“Oh, I get it now. No wonder Zhu Lianzhen was putting on an act earlier. Turns out you two teamed up to prank me.”
Koty was quick on the uptake. Even when he didn’t fully understand something, he could quickly draw on experience to fill in the gaps.
He then asked, “So it’s true Zhu Lianzhen said he’s going hiking?”
“It is. You’re coming too,” Tan Qing answered for him.
“No problem. Then you definitely have to come as well.” Koty spoke a little faster. “Anyway, I’m off to the gym—my trainer’s here.”
After the call ended, Tan Qing placed the phone back where it had been.
Still acting as if nothing had happened, he calmly went to change clothes and grab his car keys. Before leaving, he even remembered to ask, “Where do you keep Naisi’s canned food?”
Zhu Lianzhen stood up and answered, “First and second cabinet doors in my room.”
“Got it.”
As soon as Tan Qing left, Zhu Lianzhen collapsed into the chair, like all the strength had drained from his body.
Koty was both the cause of success and disaster. Just a moment ago, Zhu Lianzhen had been thinking he might as well be a mole in the next life, yet somehow, Koty had smoothed things over in record time and even extended the invitation to Tan Qing on his behalf.
After spacing out for a few minutes, Zhu Lianzhen sat up straight, touched his burning cheeks, and went online to search for suitable hiking spots.
He picked a few that were relatively nearby, took screenshots, and sent them to Tan Qing, letting him choose the most reliable one. Tan Qing also handled the detailed travel arrangements, just like he did whenever they traveled together.
As for Koty’s opinion—well, that didn’t matter.
In the morning, the three of them met at the airport.
The flight took just over an hour. It was overcast when they landed, but the rain hadn’t started yet. They went to the hotel first to drop off their luggage, each staying in a separate room and keeping to themselves.
Zhu Lianzhen wanted to rest a bit longer, but Koty couldn’t sit still. He pushed the other two to change into activewear and head up the mountain.
“There’s nothing fun up there. It’s not like you haven’t hiked before,” Zhu Lianzhen grumbled as he begrudgingly followed behind them.
Koty countered with a straight face, “What are you talking about? Who cares about the mountain? The main attraction is you.”
Zhu Lianzhen threw a punch in his direction.
Since it was a weekday, most of the tourists at the scenic area were older people in tour groups, busy taking photos and chatting away. No one paid any attention to the three of them. That helped them relax a bit—they didn’t even bother with masks or hats, just enjoyed the fresh outdoor air.
There were even fewer people in line for the cable car, and it took less than five minutes to get their tickets. Once inside, Zhu Lianzhen kept his eyes on the attendant’s hands, personally making sure the door was securely locked.
As the cable car slowly ascended, Zhu Lianzhen first looked out the window. But once they rose above the treetops, his gaze involuntarily dropped toward the tips of his shoes.
“Don’t look down—look outside,” Koty reminded him.
Zhu Lianzhen lifted his head but immediately lowered it again. He asked, “Why are you both sitting across from me?”
Koty: “Then I’ll come over.”
“No, no, no! Don’t move! Stay where you are!” Zhu Lianzhen quickly waved his hands to stop him. He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but the cable car seemed to sway slightly the moment Koty shifted.
“Are you really that scared?” Koty grinned mischievously. After asking, he deliberately adjusted his position a few more times with exaggerated movements. “Aiyo, sitting for too long is tiring. I should get up and stretch.”
“Don’t! Move! Around!” Zhu Lianzhen gritted his teeth. His fists were clenched, but he didn’t dare throw a punch.
Koty laughed triumphantly but didn’t forget the purpose of the trip. He reminded Zhu Lianzhen, “Weren’t you the one who said you wanted to overcome your fear of heights? Then take a good look outside.”
Zhu Lianzhen kept his face still, only darting his eyes quickly to the side for a glance.
Koty: “What are you, a thief?”
“It’s fine. Once the cable car reaches the top, we can buy another ticket to come back down,” Tan Qing said calmly to Koty. “The more times he rides it, the more used to it he’ll get.”
Zhu Lianzhen remained silent, lips pressed tightly together, using only his peripheral vision to take in the scenery outside. Koty couldn’t help but laugh and turned to Tan Qing. “Why does it sound like you’re punishing him? Is this how you usually play?”
Tan Qing’s expression didn’t change. He simply glanced at Koty. Koty immediately straightened up and corrected himself with exaggerated seriousness. “Helping—I meant helping. Sometimes a little punishment speeds up progress.”
“Stop moving already!” Zhu Lianzhen snapped at Koty.
The cable car took about fifteen minutes to reach the mid-station. Zhu Lianzhen couldn’t endure the prolonged ordeal any longer and rushed out to get some fresh air.
Tan Qing leaned against the railing, gazing into the distance. When he looked back at Zhu Lianzhen, he saw him hiding ten meters away, unwilling to take a single step forward.
Koty, ever impatient, grabbed Zhu Lianzhen in a tight hug and dragged him toward the edge. “Come on, come on, come on!”
“I’m not mentally prepared yet!” Zhu Lianzhen ended up at the edge, half-dragged, half-reluctantly cooperating. He managed to grip the railing, but his body instinctively leaned backward.
Tan Qing walked over, placed a hand on his back, and gently pushed him forward to help him stand straighter. Zhu Lianzhen squinted and heard Tan Qing whisper, “Don’t look down. Look out into the distance.”
As long as his field of vision didn’t include the spot he was standing on, it was easier to manage. Just focusing on the mountains far away made it bearable. Step by step, Zhu Lianzhen progressed, gradually lowering his gaze and doing his best to adjust to the view from different angles.
By the time he was able to take in even the scenery directly beneath his feet, Zhu Lianzhen suddenly realized that his body had relaxed, and he was breathing with surprising ease.
“Let’s take a photo.” Koty pulled out his phone and noticed that the lighting was best from the side facing the railing, so he extended his arm to frame the two people behind him as well.
Zhu Lianzhen turned his face and was startled again. “Can you not stick your phone out like that when taking pictures? Just watching you makes me nervous!”
The more anxious he got, the more excited Koty became. Not only did he ignore him completely, but he also exaggeratedly stretched his phone out even farther. “What’s going on? The camera’s making our faces look huge.”
Zhu Lianzhen: “Hurry up already!”
But Koty wasn’t done. Just after taking the photo, he suddenly let his hand tremble, and the phone slipped out of his palm into the air. However, his other hand had already gone down in advance and caught it securely.
Zhu Lianzhen’s heart skipped a beat, and he gasped sharply. Koty’s mischievous side flared again as he spun the phone between his fingers at lightning speed, balancing it with unnerving precision.
Zhu Lianzhen’s vision went black. He ground out the words through clenched teeth, “Chen. Mao. Lin.”
He finally understood why Fu Rong always addressed Koty by his full name—this guy was genuinely infuriating when he wanted to be.
“Alright, alright, my bad, my bad,” Koty said with a wicked grin, backing off as he slung an arm around Zhu Lianzhen’s shoulders. “I was just testing your mental resilience.”
Zhu Lianzhen slapped his hand away and warned, “If Fu Rong were here, your phone would already be flying toward the next mountain. Got it?”
Still shaken, he looked down the slope below. Luckily, it was all hills and trees. If Koty had really dropped the phone, at least it wouldn’t have landed on someone’s head.
Koty replied seriously, “Throwing objects from high places is illegal. That’s a line I won’t cross.”
Zhu Lianzhen shot him a glare. “Then why the hell were you tempting fate just now?”
“No choice. It’s you,” Koty said helplessly. “I just couldn’t not mess with you.”
Zhu Lianzhen didn’t bother replying. He just flipped him off without a word.
“Let’s keep heading up,” Tan Qing finally said, ending their bickering.
Climbing the mountain turned out to be pretty boring. The steps stretched on, and the scenery barely changed. It wasn’t nearly as poetic as it looked in the videos. With their youth and stamina, the three of them quickly made it up a long flight of stairs.
Up ahead, a tour group had gathered, and the guide was speaking into a mic, loudly explaining the attractions to the tourists.
Zhu Lianzhen caught the words “glass walkway” and immediately stopped in his tracks. Tan Qing glanced at him and asked, “Do you want to go?”
Zhu Lianzhen: “We’re already here…”
They walked another three to five hundred steps before reaching the glass walkway. It clung to the mountainside, suspended a thousand meters in the air. Zhu Lianzhen gripped the handrails tightly and tilted his head toward the other two. “You go first.”
“You were the one clamoring to come. You should take the lead,” Koty, completely unafraid, gave Zhu Lianzhen a nudge in the back. “There are still plenty of people behind us. Don’t block the way.”
Koty’s urging worked. Zhu Lianzhen knew that the longer he hesitated, the more courage he’d waste. So he braced himself and stepped forward, keeping his gaze fixed straight ahead, never once looking down at the glass beneath his feet.
But he couldn’t keep that stiff expression later on camera. He slowed down and hesitantly tried to take in the high-altitude scenery around him.
Instant regret.
Tan Qing was standing very close behind him. He reached for Zhu Lianzhen’s wrist, which was clinging to the railing, and said softly, “Let go.”
Zhu Lianzhen didn’t have the mental space to think. He instinctively followed Tan Qing’s instruction and loosened his right hand. A second later, his left hand reached for the railing again, his body turning slightly along with it.
Tan Qing: “…Let go with the other hand too.”
“Oh.” Zhu Lianzhen let go with his left hand, but his right hand immediately went back up.
Seeing this, Koty burst out laughing. “You’ve been dancing for years. What’s with the sudden lack of coordination!”
Flustered, Zhu Lianzhen snapped, “How should I know? My hands just aren’t listening to me right now!”
Tan Qing seemed to chuckle as well. He gently pressed down on Zhu Lianzhen’s wrist from behind and continued, “Stand in the middle. Keep walking.”
Zhu Lianzhen felt his heart pounding—he wasn’t sure whether it was from his fear of heights or the proximity to Tan Qing, especially with Koty watching. He knew Koty wouldn’t find it strange between teammates who had known each other for years, but he still couldn’t help feeling guilty.
Ironically, that meaningless distraction helped. By the time Tan Qing let go of his hand, he was able to walk a stretch of the transparent bridge without issue. When he looked down again, he no longer felt the same palpitations or dizziness.
“There’s a turn ahead. Hold on,” Tan Qing reminded him.
Zhu Lianzhen stopped to adjust his footing and only then realized that Tan Qing’s hand had been on his back the whole time, firm and steady.
Watching them, Koty couldn’t resist teasing. “You’re like someone training a puppy to join human society. Patting his head as a reward every time he behaves.”
Zhu Lianzhen was irritated, unable to imagine what Koty had experienced to come up with such an outrageous analogy. Just then, he felt someone gently ruffle his hair and heard Tan Qing say, “Reward.”
Zhu Lianzhen: “…”
The glass walkway was only about a hundred meters long, and they crossed it quickly. Zhu Lianzhen realized he’d made real progress with his fear of heights today. That kind of breakthrough was even more gratifying than doing something he was already good at.
The sky was overcast, and a light drizzle began to fall. It didn’t seem safe to continue climbing, but the cable car station was still a ways off. Tan Qing told the two of them to wait on a bench while he went to a nearby shop to buy umbrellas.
Koty sat down to rest, though his mouth didn’t. “I feel like every time we go out with him, he’s like a parent taking care of kids.”
Zhu Lianzhen was a bit tired and didn’t feel like talking, but after a few seconds of silence, he still asked, “Did you used to hang out with Tan Qing a lot?”
“Didn’t I tell you the other day? I could never get him to go anywhere.” Koty leaned weakly against the bench. “For the past few years, unless it was for food or drinks, he wouldn’t even reply to me.”
He sighed. “Is it just that he only likes hanging out with you?”
Zhu Lianzhen scoffed. “Ever consider the possibility that he just doesn’t want to deal with you?”
“I’m being serious here. You’re close to him, so let me ask you something.” Koty adjusted his posture, his tone shifting into something more earnest.
Zhu Lianzhen knew this was the expression Koty always wore when he was about to gossip, so he put on a look of indifference.
“From your perspective, has he ever liked a girl?” Koty asked in a lowered voice.
Starting off with such a pointless question, Zhu Lianzhen narrowed his eyes and gave Koty a sideways glance, hoping to shut him down with one sentence. “I’m not interested in Tan Qing’s private life. If you’re curious, go ask him yourself.”
Just see if he even bothers to answer you.
Koty opened his mouth, hesitated, and even glanced around to make sure Tan Qing hadn’t returned. Finally, he carefully phrased his next words. “I’m asking for your opinion. You’ve spent the most time with him—do you think Kissy might be…?”
Zhu Lianzhen frowned. “Might be what?”
“Into guys?”
Zhu Lianzhen froze, unable to respond.
