The four women walked at the very front, while the four men brought up the rear—one group ahead, one behind, with laughter and chatter flowing nonstop.
Yang Xi’s husband, Chen Wenbin, currently worked as a math teacher at a school. He had a personality very similar to Yang Xi’s—gregarious, emotionally intelligent, and with unique insights on many things. With just a few words, he could even melt an “iceberg” like Xiao Cheng. With him around, there was no worry about the men running out of things to say.
Qin Shuang’s husband, Wang Ze, was the complete opposite of her—shy and introverted by nature, quiet and refined, with a fair and clean-cut appearance. He only answered when asked, and if pressed with too many questions, his ears would turn completely red.
Seeing that the men had struck up a conversation, the women all relaxed.
“I was originally worried that your husband might be hard to get along with, but now it seems I was judging others by my own petty standards.” Yang Xi cast a playful, reproachful glance at Lin Aiyun. Not that she could be blamed for thinking that way.
Since they didn’t meet often and had no usual opportunities to get acquainted, their judgments could only be based on the rare encounters they did have.
But every time they’d seen him, it was when Xiao Cheng drove over to pick up Lin Aiyun. He favored dark-colored clothes, and when his handsome face wasn’t speaking, he looked fierce and menacing—from a distance, almost like a demon.
Coupled with the occasional rumors they’d heard from others, Yang Xi had automatically classified Xiao Cheng as someone not to be trifled with, someone difficult to get along with. She’d actually been secretly anxious for quite a while before this hiking trip. But after this close encounter, it turned out you really couldn’t judge a book by its cover.
Xiao Cheng was actually very easy to get along with!
“Haha, really?” Lin Aiyun let out a dry laugh, glanced at Xiao Cheng, and upon seeing his expression, her smile grew even more forced.
If she didn’t know him, she might have been fooled by Xiao Cheng too.
He wasn’t the type to enjoy chatting with strangers. The fact that he was patiently listening and occasionally chiming in was probably all to avoid spoiling her fun.
“Yeah, I think so too,” Qin Shuang nodded. Then, spotting something ahead, she dashed a few steps forward. “Look! Such a beautiful butterfly!”
Red and black overlapped in a unique pattern, with very large wings, perched on a light red maple leaf.
Zhang Yaoyao kept her distance from such creatures, pulling Lin Aiyun to stand far away. Just then, the water bottle in Lin Aiyun’s hand slipped and fell to the ground. She instinctively bent down to pick it up. Whether it was because her bellyband was tied too tightly today, or because Xiao Cheng had sucked too hard the night before, her chest ached with a sharp, swollen pain when she bent over.
Lin Aiyun sucked in a sharp breath through her teeth, gritted them, and quickly picked up the bottle.
Then she straightened up. Unable to bear it any longer, she took advantage of everyone else being distracted by the butterfly, quickly turned around, and asked Zhang Yaoyao to shield her while she reached out and gently rubbed her chest.
As she rubbed, she frowned slightly. She’d always tied the strings this way, and Xiao Cheng had always sucked like that—so why was it hurting now? And hurting this much?
The more she thought about it, the more something felt off. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck her—she remembered that her period was already half a month late. A suspicion quietly took root in her heart, and her pulse began to race. But before she could figure it out, her thoughts were interrupted by Zhang Yaoyao.
“Aiyun, are you okay? Is everything alright?”
“I’m fine.” Lin Aiyun shook her head and gave Zhang Yaoyao a reassuring smile in response to her worried look.
“What’s wrong?” Xiao Cheng, who had been keeping an eye on Lin Aiyun all along, walked over. Mindful of the many people watching, he didn’t get too close. Instead, he took the water bottle from her hand and, in the process, gave her fingers a gentle squeeze.
Seeing her signal that she was fine, he relaxed, withdrew his hand, and wiped the dirt off the bottle for her.
His question drew everyone’s attention. Lin Aiyun certainly couldn’t announce in front of everyone that her chest hurt, so she made up an excuse: “I just pulled a muscle when I bent down to pick up the bottle. It’s fine now.”
“You scared me! I thought something serious had happened. Good to know you’re okay.”
The group continued on their way. Everyone was in high spirits, but Lin Aiyun alone had something on her mind and seemed a bit distracted. Still, she didn’t dare to actually let her mind wander—she took every step carefully and steadily, keeping well away from slopes and cliffs, terrified of accidentally falling.
In the end, she even had Xiao Cheng find her a sturdy branch to use as a walking stick.
If her guess turned out to be true, she couldn’t afford to be careless. And if it wasn’t—well, being careful never hurt anyone.
Halfway up, the group stopped for a simple lunch, rested a while, and then continued climbing. A gentle breeze blew through, stirring up a swirl of maple leaves that put on a breathtaking show for the hikers—a scene once seen, never forgotten.
“Aiyun, we definitely made the right call coming here. The view is gorgeous.” Zhang Yaoyao’s face was barely able to contain her excitement as she turned to look at Lin Aiyun. But instead, her gaze met Gu Yuan’s. He quickly chimed in: “If you like it, I’ll bring you again next time.”
“You’re too busy. Forget it.” Given the special nature of Gu Yuan’s work, Zhang Yaoyao was usually very understanding and didn’t like to trouble him.
“I can make time for this.”
Zhang Yaoyao didn’t respond. She linked arms with Lin Aiyun and kept walking, leaving Gu Yuan behind. He scratched the back of his head and let out a helpless sigh. Damn it—he’d touched a nerve again.
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Do it too many times, and disappointment builds up, wearing down the relationship.”
This was Zhang Yaoyao’s original words—he had promised to heed them, but every time he couldn’t help himself from saying things, from making promises, because he wanted to see a smile bloom on her face. Yet more often than not, the result backfired.
“Men should talk less and do more.” Xiao Cheng passed by Gu Yuan, his tone carrying a hint of schadenfreude.
He could take being talked back to by his wife, but that didn’t mean he could tolerate it from others. Gu Yuan let out a cold laugh, his smile not reaching his eyes. “Mr. Xiao is so good at being a man, and yet he’s still keeping things from his own wife.”
Xiao Cheng’s pace gradually slowed until he finally stopped in his tracks. Fiery red maple leaves danced across his face in the wind, yet not a trace of color tinged his features.
He turned his head, fixing his gaze directly on Gu Yuan. After a moment, he suddenly laughed.
—
After they all made it to the top in succession, the group collapsed onto the ground. At this point, no one cared how dirty the ground was—they just plopped down, but every single one of them felt it was worth it.
“Come over here, this spot’s good for sitting.” Qin Shuang shoved her own husband aside as he tried to sit down next to her, then waved at Lin Aiyun and Zhang Yaoyao. Beside her was a large, flat stone that did indeed look very comfortable.
Lin Aiyun carefully sat down, one hand resting on her lower abdomen, then unscrewed the cap of her water bottle to drink.
Yang Xi had been looking at the sky, but her peripheral vision caught this movement. Half-jokingly, she blurted out: “Aiyun, why are you so cautious? You’re even holding your belly—did you eat too much just now?”
“Haha, I was about to say she might be pregnant.”
Qin Shuang, sitting casually with both hands propped on the big rock, waved her hand upon hearing this and came to Lin Aiyun’s defense: “She eats like a little cat—barely had a few bites.”
“Now that you mention it, I do think Aiyun’s been looking a bit pregnancy-like lately. Her face has even filled out quite a bit compared to when she first joined the association.” Both Yang Xi and Qin Shuang had been through it before, and they started chatting back and forth.
There were no outsiders around anyway, and since Lin Aiyun and Xiao Cheng were newlyweds, if she were pregnant, it would naturally be wonderful news. If not, that was fine too—there was plenty of time ahead.
So the two of them didn’t lower their voices, and the mountain echoed their words, making sure everyone could hear.
Listening to Yang Xi and Qin Shuang go back and forth with their guesses and evidence, Lin Aiyun’s heart skipped a beat. The more she listened, the more plausible it sounded. Her right hand unconsciously rested on her lower abdomen. Were she and Xiao Cheng really going to have a baby?
This realization made her heart pound wildly, like a drum thumping in her chest.
Just then, a pair of arms wrapped around her shoulders from behind. She turned her head and met Xiao Cheng’s dark, deep-set eyes. His lips were pressed into a thin line, and his long lashes cast a row of shadows across his face.
“We’re going down now.”
With that, he crouched down in front of her, his back taut—the faint outline of his muscles visible through the fabric of his jacket. The food and supplies they’d brought were hooked over his right arm, leaving faint red marks where they pressed against his skin.
“Huh?” Lin Aiyun was a bit slow to react. “We just got up here. Why go down now?”
“To the hospital.” Xiao Cheng’s voice was urgent, but his answer was dead serious. If one looked closely, they could see the veins standing out on his forehead and neck, and in his deep pupils, emotions barely held in check, threatening to spill over.
Lin Aiyun immediately understood what he meant. She quickly patted his shoulder and reassured him in a soft voice: “It’s not certain—no need to be in such a rush. Xiao Cheng, get up first.”
“It is necessary. If it’s true, and something happens to you today, what would I do? What would the baby do?” Xiao Cheng didn’t know much about pregnancy, but he did know that women carrying a child were physically more fragile than usual.
He thought of a friend’s wife who had lost her baby just from running a few extra steps, and his heart clenched with panic. And today, Lin Aiyun had climbed with them for so long, over rugged mountain paths—bumps and knocks were inevitable.
He didn’t even dare think about that “what if”…
“Xiao Cheng, I don’t feel any discomfort at all. Really! I wouldn’t joke about my own health.” Seeing him so agitated, Lin Aiyun emphasized again.
Qin Shuang and Yang Xi had both been startled by Xiao Cheng’s reaction. Now coming to their senses, realizing that their casual guesses based on mere clues had frightened this soon-to-be father, they quickly spoke up.
“It should be fine. When I was pregnant with my first, I was still working in the fields.”
“Right. If you’re really worried, we can head down now and get checked at the hospital.”
“It’s our fault—we can’t keep our mouths shut.”
Lin Aiyun took their hands and apologized: “I’m fine. Xiao Cheng is just overly worried about me and… I’m really sorry—we only just got up here and now we have to go down.”
“No big deal! We’ve already seen all the sights worth seeing along the way. No regrets. Come on, let’s head down now. Going with you to get checked out will put all our minds at ease.”
Zhang Yaoyao suddenly remembered something and hurried forward, pulling Gu Yuan along. “My husband may not be an obstetrician, but he is a doctor. How about we have him take a look first?”
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