He got out of the car first and went to stand by the passenger side door to wait for Zhong Ruanxing to put on all her warm gear before opening the door for her.
Zhong You had fallen asleep on the drive up the mountain since he had stayed up late last night but had to get up early this morning. He was still fast asleep now. Song JinXing gently closed the door after she got out, the window rolled down, and said in a low voice, "Let him sleep first. I'll wake him after the tent is set up."
He'd said they were going camping and sure enough, the preparations were extremely thorough.
The car was parked facing inwards, trunk out. When he opened the trunk, Zhong Ruanxing was shocked by the tightly packed camping gear. SUVs had a lot of space to begin with but now the trunk was filled layer after layer, packed in tightly with no gaps, and at first glance it looked like he was moving house.
Perhaps because the canopy set up in advance blocked the wind, Zhong Ruanxing didn't feel very cold. Song JinXing first took a folding chair out of the trunk, set it up, and had her sit before stuffing a warm hot water bottle into her arms.
Zhong Ruanxing sat in the comfortable camping chair hugging the hot water bottle, quite cozy. "Don't you need my help?"
Song JinXing took the gear out piece by piece, "You can just sit there and watch."
He worked very quickly and efficiently. The jumbled up bundles of gear were soon restored to their original forms in his hands.
The tent was put up first. Zhong Ruanxing had gone camping with Zhong You in the park before but they used pop-up tents. She'd never tried setting up a tent manually like the one Song JinXing had.
But he looked very experienced, hammering in stakes and tying windproof ropes. The spacious tent was first lined with a waterproof mat, then an inflatable air mattress, camping lights were hung up, and it instantly had that camping vibe.
Zhong Ruanxing curiously walked over to where he was tying the windproof ropes: "How do you tie these? Some kind of professional technique?"
Song JinXing lightly pulled on the dangling rope and the tied windproof rope immediately came undone. "Let me show you."
He tied it slowly step-by-step for her to see. "Got it?"
Zhong Ruanxing obediently admitted, "Nope."
He laughed softly. "Here, try it yourself."
Zhong Ruanxing took the rope and slowly tried tying it like he said. When she was about to thread the rope to the left, he raised his hand to stop her. Their skin brushed briefly then separated again. "Thread it through here."
She tried twice before successfully tying it and happily looked up, "I've got it!"
Not noticing how close Song JinXing was standing to teach her, even leaning over, when she raised her head she bumped his chin.
His chin was as hard as the rest of him. Even through her hat, it still hurt and Zhong Ruanxing let out a hiss. Seeing him actually laugh, she glared and ran back to her seat, cradling her head.
After that, Song JinXing kept smiling.
More and more gear filled the space under the canopy until he brought out two camping generators and connected a small heater for her. Zhong Ruanxing finally conceded, "Do you have Doraemon's Anywhere Door back there?"
Song JinXing quirked a brow, smiling. "Not cold anymore?"
With the hot water bottle and heater plus the vigorously burning barbecue grill with hot coals, she'd have to be exaggerating to still feel cold!
To prove she wasn't exaggerating, Zhong Ruanxing decisively took off her scarf and gloves and walked over. She saw the cooler neatly lined with skewered barbecue.
Zhong Ruanxing had imagined watching snow and eating barbecue meant sitting in a restaurant shoving meat on sticks while looking at the street.
What Song JinXing had prepared to surprise her was driving up a snowy mountain fully equipped to camp and barbecue.
Whether it was the vigorous coal fire or the heater, her ears were flushed red. She said softly, "This is too much trouble."
Song JinXing was placing beef skewers on the grill. Hearing this, he glanced up, "Do you like it?"
How could she not like it?
She really loved the wonderful feeling of being in pristine nature, snow falling silently, a haven of warmth and safety in this world.
Zhong Ruanxing looked down at the grill searing the beef, sizzling and spitting oil. "I like it a lot."
Song JinXing smiled slightly. "Then it's no trouble if you like it."
Zhong Ruanxing abruptly turned to walk to the car, "I'll go get Youyou up!"
He tilted his head to watch her rather flustered back, eyes curving with deeper amusement.
Zhong You was sleeping with his mouth open, dead to the world. When his sister carried him out with hat and scarf on, he was still dazed. Seeing the snowy scene outside instantly revived him.
Jumping down from his sister's arms, he immediately ran out to the snow and jumped around, yelling excitedly, "So much snow!"
See, this is what happens when you don't read enough. Even when seeing such beautiful scenery, all he could say was "So much snow!"
Three chairs were set before the barbecue grill, drinks of various flavors on the table beside them. The barbecue aroma was even thicker in the cold air. Zhong You hugged his yogurt drink and shouted, "I want extra cumin!"
Song JinXing obediently shook more cumin powder onto it. Zhong You happily took it and ate with oil smeared all over his little mouth.
The coal let out crisp crackling sparks from time to time. Warm yellow camping lanterns glowed behind them while snow floated down the mountainscape before them. Zhong Ruanxing drank some cola and decided life didn't get more enjoyable than this.
After eating their fill, Song JinXing quickly cleaned up, turning off the heater but leaving the grill lit to provide warmth for their little haven.
Zhong You rushed out fully bundled up, "Gonna build a snowman!"
Snow fell unhurriedly but steadily on the mountaintop and the accumulation on the ground was already quite thick. Tiny Zhong You dove right into the snow and his laughter rang out all around.
Song JinXing came out last, somehow holding snow shoveling tools and a sled plus a little clamp to pick up snow ducks. Zhong Ruanxing instantly fell in love.
While Zhong You busily piled up his snowman, she happily squatted picking up snow ducks, lining up dozens of the cute little things passing through the snow.
She turned back beaming, showing off her work, "Song JinXing, look!"
He was standing a few meters behind her. Without her noticing, he had picked up an instant camera and pressed the shutter right as she turned.
Zhong Ruanxing pretended to be angry, "You took a sneak shot!"
The instant photo quickly developed. He fanned it and saw the pure white snowscape with her as the only vivid splash of color.
Zhong Ruanxing rushed over to grab the photo from his hand.
Song JinXing swiftly raised his arm high, watching her jump fruitlessly unable to reach, unable to hold back a low laugh.
Zhong Ruanxing was miffed, "Give it back!"
Song JinXing leisurely and smugly put the photo into his inner coat near his chest. "It's my photo, how can I 'give it back'?"
For the first time, Zhong Ruanxing realized this guy was pretty shameless. She immediately hollered angrily and indignantly, grabbing a snowball and smashing it at him.
Song JinXing didn't dodge either, just standing there laughing as the snowball hit him. He quirked a brow, looking intrigued, "Want to have a snowball fight?"
