Our Entire Family Has Secrets [Transmigrated] - Chapter 12
As the saying goes, it’s easier to climb up the mountain than to come down.
Especially at night, the mountain roads are rugged and winding, fraught with danger.
Even though Xuantian Mountain isn’t very high, it takes at least three hours to walk from the peak to the foot of the mountain.
Setting out from now, they’d have to walk until dawn.
Under normal circumstances, Yuan Bozhu wouldn’t descend the mountain at night.
He usually comes and goes without touching the ground, flying up and down the mountain. If he needs to descend, he could fly back in less than ten minutes.
But now, there’s Lin Shuanghuai beside him.
If Lin Shuanghuai hadn’t shown up initially, he could have left in any way he wanted. But now that Lin Shuanghuai is here, he can only accompany him down the mountain obediently.
Yuan Bozhu wasn’t exactly unhappy.
After all, Lin Shuanghuai didn’t know he was coming here today; everything was just an unexpected coincidence. Since he rescued Lin Shuanghuai, they hardly communicated.
When he said they needed to go down the mountain, Lin Shuanghuai just nodded obediently.
They walked in silence the whole way.
Yuan Bozhu could sense Lin Shuanghuai’s nervousness.
Perhaps he’s afraid of being questioned.
Because Yuan Bozhu saved him from jumping off the cliff, he doesn’t know how to explain the situation.
Why did he run to the undeveloped mountaintop at three in the morning? Why did he walk toward the cliff in the gusty mountain wind? What’s with the injuries on his face? Why was he drunk last night? Does he have some troubles?
Lin Shuanghuai, thinking like an ordinary person, must assume that Yuan Bozhu would have such curiosity and doubts. But Yuan Bozhu always wraps himself tightly and refuses to explain anything.
So he’s nervous.
Lin Shuanghuai is afraid that Yuan Bozhu will ask. But in fact, Yuan Bozhu is also afraid that Lin Shuanghuai will ask.
Just a simple question, “Classmate, why are you here?”
Yuan Bozhu can’t answer either.
The best way for two people with secrets to get along is to maintain silence, neither speaking nor inquiring.
After walking down the mountain for a while, Lin Shuanghuai’s nervousness slightly diminished.
But because they entered the depths of the forest, the moonlight was blocked. Lin Shuanghuai almost fell twice because he couldn’t see the path clearly, and three times he stumbled over rocks, nearly falling. Once, he even ran into a tree directly.
When Lin Shuanghuai was about to bump into a tree for the second time, Yuan Bozhu raised his hand, hesitating between pulling his clothes or holding his hand.
In the end, he did neither.
He pressed his back against the tree trunk, his palm blocking Lin Shuanghuai’s forehead.
When Lin Shuanghuai hit his warm palm, he immediately stepped back two steps, saying apologetically, “Sorry, did I hit you?”
His apology was directed towards the tree.
Yuan Bozhu then understood that Lin Shuanghuai seemed to have poor night vision.
He took out his phone and silently turned on the flashlight.
Sure enough, Lin Shuanghuai breathed a sigh of relief and whispered, “Thank you, my… my phone’s out of battery.”
Because he was too impulsive when he climbed the mountain, he didn’t prepare anything and his phone’s battery ran out shortly after they reached the mountaintop.
Lin Shuanghuai rarely did things that held others back, so he felt a bit embarrassed.
Yuan Bozhu just made a sound of acknowledgment without saying anything else.
The two continued walking.
After a while, Yuan Bozhu felt that Lin Shuanghuai was slowly fading from his sight.
He stopped and looked back at Lin Shuanghuai.
As soon as Lin Shuanghuai saw him stop, he immediately jogged a few steps to catch up, wiping the sweat off his forehead and panting, “Classmate… you have really good stamina.”
Yuan Bozhu remembered that they had been walking without rest for an hour.
He frowned slightly, his expression turning a bit serious.
Lin Shuanghuai thought he might be upset, thinking he was causing trouble, so he quickly said, “Or… you can go ahead? It’s okay for me. I originally planned to stay on the mountain tonight…”
Yuan Bozhu wasn’t actually mad at Lin Shuanghuai.
He just slowly realized something —
He was too eager to get rid of Lin Shuanghuai, so he seemed a bit impatient. Not only did he walk fast, but he also had a cold expression the whole time.
In fact, Yuan Bozhu shouldn’t blame Lin Shuanghuai because their encounter wasn’t planned by Lin Shuanghuai.
In the end, Yuan Bozhu was just feeling restless due to encountering Lin Shuanghuai too many times in two days, disrupting his usual rhythm of life.
He was displacing his anger onto Lin Shuanghuai.
Which wasn’t good.
“Let’s take a break.”
Yuan Bozhu glanced around, found a relatively flat spot, and said to Lin Shuanghuai, “Go there.”
Lin Shuanghuai pursed his lips, glanced at Yuan Bozhu’s expression, unable to tell if he was angry or not, so he just nodded, “Okay.”
Finally having a chance to catch his breath, Lin Shuanghuai immediately sat down and massaged his sore legs.
Seeing him looking relieved, Yuan Bozhu suddenly doubted himself. Maybe he shouldn’t have brought Lin Shuanghuai down the mountain at this hour.
In fact, under normal circumstances, it really wasn’t wise to walk at night.
But just now on the mountaintop, Yuan Bozhu had quickly weighed the options between “staying on the mountain with Lin Shuanghuai overnight and walking down the mountain for a few more hours during the day” and “walking down the mountain with Lin Shuanghuai at night.”
Obviously, the latter was simpler.
Yuan Bozhu was always good at simplifying complicated matters.
And Lin Shuanghuai didn’t refuse either.
His thoughts were easier to understand; he was afraid that Yuan Bozhu would ask him questions.
It’s a good thing to part ways early. Lin Shuanghuai followed Yuan Bozhu down the mountain.
But people’s physical strength is different after all.
Yuan Bozhu can walk the mountain road for three hours without panting, but Lin Shuanghuai may not.
After resting for ten minutes, Yuan Bozhu glanced at his phone and saw that it was nearly four o’clock.
Lin Shuanghuai sensitively caught his gesture and promptly stood up, patting the dirt off his butt, saying,
“Classmate, I’m rested now, let’s go.”
Yuan Bozhu looked at him, seemingly assessing the sincerity of Lin Shuanghuai’s words.
But Lin Shuanghuai smiled relaxedly, “I can do it.”
It’s natural to descend the mountain in one go. Yuan Bozhu nodded and continued walking with Lin Shuanghuai.
The rest of the way would be easier; the lower half of the mountain road had been specially repaired and was much flatter.
Seeing victory ahead, Lin Shuanghuai became slightly less nervous.
He realized that Yuan Bozhu might not have as much curiosity as ordinary classmates.
Once Lin Shuanghuai relaxed, he started talking actively, “I thought we might encounter large wild animals in this kind of mountain forest. I was quite nervous at first, but it turns out we haven’t seen any animals along the way. We’re really lucky.”
Yuan Bozhu lowered his gaze, thinking: Of course, we won’t encounter wild animals.
The wilder the animals, the more instinctual they are; they would stay far away when they see Yuan Bozhu.
But he couldn’t bring this up for discussion, so Yuan Bozhu just gave a faint acknowledgment.
Lin Shuanghuai rubbed his nose, not surprised by his indifferent response, and said, “You seem to not like to talk much.”
“It’s okay.”
“I’m the kind of person who’s afraid of awkward silence, so I always like to keep the conversation going.”
Yuan Bozhu didn’t know how to respond and remained silent.
Lin Shuanghui continued, “I noticed your phone battery is only five percent, maybe you should turn it off for a while. You’ll need it to call a cab when we get down.”
“Okay.” Yuan Bozhu took the phone and saw that it was indeed out of battery.
He activated power-saving mode and turned off the flashlight.
Lin Shuanghuai wanted to laugh a little.
He thought Yuan Bozhu was the kind of straightforward and simple straight guy, single-minded, saying whatever comes to mind without much circumlocution.
But he didn’t dislike this type of person. In fact, being with Yuan Bozhu, Lin Shuanghuai felt relaxed, not needing to maintain a perfect state like at school all the time.
Even if he embarrassed himself, it didn’t matter because Yuan Bozhu didn’t care about him, so he wouldn’t mock him.
But still, the other party wasn’t considerate at all.
Yuan Bozhu probably couldn’t imagine that after turning off the flashlight, Lin Shuanghuai would become blind. He didn’t even offer a perfunctory word of concern; he just turned it off directly.
Without the flashlight, Lin Shuanghuai’s vision was plunged into darkness. Although he could still see to some extent, in densely wooded areas, he couldn’t find any light.
Now, he could only rely on the dim moonlight to vaguely discern Yuan Bozhu’s figure and carefully follow behind him.
Lin Shuanghuai was thinking about how to complete the next hour of the journey when he suddenly bumped into something in his chest.
“Ouch.”
Lin Shuanghuai thought it was a tree branch and reached up to feel it, only to discover it was Yuan Bozhu’s hand. He quickly let go, “Ah… sorry!”
“Hold on.” Yuan Bozhu didn’t say much, just extended his hand again, “It’s difficult to walk ahead.”
He treated his hand as Lin Shuanghuai’s guide stick, not considering hand-holding as any intimate act.
But Lin Shuanghuai’s ears blushed in the darkness.
He cautiously held Yuan Bozhu’s hand and was led forward by him, walking on the path Yuan Bozhu had trodden.
Every step afterward felt safe, and he didn’t bump into anything again.
Lin Shuanghuai discreetly tightened his grip a bit and inexplicably started to think: His palm is much larger than mine, his fingers are long, and his joints are sharp.
After a few minutes of silence, Lin Shuanghuai suddenly said, “Thank you.”
Yuan Bozhu, who was ordering a cab, turned his head to look at him strangely, “No need.”
Lin Shuanghuai had many opportunities to say thank you. He should have thanked himself at the café earlier.
And just now, Yuan Bozhu could have been thanked for saving him from the cliff.
But what did it mean to say thank you now?
Did it seem too awkward, trying to find something to say again?
Yuan Bozhu noticed Lin Shuanghuai’s palm was somewhat sweaty.
He didn’t know what Lin Shuanghuai was nervous about, making his palms cold and sweaty.
Was it fear of wild animals? Or fear of the dark?
Not knowing the reason, Yuan Bozhu didn’t say anything appropriate to comfort him, and the two continued walking for a while.
They rested twice along the way.
Although Lin Shuanghuai’s physical strength was not as good as Yuan Bozhu’s, compared to ordinary people, he was still fine. He didn’t feel tired after more than three hours of downhill trekking. Each time, it was Yuan Bozhu who noticed that Lin Shuanghuai was falling behind a bit and stopped in time.
At sunrise, they finally emerged from the forest.
Yuan Bozhu took out his phone to call a cab and let go of Lin Shuanghuai.
With the light gradually rising, Lin Shuanghuai could see his surroundings now. From a side glance, he suddenly noticed something.
“You… didn’t wear glasses today?”
Yuan Bozhu’s hand, about to order a cab, paused.
“I remember you didn’t wear them last night either, but I was drunk… oh, forget it, haha,” Lin Shuanghuai awkwardly ended the topic himself.
The atmosphere turned silent; although Yuan Bozhu appeared calm on the surface, he subtly turned his body away.
Perhaps it was because the downhill journey was too hasty; Lin Shuanghuai was sweating all over, and now standing still, he suddenly felt the overwhelming cold.
Yuan Bozhu was about to send the cab order with the last one percent of his battery when he heard a suppressed sneeze from behind.
Yuan Bozhu turned around and saw Lin Shuanghuai’s red nose, awkwardly covering his face with his hand, “Hey, it’s my first time going up the mountain at night. I thought wearing just a jacket would be enough, but it’s actually quite cold.”
In fact, it was because when he left home, his mind was in a mess, just wanting to feel the breeze, without thinking much.
Yuan Bozhu looked away, saying, “The cab’s here.”
It wasn’t easy to catch a cab here; it would take at least ten minutes for a driver to come over.
“Hmm, that’s good,” Lin Shuanghuai nodded, saying, “Then I’ll go first. Thanks for today.”
Yuan Bozhu looked at him puzzledly, “Where are you going?”
“Home… I guess?”
Lin Shuanghuai lost his confidence as Yuan Bozhu asked, his mind blanking out, “Or, do you want me to accompany you?”
Yuan Bozhu looked at him wordlessly for a moment before saying, “I’ll accompany you first.”
Lin Shuanghui realized that Yuan Bozhu’s cab could accommodate two people.
He couldn’t help feeling a bit surprised and flattered.
It seemed like Yuan Bozhu, despite being distant, still had some manners.
“Thank you… ah-choo!” This sneeze was a bit loud, and Lin Shuanghuai felt embarrassed.
Yuan Bozhu saw him subtly turn his face away, his ears tinged with a faint red.
It seemed really cold. Yuan Bozhu took off his jacket and handed it to him, “Do you want it?”
Originally, Yuan Bozhu would have refused to do this.
It would have brought their relationship closer.
It would have seemed like he cared about Lin Shuanghuai, afraid he would catch a cold.
But in fact, Yuan Bozhu was just acting out of basic courtesy.
Because he wasn’t cold himself; wearing the jacket was just in case he sweated tonight and wanted to take off his shirt later.
But now that plan was ruined since he had left the knife on the mountaintop, and he hadn’t sweated at all.
The only purpose of the jacket seemed to be to keep Lin Shuanghuai warm.
Lin Shuanghuai’s expression as he received the jacket could only be described as dumbfounded.
“It’s okay, I’m not that cold… ah-choo!”
Before Lin Shuanghuai could finish refusing, he sneezed again.
Yuan Bozhu looked at him, “Put it on.”
“…Okay.”
Lin Shuanghuai gritted his teeth and decisively took Yuan Bozhu’s jacket.
Since his face was already lost, he didn’t care anymore.
He fiercely put it on, zipping it up all the way.
Yuan Bozhu’s jacket was clean, without the youthful scent of sweat that most boys had, but it also didn’t have any special fragrance, clean to the point where even the detergent seemed colorless and odorless.
Like him, low-key, quiet, silent.
When other people were flaunting themselves at the same age, he didn’t have much to show off.
But getting closer, one would find that he had a kind of purity that was hidden.
It made people feel very reassured.
There was still the warmth of Yuan Bozhu’s body temperature in the clothes, and Lin Shuanghuai quickly warmed up.
The only downside was that the size was too large, and the sleeves hung too long. It made him look like he was wearing adult clothes.
The car arrived, and the two got in. Yuan Bozhu asked the driver to take Lin Shuanghuai home first.
The driver asked, “Young man, where is your home?”
Lin Shuanghuai opened his mouth but couldn’t say anything for a while.
He was thinking about where he should go.
His luggage was still in the villa before, but going back now would make him physically nauseous.
After thinking for a while, Lin Shuanghuai casually gave a place name. There were many hotels nearby where he could rest for a while and look for a house during the day.
When they arrived, he thanked Yuan Bozhu.
He originally wanted to take out cash to pay, but Yuan Bozhu stopped him.
Lin Shuanghuai had to thank him again and then opened the car door to get off.
“Wait.” Yuan Bozhu grabbed him.
Lin Shuanghuai’s heart suddenly jumped, turned to look at him, subconsciously swallowed and asked nervously, “What’s wrong?”
Perhaps it was because Yuan Bozhu gave him the feeling of being distant and difficult to approach. So when Yuan Bozhu took the initiative to stop him, Lin Shuanghuai inexplicably expected him to say something.
“The clothes,”
Yuan Bozhu reminded.
“…Oh, no, sorry, I forgot.” Lin Shuanghuai buried his head, hiding his blushing face, took off his clothes and gave them to Yuan Bozhu, “Thank you today.”
He got out of the car, without looking back, and ran off.
The author has something to say:
Yuan Bozhu: If I don’t take the clothes back now, he’ll come looking for me on Monday to return them. Social interactions must be stopped in the cradle.
Shuanghuai: I hate that you’re such a blockhead.