RSK Chapter 18

“What is it?” I asked in a low voice.

Wen Xu sat up from the mat and said, “Come with me.”

Tch, what’s with the mystery.

Curiosity got the better of me, so I followed him out of the tent. He was holding a flashlight, and we walked along the winding mountain path, passed through a thick little forest, and finally arrived at an empty wooden terrace. Below it, a gentle stream murmured along, glistening under the bright moonlight like a sea of stars.

And right on the terrace, there was this giant round bird’s nest hammock. It really looked like a supersized bird’s nest, super realistic. Inside, there were rattan-woven blankets, making it comfy for tourists to sit on.

I quickly sat down and asked Wen Xu cheerfully, “How’d you find a place like this?”

“Just now I figured, since we couldn’t catch any meteors, I’d look on my phone to see if there was anything fun up on the mountain,” Wen Xu sat down next to me and continued, “Then I found this place.”

“This is actually your first time here? I didn’t even see you checking your phone for directions earlier—I thought you’d been here before,” I said, a bit surprised.

Wen Xu replied slowly, “I haven’t. The terrain here isn’t that complicated. Just need to look once to remember.”

Tch, are all top students blessed with photographic memory or what?

This place was nice and all, but it was already late at night. With just the moonlight, only the silvery shimmer of the stream had any real charm. There wasn’t much to do. I mean, it’s not like we could jump in the water in the dark.

Right at that moment, Wen Xu suddenly said to me, “Ning Ran, look up.”

“Huh? What’s there to see?” I said that, but still obediently tilted my head upward.

And then, the whole sky full of stars burst into view.

Each and every star twinkled brightly, dazzling and beautiful, decorating the night sky like the prettiest painting ever!

In that moment, I couldn’t help but jump up and shout, “Holy crap! So many stars here! It’s freaking gorgeous!”

Wen Xu said in his low voice, “Yeah, even though we didn’t get meteors, we can still stargaze.”

“Didn’t think you were the type to enjoy star-watching,” I said as I sat back down and took a few pictures of the night sky with my phone.

“I am. And I’ve already found the brightest star,” Wen Xu said.

“Oh? Which one is it?” I put down my phone, looked up and scanned the sky, quickly spotting the biggest and brightest one. I pointed to it, turned my head and asked him with a grin, “Found it—this one, right?”

But Wen Xu didn’t even look in that direction. He just kept staring straight into my eyes and firmly said, “It’s the one right in front of me.”

“……”

My hand froze midair, then slowly dropped down, and I quickly lowered my head, avoiding Wen Xu’s gaze.

Damn, even a total idiot could tell who the “star” he meant was with the way he looked at me.

Don’t tell me… he saw my star-print underwear and decided I was the star?

That thought popped into my head, but I still couldn’t control my heartbeat. It was pounding way too fast.

“O-oh, so it’s that star,” I mumbled, not looking at Wen Xu, pretending to play dumb and change the subject. “It’s kinda windy up here.”

“Yeah.” Wen Xu didn’t say anything else, just replied simply.

Later, we ended up chatting under the starry sky.

From linear algebra to probability theory, from numerical analysis to systems programming…

We talked so long, even the stars started hiding.

The summer night breeze gently brushed our faces, and our bangs danced and fluttered with the wind.

I looked at Wen Xu’s face, his forehead exposed—he looked more mature and even more handsome than usual.

And then, Wen Xu suddenly smiled at me and said, “Ning Ran, it’s getting late. Let’s head back.”

I blinked. Not because of what he said, but because… this guy actually smiled.

This was the first time I’d ever seen Wen Xu smile. On a night like this, with the stars above, the breeze, the cicadas singing, the stream flowing, and the sound of my own heartbeat…

Wait a sec, whether he smiles or not, what’s it got to do with a straight guy like me?

As for the heartbeat… come on, everyone’s heart beats. If it doesn’t, you’re dead, right?

On the way back, I was kinda spaced out and accidentally stepped on a rock. I tripped and was about to face-plant, but Wen Xu reacted fast and caught me from behind.

Since I was already falling forward, he ended up taking the hit for me and landed in a puddle near the stream.

“You okay?!” I quickly helped him up.

Wen Xu was pretty calm. “I’m fine. Just my shirt seems to be dirty.”

I shone my phone light on his clothes. Yeah, a huge patch was all messed up.

“Ah—then take off your shirt and rinse it in the stream. I’ll help you wash it.” After all, he got like this because of me.

“No need. I’ll do it myself.” Wen Xu said, and then—right in front of me—he just straight up took off his shirt.

“O-okay…”

Even though I’d seen Wen Xu shirtless before, him suddenly baring his chest like that still made me feel kinda awkward. I didn’t even dare look at him.

By the time Wen Xu finished washing his shirt, I checked the time—it was already past 2 a.m.

I thought for a bit and said to him, “Uh, I think I brought an extra jacket. You can wear it for now. Your shirt’s not gonna dry any time soon.”

“No need. It’s hot anyway. I’ll just sleep like this,” said the shirtless man, all serious.

Me: “…Alright.”

And just like that, we got back to the tent. Lying next to me was a half-naked gay dude.

Before, Wen Xu still had his shirt on, which gave us both a bit of a buffer. But now like this, I could totally feel the heat from his body.

This tent—I didn’t want to spend another second in it!

I turned my back to Wen Xu and curled up on my side. Just as I was about to inch forward a little, that man behind me opened his mouth and said:

“Ning Ran, I’m feeling kinda cold. Can I hold you while we sleep?”