Chapter 18

After Qin Weihang came down, he was surrounded by enthusiastic applause and admiration. He turned his head and saw An Ning standing behind him on his left. He didn’t expect the other party was standing so close to him and was a bit surprised for a moment.

Seeing him turn his head, An Ning was eager to express his admiration. However, before he could say, “You were so cool,” Qin Weihang quickly turned and lowered his head to take off his protective gears.

An Ning held his light gray sweater and stood to the side, patiently waiting for him. He had an uncontrollable smile on his face, as if he was still immersed in the wonderful shot of this handsome roommate conquering the rock wall.

It was just lead climbing in a wild rock climbing activity, yet unexpectedly, Qin Weihang’s climbing performance became a delight to watch. The discussion under the rock wall was full of enthusiasm, and some were still looking up to study Qin Weihang’s climbing route. The places Qin Weihang grasped has white chalk marks on them, so the climbers below has a ready-made route for reference. It was originally very convenient, but most people who were present and saw Qin Weihang’s climbing style didn’t dare imitate it. They only shook their heads and earnestly bowed on the ground.

An Ning also heard Boss Yu chatting with Xiao Pang and Liang Shenghan, his tone was full of pride: “… In fact, this kind of speed is nothing to him. After all, he has to help the team members hang the quickdraws and also be able to coordinate with his protector. I knew with one look that he was deliberately slowing down his pace. Considering the grade of this route, it’s not an exaggeration to say that he can complete it by just hanging one or two quickdraws. But for the members, if he doesn’t hang all four quickdraws, then…”

Xiao Pang had already turned into a fanboy: “Ge is just too awesome!”

Qin Weihang lowered his head and quickly removed the safety gears. He still didn’t turn around, but stepped forward to help the protector, Da Luo, roll up the main rope together. Da Luo was a stocky guy and was already sweating profusely. Seeing Qin Weihang coming to help him, he asked quickly: “This time, did I do okay when giving you the rope?”

In fact, Qin Weihang could’ve gone even slower, but when Da Luo was giving him the rope, it was indeed well done. At least he didn’t feel too constrained when he was doing dyno. This was the second time he has cooperated with Da Luo. When the club invited him for the first time, Da Luo was a little slow with giving him the rope so he almost fell. It seemed that the other party must’ve put in 120% of his focus this time around, thus Qin Weihang nodded and said: “Thank you.”

Da Luo smiled earnestly and said: “Don’t mention it! It’s such an honor to be your protector!” Qin Weihang chose him as a protector not just because he had rich experience, but also because he was heavy enough. After all, he needed to be able to hold on to Qin Weihang when he falls. Qin Weihang talked to him in advance on the method of feeding the rope. He told Da Luo to give him twice the amount of the rope so that he didn’t need to think too much. Including the lesson from their first cooperation, there were no mistakes this time. Otherwise, with such a grand rock climbing style, he was really worried that he would drag Qin Weihang down…

An Ning finally waited until Qin Weihang turned around. He had just met Qin Weihang’s gaze when he heard someone calling Qin Weihang. Qin Weihang turned to the direction where the shout came from. The club members had gathered around to ask him questions.

An Ning walked over with Qin Weihang’s clothes, standing behind Qin Weihang’s shoulders and listening carefully. The most difficult part was undoubtedly the natural eaves, which was easy to fall from. A girl clutched her chest and exhaled: “Um, but I’m still afraid of falling…”

Qin Weihang asked her: “You haven’t fallen before?”

The girl said that she had only fallen in the climbing gym. Later, she was lead climbing two 5.10 routes and never fell, so she was a little scared this time around.

Qin Weihang said: “Falling is a part of rock climbing, so what is there to be afraid of?”

His voice was deep, his skills were awesome, and he was tall and handsome. Whatever he said, he was like a pillar they can rely on. This group of people who were older than Qin Weihang were nodding like chickens pecking rice. Looking at this scene, An Ning couldn’t help but want to laugh.

The team members were about to try this route. After the crowd let him go, Qin Weihang was about to turn around, but then he saw a Nongfu Spring water bottle next to his shoulder. He turned his head and saw An Ning handing it over to him. He took it and said, “Thank you.” As soon as he raised his hand and twisted it, the cap of the mineral water bottle made a crack sound. It turned out that the bottle had not been opened.

He raised his head and took two sips of water. Afterwards, he paused and handed it to An Ning. “Do you want to drink?”

“Ah?” An Ning was surprised. He wasn’t even thirsty.

Qin Weihang held up the mineral water bottle and said: “If you don’t want to drink it, I will use it to wash my hands. After that, you may not be able to drink it.”

An Ning smiled and said: “No, I’m not thirsty. You can use it to wash.” Qin Weihang simply poured the water on his hand. Seeing that it was inconvenient for him to wash with one hand, An Ning stepped forward and took the water bottle and said: “I’ll do it.”

Qin Weihang only held it for a while, but when An Ning took the water bottle, he felt a warm sensation on the part where he held it. An Ning raised his eyes and glanced at Qin Weihang, but this time he was not discovered. This was because Qin Weihang lowered his head and was concentrating on washing his hands. Although he didn’t see Qin Weihang panting much after coming down from above, but he was probably tired and hot… It looked like there was sweat on his neck…

When Qin Weihang was washing his hands, Xiao Pang and Liang Shenghan also came over. When Xiao Pang came over he said: “Ge, you are too cool!!”

An Ning suddenly felt a little regretful since Xiao Pang beat him to it…

Qin Weihang found that the bottle was tilted, so he could only move his hand over. Without raising his head, he responded to Xiao Pang: “Thank you.”

Xiao Pang murmured: “Every time we praise you for being cool, you say thank you. We didn’t praise you just because we take pleasure in doing so, nor is it for you to express your thanks.”

Liang Shenghan said: “You just don’t get it. This is how a handsome guy talks. It’s specially used to deal with face-cons* like you, just like a conditioned reflex.”

[*TN: So this is a buzz word that literally mean face dog(yan gou). It’s used to describe someone who’s weak against those with high face value(good looks). I went with face-con since it’s similar to voice-con.]

Xiao Pang retorted, “I’m not praising his face this time, I’m praising his skills!”*

[*TN: He’s been praising QWH as shuai(handsome). This word can also mean ‘cool’ and be used to compliment someone’s abilities, hence why XP said the above line.]

As the two bickered, An Ning glanced at Qin Weihang’s hand and saw what seemed to be a wound, so he asked: “Do you need some medicine for this injury?”

Qin Weihang noticed that there was a scratch on the bottom of his palm, which was red and peeling a little. He felt a slight pain when washing his hands, but he was actually fine. This was because he had just climbed the rock, and the roughness of the rock still remained in his palm, but didn’t hurt much. He focused on washing and said, “It’s fine.”

Xiao Pang said: “It must be fine. You don’t know how tough his palms are, just like fossils!”

After Qin Weihang washed his hands, he walked to the place where his mountaineering backpack was. He bent over and took a towel out to wipe his hands. An Ning returned the gray sweater to him.

Qin Weihang took it and didn’t wear it. He just shook it and put it on his shoulders, with two sleeves on his chest.

Below the rock wall, the first team member was about to try the Just so so route. An Ning, along with Liang Shenghan and Xiao Pang, also paid attention.

While Liang Shenghan was watching, he couldn’t help but sigh: “Oh my god, how did you do it so fast…”

Qin Weihang also looked up at the climber and said: “I’m familiar with this route.”

Liang Shenghan was amazed: “That’s still too fast…”

An Ning remembered something: “What does redpoint mean?”

“Redpoint means that you don’t need equipments to help you finish climbing a route,” Qin Weihang said.

[*TN: I just checked again, and red-pointing is free climbing a route while lead climbing without falling. Free climbing is when a climber only use a rope and other form of protections, but only to protect against injury during falls and not for assisting them. They climb with just their physical abilities, which was what QWH was doing.]

Xiao Pang asked: “Ge, why didn’t you plan to climb to the top just now?”

“I’ve already climbed to the top before, so I’m not really obsessed with it.”

An Ning smiled and said: “We have to thank you for that. You went up there again for us.”

Qin Weihang watched him push his glasses again. This time, he was finally sure that it was caused by the weight of the glasses. He also noticed that a bit of dust fell on his lenses, which should have been stained when he came down, so he said: “You shouldn’t stand too close when I come down.”

“Yeah,” Liang Shenghan turned his head and said, “I was even calling for you.”

An Ning was embarrassed: “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear.” It was probably because he was too excited, so he couldn’t hear anyone calling him at all. He almost caused trouble for Qin Weihang.

Qin Weihang didn’t say anything. He put on the hooded sweater, then put his hands inside the pockets of the sweater and took out a handkerchief. From another side, Yu Ran called him over. He walked over to An Ning and put the handkerchief in An Ning’s hand: “Wipe your glasses.”

Qin Weihang walked away after giving it to him. An Ning lowered his head, only to realize that it was not a handkerchief, but a turban for mountaineering.

The club will stay at the Dark Horse Rock Climbing Base for one day and one night, but Qin Weihang’s job was over. Later, they part ways with the club and left together. Xiao Pang suggested strolling around the old town, and while they were at it, find a good restaurant to treat them to a nice meal. However, An Ning had to tutor Yuan Xiaoye in the afternoon, so he could only bid farewell to the food and head home in advance.

When he arrived in Lantian County, he was half an hour late. Fortunately, he asked for leave in advance. Qian Fei didn’t mind, but Yuan Xiaoye murmured a few malicious words: “Little Frog gege, you arrived late just on time. She’s busy getting ready for an appointment and wants to dump you on me.”

Qian Fei gave her son an angry look.

Unexpectedly, when he started tutoring Yuan Xiaoye, Qian Fei really went out. She sent him a WeChat message, asking him to help her look after Yuan Xiaoye.

In the past, Yuan Xiaoye was distracted during lessons. Today, when Yuan Xiaoye was answering the problems, it was An Ning who was distracted. Not only was he thinking of the rock climbing from this morning, but he was also thinking about Qin Weihang. He thought about how handsome and agile he was, just like a black panther. And for the first time, An Ning yearned for such an unfamiliar extreme sport.

He kept thinking and thinking until he suddenly let out an “ah” sound. Yuan Xiaoye was startled and stared at him: “What are you saying ‘ah’ for?”

An Ning looked embarrassed: “Nothing, forgot something.”

Yuan Xiaoye rolled his eyes, then lower his head and bite his pen to focus on the questions. In the end, he couldn’t bear it anymore and hit his head on the table: “Ugh, I hate studying! I just want to be a slacker!!”

An Ning didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry. How can there be someone whose goal was to be a slacker? “Isn’t it good to be a top student?”

Yuan Xiaoye raised his head and looked at him: “A top student like you can’t even find a girlfriend.”

An Ning’s face showed embarrassment, as if he was caught. “How would you know I don’t have a girlfriend?”

Yuan Xiaoye said: “I knew from just one glance. If you were a bag, it would definitely be full of the Single LOGO on it!” At the end, he laughed, “My English is pretty good, isn’t it~”

[*TN: Single LOGO was said in English.]

An Ning: “…”

He accompanied Yuan Xiaoye all afternoon. After returning to the dorm in the evening, An Ning took out the turban from his backpack and washed it immediately. He left in a hurry and forgot to return the turban to Qin Weihang. In fact, he had a glasses case and glasses cloth in his backpack. He wanted to return the turban to Qin Weihang, but there were a lot of people, and everyone was talking to him, so he forgot.

There was a cool breeze on the balcony of his room, and the dorm building opposite was brightly lit. An Ning didn’t know what Qin Weihang was doing at this time. He thought, he wouldn’t be rock climbing in the wild this late at night? Maybe he was in the climbing gym.

Lifting his head, the turban gently swayed in the evening breeze.

… He was so cool when he broke free from gravity.