Li Sulan felt much better. Chu Xi was still her caring little cotton-padded jacket.
"Do you want me to tell you the other two clues?" Li Sulan whispered sneakily into Chu Xi’s ear.
Although Sang Ning didn’t read the card aloud after looking at it, earlier on the way, Sang Chuan and his group of loudmouths kept repeating those two clues over and over, and she had already memorized them.
"No need." Chu Xi firmly rejected, "I already said I would abide by the rules of the program team, and I won’t stoop to that level. Mom, you can go with them without worries. I already have an idea and will find the mystery guest soon."
"Well... all right then." Li Sulan didn’t insist. She trusted Chu Xi.
Halfway up, Sang Chuan noticed Li Sulan had lagged behind and was whispering in Chu Xi’s ear. He shouted, "Li, you old hag! Why aren’t you keeping up? Are you planning to defect or what?"
&%@#￥ A slew of curse words popped into Li Sulan’s mind. If it weren’t for concerns over damaging her status and image, she would’ve cursed Sang Chuan into the ground.
[Sang Chuan’s mouth—there’s no way to control it except to sew it shut.]
[I saw "mmp" written all over Li Sulan’s face. She must already have a flood of swear words in her heart but is too embarrassed to let them out.]
[I saw Sang Ning quietly sighing. She probably thinks her brother is beyond saving, too.]
"Mom, hurry up and go," Chu Xi quickly nudged Li Sulan. "Otherwise, they’ll think I got the clues from you."
She didn’t care. She could figure out where the mystery guest was with just one clue.
On the other hand, Sang Ning had two clues but still managed to go the wrong way. Who’s more capable? It was obvious at a glance.
"Sang Chuan, you’re a high school student for heaven’s sake. Watch your tone! My mom is an elder!" After urging Li Sulan, Chu Xi didn’t forget to scold Sang Chuan.
Sang Chuan inwardly snorted. His sister was really good at sucking up when necessary.
How come he’d never seen her stand up for Sang Youming and Hu Zhi in front of outsiders before?
Being a good man, he decided not to argue with women. Thinking that Chu Xi was his former sister, Sang Chuan didn’t bother to waste words on her. Seeing Li Sulan obediently catch up, he turned and continued climbing the mountain.
At the moment of turning, he couldn’t help but mutter softly, "Damn, both my sisters are nuts in their own ways!"
Sang Ning heard Sang Chuan muttering something but didn’t catch it clearly. She gave him a sideways glance and asked, "What are you mumbling about?"
Sang Chuan froze like a deer caught in headlights and frantically waved his hands. "N-Nothing...nothing..."
Forget it, this sister’s even scarier. If he offended her and got punished with ten extra essays, he really couldn’t handle it.
"Is that so?" Sang Ning clearly didn’t believe him but didn’t press further to find out what Sang Chuan had said.
Chu Xi stretched her neck to look forward and waited until she could no longer see Sang Ning and her group’s figures before speaking to Mr. Shen: "Uncle Shen, there should be more than one pond on the mountain. Since we didn’t find anything at the last pond, let’s check another. If we search several, we’re bound to find the mystery guest."
"All right." Mr. Shen responded with obvious reluctance, but he couldn’t shake off an uncomfortable feeling in his heart.
Why did it seem like Chu Xi had a strong competitive streak? Almost as if she was secretly competing with Sang Ning. Hopefully, it was just his imagination.
About one-third of the distance from the mountaintop, Sang Chuan suddenly stopped.
He plopped his rear onto a boulder jutting out from the mountain and gasped for air, panting heavily while complaining, "Climbing, climbing, climbing—it’s all we’ve done! Are we just at war with mountains today or something?"
Sang Ning found it tolerable; she hadn’t climbed the first mountain all the way up, so her energy was still going strong.
But Li Sulan couldn’t hold on anymore. She bent over, hands resting on her knees, her legs trembling incessantly.
Hu Zhi was also struggling, gripping a nearby tree branch for support with her right hand while propping herself up on her knees with her left, panting heavily.
The other men were drenched in sweat from climbing, no longer caring about appearances as they leaned wherever they could to hunch over and catch their breath.
Only Shen Yi didn’t seem too disheveled. He had one leg propped up and leaned casually against a roadside tree. However, the beads of sweat silently rolling down his forehead and his flushed cheeks betrayed him.
[Shen Yi is trying way too hard to look cool. He’s obviously exhausted, yet he still cares about his image. If he’s not tired, I’m tired for him.]
[Don’t bother with handsome guys. Their awareness of self-image management is off the charts. What’s he supposed to do—sit down, take off his socks, and pant like a dog to be considered genuine?]
[Let’s hope the male stars in showbiz treat Shen Yi as a benchmark, step up their game, and pay more attention to their image. They survive on their looks, after all. If they let themselves go, the audience will lose interest.]
"Alright, we’ve been climbing for ages. Let’s take a rest here. We’re not far from the summit anyway." Sang Ning saw it clearly. If she didn’t call for a break, the group behind her would probably grit their teeth and follow her all the way to the top.
With those words from Sang Ning, everyone’s nerves finally relaxed.
Except for Shen Yi, who kept up his cool-guy posture, the others didn’t care about their appearances anymore. They found spots and plopped down without hesitation.
Sang Ning looked up at the mountaintop, where the Astronomy Tower was already within sight. She planned to let everyone rest for about ten minutes before they set off again.
She tore off a palm-sized leaf from a roadside plant and leaned against a rock, using the leaf to fan her face.
She didn’t feel particularly tired, but the heat was undeniably real.
She had barely started fanning when Song Shiye’s startled voice rang out: "Oh my god, someone’s about to jump off a cliff!"
She turned her head to look, only to see Song Shiye nervously running toward the edge of the mountain, waving his arms. "Elderly gentleman, please stay calm, stay calm!"
Following the direction Song Shiye ran, she spotted a small, conspicuous peak rising adjacent to the mountain path.
Sang Ning found it odd. She’d noticed that peak earlier when coming up, but there hadn’t been anyone on it at the time.
Now, however, out of nowhere had appeared an old man. He stood sideways atop the peak, dressed in a dark blue long gown, his tangled hair and beard fluttering. One hand rested behind his back while the other stretched out straight, index and middle fingers together, pointing directly at the sky.
How should she put it? His mental state seemed... off, as if he were practicing cultivation.
Sang Ning was speechless. Which of Song Shiye’s eyes saw that the man wanted to jump off the cliff?
The old man was clearly absorbing the qi of heaven and earth, expelling the turbid qi from his body.
"Song Shiye, get back here!" Sang Ning hissed under her breath, trying to call Song Shiye back.
If he dashed up to the old man so suddenly, wouldn’t he risk startling him into a fall?