched.

After downing a bottle of drink and replenishing his sugar, Sun Wenqu was quite energetic on the way toward the back peak. He didn’t complain about being tired at all. When Fang Chi took photos of him with his phone, he cooperated quite well, pretending not to notice every time.

“Don’t move,” Fang Chi leaned against the railing by the steps, holding up his phone, “your side profile looks really good. Let me take a photo.”

“Mm.” Sun Wenqu responded.

At the moment Fang Chi adjusted the frame and pressed the shutter, Sun Wenqu suddenly stuck out his tongue from the corner of his mouth and licked his lips.

“…Hey!” Fang Chi stared at him, “can you be normal?”

“Beg me.” Sun Wenqu said with a smile.

“Please,” Fang Chi leaned close and whispered, “I’m going to use the photo to jerk off tonight, can you let me take a decent one?”

“Is sticking out my tongue not good?” Sun Wenqu also whispered, “you can even imagine me licking…”

“Sun Wenqu!” Fang Chi said in a low voice.

“Take it, take it,” Sun Wenqu laughed, “retake it, I’ll be normal.”

When Fang Chi raised his phone to take another photo, Sun Wenqu added, “you could just use video when you jerk off, why insist on using photos?”

Fang Chi took a lot of effort to stop his hand from shaking too much as he snapped the photo of his side profile: “…I’d feel embarrassed using video.”

“You’ve done it in person but feel embarrassed about video?” Sun Wenqu said.

“It feels different.” Fang Chi turned and walked ahead, feeling like if they kept talking he’d have to find a bathroom to stay in for a while.

Sun Wenqu followed behind him slowly.

Fang Chi’s back view was quite sexy.

Today he was wearing a slightly fitted T-shirt and a pair of athletic pants. His legs were long, and the muscle lines along his waist and back were faintly visible under the clothes, making Sun Wenqu feel an urge to grab them a few times.

His phone rang. Sun Wenqu stared at Fang Chi’s back for a while longer before taking out his phone to check, it was Ma Liang.

“What is it?” Sun Wenqu answered directly. That set of pottery was about to be finished recently, and he was most worried about problems.

“Nothing,” Ma Liang said, “out… playing?”

“Mm,” Sun Wenqu relaxed, “what’s up?”

“Out… in the wild?” Ma Liang laughed, “wind’s whooshing, and you’re panting.”

“Of course I’m panting, don’t you breathe?” Sun Wenqu also laughed, “climbing a mountain, with Fang Chi and his two classmates.”

“I want to… ask you,” Ma Liang switched to a more serious tone, “did my nephew… tell you that Li Bowen often goes to that village… his grandpa’s village?”

“What?” Sun Wenqu’s brows immediately furrowed.

“Don’t… get tense, li–listen to me… finish.” Ma Liang said.

“It’s really hard to listen to you… go ahead.” Sun Wenqu clicked his tongue.

“He said he wants to set up a farmhouse stay,” Ma Liang took a breath and said it in one go, “at first I heard it from Luo Peng, he often goes outdoor… activities with him. Later he said he wants to set up a farm… stay.”

“At Fang Chi’s village?” Sun Wenqu asked.

“Mm, if he sets it up, it can only be there, that’s not a problem,” Ma Liang said, “I’m just… wondering whether he’s only doing this or also planning something else.”

“You mean he might look for Fang Chi’s grandpa?” Sun Wenqu glanced ahead. Fang Chi had already turned back and was walking toward him, holding a lollipop.

“Not now… probably not. Later… who knows,” Ma Liang said, “his brain’s like saline-alkali land… no idea what he’ll do.”

“I’ll head back tomorrow,” Sun Wenqu said. Fang Chi had already walked up to him, unwrapped the lollipop and handed it over. He took it and licked it, “I’ll explain in detail when I get back.”

“Alright,” Ma Liang responded, “remember to balance work and rest.”

“Get lost.” Sun Wenqu laughed and hung up.

“Uncle Liangzi?” Fang Chi asked.

“Mm,” Sun Wenqu licked the lollipop again, “why’d you buy this?”

“Didn’t you need sugar?” Fang Chi said, “is it good?”

“Kid’s stuff. Pretty good.” Sun Wenqu bit a small piece.

“Don’t bite it, you’re supposed to lick it,” Fang Chi said, “licking is what makes it fun.”

Sun Wenqu clicked his tongue, licked it again, and looked at him: “Wasn’t I worried I’d lick you into that state?”

“…Hurry up!” Fang Chi grabbed him and pulled him up the steps, “it’s already noon, let’s go eat over there.”