The peak at the back was higher, and the scenery was indeed better than before. Sun Wenqu and Fang Chi took quite a lot of photos along the way.
But there were also more tourists here, and the commercial atmosphere was stronger, souvenir vendors, tea sellers, teaware sellers, toy sellers, you could see them all along the way.
When they arrived, Xiao Yiming and Cheng Mo were studying something at a teaware stall. Seeing them come, Cheng Mo immediately walked over: “Hey, I heard you’re pretty professional in this area?”
“Mm?” Sun Wenqu responded.
“I saw a set that looks pretty nice. Xiao Yiming said we should ask you first,” Cheng Mo said.
“Selling teaware here is about the same as going to Shaxian and ordering a Manchu–Han imperial feast,” Sun Wenqu glanced over the stall, “that set, did they also say it’s zisha and stamped with some so-called master’s mark you’ve never heard of?”
“Mm, but I don’t know any masters anyway,” Cheng Mo was quite honest, “so we shouldn’t buy it, right?”
“If it’s under 50, you can buy it to collect dust.” Sun Wenqu said.
“Then forget it. Want to eat?” Cheng Mo smiled, then added, “oh, it’s not like I know none of them, I do know Sun Zhengzhi…”
Cheng Mo stopped halfway, suddenly remembering something, and glanced at Sun Wenqu. Sun Wenqu had already walked to the railing to look at the mountains. He then looked at Fang Chi.
“His dad,” Fang Chi nodded, “but… don’t go ask him.”
“Oh,” Cheng Mo responded in surprise, not asking further, “I just thought from the first glance he felt a bit different.”
“You sure like observing people, huh?” Fang Chi glanced sideways at him.
Cheng Mo immediately reacted and clicked his tongue: “It’s just a habit. I was observing you too.”
Fang Chi clicked his tongue twice and didn’t say anything.
“Is the food here good?” Xiao Yiming was looking around, not paying attention to them at all, “is eating at tourist spots not worth it?”
“There’s one place that’s pretty good, some people come here just to eat,” Cheng Mo immediately moved closer to him and pointed toward the mountainside, “we’ll go eat there later.”
“Where?” Xiao Yiming didn’t see it and walked toward the railing, then turned back to look at him.
“It’s just…” Cheng Mo pointed again, then sighed, “I’ll just take you there later. I’ve been here once.”
“Afraid to go over there, huh?” Fang Chi laughed at the side, “do you just stand in the middle the whole time?”
“It’s already impressive that I can stand here,” Cheng Mo sat down on a stone bench, “when I was a kid I didn’t even dare cross bridges.”
“Can’t relate. If you lived in our village, seeing mountains every day, you’d probably collapse long ago,” Fang Chi saw an old man selling bamboo-woven trinkets nearby, walked over and squatted down, picking up a woven grasshopper and waving it in front of him, “does this look good?”
“If you’re bedridden, you can’t see clearly,” Cheng Mo said.
Fang Chi laughed and browsed for a long time, finally buying a small bamboo-woven frog.
“Why buy that?” Cheng Mo asked him, “does your brother like it?”
“No idea, maybe he will.” Fang Chi said.
“Then why are you buying it?” Cheng Mo looked at him.
“I like it,” Fang Chi laughed, “my grandpa made me a lot of these when I was little.”
“Then…” Cheng Mo hesitated, “does Xiao Yiming like it?”
“How would I know,” Fang Chi said, then looked around, “he likes roasted chestnuts. If you see some, just buy him a bag.”
“Oh, there really are.” Cheng Mo immediately stood up and turned to leave.
Fang Chi went over and pinned the little frog onto Sun Wenqu’s backpack.
“Miss your grandpa?” Sun Wenqu turned back to look at him.
“How’d you know,” Fang Chi smiled, “I do miss him a bit.”
“This looks exactly like something your grandpa would make,” Sun Wenqu flicked the frog with his hand, making it bounce in the air a few times, “can you make it?”
“No,” Fang Chi said a little embarrassed, “I’m clumsy with my hands, can’t make these.”
“Go buy a few more,” Sun Wenqu turned and walked toward the stall, “I’ll take them apart when we get back and see if I can make them.”
“What for?” Fang Chi followed him.
“So when you miss your grandpa, I can make them for you,” Sun Wenqu said, “when you don’t want to call me dad, you can call me grandpa.”
“Could you look back at the face you’ve just thrown all over the ground!” Fang Chi said helplessly.
Cheng Mo bought a bag of roasted chestnuts, but clearly the vendor hadn’t considered people afraid of heights, the stall was right by the railing, so he had someone deliver it to him.
From the moment Xiao Yiming got the chestnuts, he started laughing, eating while chuckling. The group kept laughing all the way to the restaurant.
“I know why people come here to eat,” Xiao Yiming said, “is it because this path isn’t near the edge? If it were another place, you probably wouldn’t be able to get there, right?”
“It’s not that serious,” Cheng Mo didn’t mind being laughed at the whole way, “I’m considered mild, I just have to look at my feet.”
“Then wasn’t this trip pointless for you?” Sun Wenqu, who hadn’t spoken much, said.
“Hey.” Cheng Mo laughed as soon as he heard that.
Even though they teased Cheng Mo, the farmhouse-style restaurant he brought them to tasted pretty good. There were a lot of people, and quite a few locals had come specifically to eat rather than see the mountain.
If it were peak summer season, they’d probably have to wait a long time just to eat.
Even now, not at peak time, they still waited nearly half an hour for the dishes.
Eating didn’t even take half an hour.
In twenty minutes, they had finished eating and drinking.
“Even taking the cable car up, we got this hungry…” Fang Chi patted his stomach.
“This cold shredded chicken breast is pretty good.” Xiao Yiming picked up the last slice and put it into his mouth.
“Want another serving?” Cheng Mo immediately asked.
Xiao Yiming glanced at him: “No need, I’m already stuffed. This last piece is the ‘farewell meat.’”
“Farewell what?” Cheng Mo didn’t understand.
“It doesn’t mean sending anyone off. It’s just eating one more piece of meat after finishing, to comfort the stomach,” Xiao Yiming explained, “because after you drink tea later, there won’t be any taste left.”
“…Oh.” Cheng Mo looked at him.
There were actually many more places on the mountain, but as time went on, more and more people arrived. Cheng Mo’s condition also wasn’t very suitable for “seeing all the mountains at a glance,” and everyone was full and sleepy, so they took the cable car down.
Fang Chi hadn’t been drinking, so he took on the driving.
“Drive steadily,” Cheng Mo reminded him.
“Why don’t you drive then,” Fang Chi clicked his tongue.
“I only have a motorcycle license,” Cheng Mo answered honestly.
“Motorcycle,” Fang Chi backed the car out of the parking spot, “oh right, I didn’t ask you before, last time you drove that Kawasaki, I never see you drive it usually?”
“It’s not my bike,” Cheng Mo smiled, “it’s He Baobao’s. I borrowed it.”
“Huh?” Fang Chi froze for a moment, “his bike? He really doesn’t look like someone who rides that kind of thing.”
“You can’t judge by appearances,” Cheng Mo said, “but it’s true he never rides it. It’s just sitting at home, I went to his place that day specifically to take it out.”
“You… really didn’t have it easy,” Fang Chi glanced at Xiao Yiming through the rearview mirror.
Xiao Yiming met his gaze, smiled, didn’t say anything, lowered his head and took out a tube of popcorn to eat.
After this “fear of heights trip,” Fang Chi didn’t ask about what happened next between Cheng Mo and Xiao Yiming. The next day, he and Sun Wenqu headed back.
Anyway, Xiao Yiming wasn’t going home during these few days off, and Cheng Mo wasn’t either, they had time to slowly develop things.
Probably because grandpa had told Xiaozi they were coming back today, as soon as Fang Chi drove to the road outside the village entrance, he saw Xiaozi squatting on a pile of straw, looking in the direction of passing cars.
He couldn’t help laughing, rolled down the window and stuck his head out, shouting, “Xiaozi!”
Xiaozi lifted his head, ears immediately flattening back, jumped down from the straw pile, barking as he ran over, bouncing alongside the car, running all the way with wind under his paws until they reached the open space behind the house.
As soon as Fang Chi got out of the car, he saw his grandpa walking out from the backyard.
“Grandpa!” He jumped out, scratched Xiaozi’s head a couple of times, and ran over, “I’m back.”
“I heard Xiaozi barking from far away,” grandpa said with a smile, “came back with Shuiqu, right? Changed cars again?”
“A friend lent it,” Fang Chi turned back to look, “this car’s big, right?”
“It is really big.” Grandpa nodded.
“You little rascal, you’re back!” Grandma came out holding a cucumber, “oh my, did you get darker?”
“I wasn’t that fair to begin with,” Fang Chi went over and hugged her, swaying a bit, “miss me?”
“Thinking of you just annoys me,” grandma said with a smile, then looked past him, “Shuiqu, you’ve gotten thinner?”
“Grandpa, grandma,” Sun Wenqu walked over, greeted them, then touched his face, “is it that obvious?”
“Your face is sharper. Is it the heat?” grandma looked at him, “or you’ve been staying up late again.”
“Probably the heat,” Sun Wenqu said, “I don’t handle heat well.”
After chatting with grandpa and grandma for a while, Sun Wenqu went upstairs. His room was still the same, grandma probably cleaned it often; there wasn’t a speck of dust, and even the bedsheets had been changed.
Sun Wenqu put his things down and leaned against the desk, looking at the room.
If it weren’t for already agreeing to come with Fang Chi, he actually wouldn’t have wanted to appear here at the same time again. Ma Liang’s words had made him uneasy.
Li Bowen’s bar business was doing well, and last year he had opened a new café. He had never mentioned wanting to set up a farmhouse stay.
Setting up a farmhouse stay wasn’t strange, more and more people came here for hiking and exploration. But those were usually small, run by villagers at home. Larger-scale ones were rare. Investing in one would be normal.
But if Li Bowen was the one doing it, it wasn’t normal.
Li Bowen wouldn’t go so far as to start a farmhouse stay just because of him and Fang Chi, but doing something on the side to cause trouble would fit his style of harming others without benefiting himself.
Sun Wenqu didn’t care what Li Bowen did to him, but if it involved Fang Chi, that wasn’t acceptable.
“Want to take a shower?” Fang Chi ran upstairs, pushing open his door.
“You go first,” Sun Wenqu leaned against the desk, not moving, “I’m too lazy to move right now.”
“Mm,” Fang Chi glanced downstairs, walked in, crossed two steps to him, hugged him and kissed him twice, “then rest for a bit. We’ll eat soon, maybe shower after dinner.”
“Okay.” Sun Wenqu ruffled his hair.
“Kiss me,” Fang Chi turned, walked two steps, then jumped back, “with some passion.”
Sun Wenqu laughed, hooked an arm around his neck, pulled him closer, and kissed him hard on the mouth. He didn’t control the force well, their teeth knocked together.
“Hey,” Fang Chi covered his mouth, “so intense.”
“Go shower,” Sun Wenqu laughed and touched his own teeth, “mine are about to fall out…”
Hearing Fang Chi go downstairs, Sun Wenqu closed the door and called Ma Liang.
Ma Liang explained things in more detail again. Li Bowen hadn’t started any concrete action yet regarding the farmhouse stay. Although annoying, he was serious and cautious in business, which was why his bar and café were doing well.
Right now, he was probably researching the market. Recently, whenever Luo Peng and the others went out for outdoor activities, Li Bowen had been going along.
In another month or two, it would be the off-season for outdoor activities. Li Bowen likely had no funding issues. If he was going to do it, it would probably be next spring.
“For these half a year… probably nothing will happen,” Ma Liang said, “and… what if he really just wants to expand into a new field… maybe don’t… don’t let my nephew know yet.”
“We’ll see,” Sun Wenqu said, “if it needs to be said, it has to be said. If it only involved me, I wouldn’t say anything, but now it might affect him, so I have to.”
“He overthinks,” Ma Liang sounded worried, “if you tell him now, he’ll lose sleep for half a year.”
“If it’s something you have to bear, you bear it,” Sun Wenqu smiled, “I think he’ll be fine. He… surprises me quite often.”
There was a knock on the door. Fang Chi poked his head in: “Hey, grandma said you should shower… you’re on the phone?”
“It’s fine, Liangzi,” Sun Wenqu hung up, “what’s up?”
“Grandma said it’s not good to shower after eating,” Fang Chi stood there with water droplets all over his hair, “she wants you to shower now.”
“I…” Sun Wenqu hesitated a little, he didn’t want to move.
“Better go,” Fang Chi said, “she already scolded me for five minutes.”
“Why’d she scold you?” Sun Wenqu laughed, grabbing clothes to change.
“For using cold water to shower in October,” Fang Chi chuckled.
“I’ll go now,” Sun Wenqu walked out of the room, casually smacking his butt, “use hot water.”
“Hey,” Fang Chi leaned against the doorframe, looking at him, “Sun Wenqu.”
“Mm?” Sun Wenqu responded.
“Do you have something you’re not telling me?” Fang Chi asked softly.
“Do I?” Sun Wenqu glanced at him and went downstairs, swinging his clothes.
Sun Wenqu quite liked eating together with grandpa, grandma, and Fang Chi. Listening to them chat gave a very comfortable feeling, making people feel lazily at ease.
Today’s dishes were cooked by grandpa, prepared two hours in advance. Even though there were only four people, there was still a full table.
Seeing they were in good spirits, Sun Wenqu drank a bit of homemade liquor with grandpa.
After the meal, he lounged on the sofa, completely relaxed. When Xiaozi came over and licked his hand, he wasn’t even startled.
“Learned to ambush, huh,” Sun Wenqu lightly flicked Xiaozi’s nose, “little old dog.”
After sitting downstairs for a while, Sun Wenqu went upstairs. The alcohol made him a bit lazy, he wanted to lie down.
At this time of year, the countryside had already cooled down. He opened the window, and the night breeze carried a chill. He leaned comfortably against the pillow and closed his eyes.
He hadn’t fully closed the door. After a while, he could hear voices chatting downstairs.
Fang Chi chatted with grandpa and grandma for over an hour, telling them about school. The two elders didn’t know much about university life and asked many questions.
Just as Sun Wenqu felt he was about to fall asleep, Fang Chi came upstairs and entered the room.
“Asleep?” Fang Chi asked softly.
“No, almost.” Sun Wenqu said with a smile, eyes closed.
“Grandpa and grandma are asleep,” Fang Chi closed the door, came over and lay down beside him, wrapping an arm around him and kissing his shoulder, “my throat’s gone hoarse from talking.”
“They find it novel,” Sun Wenqu said, “did they ask for a long time even about using a meal card in the cafeteria?”
“Mm,” Fang Chi smiled, “they were afraid the cafeteria staff would swipe all the money out of my bank account… hey, let me ask you, the birthday on your ID is correct, right?”
“You even secretly looked at my ID?” Sun Wenqu turned his head with a smile and kissed the tip of his nose, “it’s correct, why?”
“I saw it when I was checking how much money you had in your wallet. I’m telling you, don’t keep things like that in your wallet or carry them around all the time, only people who don’t look like good people always carry them in case the police check…” Fang Chi said softly with his eyes closed, “so your birthday’s at the end of this month?”
“Mm.” Sun Wenqu responded.
“I’ll already be back at school then,” Fang Chi sighed, “you probably won’t have time to come over either, right? Uncle Liangzi’s been calling once a day these past couple days, are you busy?”
“Do you want to celebrate my birthday?” Sun Wenqu asked.
“I do. Even just having a meal together would be nice,” Fang Chi said, “or… can we celebrate it early?”
“Sure, up to you,” Sun Wenqu said with a smile, “these next couple of days?”
“Mm,” Fang Chi opened his eyes, “but I’m not very good at doing romantic stuff. I don’t know how to arrange it well, I was just thinking of eating something.”
“What kind of romance do we need,” Sun Wenqu stretched, “being together is already romantic enough. How about this, we make… something together.”
“Make…” Fang Chi immediately lifted his head, then after realizing, lay back down with a laugh, “d*mn, make what? Pottery?”
“Let’s make a small round plate,” Sun Wenqu laughed for a while, “that’s simple. I’ll teach you.”
“Okay!” Fang Chi hugged him excitedly, “do you still have clay?”
“There’s still a bag of clay left. I brought it before to look for inspiration and didn’t use it up,” Sun Wenqu said, “enough to make a small plate.”
“Alright,” Fang Chi smiled, “will I end up making some weird monstrosity?”
“How can a plate turn into a monstrosity? At worst it becomes a bowl, at best maybe a coaster.” Sun Wenqu said.
Fang Chi laughed for quite a while: “Then tomorrow?”
“Mm, tomorrow,” Sun Wenqu said. Fang Chi didn’t speak anymore, hugging him, resting his chin on his shoulder, his breath brushing against his neck, “aren’t you sleeping?”
“I’m in the process of sleeping.” Fang Chi said.
“Sleeping in my room?” Sun Wenqu patted his arm.
“Mm,” Fang Chi paused, then lifted his head to look at him, “you want me to sleep next door?”
“Not what I want, I don’t want that,” Sun Wenqu said, “but we don’t need air conditioning now. If grandma sees, she’ll find it strange.”
“Oh,” Fang Chi sighed, “true. Then I’ll go sleep over there.”
“Wake me up tomorrow,” Sun Wenqu said, “I might sleep really well today and oversleep.”
“Mm,” Fang Chi smiled. Just as he was about to sit up, he paused and looked at Sun Wenqu’s face, “can you tell me?”
“Tell you what?” Sun Wenqu looked at him.
“It’s just… since yesterday you’ve been a bit…” Fang Chi stared at his face, “usually I can’t tell if something’s on your mind, but this time I have a feeling.”
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