Xue Renqi, while eating lettuce wrapped pork, sighed, "The meat quality at this place is fresh. Although it's slightly more expensive than other barbecue restaurants, it's definitely a reasonable price."
Liu Chen, hearing this, also chewed carefully on the wrapped pork in his mouth. The perfect balance of fat and lean meat, with a single bite, the crispness of the lettuce counteracted the greasiness of the meat, and also the slight bitterness of the lettuce.
After swallowing, Liu Chen couldn't help but nod in agreement, "Indeed, it's delicious meat."
Better than any barbecue he had eaten in his twenty-eight years of life.
Thinking of the reward recipe for good quality starch sausages in his system, Liu Chen suppressed the urge, telling himself he had to wait at least two more months before revealing it.
After the barbecue meal, Xiong Wan was uncharacteristically quiet, not saying anything strange, which gave Liu Chen some peace.
University life thus began. The only odd thing was that Ren Mo kept finding time on weekends to visit Shui Mu University and ask Sang Ling out for photo shoots.
His stated reason was to help Sang Ling find locations to photograph, so he would have something to post on Weibo.
Meanwhile, Lai Jielun and Mi Zhuzhu, thanks to the skincare products Liu Chen had given them over the summer and the sunscreen he provided during military training, had not tanned at all by the end of military training. Their skin remained as smooth and delicate as a peeled egg.
As the saying goes, fair skin conceals many flaws. Coupled with the hardship of military training, Lai Jielun had slimmed down. Photos of him, candidly taken and posted on Weibo, had garnered him quite a few fans.
Due to Mi Zhuzhu's influence, among the five of them, only Liu Chen hadn't opened a Weibo account. However, some people, following Mi Zhuzhu's Weibo, discovered that she and Liu Chen were high school classmates. Their subsequent travels together to Sanya and Shanghai after graduation also drew a lot of envy.
By chance, although both of them were attractive at their respective universities, they were both implicitly understood to be in relationships.
Tang Shengnan had also found a part-time job that she felt was relatively relevant to her major, working at a cake shop near Shui Mu University. When things got busy, she sometimes even helped with making cakes.
Xiong Wan had also become more normal over the past half month. Ever since she saw the package Liu Chen's family had sent, she no longer boasted about her skincare products being from a certain brand, nor did she brag about her bags being from certain luxury brands.
Half a month passed quickly, and Liu Chen welcomed his first holiday in Beijing, the National Day.
As it was a seven-day long holiday, and they had only been at school for a little over a month, everyone was still immersed in the joy and excitement of university life. The entire class of the Food Science department, first year, decided against going home. They planned to have a class activity.
A collective mountain climbing trip to the Jiufeng National Forest Park!
Those with family members were welcome to bring their partners. Liu Chen thought for a moment and decided not to invite Mi Zhuzhu and Lai Jielun, as they also needed to foster relationships with their university classmates during the National Day holiday.
That was Liu Chen's intention, but the next day, when they arrived at the Jiufeng Forest Park parking lot by school bus, Liu Chen saw Mi Zhuzhu, Lai Jielun, and Ren Mo waiting there.
Then, glancing at the smile on Sang Ling's face, who had come with him, Liu Chen understood everything.
"Chen Chen!"
Because of the temperature drop, Liu Chen was wearing a white Dior hoodie today and a Nike backpack, containing some food for lunch. For climbing, he wore sports pants and hiking shoes. His long hair was tied up in a bun, peeking out from behind his baseball cap.
Under the brim of the baseball cap, only the lower half of his signature oval face was visible. But even a quick glance would make passersby think he was beautiful.
At this moment, seeing the beautiful person slightly raise their head and wave in response to the call, revealing their signature oval face, made those passersby who had only caught a fleeting glimpse unable to resist stopping.
"Mom, this big sister is so pretty!"
A child's innocent voice, around six years old, rang out, causing the faces of those who had stopped to admire the beauty to flush red. They took one last lingering look before leaving.
Mi Zhuzhu stood with Lai Jielun, wearing matching but different colored hoodies, and sports pants on their lower halves.
Liu Chen smiled at the two and asked, "You two?"
Mi Zhuzhu's face was flushed, and she stammered, "Ah, it's not like he wasn't persistent. I, I was just momentarily blinded by his good looks and made a mistake..."
Lai Jielun nodded affirmatively, "Yes, Zhuzhu is now taking responsibility for me."
Liu Chen let out a long "Oh," and then looked at Ren Mo and Sang Ling, who were standing together.
This time, Sang Ling took Ren Mo's hand, interlocking their fingers, and smiled at Liu Chen.
"Alright, alright, you guys can be lovey-dovey. Just watch me surpass both your couples today in the climb."
Considering the varying fitness levels of the classmates, they decided on a relatively simple route with the advice of their counselor and local students.
From the Thousand-Year Ancient Climbing Path, to Chaoyang Guanyin Stream, then to the Jiufeng Peak, and finally descending via Yunxiu Pavilion to the foot of the mountain.
Tang Shengnan, carrying her backpack, followed behind the class group and called out to Liu Chen, who was reminiscing with them, "Liu Chen! Let's go!"
"Coming!"
Beijing during the National Day, even in 2009, was crowded. Even this suburban national forest park had a considerable number of tourists.
The seventy-odd people, including the first-year students of the Food Science department and their respective family members, carved a path through the throng of climbers.
Liu Chen had initially worried if there might be any small wild animals in the national forest park, but seeing the bustling crowds around him, he felt relieved. Even if there were any wild animals usually, they probably wouldn't dare to show themselves with so many people around today.
Along the way, tourists who saw them climbing, upon hearing it was a Shui Mu University class activity, enthusiastically took photos and posed with them.
Decades later, this tourist, sitting on their sofa at home, would look at the photograph hanging behind the television and proudly brag to their spouse:
"See, I once took a picture with these still very young influential people!"
When Liu Chen and his classmates started climbing, it was just past eight in the morning. Now, after more than an hour of walking with their heads down, those with slightly less stamina began to slow their pace. Liu Chen, however, maintained a steady speed.
Until they reached their destination for the trip – Jiufeng Peak.
Standing on the summit and looking down, Liu Chen gazed at the vast expanse of green land and the distant city. He marveled at the prosperous landscape of his motherland. He couldn't help but spread his arms, inhale deeply the oxygen-rich air facing the magnificent mountains and rivers, and then exhale slowly.
As Liu Chen closed his eyes, feeling the world, a scream came from behind him. Almost by reflex, Liu Chen shifted his weight and moved towards a large rock on the side of Jiufeng.
Opening his eyes, Liu Chen looked at the spot where he had been standing. There was now a man with sunken eyes, holding a short knife.
He surmised that the man must have attacked him from behind with a knife, prompting someone to scream. But why? Why would someone want to kill him?
As Liu Chen pondered, the man with the short blade lunged towards Liu Chen's position again. At this moment, the Eight Brocades suddenly appeared in Liu Chen's mind.
Read a hundred times, and its meaning will be revealed. Strike a thousand times, and the boxing technique will naturally follow.
Lowering into a horse stance, he dodged the short blade with a sideways movement, grabbed the man's wrist, circled it, pulled inward, twisted his wrist, and forcefully pushed outward!
"Crack!"
A crisp sound of bone breaking came from the man's arm. Seizing the moment of dislocation, Liu Chen snatched the short blade from his hand.
At this point, the surrounding tourists also rushed forward, pressing the man's hands behind his back. Then, using some fishing line provided by one of the tourists, they wrapped it around the man's wrists a few times and tied a knot.
The classmates who had fallen behind, hearing something about a beautiful woman apprehending a knife-wielding thug, felt a sense of unease and hurried to catch up, finally reaching the rocks of Jiufeng.
Mi Zhuzhu, seeing the silver short blade in Liu Chen's hand, became so frightened that she rushed forward to check him all over. Confirming there were no wounds, she began to cry and pulled out her phone to call the police.
Liu Chen, holding the short blade, also felt a surge of fear. At the same time, he was deeply puzzled: why would this person target him?
Soon, the police officers who were maintaining order on the mountain arrived after hearing about the commotion with a knife.
Seeing the man pinned down by everyone with his hands tied behind his back, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The students from the Food Science department, after hearing what had happened and seeing the short blade in Liu Chen's hand, became even more frightened.
After unanimous discussion, they decided not to rest and immediately descend the mountain according to the original plan!
Liu Chen chose to accompany two police officers down the mountain to the police station to understand the situation, while Mi Zhuzhu, the other three, and Tang Shengnan chose to go together.
Xiong Wan followed everyone else back to school by car.
Arriving at the police station, after a long wait, Liu Chen finally received the explanation he wanted.
"This person has some mental issues. He always fantasized that a female celebrity was his girlfriend. Recently, the celebrity got married, and he felt cuckolded. Then, he saw photos of the celebrity climbing mountains posted on Weibo a few days ago, so he had been lurking on the mountain for the past few days.
Today, when he saw you climbing, because you looked very similar to that female celebrity, he delusionally mistook you for her and wanted to perish together. Classmate, your reaction was very fast. Fortunately, you reacted in time, otherwise, the consequences would have been unimaginable."
The female police officer said, patting Liu Chen's shoulder with emotion.
At the same time, the system sounded again:
'Host has completed a hidden mission and avoided a fatal outcome. Currently, you have received a blueprint for an excellent factory construction.'
Hearing the system's voice, Liu Chen finally felt truly relieved. Once relieved, an infinite sense of post-fear surged within him.
If he hadn't practiced diligently after drawing the Eight Brocades at the beginning of the year, he would never have been able to dodge the sneak attack of the short blade today...