Diaо Zhuо fеlt аn оdd itch on his faсе. He brushеd it awaу, but sоmеthing stuсk right bасk, tickling the tiр of his nose. He oреned his еyеs tо sее Bауunуе grinning аs she lаy beside him, hоlding а strand оf her own hair аnd using it to teаse him.
"You rаrеlу slеер in. It's рast ten аlrеadу." Shе рroрpеd hеr chin on hеr hаnd, alrеady washеd up and loоking rеfrеshed, with nо trace оf lаst night's drunkеnness.
Тhаt wаs bесаuse hе hаd cаrried hеr back, bаthed hеr, сhаnged hеr сlоthеs, and didn't get to bеd until almost 4 a.m.
"Rescuing drunkеn women is alsо part оf my vоluntаry sеrvice," he said, throwing off the covers and heading toward the bathroom.
Bayunye saw the T-shirt and athletic shorts he was wearing and pointed at him accusingly, "Why was I completely naked when I woke up, while you're fully dressed?!"
"Since you were unconscious, what you wore while sleeping next to me was my choice."
"You didn't do anything to me, did you?"
"What do you wish I had done?"
"Did you or didn't you?!"
Diao Zhuo pretended to be lost in thought, looking her up and down without saying a word.
Bayunye, unashamed and still carrying her rough-and-tumble demeanor, snorted, "Hmph, we're good buddies. If there are clothes, we share them; if there aren't, neither of us wears any. That's what true loyalty is."
"Then consider me disloyal, because I don't see you as a buddy." Diao Zhuo paused at the bathroom door. "Have you ever seen a guy who doesn't go home for days and sleeps in the same bed with his buddy?"
Bayunye stroked her chin. "There are examples like that. One of my clients—"
"Stop. I like women," Diao Zhuo turned and looked straight at her. "Especially you."
She was taken aback, then grinned mischievously. "I greatly admire your taste."
As he was about to enter the bathroom, she rushed over and grabbed him, pressing relentlessly, "What if I were a man?"
He made a face as if he'd swallowed something unpleasant, the epitome of a straight man. Bayunye decided to let him off, lest he ask the even more terrifying question, "What if I were a woman?"
After his shower, since Bayunye was leaving that afternoon, neither felt like going out. They lay around watching TV, and before they knew it, one of them started teasing the other, and they ended up tangled together again. Time flew by, and in the afternoon, Diao Zhuo drove her to Xianyang Airport. On the way, she was already sending voice messages to the clients for her upcoming Western Sichuan loop trip, telling them how to get from Chengdu to her designated meeting point.
"Six clients. How will they all fit in your car?"
"We have another van we alternate with. My car might not even be back in Lhasa yet. Good thing I didn't book any hitchhikers beforehand. Deciding to go to Inner Mongolia on a whim messed up my schedule." Bayunye was focused on texting, not even looking up. She took her work seriously, not letting romance interfere with business—or maybe she was just used to goodbyes.
After a while, the Western Sichuan loop group chat seemed to quiet down. She glanced at Diao Zhuo and put on an exaggeratedly excited expression, clutching her fists to her chest like a starstruck fan. "I get to see the mighty Khampa men now!"
Diao Zhuo smiled faintly, unfazed.
The tough girl tried her old trick again, deliberately acting cute: "Meow?"
The straight man remained as steady as Mount Tai, unmoved.
"Hmph, not even a hint of jealousy..." She felt a bit deflated and turned to look out the window.At the red light, Diao Zhuo reached out and pulled her into an embrace. "Master Ba, what's there to be jealous about between brothers? Let's have a drink together when we have time."
Bayunye raised an eyebrow and glared at him. "So now I'm your brother?"
He made a sound that seemed like agreement.
"Not your favorite woman?"
His hand pressed against the back of her head as he looked deeply into her eyes. "If I treated you as my woman now, you wouldn't be able to leave."
She smiled and stroked his chin, like a playboy from ancient times teasing a virtuous woman. "Congratulations, you've gained not just a woman but also a good brother."
He pinched her cheek. "Master Ba can take on a hundred."
Why did that gesture feel a bit doting?
As a major airport connecting western provinces to the rest of the country, Xianyang Airport had a large passenger flow. After queuing for a long time to get her boarding pass, Bayunye had only an hour left before her flight and needed to hurry through security. Diao Zhuo walked her to the security checkpoint, where the crowd was also dense. He patted her back, urging her to join the queue quickly.
"See you next month." Bayunye waved her boarding pass with a flapping sound.
Diao Zhuo raised his hand slightly in farewell, his posture exceptionally suave and brimming with masculine charm.
At the last moment, she called out to him, "Hey, smoke less."
He pulled a cigarette pack and lighter from his pocket, glanced down at them, then looked back at her. "Starting to manage me now?"
She half-joked, "Will you submit to my authority?"
He tossed everything in his hand into the discard bin at the security checkpoint.
Bayunye was slightly surprised, pointing at him with a questioning look. He offered no explanation, just waved his hand, urging her to obediently join the queue. After passing through security, she soon boarded the plane. Turning to look out the small window at the vast open space outside, she, who had always been carefree, unexpectedly felt a sense of reluctance. Then, Diao Zhuo suddenly filled every corner of her heart, just as he did every night when he crashed into her, filling her so completely that it seemed as if the rest of her life would be only him.
She drifted into a daze until a flight attendant reminded her to fasten her seatbelt before takeoff. Coming back to herself, she sent a message to Diao Zhuo before turning off her phone.
"Leaving."
She had wanted to say something more affectionate but ultimately didn't, after all, she was someone accustomed to being free-spirited. As the plane lifted off, she recalled a line she had once read in a travelogue—
Vast mountains and rivers, the worldly hustle and bustle. None of it is you, yet all of it is you.
A notification sound chimed on He Zhengren's phone as he received several pictures. Wearing reading glasses, he downloaded and examined each one, then switched the interface to handwriting input, writing stroke by stroke: "Since Xiao Ba isn't Renlong Duoji's woman, why is he always so eager to help investigate these things?"
The other party replied: "He's a shrewd person; it's hard to get anything out of him. I once suspected he was with the police, but he left the military, spent a few years fooling around, and then started driving trucks. He can't be a cop."
"Have you met his family?"
"No, they're all back in his hometown and haven't come specifically to see him. He's had quite a few girlfriends but never seems interested in marriage."
"Does he suspect you?"
"Maybe yes, maybe no."
"Then you should tone it down a bit. Right now, Song Fan is confirmed dead, and it's unclear whether Zhang Chenguang is actually dead or not." Perhaps finding typing too time-consuming, He Zhengren switched to voice input. "But he sold the items and took the money. However, something happened on their end—they said they lost the things Zhang Chenguang sold and didn't dare make it public, so they're searching quietly."
"If only you had sent me that time.""You're following Xiao Ba all day long, how could there be any chance for a deal? Xiao Ba isn't someone to be trifled with either, and now she's even gotten involved with Diao Zhuo... I think Diao Zhuo must be bewitched, having eaten too much bland food and suddenly encountering such wild game, he just couldn't resist."
"Things in this world are truly coincidental. She never believed her older sister had an affair with Diao Zhuo's father, and I heard Diao Zhuo didn't believe it either. Now, it seems both of them are trying to 'rehabilitate' them."
He Zhengren let out a cold laugh. "Whether there was an affair or not, I know best. If I say there was, then there was. As for the two of them meeting and going to Qiangtang together, I think Renlong Duoji is behind it. That fat man has always been a ruthless character. You must be careful."
"Sigh, there's no backing out now. Whether Brother Long suspects me or not, I have to grit my teeth and see it through. After this one, I'm done."
He Zhengren didn't reply, but in his heart, he thought—this isn't something you can just quit whenever you want. Once you've stepped into muddy waters, don't think you can walk away clean alone!
As soon as Bayunye arrived in Chengdu, she felt the urge to fly back to Xi'an. Yunnan, Sichuan, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Tibet—she made her home all over the place throughout the year, forever wandering through the most beautiful scenery of every season, like a lone eagle circling the peaks of snow-capped mountains, weaving through snow and wilderness, her body and soul never lingering for anyone.
But now, she felt a trace of laziness and weariness, just wanting to wake up and see Diao Zhuo the moment she opened her eyes. They say you crave what you can't have, but who would have thought that after getting it, the longing would be even greater than before.
Diao Zhuo, ah, Diao Zhuo—
He seemed etched into her heart, appearing before her eyes from time to time, always finding a way to slip into her stream of consciousness.
Setting out from Chengdu, Bayunye led the four guests on this trip, stopping and going along the way for several days. As they approached Xinduqiao, the majestic main peak of Gongga Snow Mountain towered before them, with continuous brown mountain ranges in the distance. Each fold of the mountains held a wisp of ethereal white clouds, and villages faintly appeared in the morning mist. Village roads wound their way from the foot of the mountains into the distance, adding a touch of profound meaning. Such beauty filled the Xinduqiao viewing platform with photography enthusiasts from all over. The guests jostled for a good spot to take photos, and after helping them for a while, she idly picked up her phone and sent a message to Diao Zhuo.
Diao Zhuo was at the gym with a few buddies. In the late autumn weather, he was drenched in sweat, his muscles strong and perfectly toned—not something you get from casually running a few kilometers every day. After finishing his workout on the machines, he jogged slowly on the treadmill to cool down. A few buddies came over and told him that their girlfriends, having heard Bayunye's "recommendation" a few days ago, had lost interest in driving to Qinghai and waiting for them in Golmud to summit Pearl Peak. Instead, they wanted to take the Qinghai-Tibet Highway after reaching Golmud.
"After your woman left, she came back and insisted on going on a pilgrimage trip..."
"Told them to wait for us in Golmud for five or six days, maybe join some tour around the area, but they refused, saying it's boring."
"Can't expect them to be as bold as Master Ba. No choice, just have to spoil them."
Diao Zhuo grabbed a towel to wipe the sweat from his temples and pulled out his phone from his backpack. On the screen, there was nothing else—just two words from Bayunye:
"Bastard."
In the eyes of a straight-laced man, a woman's hitting is affection and scolding is love—either taken with trepidation or met with utter confusion.A faint smile curled at the corner of his lips as he simply moved his fingers before turning back to discuss the specific plans for the altered route with his buddies.
Over here, Bayunye glanced at his reply and rolled her eyes—
“Youtoo.”
“Master Ba, why are you smiling like that…” Her guests cheerfully ran over to ask, carefully choosing their words, “...so flirtatiously?”
Bayunye wiped her face, suppressing the genuine laughter bubbling up inside, and put on a serious expression. “Since you can’t squeeze past those ‘photographers,’ I’ll use a drone to film a clip for you.”
The guests cheered, chattering excitedly as they began arranging themselves into formation.
“Master Ba! Come join us for a shot too!”
“No, you go ahead.”
The longer you spend with Master Ba, the more you realize she truly lives a rough-and-tumble life. Her roughness isn’t about poor hygiene or lack of manners, but rather her extremely low demands for material comforts. Several female guests noticed she only owned one lipstick, yet it looked stunning on her, and they eagerly asked for the shade. She said, “Just red.” Gradually, everyone realized this damn woman was simply coasting on her heaven-sent beauty.
A guest sighed regretfully, “You’re so beautiful, why don’t you like taking photos?”
Bayunye grinned toothily while maneuvering the drone. “I’m afraid others might be dazzled by my beauty and think I’m an easy target.”
“You must have a lot of people chasing you! What type does Master Ba like?”
“The man Master Ba likes probably needs three heads and six arms!”
Diao Zhuo flashed through her mind. She shook her head and answered teasingly, “No need for three heads and six arms—just someone with a mine at home will do.”
When they arrived in Litang for lunch at noon, Diao Zhuo called her to explain the changes to their self-driving route. Several of the guys with girlfriends had to give up climbing Pearl Peak and switch to the Qinghai-Tibet route instead. He hoped she could help connect them with a guide.
“No problem. Tell them to meet directly in Golmud. I’ll send you the guide’s contact info in advance.” Bayunye agreed readily. Since they had their own vehicles and supplies and only needed someone to plan the itinerary, it wouldn’t be much trouble for her—just a favor for Diao Zhuo.
A guest called out for her to hurry over and take a seat. Bayunye tilted her head to hold the phone against her shoulder, walking as she asked, “What about you and the other single dogs? Sticking to the original plan?”
“We’re still going to Pearl Peak as planned.”
“South slope or north slope?”
“South slope.”
“The south slope is easier.”
“I’m not doing it because it’s easier.”
She laughed. “I know.”
He wanted to retrace Zhang Chenguang’s route and also find the location where Ba Xiye had taken that group photo at Pearl Peak.
“Any later and no one will be climbing anymore. You’ll have to wait until April or May next year.” Bayunye thought back to when she had turned into a mud-covered mess in Qiangtang—these places were all about timing. Out of season, they were like abysses, full of dangers everywhere.
“Will we run into each other in Golmud?”
“Not necessarily.”
Diao Zhuo chuckled lowly, suddenly changing the subject. “Do you miss me?”
Bayunye snorted lightly. “Clearly, it’s you who misses me. Hmph.”
With that, she hung up, giving Diao Zhuo no chance to retort.
Diao Zhuo muttered a low “fuck,” thinking, That just proves you miss me.
Bayunye picked up her chopsticks but didn’t start eating. Instead, she opened her itinerary notebook, silently calculating for a moment before a faint smile suddenly appeared on her face.
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