Chapter 5  

At dawn, Yuan Ye woke up and got ready, then headed to Fang Shaoyi’s room. Ji Xiaotao was there too. He greeted, “Ye ge, you’re up pretty early.”

“Not really. I didn’t sleep late last night.” Yuan Ye gestured inside the room with his chin and asked, “Is your ge up yet?”

“Yep. He went for a run,” Ji Xiaotao responded. Then, he asked, “How are you, Ye ge?”

Yuan Ye sat on the sofa. He rubbed his face and smiled. “Same as always. How else could I be?”

Yuan Ye had a good idea of what was going to happen during today’s filming; it had been written in the itinerary. Today, they needed to hike a mountain. They would hike up the mountain and spend the night at the top. The four groups would be split into two teams. One team would be able to stay in the little cabin at the top of the mountain while the other would have to sleep in tents. Yuan Ye felt uncomfortable thinking of how he had to pass the day once more with cameras following his every move. But he had agreed to this of his own free will. He had wanted to film, so shouldn’t complain.

They drew straws to determine the teams. Yuan Ye ended up in the same team as the two kids, Chi Xing and Cheng Xun. Each youth carried a hiking backpack, appearing quite professional. Yuan Ye patted Chi Xing’s backpack and asked with a grin, “What’s inside?”

Chi Xing’s smile was a bit shy. He lowered his head and giggled. “Neither of us have really gone hiking before, so didn’t know what to prepare either. We have some water, food, and a bit of everything.”

Yuan Ye himself was also carrying a backpack, but his seemed irrelevant compared to theirs. He only had a backpack to put stuff into: today’s game was comparing which group would find the most things. The show’s sponsor had hidden things in the mountain. Whichever team found the most would get to sleep in the cabin. It was easy to tell that their opposing team wasn’t as prepared as them. They seemed slightly lost.

Lin Tian asked her boyfriend, “How come you don’t have a backpack?”

Her boyfriend replied innocently, “Didn’t you tell me not to bring one?”

“You didn’t bring one just because I told you not to bring one? How come you aren’t this obedient normally?”

Chen Ru and her husband were both empty handed too. She glanced at her wealthy husband meaningfully. The man immediately understood and winked at her. Then, he quickly lunged over and grabbed onto Cheng Xun’s backpack. “Let us borrow it, handsome kid!”

“Ey!” Cheng Xun wasn’t paying attention to what was going on behind him. The other’s vigorous lunge scared him quite a bit. Without much of a struggle, his backpack got removed.

Chi Xing started exclaiming in protest, “Geges and jiejies are bullying the little kids.”

“You two are carrying too much.” Chen Ru stood in front of her husband and told Chi Xing with a smile, “We’re helping share the load.”

The two kids originally hadn’t really dared to stand up to their seniors anyways. They were only playfully arguing a bit, but didn’t actually intend to ask for the backpack back.

There were two paths. Each team chose one to hike up. Yuan Ye and them chose the path that seemed a bit harder to hike. Filming on a mountain was pretty inconvenient. There needed to be cameras in front of and behind them. The camera crew had it much harder than the guests. Chi Xing occasionally handed the cameramen water. Each time, he said, “Teachers have worked hard.”

The two kids normally had extremely packed schedules. They needed to practice singing, practice dancing, work out, act, and attend variety shows. This required a lot of stamina. When taking their age into account as well, they should’ve been the most energetic. But the trail was honestly too difficult. After not even two hours, they started losing steam. They looked up at Fang Shaoyi and Yuan Ye and discovered that the two of them had already disappeared.

Yuan Ye’s “wild monkey” nickname wasn’t for naught. He had grown up climbing and swinging from the beams of his ceiling. His grandmother’s house was in the mountains. When he was young, he used to climb up the mountain to pick baskets of wild mushrooms. The mountain they were hiking now wasn’t very high either. To him, it was just like playing. The cameramen were all professionals whose work normally encompassed following celebrities around, but even they could barely keep up with him.

“That won’t do.” The cameraman didn’t know whether to laugh or cry anymore.

“It’ll have to do even if it won’t do,” Fang Shaoyi joked. He asked them, “Can you guys catch up to him?”

When Yuan Ye turned back to look for them, there were already several little wooden boxes from the sponsors in his backpack. Inside were piles of prop gold coins. He squatted on an old tree and waved in their direction. “Here.”

He threw a bunch of bananas at Fang Shaoyi. Fang Shaoyi caught them and shared them with everyone. Then, he looked up and told Yuan Ye, “Don’t run off too far. There’s no signal so we aren’t able to keep track of you.”

“No worries. I found a box. There’s so much money.” This was probably the first time Yuan Ye had smiled with true happiness in these past few days. He was already thirty something, but when he smiled, he looked like a kid. He swung the backpack on his back around and asked, “Yi ge, want coconut water? I’ll pick a coconut for you?”

Fang Shaoyi burst into laughter. “No need. Have fun by yourself.”

Yuan Ye would also occasionally stop to wait for the two little ones behind them, then throw them bananas. Chi Xing was running out of energy. The trail was too hard; his face was red with sweat and there was a towel draped across his neck. Cheng Xun handed him a bottle of water.

After taking a drink, Chi Xing handed it back. Cheng Xun drank straight out of the same bottle.

Yuan Ye smiled. They were going for that ambiguous feeling. Fans would probably start exploding when this segment got broadcasted. The two of them really knew how to express this bit of ambiguity, and also controlled the amount of ambiguity very well. If they acted too intimate, they would really be considered a couple. To fans, that wasn’t as exciting as something ambiguous.

Chi Xing asked Yuan Ye, “Yuan Ye ge, how do you have so much stamina? I haven’t even seen you pant.”

When Yuan Ye was with them, he didn’t act the same as when he was with Fang Shaoyi. After all, his age was out there. He seemed like a cool uncle. He raised his chin and pointed at a scar on his neck. Then, with slight amusement in his eyes, he explained, “When I was young, I was the king of the mountain we lived by. This scar is from a wild dog that bit me in the mountains as a kid. Fucker almost killed me.”

Chi Xing asked, “You lived in the mountains?”

Yuan Ye made a noise of acknowledgment. “My grandma’s house was by the mountains. My childhood was spent fooling around there.”

Cheng Xun had remained silent all this time. Now, he added from the side, “I knew that. I read it in your book once. There were lots of stories about that mountain.”

Yuan Ye looked at him and cocked an eyebrow. Then, he questioned with a faint smile, “You read《Stubborn》? How old are you even.”

Cheng Xun nodded. “Yes. I liked it a lot.”

Yuan Ye chuckled, but didn’t respond. From the side pocket of his backpack, he pulled out two fruits and threw them at the two kids. In a few steps, he was gone again.

Yuan Ye carried his backpack and explored the whole mountain. In the middle of his venture, he almost ran into the opposing team. From afar, he saw the presence of cameras, so turned around and disappeared off to who knows where once more. The prop wooden boxes had been stuffed into his backpack, filling it completely. They were actually pretty heavy. It had been a long time since Yuan Ye had wandered through a mountain like this, at least a couple years. Ever since his grandma had passed away, he hadn’t returned to those mountains. Or, it could be said that he hadn’t really gone anywhere in the past few years. Thinking back, he couldn’t even clearly remember what he had liked in the past. The Yuan Ye before had roamed the whole world carefreely. He had felt that the entire world was his.

Later on, his world got smaller and smaller. As he reminisced now, he could barely name what he had enjoyed once upon a time.

That day, it was destined that Yuan Ye’s team would win. Mountains were the territory of wild monkeys. Who could beat him?

Eventually, when the two teams reconvened, the opposing team counted their boxes first. As they counted, Yuan Ye and Cheng Xun each pulled out boxes from their own backpacks. In the end, the other side counted a total of one hundred five. Their entire team was dead tired. The two girls couldn’t bother with anything else and directly found a piece of wood to use as a cushion while they sat on the ground.

Yuan Ye heard them say one hundred five. He pulled out two more boxes from his backpack and announced, “That’s it.”

Cheng Xun also added, “I have no more either. I don’t think we have enough, ge.”

Yuan Ye smiled. “Not necessarily.”

In the end, they could only count ninety six. This was nine less than the opposing side. Thus, they needed to give up the cabin for the others to stay in. Their two duos could only grab tents to sleep in.

Fang Shaoyi pressed on Yuan Ye’s prickly head. “You wandered around the whole mountain today. For what?”

Yuan Ye wobbled his head to avoid the other’s hand. His smile was also a bit embarrassed. “In the end, I got preoccupied with only wandering and forgot to find stuff.”

“No no, the two of us were a burden,” Chi Xing hurriedly said, “We were too unpracticed. It was a blessing that we even made it up here in one piece.”

Fang Shaoyi shook his head. “No worries.”

The show was just designed like this. There were actually other places to live in on the mountain top, but for the ratings, filming could only proceed in this manner. At night, they first found somewhere to bathe, then each returned to their tents. By the time Yuan Ye returned from his shower, Fang Shaoyi had already finished putting up the tent. The production team had prepared more than enough blankets in addition to two sleeping bags. The cameramen hadn’t finished working yet. Yuan Ye crawled in and sat cross-legged on the blankets. He sighed and said, “Pretty soft.”

Fang Shaoyi was standing outside. He looked down and said, “Come out and look at the stars. You won’t be able to when we get back.”

Yuan Ye made his way outside. He grabbed a bedsheet and spread it out on the ground before lying down and staring at the star-filled sky. The night sky was truly beautiful here. Views like this were rare in the current day and age. Yuan Ye sighed and said, “I didn’t bring my camera.”

Fang Shaoyi didn’t respond. He walked over and sat by Yuan Ye’s side silently.

For a long time, the two of them quietly stared up at the night sky. Neither spoke. A while later, Yuan Ye cleared his throat and said, “The last time we came here, it was overcast. We didn’t get to see the stars, so it was no use even though I brought my camera. This time, the sky’s clear for a change, but I have no camera.”

After saying this, he laughed to himself and shook his head. “Something’s always wrong.”

He used his arm as a pillow and turned to look at Fang Shaoyi. This person always held himself up so straight, even when they were sitting and relaxing. He was always proper, always handsome, always so dazzling. No matter who was beside him, there always seemed to be a distance separating him from everyone else.

Fang Shaoyi felt his gaze. He looked down and made eye contact. The corner of Yuan Ye’s mouth pulled up. An indecipherable faint smile appeared on his face. Then, he glanced away.

After filming ended, Yuan Ye first wandered off to smoke a cigarette. When he came back, Fang Shaoyi was standing next to the tent waiting for him. Not so far from their tent was Chi Xing and Cheng Xun’s tent. Fang Shaoyi was chatting with those two.

Yuan Ye walked over to their tent. With practically no hesitation, he burrowed inside.

Resources were limited. He had no energy to be melodramatic. They were old acquaintances: what was wrong with sleeping together?

Chi Xing and Cheng Xun were very conscientious. Upon noticing that Yuan Ye had returned, they left together, saying that they wanted to take a stroll. After their departure, only Yuan Ye and Fang Shaoyi remained in the vast emptiness.

Yuan Ye poked his head out. He crooked his neck and called, “Come on, Yi ge. Bedtime.”

Fang Shaoyi glanced at him, then slowly shook his head.

Yuan Ye raised an eyebrow. “What? I grew quills on my body and might poke you?”

Fang Shaoyi said, “There aren’t quills on your body. The quills are in your mouth.”

“Oh, they pricked you?” Yuan Ye’s gaze unconsciously landed on Fang Shaoyi’s mouth. Those two slightly thin lips were always extremely sexy.

Fang Shaoyi squatted and responded, “You sleep. I can’t sleep next to you.”

After he said this, he scooted closer, even placing a knee on the ground. Squatting on the ground and speaking was a bit uncomfortable for someone so tall. He stared straight into Yuan Ye’s eyes. They directly faced each other; when he spoke, the air he expelled could reach Yuan Ye’s face. He scoffed, then spoke so that only the people in the tent could hear. “When you’re laying by my side......I only want to fuck you.”