The path up the back mountain was harder to navigate than expected.
The torrential rain had loosened the mountainside. On the scree slope, every step slipped back half a step, and dense thickets lined both sides of the path, their thorn-covered branches catching at every exposed arm and leg.
Jiang Xun had been walking for almost an hour without stopping once.
The morning mist in the mountains had mostly cleared. Sunlight filtered through gaps in the pine needles, scattering flecks of gold across the ground.
It looked soothing, but whenever the mountain wind swept past, it was cold enough to make him hunch his shoulders.
He had just reached a scree slope when a vicious gust rushed down his collar, pitching his whole body forward.
Loose stones slipped beneath his feet. He steadied himself and tested the rock ahead with his toe-it was loose, so he went around it.
Just then, a scream came from behind him.
"Aaaaaah!!"
Jiang Xun whipped around.
Duan Qizhao was hanging from a crooked pine in an extremely undignified position, both arms locked around its trunk and both legs dangling above a scree slope more than two meters high.
The soles of his chunky sneakers desperately scraped two white streaks across the rock, his legs shaking as though someone had switched them to vibrate.
Jiang Xun rushed over in a few long strides, grabbed Duan Qizhao's arm, and hauled him toward himself. "How the fuck did you follow me here?!"
With his help, Duan Qizhao scrambled and rolled up the slope, then lay sprawled on the loose stones, panting for a good while before he recovered his wits.
"I-I was just passing by!"
"Passing by, my ass!" Jiang Xun crouched to check his knees and only stood after confirming there was no injury to the