Chapter 199: The Secret of the Grove? Moon-Gazing

Chapter 199: Chapter 199: The Secret of the Grove? Moon-Gazing

That evening, 7:30 PM.

After dinner, Gu Yifan took Su Qinghe for a walk by the lake on the Jinling University campus.

Along the way, Su Qinghe occasionally kicked at the small pebbles scattered on the sides of the path. It was clear she was in a good mood.

Before they knew it, the two had wandered to a small grove on the north side of the lake.

On the flagstone path outside the grove, under the faint yellow glow of the streetlights, they walked slowly, hand in hand. The periodic chirping of cicadas filled the air, mingled with the occasional cheer that erupted from the sports field across the lake whenever a goal was scored.

After walking for a while, Gu Yifan noticed tiny beads of sweat forming on Su Qinghe’s temples and knew she was getting a little tired.

It made sense. Jinling was still muggy in September, a fact made all too clear by the frantic, screeching cicadas in the trees.

Besides, Su Qinghe had been skipping and bouncing along the whole time; it would have been strange if she hadn’t broken a sweat.

Just then, Gu Yifan spotted a row of stone benches at the entrance to the small grove, so he led Su Qinghe over by the hand.

A few sycamore leaves were scattered sparsely on the stone bench. Gu Yifan brushed them away with a wave of his hand, and the two of them sat down.

Su Qinghe tilted her head and rested it gently on Gu Yifan’s shoulder.

She stared at the dim yellow streetlight, a little lost in thought.

An inexplicable emotion washed over her.

She didn’t know why.

She suddenly missed her high school campus, even though she had been very lonely back then, before she met Gu Yifan.

People are often like that. When you have something, you want to escape it, but later on, when you look back, you miss it dearly, for better or worse.

And the beautiful things we try so hard to remember are often the very things that slowly fade away in our efforts to hold on to them...

While Su Qinghe was lost in her thoughts, Gu Yifan turned to look at the pitch-black grove behind them, seemingly pondering something himself.

In fact, Gu Yifan had always had a question on his mind.

’Why does every university have a small grove like this?’

’And why does every single one of them have its own legends about trysts in the woods?’

Neither of them spoke, simply sitting there in silence.

After a long silence, Gu Yifan came back to his senses and noticed that Su Qinghe was also spacing out. She looked a little silly, sitting there so quiet and still.

A faint smile touched his lips, and he asked softly, "Su Hanhan, what are you thinking about?"

"Huh?"

Gu Yifan’s voice snapped Su Qinghe out of her daze. She looked at him and said softly, "N-nothing... I wasn’t thinking about anything..."

Gu Yifan could tell at a glance that this silly girl wasn’t telling the truth.

They had been together for so long that he knew her like the back of his hand. Gu Yifan could tell with a single glance whether she was being honest.

He knew she was a little homesick.

It made sense; they had been away from Mountain City for a while now.

’The Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day are coming up soon, and they’re back-to-back, so there’ll be a long break. We can go home then,’ he thought.

With that, he reached out, ruffled Su Qinghe’s hair, and said with a smile, "Hanhan, let’s go back for National Day."

"Hm?"

Su Qinghe froze for a moment, turning her head to look at Gu Yifan in surprise.

He somehow knew exactly what she was thinking.

"Mhm~"

Su Qinghe nodded and then said softly, "I miss Auntie a little... and her cooking."

"Er..." Gu Yifan’s eyes went wide.

Gu Yifan was taken aback for a second, then shook his head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "If my mom heard that, she’d probably be over the moon!"

"But are you really that eager to become a daughter-in-law of our Gu Family?" he added, looking at Su Qinghe with a half-smile.

"Huh?"

Su Qinghe was dumbfounded. ’Weren’t we just talking about missing Auntie and her cooking? How did it turn into... this?’

Her face flushed red, and for a moment, she didn’t know what to say.

Silence...

After a long moment, Su Qinghe suddenly spoke up softly, "I wonder what our old high school classmates are doing right now."

"Hm?"

Gu Yifan paused for a second.

"Them?"

"They’re probably just like us, getting used to a new environment on a university campus somewhere."

"Or maybe they’ve made new friends and are chatting and eating together."

"Or maybe they’re busy falling in love!"

"Hehehe..."

Gu Yifan said with a laugh after thinking for a moment.

"Oh, okay."

Su Qinghe nodded gently and said no more.

...

"SLAP, SLAP, SLAP..."

"SMOOCH, SMOOCH, SMOOCH..."

"SQUISH..."

"SQUISH..."

Just then, some strange sounds started coming from the small grove behind them.

The sounds were very rhythmic, like a percussion instrument or perhaps crickets chirping in the grass.

They weren’t very loud, but they were remarkably clear in the quiet night.

Su Qinghe glanced back strangely. The pitch-black entrance to the grove looked as if some terrifying creature could leap out at any moment.

Her body trembled slightly, and she subconsciously scooted closer to Gu Yifan. She was clearly a little scared.

Gu Yifan froze. Unlike Su Qinghe, he knew instantly what those sounds were.

"D-did you hear something?" Su Qinghe asked in a small, nervous voice.

"Uh..."

Gu Yifan was a bit awkward. Of course he’d heard it, and he knew what it was, but for a moment he had no idea how to explain it.

"Maybe... we should go?" Su Qinghe said, suddenly hugging Gu Yifan’s arm tightly, her voice trembling with fear.

Seeing her reaction, Gu Yifan nodded. "Yeah... let’s go."

With that, they both prepared to get up and leave.

Just as they did, a couple with disheveled clothes suddenly emerged from the small grove, straightening their outfits as they walked.

The guy had a satisfied smile on his face, while the girl’s cheeks were flushed. She was muttering some complaint as they walked.

It sounded like she was saying something about there being too many mosquitoes in the grove and that she was covered in bites.

They were a bit too far away for Gu Yifan and Su Qinghe to hear clearly.

Suddenly, the couple looked up, and their eyes locked with Gu Yifan and Su Qinghe, who were just getting up from the bench.

Both parties were startled!

"..."

The atmosphere suddenly became a little strange and very awkward.

The guy who came out of the grove looked sheepish, while the girl, completely embarrassed, quickly lowered her head.

"Hey~"

"Fancy seeing you two here!"

"You guys out here moon-gazing, too?"

"Hehehe..." ℯℯ𝑙.

The guy said, forcing an extremely unnatural, awkward laugh.

Gu Yifan: "..."

Su Qinghe: "..."

They both glanced up at the sky at the same time. It was pitch black; what damn moon was there to see?!

"Hehehe..."

Seeing their reaction, the guy laughed awkwardly again.

"I mean..."

He seemed to want to say more, but the girl beside him tugged on his arm and hurriedly dragged him away...