Chapter 12

Four people were eating and chatting. In fact, Liang Shenghan and Xiao Pang were chatting most of the time. An Ning talked from time to time, while Qin Weihang basically listened. Sometimes he had his head lowered, scrolling on his phone while listening. Occasionally, he would nod to what he heard, no matter if others saw him nodding or not. If there was nothing interesting to look at on his phone, he would lean back on the seat and watch them chattering—his eyes were a bit relaxed when doing so. He would look at Xiao Pang when he speaks, and at Liang Shenghan when he speaks. It made An Ning dare not to speak anymore, because whenever he spoke, Qin Weihang would also look at him. Between him and Qin Weihang, the line of sight was the shortest. He really couldn’t bear being stared at by Qin Weihang.

The Big Mac burger was just as An Ning expected, Qin Weihang had quickly finished eating it. The french fries were almost gone, but his cola was barely touched. Right now, Qing Weihang was probably full, so he could only listen to them gossiping.

An Ning drank his cola and listened to Liang Shenghan and Xiao Pang talking about school gossip. At first, they talked about the peeping tom; later, they talked about the school flowers. Of course, out of respect for Qin Weihang, they didn’t talk about the school grasses. Xiao Pang had mentioned “There really was no school grass in the law department before,” and Liang Shenghan had skillfully changed the topic. Afterwards, they talked about the old dormitory building being haunted. The more they talked, the more absorbed they got.

Then, An Ning suddenly straightened his back.

At this moment, Qin Weihang raised his eyes to look at him and said in a low voice: “Sorry.”

An Ning replied, “It’s okay!”

This scene confused the two chatting next to them. Xiao Pang looked at Qin Weihang from the left and looked at An Ning from the right, and said, “Why did you suddenly say sorry?”

Qin Weihang straightened from his seat. He pulled his leg back and said: “I just stepped on his foot.”

An Ning can fully understand why Qin Weihang accidentally stepped on his foot. McDonald’s seats were small enough for him and Liang Shenghan, and even more so for a guy with long legs like Qin Weihang. Just stretching his legs a bit, and it will reach the person sitting across from him. When Qin Weihang was leaning back on his seat, he should’ve been sitting quite relaxed, so he had unconsciously stretched his leg and touched An Ning’s foot. Qin Weihang immediately moved his foot back after touching the tip of An Ning’s foot. An Ning also unconsciously pulled back his foot. In fact, it really wasn’t anything; there really was no need to apologize. An Ning thought to himself, it’s because I overreacted. Just now, they were talking about a white figure floating from upstairs in the middle of the night. At that moment, Qin Weihang’s foot had bumped against his own foot…

Xiao Pang probably felt that Qin Weihang hasn’t spoken yet, so he asked him about rock climbing: “Ge, do you always not wear safety ropes when rock climbing?”

“It’s not necessary for deep-water rock climbing.” Qin Weihang said.

“Then have you climbed the snowy mountains? The kind like Mount Everest?”

“I have climbed Makalu, but that is not rock climbing.”

Makalu Mountain

Xiao Pang was confused, so he said: “Where is Makalu?” The only mountains he knew were Mount Everest and the Alps.

An Ning happened to know: “Isn’t it the fifth-highest mountain in the world?”

Qin Weihang looked over and nodded to him.

An Ning couldn’t help looking directly at Qin Weihang this time: “You climbed Makalu?!” He remembered the ten highest peaks in the world because he was interested in it when he was a child. If he remembered correctly, Makalu was actually even more difficult to climb than Everest. The mountain has a blade-like ridge of ice and snow on it, which was still fresh in his memory to this day.

“I just climbed it, but didn’t climb to the top.” Qin Weihang said.

Xiao Pang was curious: “Why didn’t you reach the summit?”

Qin Weihang said: “The weather was bad, and the mountaineering team turned back. It was a bit regrettable.”

When he said “a bit regrettable”, An Ning noticed that Qin Weihang’s usual flat tone finally exposed some emotions. It was indeed the emotion of regret, although fleeting.

“That’s so awesome,” Liang Shenghan searched Makalu on his phone and showed it to them. “Makalu is also in the Himalayas, and it is said to be more difficult to climb. There are far fewer people that reached the summit of Makalu compared to Mt. Everest!”

Xiao Pang looked at Qin Weihang with a look of admiration: “Ge, just how awesome are you?!”

“I said I didn’t reach the top.” Qin Weihang said.

“It’s still awesome!”

Okay, Qin Weihang thought, helplessly turning the phone in his phone.

Liang Shenghan asked: “Will you go to the summit again?”

“Maybe,” Qin Weihang said, “To me, climbing mountains is okay, but I’m not that obsessed about it.”

An Ning had been listening carefully, thinking that he must really love rock climbing better.

Liang Shenghan asked, “Then, are there any popular places like Everest in your rock climbing world?”

“Yes,” Qin Weihang said, “there’s quite a lot.”

Liang Shenghan clicked on the search bar of his phone: “Tell me, let me search it up!”

Qin Weihang said: “El Capitan.”

An Ning also looked it up on his phone, El Capitan resides in Yosemite National Park in the U.S. When he clicked on the picture, he was attracted at once. It was a sliced chisel, nearly vertical huge rock. With the sun shining above it, the geometrically-carved golden colored patches emerged. The blue sky was behind it and the tree lined up below it—it was worthy of being a beautiful scenery of the national park. But can such a place really be climbed by hand? It was almost vertical!

Also known as El Cap, The Captain, and The Chief.

He couldn’t help but look up at Qin Weihang and found that Qin Weihang was also looking at him. After their eyes met, Qin Weihang asked, “Did you find it?”

An Ning turned the phone screen over and showed him it: “Is this where you are going in the future?”

Qin Weihang glanced at the screen, hands stretched directly on his phone screen to enlarge the picture. He looked at it, then said: “Yes.”

Of course Qin Weihang recognized El Capitan, An Ning thought to himself. But it seemed that Qin Weihang was aroused by some sort of emotion when he saw the mountain and couldn’t help but want to see more clearly.

An Ning took back his phone. On the screen was the photo that was still enlarged. Without the blue sky and trees, there was only a steep granite rock full of hard lines.

“El Capitan has another name,” Qin Weihang said. “Called The Chief.”

An Ning raised his head in realization, and thought, no wonder…

Qin Weihang lowered his head again. He took the cola that he hadn’t touched and open the lid, took two sips, then put it back down.

“Ge, can you teach me rock climbing?” Xiao Pang asked suddenly.

Qin Weihang glanced at him and said, “You are not suitable.”

“Why?” Xiao Pang was puzzled, “You can tell that I’m not suitable?”

Qin Weihang wiped his palm with the napkin on the table. He raised his right hand, pressed his elbow on the table, and said, “I’ll test you to see if you’re suitable.”

Liang Shenghan saw that they were going to arm wrestle and was very excited, urging Xiao Pang: “Wrestle, wrestle, wrestle!”

Xiao Pang grasped Qin Weihang’s hand and was surprised in the next second: “Ge, you’re so hard!”

Qin Weihang’s expression instantly froze, and Liang Shenghan almost spitted out his cola.

Qin Weihang’s eyes widened in astonishment. He was really like a big cat with their whiskers stroked, An Ning thought.

Xiao Pang himself was embarrassed to death: “I meant your hand, your hand! There are so many calluses on it, and it’s hard when holding it!”

Qin Weihang looked at his hand and nodded: “The feel is not that good.”

Liang Shenghan stepped forward and held the hands of the two of them. He felt that Xiao Pang’s hands had begun to secretly use his strength. Qin Weihang let go of his hand, and Liang Shenghan reminded Xiao Pang: “It hasn’t started yet, behave!”

Xiao Pang rolled his eyes: “You’re making so much noise. Do you really think you’re a referee?”

As soon as Liang Shenghan said “Start” and released his hand, Xiao Pang started to use up all the strength in his body. Although the fighting spirit was high, it seemed useless. Since the beginning, Qin Weihang kept his hand pressed down. He showed no signs of being overtaken or stuck in a deadlock. Xiao Pang gritted his teeth and tried so hard that he uttered an “ugh” sound and begged, “Ge, slow down…give me a chance… Ah!”

Liang Shenghan heard him making groaning sounds as if he was lifting weights at a gym, and couldn’t help but laugh.

Qin Weihang slowed down a bit and Xiao Pang put his other hand on the edge of the table. Liang Shenghan said: “Doing that is foul play.”

“Don’t bother me!”

Xiao Pang was already flushed. Qin Weihang saw him exhausted, so he said: “That’s why I said you’re not suitable.” As soon as the voice fell, with a bang, Xiao Pang’s hand was pulled down.

Xiao Pang rubbed his sore wrist, then said to Liang Shenghan and An Ning ruefully, “He is too strong! I have never lost at arm wrestling with others before!”

Liang Shenghan looked at him with disdain: “You can really brag.”

So rock climbing really tests your hands. An Ning looked at his own hands, lost in thought…

Since he can’t learn rock climbing, Xiao Pang gave up and said: “Then can you tell us when you’re going outdoor climbing again, Hang-ge? We can go to cheer for you!”

Qin Weihang wanted to say, even if you cheer for me from below, I won’t even be able to hear it. Even if I do hear it, I’ll only think it’s noisy. Just as he was thinking of an excuse to decline, An Ning also asked, “Can we?”

Qin Weihang hesitated for a moment, then said, “You guys might be in class when I’m climbing.”

“It’s okay!” The class skipping expert, Xiao Pang, immediately said, “We can skip class!”

Qin Weihang raised his eyes to look at the person across from him, his eyebrows raised faintly. He asked: “Can you?”

An Ning hesitated; he asked: “Are there any rock climbing activities that are not during class time?”

Xiao Pang and Liang Shenghan let out a disappointing “aww” in unison. Qin Weihang lowered his head and smiled. In the end, he said: “I’ll check.”

An Ning nodded, and hurriedly patched things up: “As long as it doesn’t clash with classes, I will definitely go!”

“Oh, An Ning-ge, you’re too disciplined.” Xiao Pang told him, “Is there anyone who doesn’t skip class when they’re in university? This is not high school!”

Liang Shenghan looked at the top student next to him and the handsome guy diagonal from him: “You two are simply polar opposites. One skips class every day and one goes to class every day. In fact, you guys can learn from each other’s strengths. An Ning, you can feel the colorful university life; Qin Weihang, you can strive to not fail your courses…”

Qin Weihang didn’t care that much and said: “Let’s talk about it on the weekends.” He raised his head and asked An Ning, “Can you lend me your notes?”

“No problem!” An Ning nodded, thinking, as long as you are willing to read it. If Qin Weihang was serious about this, then from now on he’ll have to write it in detail.

“I want the top student’s notes too!”

“I want one too, ge!”

Liang Shenghan and Xiao Pang immediately followed suit.

In fact, An Ning rarely takes notes. In order to exercise his brain, he always kept it in his head. Before going to bed every day, he would recall them to strengthen his memory. This time, he may really need to do well in taking notes.

Qin Weihang said: “I want the original one.”

Liang Shenghan said: “Of course! The eldest bro should get the original one, while the little bros can just get a copy!”

Qin Weihang smiled and drank another sip of cola.

An Ning looked at the three people who seemed to have gotten the death-exemption gold medal* that prevented them from failing finals. He wanted to say that even if he wrote the notes in detail for them, he would still like them to listen in class too. Only classrooms have Yan Ruyu(beauties), and only classrooms have houses of gold(riches)*… However, in such a group of truant members, it was difficult to say it.