After entering the room, Wang Peng fell into silence. How were they going to sleep on that big bed? He couldn't possibly sleep on the floor.
Just as Wang Peng was about to speak, Liu Yiyi broke the silence: "Go ahead and rest on the bed, Junior. You've been driving all this time."
Wang Peng checked his phone. It was only five o'clock, leaving several hours until eleven. The two of them couldn't just stand there like this.
Wang Peng placed a quilt down the middle of the bed, turned on the air conditioner, and said, "Senior, you should lie down and rest on the bed too. Let's use the quilt as a dividing line."
Wang Peng lay down on the left side of the bed, lost in thought.
Not long after lying down, he felt the bed sink and knew the senior was on the bed as well. Soon, Wang Peng caught a faint, orchid-like, sweet fragrance and recognized it as Liu Yiyi's natural scent.
"It smells so good."
Wang Peng hadn't meant to say it out loud. *What should I do now that it slipped out uncontrollably?* he thought to himself.
Liu Yiyi's face instantly turned beet red.
"W-what?"
"Nothing, nothing."
Wang Peng let out a heavy sigh inwardly. *Good thing she didn't hear it.*
Perhaps because he was too exhausted from driving, Wang Peng drifted off to sleep without realizing it.
Listening to the steady breathing beside her, Liu Yiyi tried calling out to see if Wang Peng was really asleep.
"Junior."
"Junior."
Liu Yiyi called out softly. Seeing that Wang Peng ignored her, she slowly poked her head out to look at him. After confirming he was fast asleep, she propped her head up with her arm and gazed at his handsome profile. It was this very face that had made her unable to resist kissing him last time.
Before long, Liu Yiyi fell asleep as well.
***
It felt to Wang Peng like he had barely slept when someone rang the doorbell. Groggily opening his eyes, he saw it was the front desk receptionist who had checked them in.
"Sir, it's already ten o'clock. Didn't you say you wanted to climb the mountain? You can grab a meal now and then head out."
"Does the hotel offer wake-up calls?"
The hotel staff member just smiled without answering, as if she had answered yet hadn't answered at all. In truth, the receptionist had remembered the two of them the moment they walked in—who could forget such an attractive pair? After sitting at the front desk and seeing that they still hadn't come down, she decided to come upstairs and wake them.
"Senior, go ahead and change your clothes. Wear a light down jacket since it gets cold on Mount Tai at night. I'll go wake the others."
Wang Peng knocked on the others' doors. After getting a response, he returned to his room, changed his clothes, and the group gathered at the restaurant.
"Actually, I've wanted to come to Mount Tai for a long time to experience the sunrise," Li Jiaxin said.
Chatting and laughing, the group finished their meal quickly. Before setting off, Wang Peng gave them a final checklist: "Make sure you've all got your flashlights, chargers, water bottles, and chocolate."
After a brief discussion, the group chose the classic Hongmen route.
They set off immediately and soon arrived at Hongmen.
"Wow, there are so many people!" Li Jiaxin exclaimed.
Wang Peng asked a passing older man to take a photo of them.
"Mount Tai, here we come!" the group shouted together.
Everyone bought a trekking pole and then started up the mountain. Because they were climbing at night and the crowds were so dense—with almost everyone holding a flashlight—it was hard to see the surrounding scenery clearly as they pressed onward.
After about two hours of climbing, Wang Peng's group reached Zhongtianmen.
"Oh my god, where are we now? I can barely climb another step," Zhang Xueyang said breathlessly.
"Xueyang, your stamina isn't looking good. We've only made it halfway, and the second half will probably take another four hours."
"What? Another four hours?! Why did I ever come to Mount Tai?"
"No way, I need to rest for a bit."
Seeing that Zhang Xueyang needed a break, the group found some steps to sit down on.
Wang Peng opened his thermos and handed it to Liu Yiyi. "Senior, have some water. You haven't had much all the way up."
Liu Yiyi took the cup, took a careful sip to check if it was too hot, and then drank a bit more. Only after taking a few swallows did she realize, *"This isn't my water bottle—I'm using Wang Peng's! Doesn't that mean we've essentially had an indirect kiss?"*
Instantly, Liu Yiyi's cheeks flushed rosy red.
"Yiyi, why is your face so red? It didn't look like this while we were climbing. Are you sick?"
Hearing Li Jiaxin's words, Liu Yiyi buried her face in her chest, too embarrassed to let anyone see.
"Senior, are you alright?"
"I-I'm fine."
After resting for a little while, the group prepared to press on. Before leaving Zhongtianmen, they paused for a group photo.
As they continued upward, the steps past Zhongtianmen grew much steeper, and the group's pace slowed down. Of course, they had only just set out from Zhongtianmen and didn't yet realize that Shibapan was the truly steep part.
Passing Yunbu Bridge, the Five Officials Pines, and Wangren Pine, the group was met with a sea of countless heads.
Wang Peng checked the time; it was already past two in the morning, and they had only just reached Shibapan.
"No hesitation now. If we want to see the sunrise and grab a good spot, we can't stop from this point on. We have to keep moving straight up."
Wang Peng was actually telling a white lie. Although the steps grew steep upon reaching Shibapan, there wasn't much trail left after that, and they had plenty of time. However, he couldn't let everyone rest here; Shibapan was best conquered in one go, with a proper rest only after reaching Shengxianfang.
The group marched onward, with Li Jiaxin and Zhang Xueyang complaining all the way.
Wang Peng stood on the steps and looked around. It was just as the internet described: "Look up and all you see are bottoms; look back and all you see are faces."
Amidst the complaints, the group finally reached Shengxianfang.
"We can rest here for a bit. Up ahead is Nantianmen, and once we pass through Nantianmen and go by Bixia Temple to reach Jade Emperor Peak, we can wait for the sunrise."
Hearing that they could finally rest, the two girls let out a sigh of relief.
"Li Chuan, could you help us go buy a few bowls of noodles?" Seeing that the two girls were a bit hungry but too embarrassed to ask—especially since she was the one who had insisted on coming to Mount Tai—Li Miao spoke up.
"I'll go with Chuan-ge." After spending the journey together, Wang Peng and Li Chuan had grown quite familiar. Because Li Chuan was a year ahead of him in school, Wang Peng called him Chuan-ge.
After Wang Peng and Li Chuan left, Li Jiaxin and Zhang Xueyang completely let go and began to wail.
"I'm so exhausted! I am never climbing a mountain again. I won't let you guys drag me mountain climbing ever again, no matter what!"
"Hey Yiyi, what made Wang Peng think of inviting you to climb Mount Tai anyway?"
"Actually, I've wanted to climb it for a long time, but I never had the time. I didn't even want to come this time, but I couldn't resist the junior's constant nagging."