Chapter 55

The Buick business car was a bit old. Although the smell inside wasn’t unbearable, it wasn’t exactly pleasant either. After Shang Mingbao got into the car, she opened her thermos cup, and the steam revealed the fragrance of jasmine tea.

The guide introduced himself as Tashi, a Tibetan in his early thirties with a pair of children. The area they were visiting was deep within a national park, and Tashi’s village was nestled within this 1,400-square-kilometer wilderness.

The most beautiful seasons here are spring and autumn. In May and June, the mountains are covered in wildflowers, and in September and October, the forests are full of vibrant colors. At this time of year, only frosty branches remain, and the sky is often overcast with occasional snow flurries.

Tashi, unaware that this female student had already seen the most beautiful sceneries in the world, saw her recording through the rearview mirror and proudly introduced, “May and June are the most beautiful, with the mountains full of rhododendrons, those purple ones!”

His limited vocabulary failed to describe it more vividly, and he reduced it to “those purple ones!”

Shang Mingbao put away her phone, her eyes sparkling as she asked, “Really?”

Hearing this, Xiang Feiran smiled slightly.

Encouraged by her reaction, Tashi confidently replied, “Really!”

He was so motivated that he spoke to Xiang Feiran, “Professor Xiang, I’m right, aren’t I?”

Xiang Feiran nodded, “The most common here is the dense-leaved rhododendron. In May and June, it blooms with purple-blue or light purple flowers, with terminal umbellate panicles, and it’s very spectacular when in full bloom.”

Shang Mingbao clasped her hands, leaned her shoulder, and looked at him with a bright gaze, “Teacher, tell me more.”

“……”

Troublesome.

Because of Shang Mingbao, Xiang Feiran was forced to talk all the way, speaking more than he did when he was a documentary consultant.

By evening, dusk had fallen, making it inconvenient to enter the mountains. After dropping them off at a resort hotel halfway, Tashi agreed to pick them up at 6:30 the next morning.

Shang Mingbao felt a throbbing pain at her temples but didn’t mention it to Xiang Feiran, thinking it was due to her menstrual period and that it would be fine after a good night’s sleep.

Although they often stayed overnight together, this was their first time staying in a hotel room. During check-in, Shang Mingbao felt a bit uneasy. When Xiang Feiran took her hand, she whispered, covering her mouth, “Professor Xiang, why are you staying in the same room as your student?”

The Concierge who helped with the luggage was speechless.

Oh?

Xiang Feiran tightened his grip on her hand, his face calm and devoid of any expression, “Because my moral integrity is compromised.”

Concierge: “……”

Oh.

Shang Mingbao started to struggle, her face flushing red. She said quietly, “Let go…”

Concierge: “……”

Oh?

Xiang Feiran raised an eyebrow, “What? Are you having second thoughts? There’s no turning back once the bow is drawn. I’m not letting you go.”

Concierge: “……”

Enough!

The damn elevator finally arrived. Shang Mingbao, her face flushed and ears burning, grabbed the suitcase from the Concierge’s hands, and hastily said, “I’ll handle it myself, thank you.”

Once the elevator doors closed, Shang Mingbao was both embarrassed and astonished. “How did you come up with those lines?!”

And said them so nonchalantly!

Xiang Feiran pondered for a moment, “From Fang Suining’s monologue.”

That girl rented a small theater to stage her self-written, self-directed, self-acted, and self-sung melodramatic “new-style opera” epic. The only audience member was Xiang Feiran, who was coerced into attending by moral and physical blackmail. Because the plot and lines were too venomous, it left a vivid mark on Xiang Feiran’s limited artistic experience.

Xiang Feiran was the sole victim of his cousin’s play. After renting the theater for a few days, Fang Suining was out of funds and relied on him for food and lodging. To ensure the purity of his academic environment, Xiang Feiran had to pay her two thousand dollars to leave. With the money in hand, Fang Suining sniffled about the sins of New York aesthetics and resolved to go to France.

Shang Mingbao listened silently, smiling, but inwardly she thought that Suining, only a year older than her, had already found her path and acted on it. Xiang Feiran had too. Shang Lu had too. Shang Mingzhuo had too.

Her life was filled with determined people with clear goals, yet she still didn’t know what she wanted to do. Was it just about going through the motions—studying, dating, spending money, and getting married? Her life certainly had many joys, novelties, and pleasures, but was that all there was?

Was that really all there was?

In the unfamiliar hotel room of a remote town, this thought struck Shang Mingbao like a cold lightning bolt, brightening the murky sky of her mind.

“Feiran-ge,” she called out after entering the room.

“What?”

“Did you always want to study plants and research the Gentianaceae family?” she asked casually.

“No,” Xiang Feiran replied.

“Not always?” Shang Mingbao looked up in surprise.

Xiang Feiran set down his hiking bag and smiled, “Initially, I was focused on molecular biology. It was only by chance that I started researching plant classification and evolution.”

“Did you give up? Did you find the original direction too difficult?”

Xiang Feiran chuckled, a mix of self-deprecation, irony, and eventual resignation in his laugh.

He admitted with a gentle gaze, “You could say that.”

It was too difficult. Leaving the influence and control of Xiang Weishan in the original direction was too challenging. His era had come twenty years earlier, and his “shade” was all-encompassing.

The conditions for the following days of accommodation were harsh, and tonight was the last night of the five-star hotel with a big bed. Xiang Feiran ordered her to turn off the lights and go to sleep before ten.

Shang Mingbao initially wanted to take a hot bath, but her menstruation made her abandon the idea. After taking a long hot shower, the pain at the back of her head seemed to ease. She inserted a tampon and added a sanitary napkin for extra protection.

After turning off the lights, the only light in the room came from a desk lamp by the window. Xiang Feiran, having showered and changed into a T-shirt and sweatpants, sat back at the desk, continuing to work on his Gentianaceae system development framework and classification revision.

Under the dim light, his profile, framed by his mildly nearsighted glasses, was deep, with damp hair falling over his brows.

So focused, undistracted, he seemed to forget her presence as Shang Mingbao watched him.

After a while, the sound of the keyboard stopped, and Xiang Feiran found himself suddenly enveloped by Shang Mingbao’s warm, soft body. He moved his hand from the keyboard to her waist and hips.

For the culprit interrupting his work, he looked at her for a moment, removed her earplugs, and asked calmly, “What do you want?”

In the dead of night, with everything silent, Shang Mingbao’s heart trembled at his question.

Xiang Feiran, through the layer of cotton, lightly tapped, “You can’t.”

Even though he said this, his gaze was deep. Just being looked at by him made Shang Mingbao’s eyes begin to falter.

Hugging his neck, she whispered, “I just want you to go to bed soon…”

Her feeble sentence was left unfinished. Xiang Feiran pressed her waist, and in the close distance, his voice was warm and husky, “Help me take off my glasses.”

Shang Mingbao gently placed her hands on his glasses and removed them from his straight nose. Before she could set them down on the desk, Xiang Feiran pulled her into a kiss. His hand slid down her smooth, bare leg, and suddenly, with a firm grip, he lifted her horizontally.

“Turn off the light yourself,” he ordered, pausing his steps slightly.

Shang Mingbao fumbled to turn off the switch, then returned to the kiss with him, feeling dizzy as she was tossed onto the bed.

She wasn’t allowed to, but menstruation was strange, making her want to snuggle and hug him. Xiang Feiran held her tightly, one hand pressing her chin, forcing her to lift her head and arch her back.

With earplugs in one ear and the other exposed, her embarrassing and flushed sounds were half-clear, half-muddled, as if submerged underwater.

Not only did she bring trouble upon herself, but she also caused Xiang Feiran distress. As she touched his Adam’s apple and his firm abs, her hands, which were becoming increasingly bold, were abruptly restrained by him with some force.

“No.” Though his breath was heavy, his tone remained clear, revealing a coldness that suggested control over his desires.

Shang Mingbao withdrew her hand and leaned her warm lips to Xiang Feiran’s ear: “Why not, Xiang Bo, Teacher Xiang?”

Xiang Feiran’s breath noticeably stopped. The tension in his mind snapped with the deliberate delay of her words.

Shang Mingbao thought she had won, and, smugly pursing her lips, tried to lie back down. However, Xiang Feiran’s arm wrapped around her from behind—he held her, lifted her upper body, and while ordering her hand to tighten, he bit her.

Shang Mingbao’s thoughts were suddenly shattered. She hadn’t anticipated such a… such a position or way of doing things. She was tortured, her body’s sensitivity heightened to its peak with no outlet for release.

The next morning, her hands were sore, and she couldn’t stop them from trembling as she ate breakfast, trying to pick up rice noodles.

Damn it, he even told her that Yunnan’s crossing-the-bridge rice noodles were delicious and to give them a try. What a joke!

Angry, Shang Mingbao slammed her chopsticks down: “Xiang Feiran!”

Xiang Feiran lifted his gaze: “What’s wrong?”

“Aren’t you…” Shang Mingbao crossed her arms, and although the large buffet restaurant had only a few tables occupied, she lowered her voice, frowning in anger: “Didn’t you really study?”

Xiang Feiran choked on his coffee, coughed a few times, and then calmly said: “I studied, read some literature.”

“What?”

“Do you want to see?”

Shang Mingbao, like a boiling kettle, had every pore emitting steam: “No!”

Tashi’s car arrived on time to pick them up.

Today’s journey would take four hours, starting with the highway, then a provincial road, and after entering the national park from the provincial road, an endless winding mountain road with narrow surfaces and cliffs on one side, requiring careful driving at a speed of only thirty miles per hour.

Tashi knew Xiang Feiran preferred quiet, so he kept the car silent.

This season was the off-peak time for visitors here. The highway was almost empty, giving off a sense of desolation and bleakness. Tashi, gripping the steering wheel, couldn’t help but glance at Xiang Feiran through the rearview mirror.

He couldn’t guess Xiang Feiran’s age because his face looked so youthful, almost boyish. But during the documentary filming task with a domestic agency, everyone referred to him as “Xiang Bo,” clearly indicating he was indeed a doctor.

Tashi, having only a middle school education and knowing just a bit of Chinese and arithmetic, didn’t understand the world of doctors. He felt a natural respect and viewed Xiang Feiran with a sense of distance, as he was reserved, didn’t smile, and avoided small talk.

Tashi often hosted clients from big cities who loved asking about local life, such as the number of cattle, daily grazing times, whether people really only ate tsampa, local marriage ages, and how often people went out of the mountains. Tashi answered all these questions in detail, even if some were invasive, he responded with good humor. However, Xiang Bo never asked, so Tashi regarded serving him as a kind of spiritual long vacation.

But this time, Xiang Bo was clearly different from before. He usually slept in the car, but today he kept his eyes open… while massaging his student’s wrist.

Tashi’s gaze in the rearview mirror was too obvious, and when Xiang Feiran coldly noticed it, Tashi awkwardly laughed: “Xiang Bo, you and your student seem very close.”

“She’s not my student.” Xiang Feiran finally clarified.

Tashi, who often guided tourists in this mountain region and knew that the national park was a key field for plant research, realized the misunderstanding about a student-teacher romance could cause trouble if left unaddressed.

Understanding the situation, Tashi relaxed: “I see! She’s your wife, right?”

Tashi’s Mandarin had a stiff accent, and his use of “wife” sounded somewhat cute in a serious manner.

Shang Mingbao’s heart skipped a beat. Her eyes widened, and her lips moved as if to deny, but her voice faltered.

She hesitated.

“Not really.” After a moment, Xiang Feiran denied it again.

This made Tashi uncomfortable, and he repeatedly apologized.

“Girlfriend.” Xiang Feiran corrected the term and their relationship, “She’s my girlfriend. Your Mandarin isn’t great; ‘girlfriend’ and ‘wife’ are two different statuses.”

Tashi, hearing Xiang Feiran’s attempt to help him save face, quickly followed suit: “Right, right, I mean, I understand. A girlfriend is not married, while a wife is. I got it right this time!” His rough, dry hands nervously rubbed the steering wheel, feeling awkward and not understanding why the atmosphere was so gloomy.

Shang Mingbao broke the subtle tension, cheerfully saying: “Do I really look that old? I’m not even at the legal marriage age in the mainland.”

Tashi laughed heartily.

Xiang Feiran closed his eyes, as if to rest, furrowing his brow but instructing: “Play some music. It’s too quiet.”

Tashi’s CD collection was filled with cheerful and expansive songs loved by the people of the grasslands. Amidst this uplifting and chaotic melody, Shang Mingbao stopped looking out the window and quietly played with her phone.

After two songs, her hand was held by Xiang Feiran. Without saying a word, he gradually tightened his grip on her hand.

Shang Mingbao puffed out one side of her face, then the other, and after a back-and-forth, she took a discreet breath, tilting her chin up next to him.

She wanted to ask whether it was really necessary to be so strict, since she was already aware of her own feelings.

However, when she spoke, she asked in a gentle and soft tone: “Boyfriend, does this mean I don’t have to carry the tent myself now?”