After nearly two hours of flight, the plane landed in Kunming. Xin Chen took his luggage and came out, Xin Kaiyu was already waiting outside, and drove home quickly after picking her up.

Since Xin Chen went to college, he often came to play during the holidays. Xin Kaiyu originally lived in a rental house, co-opened a trading company with friends, and worked as a supermarket agent for some fast-moving consumer goods, self-deprecating that he was almost a merchant, Xin Chen laughed when he heard it, put his arm around his father and said: "It is said that the merchants who used to walk around the village and alleys were all well-known romantic figures, but they are really suitable for you." ”

Xin Kaiyu was amused, but after all, he was much more serious than when he was in his hometown. After his business gradually got on track, he bought a high-rise apartment in the city, but his life was still casual, and the house was only renovated to the simplest.

Xin Chen walked in with her father and saw that the apartment in front of her had been carefully arranged, with furniture, knick-knacks, curtains, and electrical appliances in coordination, and the room was orderly and tidy.

"Go and see your room, Aunt Bai said if there is anything you don't like, just tell her."

Xin Chen's room is south-facing, well-lit, there is a humidifier in the corner of the room, spraying water mist finely, pasted with shallow pastoral style wallpaper, pure platinum-rimmed furniture with pink curtains and bedspreads, and a plush toy on the bed, quite a sweet girlish feeling, she looks a little funny, "It's good, thank you Aunt Bai." ”

"I'll go to work first, and when Aunt Bai gets off work in the evening, I'll come back to pick you up for dinner, and I'll ...... at noon."

Xin Chen cut him off, "Dad, I've been here many times, and you are suddenly so polite today, I can only conclude that you are deliberately trying to make me unable to live." ”

Xin Kaiyu laughed and rubbed his daughter's hair, "Look at your face, it's pale like this." Have a good rest these days, and don't run around as soon as you put down your luggage. ”

Xin Chen held her mobile phone and lay down on the bed, after she got off the plane, she turned on her mobile phone and received a text message from Lu Fei, but she didn't open it immediately.

The room is quiet, and the sunlight gradually moves to the south-facing window, and the pink curtains shine through the warm room. She opened the inbox, only to see the phone screen displaying: "Xiaochen, I know that leaving an address for you is a practice you hate, but I will always wait for you here." "Here's the villa number. She put down her phone in despair, remembering that in the summer of 14, the woman who claimed to be her mother suddenly came and went to leave the address to make way for Lu Fei to hand it over, and she refused to pick it up at all; Seven years ago, in the summer before leaving, Lu Fei went out of his way to find her and handed her a note with her email address, which she tore up without looking. But now, even if she deleted the text message immediately, the room number had been stubbornly imprinted into her mind.

She never had a way to take her memory, especially the part that had to do with Lu Fei. She had hoped that time would pass and take everything away, but this man reappeared when she thought she was indifferent, intervening in her life, leaving a new mark little by little.

No matter how much she left, she couldn't cut off her connection with that city at once. The waiting, which the man calmly said to her, had begun to restrain her.

Xin Kaiyu's marriage is very simple, but it is not a ceremony. The next day, he drove his girlfriend Bai Hong and daughter Xin Chen to the District Civil Affairs Bureau and got a marriage certificate. The staff was a middle-aged woman, and for the first time she saw the groom's daughter holding her father's arm, she was quite happy, and after stamping, she officially handed over the marriage certificate to them, "I wish you a happy wedding and a hundred years of happiness." ”

Then the three of them went to eat together, which was considered a celebration. The bride Bai Hong is a local, the family conditions are good, her parents are retired university teachers, and she does not approve of being a certified public accountant, she picks and chooses to find a foreign man who is 11 years older than her and has an adult daughter after she is 33 years old, but she can't resist Bai Hong's firmness, so she can only acquiesce.

In the restaurant, Bai Hong mentioned that he had time the next day and could accompany Xin Chen out for a walk.

Xin Kaiyu felt funny when his wife spoke in such a tone of receiving tourists, "That's not necessary, Chenzi has been coming here often since he was a student, and he is very familiar with Kunming." ”

Xin Chen also shook his head and said with a smile: "Thank you, Aunt Bai, I plan to go to Lijiang to live for a few days in the afternoon." ”

Bai Hong was stunned, her face turned red slowly, she and Xin Kaiyu have been busy recently, and they have no plans to go out for their honeymoon, knowing that this girl who is only 8 years younger than herself is planning to make room for their wedding night, she wants to speak, but it is really difficult to say, she can only look at Xin Kaiyu.

Xin Kaiyu talked to his daughter the night before, knowing that she had a certain idea, and others couldn't change it, so he patted her hand soothingly, "It's better to stay for a few days before the peak tourist season." ”

Xin Chen has come to Kunming a lot of times, and has been to famous scenic spots in Yunnan Province such as Dali and Xishuangbanna, and has also taken advantage of the holiday to participate in the crossing of the Nujiang Tiger Leaping Gorge. She had been to Lijiang and Yulong Snow Mountain since she was a freshman, and she had limited interest in folk music, bars, sitting in a daze and basking in the sun, and was not as obsessed with this place as those petty bourgeoisie. As the place grew famous and more tourists, she became even less interested.

She just decided to get acquainted and avoided staying in the same room with her father and his new wife.

She first stayed in the old town of Lijiang for one night, and the next day she went to Shuhe, found an inn with a suitable price and booked a room. Then, when the weather was fine, she would walk around Lashihai and Wenhai on foot, and when she was tired, she would walk around the town, watch artisans process fabrics or silverware, listen to the music of the resident singers in the bar, or else the two would sit under the porch and read a book.

It's just that such an idle life is not a kind of relaxation for her, but brings a little inexplicable anxiety.

Xin Kaiyu called and asked her if she had had enough, she laughed, "I'm tired of it, but I don't want to come back to be a light bulb." ”

"You kid, what is this called, don't you need colorful clothes to entertain your relatives now, but it is popular to leave space for entertaining your relatives?"

"Dad, I'm really not used to living with you." Xin Chen said honestly, "Don't you think that with such a big daughter by your side, you will have a sense of disobedience when you flirt and scold?" ”

Xin Kaiyu couldn't cry or laugh, "Your father isn't so low-level interesting, right?!" ”

"But without low-level fun, life is boring." Xin Chen maintained the momentum of talking to his father without taboos.

"Well, you've been playing for ten days, and seeing that it's almost a public holiday, there must be a frightening number of tourists over there. Even if I like low-level fun," Xin Kaiyu coughed and said with a smile, "I've enjoyed enough, come back." ”

Bai Hong was grateful to Xin Chen for her thoughtfulness, but she was also apprehensive, afraid that she still had ideas in her heart. She really doesn't know how to get along with this girl who is so close to her father that she is not like an ordinary father and daughter, politely calls herself aunt, and treats people politely but is clearly a little alienated. Her nervousness turned into an overly thoughtful and enthusiastic performance, which made Xin Chen really unable to feel at home.

During the day, Xin Chen was the only one left at home, and she hardly went anywhere except for going out every few days to do hiking around. I kept in touch with the advertising agencies I had worked with in the past and tried to take on a simple graphic design job, which was not as busy as before, with limited pay, but enough to pass the time.

Except for occasional business entertainment, Xin Kaiyu will go home on time, and after dinner, he will go out for a walk with Bai Hong, and then the two of them will sit on the sofa and watch TV.

Xin Chen could see that Bai Hong was clearly very attached to Xin Kaiyu, and his eyes lit up when he saw him, with the attitude of a little daughter in love. But because her stepdaughter is at home, she can only restrain herself and be dignified. She is secretly funny, and tries to stay in her bedroom at night and does not go out, Bai Hong will come and knock on the door from time to time, send some fruit, or invite her out for a walk or watch TV.

It's not that she doesn't like home-cooked group entertainment, and she admits that this lifestyle can be described as healthy and peaceful, but she just feels that it is a bit of a sin to be involved in it. She couldn't adapt to her stepmother's enthusiasm, and she couldn't adapt to the father who was once rich in programs and had a wonderful life suddenly became a family man, sitting on the sofa watching soap operas.

She felt a bit of a dilemma: going out to rent a house, of course, she could make herself more comfortable, but it would make her stepmother feel that she couldn't get off the stage; As for buying a house, she couldn't make up her mind to settle down and tie herself up.

Xin Kaiyu was also uncomfortable, he couldn't understand how his lively daughter had suddenly entered such a quiet state of life.

Xin Chen only smiled at his question, "As long as I don't go far all these years, I've lived like this." ”

Xin Kaiyu was a little annoyed, "It's a sin for a young girl to live this kind of life, when did I send you to the monastery?" ”

"Do you want me to get drunk and dream of death?" Xin Chen still laughed.

"At least have a boyfriend."

When it comes to her boyfriend, Xin Chen can only spread her hands, "If you let me come to a strange city and get a boyfriend immediately, wouldn't I have to go to a nightclub to talk to someone?" ”

Xin Kaiyu couldn't help her.

What Xin Chen didn't say was that she definitely wouldn't have a boyfriend here, and she had already decided not to live here for a long time.

For a person who used to live in a city with four distinct seasons, suffering from both the cold and the scorching heat, Kunming has a pleasant climate, fresh air, and incredibly cheap flowers. The city is under construction, and there are many similarities between demolition and traffic jams everywhere and hometown, which is not enough to cause disgust.

But Xinchen didn't like the feeling of living with people, and he really couldn't find the desire to settle here.

On a forum of travelers on the Changshang, she saw someone send out a call post for trekking in northwest Yunnan, and she was immediately tempted, carefully checked the route, and couldn't help but be a little surprised, this itinerary looks a little extravagant, including continuous hiking through four connected mountain lines, from the parallel flow of the three rivers, the Bingzhongluo Scenic Area hiking, the northern section of the Dulong River crossing, the Meili Snow Mountain Outer to the South Line, the Ninong Grand Canyon, Lugu Lake to Aden, Daocheng, and do at least a week's stay there. The convener drew a detailed route map, which is expected to take about 40 days, and listed a number of ethnic minority settlements on the way, covering the essence of the Ancient Tea Horse Road and the Renma Post Road.

These lines were broken down, and they were all places she planned to go, and she couldn't help but be convinced to see someone so ingeniously connected together. It's just that she has never done such a long hike, so she can't help but hesitate, so she began to collect online guides and conduct detailed comparative research.

The mobile phone in his hand rang, it was Lu Fei calling, he would call almost every night at this time, few words, all asking where she was and what she was doing. She unconsciously reported her whereabouts to him: "Sitting in the Shuhe bar and listening to songs. "Lie in bed and read." "Take a walk, there are a lot of stars tonight." "It's raining, and it's cold all of a sudden." He also said what he was doing: "I just finished eating with customers before I came out of the hotel. "The renovation company showed me the design drawings and was quite satisfied." "You can't see the stars here." "Remember to wear an extra piece of clothing." ……

Every time she puts down her phone, she will have a little bit of self-deprecation. She understood Lu Fei's intentions, if she was determined to leave, she should change her mobile phone number, and even this contact would be completely cut off. She even stood in a mobile business hall in Kunming, listening to the staff introduce various types of phone bill standards, but she hesitated, but still put her ID card back. She only said to herself: since you don't even plan to live here, why bother with this.

In fact, you can't refuse such a greeting, she can only introspect in her heart like this. Living in an unfamiliar city is even more lonely than walking in the wilderness on foot, especially when she lives without direction, which adds to the loneliness.

They keep this daily routine greeting.

She couldn't help but think that it seemed to be a contest of patience between two people. Of course, Lu Fei has always been a very patient person, and she has never been very patient. If this tug-of-war continues, she really doesn't know when she will suddenly refuse to continue.

Xin Chen sent a finished draft of a LOGO design to the advertising agency, stretched out greatly, and went out to pour water and drink. Only when Bai Hong asked Xin Kaiyu what his plans were for the upcoming eleventh holiday, she realized that no matter how much she loved her father, she probably couldn't stand to spend a long holiday with them.

Xin Kaiyu said: "Why don't we drive to Xishuangbanna for a few days, and I'll arrange accommodation with Lao Wu." ”

Bai Hong just said yes, Xin Chen smiled: "You and Aunt Bai go, I signed up for the hike, and I will have to leave for more than half a month." ”

Xin Kaiyu knew her hobbies, and he didn't care about it, and only told her to pay attention to safety and keep in touch with her family.

Back in the bedroom, Xin Chen signed up, and in the next few days, he sorted out the outdoor utensils that he had packed and sent first, and then went to buy the equipment he needed. This super long itinerary includes hot and dry valleys, the Dulong River with tropical rainforest climate, and high-altitude snow, so there are a lot of things to bring, although some sections will find porters and grooms, but there is a lot of time to carry your own weight, and you must be as simple as possible. There is a Shanghai girl named Tao Tao who signed up before her, and immediately contacted her by text message on the station, and the two hit it off online and decided to be a bastard, the other party brought a tent, she brought a mat, and other items were also shared as much as possible to avoid repeated carrying.

On September 30, Xin Chen rushed to Lanping from Kunming, met with five men and one woman who had agreed to go with him, took a car to Zhongpai together, hired a Lisu guide introduced by an online forerunner, and then rented a car to Nuduo Village, where he stayed overnight in the village committee that night. When Lu Fei's call came, Xin Chen had just laid out a sleeping bag on the new straw mat that the villagers had kindly brought to him.

"Xiaochen, are you at home now?"

"I'm now in Nuduo Village, Zhongpai Township, and I'm going to hike for a while, and there are some sections of the road that don't have mobile phone signal, so don't worry if you can't get through on the phone."

There was silence on the phone, Xin Chen didn't mention her plans to travel at all when she talked to Lu Fei yesterday, she was almost waiting for him to have a seizure, but Lu Fei just said: "Pay attention to safety, I will still call you every day, at least when you get to a place with a signal, just send me a text message, okay?" ”

There was no reason for her to refuse, "Okay, goodbye." ”

The convener, Lao Zhang, is from Beijing, a typical old donkey who is accustomed to the rivers and lakes, with a funny conversation and rigorous thinking, and is carefully talking with the villagers who have been recruited as porters. Several fellow travelers come from all over the country and work in different industries, and there are two young men who have just started outdoor sports with a little less experience. The others are old donkeys, who have been to many places and behave calmly. Xin Chen chatted casually with the girl Tao Tao, but this girl didn't talk much like her, which made her breathe a sigh of relief.

Xin Kaiyu's phone called, "Chenzi, didn't you tell Lu Fei that you were going out?" Xin Chen was stunned, and Xin Kaiyu continued, "I came back from a walk and met him downstairs, still carrying luggage, he should have come directly from the airport." ”

"He didn't tell me if he was coming."

Xin Kaiyu smiled, "I have a beautiful daughter, my father just has face, it doesn't matter, he went to find a hotel to stay, you still call him and comfort him." ”

Xin Chen chuckled, "Is this your experience?" ”

"Yes, men eat this very much."

Jokes aside, Xin Chen didn't plan to call Lu Fei. If he didn't mention it, she decided to ignore the past. She knew that her approach was a little mean, but it was not her style to refuse or welcome.

The next day, we officially started the trekking journey, from Nuduo Village to Laowo Village, we have to climb over three mountains, with a net altitude of 1,000 meters, which is not too difficult, as long as the physical strength can keep up, there is no big problem.

The scenery is beautiful, but the road becomes more treacherous, with muddy roads ranging from ripe walnuts and blooming wildflowers to bottomless canyons, steep water channels, and cascading mountains that look eerie and eerie. The hike took nearly 10 hours a day, but luckily there was no snowstorm that everyone feared. It took them nearly four days to cross the Fugong Biluo Snow Mountain to reach Bingzhongluo, and the mobile phone had a signal again, and they immediately received a text message from Lu Fei.

Xin Chen first called Xin Kaiyu to report his safety, and then called Lu Fei to tell him his current location.

"You tell me the specific itinerary this time, and I am at least mentally prepared for which sections of the road will not be able to contact you." For the first time, Lu Fei's tone revealed sternness and anxiety.

Xin Chen hesitated, "I'll send a text message to tell you the URL later, you can go up and see for yourself, but don't be frightened, the time and distance are a little longer, this route is difficult, but it is not dangerous." ”

"Is the scenery beautiful along the way?"

Xin Chen didn't know why he suddenly asked this, "It's too simple to describe it with beauty, in fact, some sections of the road are very boring, many mountainous areas are overdeveloped for agriculture, the original landscape has been destroyed, and the Nujiang River is turbid and yellow more than the Yangtze River." This place in Bingzhongluo is not a legendary paradise, there are not many ethnic minorities humanistic color, but after the Laowo Pass, the terrain is dangerous, the vegetation is rich, and the scenery is very magnificent. ”

"I've been trying to figure out what drove you on the road, Xiao Chen, have you been to so many places, have you found where the unknown road leads? Or are you just looking forward to seeing all the scenery you haven't seen before? ”

Xin Chen was silent, and replied after a while: "Lu Fei, where I am sitting now, according to the guide, if it is the day of the winter solstice, you can see two sunsets, the sun first sets behind the Gongdang Sacred Mountain in the southwest corner, about half an hour later, the sun will appear again from behind the Gongdang Sacred Mountain, and the sunset appears on the horizon, and then it will fall behind the Gaoligong Mountain after half an hour, it is indeed amazing to imagine." ”

"Do you think this magic is the reward for a hard journey?"

"No, there aren't many places that humans haven't been anymore. Everything is explained in great detail online, where the road will lead, when and where the beauty will appear, and where to eat delicious food. If I am lucky enough to come on the day of the winter solstice, I will just watch the time, wait for how many minutes the sun will appear again, and then set again. Her voice was soft, a little lazy, and she said slowly, "I don't regret not seeing that scene, that's how it is when I walk on the road." Sometimes you may miss something you are looking forward to for various reasons, but it is not a pity to miss it; Sometimes the more you expect, the greater the disappointment, but there is always something else waiting for you. So if you want me to say what I like, I can't really say well, I just know that I enjoy the feeling of being on the road and don't have to think about where I will stop, and that's enough. ”

Lu Fei has always been sharp, and of course he can't help but notice the implicit meaning of her words, "I haven't participated in hiking, Xiaochen, but I think that if I have a goal, then all my trips must be towards that goal." The person I was looking forward to was not the scenery, and I wouldn't stay where I was and wait until I realized I missed it and then turn back, but after knowing what I was expecting, someone else couldn't be my scenery anymore. ”

Xin Chen held the mobile phone, staring at the distant mountains, she was surrounded by a dusk darkness, the sunset gradually disappeared after sunset, not far away there were fellow travelers smoking and chatting, a few cigarette butts flashed with a dark red shimmer with the movements of their hands, and the girl Tao Tao who was a bastard with her was burying her head in sending and receiving text messages, the screen was dark and the expression on her face seemed to be happy and sad, no matter what she knew, those text messages discussed with her more than just the scenery.

"You have criticized my essays for being poorly written, thinking divergently, and always lacking ideas and topics." She chuckled softly, "It seems that I am still like this, and it is not convincing to finally use analogies and borrow things to ridicule people." Well, we're all living our lives on our own terms. ”

Lu Fei opened the website sent by Xin Chen, found the convening post, and looked at the route strung together by the unfamiliar place names of ethnic minorities, and was fascinated for a long time.

On September 30, he asked his secretary to book a plane ticket, and rushed to Kunming after finishing work, not to surprise Xin Chen. In fact, he thought that Xin Chen would probably not welcome his visit, whether or not he had greeted him beforehand. He was just trying to strengthen the fragile bond between them, but Xin Chen clearly didn't intend to give him any chance. The next day, a large number of tourists poured into the tourist city of Kunming, and he had to return against the current.

Next, Xin Chen's phone contact with him was also intermittent. When he calls her cell phone every day, most of what he hears is "I'm sorry, the number you dialed is not in the service area, please call again later".

Looking at the itinerary published on the Internet, he speculated that she should have walked to the Dulong River, which is known as the "last virgin land", and she called, sometimes using a mobile phone, sometimes using the landline of the inn, reporting an unfamiliar place name, most of the voice was tired, yawning, three words, and hung up after speaking. That night, she was a little drunk, surrounded by loud chatter and laughter, and a man singing Bob Dylan's Blowin'in the Wind at the top of his voice, hoarse but unabated.

"You can't imagine that there are all kinds of liquor sold along the way, beer, liquor, wine, whiskey, peach wine, corn wine, millet wine, uh," Xin Chen made a strange sound similar to vomiting, "and bee chrysalis wine, it's so disgusting, no matter how much it is said to be a big tonic, I don't want to drink it." ”

He laughed and said, "No matter what kind of alcohol, don't drink too much." ”

She suddenly became suspicious, "Did I behave excessively after I got drunk that day?" ”

He thought of the soft lips, the dexterous tongue, the arms tightly wrapped around his neck, and the body trembling slightly in his arms, his blood suddenly heated, his heart beat faster, and his voice became hoarse: "In short, when you come back, it doesn't matter how much you drink when you are by my side." ”

The kiss mark on the open neckline of his black pajamas came to her mind, and her face flushed when she thought of the same marks she had seen on herself when she took a shower when she got home.

She had been avoiding thinking about it, but at this time, the alcohol was rising, and her tired body had a sense of drifting, and she could still control her mind.

The scene of that night suddenly reappeared before her with astonishing clarity: she reached out and demanded his kiss, he held her down, and with the suffocating weight came her low and contented...... She didn't know if all this was due to her drunken imagination or if the latent memories were flooding back at the most inopportune time, so she raised her hand to cover her eyes and hung up the phone in a hurry.

Lu Fei made a mark on the route map printed out of the Internet search, she has walked out of the Dulong River, arrived at Kongdang, according to the plan, the next step is to pass through Mabiluo, which is a no-man's land of about 12 kilometers, tracing the river, basically there is no road to follow, belongs to the tropical rainforest landform, many snakes, many leeches. Then the next step is to arrive at the cowshed in Tibet and start the southern route of Meili Snow Mountain, which has already begun to have wind and snow this season.

His job is more busy than he imagined, on the one hand, to keep the operation of the investment company on the right track, and on the other hand, to constantly contact the clients introduced by various parties to try to win investment. His first step was to subdivide the functions of the marketing department and set up a special person to conduct systematic research on investment returns and risk control for all intended projects.

However, no amount of work could alleviate his worries, and the information he collected along the way became more and more detailed, and the long route became clearer and clearer in his mind.

When Xin Chen called back from Ah Bing Village, he breathed a sigh of relief, "Late September is the peak season for turning the mountain, and there shouldn't be many people now, there are Tibetan-style porch houses there, so you don't need to camp outside." There are also dance halls, where you can go and relax if you are not too tired. ”

Xin Chen was stunned for a moment and smiled, "Ah, you have done more homework than me." ”

It was the first time they had contacted each other after calling with alcohol in the mood for that day.

Xin Chen called his father first, and Xin Kaiyu told her: "Your uncle is already angry and said that I shouldn't let you go to such a dangerous place." ”

"It's not dangerous, it's just that it's been a long time, I'll call Uncle right away."

She called Xin's enlightened mobile phone, and sure enough, the uncle's voice was stern: "You are a girl, even if you go abroad to play, I can understand, why do you have to go to those places?" ”

Xin Chen smiled: "Uncle, don't be angry, there is a girl who walks with me, she is a white-collar worker of a foreign company in Shanghai, and she is very safe." ”

"Your irresponsible dad can't tell where you are at all, if you hadn't met Lu Fei to explain to me, I really don't know where you went crazy."

Xin Chen had no choice but to be coquettish, "Uncle, it's really okay, you see that there is a phone here, there is a commissary, you can buy Coca-Cola, by the way, there is also a dance hall, not an isolated place." ”

"In short, you should return to Yunnan from Tibet as soon as possible, don't stay in the snowy mountains for long, it's not fun to catch up with the snowstorm."

Xin Chen agreed.

"Soak your feet well, and if it's convenient, dry your shoes and tent." Lu Fei whispered, "It's best to cook and eat by yourself." ”

Xin Chen laughed, "Did you also see that legend?" “

It is said that there was a custom of going down Gu in this place in the past, and there was a saying among the pious Tibetan people who turned the scriptures: starve to death and do not eat A Bing's rice.

"I'm not afraid of anything else, I'm just afraid that someone will play a trick, and you will stay there and refuse to come back." Lu Fei also smiled and said, "But it doesn't matter, if you don't come back, I will go over to find you." ”

"What if that kind of Gu in one of them makes me forget about my past?"

Lu Fei obviously didn't appreciate this joke, and said simply: "Then I'll come to you and reintroduce myself." ”

She only felt that her heart was like an eggshell being struck, and a crack appeared, and she didn't know if this crack would expand and lead to more cracks, and if her determination would collapse.