Mainly Thanks to Qianyu's Great Grilling

"Yang Yang, are the skewers ready? We've finished everything!!"

Su Yang turned his head and smiled at the shouting Zhang Ziming: "They're done! Come get them!"

"Hehe, coming!"

Zhang Ziming grinned, picking up an empty plate from the table and running toward Su Yang.

"This batch is especially delicious. Your grilling skills have leveled up again—definitely worth praising."

Su Yang kept flipping the skewers on the grill and grinned: "It's mostly Qianyu's doing. I was just helping her out."

"Oh, really?" Zhang Ziming glanced at Meng Qianyu and gave her a thumbs-up.

"Nice work, Qianyu! I never expected someone who's been studying abroad for so long to master our local barbecue techniques so flawlessly!"

Meng Qianyu smiled brightly: "I used to grill for myself a lot overseas. I never really liked the food there anyway."

"Right? Nothing beats the flavors of our own country!"

"Enough chit-chat, hurry up and take these over," Su Yang interjected with a laugh.

"Got it! Move faster—we're waiting for you to drink with us."

"Alright."

Soon, Su Yang and Meng Qianyu grilled two more large plates of assorted skewers before finally joining the others at the table.

"Come on, come on! You two are the only ones missing."

"Yang, here." Liu Bo handed Su Yang a bottle of beer.

Su Yang took it and grinned: "How's the taste?"

Hearing this, everyone nodded in unison: "Amazing! Even better than the ones we had in Lucheng last time."

"Right? It's all thanks to Qianyu. I just assisted her a little."

After being praised twice by Su Yang, Meng Qianyu blushed slightly: "Stop complimenting me. You were the one controlling the seasoning and heat—otherwise, they wouldn’t have turned out this good."

"Alright, you two, stop being so modest and sit down already," Meng Wenzhou chuckled, shaking his head.

"Fine, let’s eat."

The eleven of them sat around the table. Since Su Yang and Meng Qianyu had arrived last, they simply took whatever seats were left, ending up next to each other.

Once seated, Su Yang had Pan Ning to his left, followed by Lu Yun, Tang Ziyun, Ye Wan, Shen Yixue, Zhang Ziming, Ji Bo, Liu Bo, Meng Wenzhou, and Meng Qianyu.

This arrangement placed Su Yang right between Meng Wenzhou’s two sisters.

But no one paid much attention to that. Instead, they all raised their bottles toward Su Yang and Meng Qianyu.

Meng Wenzhou spoke up: "Come on, let’s toast to Lao Su and Qianyu. Without them, we’d probably be starving out here in the wilderness tonight."

"Absolutely! Let’s all raise a glass to them."

"Too kind, too kind. It was a team effort—let’s all take a sip."

All eleven of them tilted their heads back and drank straight from the bottles. They’d forgotten to bring cups when they were in town, so this would have to do.

Over an hour later, everyone had eaten their fill and sprawled out on the grass to digest.

The night air in Qianye Mountain was much colder than in the city. Their campsite was nestled in a clearing at the mountain’s outer edge.

A chilly breeze swept through, making the nearby tents rustle loudly.

Suddenly, Tang Ziyun spoke up: "Does anyone else feel like this place is kinda... eerie?"

Lu Yun, sitting beside her, immediately sat up: "Don’t scare me like that!"

"I’m not trying to scare you! I’m just asking if anyone else feels it too."

Liu Bo also sat up and laughed: "We were actually talking about this earlier. I also think it’s way too quiet here."

Shen Yixue instinctively scooted closer to Zhang Ziming, glancing around nervously: "You guys weren’t saying anything before, but now that you mention it, I feel it too."

Pan Ning shook her head: "Can you all stop freaking yourselves out? People come here all the time. It’s just that we’re here on a weekday—on weekends, this place is packed. Plus, it’s a natural mountain area. Of course it’s quiet."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

"Clearly, none of you have spent much time in the countryside. Nights there are just like this, except..." Pan Ning trailed off, frowning.

"What? I grew up in the countryside," Lu Yun said, raising her hand.

"Wait, everyone, quiet for a second." Pan Ning gestured for silence.

The others exchanged confused glances, unsure what she was getting at.

Pan Ning stood up and walked toward the edge of the lit area.

"Where are you going?" Su Yang called out, standing as well.

Pan Ning waved him off. "It’s fine, I won’t go far."

She stopped about twenty meters away.

Su Yang quickly caught up to her. "What’s wrong?"

"Didn’t you notice? There’s no sound of crickets or insects."

"Huh?" Su Yang listened carefully, then realization dawned on him. "You’re right. That’s not normal. A place like this should be full of insect noises."

"Exactly. I’ve been to the countryside before—even though it’s quiet, you can always hear insects chirping. Even in the city, if you go to a slightly remote spot, you’ll hear them."

Su Yang nodded. He knew that well enough.

"Hold on, let me listen further." He walked deeper into the darkness alone.

"Don’t follow me," he said when Pan Ning moved to join him.

Back at the table, the others watched in confusion.

"What are they doing?" Ji Bo asked dumbfounded.

"No idea."

"Wait, is there actually something wrong with this place?"

"Tch! Don’t start that crap. We’re here to have fun—there’s nothing wrong," Liu Bo cut in.

......

Su Yang walked another twenty or thirty meters into the darkness before stopping.

Finally, he heard the faint, intermittent chirping of insects in the distance. The sound instantly reassured him that they were still in the real world.

He exhaled in relief. "Man, I thought something was off. Must’ve just been our spot earlier. As long as there’s sound, we’re good."

He turned back and rejoined Pan Ning, giving her a reassuring look.

"Don’t worry, I heard them. Probably just our singing drowning it out earlier."

"Good. Otherwise, it would’ve been way too creepy."

"Let’s head back."

"Mm."

The two returned to the lit area.

"What was that about, Yang?" Liu Bo stood up, puzzled.

Su Yang waved it off. "Nothing at all."

"Then why’d you two go off like that? Don’t scare me—I’m a coward," Ji Bo said, swallowing nervously.

"You’re a grown man. What’s there to be afraid of?"

"You don’t think there are, like, wolves or bears around here, do you?"

At the mention of wolves and bears, the girls tensed up—except for Ye Wan.

"Don't talk nonsense, what if you scare someone? You gonna take responsibility for that?" Meng Wenzhou yanked Ji Bo down to sit beside him.

Then, he turned to Lu Yun and the others, who looked slightly nervous, and said with a laugh, "Don’t listen to his wild stories. This place is just a bit quiet, that’s all. There’s no way anything dangerous is lurking around—if there were, it would’ve been shut down ages ago. They wouldn’t let people come here to hang out otherwise."

"Yeah, yeah, that makes sense."

"Alright, enough of this. Eat, drink, and stop freaking yourselves out. Ziming, turn the music up louder and switch to a DJ track. Let’s get this outdoor party started!"

Su Yang walked over to Meng Wenzhou and Ji Bo, grabbing both of them by the arms to pull them up.

"Nice! Let’s get hyped!!"