Chapter 115 Life Forbidden Zone 14
As Xu Yang expected, when everyone packed up and prepared to set off again the next day, Jiang Ran did not choose to go with them.
Fu Bo was shocked: "You're not going with us? What are you going to do?"
Ren Xiayang also advised her: "If you can't bear to leave the delicious food here, we can climb that snow peak and come back to stay a few more days!"
"Do you think I'm you?" Jiang Ran laughed. "Gulandam invited me to stay for the Toqidil Festival. I couldn't refuse her kindness. I'll stay with them until the end of the festival before leaving."
"But we're already a day behind," Fu Bo said with a troubled expression. "If we stay another day, we'll easily be overtaken."
"Yeah," Ren Xiayang agreed. "It's okay for the others, but if Jiang Wenxue and the others take advantage of these two days to overtake and grab first place, wouldn't you be disgusted?"
"So I'm the only one left to celebrate the festival."
Jiang Ran asked back, "Have you forgotten that I didn't participate in this season's competition?"
Everyone:"……"
I really forgot.
Jiang Ran helped them pack their luggage. "So, the responsibility of getting your place on the road is now yours. I can't bear this burden, so I'll have to stay and spend the holiday with Gulandam. I also want to apologize for leaving early."
Everyone:"……"
I always feel like something is not right.
Zeng Pei frowned and was about to say something when Jiang Ran stuffed the packed bag into her arms and made a gesture of encouragement to her.
Ren Xiayang also felt that this was not a good idea. Just when he was about to suggest that everyone stay with her for another day, Jiang Ran patted his shoulder and began to imagine the bright prospect for them to set off today and overtake the opponent in three days to reach the summit and win the championship.
Zeng Pei and Ren Xiayang: "..."
Fu Bo, on the other hand, had no such thoughts at all. He was moved by the beautiful blueprint that Jiang Ran described. He immediately packed his bags and headed towards the championship trophy with full confidence.
After all, Zeng Pei and Ren Xiayang are still participating in the competition, and Jiang Ran's reasons seem very reasonable, and there is no way to refute them for the time being.
Before leaving, Xu Yang suddenly stepped out from the group of people who were ready to go: "I've thought about it carefully, and it's better to wait until after the festival. You guys can go first."
"Really?" Fu Bo yelled, "You two are all leaving the group. This is a loss of collective honor. Do you understand?"
"What you said makes sense, but you seem to have forgotten one thing."
Xu Yang smiled and said, "I'm the producer of 'Back to Earth'. I came to Earth more to observe the competition, not to win first place."
Fu Bo looked at him steadily.
Xu Yang looked back without changing his expression.
"After saying so much, you two actually just want to be lazy, right?" Fu Bo asked a soul-searching question.
Xu Yang paused: "So what?"
"Alas, the world is going downhill, the world is going downhill."
Ren Xiayang also shook his head vigorously: "It's okay if you're just lazy, but how come you've infected our hardworking competitor Jiang Ran?"
Xu Yang: “…”
Xu Yang had no choice but to take the blame. After being severely criticized, everyone finally stopped hesitating and headed up the mountain according to the path Jiang Ran pointed out.
Xu Yang suddenly decided to stay, and Jiang Ran didn't ask any more questions.
Today is indeed the Tajik people's Jitoqidir Festival. According to custom, every household has to move the furniture outside the house, then mix flour into a paste and paint it on the walls.
The Gulandam family was too busy to handle it, so they asked her and Xu Yang to come and help early.
Xu Yang also kept an eye on Jiang Ran.
He knew that Jiang Ran was in a bad mood today, so he took the opportunity to spread the batter on her face while applying the paste, just like spreading the batter on a cake in ancient times.
Jiang Ran was not willing to suffer in silence, so he turned around and tattooed a "flower" on the wall he had just painted.
No one got the upper hand. Mr. Gulandam was angry. He picked up one person in each hand, gave them a good scolding, and told them not to play around anymore.
After everyone calmed down and worked together to plaster the wall, the process became much faster.
Before long, the walls of the house were painted with patterns of various shapes.
After everything was ready, Murati led a yak into the house, fed it some naan, and sprinkled flour on the yak. Everyone prayed together for prosperity for both people and livestock in the new year.
After completing the process, Jiang Ran and Xu Yang helped move the furniture back into the house, and then the villagers began to place them in front of each other and wish each other well. The host stood at the door to welcome the guests and sprinkled flour on their shoulders to wish them good luck in the new year.
The village became more and more lively. Young people were singing, dancing, and some were racing horses and wrestling.
Murati did not forget Jiang Ran, and came to ask her if she wanted to go to the horse racing together. Jiang Ran thought about it and refused.
The village was filled with the sounds of gongs and drums and the bustling crowds.
Jiang Ran stood at the door and looked at the noisy crowd. Without staying for long, he walked straight out.
Xu Yang quickly caught up, only half a step behind her.
"Have you been here before?" Xu Yang asked.
"Didn't you guess it a long time ago?" Jiang Ran said without turning his head.
Xu Yang fell silent for a moment.
He didn't expect Jiang Ran to expose it directly.
Just as Jiang Ran said, he had long guessed that Jiang Ran was very familiar with this place.
From anticipating the presence of sheep on the plateau during the Pamir Highway race, to learning to play the herders' whistle to herd sheep, to becoming familiar with the local language, to being resistant to even attempting to summit K2, and even initially being reluctant to set the race on the Pamir Plateau...
All this shows that this place is special to Jiang Ran, and she must have been here before.
While thinking, Jiang Ran stopped, and Xu Yang subconsciously stopped as well. When he looked up, he found that there was a lake here.
White sand and deep blue water.
Sand is still, water is moving.
The two overlap together, one moving and one still, reflecting a rare beauty.
“This place is called Baisha Lake.”
Jiang Ran said, "Legend has it that during the dry season, a distant lake dried up, and the sand from the lake bottom was gradually blown here by the wind. Over time, it gradually gathered together to form this small desert."
She stood on the beach and scooped up a handful of water, dark drops of water slowly leaking through her fingers. "The glaciers on the plateau melted and gradually flowed here, eventually forming this white sand lake on the plateau."
"You really are familiar with this place."
“Because this is a great place to take photos.”
Xu Yang knew that she was trying to change the subject.
What he meant just now was that Jiang Ran was very familiar with the Pamir Plateau, but when Jiang Ran said it, it became that he was familiar with Baisha Lake.
However, Xu Yang still did not expose this point.
Jiang Ran finally spoke frankly earlier, but he didn't expect that the tentacles he had just extended would retract so quickly.
It was obvious that she was really sensitive about this land and cared too much about it.
As they were thinking, the wind blew across the calm lake, bringing a slight coolness to their faces.
Xu Yang was not used to the temperature on the plateau and couldn't help shivering.
Jiang Ran sympathetically said, "If you feel cold, go back first. The temperature difference here is huge, and it's easy to catch a cold if you're not careful."
"I'm not cold," Xu Yang touched his nose awkwardly, "It was just a bit windy just now, it's okay."
Jiang Ran stared at him for a while and did not try to persuade him again.
"Just be aware of this," she said calmly, "Your body is your own, and no one can control you."
The two were silent for a while.
The plateau was completely silent, with barely any wind blowing.
After a while, Xu Yang asked, "You've been here before... Are you here for filming?"
Jiang Ran nodded. "The scenery here is very special, and the people are very special too. You won't see a white sand lake like this anywhere else...whether it's the capital planet or other places on Earth."
Jiang Ran half-closed his eyes as he spoke, a look of nostalgia on his face. "In the winter, the temperature in the Pamirs can reach over 40 degrees Celsius below zero. Everything is covered in snow. It's very cold, so cold that it can make people cry."
At this point, Jiang Ran seemed to recall something and suddenly chuckled, but quickly calmed down. "The filming equipment back then wasn't as advanced as it is now. We had to warm it up in our down jackets before we could film... But when everything around us was covered in snow, the environment was simple, and the images were clean, perfect for capturing in the camera... I loved that feeling."
Xu Yang was silent for a moment.
As Jiang Ran's description brought him into her dreamlike memories, he couldn't help but think...
The technology of following the ball has been around for twenty years. How long ago was the era of backward equipment that Jiang Ran mentioned?
The appearance of the little wolf interrupted Jiang Ran's memories and Xu Yang's thoughts.
No one knew when it came out, but it ran to Jiang Ran and picked up her trouser leg with its still tender teeth.
After attracting the attention of both people, the little wolf let go of Jiang Ran's trouser leg and howled twice.
"Is it hungry?" Xu Yang asked.
"No one is starving it," Jiang Ran bent down and grabbed the little wolf's head, "I just fed it before I came out."
Xu Yang: "Then it is..."
Jiang Ran: "I'm bored and want someone to comfort me."
Not long after the words fell, the little wolf, who felt comfortable being petted, narrowed his sapphire eyes and began to swing his medium-long tail rhythmically from side to side.
“That’s why I like it here.”
Jiang Ran squatted by the lake, stroking the wolf cub's chin and saying, "All creatures are equal. If you have good intentions towards an animal, it will be close to you. If you have bad intentions towards it, it will spit out its fangs at you."
"Then maybe it doesn't like me very much." said Xu Yang, who has been ignored by the little wolf until now.
"No," Jiang Ran calmly told the truth, "It just likes me too much."
Xu Yang: “…”
"Bang!"
Suddenly, a loud noise was heard from the direction of the village.
The little wolf shuddered and immediately turned around and ran back. After taking a few steps, he looked back at the two slow-reacting humans. Seeing that they did not move, he looked as if he was very disappointed with them. He dug the snow with his claws and ran towards the village without looking back.
Xu Yang was a little worried: "What was that sound just now? Should we go back and take a look? What if something happened..."
"Don't worry," Jiang Ran said, "that's the sound of fireworks going off. They're set off to celebrate during festivals. There's no danger."
As soon as he finished speaking, a series of loud noises came one after another, giving the quiet Baisha Lake a rhythmic color.
Jiang Ran happened to still have the bamboo flute she had carved earlier with her, so she took it out and started playing it in response to the sounds of fireworks and cheers that rang out from time to time behind her.
Xu Yang listened to her music carefully.
The music that matched the atmosphere was joyous, yet strangely more tranquil than the evening party, as if blending the tranquility of Baisha Lake with the jubilation of the festival, creating a special kind of beauty that made one want to indulge in it.
Suddenly, a snowflake floated from somewhere and landed on Jiang Ran's fingertips. The dynamic color immediately attracted Xu Yang's attention.
Against the backdrop of pure white snowflakes, Jiang Ran's skin color appears even more vivid.
In such a contrast, Xu Yang suddenly noticed that there were many bright red blood vessels on the skin on the back of Jiang Ran's hand.
He was quite good at biology and knew that it was a typical manifestation of blood circulation disorder caused by the external environment being too cold.
"Let's go back." Xu Yang said.
"What's wrong?" Jiang Ran put down the bamboo flute and looked at him with a little confusion.
"It's so cold here, I can't stand it."
Xu Yang shuddered artificially as he spoke.
"Didn't you just say it was okay?"
"Isn't this the aftereffect that has just come on?"
"Okay, if you want to go out again later, remember to put on more clothes."
"Of course!"
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