Chapter 16

By the time everyone arrived at the campsite, it was already 2 p.m., a full hour later than expected.

Shang Mingbao knew she had slowed them down, but for someone who had never participated in physical education classes since childhood, making it here by sheer willpower was already an impressive feat. Once they reached the campsite, Fang Suining, seeing her pale face, quickly helped her sit down on an elevated spot to rest.

Shang Mingbao leaned on her trekking poles, catching her breath for a long time, as the intense heaviness in her heart gradually eased.

The figure of Xiang Feiran appeared before her.

He removed the outdoor cup from Shang Mingbao’s backpack and handed her a cup of warm water. “Drink some water.”

The flower crown on his forehead swayed gently in the breeze.

It was quite distracting.

Xiang Feiran shifted his gaze away and, after Shang Mingbao took a couple of sips, asked, “How are you feeling?”

Shang Mingbao looked up at his face, dazed for a moment. “I felt better just now, but now I’m feeling worse again.”

Xiang Feiran’s expression tightened, taking it very seriously. He crouched down and said, “Let me see your watch.”

Shang Mingbao obediently extended her left hand. Xiang Feiran held her warm fingertips, rolled up the sleeve of her jacket, and exposed the watch face.

Initially, her heart rate displayed 117. Within the dozen seconds he held her fingertips and observed, it visibly climbed to 120, and then to 130.

The more Xiang Feiran looked, the tighter his brow furrowed. He lifted his head and scrutinized Shang Mingbao’s complexion with a probing gaze.

He was observing seriously, with a sense of responsibility for her well-being. His focused gaze moved inch by inch from Shang Mingbao’s bright, shimmering eyes down to her pale pink lips.

Who could endure such intense scrutiny from him?

Beep beep beep, the heart rate reached 140, issuing a faint warning.

Xiang Feiran spoke, “What’s going on? Do you feel unwell?”

Shang Mingbao replied, “I don’t know, but seeing you makes me feel this way…”

Xiang Feiran was momentarily stunned, released her hand, and his expression became blank. He called her by her full name, “Shang Mingbao.”

“What is it…”

“Don’t joke about things like this.”

“What kind of thing?”

Xiang Feiran’s face was cold as he said each word deliberately, “Matters concerning your safety.”

And also the kind of nonsense that makes people imagine things under a flower crown made by a boyfriend’s hand.

The flower crown was about to fall off.

Shang Mingbao still propped herself up and, feeling aggrieved, murmured, “I wasn’t making things up; I was speaking the truth.”

Xiang Feiran ignored her, his face darkening as he stood up and walked away.

He left decisively, but it seemed his half-finger gloves suddenly became too hot to wear. The sound of the Velcro tearing away revealed his frustration. After removing them, he gripped them tightly in his hand.

After walking a few steps, he suddenly turned back, strode over, and removed the flower crown from her head. “I told you, oleander is toxic.”

—

Since they still had to collect plants in the afternoon and time was tight, lunch ended up being canned fish and plain noodles.

Aside from Fang Suining, the remaining young ladies and gentlemen had never had such a makeshift meal. They ate reluctantly, eventually finishing their meal under the threat of “possibly rolling down the hillside and getting injured due to low blood sugar if you don’t eat enough.”

Jiang Shaokang asked, “Bro, is it always this tough in the wild?”

Xiang Feiran dismissed his question with a single sentence, “It’s not that tough.”

“It’s not tough?” Jiang Shaokang was taken aback. “I’m definitely not choosing biology in the future.”

Xiang Feiran, holding his cup, said, “Being in the wild isn’t a necessity. Even for taxonomy majors, you won’t be out in the field all the time.”

Fang Suining raised her hand. “With the support of molecular biology and bioinformatics techniques, and sufficient samples, why still go out into the field? Even if you want to observe morphology, you can study specimens and fresh samples in a museum.”

“Some work can only be done by going out into the field yourself. For instance, validating inter-species hybridization requires examining habitats, pollinators, and horizontal gene transfer caused by fungi. Other tasks include regional biodiversity surveys and baseline studies.”

Fang Suining shook her head. “Of course, there’s also the case where some people are just lazy to interact with others and prefer staying in the mountains and forests, so they bring it upon themselves.”

Xiang Feiran shot her a glance. “Good to know.”

Jiang Shaokang asked Fang Suining, “Are you majoring in biology in college?”

Fang Suining firmly denied, “Spare me. I’ve failed more times than I’ve passed. He won gold in the Olympiad in his first year of high school; I can’t compete with that.”

Jiang Shaokang immediately felt a surge of respect. “Is your cousin at Tsinghua?”

Xiang Feiran mentioned his university, and Jiang Shaokang felt a slight awkwardness. Although it was also a top school, it was certainly not on the level of Tsinghua or Peking University.

Fang Suining defended her cousin in front of outsiders, disdainfully saying, “He got the entrance tickets to Tsinghua and Peking University in his first year of high school and just declined them. So the person you’re facing here couldn’t even get into those top schools.”

Xiang Feiran, feeling nauseated by her flattery, shoved a grain bar into her mouth. “Eat.”

Jiang Shaokang was not particularly concerned about why he didn’t go to Tsinghua or Peking University, or why he chose taxonomy, a field that doesn’t get as much attention or yield high-impact papers, instead of aiming to become an academic star in molecular biology.

What he wanted to ask was actually Shang Mingbao. “Babe, what do you plan to study in the future?”

Shang Mingbao honestly replied, “I haven’t thought about it yet.”

“Don’t you have anything you particularly want to study?”

Shang Mingbao thought carefully and said, “No.”

She really hadn’t thought about what she wanted to do, as she always felt she might die at any moment. It seemed pointless to think about it.

Wen Youyi often told her, “Babe, just grow up happily,” but in the face of a congenital disease, happiness also became a difficult pursuit.

Shang Mingbao had never thought there was anything wrong with living a life of ease and comfort, but after answering these two questions, she suddenly felt uneasy.

She stole a glance at Xiang Feiran.

Would he think she was an aimless, empty-headed, superficial person?

He was so smart; he probably preferred someone very intelligent. She had the wisdom of happiness, but that was quite different from sharp, incisive intelligence.

“She doesn’t even have common sense, how could she think that far ahead?” Fang Suining joked. “She even asked me where Yunnan was last time.”

She was just joking, but Shang Mingbao was inexplicably hurt. Just as she was about to retort sharply, she heard Xiang Feiran speak:

“Besides basic principles and truths, most common knowledge is just common knowledge among similar social circles. There’s no need to measure your life by others’ standards.”

Fang Suining didn’t expect him to speak and suddenly felt embarrassed. She asked, somewhat defiantly, “For example?”

Xiang Feiran gave Shang Mingbao a look. She received the signal, thought for a moment, and cleared her throat. “For example… do you know the grading levels of rubies?”

“…”

“Do you know the size and weight of a 120-carat yellow diamond?”

“…”

“Do you know the setting techniques and history of each high jewelry brand?”

“…”

“Do you know how many craftsmen and processes a gemstone goes through from mining to counter display?”

“Alright, alright, alright…” Fang Suining clasped her hands in surrender. “Sorry, miss. I was wrong. You have your own common knowledge.”

Shang Mingbao propped her chin on her hands, feeling a bit smug. “Of course.”

Her appearance was so cute that Xiang Feiran couldn’t help but smile slightly as he fiddled with the campfire.

“To farmers, knowing how to predict the weather, spring plowing, and autumn harvest, and how to make the land more productive, is common knowledge. For fishermen, knowing which sea area can yield which fish, wind direction, and ocean currents is common knowledge. There’s no superiority or priority in knowledge. When you encounter knowledge outside your life experience, you should be glad to gain a new perspective. When others find what you’re used to unfamiliar, you should be happy to open a new window for a friend.”

He had never spoken such a long paragraph before, and it had a bit of a lecturing tone. The atmosphere fell silent.

Fang Suining lowered her head, her cheeks reddened by the campfire.

This wasn’t something Xiang Feiran had said on his own; it was a lesson taught to them by Tan Shuo Yue because he had been arrogant and self-important when he won the gold medal back then, which led to this lesson.

Years had passed, and she had forgotten, but Xiang Feiran remembered.

“Feiran Gege…”

Xiang Feiran stood up from the campfire, gently patting her head. “It’s alright.”

—

After a short break following lunch, the four of them re-entered the mountains to continue their plant research journey.

Xiang Feiran played the role of a serious guide, explaining everything and answering questions throughout, teaching them basic morphological identification methods. However, Jiang Shaokang seemed to treat this as a date, taking pictures of attractive plants like giant spring ferns, epiphytic fritillarias on the edge of stones, and blooming crape myrtle, mainly focusing on Shang Mingbao (and occasionally on Fang Suining).

During such times, Xiang Feiran would quietly wait, not getting into the frame, feeling an itch in his fingers and wanting to smoke.

When they finally began collecting plants, he personally demonstrated and explained the key points.

Fang Suining was somewhat surprised. “Are you planning to become a teacher? Your patience is unusually high.”

Xiang Feiran casually raised her wrist by an inch with two fingers. “The root is broken, little sister.”

“…”

Shang Mingbao found a distant clover and squatted down, her small trowel wielded lethargically.

Xiang Feiran squatted beside her. “What’s wrong?”

“Bored.” Shang Mingbao hugged her knees, her voice muffled in her arm.

She wasn’t really bored, but Jiang Shaokang’s constant picture-taking and exhibitionism had made the whole thing feel dull, though she couldn’t get angry, as she was always reluctant to offend those who were kind to her.

Xiang Feiran was not surprised by Shang Mingbao’s feelings. After a moment, he said, “I’ll take you back to the camp. You should rest properly.”

He stood up to leave, but Shang Mingbao grabbed his wrist. “You’re unhappy because you think I’m offending your plants.”

“That’s not the case.”

Plants don’t speak; those fascinating evolutionary stories require humans to explore. If you don’t have the patience to listen, plants are just common, boring, and dull organisms.

People living in cities never know the names of ferns in green belts or the type of bamboo planted behind houses. The street trees that bloom year after year might not have their names known from the time you arrived in the city until you leave. You simply pass by and then leave.

“You’re just unhappy,” Shang Mingbao insisted.

Xiang Feiran looked at her, one hand resting on his squatting knee. “Yes, I’m unhappy.”

“I’m unhappy too.” Shang Mingbao met his gaze directly.

“What are you unhappy about?”

“You’re avoiding me.” Shang Mingbao’s feelings, pent up all day, finally came out at that moment. “You’re avoiding me today. You clearly brought us up the mountain because of me. Why are you avoiding me instead? Did I do something wrong?”

Xiang Feiran remained unmoved by her question, even giving a cold, detached smile. “Who told you I brought you up the mountain because of you?”

Shang Mingbao was stunned. “Wasn’t it?”

Xiang Feiran was almost amused by her assumption and felt a surge of cold anger inside. “Do you think the whole world revolves around you, and everything that happens to fit your desires is because of you? I brought you up the mountain because my grandfather, who is far away in Beijing for a conference, asked me to take good care of you.”

Shang Mingbao listened to every word, the sting in her nose feeling unreasonable. “So, protecting me on the cliff was also because of Grandpa’s request?”

Xiang Feiran hadn’t expected her to notice this detail but soon guessed that Jiang Shaokang had told her about last night’s incident.

He said coldly, with a perfectly emotionless expression, “Yes.”

“Wasn’t there even a tiny bit of it because of me?” Shang Mingbao’s eyes were hot, her voice trembling slightly.

It was the kind of embarrassment one feels when a princess is pulled off her throne, and her crown is shattered.

Xiang Feiran did not answer the question directly but said, “Even if you were a princess, don’t take everything for granted.”

Later, no one quite remembered what was said. Only a few steps from the campsite, she shook off his hand, angrily refusing his escort, and left in a huff. He, on the other hand, just stood there, unmoving, until a few minutes later when he muttered a curse under his breath. After a brief exchange with Fang Suining, he quickly walked and then ran to catch up.

The sound of footsteps on the decaying leaves was sharp and clear, and beneath the birds’ chirping, the mountain forest seemed eerily silent.

In this quiet, the sound of crying emerged.

Shang Mingbao, having walked only halfway, crouched down and began to wail uncontrollably.

The walkie-talkie hanging from her shoulder was pressed, though she didn’t seem to notice.

That was a channel open only to the walkie-talkie Xiang Feiran was holding.

Xiang Feiran’s footsteps on the rugged path froze. Shang Mingbao’s crying was clear and heart-wrenching, resonating right by his ear, making his palms sweat and his mind go blank.

After crying for a while, the sound of cursing followed.

In addition to the classic “How dare you,” there were now new variations like “Bastard,” “Stinking bastard,” “Son of a bitch,” “Go to hell,” and “Get lost,” interspersed with gasping breaths as if she was on the verge of collapsing.

When Xiang Feiran found her, she was still crouched, cursing while pulling at the innocent grass at her feet, reaching the stage where she felt she had exhausted her vocabulary but still wasn’t satisfied.

The excessive politeness she had been taught seemed to have backfired, as her words, though harmless, hit with the force of bullets due to her crying voice, striking directly at the man’s heart behind her.

Her body was suddenly lifted from the ground by a strong force. Shang Mingbao, her eyes blurred with tears, stumbled in surprise.

Hot, labored breaths brushed past her ear.

Xiang Feiran removed the walkie-talkie from her shoulder with one hand and pressed her neck with the other, forcing her face into his embrace. “Your boyfriend isn’t here right now. Save your energy. Just curse in front of me.”