CH 17

“Ah, what’s this?” Kou Xiao paused from where she was walking bravely in front of them.

“Probably just a plastic bag.” Old Yang said. 

“No way, what kind of plastic bag looks like this…” Kou Xiao had no qualms about picking up the thing stuck between some rocks, “Ranran! Look! What’s this?”

“…You can put it down,” Huo Ran wanted to answer her after she put it down, but Kou Xiao kept holding it, so he could only say, “Snake slough.”

AD

“Snake what?” Kou Xiao didn’t understand.

“SNAKE!” Kou Chen suddenly screamed out loud in fear, “It’s a snake— AH—” 

Huo Ran startled from the sound, hurriedly looking around for the snake, getting out the hiking stick that he hadn’t needed to use yet. Before he could even shake it out to look for the snake, Kou Chen leaped up onto his back from behind.

“Fuck!” Huo Ran stumbled forwards, “Get down!”

“Snake!” Kou Chen yelled in his ear, wrapping his legs around his waist. He even clutched his bag to pull himself further up.

Huo Ran felt like he was gonna start pulling at his hair any second now.

“Where’s the snake?!” He yelled back.

“How would I know?!” Kou Chen’s voice cracked, “You said there was a snake!”

“Fucking hell…” Huo Ran froze for 0.1 seconds before hitting him with the hiking stick, trying to shake him off. “I said snake slough! Fucking snake skin! Get off.”

AD

“Ah! Stop hitting me!” Kou Chen hopped off his back. 

Old Yang and Kou Xiao were on the ground laughing, and Kou Xiao was clutching her stomach and wheezing..

“What are you laughing about?” Huo Ran threw his bag off. “What’s wrong with your brother? Is he mentally ill or what?!”

“He’s scared of snakes.” Old Yang laughed, “He’s never been afraid of anything since he was little, only snakes, and his dad.”

“Snakes are scarier than my dad.” Kou Chen leaned against a nearby rock, fear still evident on his face. 

“You’re not usually gonna find any snakes unless you go into the bushes.” Huo Ran sighed. He squatted down, feeling like all his stamina just drained out of his body. “Honestly… Why didn’t you say so earlier? Going camping when you’re scared of snakes.”

“Ah…” Kou Xiao threw the snake slough into the trees, “It’s gone now, your big sister got rid of it for you, it’s okay now~”

Her speaking like she was coaxing a child made Huo Ran want to laugh, but he didn’t expect Kou Chen of all people to not make a fuss about it. He only nodded: “Mhm.”

There goes his image. 

Looks like it wasn’t just an ordinary fear of snakes, it was like how some people had a deathly fear of heights.

“I’ve been here a lot before,” Huo Ran said. “I’ve never seen any snakes, it’s mostly just little animals, like rabbits or foxes. They won’t get close to you either.”

“Mhm.” Kou Chen nodded.

“Do you need to take a break?” Huo Ran asked. 

“Right here?” Kou Chen glanced at the trees Kou Xiao just threw the snake slough in. “No way, rest here my ass, let’s go.

They picked up their bags and continued forward.

Kou Chen was silent the whole way, and Huo Ran didn’t say anything. He could only listen to Kou Xiao and Old Yang flirting with each other. 

Pain.

Did you know your brother said you two were gonna break up? Did you know your brother called you a shrewd woman? Did you know your brother…

“Huo Ran,” Kou Chen suddenly called out. “Your legs are pretty strong, basketball captain level indeed.”

“If you came at me from the front I would’ve fell.” Huo Ran said. 

“I really am scared of snakes.” Kou Chen whispered in his ear. “When I was little my dad took me to visit family in the countryside. It was right by a forest with snakes, and one crawled onto me at night… From my feet all the way up to my face… I couldn’t move or make a sound… Fuck.”

Kou Chen’s face twisted in pain as he spoke, and he rubbed his arms.

“I thought you weren’t scared of anything.” Huo Ran said.

“Of course I wouldn’t be scared of ghosts.” Kou Chen said. “It’s not like I could run into snakes all the time at least, unlike a certain Little Cutie…” 

“Memx boo!” Leb Ejc rtbnfv tlw.”

“Lfs, Leb Ejc.” Bbe Jtfc ijeutfv, “Ljnf sbe fnfg yffc bc j wfmtjclmji yeii?”

Leb Ejc vlvc’a rjs jcsatlcu, bcis ibbxlcu ja tlw.

“Pa kjr ilxf P kjr glvlcu bcf ktfc P kjr bc sbeg yjmx,” Bbe Jtfc rjlv jr tf wlwfv glvlcu j yeii, klat bcf tjcv gjlrfv jcv bcf tjcv bc atf gbqf. Lf sfiifv jcv gjc obgkjgv, “Leb, Leb, Leb, Leb, Leb, sbe mjc’a mjamt wf…” 

Huo Ran didn’t curse at him nor did he chase him. He quickly took out his phone and took ten pictures of his idiotic figure.

“Did you just take a photo of me?!” Kou Chen yelled back at him.

“Nope.” Huo Ran said.

“Don’t deny it,” Kou Chen turned around. “Let me tell you, people have snuck pictures of me countless times, I can feel it with the back of my head.” 

“If I were running around so stupidly, I would also know that people would be taking pictures.” Huo Ran said.

“Damn,” Kou Chen laughed, “You’re not gonna make any friends like that.”

After about two hours, they could finally see clear water flowing through the lake. 

“Let me wash my face.” Kou Xiao found a wider pool of water and gazed at it.

“Sure.” Old Yang stood beside her.

“It’s pretty cold, but it feels great.” Kou Chen splashed some water onto his face. He saw that the two of them were still just staring at the water. He looked over as well: “What are you looking for? Gold?”

Kou Xiao didn’t say anything. She took out her phone and the two of them stuck their heads together for Kou Xiao to take a picture of their reflection. 

“Goddamn!” Kou Chen yelled, “What’s wrong with you two? Did you have to do that?! I bet you guys just wanted to kill me like this when you asked me to come camping with you! Good thing I brought someone else!”

“Shoo!” Kou Xiao said, continuing to take pictures. This time the two of them made a heart with their hands.

“Huo Ran! Ranran!” Kou Chen wouldn’t give in. He walked over to Huo Ran, who was looking at the map.

“No!” Huo Ran immediately said. He turned and walked away, “No! Go play by yourself!” 

“You think I won’t beat you up?!” Kou Chen followed him.

“Yeah.” Huo Ran hopped onto the nearby rock, climbing up it.

“…Damn,” Kou Chen looked at him, “Where are you going?”

Huo Ran didn’t answer him, and he climbed up about four or five meters, before sitting down on a flat part. He took a couple small oranges out of his pocket and slowly started peeling them. 

“Hey?” Kou Chen was stunned, “Where did you get those?!”

“Your mom bought them, we left them in the car.” Huo Ran said. “I took some before we left.”

“Why didn’t you tell me to take some?!” Kou Chen said.

“I did say,” Huo Ran said. “Your sister said there’s no need, and you just ignored me.” 

“When did that happen? I didn’t hear you!” Kou Chen turned back to Kou Xiao, who was still absorbed in taking her couple photos. She didn’t even glance at him. He turned back and raised his hand, “Ranran, gimme one.”

Huo Ran glanced at him, and then he slowly put the peeled orange in his mouth.

He started to peel the next one.

“Save me one! I want one too!” Kou Chen cried, “Fine, Huo Ran! Captain Huo! Gimme one!” 

“Nope.” Huo Ran said.

“You just tore your crotch.” Kou Chen said.

“Impossible.” Huo Ran ate the next orange. “My balls aren’t that big.”

“…Fuck!” Kou Chen froze, before laughing so hard he almost choked. “I’ll trade you with my chocolate.” 

Huo Ran paused and looked at him.

Kou Chen took a piece of chocolate and waved it at him.

Huo Ran motioned for him to throw it up.

“You’re like a monkey.” Kou Chen threw him the chocolate. 

Huo Ran didn’t think he would throw it to him just like that, so it bounced off his head.

Good thing he reacted fast enough and caught it before it bounced away.

“That wasn’t on purpose!” Kou Chen stifled a laugh. “It really wasn’t, gimme an orange now.”

Huo Ran aimed the orange at his head. 

The accuracy was there, seeing as he’d been playing basketball for so many years, but Kou Chen was prepared. Not only did he catch it, it was a backhand catch too.

“Cool, right?” He said.

“Cool.” Huo Ran felt a bit sorrowful as he replied. Not only had he begun to keep up with all of his boasting, he’d even complimented him.

“I’m coming up.” Kou Chen said. “Is there space for me?” 

“Don’t, don’t, don’t.” Huo Ran stuffed the chocolate in his mouth and stood up, speech muffled, “Don’t come up here, it’s weathered rock, what if you take a wrong step and fall?”

There might be snakes.

He didn’t say that out loud, he was afraid Kou Chen would cry.

“Oh.” Kou Chen took his phone out, “Then you come down, let’s take a selfie. We can’t let them win in the PDA department.” 

Huo Ran climbed down slowly and sighed: “We can take a hundred selfies and it wouldn’t count as PDA.”

“Come on.” Kou Chen put an arm around his shoulders and raised his phone. “Put your head closer… Nevermind don’t do that, it makes us look like little kids… Just like that, don’t look at the camera… Mhm, don’t smile, look cooler. The message I wanna send is that camping and hiking is a daily occurrence for me.”

“A daily occurrence for you?” Huo Ran was speechless.

“My grandpa’s daily occurrence okay, Uncle?” Kou Chen glared at him, “Look cool!” 

As they continued forward, Huo Ran looked at his phone. There was still signal, but it would turn into 2G from time to time.

He took the opportunity to glance at his Moments.

He saw the photo they just took. 

-Haven’t been out in the mountains for a while

Shameless… Huo Ran could pretty much guarantee that apart from the time the snake crawled over him, he had never set foot into the mountains.

But he could see that none of their friends were busy. In just these few minutes, all five of them had liked the post, and they had even started a conversation in the comments.

“I’ll send you all the photos when we get back?” Kou Chen said. 

“Okay.” Huo Ran nodded.

“Ranran,” Kou Xiao asked, “Is it time to eat yet? I’m kinda hungry.”

“…It’s not even 12 yet.” Huo Ran looked at the time. “Let’s walk a bit more, there’s a dam up front, we can eat there.”

“Are we gonna set up camp?” Kou Chen was a bit excited. “You brought the tents and sleeping bags right?” 

“We’re just having lunch.” Huo Ran said. “If we start setting up camp at noon it’ll take us months to get to our destination.”

At the moment, it was less stressful than Huo Ran expected. Maybe because this path was really easy.

Old Yang and Kou Chen were both athletic, so they were still energetic after a whole morning of walking. But unexpectedly, Kou Xiao wasn’t lagging behind, even carrying her own big backpack. Apart from tripping once, there were no incidents.

At the dam, she threw her bag down and stepped into the water with her shoes off: “Ranran.”

“Hm?” Huo Ran asked.

“Are we having hot food?” Kou Xiao asked.

“Mhm.” Huo Ran nodded. “We have noodles, and we’ll have hot food for dinner too. But we’ll have to eat dry food for lunch tomorrow, and then for dinner we can buy food in the village at Baimao Hill.” 

“Okay,” Kou Xiao nodded. “Old Yang—Come take my picture—”

Kou Chen had already taken out the stove, walking around back and forth with it in his hands. “Where do I put it? Where are we eating?”

“You can put it here.” Huo Ran pointed at the head of the dam.

Actually, he never cooked anything like this when he came alone. It was too much work, and that way he could carry less stuff. But these newbies were clearly here for fun, so he’d indulge in them this time. If they get tired later they can just toss the stove. 

“How do I do it? Come teach me.” Kou Chen sat on the ground and studied the small stove.

“Open the cover on the side, and just put in the canister.” Huo Ran handed him the gas can, “There’s a notch, line it up.”

“Mhm.” Kou Chen opened the cover and put the can in, but stopped halfway. He kept his head down and said, “Take a picture for me, use my phone, it’s in my back pocket.”

Huo Ran sighed, getting his phone out of his back pocket. He glanced at the exposed bit of his grim reaper. 

“Your tattoo,” He couldn’t help but ask, “What’s below it?”

“Below it? My asscrack.” Kou Chen said.

“I meant your fucking grim reaper!” Huo Ran was speechless.

“What’s the difference?” Kou Chen said. “Below the grim reaper is my waist, my ass, and my asscrack…” 

“Unlock it.” Huo Ran cut him off, handing him the phone.

“There’s no password, just swipe up.” Kou Chen said.

Huo Ran swiped, and he was greeted with his and Kou Chen’s handsome face.

“I gotta say,” It was a bit shocking to see your own face as someone else’s wallpaper. “Don’t you have any other photos to use?” 

“I’ll have one after you take my picture now.” Kou Chen resumed his position. “I’ll set our one as my lock screen… Can you squat down? If you take it standing up it’ll look like my head’s growing out of my ass.”

“Shut up!” Huo Ran yelled, he couldn’t bear the humiliation anymore as he squatted down.

He sat on the floor after he took it, looking at the water, not helping anymore. 

But the stove was simple, and Kou Chen finished up the job quickly. He tested it and it worked fine.

“Huo Ran.” Kou Chen called him.

“Ah, you’re amazing, very smart, very impressive.” Huo Ran stared at the water, praising him listlessly.

“I wasn’t looking for compliments,” Kou Chen said. “Look.” 

“What?” Huo Ran turned around.

Kou Chen didn’t say anything. He suddenly turned around and pulled down his pants, revealing half of his ass.

“Look at my grim reaper.” He said.

“Fucking hell!” Huo Ran didn’t know how to describe what he was feeling. He leaped over and aimed five, six spanks at the grim reaper. “I’m gonna kill you shameless lunatic!” 

“What are you two doing?” Kou Xiao laughed hysterically.

“Did you even need to ask?!” Kou Chen dodged to the side, pulling up his pants. “Did you not see? He hit me!”

“I’ll fucking kill you.” Huo Ran pulled his pants back down to hit him again.

“Holy shit!” Kou Chen grabbed his pants and sprinted off, “Are you for real?!” 

“What? You think I’m into this stuff?! Idiot!” Huo Ran cursed.

Kou Chen ran ten meters away and started laughing. Huo Ran tried to hold it back but to no avail. He kicked the stove before laughing along as well.

“Did you see?” Kou Chen walked over after he was pretty much done laughing.

“I did.” Huo Ran put his head in his hands and sighed.