“What’s wrong?” Meng Yanxi turned his head, those pitch-black peach blossom eyes looking at her.

Jin Zhao was so flustered she couldn’t speak. For a brief moment, looking into Meng Yanxi’s eyes, she wondered if he actually already knew that the water had been secretly put there by her.

She was so embarrassed she was about to faint.

Fortunately, Meng Yanxi showed mercy and came up with a reason himself. “Can’t open it?”

Unfortunately, Jin Zhao was far too earnest. On the spot, she demonstrated opening the bottle cap and bravely declared, “I can.”

Meng Yanxi nodded and handed her the bottle he was holding. “Then open this one too.”

Jin Zhao: “?”

This turn of events caught her completely off guard, and she blurted out, “You can’t open it?”

Meng Yanxi: “Yeah, I can’t.”

Jin Zhao glanced at the boy’s lean, powerful hand and the sexy veins on the back of it, and recalled how he’d taken on three thugs alone in a dark alley and chased them off. For a moment, she truly didn’t know what to say.

“Then drink this one,” she said, handing him the bottle she’d just opened.

Meng Yanxi accepted the exchange without the slightest psychological burden, and had her twist open the cap again.

Strictly speaking, Xishan was in a town beneath Suiyi called Xishan Town. Along the road were low, squat residential houses, most of them converted into restaurants and guesthouses.

The scenic area entrance was deep inside Xishan Town. Meng Yanxi had already bought the tickets in advance.

Luo Heng, who had declared he would treat everyone, saw that Meng Yanxi had long since arranged everything neatly and felt embarrassed enough to scratch his head. “Brother Yan, you doing it like this makes me feel pretty awkward. How about I transfer you the money?”

For Luo Heng to have grown up as childhood friends with Lu Jingyue and Si Tian, his family background was naturally not bad. He certainly didn’t care about this bit of money. It was just that he was thick-nerved—his style was to go wherever he ended up, and when he couldn’t walk anymore, to lie down on the spot and call for someone to carry him back. Naturally, he wasn’t as meticulous, steady, and orderly as Meng Yanxi.

Who knew that this remark would somehow offend Brother Yan. Meng Yanxi swept him with a faint glance and asked, “Who are you to be transferring me money?”

Luo Heng: “?”

Luo Heng felt utterly wronged. Watching Meng Yanxi follow behind Jin Zhao to check tickets and enter the scenic area, he turned his head innocently and asked Lu Jingyue, “I didn’t offend him, did I?”

Lu Jingyue patted his shoulder, offering consolation. “Here’s a piece of advice for you—don’t rush to pay. Oh no, paying for your own share is fine. Just don’t pay… forget it, don’t pay at all.”

Luo Heng: “?”

No, seriously—what was wrong with these two brothers? Were they messing with him?

Xishan still preserved parts of its original forest ecosystems. In the mountains were firs and spruces, as well as red birch forests and waterfalls. The six-person group decisively chose hiking over taking the cable car, and with great enthusiasm for a challenge, even chose a little-used trekking route.

Meng Yanxi didn’t have the driver follow them, so all the barbecue grills and ingredients they’d prepared naturally fell onto him.

The crown prince personally carried everything up the mountain.

Meng Yanxi didn’t say anything about it, just took the things and followed along behind.

The two girls happily picked wildflowers in the mountains for a while. When Jin Zhao turned her head, she suddenly noticed that Meng Yanxi was carrying a lot of things by himself. She abandoned Si Tian and ran back, taking the initiative to help him share the load.

It wasn’t out of politeness. After all, the crown prince was so delicate—he couldn’t even open a bottle of water and needed her help. With all this, how could he possibly manage?

But at this moment, Meng Yanxi suddenly wasn’t delicate anymore. He wouldn’t let her take anything and said, “It’s not heavy.”

“How could it not be heavy?” Jin Zhao insisted. “Let me take some.”

Meng Yanxi just lowered his gaze to look at her, didn’t say anything, and didn’t hand anything over.

The muscle lines of the boy’s body were beautiful. The wind stirred his T-shirt, and the thin summer fabric clung to him, eight-pack abs faintly visible.

Jin Zhao’s face suddenly grew hot. She averted her eyes, not daring to look at him directly, and said in a small voice, “Don’t stereotype me. I’m very strong.”

“Really?” Meng Yanxi suddenly laughed, shamelessly saying, “Perfect, then you can carry me too. I’m too lazy to walk.”

Jin Zhao: “……”

How could there be such a shameless person!

Her face was still hot, but her eyes were stung with moisture by him. She glared at him like a little milk kitten, soft yet fierce, teased to the point of wanting to scratch him.

Meng Yanxi chuckled lowly. “Alright, let’s go.”

Jin Zhao didn’t want to look at him anymore either and turned to walk ahead.

After a while, when she looked back again, she discovered that the things Meng Yanxi had been carrying had already been evenly distributed among Lu Jingyue, Luo Heng, and Cao Bo, while he himself was empty-handed, hands in his pockets, strolling at ease.

She both felt relieved and thought—yes, this was more like him.

This was the tea-scented Meng Yanxi.

The group joked and tussled their way up the mountain. By the time they reached the summit, it was already past one in the afternoon. The three boys who had carried loads up the mountain were so hungry they were howling.

“Quick! Set up my grill!” Luo Heng lay on the ground, holding one hand up, gasping in a death struggle. “I want to dine!”

Cao Bo lay beside him, breathing even harder, without the strength to retort even a word.

Lu Jingyue was doing a bit better than the two of them. He put the things down, found a rock to sit on and rest, and couldn’t be bothered to move either. He turned his head and ordered the crown prince around. “Hurry up, won’t you?”

Meng Yanxi stood with his hands in his pockets, calmly looking at the sky and earth, at all living beings, and asked slowly, “Is it really that tiring? I think it’s fine.”

That remark immediately aroused public outrage. The three boys cursed him on the spot—

Lu Jingyue: “Get lost!”

Luo Heng: “How do you have the nerve!”

Cao Bo: “God Yan, I didn’t think you were this kind of person!”

Even Si Tian couldn’t stand it and joined forces with Luo Heng. “This is really ‘standing and talking without your waist hurting’ made manifest.”

He was already being cursed so miserably that Jin Zhao couldn’t very well kick him while he was down and make him turn against everyone. She silently went to take the things out instead.

The cool scent of mountain pines and mist soon followed. Meng Yanxi came to her side and helped her set up the grill.

The mountaintop was divided into zones, with no-fire areas and camping spots where open flames were allowed. They had chosen the latter.

Jin Zhao took out the skewers and dumped them all onto the grill at once. The boy who had been helping her all along suddenly noticed something was off and leaned in. “I have a question.”

Jin Zhao lifted her face. “What?”

Meng Yanxi glanced at the completely raw ingredients and the pile of assorted seasonings. “Do you know how to grill?”

Jin Zhao: “……”

Guess what—if you hadn’t said it, it honestly wouldn’t even have crossed my mind.

Jin Zhao turned her head and looked to Si Tian for help.

Si Tian, who had already heard Meng Yanxi’s soul-searching question, hopped behind Luo Heng like a rabbit.

Luo Heng looked at Lu Jingyue. Lu Jingyue looked at Cao Bo.

Cao Bo wanted to look at Meng Yanxi, but since Meng Yanxi was the one who had raised the question, he was obviously not someone to count on. Cao Bo could only point at himself innocently and curse, “Damn! I can’t either!”

And just like that, six people had gone through all the trouble of hauling everything up the mountain, only to discover that not a single one of them knew how to grill.

Producing a plate of culinary disaster was practically inevitable.

Si Tian took one bite of a lamb skewer, grimaced, and tossed it aside. “I’ve lived long enough to see this—I never knew barbecue could taste this bad.”

Lu Jingyue picked up a bottle of barbecue seasoning and went toxic even to himself. “I bet swallowing the seasoning straight would taste better than eating the skewers I grilled.”

Jin Zhao tried to comfort everyone. After carefully selecting the most normal-looking skewer of some unknown meat, she pondered and said, “It shouldn’t be that bad.”

The moment she picked it up, Meng Yanxi snatched it away and tossed it aside with disdain. “It’s burnt. Don’t eat it.”

Luckily, Jin Zhao had prepared snacks in advance. In the end, the six of them huddled together and filled up on snacks.

The scenery in the mountains, however, was excellent—lush greenery as far as the eye could see. Looking down from above, the river wound around the entire city of Suiyi like a silver ribbon.

A group of high schoolers naturally started talking about what they wanted to do in the future.

Si Tian said, “Doctor.”

Luo Heng said, “Lawyer.”

Cao Bo chuckled beside them. “Doctors and lawyers are a perfect match.”

He was immediately smacked on the head by Si Tian.

Luo Heng held back a mischievous grin and asked again, “What about you, Cao Bo?”

“You’re already calling me Cao Bo, why even ask?”

Cao Bo’s original name wasn’t Cao Bo but Cao Ye. Because he often declared that he wanted to study all the way to a doctorate, he’d earned that nickname.

Luo Heng turned to ask Jin Zhao. Lowering her brows, she said, “University lecturer.”

Luo Heng: “Whoa! Then wouldn’t you and Cao Bo still be classmates all the way to a doctorate? That’s miserable!”

Cao Bo laughed and cursed, “Get lost! Why is being classmates with me miserable?”

The two immediately started fighting.

Meng Yanxi turned his head to look at Jin Zhao and asked, “Which subject?”

Jin Zhao gazed thoughtfully into the distance and gently shook her head. “I haven’t thought it through yet.”

Meng Yanxi suddenly let out a low laugh. “Math?”

Jin Zhao: “……” What a vicious mouth.

“Definitely not that,” Jin Zhao rejected decisively.

Meng Yanxi: “Physics, chemistry, biology?”

“Thank you for helping me eliminate those.” Jin Zhao looked at him with a numb expression. “English, then.”

By the process of elimination, it really was either English or Chinese.

That year, English seemed more lucrative than Chinese. Out of her love for money, Jin Zhao decided on English.

Cao Bo and Luo Heng had just finished fighting and happened to hear this. On their way back, Cao Bo blurted out without thinking, “Haven’t you heard? Supposedly, behind every university English teacher, there’s a mysterious and wealthy husband.”

Jin Zhao: “……”

Everyone silently looked at him. A lone crow flew past over his head.

Cao Bo rubbed his nose, laughed awkwardly, and changed the subject, asking Meng Yanxi, “What about you, expert?”

Meng Yanxi glanced at Jin Zhao and said, “Make money.”

The answer was so blunt and straightforward that everyone froze for a moment, then burst out laughing, laughing so hard they were bent over. Someone even added, “If I get rich, I won’t forget you!”

Lu Jingyue tilted his head and laughed at the side. With one hand, he popped open a can and suddenly raised it. “Never forget the youthful ambition to soar to the clouds, once vowing to be the finest in the world!”

The mood instantly soared. The others raised their drinks and clinked cans, shouting loudly, “To lofty ambition! To being the finest!”

The wind swept through the firs on the mountaintop, and cans clinked as they toasted. Sixteen- and seventeen-year-old youths, full of ambition, their ideals more blazing than the midsummer sun.

Jin Zhao turned her head to look at Meng Yanxi beside her.

His features were sharp, his fingers long. As he raised his drink to his lips, the sharp line of his Adam’s apple rolled. The wind brushed through the boy’s tousled hair.

Something stirred in Jin Zhao’s heart, and a line suddenly surfaced in her mind—she didn’t know where she’d seen it before:

At first sight, the youth draws a bow to the full, fearing neither time nor wind.

By the time they went down the mountain, it was already close to five in the afternoon. A group of youths who had carried loads back and forth and filled themselves only with snacks were ravenous. They surged into the nearest farmhouse restaurant and ate like mad for two hours.

Luo Heng and Cao Bo egged each other on and even ordered four cases of beer.

Today, it had basically been Meng Yanxi paying all along. Jin Zhao felt bad about it. Using the excuse of going to the restroom, she got up and quietly went to pay the bill.

But the cashier told her, “Your table paid when you came in.”

Jin Zhao was shocked. “When we came in? We hadn’t even ordered yet.”

“One of your boys came in first and put down a thousand yuan at the counter, said we’d settle up afterward—refund more or make up the difference.”