Chapter 935: Extra 8 – Camping 1

Chapter 935: Chapter 934: Extra 8 – Camping 1

The old year has been swept into the past by the torrent of time, and the new day is illuminated with the arrival of the dawn.

At the end of December, Cheng Zhirang, who had been resting at home for several months, started reading scripts again.

Recently, he occasionally has a few promotional events to support the movie he shot last year for the New Year’s release.

Once he’s done with his work and confirms he has no immediate commitments, he took Mu Qiu on a trip.

He had long wanted to travel, remembering his promise to her, he also wanted to gradually visit some famous domestic spots before going on a global tour abroad, since his film for the year was completed and he had plenty of time.

However, Mu Qiu doesn’t like to wander outside for long durations and intervals, as she can’t abandon her writing career, so she divided the travel plan into several scattered parts.

The only plan she has recently is—camping to watch the sunrise.

Perhaps the sunrises and sunsets she’s seen a few times were very meaningful; she’s now very delighted and enthusiastic about watching the sunrise.

She bought an anti-cold tent, sleeping bags, and various thick warm clothes, hats, sunglasses, scarves, gloves early on and received deliveries daily.

The day before departure, she was still torn about whether to bring sneakers, snow boots, long boots, or all three pairs.

Seeing her joy in unpacking deliveries every day, Cheng Zhirang held back from saying, “Climbing a mountain is tiring, you can’t possibly carry them all up there.”

He didn’t buy much, just essentials like binoculars, a camera, altitude sickness medication, and some snacks and water to replenish energy.

Mu Qiu wasn’t very interested in the snacks he prepared and excitedly bought a few boxes of self-heating hotpot, struggling to compress her already full backpack.

When it was time to depart, Mu Qiu prepared two backpacks. One was filled with things she deemed necessary, and the other with items she’d love to bring but could do without, while Cheng Zhirang had a huge military backpack, holding the tent and sleeping bags, with the binoculars and camera hanging directly on him.

She didn’t plan to ask him for help with that bag, intending to climb the mountain at her own pace for a sense of achievement, only asking for help if absolutely necessary.

Once they were all set, they set off in high spirits. Cheng Zhirang, influenced by her excitement, had a great mood too, smiling broadly while driving.

They drove to the foot of the mountain, skipped the scenic route, and directly hiked up, reaching the summit early.

Cheng Zhirang picked a good spot to pitch the tent while Mu Qiu, wearing sunglasses, admired the snow on the summit.

The withered grass by the roadside was thickly covered with snow because it was the afternoon, showing slight melting signs, wetting the grass, which would turn into icicles by evening.

It was indeed very cold at the top, with thin oxygen levels. She had to rely on taking breaths from an oxygen tank every few steps for the last part of the climb, while Cheng Zhirang conveniently placed altitude sickness medicine in the side pocket of the backpack for her to access easily.

However, insisting on climbing up filled her with a strong sense of accomplishment.

“Cheng… Brother.”

Many astronomy enthusiasts were already up here; she swallowed the name Brother Cheng and directly called him Brother instead.

Fully armed while pitching the tent, Cheng Zhirang turned to look at her—luckily, it was winter, and most people up there wore complete ensembles of hats, sunglasses, masks, and scarves, so he didn’t look out of place.

“What’s up?”

“I’m going a bit further to take a look, just letting you know.”

He nodded: “Alright, be careful. Take the camera with you, you can take some pictures.”

The clothes they wore were very thick and warm, made of a windproof material, with snowwater barely penetrating it.

Though a bit cumbersome.

Wearing snow boots, Mu Qiu happily scampered forward, where some who just climbed up and others staying for a day or two were taking photos with cameras.

Distant mountains overlapped, stretching endlessly.

You could see from this spot the peaks overlapping with peaks, snow caps overlaying snow caps, and frost-snow-bent trees like unique paints layered on the mountains.

The sea of clouds resembled a flowing layer of cotton, shrouding the peaks, while the westward-sloping sun tinted both the cloud sea and snow tops in warm hues.

Seeing such a scene, one feels utterly broadened. Like a frog released to jump across a vast plain, from confinement in a small space, such visual and emotional liberation is indescribable.

It’s as if all the difficulties encountered are no longer insurmountable chasms, and unhappiness encountered is no longer intolerable contradictions.

Mu Qiu clutched her chest and took big breaths, thinking scenes of fantasy novels ought to be set in such places.

Flying over mountains on swords—it must be tales set in such places.

After watching for a while, she also imitated the others, quietly holding up the camera, snapping shots at the distance.

However, she didn’t stay long before heading back, snapping a few more shots of grasses bent by the snow along the way.

When Cheng Zhirang was almost done with the tent and went to find her, he saw her sitting cross-legged on the ground, bending over to shoot two stalks of wolf’s tail grass fiercely, like a young bear cub pulling up radishes to eat.

The crucial thing was, she wore sunglasses.

The scene was a bit funny, Cheng Zhirang chuckled on the spot before walking over to poke her.

“Take the sunglasses off to take photos.”

“It’s fine with them on. Look, aren’t these two grasses interesting?”

“… What’s interesting?”

Mu Qiu glanced at him: “Vitality; such tenacious vitality. Plus, the white snow and green plants complement each other well. Have you finished with the tent?”

“Some parts need your help. Finish shooting and then head back.”

“No need,” she grabbed his pant leg to stand, “let’s go back and finish the tent first!”

Clearly, she was thrilled and excited, bouncing and hopping even while running in front.

He watched her from behind with a smile.

Working together, they pitched the tent very firmly, with mats and sleeping bags laid out inside, with their large backpacks in the corner.

Their coats could double as blankets, and with the specially brought lightweight down jackets, it probably wouldn’t be too cold at night.

Mu Qiu pulled out a box of self-heating hotpot from her bag, a tomato-flavored one, and worried it wouldn’t be enough, she even brought a bag of the big pancakes Li Yang had given her earlier.

After adding water to the bottom of the small hotpot, Mu Qiu and Cheng Zhirang squatted nearby, watching it steam, with the water inside bubbling, inhaling deeply, she said:

“This is the feeling; like catching fish and shrimp in the countryside as a kid, you have to watch things cook for it to feel like you’re involved. Smells so good~”

He didn’t quite understand why one would feel involved in “adding water to a self-heating hotpot,” but he still squatted beside her, watching the steam coming from the small hole.

When the little hole stopped steaming, she just wanted to reach out when Cheng Zhirang pulled her hand back: “Careful, it’s hot. I’ll do it. You go get the pancakes and disposable gloves.”

“Got it, Brother—”