"Right!" Chen Yu Ying, whose attention was still focused on her smartphone and hadn't truly felt the atmosphere of the path, heard this and her lips curled upwards in a triumphant manner as she looked up at Lin Li:

"Plus, it's best when it's cloudy; a sunny day won't have the same feel. As you walk further in, if you're lucky, you might see some fog today. I heard it's best in the summer, though it gets hot then, so overall, the experience might not be better than it is today."

"Fog?" Lin Li pinched his chin with his other hand, lost in thought: "Captain, do you think if women are like water, then is a humidifier a vaporizer for women?"

Chen Yu Ying: "..."

Chen Yu Ying's smile gradually turned into one of mixed helplessness: "Lin Li, you're such a mood-crusher king."

To keep up with Lin Li's train of thought, only Bai Bufan could barely manage it.

No wonder, putting aside my own fudged scores, he genuinely is first in both rankings.

"But Lin Li, which of these do you think looks better?" Chen Yu Ying quickly steered the conversation back on track, holding up her phone screen for Lin Li to judge for the 'finals'.

Lin Li took the phone and looked carefully for a while, then looked at Chen Yu Ying with a serious expression: "Captain, do you know what you're asking me is equivalent to?"

"What?"

"'2+2', '2×2', '2^2', '(-2)^2', which of these looks better?" Lin Li earnestly said.

What a joke! I just took a bunch of continuous shots! Aren't these all the same!

Lin Li's analogy was strange yet so apt that it was irrefutable, making Chen Yu Ying burst into laughter and think, it kind of makes sense. After all, these aren't for social media. She decided to just send them all to her mom.

After sending them, without waiting for a response, she put her phone back in her shoulder bag and finally took in the woodland path, nodding in satisfaction at the scenery as she hummed an unfamiliar cheerful tune. While walking, she swung Lin Li's right hand with her left, creating a nearly 150° arc. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"But where are all the little animals?"

After walking for a bit, she looked around. Not seeing any squirrels, pigeons, crows, or even wild deer as the vendor had said, she gazed at the specially bought food in her bag with a slightly puffed up face.

——Nansang's December isn't particularly cold; it's still in the teens at midday, not quite time for hibernation.

"I see a cat!" Lin Li suddenly exclaimed, startled.

"Where?" Chen Yu Ying eagerly looked towards Lin Li.

Lin Li: "Meow~"

——Lin Li even made a beckoning cat gesture with his free right hand.

Chen Yu Ying: "...(•́へ•́╬) ."

When someone is utterly speechless, they really might laugh.

"Kitty! Open up! I'll feed you!" Chen Yu Ying pursed her lips and stuffed bread into Lin Li's mouth.

As for why she pinched it, it was because she was afraid Lin Li might suck on her fingers.

"Oh wow (munch munch munch) I see (munch munch munch) a dog too." Just a few seconds later, Lin Li spoke again, his words muffled by the bread in his mouth.

"I won't believe it anymore! Not at all!" Chen Yu Ying turned her head away.

"But this time it's real."

"Alright, I'll believe in you one more time."

When it came to Lin Li, Chen Yu Ying never really had a stance.

Following Lin Li's gaze, she looked over, and her brows raised slightly: there really was a Shiba Inu in the forest.

Upon hearing Lin Li and Chen Yu Ying's voices, the Shiba Inu lifted its head to look at them, panting with its pink tongue out and a characteristic silly smile on its face. It didn't approach but continued sniffing around, occasionally biting some flowers and grass, as if playing.

"This doesn't look like a wild forest dog, does it?" Chen Yu Ying, seeing its clean and fluffy fur, was a bit uncertain.

"Definitely not," Lin Li confidently shook his head, "I just saw a collar on its neck, and its fur seems freshly washed, probably its owner let it out to play."

"That's probably it." Chen Yu Ying nodded, putting away her urge to feed it, "Then let's not feed it randomly, let's keep walking."

After walking a bit further, clear birdsong started to fill the air, but the birds seemed quite wary, only hopping and maneuvering on the branches, making pleasant sounds, with no intention of coming closer.

"Looks like we fell for the vendor's marketing tricks, don't you think?" Lin Li joked with a smile.

"I think so too. Open up~" Chen Yu Ying sighed, with no small animals around, she'd have to settle for feeding this big animal, Lin Li.

Ahead at the bend in the path, footsteps could be heard, and a figure appeared, head down, looking at a phone while walking.

Noticing and clearly seeing it, Chen Yu Ying instantly fell silent, her body shrank slightly, and she instinctively half-hid behind Lin Li.

Lin Li, too, looked at the person with a peculiar expression.

The person, busy on their phone, lifted their head upon seeing the two pairs of legs in their field of view.

Seeing a handsome guy and a pretty girl couple in front of him, especially the girl hiding behind the boy, looking a bit nervous, averting her gaze towards the ground, the person smiled and took off their Bluetooth earbuds, shaking the chain in their hand:

"Don't worry, my dog, Zhuangzhuang, won't bite. No need to be scared, it's really cute."

Chen Yu Ying was now fully hiding behind Lin Li. She whispered, "So scary..."

"Really, really, you could even hold—" Seeing Chen Yu Ying's stance, the person quickly turned to try to prove themselves, and upon seeing the chain dragging on the ground, they paused for a moment.