Quan Jiu felt a wave of dizziness, followed by a rush of blood to her head, creating a swollen sensation.
Angered and embarrassed, she threatened, "If you don't put me down, I'll make sure you know how to write the word 'regret'."
Chu Rong's lips curved into a smile, his right arm tightening around her bent knees.
Quan Jiu waited for a moment, and seeing no sign of him stopping, she gritted her teeth, gathered her strength in her waist and abdomen, and pushed herself up. She then grabbed Chu Rong's shoulders with both hands, shifted her weight, and the two of them spun around, rolling onto the ground.
Chu Rong hadn't expected her to know judo. As they fell, he instinctively used both hands to protect Quan Jiu.
"Bang~" a solid, muffled thud.
Quan Jiu landed on top of Chu Rong, her hands still gripping his shoulders as she tried to get up. But Chu Rong didn't let go; instead, he pressed down harder, pinning Quan Jiu so she couldn't move.
Quan Jiu's brows furrowed: He wasn't hurt, good.
She maneuvered her right leg under Chu Rong's left leg and hooked it firmly, attempting to immobilize his lower body.
"I didn't know you knew judo," Chu Rong chuckled, but then he flipped over, negating Quan Jiu's strength and pinning her beneath him.
Although there was a significant difference in strength between a man and a woman, Quan Jiu wasn't entirely defenseless. With a bit of technique, it was easy to find leverage. Thus, they went back and forth, practicing grappling.
Eventually, they rolled onto a slope, losing all control. They tumbled down together, stopping in a dense thicket, which finally ended their duel.
The slope wasn't steep and was quite smooth. Quan Jiu wasn't injured, but the prolonged wrestling had left her chest heaving and her breathing uneven.
Chu Rong still held her wrists, not too tight, not too loose. Despite his own panting, he clearly had excess energy, maintaining good control.
His eyes met Quan Jiu's with a burning intensity, a hint of ambiguity mixed with tenderness, making the surrounding temperature seem to rise.
Quan Jiu felt uncomfortable under his gaze and turned her head away, flustered and annoyed, gathering strength in her legs to break free.
But the person above her pressed down heavily, sealing her soft lips without warning. While she was stunned, his tongue boldly explored, roaming wantonly between her teeth.
The warm entanglement, the rising and falling breaths, accompanied by the pounding of their hearts like heavy drums, made Quan Jiu's mind go blank. She felt her entire body go limp and weak, momentarily forgetting to resist.
The familiar taste, the familiar touch, even after five years, the body's memory was still so vivid.
Lost in the moment, she suddenly felt a gust of cool air, and then she was pulled up.
Her head and body were covered in leaves and dead branches. Quan Jiu was furious, finally unable to help but curse, "You're a scoundrel."
Chu Rong smiled faintly, reached out, and gently, incredibly gently, brushed the leaves and debris off her. But his words were rather nonchalant, "I admit it."
Quan Jiu slapped his hand away and huffily started to walk up.
But Chu Rong grabbed her and said, "Let's go down. We're too high up from the marker point here."
Quan Jiu looked at him suspiciously, clearly not believing him.
Chu Rong unfolded the map and explained, "This map seems simple, but it's actually marked according to a proportional scale. There's a stone tablet at the foot of the mountain that states the highest altitude is two thousand one hundred meters. The mountain height on this map is exactly twenty-one centimeters."
He opened a mobile app and showed it to Quan Jiu, "Our current altitude is one thousand four hundred meters. According to the map, the closest marker point to us corresponds to an altitude of nine hundred meters, so we need to go down another five hundred meters."
Quan Jiu pouted, "I didn't ask you." But her feet instinctively started to move downwards.
"Yes, I wanted to show off how smart I am. You can think of it as a peacock displaying its feathers," Chu Rong said slowly.
Quan Jiu almost burst out laughing but managed to stifle it, not responding.
They walked down the slope, but after not long, it suddenly started to pour. The rain came down fiercely, as if a bucket of water had been dumped on them all at once.
"Why did it suddenly start pouring? The weather forecast didn't say it would rain," Quan Jiu quickly zipped up her windbreaker and tightened her hood, looking around for a place to shelter.
The mountain path was difficult to navigate in the downpour, and being in the woods made them vulnerable to lightning strikes, posing a great danger.
"We can shelter under those rocks over there," Chu Rong said, extending his hand to her.
Quan Jiu hesitated, but Chu Rong stepped forward, pulled her close, and shielded her with his body as they walked towards the large rocks.
Fortunately, the large rocks weren't far. They soon reached a small hollow where a massive protruding rock formed an overhang, providing shelter from the rain.
"In late autumn, it's common for it to rain in the mountains. These downpours come and go quickly."
Chu Rong took everything out of his backpack, laid out a sleeping bag on a relatively flat spot, and said to Quan Jiu, "Take off your clothes and get into the sleeping bag to stay warm."
Although the windbreaker was waterproof, it wasn't a raincoat. In such heavy rain, quite a bit of moisture had seeped through to her inner layers.
At a time like this, there was no room for pretense. Quan Jiu took off her damp outer jacket, revealing only a short-sleeved shirt underneath. A gust of wind made her shiver uncontrollably.
However, she didn't want to get into the sleeping bag and stubbornly refused, shaking her head, "No, I'm not cold."
"Take off your pants too."
Chu Rong turned around and began gathering dead branches and leaves, piling them in a corner.
"No, I'm not cold. This rain will stop soon," Quan Jiu continued to refuse.
"Even if the rain stops immediately, the mountain path will be impassable. We are at least two kilometers from the campsite, and the surroundings are all slopes, making it difficult to walk. Listen to me, take off your wet clothes and pants, and rest in the sleeping bag for a while."
He was right. The mountain path, soaked by the rain, was doubly slippery, and a moment's carelessness could send them rolling down the mountain.
Quan Jiu hesitated for a moment, then gritted her teeth and quickly took off her pants, then scrambled into the sleeping bag.
As Chu Rong turned back, he happened to see her hastily diving into the sleeping bag, a smile tugging at his lips. He picked up a dry towel and began to dry Quan Jiu's exposed hair.
Quan Jiu was now unable to move and could only let Chu Rong handle her hair. She closed her eyes, wanting to avoid the sight, and pretended to sleep.
After drying her hair, Chu Rong turned to start a fire. Since the dry branches and leaves hadn't been soaked by the rain, the fire quickly caught.
Quan Jiu felt a slight warmth and opened her eyes to see Chu Rong drying her clothes by the fire. Yet, he himself was only wearing a T-shirt, and the cuffs of his pants were still dripping water.
"Cold?" Chu Rong suddenly turned and asked.
Quan Jiu's eyes snapped shut. After a pause, she mumbled, "No."
"Sleep soundly. I've already informed the production team of our location. The other four pairs of guests have also found shelter nearby, not far from us."
Quan Jiu zipped the sleeping bag all the way up, enveloping herself completely, and said, "Mm," before falling asleep.