Who Would Fall First?

Jiang Nian stood trembling where she was, shivering as she looked out at the deserted mountain forest.

System?

No one answered in her mind. Jiang Nian pressed her lips together, worked up her courage, and called again:

Sys?

Still no response.

88? Sweetheart? Baby? Waaaah, please answer me?

Jiang Nian stared desperately at the tree in front of her, afraid to look away in case something suddenly popped out and scared her to death.

88 looked at Jiang Nian, who had her arms folded over her chest and was shaking with fear, and let out a heavy sigh.

Are you going to listen to my directions now?

After taking the wrong path earlier, Jiang Nian had insisted that was north. Unable to convince her otherwise, the system could only tell her how to get back.

Instead, Jiang Nian had wandered farther and farther away, gradually leaving the rest of the group behind until she ended up in this godforsaken place.

Finally hearing the system's voice, Jiang Nian answered with a mixture of joy and grievance:

Yes, yes, yes. I'll only listen to you.

She would never put too much faith in her sense of direction again.

Without the system, she probably wouldn't be making trouble for Liu Fan. Liu Fan would be attending her funeral feast instead.

88 scanned their surroundings and located the person currently closest to Jiang Nian.

Shen Hui is heading toward you right now. Follow my directions and meet up with him first. Leave Liu Fan for another time. Otherwise, you might get yourself lost before you even manage to mess with her.

Jiang Nian nodded frantically, signaling that she would never do this again.

Following 88's directions, she slowly made her way onto the right path. Finally, after passing through a patch of bushes, she spotted Shen Hui.

"Shen Hui!"

Hearing her voice, Shen Hui whipped his head around. Only when he saw that it was Jiang Nian did he finally relax.

He had spent ages following the little path Jiang Nian had taken without finding her, and had thought she had gotten lost and wandered somewhere else.

Only after imagining countless terrifying possibilities did he finally catch sight of her.

Damn, she'd scared him half to death! If anything really happened to Jiang Nian, he'd definitely see her in his dreams every night-the Sadako-climbing-out-of-the-well kind.

Jiang Nian ran up to Shen Hui and looked up at his rather grim expression, asking in confusion:

"What are you doing all the way out here? It's still quite a distance from the campsite."

Shen Hui rubbed his forehead helplessly.

"My dear princess, shouldn't I be asking you that? Why did you come so far to gather firewood?"

They were practically a million miles from the girls' tent!

Jiang Nian answered with absolute confidence:

"Because I got lost!"

As if I'd tell you I got lost while sneaking off to do something bad!

Shen Hui looked at Jiang Nian with a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

Thanks. Now I know. And not only do I know, I'm going to tell everyone!

He raised his hand and tapped Jiang Nian's forehead. He truly had no idea what went on inside that little head of hers. All he could do was wave a hand helplessly and tell her to follow him back.

If they stayed out any longer, they would alarm the instructor.

It was already getting late. They gathered firewood as they walked, and by the time they returned to camp, each was carrying a large bundle.

Tong Chuhe and the other two had been distracted ever since Jiang Nian left. Now that she had returned safely, they could finally stop worrying.

Nie Xuzhi spoke with some regret. "Sorry, I completely forgot how easily you get lost. If I'd remembered, I would've gone with you."

Hearing that, Jiang Nian quickly shook her head.

"No, no, I was too confident in myself. I thought there was no way I'd get lost somewhere so close, but I still went the wrong way. It definitely won't happen next time. I'll drag you along if I have to, hehe."

She had deliberately gone out alone in the first place. How could that be Nie Xuzhi's fault? If she made Nie Xuzhi feel guilty over this, then she really would be doing something wrong.

Sure enough, heaven was watching everything people did. She would never think about secretly tripping someone up again.

She would trip them up openly instead.

She was the cannon-fodder supporting female character, after all.

She still had plot scenes coming up.

Hehe.

Seeing that everything was fine with Jiang Nian, Shen Hui said goodbye to the girls and returned to his tent with his bundle of firewood.

The four male leads were naturally in the same group. Song Jici and the other two, who were busy in front of their tent, all raised their eyebrows in unison when they saw Shen Hui return with a huge bundle of firewood.

Tan Xuguang bounded over and slung an arm around Shen Hui's shoulders.

"Well, well, you actually went and found a whole bundle of firewood? Come on, did some girl give it to you?"

They had to prepare their own dinner too, so they had assigned Shen Hui, who couldn't cook, the task of gathering firewood.

However, most of the people around them knew who the four of them were. Whether sincerely or otherwise, countless people had used all sorts of excuses to insist on giving them heaps of firewood.

They had no shortage of it, so Shen Hui had gone off to wander around instead.

Tan Xuguang simply hadn't expected him to return from his stroll with yet another bundle.

Shen Hui glanced at Song Jici, who was chopping vegetables. His lips curved slightly as he joked with Tan Xuguang in a seemingly casual tone. "Jiang Nian gave it to me. What, jealous?"

Tan Xuguang froze at those words, his arm quietly slipping off Shen Hui's shoulders. Song Jici and Wen Jincheng also paused in their food preparation.

Shen Hui looked at their reactions in surprise. Once he figured it out, the curve of his lips grew more pronounced. It seemed he had discovered something new.

Song Jici looked up at Shen Hui.

"Have you made a move on Nian?"

Shen Hui had quite a reputation in their circle.

His mother, Jiang Lian, had been the first wife of his father, the Shen Family's current chairman, Shen Father. Though Shen Father appeared honest and good-natured, he was a promiscuous womanizer behind the scenes.

Not only did he have an illegitimate son around Shen Hui's age, but his mistress had even brought that son to Jiang Lian, begging her to give him legitimate status. Jiang Lian had suffered a heart attack from the fury and passed away not long afterward.

Only after Shen Hui threatened to kill himself and secured the support of his mother's relatives did he manage to stop Shen Father's later, absurd plan to bring the mother and son into the Shen Family.

Ever since then, Shen Hui had viewed romantic love as something utterly laughable.

If someone approached him with romantic intentions, he wouldn't turn them away. He could even play the part of a perfectly good boyfriend.

If someone couldn't stand being in a loveless relationship with him and wanted to leave, he would sincerely wish them well.

He thought he still believed in love, but he didn't believe he would ever have it himself.

Perhaps he had lost the ability to love someone without reservation.

Shen Hui's three closest friends knew all of this about him.

Wen Jincheng hesitated for a moment before speaking. "She might not understand those feelings yet. Don't mislead her."

Even if there was a faint chance Shen Hui might fall in love, he shouldn't use someone else as a test subject and make them bear the cost if it failed.

Watching the three of them let their imaginations run wild, Shen Hui couldn't hold back his laughter.

"I was kidding! Hahahahaha! I gathered this myself when I was out with her. What were you all thinking?"

His three friends always lost their heads when they were worried. This time, however, he didn't know whether that concern was entirely for him, or whether some of it was for her.

Only after he finished laughing did Shen Hui explain what had happened.

"I went for a stroll earlier and ended up over by Jiang Nian and Tong Chuhe's place. Who would've thought Jiang Nian had gone off to gather firewood all by herself?"

Song Jici, who had looked a little awkward just a moment earlier, frowned when he heard that.

"Isn't Nian hopeless with directions? She went out to gather firewood alone?"

Shen Hui replied irritably:

"Exactly. I had to go a long way before I found her. Then she boldly told me she'd gotten lost, while thinking to herself that she'd deliberately gone out alone to secretly do something bad."

Tan Xuguang curled his lip. "What bad thing could she possibly do? Sneak dirt into someone's food?"

Shen Hui burst out laughing. That wasn't impossible.

"I kept fishing for answers on the way back, but she never said exactly what she'd gone out to do. I think I heard Liu Fan's name, though."

Song Jici rested his chin on his hand and thought for a moment. "Nian wouldn't be malicious toward someone for no reason. I'll look into this Liu Fan when we get back."

Wen Jincheng nodded.

"Leave that for now. Food comes first. All I've eaten today is those few biscuits. I'm starving."

Tan Xuguang rubbed his flat stomach as he complained helplessly.

The four of them had talked for so long that they had forgotten their stomachs were still growling.

Remembering the task at hand, Song Jici and the other two immediately turned back to cooking.

Shen Hui sat on the grass, propping himself up with his hands. As he watched the three of them, who seemed entirely oblivious, a glint of amusement crossed his eyes.

He was very curious. Who would fall first?