Chapter 24: Autumn Tranquility Mountain Encounter Danger

  Although Zhou Hao's heart did indeed produce a thread of unease, he didn't know what would happen after all. He carefully observed the surrounding environment and didn't find anything out of the ordinary.

  "Zhou Hao, what's wrong with you? Don't scare me." Gao Jingyi saw Zhou Hao's serious face and felt a sense of fear rising in her heart.

  Zhou Hao patted her hand and said, "It's okay, I thought there were only tigers and wolves here."

  Gao Jingyi tensed up as soon as she heard it and hastily grabbed Zhou Hao's arm, "Are there tigers and wolves here?"

  Seeing Gao Jingyi's frightened appearance, Zhou Hao smiled and said, "Tricking you, do you think it's still decades ago?" However, he was still a little nervous in his heart. He didn't dare to take his intuition lightly. He wanted everyone to go down the mountain to avoid this unknown danger, but he was worried about what reason to use. Should he tell them that he intuitively felt there was danger and ask everyone to hurry down the mountain? If he really did that, others might think he's neurotic.

  "You're the one who's a tiger and wolf!" Gao Jingyi hit Zhou Hao.

  It wasn't long before Liu Shichao and Luo Hui returned, and the chicken soup was almost done. The enticing aroma suddenly wafted out.

  "Ah, smells great, let's have a taste!" Zhou Hao ladled the chicken soup into disposable plastic bowls and handed them out to Gao Jingyi and the others. Other groups were also cooking up soups or barbecuing, filling the forest with all sorts of savory aromas. Fortunately, there weren't any carnivorous beasts on Autumn Peace Mountain, or they would have been attracted by the smells.

  The food they made themselves was always delicious, and Gao Jingyi, Liu Shichao, and Luo Hui all ate with relish. Afterwards, Li Ruolan and the other class teachers organized everyone to play games. For this kind of class collective game, everyone liked it very much, such as hitting the drum and passing flowers, two people three feet, and between classes, they could also play some competitive games.

  Originally, with her introverted personality, she wouldn't have participated in such group entertainment activities, but under Zhou Hao's persuasion, she finally agreed, though only willing to form a team with Zhou Hao, playing games like two-person three-legged race, making other boys extremely jealous.

  In the midst of excitement, time flew by quickly, and before long, the sun had set behind the mountains. The entire Autumn Peace Mountain was shrouded in a hazy twilight. A few male teachers lit a bonfire in the center of the open space, while other groups of four also started their own campfires. From above, this gentle slope seemed to be twinkling with starlight.

  After dinner, everyone gathered around the bonfire to sing and dance. The students sang popular songs of the time, while some older teachers sang old songs that praised the country's main theme.

  "Teacher Li, why don't you also come and sing a song for everyone?" Suddenly someone shouted, then everyone immediately started cheering and urging Li Ruolan to perform.

  Under the overwhelming crowd, Li Ruolan also couldn't refuse, and somewhat shyly stood in front of everyone, "Then I'll sing a song 'Tomorrow Will Be Better' for you all."

  The crowd immediately burst into warm applause, and Li Ruolan's gentle singing voice flowed over the hearts of the crowd like a gentle stream. Everyone cooperated with the beat, and some girls unknowingly sang along.

  It has to be said that Li Ruolan's singing voice is extremely pleasant to listen to, and the radiant bonfire behind her makes her look like an angel. Many people, including Zhou Hao, were stunned by her singing, feeling as if the sound was like spring rain that moistened their hearts.

  After Li Ruolan finished singing, everyone was still savoring the aftertaste for a long time.

  "I didn't expect Teacher Li's singing to be so good." Gao Jingyi sincerely praised.

  "Yes, she's much better than many stars." Zhou Haoshen nodded in agreement, his eyes fixed on Li Ruolan.

  After the most joyful time, everyone returned to their own tent to sleep. The tent was not big, just enough for two people, and Zhou Hao, who slept with Liu Shichao, was more struggling because Liu Shichao himself occupied half of the space. Moreover, Liu Shichao fell asleep as soon as he lay down, and his loud snoring echoed in the tent.

  Zhou Hao didn't dare to sleep, he was still worried about the premonition he had before, afraid that danger would come to everyone, so he kept himself awake at all times, in case he sensed danger and could notify everyone.

  The night grew darker, and some classmates who were whispering in the tent had fallen asleep one after another, as if the whole world was left with only Zhou Hao. However, Zhou Hao felt more and more uneasy, because there was no sound of frogs, birds or insects around, which was extremely rare on the mountain.

  Suddenly, Zhou Hao vaguely heard some voices, which sounded like they were arguing about something.

  Who is it?

  Anyway, not intending to call anyone, Zhou Hao came out of the tent. The surroundings were pitch black, with only some extinguished bonfires still having a few faintly flickering red lights. And that faint voice was coming from afar, Zhou Hao followed the sound source and looked over, seeing two figures in the small pavilion far away.

  As I walked slowly by, those words gradually became clear.

  "Teacher Meng, I hope you can take care of yourself! I didn't hear what you just said, don't bother me again."

  "Ruolan, listen to me, I really like you. From the first day you came to school, I've had a crush on you. Do you mind that I have a wife and kids? Don't worry, I'll divorce her tomorrow! Ruolan, just agree with me, my uncle is the deputy director of the Education Bureau, if you're willing, I can get you a job at the Education Bureau."

  Zhou Hao had already seen the two figures clearly, but to his surprise, they were Li Ruolan and Meng Tingguang. Meng Tingguang was grasping Li Ruolan's shoulders, his expression urgent and his eyes filled with desire. Li Ruolan, on the other hand, was frowning and trying to shake off his grasp. "Meng teacher, you don't need to waste your breath, I won't agree to it, and I don't like you! Besides, do you know what I hate most? Men like you who abandon their wives!"

  "For you, I'm doing all this." Meng Tingguang said hastily, and his movements became more intense. He hugged Li Ruolan and leaned in to force a kiss on her.

  "Meng Tingguang, let me go! I'm going to shout for help!" Li Ruolan struggled violently, but couldn't overcome Meng Tingguang's powerful grip.

  "Let go of Teacher Li!" Zhou Hao couldn't let Meng Tingguang offend his goddess, so he took a few big strides over and punched him in the face without saying another word.

  Zhou Hao's strength was originally much stronger than that of ordinary people, and now he was filled with anger. This punch was naturally very heavy, and it immediately knocked Meng Tingguang to the ground. At the same time, he pulled Li Ruolan, who had not reacted in time, behind him. "Teacher Li, are you okay?"

  Li Ruolan saw that the person who came was Zhou Hao, and she shook her head slightly. "I'm fine." Being met with such a situation by her own student, and still having to rely on him to get herself out of it, Li Ruolan felt somewhat embarrassed.

  Meng Tingguang, who was sitting on the ground, raised his hand to touch his nose and felt sticky, obviously bleeding. He said to Zhou Hao, who had a furious face: "You, you dare to beat your teacher?"

  "Still a teacher? Bah!" Zhou Hao angrily said: "A beast like you who appears to be dignified and virtuous is also qualified to be a teacher?"

  "You, you're talking nonsense!" Meng Tingguang stood up, glaring at Zhou Hao with a mixture of anger and shame. "Beating and scolding teachers, I think you don't want to stay in Yun Ning anymore!" He was furious that his own scheme had been ruined by Zhou Hao. Being taller than Zhou Hao by more than half a head, he thought that he had been caught off guard earlier and now wanted to teach this insolent student a lesson.

  He saw him make a sound and pounce on Zhou Hao, wanting to knock Zhou Hao to the ground. But in Zhou Hao's eyes, Meng Tingguang was much weaker than the man that night, and with one turn of his body, he dodged and kicked Meng Tingguang's back, causing him to fall into the muddy ground outside the small pavilion like a hungry dog pouncing on food.

  As Meng Ting Guang struggled to get up, Zhou Hao was about to scold him again, but suddenly felt a strange sensation in his heart, stronger than before. At the same time, Autumn Ning Mountain echoed with the sounds of birds and beasts, and large flocks of birds flew out of the forest.

  "It really happened!" Zhou Hao pulled Li Ruolan to run out of the pavilion, but before his feet even left the ground, the earth began to shake violently, and the entire Autumn Peace Mountain area was shaking.

  The intense vibration caused Zhou Hao and Li Ruolan to fall to the ground, while Meng Tingguang outside the pavilion was so frightened that he rolled and crawled forward, shouting loudly: "Earthquake! Earthquake!"

  Zhou Hao thought to himself that his intuition had indeed come true, and he hastily said to Li Ruolan beside him, who was frightened and at a loss: "Teacher Li, it's very dangerous here, let's escape quickly!" After saying this, he pulled her out of the pavilion.

  Just then, both of them felt a sense of falling, but it turned out that the huge boulder under the small pavilion had been detached from the mountain due to the earthquake, and the whole thing was falling downwards. The small pavilion and Zhou Hao and Li Ruoxuan naturally fell with it.

  Moreover, the intense earthquake also triggered a local collapse of Mount Autumn Peace, with large amounts of rocks and mud mixed with trees on the surface rapidly sliding down, like a flood that engulfed everything in front. The small pavilion and the mountain rocks below fell into this torrent, and were immediately swept away like a small boat down the mountain.

  Fortunately, the campsite where everyone was camping did not collapse, and everyone woke up immediately after the earthquake occurred and rushed out of their tents. As a result, except for feeling intense shaking, there were no major injuries. However, Zhou Hao and Li Ruolan were instantly swept away by the collapsing sandstone flood and disappeared from everyone's sight in an instant.

  And Zhou Hao, after falling to the ground in this pavilion, hugged Li Ruolan tightly with his body and protected her. At the same time, he prayed in his heart: "I won't be so unlucky, will I? I've just been reborn for a short time, I don't want to try again!"

  He could feel the mountain rocks beneath him moving forward at an extremely fast speed, and this small pavilion finally collapsed, with broken wood covering Zhou Hao and Li Ruolan's bodies. Zhou Hao didn't dare to move, afraid that if he moved, he would be thrown into the rocky torrent, in which case they would both be buried alive instantly.

  But the next moment, the rock they were on suddenly crashed into something, and the two of them immediately fainted from the huge impact.