CH 39

Chapter 39: He’s coaxing her.

It was until the second half of the night that Zhou Jingze was willing to let her go. Xu Sui jogged all the way back to the tent and carefully took off her jacket. Hu Qianxi, who was still dreaming in her sleep, suddenly waved her fist in the air and said fiercely, “Where have you been?

” I just— ”

Before Xu Sui finished speaking, Hu Qianxi interrupted her: “Lu Wenbai, don’t think that if you avoid me, I won’t be able to catch up with you.”

It turned out that it wasn’t directed to her. Xu Sui sighed in relief and put Hu Qianxi’s exposed arms back into the sleeping bag; she tucked her blanket tightly before going to sleep.

In the early morning of the next day, at least half of the people who wanted to watch the sunrise ended up in failure. The group dismantled and packed the tent, planning to return to the homestay.

After they rested for a while, Hu Qianxi, who was full of energy, dragged Xu Sui to visit the surrounding attractions; the group could only follow along, tagged by Qin Jing and a couple.

They walked around, and Hu Qianxi saw a wooden sign hanging in front of her with the words “suspension bridge” written on it. Her eyes lit up.

Sheng Nanzhou took a look and immediately turned around. Hu Qianxi had sharp eyes and fast hands that she quickly dragged him forward. The former grabbed the railing and refused to move a step, a sentence broke out between his teeth: “Are you trying to make a joke out of me? This young master is afraid of heights.”

“That’s even more reason why you need to overcome it.” Hu Qianxi said.

Sheng Nanzhou: “…”

The suspension bridge was suspended in the middle of the valley, below it was bottomless. It swayed slightly when one walked on it. Xu Sui was not afraid of heights but was a little scared. Fortunately, Zhou Jingze held her firmly.

Qin Jing walked in front of them and saw a large string of colorful locks hanging in the middle of the bridge and suddenly stopped.

“Damn it, love locks, I didn’t expect to see it here.” Qin Jing let out a “wow”.

Da Liu walked over and glanced at the lock on it, asking, “Why, do you have some insightful views prodigal son Qin?”

“Fuck you, I was still very pure back then,” Qin Jing kicked Da Liu and touched his forehead, his tone was a little embarrassed, “It was when I was in high school, my first love and I secretly went on a date” and added in, “She looked a lot like sister Xu, pure and well-behaved, and those eyes—”

Zhou Jingze stood aside and pointed to the bottomless canyon: “If you want to be taken out, say it directly. I’ll fulfill you.”

Qin Jing immediately took two steps back and fell back into memory: “I remember going to some temple with her, and there was a place where lover locks are hung nearby. People there said that when they encounter such a place, as long as the two hang it together sincerely, the love can last for a long time. There was an old man who told us about it clearly and logically that my first love and I were both moved. But once the man said a lock was two hundred and fifty yuan, I nodded and left.”

“And then?” Xu Sui asked involuntarily.

“It didn’t last long after that. It was the own man’s fault who said something so ominous. So, when you see a love lock, you should hang one up– suddenly I miss my first love, she was so good.” Qin Jing looked not far away and said with emotion.

Immediately after hearing this, the only couple in Zhou Jingze’s class went to hang a lock up, while Da Liu, a single dog, did not express any opinion on this. Qin Jing suddenly felt as if he had discovered a new continent and said, “Master Zhou, you should go hang one up too. God will bless you two together for a long time.”

Xu Sui glanced at a lock hanging by the bridge that fluttered in the wind; her eyes wavering. She was about to say, “Why don’t we hang one up too,” but Zhou Jingze replied to Qin Jing.

He brushed off the ash in his hands and raised his head, sneering lazily, “I’m an atheist.”

Xu Sui’s words reached her lips and swallowed them.

The group of people quarreled and chatted noisily until the end of the bridge. There was a post station right in front of them, and the group sat on the stone pier to rest. Zhou Jingze and Xu Sui went to the vending machine across to buy drinks for everyone.

Zhou Jingze was standing in front of the machine picking out a drink. Xu Sui thought about what Qin Jing had just said and couldn’t help but take out her phone and go on Baidu, searching: Hanging up a lock on a lover’s bridge, will the two really last for a long time?

A series of web page answers popped up on the phone screen. Xu Sui looked at it seriously. The first answer said that, of course, it was real. Five years later, I was still with him.

Some people answered: I don’t believe it, it’s just a myth, a scenic spot to cheat out money.

There were also neutral answers: some people believe what they want to believe.

Xu Sui kept scrolling down on the screen, completely immersed in the story of love locks. Zhou Jingze selected a drink on the screen of the machine and tilted his head for a while, asking,

“Yi Yi1Yi Yi is Xu Sui’s nickname that her family calls her. The original text in Chinese is 一一 which is pronounced as yīyī. Literal translation of the character 一 means one. , what do you want to drink?”

No answer. Zhou Jingze took two steps back and raised his hand to squeeze her face. He squinted his eyes with a bit of dissatisfaction and called her: “Xu Sui.”

“Ah, I’ll have fruit tea.” Xu Sui returned to her senses and took her phone, going up to the screen to add her drink. Zhou Jingze stood behind her and glanced at her phone. His eyelashes moved a bit.

When Zhou Jingze returned to the resting area with a bag of water, Da Liu clasped his fists: “Thanks to Sister Xu, I lived until the day when Master Zhou runs errands to buy water for me.”

“We happened to be one bottle short,” Zhou Jingze glanced at the drinks, his tone was slow and arrogant, “Don’t drink it, I’ll buy it for you when you live until 99 years old.”

“Fuck, you’re playing with me again.” Da Liu stood on tiptoe and seized Zhou Jingze’s neck. The two made a fuss.

After enough water and rest, Sheng Nanzhou glanced at the map: “The last stop, the Castle in the Sky, and if lucky enough, you can see the Snow Maiden.”

The group was clumsily stirring up noise, and only Hu Qianxi was staring at her phone. Sheng Nanzhou walked up to her, stretched out his five fingers, and waved them in front of her. He asked with a smile,

“Why are you still in a daze? Haven’t you been looking forward to the next stop for a long time? And your favorite Feihua.”

Sheng Nanzhou’s voice pulled the eldest miss’s thoughts back, and Hu Qianxi suddenly raised her head with a lost face: “I just received a call from the hospital saying that Lu Wenbai fainted on the side of the road and was sent to the hospital.”

“I was his most recent contact. I’m going to the hospital to see him.”

“It’s the last stop, didn’t you want to go there the most? There are no cars at the bottom of the mountain now. We’ll accompany you after going.” Sheng Nanzhou grabbed her arm.

Hu Qianxi frowned, and her tone was a little rushed: “Is it the time to admire the scenery? He’s injured, and I have to go see him. You can go if you want ah!”

“I fucking wanted to go because of you!” Sheng Nanzhou roared out in a deep voice,

“Because you said you wanted to go skiing and relax for a while, I gathered everyone and organized a band, so we can all come here together! It was because of you!” Sheng Nanzhou snapped. He threw the map on the ground with a bang; unsure if it was because of anger or something else, his eyes felt a little dry.

Sheng Nanzhou said it all in one breath and with a sarcastic look: “If you want to go, don’t come back to me crying again.”

After Sheng Nanzhou said those words, he left the group and walked away without looking back.

Hu Qianxi was scolded and stunned. From childhood to now, Sheng Nanzhou has always been very kind to her and hardly ever yelled at her. This was the first time. Crystal tears clung to her eyelashes, and she looked like she was about to cry. Xu Sui immediately found a tissue and handed it to her.

Zhou Jingze took out Hu Qianxi’s phone and swiped his thumb on the call record. He lowered his neck and took out his phone from his trouser pocket with the other hand, walking not far away to make a call in a low voice.

Two minutes later, Zhou Jingze returned the phone to Hu Qianxi and said, “I’ve already called someone to go to the hospital, let’s go.”

Zhou Jingze handled the matter steadily after only one phone call. Because of the incident, the group didn’t felt like continuing the tour. Beishan is relatively remote, and there are only a few fixed buses, but when the time isn’t up, the bus can’t leave.

Don’t know where Zhou Jingze got a car, but he sent everyone back.

On the way back, because Hu Qianxi was in a bad mood, Xu Sui had to sit in the back row and chat with Hu Qianxi. After chatting not long, the eldest lady fell asleep on her shoulder.

The piercing cold wind poured in from the window, and Hu Qianxi shrank subconsciously. Xu Sui pressed the car window switch, the window slowly rolling up, and asked the driver to raise the temperature.

Zhou Jingze was in the front passenger seat, his elbows on the window. The driver was about to do it, but Zhou Jingze leaned over first and turned up the temperature a little. The driver smiled: “Thank you.”

“Small matter.”

Xu Sui sat in the back row and looked at Zhou Jingze, who was in the passenger seat. He sat up straight again, his hair seemed to grow a little longer. His short, hard black hair was poking his neck a little. He propped his forehead with his knuckles and scrolled through his phone casually, skimming through his messages.

Suddenly, Xu Sui’s phone made a “ding” sound. She logged onto WeChat and was pulled into a group called Beishan Ski Team. This name… It looked like it was created by Da Liu.

Sure enough, in the next second, Da Liu tagged all the group members: 【Handsome guys and beauties, please share the beautiful photos of this trip.】

The group messages immediately reached 99+, and Zhou Jingze’s short “no ” appeared in the chat, which seemed to be pretentious and owed a beating.

Xu Sui pressed the screen with her finger and casually looked at the photos they shared. Suddenly, when she clicked on a photo, her finger didn’t move, and her eyes were stunned.

Someone took a photo of the suspension bridge, and countless lover locks were hanging in the center.

It’s a pity, if only I could hang one with him.

Thinking about it, the message bar on the screen showed that ZJZ sent her a message, and Xu Sui clicked on it.

ZJZ: 【Unhappy?】

Xu Sui subconsciously looked at Zhou Jingze in front of him, but his head was lowered and he was leaning slightly against the back seat like a bow. Did he see her expression through the rearview mirror?

Although she didn’t know why Zhou Jingze sent her a message when they were both in the car, Xu Sui adjusted the expression on her face and lowered her eyelashes, replying:【No. 】

After sending the message, there was no reply. Five minutes later, WeChat sent a message notification sound: ZJZ sent you a photo.

She logged onto WeChat and clicked on the photo; her eyes slightly opened in disbelief. Among the various lover locks, there was a red bronze lock firmly fastened, with the words engraved on it. The names of the two side by side:

ZJZ and XS

Her heart was beating without a stop. Xu Sui felt her neck getting a little hot and replied: 【When did you go back and hang it up? 】

ZJZ replied: 【When I was looking for a car for everyone. 】

Ding ding, he replied with another message. Xu Sui opened it and ZJZ texted:【I threw the key away, that way it won’t be unlocked. 】

That way it won’t be unlocked. He was coaxing her, and Xu Sui couldn’t help but raise the corners of her lips as she stared at the lines.

Very happy; so happy that even the air felt sweet.

T/N: So sorry for the long unnoticed break, but will be posting at regular schedule (weekly on Tuesdays around this time instead of Sundays).