Chapter 41: Hairpin Shot

  In my impression, many girls are directionally challenged, which led me to wonder at one point whether most women being directionally challenged is just like most men being lustful - a natural instinct? Although I've started trying to slowly change this impression of mine, I found that following Qin Ke Yi's directions according to the map, we were still circling around in no end, and I slowly reverted back to my original impression.

  I had to reluctantly pull the car over to the side of the road, and Qin Ke Yi and I carefully studied the map. Later, I discovered that it wasn't Qin Ke Yi's fault, but rather the cartographers' low IQ was well reflected on the map. I don't know if it was to test the reader's IQ or to let tourists experience the thrill of searching for treasure with a strange and crude medieval-style map, in order to better test their patience and perseverance.

  After the joint efforts of Qin Ke Yi and I, we finally found a roughly correct route on the error-prone map, and then followed this route to grope our way out of the city and onto the highway leading to Maoer Mountain.

  Perhaps due to getting up too early, Qin Ke Yi soon fell asleep after getting on the highway. Seeing that Qin Ke Yi's arms were wrapped around her chest and she seemed a bit cold, I slowly pulled over to the side of the road, adjusted the air conditioning slightly, took off my jacket, and gently covered it over Qin Ke Yi's body. Looking at Qin Ke Yi's peaceful sleeping face, thinking about all the things that had happened between us recently, I suddenly felt a strange but comfortable feeling in my heart. After tidying up the few disheveled strands of hair on her forehead, I started the car again and got back on the road.

  Along the highway, following the guidance of road signs, we finally arrived at the intersection leading to Ma'ershan. After getting off the intersection, we passed through a bumpy road and saw a mountain that was not very high but very beautiful in front of us. At the foot of the mountain, there was also a small village. So I got out of the car and asked a passerby, who confirmed that the mountain in front of us was indeed Ma'ershan. I woke up Qinyi, who had been sleeping soundly, and when she saw Ma'ershan in front of her, she became very excited and all her sleepiness disappeared instantly.

  I called Guo Cheng on the bus and told her that Qin Ke Yi and I had arrived at the village at the foot of Cat Mountain. After Guo Cheng let out a shout of incredulity, she told us that they were already on the mountain and instructed us to go to the second courtyard at the entrance of the village, where we would be staying for the night. She told us to put our things there and then head up the mountain to find them. After I hung up the phone, I followed Guo Cheng's directions and found the place to stay, a large quadrangle courtyard. The landlady warmly welcomed us after learning that we were with the previous group of people, and told us that the left house was for girls and the right house was for boys. Qin Ke Yi and I took our things into the house, and after I tidied up a bit, I put on my backpack and went out. At this time, Qin Ke Yi also changed into sports clothes, put on her backpack, and walked out of the house.

  In a strict sense, Maoer Mountain is not a real tourist area. The road up the mountain has no stairs to climb, only dry tree branches all over the ground that can be used as stairs. Because it had just rained lightly in the morning, the road on the mountain was very muddy and slippery, making it especially difficult to climb. Qin Ke Yi started shouting "I'm tired" after climbing for less than 20 minutes, so I had no choice but to carry her bag on my back and pull her along as we walked.

  Qin Ke, who had just shed a heavy burden, seemed to have suddenly regained her vitality and began to hop around in front of me, almost excitedly and curiously about everything on the mountain, making me once again wonder if I had been taken in by this girl.

  Because Qin Ke Yi wanted me to take pictures of her at every place she was interested in, our speed was very slow. By 4 pm, we had only climbed halfway up the mountain and still hadn't caught up with Guo Cheng's group. Considering that if we continued climbing, it would be dark by the time we reached the top, which would be very dangerous, so under Qin Ke Yi's great reluctance, we decided to take another route down the mountain.

  It was unexpected that another road was much steeper than the one we took to climb the mountain, and many sections were quite steep. In addition, the wet and muddy road surface made it necessary to crawl down with both hands on the ground. After walking for a while, there was no more road in front of us, only a cliff. Looking down, the cliff wasn't short, but to get down, we had to rely on the fixed ropes above, which gave me a sense of rock climbing.

  "I'm scared! Are we going to fall to our deaths?!" Qin Ke stood at the edge and looked down, her voice trembling as she said to me.

  "Shut your mouth and follow me!" I said to Qin Ke Yi with a bit of anger. Actually, my legs were also trembling non-stop at this time, and I was very scared in my heart. But when it's just the two of us, a man and a woman facing this situation, it seems like it's time for the man to take charge. If I also acted like Qin Ke Yi at this time, we would likely get stuck here. So I gritted my teeth, grabbed the rope and started climbing down first, letting Qin Ke Yi be above me, following me down together. Every step I took downwards, I would use my hand to hold onto Qin Ke Yi's foot to guide her to step on the same spot where I had stepped before, so she wouldn't slip down because of stepping into empty space. If there was no place for her to step down, I would try my best to move down another step and then use a rock to chisel out a foothold on the soft cliff surface for Qin Ke Yi, so that she would have a place to step down.

  In such extremely difficult circumstances, Qin Ke Yi and I safely conquered this steep mountain road. When I carried Qin Ke Yi down from the cliff and put her down steadily, my nervous heart finally calmed down, and I let out a deep breath of relief.

  Just as Qin Ke Yi and I dragged our exhausted bodies to the entrance of our dormitory, Guo Cheng seemed worried that we hadn't returned yet and was about to send someone out to look for us. When she saw us walking in, she looked very excited and rushed towards Qin Ke Yi, who could hardly stand still, and hugged her tightly. Upon hearing the news of our safe return, many girls came out of the house at once and surrounded Qin Ke Yi, expressing their concern and asking how she was doing.

  "Hmm... Qingqing, I'm so tired! Can you calm down for now?" Qin Keyi said weakly while being held by Guo Qing.

  "Where did you two go! Can't you see this is not the right time for a secret date? You're making me so worried!"

  "Go... die! I won't talk to you anymore, I'm so tired, I need to go lie down for a while!"

  "Captain, is this your boyfriend? Why haven't I seen him before?" A girl looked at me and curiously asked Qin Ke.

  "Hmm! Does it look like that?" After saying that, Qin Ke pulled Guo Cheng and a group of girls towards the house.

  "I'm still on probation, for three months." I said with a smile to the girl, and then walked into the boys' dormitory. When I entered the room, I found Marco playing mahjong with several boys, who looked very excited when they saw me coming in.

  "Ah! You little scamp is back! I was worried sick!"

  "Oh! Is that so? That's what you're worried about my performance!" I said with a smile, pointing to the mahjong on the table and speaking to Marco.

  "Ah......!? Hehe! I was just too worried, so I thought of a way to shift my mood! How about you join me for a couple of rounds?" Marko said hesitantly.

  "Alright, I'll go get some water to wash up, you guys play." After finishing speaking, I put down my backpack and took the basin our landlord gave us, went to the house with a well, drew a basin of water, took off my top, and started washing my face and wiping my body. At this time, Guo Cheng suddenly lifted the door curtain and walked in.

  "Are you interested in my upper body?" I asked jokingly as I saw Guo Cheng come in.

  "Really! If you expose your lower body as well, I'll be even more interested!" Guo Cheng also laughed and played along with my teasing.

  "Looks like Marco's figure doesn't quite meet your expectations?"

  "Get out! I'm not going to bother with you anymore! Today we're cooking for ourselves, the dishes and ingredients are all bought. Following Ke Yi's recommendation, the organization has unanimously decided to hand over the head chef position to you, and at the same time dispatch two comrades to assist you in completing this glorious and sacred task. I hope you won't let the organization down, and especially don't make me and Ke Yi lose face." Guo Cheng said with a straight face.

  "Don't worry, I guarantee to resolutely complete this task and give the Party and the people of the whole nation a satisfactory answer." I used the same language to cooperate with Guo Ceng, and at the same time, I didn't want to miss the opportunity to show my face in front of many beautiful women.

  "Alright, Kang Jian, don't disappoint the organization's expectations of you." Guo Cheng said with a smile and patted my shoulder before turning around and walking out. After I finished washing up, I walked into the kitchen, where Ma Ke and another boy were busily chopping vegetables, occasionally other boys would bring in washed vegetables. Seeing this scene, I couldn't help but feel regretful that my "uselessness of girls" theory had been further proven.

  Under my and many "househusbands'" wonderful collaboration, two tables of dishes were quickly filled. When we walked out of the kitchen with a sense of accomplishment and smiles on our faces, we received unanimous applause from all the girls and remaining boys present.

  Due to the fatigue from hiking and the exhaustion from cooking, I didn't have much of an appetite. After hastily eating a few bites and drinking a few cups of wine with several male friends, I chose to return to my room to rest. As I pushed open the door and was about to enter, I found that there was a man and a woman lying inside. So, without having time to carefully observe their behavior at that moment, I hastily closed the door and walked out. After pacing back and forth in frustration until I reached the entrance, I sat down alone on the threshold, dazed.

  "What are you doing?" Qin Ke suddenly appeared behind me and whispered in my ear.

  "You scared me to death!" I exclaimed at Qin Ke Yi's sudden appearance.

  "Hehe! Why aren't you eating?" Qin Ke asked me as he sat down beside me.

  "I don't have much of an appetite, so I'm just going to look at the stars." I said weakly.

  "Look at the stars! You won't, will you? You're acting like a girl!" Qin Ke said to me with a mocking face.

  "Who says stargazing is only for girls?! Besides, it's rare to see stars on a Harbin night, so let's take this chance to appreciate them!"

  "Oh?" Qin Ke responded subconsciously, then lifted his head with me to gaze at the starry sky, and the two of us just sat there in silence.

  After a while, I looked at Qin Ke Yi and found that she was only wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt, with her arms wrapped around her as if she was very cold. So I took off my jacket and handed it to her.

  "Oh? I don't need it." Qin Ke said after reacting slightly when he saw the clothes I handed over.

  "Hurry up and put it on, I don't want you to catch a cold after going back and give me another chance to take care of you!" Qin Ke Yi gave me a white eye after taking the clothes and putting them on. A few minutes after handing over the clothes to Qin Ke Yi, I suddenly realized the severity of the consequences of my actions. The night on the mountain was very cold even in summer, so I, who was only wearing a vest, started doing similar movements like Qin Ke Yi just did.

  "Come on." Qin Ke Yi seemed to have noticed my movement, lifted up half of her clothes and smiled at me to sit closer and share the blanket with her. So I moved quietly but excitedly to Qin Ke Yi's side, snuggled tightly against her, and covered myself with the other half of the blanket. At this moment, the fragrance on Qin Ke Yi's body began to fill my nostrils.

  Qin Keyi still looked up at the stars in the sky, while I was getting confused and infatuated due to the enchanting fragrance emitted from her body. I considered whether to stretch out one hand that was close to Qin Keyi and wrap it around her waist. I kept giving myself encouragement in my heart, and after a fierce ideological struggle, I slowly stretched out my sweaty hands, which were filled with tension, towards Qin Keyi's waist.

  "Be honest with me!" Just as I was about to succeed, Qin Ke suddenly said in a low voice, but still looked up at the sky. So I quickly withdrew my hand and coughed to cover up the awkwardness.

  "Hey! Do you know constellations?" Qin Ke suddenly asked me after a while.

  "I know!" Actually, I'm quite disgusted with things like zodiac signs and blood types that deceive young girls. But when I was in high school, out of the need to chase girls, I spent a lot of effort studying books on this aspect. I always thought that chasing girls wasn't just about having a handsome appearance and charming demeanor, but also grasping some necessary basic knowledge. What situation could make a girl's eyes light up faster than discussing zodiac signs with her?

  So I started pointing at the various constellations in the sky, explaining to Qin Ke how to identify them and telling her many stories about the constellations. The academic achievements I accumulated in high school were not wasted at all. At some point, Qin Ke, who had been listening intently, gently leaned her head on my shoulder. Just as her head touched my shoulder, I suddenly became tongue-tied and couldn't speak, my mind racing with thoughts about the implications of Qin Ke's actions, wondering if she was hinting something to me again. After thinking for a long time, I decided to use a subtle approach to probe Qin Ke.

  "Qin Keyi." I softly called out to Qin Keyi, she responded with an unconscious "uh-huh", still leaning on my shoulder and gazing at the sky.

  "Ah......? Do you know what 'Till death us do part, with you I will grow old, holding your hand, and together we'll grow old' means?"...