Chapter 17

Boyfriend… is he not here now?

Shang Mingbao was crying so hard she could barely breathe when she suddenly heard this line. Between hiccuping sobs, she blurted out, “Hmm?”

She didn’t have a boyfriend.

At this moment, Xiang Feiran’s self-disgust reached its peak. He felt his attempt to comfort her was both clumsy and shamelessly pretentious, especially since her actual boyfriend was just five hundred meters away.

Suddenly alert, he released his hold on her, took off the intercom, and hastily whispered, “I’ll go get him…”

Shang Mingbao grabbed him. “Who?”

“Jiang Shaokang.”

Shang Mingbao even forgot to cry. “W-Why are you looking for him?”

Xiang Feiran looked at her strangely. “He’s your boyfriend. Of course, I should find him to comfort you.”

He was about to press the intercom again, but Shang Mingbao snatched it away and tightly held it to her chest. “I’m angry with you, so why should you not comfort me?”

“And,” she looked at Xiang Feiran in confusion, “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

Xiang Feiran froze. “What?”

“I’ve only just met him. I’ve seen him as many times as I’ve seen you.”

“……”

In a flash, a series of flashbacks played in Xiang Feiran’s mind.

On the day in the coffee shop, a friend had introduced him as “your sister’s boyfriend,” which had left him with a preconceived impression;

Shopping, carrying bags and treating her;

In their interactions, being attentive and caring.

Of course, these could also be interpreted as him pursuing her unilaterally.

Xiang Feiran was left with one last question: “So, why did you let him call you ‘babe’?”

Shang Mingbao stared at him, her nose wrinkling, and her voice taking on a tone like a cartoon toy: “Because that’s my English name.”

Xiang Feiran: “……………………”

“Huh? Is that not allowed?” Shang Mingbao questioned. “Aren’t you smart? Mingbao, darling, baby, babe—can’t you understand the connection?”

Xiang Feiran reflected for a moment and then chuckled quietly. “Sorry, I didn’t think of that.”

So, he had been suffering from a three-day moral torment all on his own.

The girlfriend who served others with her life.

The girlfriend who was so cute.

The inappropriate behavior… that inappropriate behavior, even making her climb a slope was deemed inappropriate.

Self-inflicted.

Shang Mingbao pressed her lips together, softening her tone. “So, you were avoiding me because you thought Jiang Shaokang was my boyfriend and you wanted to keep your distance.”

Xiang Feiran now denied it, looking down. “Not really.”

“Even if he were my boyfriend, you wouldn’t need to avoid me. Can’t one have friends of the opposite sex while dating? Unless…”

“There are no unlesses.” He interrupted coldly and decisively, guiding her to sit down.

Crying and scolding were energy-draining. He opened her thermos, unwrapped an energy bar, and held one item up to her mouth.

Shang Mingbao turned her face away. “I don’t want it.”

“What do you want?”

“You still haven’t comforted me.”

Xiang Feiran: “……”

Shang Mingbao turned her face, her eyes reddening and moist. “Use less effort and continue scolding. I haven’t finished scolding yet.”

Xiang Feiran’s expression remained neutral. “You’re already being quite effortless.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Shang Mingbao’s chin rested on his shoulder.

He stiffened, and her hoarse voice came from his throat, “Shang Mingbao, be obedient, don’t be so disrespectful.”

“Say that you haven’t accepted Grandpa’s commission,” she said, her voice nasal and muffled. “Even if you’re lying to me.”

Xiang Feiran was silent for a moment, then placed his palm gently on the top of her head. “It’s voluntary.”

Finally willing to drink water.

After taking a few sips, Shang Mingbao suddenly said, “People who are about to die shouldn’t casually talk about love.”

Otherwise, if they suddenly met their end one day, it would only cause unnecessary sorrow for someone. For the person left behind, it would be quite an unlucky and inauspicious event in their life.

“You won’t die,” Xiang Feiran said lightly and, glancing at her. “Don’t keep mentioning that word.”

Shang Mingbao smiled a bit. “You’re just like my mom, believing that saying it too often will make it come true—”

As she chewed on the energy bar, Xiang Feiran covered her mouth with his hand. His dark, starry gaze was fixed on her, saying nothing, but as if saying everything.

Swallowing the sweet, preserved cereal, Shang Mingbao had a vague thought:

Does he not want me to die?

Life to him should be just a bunch of cells, proteins, and sequencing data. He shouldn’t believe in ghosts, deities, or that words of misfortune could actually affect a person’s fate.

While he was silent, the intercom crackled with Fang Suining’s voice: “Feiran, have you found Mingbao?”

Xiang Feiran replied to reassure her and then asked Shang Mingbao, “Do you want to go to the campsite, or come back with me?”

“I can go back with you…” Shang Mingbao pouted, glancing at him sideways.

She was clearly holding something back. Xiang Feiran waited calmly.

“Call me ‘babe.’”

“Not gonna happen.”

“Why, does it burn your mouth?”

Xiang Feiran stood her up, held her shoulders, and gently turned her around. “Look, go straight 300 meters from here and you’ll reach the campsite.”

Shang Mingbao: “……”

Xiang Feiran bent down to pick up his backpack, raising his hand. “See you later.”

……

In the end, she still followed him like a little accessory, returning to where Fang Suining and the others were.

Fang Suining and Jiang Shaokang had been collecting specimens and had moved quite a distance from where Xiang Feiran had instructed. In a narrow soil ditch near the stream, the two of them were excitedly eyeing a graceful vine plant.

Just as Fang Suining was about to dig it up, a steady force from behind stopped him.

Xiang Feiran: “Want to go to jail?”

Both of them went, “Ah?”

“Cactus vine, national second-class protected species, very illegal.”

Fang Suining: “……”

Jiang Shaokang raised his hand. “If we really dig it up, will we go to jail? How would the police find out?”

Xiang Feiran sighed. “This is the dilemma of protecting endangered wild plants. We not only have to fight against poachers but also need to educate local people and tourists. Otherwise, if anyone sees a beautiful plant and takes it home, it’s hard to trace. Also,” he glanced at him, “Today the fault is mine. I should have made it clear earlier. If anything happens, it’s on me.”

He squatted down and gently held a young cactus vine leaf, explaining its features to them.

Shang Mingbao had never seen him so gentle and focused. She thought of Xiang Lianqiao’s words, “He has more patience for plants than for people.”

What kind of people would he have patience for?

After he finished his explanation, Fang Suining asked Shang Mingbao, “Are you okay? Didn’t you say you wanted to rest at the campsite?”

Shang Mingbao supported herself on her knees, her gaze avoiding random glances. “I still want to stay with you guys.”

Xiang Feiran chuckled softly, putting away the magnifying glass and looking at her. “Babe, you’re quite the learner.”

A clear, resonant note struck in her heart, as if a string had snapped, causing her heartbeat to skip a beat.

Xiang Feiran slightly lifted the corners of his lips, gently tapped her chin, and then turned to lead the way.

Fang Suining squeezed Shang Mingbao’s hand. “Your hands are so cold.”

Shang Mingbao thought, cold? She felt so hot, every pore seemed to be emitting an unrelenting warmth.

There was also a highly anticipated national first-class protected plant, but when they reached the destination, it wasn’t as stunning as imagined—just bare, dark green leaves growing on a mossy, damp cliff by the stream.

“What is this?” The three of them looked up in unison.

“Purple-patterned slipper orchid, a national first-class key protected species. The flowering season starts in October.”

The three of them were impressed but found it hard to be awed by the plain leaves.

“The purple-patterned slipper orchid also has another name, the Hong Kong slipper orchid, which is the slipper orchid species growing at the lowest altitude,” Xiang Feiran explained.

Shang Mingbao pressed her lips together, took out her phone, and took a photo of the plain scene on the cliff.

On the way back, while he walked ahead and smoked, she finally found an opportunity to ask him privately, “Feiran, did you bring me here on purpose?”

Xiang Feiran was suddenly choked by the smoke. “Why would you think that?”

Shang Mingbao: “Because I’m from Hong Kong.”

Xiang Feiran exhaled smoke with a half-smile. “The connection is logical, but that’s not the case.”

Shang Mingbao: “……”

He casually reassured her, “I just think you don’t resemble a slipper orchid.”

Though the slipper orchid was precious and rare, he felt it was cute but overly clumsy.

Shang Mingbao, shy and with bright eyes, asked, “Then what do I resemble?”

Xiang Feiran looked at her face, searching among the five thousand-plus plants he knew.

When he thought, his gaze was always so absent-minded that it seemed he wasn’t really looking at her or finding the question worth answering.

After a few seconds, he said, “You resemble nothing.”

“Among the five thousand-plus plants I know, none can compare to you.”

Shang Mingbao’s mood sank. “Normal people would say someone resembles a rose…”

“Fading beauty.”

“……”

When they returned to the group, Fang Suining, like a barometer, accurately sensed, “Why are you so moody today?”

Shang Mingbao responded gloomily with an “Mm,” and then contradicted herself by adding, “Nothing.”

By the time they got back to the campsite, it was already 5 PM. The sun began to set, piercing the dense forest with golden arrows of light.

Xiang Feiran briefly explained how to organize shapes, press specimens, and dry them. He left the old newspapers, corrugated paper, and specimen folders behind, instructed Fang Suining to lead the team, and went outside to prepare dinner.

In midsummer, it stays light out late. Before it got completely dark, Shang Mingbao and the others had sorted over a hundred specimens, bundled them with specimen folders, and placed them on the heater.

As she lifted the tent flap, the deep blue dusk spread across the darkened treetops. The curry chicken on the extinguished gas stove emitted a rich aroma.

Xiang Feiran sat on a folding chair, his long legs crossed and resting on the ground, arms folded across his chest. His face, usually too stern, was now softened and deepened by the twilight.

His breathing was shallow, and it seemed he was so tired he had fallen asleep.

Shang Mingbao tiptoed over and carefully pulled the phone from his hand.

She suspected he hadn’t had a full night’s sleep in the past week.

Jiang Shaokang moved his gaze from observing Shang Mingbao and volunteered, “I’ll go get two more buckets of water from where we fetched it at noon.”

Although it was ten degrees cooler here than on the plain, it was still summer. They had sweated a lot during their trek, and even though they couldn’t bathe, they still needed to clean up.

Feeling that Shang Mingbao’s gaze at Xiang Feiran was too conspicuous, Jiang Shaokang nudged her arm and said, “Babe, will you come with me?”

Shang Mingbao wasn’t too lazy to help and felt it was her duty to contribute while they were out, so she nodded in agreement.

Jiang Shaokang didn’t make her carry heavy items, splitting the work with her—she would carry things on the way out, and he would take over on the way back. The streamside was tranquil and beautiful. Jiang Shaokang casually asked, “Have you known Feiran for a long time?”

“No, we just met.”

“Do you like him?”

Shang Mingbao, who was washing her face with water, nearly slipped into the stream at his question.

“Impossible,” she firmly denied, her face turning bright red in the evening darkness. “It’s not like I’d like someone so casually.”

Jiang Shaokang sighed in relief. “I thought you might have feelings for him. It’s good if you don’t.”

Shang Mingbao snapped, “What’s it to you?”

“What kind of person do you like, then?”

Shang Mingbao stood up, trying to hide her flustered feelings. “I’m not telling you.”

After bringing back the two buckets of water, Xiang Feiran also woken up. His phone had some signal here, and he was replying to WeChat messages.

Fang Suining took one of the buckets and went into their tent with Shang Mingbao.

The portable lantern hung from the tent’s ceiling, lighting up the small space warmly.

Before changing clothes, Fang Suining asked quietly, “Can they see us from outside?”

The tent wasn’t soundproof, and Jiang Shaokang kindly replied, “They can’t see.”

The two girls inside the tent: “……”

Xiang Feiran was truly exasperated with the high school students’ lack of discretion. He called Jiang Shaokang, gestured for him to follow, and led him to the edge of the camp.

The night had deepened, with a hint of chill in the wind, swirling around the distant, brightly lit cityscape.

Jiang Shaokang had something he wanted to discuss.

Starting with casual small talk, he asked, “Feiran, do you have a girlfriend?”

“No.”

“Have you ever been in a relationship?”

“No.”

“Have you ever pursued someone?”

“No.”

After three consecutive “no” answers, Jiang Shaokang asked, “Then you must have had feelings for someone before.”

Xiang Feiran paused and replied, “I don’t know.”

Jiang Shaokang thought for a moment and said, “You must have high standards, so it’s probably girls who pursue you.” He abruptly changed the topic. “I just asked Babe if she has feelings for you.”

Xiang Feiran waited a few seconds after Jiang Shaokang’s statement, but Jiang Shaokang didn’t continue.

“And?” He looked down, the first time he actively asked a question.

Jiang Shaokang casually responded, “She said no.”

Xiang Feiran nodded, his expression unreadable in the dim light of the night.

Jiang Shaokang continued speaking to himself, “So, you probably don’t like Shang Mingbao either.”

Xiang Feiran narrowed his eyes and cut him off. “Be direct.”

Jiang Shaokang, matching his gaze, said, “I want to ask if you can help me pursue Shang Mingbao these days, or at least stay away from her.”

He expected a clear answer, either yes or no, but Xiang Feiran only gave him a cold smile, the same as the one he had in the coffee shop.

With no further words, Xiang Feiran turned and walked away.

Back at the camp, Fang Suining and the others had finished cleaning up and changed into dry, comfortable clothes. They were sitting by the campfire, warming up.

They sat according to the lunch order, but after Xiang Feiran sat down, he said to Shang Mingbao, who was sitting across from him:

“Shang Mingbao, sit next to me.”