Crossing the Clouds and Sky to Fall in Love with You - Chapter 32

As soon as the sun set, the surrounding temperature seemed to drop instantly; I added a sweater and a jacket, and even took out my gloves! She maintained only the extra windbreaker she had put on, and as soon as the stars began to shine, she walked over to the already set-up tripod, turned on the camera, and returned to the tent.

“Will it not be blown over by the wind?” Although the wind only came in gusts, the chilling night wind blowing so loudly truly made one sweat with anxiety.

“I found some rocks to hold it in place; it should be fine.”

She changed out of her long boots into a pair of durable-looking ankle boots, then put something she found on her head; with a gentle turn, it immediately banished the darkness inside the tent. Because the light was so bright, I initially had to shield my eyes with my hand.

“Why didn’t you say anything before turning on the light?”

“Sorry, sorry!” She aimed the light towards the ground, and my eyes adjusted to the light accordingly. “Better now?”

“Mhm.”

“Have you called home to let them know you’re safe?” I looked back in surprise, and she pouted her lips. “I see you haven’t yet? The reception might not be as good when we get to the next spot tomorrow, so why don’t you make a call now?” I did as she suggested. When Mom answered the phone, she only asked where I was; after hearing my voice, she seemed quite relieved.

I heard the sound of a news anchor from the other end of the receiver; they must still be eating dinner. It was a wonderful feeling, knowing that my familiar home was on the other end of the line, yet here I was, far away from them, in a place I had never imagined coming to, sheltering from the wind in a tent with another person whom I also felt close to.

Mom asked where I was, and I couldn’t answer for a moment; I couldn’t very well say “Husband and Wife Tree,” could I? She mouthed “Tataga” to me, and that’s what I told my mother. A brief silence followed on the other end of the phone, and then I heard Mom exclaim in a very surprised tone, ‘Are you mountain climbing?!’

“Yeah, that’s right. Sister Tao is a very famous backpacker, so there’s no problem.” When I said this, she immediately smiled, looking a little embarrassed.

Mom gave a few more instructions before ending the call. I checked my phone and saw the battery was down to 60%. Although I had a power bank, there were still two days left, so I figured it was best to save power.

“Does your mom know what a ‘backpacker’ is?”

“Of course, she knows! She watches TV every day and goes online; she’s not that old-fashioned.” I was somewhat confident in my mom’s knowledge of trends. After putting my phone into my bag, I suddenly thought of something—”What about you? Shouldn’t you at least tell your aunt?”

“I don’t need to.”

“You never tell your family when you go out.” Yet, she urged me to let my family know I was safe, which was a complete double standard! “I’ll lend you, my phone; you should at least say a word to your aunt?”

She looked up and stared at my phone for three seconds. “Fine, I’ll call.” She seemed to only remember the clinic’s number. She called, it connected, and as soon as she realized her aunt wasn’t at the clinic, she hung up. “It’s not her shift tonight. The Director is out!”

“How did you end up having such a relationship with your family?” I took back my phone, and she gave an awkward smile. “By the way! You only told me a little about your family today, and about your brother; can you tell me more?” I touched her with my gloved hand. She wasn’t wearing gloves, but I could still feel the warmth of her palm.

She hesitated for a moment, then spoke generously and fluently. She only gave a rough introduction to their family business, which was similar to what I had heard from Tao Yian.

“Why didn’t you take over? Especially since your brother… you just said his health wasn’t good?”

“Mhm, he was very healthy before college, but right after he was confirmed to have been accepted into the Law Department, he inexplicably became severely ill. The doctors couldn’t determine the cause, only suggesting it might be a strange illness caused by a genetic defect. He eventually managed a recovery, but he was left paralyzed from the waist down and must now use a wheelchair.”

She spoke these words calmly, yet not so coldly as to be heartless. “During that period, I even turned down many work assignments for his sake. After learning about his paralysis, I actually thought about it: ‘Why don’t I just go home and take over the business?’ That way, he could focus on his studies and physical recovery, which would also be a good thing for my parents.”

Hearing this, I was completely certain that she still cared deeply for her brother, Tao Yian; I felt happy for him, but she hadn’t finished speaking.

After all, judging by the subsequent developments, she did not go in the direction she had originally planned; instead, she moved further and further away from home.

“But just when I was planning to do this, I accidentally overheard a conversation between my parents… Let me tell you first, though my brother and I share the same mother, and my father doesn’t have any illegitimate children, my parents’ preference between us is very obvious.”

“Preference?”

“Mhm, my father believed it was fine for the eldest daughter to take over the family business. He favored me more since I was little and actively groomed me to be the successor; that’s why he was very disappointed when I became a runaway after college. But my mother was different; she was very insistent that my brother take over the family business. The college major he chose was also entirely based on the elders’ demands… Even though my brother and I were both instilled with the concept of inheriting the family business since childhood, we never once thought about fighting over the family assets. We both felt, ‘It wouldn’t matter even if the other person became the manager.'”

“That sounds great; your relationship is really good!”

She smiled. Suddenly, a beam of strong light shone through the tent, accompanied by a low engine sound, prompting her to poke her head outside. “It’s fine. It looks like they’re planning to camp here too; I saw a tripod.”

“Should we be thankful for the company?” I couldn’t help but tease. She retreated back into the tent. “Go on?”

“Mhm. I originally left home to do my own thing. I feel that my whole life truly changed because I discovered photography; I started to have the courage to pursue my own dreams. My brother found something he liked earlier than I did, but his personality… I guess he wasn’t as rebellious as me! He said he would treat painting as a lifelong hobby, but he still worked very hard to become an excellent manager, wanting to fit into my parents’ ideal framework… until he was afflicted by the illness.

“That night, I heard my parents’ plan was that if I came back to take over, my brother would permanently give up his right to succession, especially since his body was no longer as healthy as before… Xiaoning, do you know? I suddenly had a feeling that if I just went back like that, my brother wouldn’t thank me. I would essentially be snatching away what he was supposed to inherit. He was already depressed because of the illness; could I also take away his meaning for existence?”

The meaning of existence. Treating the family business as the meaning of existence… Tao Yian definitely gave me that impression, until he gave me the watercolor painting he had made of me.

“So, you ultimately decided not to go home, right?” Although it was already certain, I still wanted to hear her say it herself.

“Mhm, I had just gone through a breakup the last time I saw my brother. I had already resigned from my job at the studio. He begged me to go back, but I didn’t tell him about Mom and Dad’s plan, as I believed it would deeply hurt his feelings. So, I just told him, ‘Go do what you want to do.’ Given the degree of affection my mom had for him, combined with his sudden severe illness, he had every reason and every right to pursue his dream…”

“You truly… truly love your brother.” I was incredibly moved and couldn’t help but cry. She was a little surprised but finally just smiled, letting me lean against her as she gently patted my shoulder to comfort me. “If that’s the case, you absolutely must go back home for the New Year!”

I looked up; I couldn’t clearly see her face because of the reflection. “Maybe he is waiting for you. He misses you a lot, and since you haven’t seen each other for so long, maybe… maybe things have already changed. Maybe he’s finally being honest with himself and has the courage to pursue his dream, just like you, his older sister?”

“What? Are you suddenly trying to rush me home now?”

“Don’t you want to go back at all?”

Her smile carried a hint of bitterness. “I’ll tell you the answer after we complete this journey! I’m going out to check the camera.” She handed me her headlamp and took another for herself. “If you come out, remember to wear a wool hat. It’s very cold outside, so be careful not to catch a chill.”

“Mhm, I know.” I can take care of myself, you know.

That group of people drove an SUV. All four were male; they had set up a tent and were hunkered down at the other end, just like us. Their spot was upwind, so we could hear their laughter and the… aroma of their cooking.

The wind outside was incredibly strong, and the moment I stepped out, my nose and ears felt like they were about to fall off… I had never been to such a cold place. There had been no news of a strong cold front arriving in the past few days, yet the temperature outside was already close to zero degrees. I suddenly really craved a hot bowl of Japanese ramen.

She stayed outside by herself to tend to the camera. When she finally came back in, her first question was—”Do you need to use the restroom?”

“Why ask that?” Even though she was a girl, her direct question still made me feel awkward. “Did the shoot succeed?” I thought the camera would be left out all night.

“Mhm! Three hours of shooting, and it was very successful.” She gave a satisfied smile and then returned to the previous topic. “If you need to use the restroom, as you can see—there are no public restrooms near this parking lot, so… you need to be a little careful.”

I widened my eyes, recalling the scene when we first arrived; I had a feeling something was missing… Should I say I was lucky I didn’t drink much water? “What do you mean by ‘be a little careful’?”

“It’s so dark here, and now we have a group of guys, so of course, we need to be careful; it’s best if we go together. But I just scoped them out; they’re college students who came here together for photography and hiking. Maybe tomorrow we can hitch a ride with them to the trailhead and save ourselves some walking!” She said, planning ahead, and sat down on the makeshift cushion she had made from clothes.

“They’re all guys! Are you sure about hitching a ride with them?”

“Why wouldn’t, I be sure?” she countered, smiling sweetly. “Xiaoning, trust me, when you get away from the noisy city and come to a remote mountain like this, the distance between people actually shortens. There are less scheming and more mutual help. This is the conclusion I’ve drawn from traveling everywhere.”

“Is that why you were so comfortable leaving our stuff in the tent when we first arrived?”

“Mhm, although caution is always necessary, truly, the people who come here are just genuinely looking to get closer to nature. They aren’t here to scheme against others, so we can trust them to some extent.”

I only knew that I was willing to trust her wholeheartedly. I remained reserved toward everyone else. “So, what should we do now?”

She pulled a deck of playing cards from her backpack. “If you want, we can play a game to entertain ourselves, or should we just go to sleep?” She glanced at her watch. “It’s almost nine-thirty. Time to rest.”

“That early?” Normally, this is the time I’d be surfing the internet or meeting classmates for a late-night snack, right? I remember even going out for night drives with others during my freshman year!

“Early to bed, early to rise. We can get to Paiyun Lodge earlier tomorrow, and then we’ll need to rest even earlier, because we have to wake up at two in the morning to prepare for the final ascent to the summit.”

Two in the morning! My vision suddenly went black. When do I ever get up in the pre-dawn hours? I’m usually just going to bed at that time!

“Your face clearly spells out ‘Unbelievable’!” She poked my cheek and teased me. I forgot to mention that I had wrapped my face up with a wool hat, leaving only my nose, cheeks, eyes, and mouth exposed.

The heat packs had been opened, but it was still so cold.

“Shall we sleep?” She cupped my face, and that single action instantly made my cheeks flush with warmth! Then she left me and began organizing her sleeping bag.

I followed suit. In less than five minutes, with the exception of the windbreakers we had on, we didn’t remove any other clothes and just lay down inside our sleeping bags. Once we adjusted our positions, we turned off our headlamps. And just like that, this was our first night together.

“I feel like…” The dry air made me want to cough a little. “I feel like I haven’t done much.” She managed to take the photos she wanted, but aside from walking a short distance with her when we arrived, I spent most of the time hunkered down in the tent, hiding from the wind.

“Mhm? What else did you want to do?” Her tone was playful, which inexplicably led one’s thoughts astray! After all, it was completely dark now, and there were no other sounds besides the wind and the occasional bursts of laughter from the other campers.

“What I mean is… besides following you here, there doesn’t seem to be anything I absolutely must achieve here?”

“Of course, there is.” She seemed to move a little closer to me. “Every word we are saying right now can only be said right here, can’t it?”

“That’s true, I suppose.”

“Xiaoning, we’re on a journey, but this is different from all the trips you’ve taken before—whether it was a graduation trip, a family outing, or a trip with friends… Don’t forget, the biggest goal of your trip isn’t about taking photos, admiring the scenery, or even reaching the summit; it’s about finding yourself.”

“I wouldn’t have realized that if you hadn’t mentioned it.” I gave a wry smile. “Then, how do you view the meaning of this journey?”

“Hmm…” Is it because I want to travel with the idol in my heart—Chu? Do I want to get to know her better? Is it simply because I want to follow her? They all seem like answers, yet none of them feel like the best answer.

I thought for about ten minutes, during which she didn’t say a single word. But she wasn’t asleep; she just lay on her side, facing me, waiting.

“To prove a few things.”

“To prove a few things?”

“To prove that I can.” I chose a reason that sounded acceptable. “To prove that I can endure hardship, that I can climb a high mountain, and that I can do things that not everyone is capable of doing.”

“Mhm, and after that? What do you plan to do once you’ve achieved it?”

What else is there?

“I will be proud of myself, and perhaps… I will also be able to discover more possibilities, more possibilities that truly belong to me.”

“Mhm! That’s a very good answer.” Hearing her stop asking questions, I felt an inexplicable sense of relief. “Well, tomorrow will be the real test; you’ll have to be prepared.”

“I know.” I was too embarrassed to say that, in fact, sleeping on the cold, hard, and somewhat uneven parking lot ground, not to mention the bitterly cold weather—this entire environment was already a test! However, I didn’t want to complain because of this. After all, even though she chose this trip, I had strongly expressed my desire to follow her, which is why she brought me along. I will not be easily defeated by the environment, absolutely not.