After Marrying the Aloof Beauty, I Totally Fell for Her - Chapter 23

Chapter 23: This Isn’t An Ning

So the reason Ms. Mu had been so cooperative all along… was because she was afraid I’d get angry?

That was the only explanation An Ning could think of.

“Heh…”

Before she could dwell on it further, she couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

The woman sitting across from her frowned immediately at the sight, and turned to leave.

“Teacher Mu, Teacher Mu—” An Ning quickly reached out and tugged at her sleeve, trying hard to stifle her laughter, but she simply couldn’t manage it. In the end, she could only speak with a distorted smile, “I’m not mad at you, I’m mad at myself…”

Her voice grew softer and softer, guilt and embarrassment creeping in. “If I hadn’t asked you to go hiking with me, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

Mu Yan quietly turned her head and looked at the dejected girl for a while. “Do you just enjoy making things difficult for yourself?”

Though her words sounded harsh, her tone was gentle—closer to a sigh than a reprimand.

An Ning looked at her in confusion but noticed that Ms. Mu’s expression had grown complicated, as if she’d remembered something.

“You invited me, I agreed. I chose to climb the mountain, and I was the one who tripped. Why are you putting all of this on yourself?” Mu Yan sighed softly, her voice tinged with helplessness.

An Ning scratched her head. She felt that what Ms. Mu said made sense… but also didn’t. She wasn’t good at arguing, so she just stubbornly shook her head and softly refuted, “It’s not like that…”

Mu Yan seemed uninterested in continuing the debate. She simply waved her hand and motioned for An Ning to go buy the tickets.

The main cable car at Mount Yunkong fit ten people per cabin. Children under 1.35 meters counted as half a person. Since most people out during the holidays were families, the cabin meant for ten ended up squeezing in fifteen or sixteen passengers, making it a little cramped.

An Ning sat in the second seat from the edge, quietly enduring the restless kid beside her while trying to take up as little space as possible, leaving a quiet area for Mu Yan next to her.

Mu Yan seemed genuinely exhausted. She didn’t even glance at the beautiful mountain scenery outside the cabin window, and instead leaned against the cold metal railing, eyes closed, pretending to nap.

The cable ride from the mountain peak to the base took almost fifteen minutes. Midway through the descent, over the noise of the kids chattering, An Ning heard the distant rumble of thunder echoing through the mountains.

Oh no.

She immediately turned to look out the window. The mountain, which had earlier been shrouded in mist, was now darkening at an alarming speed. Thick clouds gathered above.

It’s going to rain?!

The other tourists noticed the weather change too and started grumbling.

“What kind of weather is this? One moment it’s fine, and the next it’s pouring. How are we supposed to get down now?”

Because of the terrain, the cable car didn’t reach all the way to the base service station. It stopped at a reception point roughly 200 meters away, which meant everyone had to walk down a steep path.

They’d checked the forecast—it was supposed to be sunny. Why was their luck so bad?

An Ning had brought an umbrella, but even so, she glanced at Mu Yan worriedly. A sudden mountain downpour like this could soak you through even with an umbrella.

Would they make it down before the rain hit?

Mu Yan definitely couldn’t afford to get caught in the rain again.

Hurry up…

An Ning stared anxiously at the retreating scenery outside the window, no longer in the mood to admire it. She even started feeling a bit irritated.

Whether it was luck or misfortune, they made it to the reception point just before the rain started. But dark clouds loomed over the nearby peaks, and they could already hear the rainfall in the distance, approaching fast.

“Hurry! The rain’s coming!”

The tiny reception hut couldn’t hold so many tourists. As soon as the cable car doors opened, everyone rushed down the mountain path.

Mu Yan refused An Ning’s offer to carry her, so An Ning could only hold her hand and follow the crowd down the trail.

Thunder cracked behind them, and rain echoed in the valley, while the two of them ran hand in hand down the mountainside.

It felt almost like some kind of doomsday escape, didn’t it?

Mu Yan looked at the back of the girl in front of her—taller than her by half a head—with her swaying ponytail, until the image overlapped with a long-buried memory.

A much younger child had once pulled her along like this, also panicked, also desperate, fleeing as if their life depended on it.

Wasn’t this… kind of romantic?

The corners of her lips curved into a nostalgic smile. Somehow, she even felt a little happy.

If An Ning could hear what Ms. Mu was thinking right now, she’d probably start questioning whether artists had completely different brain wiring from the rest of them.

They were about to get soaked like drowned rats! This was not some serene, poetic walk in the rain!

As it turned out, the fact they hadn’t gotten drenched immediately had just been a cruel joke by the heavens.

Halfway down the path, the storm finally reached them.

Before An Ning could even open her umbrella, the rain had already soaked them.

“You’ve got to be kidding…”

“What do we do?!”

“We can’t keep going! There’s a cave ahead, let’s take shelter there!”

Amid the chaos, the crowd huddled into a small mountain cave up ahead.

They really couldn’t go any farther—the steps were dangerously slippery after the rain, and visibility was poor. One misstep could lead to serious injury.

Fortunately, the cave—though small from the outside—was relatively spacious inside. It turned out to be a scenic spot called the “Echo Cave” on Mount Yunkong.

But nobody cared about echoes right now. Tourists sat on the ground in small groups, wringing out their soaked clothes and grumbling about the awful weather. Even the previously energetic kids were now curled up quietly beside their parents.

“Teacher Mu, here, wear this.” An Ning dug into her waterproof backpack and pulled out a thick jacket that had thankfully survived the rain. She’d packed it in case of temperature drops between the mountain and base—not expecting it to be used like this.

“What about you?” Mu Yan didn’t take it. Her soft hair was soaked and stuck to her face, her pale skin even paler now from the cold, and her lips were tinged purple.

But despite looking so frail, her gaze remained calm. She even had the energy to worry about An Ning, whose body was in far better condition than hers.

“I’ll be fine.” An Ning didn’t bother being polite and directly wrapped the coat around Mu Yan’s shoulders. The jacket was oversized and practically swallowed her whole.

Anything to help, even just a little.

Frowning in concern, An Ning poured some warm water from her thermos and handed it to her.

Some tourists had already called the service center, but staff said they couldn’t do anything—the cars couldn’t make it up the mountain in such heavy rain, and they couldn’t hike up either. Everyone had to wait for the storm to pass.

Once Mu Yan had some water and looked a bit better, An Ning finally noticed she was cold herself. She hadn’t felt it before—too worried to notice.

She poured herself a cup of tea, but the moment the warm liquid touched her lips, a deep chill surged through her, making her shiver.

Across from her, Mu Yan quietly looked over. An Ning immediately stiffened and tried to act like nothing had happened.

She’d just said she was fine. It would be embarrassing to show weakness now.

She lowered her head to drink the tea, silently berating herself. She didn’t even notice the rustling sound of clothes beside her.

A thick coat, carrying a light, familiar scent, was suddenly draped over her again—this time from behind.

And along with it, a warm body leaned close.

“Teacher Mu?!” An Ning’s eyes widened in shock and she couldn’t help but let out a startled yelp, drawing the attention of everyone in the cave.

The culprit was leaning against her now. In order to share the coat, Mu Yan had practically pressed her entire body against her. An Ning could feel her warmth through their soaked clothes.

“Shut up.”

Mu Yan’s voice was soft—so soft that, if they weren’t practically glued together, An Ning might not have even heard it.

Her head was lowered, and from An Ning’s angle, she could only see her lips pressed into a thin line.

But somehow… in that almost inaudible “shut up,” she sensed a hint of embarrassment.

“Oh… okay.” An Ning could only stammer in response, not daring to speak or move, transforming herself into a model human armchair.

To be fair, Mu Yan’s method—though bold—was effective. Sharing the coat really was much warmer.

There was just one problem: the woman’s scent, mixed with the smell of rain, was… oddly pleasant.

An Ning didn’t know if it was the fatigue or the shock, but her thoughts started to blur. Her mind suddenly recalled an article Huang Lu had sent her.

“Couples with an 85% compatibility rating say their partner’s body scent triggers desire!”

Could that actually be true?

Because for just one fleeting moment—just a moment—she really wanted to wrap her arms around the woman’s slender waist and pull her even closer.

Teacher Mu was doing this so she wouldn’t be cold. What the hell are you thinking, An Ning?!

She pinched herself hard and finally regained a bit of clarity—only to realize she could hear her own heartbeat loud and clear.

It was so loud, in fact, she felt like the entire cave echoed with it.

Teacher Mu definitely heard that…

So this Echo Cave actually does echo?!

How humiliating…

Only four words came to mind for An Ning now—utterly, mortifyingly shameful.

…So this Echo Cave actually does echo?!

How humiliating…

Only four words came to mind for An Ning now—utterly, mortifyingly shameful.

She dared not look at Mu Yan’s expression. She kept her eyes tightly shut, pretending she had passed out, or died of shame right then and there.

The next half hour or so was torture.

With Mu Yan leaning lightly against her, her breath brushing An Ning’s ear from time to time, her soft hair tickling An Ning’s cheek—it all drove An Ning to the edge of collapse.

No matter how much she warned herself to stay calm, her heart stubbornly refused to cooperate.

And in the midst of this chaos, she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket.

She froze, then carefully wriggled her hand out of the coat, trying to answer it as quietly as possible.

She thought it was the school calling to check on her leave, but to her surprise, it was a text from Huang Lu.

Where are you?! It’s almost noon. Don’t tell me you’re still stuck on the mountain?!

An Ning looked at the time and was stunned to realize it was already eleven-thirty.

She quickly replied:

Still in the cave. We’re trapped by the rain.

Huang Lu:

…Damn. I told you not to go mountain climbing on a rainy day. You’re tempting fate!

An Ning was too tired to explain.

She glanced at Mu Yan—who was still resting against her shoulder, eyes closed—and let out a deep sigh.

The thing is, I didn’t know I was tempting fate.

I just… wanted to get closer to you.