That day, our investigation and data collection were pretty much complete. The few of us gathered and discussed, deciding to stay for two more days to buy some local specialties before heading back to school.
Wen Lingyu and Qiu Lu were very interested and left early. Oh, and they took Xu Zirong along as a laborer.
Yesterday, I saw Qiu Lu making a list, a full page covered with all sorts of gifts she wanted to buy for her relatives, friends, classmates, and roommates. I even wondered if our small SUV would be crushed by all her stuff.
I slowly ate lunch before finally leaving the inn.
There wasn’t anyone at home I needed to worry about. My parents had divorced long ago and started their own families. My mother had gone to New Zealand with her new husband. I didn’t want to disturb her life; our mother-son contact was tenuous, only sending greetings during holidays. My father needed even less worry from me. He taught at a university, wholly dedicated to nurturing talent in his research institute, so where would he find time for me? A few years ago, he married his female assistant, so at least someone was finally taking care of him.
I had originally thought of buying some things for close friends, but after circling the souvenir shops again and again, I found that everything inside could be bought anytime on shopping websites, and even cheaper as well.
I didn’t want to be ripped off, nor did I want to bother driving these “specialties” back thousands of miles, so I gave up and just hastily bought a few bags of dried meat.
I found a quiet bar, intending to spend the afternoon there. But to my surprise, all the good spots by the cliff were taken, so I settled for a street-side table.
The streets were still bustling with people, a continuous stream of tourists taking photos. It seemed there were always new faces here, arriving with distant expectations. The girls in Miao clothing changed shifts several times, but the photographers remained diligently at work.
I took a sip of my oil tea, resting my head in my hand as I watched the pedestrians on the street.
Perhaps the air conditioning in the bar was too strong, but I suddenly felt a chill down my spine; that eerie sensation returned. I couldn’t help but shiver, my scalp tingling… A discomfort, as if being spied upon, ran through my body like an electric current.
My gaze drifted out the window, and to my surprise, it met directly with a figure dressed in dark blue!
It was a youth with shoulder-length hair, standing tall and slender in the shadows between two stilt houses. He seemed not to have expected me to suddenly look at him; a look I couldn’t decipher still lingered on his face, his gaze somber.
To use an unpleasant analogy, his eyes reminded me of a sticky snake hidden in a dark corner.
The moment I clearly saw the youth’s face, I was startled and instinctively stood up, wanting to call out to him, but I didn’t know his name.
That youth was the person I had accidentally captured in a photograph!
Seeing me move, the youth, perhaps amused by my hurried awkwardness, actually stretched his lips into a faint smile. In that instant, the sinister aura about him vanished, like golden light piercing through the clouds, revealing the sky’s true nature.
It also sent a heavy jolt through my heart.
“Wait…”
I eagerly stood up, not even knowing what I intended to do if I found him. Perhaps… perhaps there was some special connection between us. I really wanted to give him that photograph.
I rushed out of the bar in two or three steps, chasing to the spot between the two stilt houses where I had just seen the young man. But where was he? I squeezed through the gap between the stilt houses, came to the side of the building facing the mountain, and looked left and right. I only managed to catch a glimpse of a dark blue robe’s hem, lifted by the wind, and as it fell, it completely disappeared around the corner of the house. I quickly chased after it again but saw no one.
I suddenly felt very disappointed.
I didn’t know what was wrong with me, suddenly caring so much about a fleeting passerby with whom I had such a slight connection. Perhaps the photo was indeed very well taken, making me feel strangely close to this youth.
I sighed and returned to the quiet bar.
Back at my seat, I realized the oil tea I had barely touched had already been taken away by the waiter.
“Aiya, customer! I saw you rush out and thought you weren’t coming back, so I cleaned up!” The waiter was very sincere, bowing repeatedly in apology. “I’ll get you another drink, no charge!”
I waved my hand, indicating it wasn’t necessary. It was my fault for not making myself clear and causing the waiter to misunderstand.
I left the quiet bar and started wandering aimlessly again. Well, not entirely aimlessly; I wanted to see if I could run into that youth again.
But what would I do if I did? I couldn’t even say it myself. Perhaps just exchange contact information so I could send him the photo?
Yes, that’s it.
But until the day we had to leave, I never saw that fleeting youth again.
On the morning we were leaving, just after I finished packing, I received a call from An Pu.
“Hello, is it Little Brother Li?”
“En, it’s me.”
“Something just came up, so I can’t come and see you guys off. You’ve been here once, so you should know the way, right? It’s very easy to recognize.”
I thought, even if I didn’t know the way, I could just use my phone’s navigation, so I replied, “Yes, I know it.”
“Then that’s great!” An Pu let out a long sigh of relief; I could feel his joy through the phone. “I’m really sorry I can’t see you guys off today. It’s really having a beginning but no end, a tiger’s head but a snake’s tail…”
His Chinese had improved remarkably fast recently; he was even starting to use idioms.
“Thank you for your companionship and help during this time.” I thanked him sincerely. “Professor Ye invited you to come visit Yancheng when you have time.”
Upon hearing this, he immediately agreed repeatedly, the smile in his voice almost seeping through the phone line.
At the time, I had no idea that An Pu’s absence, such a seemingly trivial event, would end up altering the entire course of my life.
The few of us packed our luggage, settled the bill, and left. Unexpectedly, Qiu Lu had bought so many things that the two suitcases she brought weren’t nearly enough. Xu Zirong, the designated helper, also had his bag stuffed full, the nylon fabric bulging.
Since our car couldn’t enter the Miao village, it was parked in the public parking lot outside the village gate. This meant we had to walk nearly twenty minutes with all our bags and packages… Fortunately, the inn owner saw our predicament and generously lent us a small cart and sent a staff member to help us with the luggage.
“Thank you so much!” Qiu Lu said, her face full of apologies, her neck shrinking guiltily. “I didn’t realize I’d bought so much without paying attention…”
What’s the use of saying that? It’s not like the luggage will fly into the car by itself.
After much difficulty, we finally found our small SUV. I saw Xu Zirong with a suitcase in his left hand, another in his right, and a huge, bulging hiking bag slung around his neck. His face was flushed, and he practically held his breath to throw everything into the trunk.
“Phew—” Xu Zirong put everything away, exhausted to the point of collapse.
Qiu Lu, meanwhile, was trying to win him over by massaging his shoulders and back, their heads together as they whispered something.
I got into the driver’s seat, buckled my seatbelt, and asked, “Got everything?”
Qiu Lu confidently replied, “All packed! I even checked all three rooms after you guys left to make sure nothing important was left behind!”
That’s good.
I started the car, and soon we were on the road back to school.
The scenery along the way was still beautiful. The highway was nestled among towering mountains, like a tunnel built on the seabed. The only difference was that a tunnel offers a 360-degree view of the underwater scenery, while we had a 360-degree view of the greenness of the forest.
We hadn’t driven long. Perhaps it was the absence of An Pu’s jokes and Miao customs explanations, or perhaps these past few days of “travel” had been truly exhausting, but the three of them soon started to doze off in their seats.
I lowered the volume of the car stereo and diligently performed my duty as the driver.
But terrifyingly, sleepiness is truly contagious. I also started to feel the onset of drowsiness, yawns uncontrollably escaping, and physiological tears blurring my vision for a moment.
No, this can’t go on; something bad will happen sooner or later!
After a dangerously close turn, a cold sweat broke out on me. Mountain roads are perilous; there’s always a risk of overturning if you’re not careful.
I pulled the car into a temporary parking spot and leaned on the steering wheel, pinching the bridge of my nose, trying to wake myself up.
“What’s wrong, Ah Ze?” Xu Zirong, in the passenger seat, groggily opened his eyes and rubbed them. “Why did we stop?”
I said, “I’m a bit tired; I don’t dare to proceed rashly.”
Xu Zirong quickly straightened up: “I’ll drive! You go and rest!”
The dangers of drowsy driving were self-evident, so I didn’t decline and swapped places with Xu Zirong.
“Do you know the way?” I still feel a bit uneasy.
“Don’t worry!” Xu Zirong turned on the navigation and said with a grin, “Even if I don’t know, surely my phone does, right?”
I smiled, closed my eyes reassuringly, and quickly fell into a deep sleep.
This was my second mistake: trusting Xu Zirong’s brain too much.
When I woke up again, the sky had already grown slightly dark. I opened my phone, and the screen showed it was six o’clock.
We had left at noon and driven for a whole afternoon… but I straightened up, and the scenery outside the window hadn’t changed; it was still a dense, deep forest. The only change was that the asphalt road beneath the car had turned into an uneven concrete road.
Given the time it took us to get here, we should have entered the city long ago.
My heart sank with a “thump,” a bad feeling already washing over me.
“Where are we?” Before I could even ask, Qiu Lu’s groggy voice came from the back seat.
Xu Zirong, who was in the driver’s seat, trembled as he wiped the sweat from his forehead, forcing a bitter smile.
“I… I don’t know either. Do you believe me?”
Qiu Lu was bewildered: “Huh?”
I asked in a cold voice, “What exactly happened?”
Xu Zirong said, “As I was driving, I lost signal, and the navigation stopped responding… I, I don’t know where we are.”
In short, we were lost.
