Тhе wind blеw еrrаticallу frоm аll dirесtions, making it eаsу to losе balanсе аnd stumblе with just оnе misstep. Fоrtunately, after numerоus trаining sessiоns, evеrуоnе tightly griрреd thеir trеkking pоles, shifting their bodу wеight aсcording to thе wind directiоn as theу wаlkеd stеаdilу.
Аs Diao Zhuо wаlked, hе kерt loоking baсk. Вayunуе thought hе was looking аt her, but upon nоtiсing thе direсtion of his gazе, it sееmed tо bе tоwаrd thе mоuntain bеlоw. "Hеy, whаt are уou lооking аt? Is therе а nаkеd beauty fоllowing me?"
He shoоk his head. Aftеr a while, аs if he hаd disсovеred something, he walked a bit further before suddenly stopping. He glanced behind him, took a few steps, then turned around again. A few seconds later, he said to Bayunye, "It's here."
Bayunye, who had been preoccupied with thoughts of Fu Yingtao, was momentarily confused. "What?"
"The photo was taken here," he repeated.
"What?! It was actually on the way from Base Camp to C1?!" Bayunye quickly pulled out her phone, pointing at the screen. "Are you sure?"
"Look at the background," he said, pointing to the vast, open wilderness below. "...taken from my position, looking down."
The photo was taken from a high angle, with most of the background showing scattered rocks behind the person. Only about one-fifth of it captured the distant wilderness. Moreover, it was a black-and-white photo with limited clarity, making it nearly impossible for an ordinary person to pinpoint the exact location.
Hearing his certainty, Bayunye hurried over to stand beside him and look down. At the edge of the brown wilderness lay a continuous stretch of mountains, with two rivers—one wide, one narrow—winding across the plain. The wilderness was uneven, with shadows and highlights cast by the sunlight on its undulating terrain. Bayunye carefully examined the photo. Depending on where a person stood, the angle overlooking the wilderness would differ. Only Diao Zhuo could accurately determine the exact location.
"Really... it's really here?!" she exclaimed in surprise.
Hippo, standing higher up, noticed their movements and quickly descended a few steps, just in time to see Diao Zhuo pinpointing the latitude and longitude of the spot. With quick reflexes, Hippo immediately took out his phone to check the current coordinates, took a screenshot, and let out a long sigh of relief. When he looked up, he saw Bayunye staring directly at him.
He asked happily, "Did you find the location where that photo was taken?"
"We found it," Bayunye said, stomping her foot. "Right where we're standing. Want to come down and take a look?"
"If it's confirmed, why should I go down?" Hippo opened his camera app. "This place is so meaningful. Let me take a photo for you."
"Alright," Bayunye agreed, pulling a mirrorless camera from her bag and handing it to Hippo. "Take a few shots."
Hippo took it cheerfully. "You should have brought a wedding dress this time!"
"If I wore that thing, I’d probably get blown off the mountain sooner or later..." Bayunye, who rarely took photos, casually flashed a victory sign. Seeing Diao Zhuo standing motionless, she nudged him with her elbow. "If you’re taking a photo with me, at least put some effort into it. Give me a 'V' sign or something."
Suddenly, Diao Zhuo bent down and scooped her up in his arms. "How about this?"
Bayunye, unsure where to put her hands, wrapped them around his neck. "No, I want to ride on your back for the photo.""Come on." He set her down on the ground. She lifted her leg and straddled his shoulders. He held her calves with both hands, took a deep breath, and with a burst of effort, stood up abruptly. "Wow~" Her view suddenly elevated, and she let out a joyful scream, raising both hands high. "I'm! The! Tallest!"
Hippo quickly snapped a photo, giving Diao Zhuo a thumbs-up. "Hey! You're the only one willing to indulge her antics! If you spoil her like this, she'll be climbing roofs and tearing tiles later!"
Their voices were too loud, and Fu Xingyue and Jiang Aohang turned to look at them. Exchanging a glance, Fu Xingyue chuckled softly, as if talking to herself. "Haha, Diao Zhuo seems so steady, yet he's willing to go along with Master Ba's craziness. I really envy her."
Jiang Aohang was slightly taken aback. "Xingyue, why are you suddenly so sentimental? No matter how good their relationship is, they aren't married yet, and no one knows what the future holds. I heard from Hippo that Master Ba runs all over Yunnan, Sichuan, and Tibet, while that Diao Zhuo is working on some project somewhere near Kashgar—a long-distance relationship spanning thousands of miles! In my experience, long-distance relationships never end well. We... aren't we better off than them?"
Long-distance relationships never end well.
These words felt like a dagger piercing Fu Xingyue's heart. She had heard that Jiang Aohang had dated two girlfriends before. His ex, Mao Ruirui, drifted apart from him after graduating from university due to the distance. Of course, the more important reason was that after leaving the ivory tower, Mao Ruirui realized that houses and cars were more important than grand promises.
Jiang Aohang wasn't a man who could afford a car or a house, and he always believed he had a shortcut to obtaining them—finding an only daughter from a well-off family in the city.
Fu Xingyue had noticed his intentions even before he started pursuing her. There were other only daughters of company executives, but she was the easiest to "conquer," even if it was only "seemingly" so.
Jiang Aohang was inexplicably confident and easily influenced. He believed in all his judgments and thought his cleverness could help him achieve his goals. He was like a male praying mantis fixated on a cicada, waving its two large forelegs while hiding behind leaves, thinking no one could see him.
But he seemed to forget that whether encountering a female mantis or an oriole, the male mantis was always prey.
"...Of course, we're better off than them," Fu Xingyue said with a smile.
"Let's hurry. They have good stamina and will catch up to us soon," Jiang Aohang said, rubbing his shoulders and urging her on.
Fu Xingyue watched his retreating figure, her gaze gradually turning cold until it held no warmth at all.
Bayunye had had enough fun and laughed as she climbed down from Diao Zhuo, panting heavily and waving her hands. "I can't... I can't take it anymore... Hahaha! I'm always telling others not to run or jump around, but when it's my turn, I just can't help it... I'm definitely going to get Altitude Reaction later!"
Diao Zhuo took the camera and snapped photos everywhere, as if trying to capture every bit of the scenery. Hippo stopped being a third wheel and quickened his pace to catch up with the group.
Bayunye stood still for a moment, catching her breath before saying, "Even though we know this is the filming location, there's no indication of which year it was shot. Besides Professor Rao, whom you recognized, the other people in the photo are too blurry to identify. Did Professor Rao's diary mention anything about it?""He's been to Qinghai five times. The trip in the 1990s can be ruled out, as color photography was already widespread by then. The other four times weren't clearly documented—no specific years or months, only that they were in the 1970s or 80s. His focus clearly wasn't on Qinghai at the time." Diao Zhuo seemed to be forming some kind of plan. "The river channel in the photo looks different from how it is now, and something seems to be missing... maybe a lake..."
"Hey! You two, catch up!!" Lu Jianyì shouted from higher ground.
Diao Zhuo raised a hand to signal he was coming, then turned his head to look at Bayunye. "We'll talk about it when we get back."
She pressed anxiously, "Are you sure?"
He paused for a few seconds. "Yes."
The group trekked for about three hours, reaching Camp 1 (C1) before evening. C1 was located at the saddle where Pearl Peak's southwestern ridge met the southern slope—a broad, open area. Looking down from C1, the mysterious and captivating Hoh Xil wilderness stretched out below. Not far off, the summit route of Pearl Peak was clearly visible, appearing almost within reach. Pure white snow and ice completely covered the slopes above C1, with the ice slope meeting the flat ground at an angle of about 30 degrees—truly gentle, like a small, undemanding hill.
With no mountains or massive rocks to block it, fierce winds howled, and clouds drifted past the camp. At nearly 5,600 meters above sea level, it was much colder than Base Camp. Standing still, one could feel a bone-chilling cold seeping from the outside in. Even with thick gloves on, fingers quickly grew numb.
The cold, combined with altitude reaction, meant that almost everyone retreated into their tents as soon as they reached C1, unwilling to come out. Even sleeping bags rated for -20°C struggled to provide warmth. The harsh, unyielding cold of high altitude was something you had to experience firsthand to understand. The wind showed no mercy to these outsiders, violently slapping against the tents with loud cracking sounds, as if something were rushing over and crashing into them repeatedly, threatening to tear the tents down at any moment.
Headaches and nausea, brought on by the rising altitude, tormented nearly every first-time climber on Pearl Peak. Even Bayunye, who was accustomed to traveling various routes into Tibet year-round, couldn't avoid the feeling of something pressing against her stomach and a dull ache in her head. The mystery Lu Jianyì had hinted at earlier was now clear to everyone—previous climbers had indeed left behind plenty of food: cup noodles, bread, compressed biscuits, even self-heating hotpots. The catch was whether anyone could stomach them. At such high altitudes, everyone's digestive systems seemed to shut down, entering a dormant state. Even someone as robust as Diao Zhuo could only manage to finish a small carton of hot milk.
There was no running water at C1—all water sources relied on the seemingly endless snow nearby. Pulan fetched several buckets of snow and used a portable gas stove to heat water for everyone.
When the thermoses were collected, Fu Xingyue seemed momentarily lost in thought. Following Bayunye's instructions, Lu Jianyì carefully rinsed the inside of each thermos, then filled them with freshly boiled water. For the thermoses belonging to Fu Yingtao and the other two, he rinsed them inside and out three times before pouring in the hot water.
Pulan distributed hot glucose water to everyone, offering encouragement along the way. He advised them to try to sleep if they could, as the summit push would begin at 3 a.m.
Fu Yingtao remained critical. "Is snow water even safe to drink? What if someone stepped on it? And you're using it to boil water?"
Pulan explained, "We know which areas have cleaner snow.""Didn't you bring a few bottles of mineral water?"
"Water is too heavy, and once we're up here it freezes into ice—can't drink it and hard to heat up," Pulan said.
"Dad, just make do," Jiang Aohang persuaded, and he finally gave up.
Fu Xingyue was also suffering from Altitude Reaction, feeling as if something was stuck in her throat—unable to cough it up or swallow it down. Even with occasional deep breaths, she always felt short of breath. Compared to her, Jiang Aohang was much better off, fetching more hot water for both of them.
"What's the weather like tomorrow?" he shouted to Lu Jianyi from outside the tent, his voice nearly drowned out by the howling wind.
"Good weather!" came the reply from inside. "Perfect for summiting, don't worry!"
"Woof! Woof!" Huzi chimed in with his owner, still full of energy.
Jiang Aohang seemed lost in thought, then smiled—though the wind twisted his expression slightly, making his smile appear somewhat eerie. He thanked them and returned to the tent to continue diligently caring for his father-in-law and wife.
The camp provided single-person tents. Hippo stepped out to relieve himself and, upon returning, noticed the three of them squeezed into one tent. Concerned, he quietly mentioned it to Lu Jianyi, who immediately reminded the couple to move to another tent, leaving Fu Yingtao alone.
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