Dancing, I Never Get Tired

Xia Yanchun always thought mountain climbing was physical labor.

But now, it seemed just so-so.

Feeling quite proud of how easy climbing was, Xia Yanchun caught a glimpse of the famous Sky Cave and started taking pictures everywhere with her phone.

"Send them to me when you're done."

"Oh, okay." Xia Yanchun nodded her little head and took the initiative to tuck her small hand into Shen Nian's, letting him look after her.

It wasn't until they reached the first service area that Xia Yanchun pulled her hand back from Shen Nian. She accompanied him to buy some overpriced snacks, and after eating, they found empty seats to sit and rest.

"How is it? Are you tired?" Shen Nian gulped down some mineral water and nudged Xia Yanchun with his elbow.

"I'm okay, but my legs are starting to feel a bit sore."

"How about we take the cable car up?"

"Huh? Didn't you want to climb the mountain? Does taking a cable car still count as climbing?"

"I have no choice. For the sake of my Chunbao's health, I'll reluctantly make a sacrifice. I originally planned to climb the whole mountain, but now I can't. You have to remember to compensate me when we get back."

"Ew, you're crazy."

Xia Yanchun chuckled, took Shen Nian's water bottle, and finished the rest herself. Well-fed and watered, Xia Yanchun patted her butt and stood up, full of energy. "Let's go!"

"Let's just take the cable car..."

"That shouldn't be. Your stamina is so much better than mine, how come you're so weak now..."

"Damn it, you better keep up this climbing energy, I'm telling you."

Shen Nian laughed out of anger. To him, mountain climbing was no different from eating or drinking, but having to bring Xia Yanchun along made the difficulty shoot up to the sky.

The beginning of the climb had been quite easy, but later on, he felt like he was going to faint from hunger.

Muscle fatigue and soreness also counted as a type of injury. Holding Xia Yanchun's hand, his Miraculous Healing ability had been continuously relieving her fatigue. Xia Yanchun was feeling great, but he was truly suffering.

He was completely drained by his little Chun. If he didn't eat, he'd starve and pass out right here.

It was one thing for Xia Yanchun not to praise him by saying how awesome he was, but she actually called him weak. How ridiculous was that?

Anyone who could tolerate this was a saint.

Xia Yanchun ignored him. They had already climbed this far; wouldn't it be a waste if they didn't keep going up?

A mere 999 steps—anyone with feet could do it.

Brimming with confidence, Xia Yanchun began her confident climb.

After walking for a while, she glanced curiously at Shen Nian, stiffly straightened her posture, leaned close to his arm, and hooked her pinky finger around his.

"What are you doing, sexual harassment?" Shen Nian gave her a sideways glance.

"..."

One sentence left Xia Yanchun speechless.

If hooking a finger counted as harassment, then hadn't she been daily harassed by Shen Nian before?

Resorting to old-school tactics, Xia Yanchun didn't bother arguing with him. If they weren't holding hands, then fine. It wasn't like she couldn't climb without holding hands.

Heh, you don't think I really want to hold your hand, do you? Acting as if someone can't live without you. Just look at your own hands—big and hot, easily getting sweaty when held tightly. Who would want to hold hands like that? Heh, what a pretentious jerk.

Xia Yanchun simply shoved her hands into her pockets, acting all cool and aloof.

But after walking for just a short while, she took her hands out. Without her arms to balance, her climbing pace felt very uncomfortable and incredibly strenuous.

Ten minutes later.

Xia Yanchun felt like the sky was falling.

"Huff... puff..." Xia Yanchun gasped for air. Every step felt as heavy as lead, and she could barely keep walking.

In contrast, Shen Nian looked like an old man wearing orthopedic walking shoes, ready to kick down the nursing home, walking with the wind in his steps.

How could this be!

Am I not a mountain climbing expert?

"What's wrong, tired?" Shen Nian looked at her sideways, amusedly poking her little face which was covered in fine sweat.

Xia Yanchun was single-mindedly focused on resting. Being poked by Shen Nian just annoyed her a bit, but she didn't have the energy to scold him.

"So... so tired..." Xia Yanchun's voice was very low; she didn't even have the strength to speak.

"Loser, I'm not tired at all."

"Ugh, give me a sip of water..."

"No, drinking water right after exercising will make you throw up. Take a moment to catch your breath."

"Mhm..." Xia Yanchun couldn't care less about the dirty ground. After standing for a moment, she sat right down on the floor.

She was genuinely exhausted. Earlier, her legs were just sore, but now they were both sore and weak. Her heart was beating incredibly fast, she felt a bit breathless, and her chest and lungs felt terribly uncomfortable due to her erratic breathing.

"Can't catch your breath?" Shen Nian looked at her, stroking his chin, and explained, "The altitude is higher now. Your body probably isn't used to it yet."

"Probably..." Xia Yanchun also felt that was the case.

She hadn't felt tired at all when climbing earlier; her legs were just a bit sore. But how long had they been climbing since the service station? She was already dead tired. It was highly likely due to the change in environment.

The altitude was high, the air was thin, and she had heard of altitude sickness!

It definitely wasn't an issue of her physical stamina being weak.

"Shen Nian..." Xia Yanchun poked him with her small hand. "Let's rest for a bit and then walk down to take the cable car, okay?"

"Compromising? Not going to conquer the mountain anymore?"

"I've been conquered by the mountain..."

Hearing the sarcastic mockery in Shen Nian's tone, Xia Yanchun pursed her lips in frustration. If she had known, she wouldn't have called him weak earlier. If she had just acted cute with him, he might have planned to carry her down the mountain on his back right now.

Whatever. Later, she would sulk and make him guess what was wrong. If he couldn't guess, she'd ask him if he would still love her if she turned into a caterpillar.

Shen Nian sat by the roadside with her to rest, planning to head down to the service area once she caught her breath. That was one of the transfer stations for the cable car, where they could ride up the mountain. The tickets they bought already included the round-trip cable car fare anyway.

There were still many people sitting and resting by the roadside, and quite a few who started feeling unwell and walked back down. But even more people were still striving to climb upwards. Reaching the mountaintop through one's own strength was a very cool thing to do.

"I told you we should take the cable car, but you didn't believe me. Do you believe me now?" Shen Nian smiled faintly, pulling Xia Yanchun's small hand into his embrace.

So what if he was a bit hungry? He would restore his little Chun first.

Xia Yanchun was soft and docile, not struggling at all as she stared at the tips of her shoes. "I believe you, Nianbao is right."

"Let me tell you a secret: you actually can't do without me."

"Don't you feel embarrassed saying things like that?"

"Nope."

"Then you have really thick skin."

Having rested enough, Xia Yanchun took Shen Nian's hand and began walking down, avoiding the crowd, and returned to the service area.

Shen Nian ran off again to eat the scenic area's overpriced food. The consumption from his Miraculous Healing was too great; filling his stomach was more important than anything else.

At the cable car station, Xia Yanchun looked at the cars heading straight to the heights and felt a bit of dread.

Would someone with a fear of heights go weak in the knees just taking one look down from up there?

Besides the cable car, there was another way up the mountain: the mountain escalator. After thinking it over, Xia Yanchun decided to pull Shen Nian along to take the escalator up instead.