The Early Spring - Chapter 85

Chapter 85 - Traveling Alone

Shang Zhitao set off all by herself.

This was likely the very first solo trip of her entire life, and she chose Dali as her destination. From the moment she made up her mind to the instant she booked the plane ticket, less than an hour had passed. For a conventional life as ordinary and rule-abiding as hers, she had finally done something that felt rather cool.

Boldly deciding against joining a guided tour group, she simply wanted to venture out and explore the world on her own.

Before her departure, Sun Yu repeatedly nagged and cautioned her: "You really need to be extra careful, you know? Tourism in Yunnan is way too chaotic. Don't fall for the shopkeepers' tricks, and whatever you do, don't buy jade!"

Shang Zhitao nodded with utmost gravity, even turning around to comfort Sun Yu: "What are you so worried about? I'm an adult now."

"Then do you want to try out the Mosuo walking marriage tradition?" Sun Yu teased her.

"Well, it's not like I can't," Shang Zhitao replied, pretending to take it seriously.

Old Shang and Da Zhai were equally worried about her: "You must be careful out there, and make sure you keep your phone turned on at all times. Are you really going all by yourself?" They couldn't quite believe Shang Zhitao possessed such courage, suspecting that she might have secretly fallen in love and simply wanted to keep her parents in the dark.

Shang Zhitao had to comfort them as well. By the end of the day before her trip, her throat was practically hoarse from talking.

And so, she embarked on her journey.

On her way to the airport, her mind was filled with visions of Dali's iconic wind, flowers, snow, and moon, turning the journey into a prospect full of hopeful anticipation. When she stepped off the plane and caught sight of the surrounding mountain ranges and the clouds hanging in the sky, a sudden sense of vast, open freedom washed over her. It felt as if there were truly nothing in this world that she couldn't get past.

Back then, inns were not as ubiquitous in Dali as they later became. She stayed inside the Ancient Town, where pushing open her window revealed a sea of vibrant flowers. The inn was run by a young married couple who managed every single detail themselves with hands-on care. Seeing Shang Zhitao traveling all alone, they asked her, "Why didn't you stay in a youth hostel?"

Shang Zhitao pondered for a moment and admitted, "I was too scared."

There was a hint of shyness in her voice. In those years, the news frequently reported incidents involving young women staying alone in youth hostels; although she also longed to chat endlessly with a group of strangers from all corners of the world, she ultimately prioritized safety above all else.

The young couple handed her a map and a guidebook, detailing how best to explore Dali. Expressing her gratitude, she told them, "My only plan for today is to sleep."

She desperately needed a deep, restorative sleep in a foreign land to heal from the finality of last night's breakup. Returning to her room, she pulled the covers over her head and drifted off. Her yearning for sleep stemmed from a switch labeled "exhaustion" inside her body being flipped, urgently demanding a full night's rest. She slept all the way until evening, when the ancient town lit up with lantern lights and countless girls wearing small, floral-braided dreadlocks strolled through the streets. Only then did Shang Zhitao step outside.

She went out to eat a wild mushroom hot pot.

Before tucking in, she sent a message to Lumi, Sun Yu, and the others in their group chat: "Do you think I'll end up seeing tiny dancing goblins?"

"Fuck me, I'm getting worked up into a frenzy in this meeting, while you're over in Dali enjoying a mushroom hot pot all by yourself. Farewell, my friend—we are enemies now!" Lumi replied.

Shang Zhitao burst out laughing. Resting her chin on her hand, she watched the small kitchen timer tick away. A waiter stood right beside her, terrified that she might sneak a bite, even threatening her sternly: "Don't lift the lid, and don't eat yet! Take a bite before it's done and you'll literally die!"

His words were so frightening that Shang Zhitao sat frozen, not daring to make a single move.

Just as she was on the verge of falling asleep from the wait, a young man sitting at the adjacent table knocked on her surface when he saw her face nearly glued to the wood: "You're gonna disfigure yourself like that!"

Shang Zhitao lifted her head and offered the boy a smile. "The wait is just so long."

"Tell me about it." Positioned in front of him was also a pot bubbling with wild mushrooms. He let out a helpless sigh and asked her, "Are you here by yourself?"

Remembering the terrifying stories from the news, Shang Zhitao shook her head: "I came with friends. They went to explore other places."

"Ah, I see."

"What about you?"

"I'm on my own."

Shang Zhitao nodded in understanding. Her mushrooms were finally fully cooked. She lifted the lid and ladled out a bowl of soup to drink. It was outrageously delicious—how could a broth taste this incredibly savory? Shang Zhitao's modest palate for gourmet food was instantly ignited, prompting her to swiftly reorganize her itinerary in her mind, placing "eating" at the absolute top of her priority list.

I would gladly stay single for five whole years just for food as wonderful as this! she thought to herself as she ate.

After finishing her meal, she went to listen to live music. How could anyone visit Dali without dropping by a bar? The bars in Dali were, after all, brimming with enchanting melodies. She hunted down a somewhat shabby, run-down bar that looked like it was on the brink of bankruptcy, where a folk singer sat on a tiny stage strumming his guitar and singing.

His songs were all steeped in love and heartbreak.

"Time has changed so much, yet nothing at all,

Let me embrace you once again, Zhengzhou."

It was so deeply moving. Sitting below the stage, Shang Zhitao's eyes grew moist. Only a few short years had passed, so why did it feel as though a whole lifetime had slipped by?

The singer looked down at the sole audience member in the house and called out, "Come on up and sing together!"

"Me?" Shang Zhitao wiped away the moisture at the corner of her eyes with her fingertips, pointing a finger at herself in disbelief. "Me?"

"Yes, you."

So many things had been buried in her memory, only to resurface on this very day: I used to be someone who sang during my student days too! And so, she stepped up to the stage and sat down right beside him. Looking at her, the singer plucked his guitar strings and asked, "What do you want to sing?"

"How about Three Inches of Sunlight?"

"Works for me."

Shang Zhitao sang softly along with the acoustic guitar. The bar door opened, and a young man walked inside. Catching sight of Shang Zhitao sitting up on stage, the boy's eyes instantly lit up.

Her voice was gentle and crystal clear, singing of simple, modest wishes—it was an utterly captivating scene.

After finishing her song, Shang Zhitao expressed her gratitude to the singer, pulled out a fifty-yuan bill, and placed it inside a small wooden box: "I heard this is how the custom goes."

The singer let out a laugh and handed the money right back to her: "Just buy me a bottle of water instead. My stomach is full today, so I don't need cash."

"What about tomorrow's breakfast?"

"Tomorrow's breakfast will be taken care of—my wife is cooking rice noodles for me," the singer joked.

"In that case, I'll buy beer from you instead."

Shang Zhitao bought two cans of beer, opening one for the singer and handing the other to the young man: "My treat." Either way, she was determined to spend that fifty yuan.

Patrons trickled into the bar and drifted away as the night wore on. Finally, as late hour arrived, the venue closed down. Shang Zhitao stood up and said to the singer, "I'll come back tomorrow."

"Then come a bit earlier. We're making dumplings tomorrow."

"Wow!"

Stepping out of the bar, Shang Zhitao felt that this day had been genuinely wonderful. A sudden realization dawned upon her: romantic love was by no means the entirety of human life. Although love could render a life far more complete and abundant, even without it, one ought to live exceedingly well all the same.

The next morning, she climbed Mount Cangshan. Reaching out her hand felt like touching the clouds, making all worldly affairs seem tiny and insignificant. The wind on the mountain was fiercely strong that day, blowing her every which way, yet it did nothing to lessen her sense of uninhibited freedom between heaven and earth. She paid for a quick snapshot; though the gale blew her face all out of shape, her smile was brimming with pure happiness.

"Be careful not to let the cold wind get into your stomach."

That voice was so exceedingly gentle, bearing an uncanny resemblance to Sun Yuanzhu's. Surprised and delighted, Shang Zhitao turned her head, only to find no trace of Sun Yuanzhu—it was the young man from yesterday. What was his name again? She thought for a brief moment: Wan Jun—Wan Jun, as in "thunderous power."

"Hello," Shang Zhitao greeted him.

"So you really are all by yourself?"

"I'm not."

Wan Jun chuckled. Her clumsy attempt at hiding the truth was crystal clear to him; the girl was simply trying to protect herself.

"Are you going to eat dumplings tonight?" Wan Jun asked her.

"Yes."

"Going alone?"

"..." Realizing she had fallen right into Wan Jun's verbal trap, Shang Zhitao promptly clamped her mouth shut. Seeing how bright and endearing she was, Wan Jun felt that this entire trip had been immensely worthwhile.

As they descended the mountain together, Wan Jun formally introduced himself. It turned out he was a year older than Shang Zhitao and worked as an ice hockey coach.

"How stylish!" Shang Zhitao gave him a thumb's up.

"What about you?" Wan Jun asked.

"I'm just a regular employee at a company."

"That's pretty great too—self-sufficient."

After exchanging those few words, Shang Zhitao no longer felt like talking much. The two made casual, sparse conversation as they made their way down the mountain, before returning to their respective inns to rest. By the time evening arrived, Shang Zhitao headed out to that same bar. In the back courtyard of the venue, a group of young people was gathered around a wooden table, laughing, chatting, and actually making dumplings together.

It wasn't even a holiday, so why were they making dumplings? Shang Zhitao wondered. But then again, making dumplings was an activity that naturally brought joy in itself! Washing her hands, she joined the ranks of the young crowd.

None of these people were like Luan Nian. Luan Nian was a man of few words, and whenever he did speak, his words were direct, sharp, and biting. These young people, on the other hand, talked non-stop, filled with warmth and kindness. Shang Zhitao loved being in their company—they were all in their early twenties, some had not even graduated from university yet, and they radiated vibrant vitality.

This was truly wonderful.

Shang Zhitao sent a message to Lumi: "This is the absolute best part of the trip. Today, I've finally come to understand the true meaning of freedom and selfhood."

I love myself so much more now.

It was merely a spur-of-the-moment trip, yet it had proved to be utterly breathtaking.

In the mornings, Shang Zhitao would enjoy a bowl of rice noodles freshly prepared by the innkeeper, before setting out to explore—Mount Cangshan, Erhai Lake, Xizhou, and Shuanglang, visiting every single one of them in turn.

It was on the night of her fourth day of travel that Sun Yuanzhu called her, saying, "I found evidence. You can submit it to your internal audit team."

"What evidence?"

Sun Yuanzhu sent over a screenshot of a chat log: "I hope this helps you prove your innocence."

In that chat record, Manager Wang had said to Kitty: The matter has been taken care of.

Kitty had replied: Regarding our company's supplier onboarding this time, you won't have any issues.

There was only one problem: what "the matter" actually entailed was left entirely unsaid. Yet this ambiguous phrasing was more than enough to raise serious suspicions.

"As for other details, I'll keep digging. If you're not in a hurry, wait a few more days." Sun Yuanzhu was taking Shang Zhitao's affairs completely to heart, a fact she knew all too well.

"Sun Yuanzhu, please don't trouble yourself anymore. I've already thought of a way," Shang Zhitao said.

"What way?"

Shang Zhitao replied, "Lumi will help me—in a completely fair and square manner." The idea had suddenly popped into her head earlier that day while she was eating Xizhou Baba in the ancient town of Xizhou.

Shang Zhitao was anchored by a single driving thought: I cannot keep letting people walk all over me. I'm going to fight back, and I want those bad people to know that I am not someone to be messed with.

However, she intended to wait until her return before dealing with the matter. This was her joyful vacation, and she refused to ruin it.

"Sun Yuanzhu, I mailed a postcard to you from the foot of Mount Cangshan!" Shang Zhitao told him.

"Can I find out what's written on the postcard right now?"

"Of course!" Shang Zhitao let out a delighted laugh. "I wrote: May your eyes see nothing but smiles. I don't have much literary talent, so I could only copy a song lyric to gift you. But I truly hope you will be happy forever. Really."

On the other end of the line, Sun Yuanzhu's eyes grew rimmed with red. After remaining quiet for a long while, he said to Shang Zhitao, "Then I wish you as well: May none of your future dreams ever turn out to be in vain."

Sun Yuanzhu had never asked Shang Zhitao what had happened, but she had suddenly stopped going out on Fridays and chosen to travel all alone. Intelligent as he was, he knew Shang Zhitao was currently undergoing growing pains. Growing pains were nothing out of the ordinary—most people managed to pull through them, while a select few could not.

"Then I also wish us both to live to a hundred years old!" Shang Zhitao found saying auspicious wishes quite fun and casually added the remark.

"Then I can only wish us all the best in everything we do," Sun Yuanzhu chuckled aloud.

"So I'll bring back lots of delicious food for you all!"

"Then we'll buy groceries and wait for you to come home so we can share a meal together."

"Alright."

As Shang Zhitao hung up the phone, she thought to herself that as long as she still had a few friends truly worthy of her trust, she was already far luckier than most. She seemed to have healed completely; even if that man named "Luan Nian" were to vanish entirely from her life, she probably wouldn't feel terribly sad anymore.

Yet Luan Nian hadn't vanished completely. He placed a phone call to Shang Zhitao, saying to her, "From this moment on, do not answer any phone calls from that supplier. If you do pick up, remember to record the conversation."

"Why?"

"Because the results of your investigation are out."

"What results? I haven't even proven my innocence yet."

"Save it for next time."

Luan Nian hung up the phone.