Chapter 50 (1/2)

It was a Saturday. The sun was bright and the sky was cloudless. What a perfect day to sleep in!

Six o’clock in the morning.

“Yo~ Descendants of the mountains love the sun!…”

Cheng Nuo was woken up by the familiar ringtone. He struggled to pick up his phone on the table.

“Hello?” Cheng Nuo said. He was still feeling sleepy.

“Cheng Nuo, you lazy pig! Get up! The sun is… the sun is already out!” It was Xiaoxiao’s lively voice.

But it was still dark outside!

“Xiaoxiao, no, I mean, my dear elder sister[1]! Could you please let me sleep just for a little longer? This is the second time! The second time you’ve woken me up at 6 AM!” Cheng Nuo growled.

At that instant, Cheng Nuo had the urge to block Xiaoxiao’s number.

Xiaoxiao felt wronged. She sounded as if she was about to cry. “(sobbing)Cheng Nuo… do you hate me now?”

“No. Of course not!” Cheng Nuo changed his tone at once. He said amicably, “But could I trouble you not to call me so early again?”

Xiaoxiao replied, “I simply wanted to remind you that we are going mountain climbing today.”

Cheng Nuo was surprised. “I didn’t know you were going too!”

“I am,” Xiaoxiao said, nodding. “Not only me, Mu Leng agreed to go too. So, Cheng Nuo, do seize this wonderful opportunity!”

Cheng Nuo was speechless. “Sure, okay. Noted. I’ll get up now. See you later!”

After he hung up the call, Cheng Nuo went downstairs for a 30-minute morning exercise. This time, he didn’t run into his neighbor Cheng Nan.

They had agreed to meet at 10 AM. Hence, it would be fine so long as Cheng Nuo reached the foot of the mountain before the agreed time.

…

Luo Mountain sat in the south of Qing Cheng. It stood magnificently on the coast of the Yellow Sea with its peak reaching more than 1,100 meters, and it had earned itself the name of “the first mountain on the sea”. Luo Mountain had many branch ranges, and this time, Cheng Nuo’s class was going to conquer its summit, Giant Rock Peak.

At 10 AM, 13 students from class 18 gathered at the foot of the mountain. There were seven boys and six girls.

Since all of them were classmates, they were friends with one another. It was going to be a pleasant outing.

However, when they saw Cheng Nuo, they felt strange.

“Cheng Nuo, look at your outfit… Aren’t you overdoing it?” Qingqing couldn’t help but ask.

Cheng Nuo had a large mountaineering backpack and a pair of hiking boots. He seemed fully equipped in his hiking jacket, hiking pants, gloves, wristbands, and knee pads, as well as a pair of very fashionable sunglasses. He would have looked like a professional mountaineer if he had had an alpenstock.

“Haha, just in case,” Cheng Nuo said, scratching his head.

He didn’t have a choice!

In fact, it wasn’t his plan to dress like that. When he told his mom that he was going mountain climbing, Jiang Lan had forced him to wear his father’s full mountaineering build, despite Cheng Nuo’s strong objections.

There was indeed an alpenstock at home. After much persuasion that he would be fine without one, Jiang Lan had finally let go.

“Alright, then. Let’s go in,” Qingqing said after everyone had arrived. Then she led the group to the ticket kiosk.

A few years back, it was free to visit Luo Mountain. But after the government took over, all visitors had to be charged a certain amount of fees so as to tap into the tourism industry of the city, which had been contributing tens of billions of Yuan to the local economy every year.

If you wanted to climb mountains and admire the scenery of the first mountain on the sea, sure, only after you paid the entry fees!

Actually, there were other unofficial routes where tourists could enter the mountains free of charge, led by local villagers. We won’t go into much detail here.

As responsible, young citizens, Cheng Nuo and his friends would definitely not flout the rules. They paid the original price of 80 Yuan per person before they entered.

Needless to say, Cheng Nuo’s mountaineering suit had attracted much attention.