After taking the photos, the group started to climb down. They veered off the main path and found a slightly flat grassy area, where they put down their backpacks.
After a short rest, some started to pitch the tents, some set up the barbecue grill, and some skewered the ingredients.
Before them was an endless expanse of green. In the distance, the mountains stretched on and on, where the sky met the earth, a collision of blue and green hues.
The wind that blew carried the unique freshness of nature.
Jiang Yuan took out her phone and played some music. Then she turned around and joined the hustle and bustle.
An hour later, everything was ready.
The grilled skewers were sizzling with oil, and after being sprinkled with fine scallions, Chi Xu took one. Behind him, Jia Fang yelled, "Chi Xu, you're hogging all the food!"
"This isn't hogging. It's just tasting your cooking skills," Chi Xu waved his hand and said confidently.
Then he walked to the other side and casually grabbed a bottle of drink.
Jiang Kuo stared at the barbecue in his hand that he hadn't taken a bite of for a long time. He swallowed his saliva and said, "Brother Chi, if you're not going to eat it, give it to me."
"The view over there is beautiful. Go think about it over there," Chi Xu pointed at the rolling mountains and said nonsense seriously.
Holding a skewer in one hand and a drink in the other, he walked around and found Jiang Yuan.
Jiang Yuan had just finished tidying up the inside of the tent with her roommates. Hearing Chi Xu call her name, she lifted the tent curtain and poked her head out.
The evening sun was orange, and the sky was a bit gorgeous. The blue and orange hues were blended and overflowed like flowing light, making his eyes sparkle.
The wind carried the fragrance of nature and the smell of grilled skewers to her nose. Jiang Yuan sniffed and looked at the skewer in his hand. "What's up?"
"This was grilled by Jia Fang. None of us dared to be the guinea pig. You try it," Chi Xu said as he handed over the skewer. Jiang Yuan took it suspiciously. Looking down at the drink in his hand, she looked back at him.
"Oh, this. I was afraid you'd choke on his grilled skewers, so I brought it along," Chi Xu said without batting an eye, finishing his words in one breath and then handing over the drink as well.
Jiang Yuan took a bite of the skewer. The crispy exterior and tender interior exploded on her taste buds. The aroma of cumin and chili instantly filled her mouth.
She squinted slightly and nodded gently, mumbling something like "It's quite delicious."
But because of that one skewer, her stomach started to growl, and the hunger came over her like a tidal wave.
Jiang Yuan smiled sheepishly. "How about you go first? I'll call my roommates and we'll come over to eat together. It'll be more fun."
Chi Xu nodded and turned to leave.
Jiang Yuan got back into the tent, smiling with her eyes curved like a pool of glistening autumn water. She opened her memo and wrote under Step Three of Her Seduction Plan:
[Today is October 22nd, 20xx. It seems that Chi Xu really likes me. Should I confess my love to him during the meteor shower? If the confession is successful, I'll always remember this day, the day of victory.]
She closed her phone with a "snap" and called her roommates out. Jia Fang had already grilled some skewers and put them aside. Lin Suye rolled up her sleeves and volunteered to help skewer the ingredients.
Seeing that there was no place for her to help, Jiang Yuan simply sat on the picnic mat, facing Chi Xu and the "salted egg yolk" that was slowly sinking below the horizon.
For a moment, she had a feeling of peace and tranquility as if they could just keep fooling around like this.
After a while, Jia Fang and the others shouted that the food was ready. Jiang Yuan and Chi Xu got up to help. There were all kinds of grilled skewers, snacks, and sparkling water laid out together, filling up the space.
Jiang Kuo even took out some beer from his backpack and declared, "One bottle per person. No one is allowed to back out. Whoever backs out is my grandson."
Everyone burst into laughter.
"Can you drink? If not, I'll secretly drink it for you," Chi Xu leaned in and whispered.
Since graduating from high school, Jiang Yuan rarely had such a wild time. She raised an eyebrow. "It's just one bottle of beer. Don't underestimate me. Last time when I went to KTV, I even drank half a bottle. I was fine."
She was referring to the time when she went out and even blocked him on WeChat.
Chi Xu's face darkened. Without saying a word, he snatched the things from Jiang Yuan's hand and walked back with his back to her.
Jiang Yuan scratched her head and looked at his retreating back in confusion, not knowing what she had said to make him unhappy.
The sun sank, and the clouds in the distance were ablaze. The strong wind blew, and the tree shadows swayed. The clothes of the group of teenagers and girls fluttered in the wind, and their laughter and chatter were immersed in this wonderful time.
After eating and playing, everyone was tired. Hearing that there would be a meteor shower at midnight, they all crowded into the boys' tent and chatted and laughed together.
"Come out and watch the meteor shower with me," the phone in her pocket vibrated. Jiang Yuan took it out and saw that it was a message from Chi Xu.
She looked around the tent and noticed that one person was missing.
Was she the only one he had called? Just as Jiang Yuan was about to ask Lin Suye if she had received the message, another new message popped up on her phone: "Let's watch it together."
The three words "Let's watch it together" seemed to have some kind of magic. Jiang Yuan smiled softly. Her heart was filled with all kinds of candies, which melted with a flame and were sizzling with sweetness.
She said goodbye to everyone and got up to leave.
Someone asked Jiang Yuan where she was going alone. It was late at night, and they were worried that something might happen to her.
Lin Suye interrupted him and smiled ambiguously. "Yuan Yuan would never go out alone. Look, who else is missing?"
Only then did everyone notice that Chi Xu was also gone.
The wind on the mountain was strong. Jiang Yuan tightened her coat and walked along the small path beside the tent.
The moonlight shone on the ground, like a layer of silver frost. After walking for a while, she saw Chi Xu sitting on the picnic mat with his back to her.
Hearing the soft footsteps, Chi Xu turned around. Seeing it was Jiang Yuan, he patted the empty space beside him. Jiang Yuan sat down.
"Yuan Yuan, according to the weather forecast, the meteor shower will start at one o'clock in the morning, half an hour earlier than before," the boy said with a muffled laugh, like he had a piece of candy in his mouth, with a sticky tail sound.
Jiang Yuan tilted her head back. The evening wind blew her hair, and her eyes were filled with the deep and vast starry sky in the distance, clear as ever. "Is it okay that you only called me out and not the others?"
"We don't need to bother them," Chi Xu propped his hands behind him and tilted his head back to look at the sky with Jiang Yuan. "The stars are as beautiful as when I was a kid."
Rarely did Chi Xu talk about his childhood. Jiang Yuan's long eyelashes fluttered, and she responded softly, "Yeah."
It was a pity that they could never go back to the past.
There were still two minutes until the meteor shower. Jiang Yuan counted the time and prepared what she was going to say. She was waiting for the meteor shower to appear so that she could confess her love to Chi Xu.
She was nervous, excited, and scared at the same time.
A weight landed on her shoulder. The warm breath mixed with the coolness of the night blew on her ear. Jiang Yuan's body stiffened slightly and then relaxed.
She didn't look at Chi Xu who was leaning on her shoulder. This weight was like something that had been pressing on the deepest part of her heart for the past three years, something she had never dared to recall.
"Chi Xu, do you know? I never thought I'd see you again. I didn't know you still remembered the promise of getting into Jing University together. I wasn't fighting alone after all," Jiang Yuan paused for a moment. As if realizing that she had revealed too much of her true feelings, she was silent for a few seconds and then got to the point. "I like you, Chi Xu."