Sweet slice-of-life love story: Wife, Let's love again
Chapter 183 - 180: Envy

Chapter 183: Chapter 180: Envy

After passing through the endless wheat fields, the car exited the highway, turning left and right on ordinary roads. All of a sudden, the light dimmed as they came upon a small road at the foot of the mountain. Tall trees covered the sky, blocking out the sun and leaving the air suddenly cool—a breeze with a hint of moisture blew in through the window.

The nearly two-hour drive had drained the passengers of their initial energy. Most were leaning back in their seats, quietly gazing out the windows or resting with their eyes closed.

The vehicle no longer glided as smoothly as it had on the highway and occasionally jolted. He Fang opened her sleepy eyes and rubbed them, looking outside at the unfamiliar scenery with some bewilderment, "Where are we?"

"We’re almost at Chou Mountain. Go back to sleep, I’ll wake you when we get there."

Qin Guanglin pulled her back to his shoulder, and He Fang leaned against him obediently, yet she didn’t close her eyes again. She yawned and stared out the window, absent-mindedly grasping his hand and gently caressing the knuckles of his fingers.

It wasn’t just Qin Guanglin who liked to play with her small hands; she also enjoyed fiddling with his. His hands were warm and strong, with clear-cut knuckles and long fingers that sometimes made her envious—especially of the place on his right middle finger. Her way of holding a pen for drawing varied, unlike hers, which was always the same for writing. No matter how often she soaked her hands in warm water, she couldn’t prevent calluses from forming.

This was unfair.

Feeling somewhat indignant, He Fang bit lightly on Qin Guanglin’s finger. Embarrassed by his puzzled look, she lowered her head and wiped the tiny droplets of saliva off his finger, whispering softly, "You need to cut your nails."

"So were you trying to bite them off just now?" Qin Guanglin asked, looking at his somewhat long nails.

"No, I just suddenly craved pig’s trotters."

"When we get back, I’ll buy you a freezer full. Whenever you want some, just stew one. Don’t gnaw on mine," Qin Guanglin said with a laugh, tilting slightly to retrieve a keychain from his pocket and handing it to her. It held an earpick and nail clippers, "You can help me cut them."

"Lazy to death."

With a hum, He Fang took the nail clippers, crossed her legs to create a stable surface, and pulled his hand onto her elevated knee to prevent shaking from the bumpy ride. She bowed her head and focused on trimming his nails.

Beautiful fingers naturally deserved a good trim. She found the sight of long nails uncomfortable.

After carefully filing the edges of the freshly cut nails, she massaged each finger to ensure there were no sharp edges. Only then did she return the keys back to Qin Guanglin. He gleefully attached the keys back to the keychain, inspected his fingers, and was so pleased that he wanted to reward her with a kiss, but considering the inside of the vehicle, he thought better of it. Instead, he nestled her closer to his shoulder and both turned their heads to take in the view outside.

Jiang Lingling was seated with Chen Rui on the opposite side of the two-seater, glancing over at them from time to time with an unmistakably sullen expression. Chen Rui noticed and asked softly with a smile, "Envious, huh?"

"Ah? No," Jiang Lingling murmured, denying it with her head down.

How could she not be envious? She was already regretting coming along. Watching the couple’s little gestures made her heart churn with more than just envy.

"You should find someone too, then show off in front of others sometime," Chen Rui said with a light laugh, turning his head to glance at Qin Guanglin and his partner once more. No wonder some people didn’t like going out alone, only willing to do so with their significant other in tow.

Now he understood somewhat; even if one were having the time of their life, without the other person, the fun just wasn’t the same.

"Boss, why don’t you find someone? Someone like you should have no trouble finding a girlfriend, right?" Jiang Lingling asked quietly after a brief silence.

"Who says I’m not looking?"

"Then why didn’t you bring her?"

"Isn’t this it?" Chen Rui patted the comic book on his lap.

"..."

Jiang Lingling opened her mouth, then looked up at Chen Rui again, seeing his serious expression, she ultimately remained silent and turned to look out the window at the scenery.

A bunch of lunatics.

The vehicle was driving through the woods, and whenever there were spots where the trees weren’t so dense, sunlight would suddenly stream in through the window, making the whole carriage light up, only to darken again. After countless repetitions of this, the car came to a steady stop beside a winding road leading uphill.

"We’ve reached our destination, everyone get off for a break, take a breath of fresh air, then we’ll head up the mountain."

Chen Rui stood up from the rear of the car and walked towards the front, raising his voice as he spoke.

The atmosphere inside the carriage came back to life as everyone stretched, whispering and laughing as they got up.

"We’re finally here, I’ve never been to this place, have you?" Qin Guanglin scanned the scenery through the window and asked He Fang.

He and He Fang didn’t rush to get up as everyone was making their way out of the car, forming a line in the middle of the road. Even if they stood up, they wouldn’t be able to exit, so they might as well continue sitting and wait for others to get off first.

"I’ve never been here, Chou Mountain, just hearing the name makes me think it’s ugly."

He Fang stuck his head out the window to take a look, enthusiastic, "I didn’t expect the environment to be quite nice. We’ve never been camping; we can have a good experience this time."

After discussing with the company staff, camping was the final decision for the trip, not opting for rural tourism. First, because rural tourism is at the foot of the mountain, and after having enough fun, there would be the trouble of climbing down and climbing back up the next day; it’s also not safe to climb up and down the mountain when it’s dark. Second, the sunrise on Chou Mountain is beautiful, and if they stayed at rural tourism, it would be hard to make it up to the top of the mountain in time to see it.

"Yeah, have fun for a couple of days, lest you mold at home."

Qin Guanglin saw that everyone had already gotten off the car, so he took down his bag from the luggage rack, put it on his back, and pulled He Fang up to head outside.

Chen Rui was hauling a bunch of large bags from the trunk of the car, which looked like tents, barbeque racks, and other picnic supplies, "Men take the heavy stuff, women take the light stuff... well, it’s not that heavy." He shook the heaviest package to get a feel for it, "Just take whatever, anyway, there are only two heavy ones. A few of us..." He spoke, signaling Qin Guanglin and Sun Wen, and another male colleague on the other side, "can just take turns carrying them up."

Tents and other supplies were initially planned to be brought by themselves, but later the company simply bought a whole set and reimbursed the expenses. Anyway, it wasn’t just for a one-time use; they could make use of it next time if needed, also avoiding the hassle of Qin Guanglin and others storing them at home after just one usage.

"Why take turns? I can lift it up myself." Sun Wen came over to try it, curled his lips, and took the task upon himself.

Turning his head to glance at his girlfriend, he paused, then chuckled, "I will take turns carrying it with Yueyue."

"Hey, you kid..." Chen Rui couldn’t help but laugh, "Then go ahead."

"Hahaha, then I’ll take the other one."

Qin Guanglin also came over to try, and it was okay, much lighter than Teacher He.

The taller ones in the company were him, Sun Wen, Chen Rui, and another male colleague. Taking turns was troublesome; better to take this one and let the others carry a bit more of the other things.

"I..."

Yu Le, full of energy, came over to try as well but struggled with the weight, and awkwardly stepped aside, "I’d better take something else."

"People are lightening their girlfriends’ loads, why are you joining the fuss?" Chen Rui laughed and waved his hand, "Come on, let’s divide up the stuff and get ready to climb the mountain."