Dead tree
Six months later, a convoy arrived on National Highway 109, along the Qinghai-Tibet Line.
Lin Qiao, driving an SUV, was at the forefront, entering the Hoh Xil Nature Reserve. With an average altitude of over 4,500 meters, this is China's greatest wilderness, a mysterious and magnificent land where the air is thin but the wind carries the scent of freedom.
She came here to participate in a charity event organized by Lin Dayong's company, driving to Tibet to deliver books and new clothes to the children of Hope Primary School, but in fact, this project was proposed by her.
There were two employees of the same age as her sitting in the back seat. The three of them took turns driving. Some of them were suffering from altitude sickness and were feeling very uncomfortable, so they curled up on one side and slept.
Lin Luo didn't react much, she was in a particularly good mood.
The car was driving on a frozen road. In the distance was the majestic Kunlun Mountains, with the snow-capped peaks shining in the sun. A green train on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway passed by in the Gobi Desert, and the sound of its whistle seemed to be echoing.
This place is not barren. The plateau elves Tibetan antelopes and wild yaks live in herds, and you can even encounter lone wolves. It is a paradise for wild animals.
She remembered a movie she had seen before, called "Kekexili", which said: The story of Kekexili is difficult to tell, and only those who have actually been there can understand it.
Indeed, such beautiful scenery can only be worthwhile if you see it with your own eyes.
Lin Luo stared intently at the road, taking in the scenery. Suddenly, her phone rang. She pressed the shortcut button on the steering wheel to answer it. Lin Dayong immediately asked, "Princess Luo Luo, are you feeling okay? Is the altitude sickness severe?"
"I don't feel anything, I'm fine!" Lin Luo said softly.
Lin Dayong breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good. If anything goes wrong, please inform the two doctors I hired to accompany the team immediately."
The doctors he mentioned were all haggard now, not as energetic as her. Lin Luo replied calmly, "Yeah."
"My flight tomorrow should arrive tonight." Lin Dayong is old and doesn't want to bother with young people like them.
"knew."
Lin Luo fell silent, probably because of a bad signal. There was silence on the other end for a while, and then she heard him ask, "Is work going well lately? Why did you suddenly want to drive to Tibet? Are you under a lot of pressure?"
"My work is just barely enough. Scientific research is not easy, but I didn't come to Tibet for work. I just wanted to come," Lin said in a calm tone.
Lin Dayong felt that it was not that simple, so he asked cautiously: "Have you encountered any difficulties? Can I help you? You don't have to keep it in your heart, you can talk to Dad."
"Really not."
"Then...why have you been going on blind dates so often recently? Weren't you always resistant to what your mother said before?"
Lin Luo took a deep breath and said, "I think what Mom said is right. It's not a bad thing to get in touch with more people."
Since she returned to Nan'an, many people have approached Du Yunyan and said they hope Lin Luo will go on a blind date. Du Yunyan also wants her to find a suitable person to marry as soon as possible.
"Don't listen to your mother's nonsense. What's wrong with being 28?" Lin Dayong's tone became stronger. "I actually hope you get married later, or even better, don't get married at all. Men are not good people. What's wrong with being a virgin? Dad will support you for the rest of your life."
He didn't realize the contradiction in what he said, and Lin Qi curled her lips.
The signal was bad and the call was intermittent, so Lin Luo hung up first.
"Wow! It's really worth the trip." Lin Luo saw from the rearview mirror that the girl in the back seat opened her eyes and looked at the scenery outside the car window.
"Did I wake you?" she asked.
"No, sister, are you tired?" The girl's lips turned pale, her face filled with shame. "I'm sorry! We agreed to take turns driving."
"It's okay, I'm not tired. Are you feeling better?"
"Still dizzy." Another girl forced her eyes open and looked ahead. "...Oh! It looks like someone is waving at us."
Lin Luo looked ahead and saw a woman waving not far away, as if trying to stop a car. Her motorcycle lay on the ground next to her. Lin Luo slammed on the brakes, stopped in front of the woman, and rolled down the window. She said to Lin Luo, "My car is broken down. Could you please give me a ride? I can drive."
"Okay!" Lin Luo agreed readily. She let the woman drive and sat in the passenger seat.
"Hello, my name is Lin Luo." She introduced herself, and the woman politely told her, "My name is Chen Aman."
"Are you here to play?" Lin Luo asked curiously.
Chen Aman: "No, I'm just passing by on my way home."
Lin Qi: "Where is your home?"
Chen Aman: "Nagqu, where are you going?"
Lin Qi: "Lhasa."
Chen Aman: "You can drive to Lhasa by yourself"
Lin Qiao: "We are doing charity work and having fun at the same time."
Chen Aman: "That's quite meaningful. Have you been to Northwest China before?"
"No." Lin Luo shook her head. When she was a child, she didn't dare to come because of her poor physical condition. Later, she was busy with her studies and had no time to come.
Chen Aman seemed to have passed by here many times. She introduced the surrounding scenery to them very familiarly and told them the deeds of the hero Sonam Darje.
"Do you know what Hoh Xil means?" she asked.
Lin Qiao actually knew, "In Mongolian, it means 'green mountain ridge' or 'beautiful girl'. In Tibetan, it's called Aqin Gongjia, which means 'the desolate place at the foot of the Kunlun Mountains in the north.'"
"I've done a lot of homework." Chen Aman saw the two girls in the back seat staring ahead with wide eyes, so she asked, "Can I play some music?"
"Um."
A Tibetan song called "FLY" started playing in the car. The melody was quite nice, but Lin Luo didn't understand the lyrics. Chen Aman suddenly said, "Want to learn? I can teach you to sing."
Lin Luo was distracted for a moment and remembered the Cantonese song that Tong Yun taught her many years ago.
"Okay." She nodded slightly.
Along the way, accompanied by music and teaching, they drove out of Hoh Xil and spent about a day and a half to enter the sunny city of Lhasa.
They parted ways with Chen A'man and reunited with Lin Dayong. "Princess Xiaoxiao, how are you feeling?" he asked her while breathing oxygen from a cylinder.
Lin Xiao smiled and said, "I'm fine. I didn't have any reaction."
"Your health has really improved. You used to be always sick and went to the hospital every few days." Lin Dayong recalled the past.
Lin Qiao’s thoughts were drawn back to the painful experience of running five laps every day during the summer vacation of her sophomore year in high school, but now it seemed very worthwhile.
They stayed in Lhasa for a few days and planned to go to a rural school in Nagqu City, but except for Lin Qi, everyone else felt more or less unwell due to lack of oxygen.
It is said that "No matter how far away Tibet is, it is not as far as Ali; no matter how hard life is, it is not as hard as Nagqu." That is the highest city in China. The sun may be scorching in the sky one second and thunder and lightning the next. Lin Luo was worried that their bodies could not bear it, so she followed the local guide alone.
Before leaving, Lin Dayong worriedly said to her, "Xiaoxiao, be careful. If you're unhappy about anything, just express it. Don't keep it in your heart."
"I'm very happy! Dad, I'm leaving." Lin Qiao curled her lips, turned her back, and quickly lowered the corners of her mouth.
Lin Dayong knew her well. Lin Qie was indeed in a bad mood. Her research project was not progressing smoothly. Sheep, Tiger, and Pig were impacted by the economic downturn and were struggling, leading to the closure of several stores. Xu Yangyang's business was also becoming increasingly difficult. Tang Zhihua's livestreaming e-commerce industry had a low barrier to entry, attracting a large influx of new entrants and creating fierce competition.
In today's fast-paced society, people are generally under great pressure and live in anxiety.
She needs an opportunity to empty herself and vent all her bad emotions.
The guide on the bus told her in broken Mandarin: "Our Nagqu was once known as the only treeless city in China. The permafrost here is thick, frost damage is severe, the plant growth period is short, and it is difficult for seedlings to take root."
Lin looked out the window at a broad road with vast expanses of land on either side. The guide continued, "But everyone still had this obsession: 'There are no trees in Nagqu, and you can't grow any trees.' There was even a rumor that planting a single tree would earn you 300,000 yuan. Later, the government introduced technology to plant trees, and with everyone working together, the treeless era was finally over."
The guide pointed to the side and said, "But there has always been a natural tree here."
Lin followed his direction but saw no tree. Later, she learned that nature had carved a tree into the landscape, known as the "Sky Tree" or "Earth Tree." The tree's current state is invisible from the ground; a drone is needed to glimpse its full extent.
There are pilgrims prostrating themselves on the roadside, praying for the safety of all beings and that all living things will be free from unexpected disasters.
I suddenly remembered the closing words of the Xining Tibetan Culture Museum: "May I be like the sky and the earth, forever supporting the lives of all boundless beings."
Lin Luo took photos of the scenery along the way and sent them to Tong Yun. It had been three months since they last spoke. Tong Yun had been in England at the time and sent her pictures of the White Cliffs of Dover, a place considered the end of the world. Lin Luo considered Naqu the end of her life.
The signal was not very good, so Lin Luo turned off the screen of her mobile phone. She was sleepy, so she leaned back in the chair and fell asleep.
After getting off the bus at her destination, Lin Luo began to feel a little uncomfortable. When she entered the school, some students looked at her with their big round eyes and greeted her in unison, "Tashi Delek."
They were simple and kind, with sunny smiles. They would try their best to say to her in their broken Mandarin: "Hello, thank you, where are you from? Are you a new teacher?"
"Yes, I am a new teacher and will teach you in the next few days." Lin Luo told them with squinted eyes.
Lin and the local teachers first distributed gift packs of books and clothing. Several of the teachers were volunteer teachers, and Lin also learned that many caring individuals would donate to the school.
On the wall of the school's first floor, a yellowed newspaper is framed, recording one of the donors who offered help when the school was on the verge of collapse. Unfortunately, there's no specific name, only the two-word signature: [Sand and Gravel].
A grain of sand in the vast universe is small but powerful.
Lin Qiao used her expertise to teach the children mathematics in class, and after class she told them about the sea in Huaicheng and shared the story of her good friend.
Gradually adapting to the high altitude of Nagqu, she also started riding horses with the herdsmen. Jinghe has a horse farm, and she and Lin Dayong went there several times a month starting in her second year of graduate school.
Running wildly on the golden grassland and feeling the flow of the wind, Lin Luo felt extremely happy, but it seemed like something was missing, and she couldn't explain it.
Lin Luo was packing her things in her dormitory after a brief teaching mission and was heading back to Lhasa the next day when she heard a knock on her window. A childish voice rang out, "Teacher, I'd like to invite you to my house for dinner. Is that okay?"
Lin Luo recognized Dawa's voice and pushed the door open, "Okay."
Dawa did not come alone. He was holding a little sheepdog in his arms. The dog was sleeping in the arms of its little master. Lin Luo felt very touched when she saw it.
"Teacher, I can't bear to let you go. Can't you stay?" Dawa was good at math and loved to raise his hand to answer questions in class. Lin Luo had praised him many times. "Don't you like horseback riding? Our horse is free for you to ride."
Lin Xiao patted his head and said, "I want to stay, but I still have work to do... If you miss me in the future, just send me a message and I will definitely reply."
Dawa pouted unhappily as they walked to his ranch. Lin Luo also stroked the fur of the horse she often rode these days.
"Will you miss me?" She whispered to the horse. The puppy in Dawa's arms suddenly woke up and barked a few times, almost scaring the horse.
The sound of a car driving in the distance came into her ears, and the puppy kept barking. Lin Luo looked over and saw two cars, and it seemed that the one behind was chasing the one in front.
Dawa frowned and said, "It's the bad guys who are poaching."
He put the dog down and wanted to ride over, but Lin Luo stopped him. She was afraid those people had homemade guns and would hurt him. "You stay here quietly. I'll go over and take a look."
After she finished speaking, she jumped on the horse and looked at the situation. The car behind could not catch up with the car in front. The ground was uneven and she almost lost control and fell over.
She shouted "Gee!" and rode forward against the wind.
First, she was driving side by side with the car in front. Lin Luo shouted into the car window, trying to persuade the people inside to stop, but it was no use. The car turned and something was thrown out of the window, almost hitting her.
Lin Luo shouted and ordered the horses to speed up. The horses seemed angry and rushed to the front of the carriage. Lin Luo grabbed the reins and the horses started to move, forcing the carriage to stop.
Attacked from both sides, the people inside opened the car door and escaped, but the car behind them caught up and the police arrested them.
Lin Luo saw a familiar figure, it was Chen Aman. She was wearing plain clothes but carrying a gun.
The poachers refused to surrender, so she engaged them in a fight, unaware that someone was attacking her from behind with a knife. Lin Luo rushed forward, but it was too late. Fortunately, the sheepdog had bit the man's calf first, causing him to release the knife in pain.
Only after Chen Aman successfully subdued him did Lin Luo breathe a sigh of relief.
"Hello again, Lin Luo." After the dust settled, Chen A'man walked over to her and asked, "Why are you here?"
Lin Xiao soothed the horse with her hand and replied, "I just had a brief experience as a volunteer teacher. So you're a police officer! That's amazing."
"Well, it's nothing big. I just catch these thieves every day." She said embarrassedly as Lin Luo stared at her with starry eyes.
The first time she met Tong Yun, she was also catching a thief.
Whenever Lin Luo sees Chen Aman, she always thinks of Tong Yunlai involuntarily.
She said: "This is the cheese cake made by my mother, try it and see how it tastes."
She said, "You look better with a high ponytail. You look more energetic."
On the way back to Lhasa with her, Chen Aman said she wanted to test whether she had forgotten how to sing the song she taught her.
Lin Luo has not forgotten. After going through so many things, she put her own emotions into singing this song and couldn't help crying while singing.
With tears on her face, she opened the chat interface with Tong Yun. In the past ten years, they had rarely spoken, basically just sending each other a few pictures of scenery at a time. Only when she didn't know how to choose Tong Yun would she reply and give her advice.
She sent out, [Tong Yun, I miss you so much.]
The metaphor of this sentence is that it would be great if you could be by my side.
She couldn't help but wonder if Fu Xingchuan would meet Tong Yun since he was also in England.
Maybe, but it has nothing to do with her anymore.
Chen Aman noticed that she was sobbing, so she turned up the volume. The music covered up the sobs, and she started crying again.
*
"Ah! I really want to blow up the research institute." After finishing a day's work, colleague Wu Yun hung on Lin Luo.
She dragged her heavy body forward and said, "Tell me before you blow it up."
"You're going to stop me"
"No, I'll plant a bomb too." Lin Luo said seriously.
They smiled at each other and happened to meet the deputy director. Wu Yun stood up and Lin Luo greeted him.
"You're laughing so happily. Did something good happen to you?"
"Work makes me happy." Wu Yun said seriously.
"Then work overtime," the kind old man teased her, but she quickly waved her hand, "My boyfriend is still waiting for me at the door! I'll leave first."
"You slipped away so quickly." Deputy Director An looked at Lin Luo and asked, "You don't have a boyfriend to pick you up?"
Lin Luo shook her head, and his eyes lit up. "You're not young anymore, it's time to fall in love and get married. I have a good student who is about the same age as you two. He also works in this business at Jinghe. How about I introduce you to each other..."
She was about to refuse when her cell phone rang, so she lied and said, "Director, my boyfriend called, so I'm leaving now."
She skated as fast as Wu Yun.
The missed call note on the phone screen was from Du Yunyan.
She didn't call back and drove home.
As soon as she entered the room, Du Yunyan rushed to her and asked, "Why didn't you answer my call?"
Lin Mei walked into the room in her slippers and lay down on the bed. "I'm so tired."
"Didn't I tell you a long time ago? You have to go on a blind date with Uncle Feng's son today." Du Yunyan pulled her up.
Just as he let go, Lin Luo fell down again, "I don't know which Uncle Feng I am."
"...You wouldn't know even if I told you. I heard that his son used to be your classmate! It seems like a lot of classmates are getting married these days. You should change your clothes! Dress more decently." Du Yunyan opened the closet and took out clothes.
Lin Qi closed her eyes and said, "Mom, I don't want to be a human anymore. I want to be a tree in Naqu, heartless and loveless, a lifeless tree that absorbs the essence of heaven and earth."
Du Yunyan threw clothes on her, "What are you mumbling about? Change quickly, don't be late."
Lin Luo finally went on a blind date with the son of Uncle Feng, whom she didn't know. Unexpectedly, the man turned out to be her classmate, Feng Zhengyan, who used to bully her.
I haven't seen him since graduation. He looked completely different, wearing a suit and looking successful.
Unfortunately, her true nature was exposed as soon as she opened her mouth. "Lin Xi, long time no see. Your makeup is really good. It's pure and sexy. Very attractive."
She pulled the corner of her mouth stiffly, "Really?"
"Of course." Feng Zhengyan showed off the gold watch on his wrist and called the waiter. Lin Luo looked at him coldly as he showed off his wealth, surrounded by an awkward atmosphere.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the upscale restaurant, Xiang Cheng saw his guest coming and quickly stood up and waved, "Why did you suddenly return home? You didn't even tell me."
"It was a spur-of-the-moment decision." Fu Xingchuan said in a low voice.
Xiang Cheng asked, "When will you return?"
"I'm not leaving." Fu Xingchuan has been staying in England for many years. Xiang Cheng was a little surprised. "Are you planning to get married?"
"No plans."
When the phone rang, Fu Xingchuan immediately picked it up and looked at it, his expression showing obvious changes.
Over the past few years, he has become increasingly calm and self-possessed, only changing his ways when he mentions a certain woman. Xiang Cheng noticed, "You still can't forget your white moonlight?"
Fu Xingchuan paused with his fingertips, raised his eyes, and said "hmm" indifferently, but his eyes passed over him and fell on the other side of the restaurant.
Xiang Cheng followed his gaze and saw a woman pouring a glass of red wine on the man at the same table. The man was in a very embarrassed state, staring at the woman opposite him with wide eyes, making quite a noise.
"This is, the blind date didn't go well... Why do I feel that the man is going to hit him?" Xiang Cheng was puzzled. Before he turned around, he saw Fu Xingchuan's figure in his eyes, "Where are you going?"
He didn't answer.
"You really haven't changed at all." Lin Luo stood up and tried to leave, but Feng Zhengyan stopped her, "Why are you pretending to be so noble?"
He grabbed Lin Luo's wrist and she frowned.
Suddenly, a shadow fell on Feng Zhengyan. The red wine stains on his face looked like blood, but he seemed to see something more terrifying than blood.
"let go."
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