The next day, when Emily Bolton left the Huang family’s house, James Parker had already gone to the martial arts school; otherwise, he would have inevitably been glared at a few times. A few days later, the summer camp finally began. That morning, the three of them didn’t go out for a run. Each carried a large camping backpack and gathered at the entrance of Bennett Martial Arts School.

During the summer vacation, Sarah Lane had cut her hair short, and paired with a neat short-sleeved shirt and hiking pants, she looked just like a tomboy. Lily’s outfit was similar, but she appeared bright and cute. Girls develop earlier, so at this point, both of them were already half a head taller than James Parker. Coupled with James Parker’s ordinary looks, he now seemed just like a servant following two young ladies out. This inconspicuousness was exactly the effect James Parker had always pursued.

The summer camp was labeled as a student camp, but when they arrived at the gathering point, the three realized that almost all the participants were middle or high school students. People arrived one after another, and including the three of them, there were twenty-two participants in total. Three girls who looked like high schoolers had come together as a group. The rest were all boys.

The leader was a man in his twenties who looked fairly reliable, the sunny and cheerful type. After taking roll call and confirming everyone was present, the bus arrived. When it was time to board, James Parker noticed that the pair greeting the leader on the bus were none other than Emily Bolton and William Harris.

Section Seven: Summer Camp

The previous conflict wasn’t serious, so there was no talk of “enemies always meet.” However, when Emily Bolton saw James Parker, she was clearly a bit surprised, but in the end, she didn’t say hello.

A few years later, trips like this would just be a disguised matchmaking game for young people. But this was only 1994, and relationships between unfamiliar boys and girls weren’t so easy to navigate. The three girls who came together took the back row of the bus, chatting and playing around. As usual, James Parker and Lily sat together, took out the radio Lily had given him, and listened to the broadcast, each wearing one earbud. Among all the passengers, only these two kids looked like a couple, and since Lily was so pretty, the other boys kept casting curious and envious glances their way.

As for Sarah Lane, she found a single seat, eating a lollipop while pulling out the latest handheld game console to play Tetris. At the front of the bus, Emily Bolton occasionally chatted with the male leader, but was rather cold toward William Harris. James Parker thought to himself that she had probably just returned to the country and wanted to see what these students were like to prepare for future teaching. As for William Harris, he was nothing more than a pitiful tag-along.

Occasionally, Emily Bolton would also glance at James Parker. Thinking of what happened last night and the kid’s bad behavior, she felt a surge of anger. Seeing the two looking like a couple, she wished she could go over and expose James Parker’s ugly side, so that a little beauty like Lily wouldn’t be harmed. Having returned from abroad, her thinking was more progressive, and she didn’t assume the two were innocent just because they were young. After all, in England, many kids at that age had already taken the final step.

The bus soon left the city. Seeing the two listening to the radio so intimately, she said a few words to the leader. Shortly after, the leader took out a tape recorder from the bus, inserted a cassette, and soon Zhou Huajian’s “A Life of Swords Like a Dream” echoed through the bus.

At that time, Zhou Huajian’s album “No Obstacle in Wind and Rain” hadn’t been out for long, but a good song is always a good song. The leader, trying to liven up the atmosphere, started singing along. Soon, people throughout the bus began to hum along. James Parker and Lily couldn’t listen to the radio anymore, so they stopped and listened to the song. Emily Bolton felt secretly pleased, but when she glanced over, she seemed to catch a mocking smile at the corner of James Parker’s mouth, as if he had seen through her thoughts. But when she looked again, James Parker had his eyes closed, looking completely absorbed in the music, so she decided it must have been her imagination.

Around ten o’clock, everyone arrived at the campsite. First, they prepared lunch on a clearing in the woods at the foot of the mountain, planning to climb to the top in the afternoon and camp there overnight.

This was probably a spot carefully chosen by the travel agency. Led by the leader, everyone passed through a small grove and arrived at a small pond in the center. Surrounded by trees, the water was clear, and the green grass was dotted with tiny yellow flowers—perfect for an album cover. Everyone immediately liked the place, and soon some were gathering firewood, some were starting a fire, and others were preparing to cook.

Originally, the leader wanted to divide everyone into small teams by drawing lots. But since everyone already had their own groups, no one agreed to be separated, so the idea was dropped. When distributing the cooking utensils, he was clearly a bit worried about whether the three of James Parker could manage. The other boys and girls all welcomed the three to join their teams, but Sarah Lane, being competitive, immediately refused: “Hmph, who knows who’ll end up without food!”