Chapter 34 Alcohol emboldens the timid
After taking photos, they climbed for more than an hour in the pitch-black cave, using both hands and feet, until they finally saw the light of day at the cave entrance. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
The last leg of the journey was relatively easy, and they even had the leisure to chat.
Xiao Bai turned to Xu Weisheng, who seemed relatively relaxed, and asked, "So? Did you think the scenery inside the cave was worth it?"
Xu Weisheng was unsure how to answer. He glanced furtively at Jian Zhen, who was walking ahead with her head down, afraid that she would be unhappy if he said "okay." Just as he was hesitating, Jian Zhen spoke up for him: "It's worth it. Although the road is difficult, Teacher Xiaobai, have you ever read an article called 'A Record of My Visit to Baochan Mountain'?"
"I haven't read it. What's it about?" Xiaobai stopped and looked at Jian Zhen to ask.
Jian Zhen stretched out her sleeve to wipe the snot that had frozen on the tip of her nose, walked past him, and continued to walk towards the cave entrance while walking quietly, saying, "It tells the story of a great writer in the Northern Song Dynasty named Wang Anshi, who traveled to Mount Hua with his friends and explored caves. In fact, cave exploration was already very popular a thousand years ago."
“Of course, we humans are born with a natural curiosity about nature,” Xiaobai interjected.
Jian Zhen smiled, didn't turn around, and continued, "There is a very famous sentence in this article." She paused, then recited, "However, the most wondrous, magnificent, and extraordinary sights in the world are often found in dangerous and remote places."
Xiao Bai was taken aback for a moment, then clapped and said, "No wonder he is a great writer!"
Jian Zhen had already reached the cave entrance. Turning around, she looked at the uniquely beautiful White Pagoda Cave. Nature is an unparalleled artist. It has sculpted this masterpiece over millions of years and hidden it deep in a remote and uninhabited place. Only the most adventurous and curious people can walk through this secret realm and appreciate even a fraction of its splendor.
As she was about to say goodbye, she had initially suspected that this treacherous and wondrous underground labyrinth would open its mouth and devour her. After all, no one had ever seen the entire cave. It was like a ferocious beast ready to awaken at any moment, harboring endless dangers. But now, looking back, the feeling of unease had completely disappeared. Jian Zhen realized how apt the Chinese words were; this place truly was—a hidden paradise.
She stood at the cave entrance, blocking half of the light. Looking up from Xu Weisheng's position, she vaguely thought she was crawling up the mountain in the shadow of the statue.
They had let go of each other's hands at some point, but Xu Weisheng still felt the lingering sensation of Jian Zhen's tight grip on his hand, as if she were holding not only his fingers but also his heart. However, when they reached out after exiting the cave, all they found was a handful of mud.
"Are we still going to Jinji Cave this afternoon?" Xu Weisheng asked, catching up with Jian Zhen.
"Go, why not?" Jian Zhen wiped her face with the back of her hand. She didn't have a mirror on her, and she guessed that the mud had washed away her tears, making her face look like a map of ravines. So she was a little embarrassed and tried to avoid looking Xu Weisheng in the eye.
"I was just afraid you'd be scared. It really was quite dangerous." Xu Weisheng still felt a chill run down his spine as he recalled the moment she slipped. If anyone was less frightened than her, it was probably no less so.
"It's alright," Jian Zhen said optimistically. "It feels like I escaped death."
"Don't say things like that. What will I do if you die?" Xu Weisheng's mouth was faster than his brain.
Jian Zhen paused, a hint of a smile in her eyes as she stared at him, her tone teasing: "Angelica pubescens?"
Xu Weisheng was filled with regret, wishing he could bite off his tongue. He was caught in a dilemma, unable to answer either yes or no. To avoid saying anything wrong, he could only pretend not to hear, his ears turning red, and quicken his pace to walk ahead.
Jian Zhen initially tried to race him, but later found that he was walking faster and faster, so she simply laughed and gave up, loudly reminding him to be careful of the slippery road.
This person is really funny when he's being teased. Jian Zhen looked down at her hands in the sunlight and couldn't help but wonder what kind of person she had fallen in love with.
Many beautiful and simple words popped into her mind, like fireworks, one after another.
A lovely person, a brave person, a very empathetic person, a fairly agile person, a person with beautiful eyes and lips...
Suddenly, an unprecedented impulse welled up from the bottom of her heart: she wanted to confess her feelings to this person.
Just a short time ago, she was stumped by Hsu Wei-sheng's question, "How does love come about?" Who would have thought that she now has hundreds or thousands of answers in her mind? Perhaps love turns everyone into a romantic poet?
At this moment, Jian Zhen most agrees that love is a surrender of oneself.
The pride, self-respect, and initiative she initially wanted to retain have all been surrendered in this fall from grace. Facing the one she loves, she has completely lost herself. The only thing she is willing to think about now is how to plan a memorable confession.
Speaking of this, we have to mention alcohol.
They had lunch at an inn in the mountains. The innkeeper ran both a hotel and a restaurant. Behind the cashier's counter, there was a row of cabinets on the wall, displaying, from bottom to top, medicinal wine in glass jars, baijiu in small porcelain jars, wine sealed with corks, beer in cans, and various bottled beverages in plastic bottles.
Jian Zhen glanced at it and immediately came up with a plan.
After lunch, the two rested for a while before setting off to explore Jinji Cave, a water cave. The water temperature inside the cave was already low, and in early spring it was even more freezing. The fishing clothes they had borrowed from the innkeeper proved very useful, but the clothes made it difficult to move around, and it was really hard to keep up with Teacher Xiaobai, who was wearing Crocs and walking on flat ground.
Fortunately, having learned from the morning's experience, Teacher Xiaobai didn't dare to rush them and let them proceed at their own pace. Unlike the White Pagoda Cave, which has another exit, the Golden Rooster Cave only allows one to turn back when it's almost impassable.
When they came out of the cave, it was already getting dark. Xiaobai suggested that they stay at the inn for the night and go down the mountain the next day. Jian Zhen agreed first, while Xu Weisheng could only wonder how many rooms the inn had and what the accommodations were like.
Fortunately, after asking the innkeeper, Xu Weisheng learned that there were plenty of rooms available during the off-season. The two of them went to the kitchen to order a table of dishes, and while waiting for the food, they took their room cards and went back to take showers and change clothes.
He was starving. After taking a shower, he rushed downstairs and sat down at the dining table without even drying his hair. The owner brought out plate after plate of steaming hot farm dishes, but Xu Weisheng just looked at them without touching them, occasionally glancing at the stairs leading to the second floor.
Jian Zhen finally came downstairs. She was wearing a plaid pajama set under her long down jacket, and her long, dried hair fell naturally. The strands of hair by her ears were tucked behind her ears, revealing a clean and pretty face.
"Would you like something to drink?" She first stood on tiptoe by the cabinet and grabbed a bottle of plum wine, then slipped on her slippers and came to the table, sitting down next to Xu Weisheng.
"Still in the mood for drinking?" Xu Weisheng put down his phone and pushed out the glass in front of him: "Just a little less."
As he said this, he caught a whiff of a pleasant citrus scent emanating from Jian Zhen.
Is it shampoo? Or shower gel? It couldn't have been perfumed on purpose, could it?
Xu Weisheng's heart was in turmoil. One moment he thought of the hands clasped together in the dark cave, and the next he thought of Jian Zhen nestled across from him on a snowy night at the end of the year, savoring their first look. He realized that his feelings for her had been building up little by little, and now they were like a cup full of water, which would spill over with the slightest sway.
But he couldn't, or in other words, he hadn't decided whether or not to spill the water.
Jian Zhen returned his wine glass to him. She didn't have the habit of urging others to drink. Xu Weisheng said to drink less, so she kept most of it for herself and drank it by herself.
"Let me toast you." Jian Zhen suddenly picked up her glass, turned her head to look at him and said, "Thank you for saving my life today. To be honest, I really thought I was on the verge of death at that moment. I am grateful to have you here. I have been given another chance to live."
Xu Weisheng picked up his glass as if to clink glasses, but then withdrew his hand just before they touched, forcefully inserting a joke into the serious atmosphere: "How about you resign from Qili when you get back, to thank me?"
Jian Zhen smiled at him, and Xu Weisheng felt uneasy. He was about to back down and admit that he was talking nonsense when he saw her tilt her head back and drink the wine in her hand in one gulp, saying cheerfully, "Okay, is there any more?"
"What else?" Xu Weisheng was stunned. He felt that things were not going in the direction he had predicted and seemed to be getting out of control. His brain was sounding the alarm.
"Anything else you want? I'll grant you anything." Jian Zhen poured herself another glass, turned to look at him, and said.
"Ha, I..." Xu Weisheng chuckled twice, about to say that he had no demands on her, but then changed his mind and said seriously, "When I was your age, I wanted to leave Qili and make my own animated feature film, dreaming that one day I would lead my team across the Pacific Ocean to receive an Oscar."
To be frank, this was the craziest and most unwavering dream of my first twenty years. To achieve it, I persuaded many people to leave their peaceful and stable lives. I loved painting a picture of the day our dream would come true for them… But in reality, we didn't even produce a decent short film. The entire team was bogged down in a huge project. For over two years, we barely earned a penny, let alone made our dream come true. In the end, I wasn't the only one who went bankrupt; many of my colleagues were dragged down with me. I felt incredibly guilty at the time, and I even considered jumping off a rooftop.
Jian Zhen frowned.
“Then I met you. I still remember you coming to Yungang to find me again and again, threatening me not to give up my passion and talent. At that time, I thought to myself, you are even more passionate than I was at twenty. You can ignite me like a torch ignites embers. If only we could walk together one day.” Xu Weisheng paused here, then looked up at her again and said quietly, “The tour is just a starting point. Are you willing to start from here and walk with me?”
Jian Zhen licked her back teeth, put down her wine glass with a thud, and stared blankly at the air in front of her—this was not the kind of request she wanted to hear about her career. Was Xu Weisheng really stupid or just pretending?
Xu Weisheng called out softly, "Hello?"
Jian Zhen raised a hand to signal him to shut up, still staring blankly ahead, and said, "You know what? There's a reason why someone like you is single."
Xu Weisheng: ...
She turned around, her lips suddenly curving into a wide smile. She nodded at Xu Weisheng and said with a stubborn, fake smile, "I promise you, if you want to reach the finish line before discussing anything else, I will accompany you to the finish line. I mean what I say. But if you give up halfway, I will make sure you suffer a terrible fate."
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