"But Shanghai has museums," Xiaoman suddenly sat up straight. "The Shanghai Museum's bronzes gallery, those Shang and Zhou bronze vessels gleam under the lights, as if you can hear the sounds of casting them three thousand years ago. And the Long Museum's exhibition, last year I saw Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirror Room, when I went in I felt like I had fallen into the universe..."
"Alright, alright," Li Xiang closed the atlas, the world map on the cover gleaming faintly in the twilight. "From the seaside to the plateaus, from the grasslands to the cities, are you guys going to discuss all seven continents?"
IV. Taste Map and Memory Coordinates
"If you ask me, where we go isn't important, eating is the real deal." Zhang Yuan suddenly pulled a bag of potato chips from the sofa cushions, the sound of the foil bag being torn startling the sparrows on the windowsill. "Let's go to Shunde! I saw the process of making double-skin milk pudding in a documentary last time; the milk skin steamed from buffalo milk floated in the bowl like clouds. There's also fish soup, Chencun rice noodles, roast goose rice noodles..."
"Superficial!" Lin Wei shoved the bag of potato chips into his arms, scattering crumbs all over his bohemian shirt. "Chengdu is the real food paradise. Zhong Dumplings have to be drizzled with chili oil three times, Dan Dan Noodles' topping has to be stir-fried with Yibin preserved mustard greens, and the sugar-coated fritters on Kuixinglou Street are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside when they're fresh out of the pan, you can pull out strands of sugar with every bite..."
"Have you all forgotten about Xi'an's mutton stew?" Li Xiang pulled a travel magazine from the coffee table drawer. A page had a folded corner. "Old Sun's mutton stew on Muslim Street, you have to break the bread into pieces the size of soybeans, pour on beef bone broth that's been simmering for eight hours, sprinkle on some garlic sprouts and cilantro, and the chili oil has to be poured on until it sizzles..."
"Speaking of soup," Chen Mo suddenly interjected, "the wild mushroom hot pot in Yunnan is absolutely amazing. Termitomyces, matsutake, and porcini mushrooms tumble in a pot with free-range chicken; the umami flavor is so delicious it'll make your tongue tingle. Last year in Lijiang, the owner said that during the rainy season, the mushrooms have to be picked at 3 a.m., and they're put into the pot while still covered in dew..."
"Stop!" Ah Jie slammed the empty beer bottle down. "If you keep talking, I'll order takeout. But have you noticed, all you're talking about is food? Can't you have some intellectual pursuits?"
"Eating is the greatest spiritual pursuit!" Zhang Yuan crumpled the bag of potato chips into a ball and accurately tossed it into the trash can. "When you're tired from diving on Weizhou Island, don't you still need to eat a coconut and have a bowl of seafood noodles? When you're tired from climbing hills in the mountain city, don't you still need to go into a hot pot restaurant and have a bottle of Wei Yi?"
"But the awe-inspiring scenery can't be eaten." Li Xiang spread out the magazine, showing pictures of Weizhou Island's volcanic rock coastline and mountain trails side by side. "When you look at the starry sky over Namtso Lake, you'll feel that all of humanity's troubles are like dust; when you ride a horse in Hulunbuir, you'll understand what 'vast sky and boundless wilderness' truly means..."
"But what I remember most vividly is often the warmth and life of everyday life." Xiaoman gently stroked the photos of the ancient town on her phone. "In the early morning in Tongli, an old lady taught me how to make water chestnut cakes. The age spots on her fingers looked like black sesame seeds on flour. That taste was more unforgettable than any scenery."
V. The Art of Compromise and the Glimmer of Consensus
As dusk settled completely, the living room lights were finally turned on. The round chandelier cast a spiderweb-like shadow on the atlas, and the bottles and jars on the coffee table looked like scattered chess pieces.
"Arguing like this isn't going to work." Lin Wei retied her hair into a ponytail, the rubber band making a crisp sound as it was wrapped around the ends. "Let's make a list and write down the pros and cons of each part."
So the A4 paper was torn into twelve small sheets, each labeled with a different destination: Weizhou Island, Chongqing, Xi'an, Hulunbuir, Tibet, Zhouzhuang, Shanghai, Shunde, Chengdu, Yunnan, Qingdao, and Harbin. A-Jie found a red pen and drew a big X on the "Tibet" page: "Altitude sickness risk ruled out."
"What to do in Harbin in July? See the ice sculptures?" Zhang Yuan drew a snowman on the "Harbin" page and labeled it "Idiot option" next to it.
"Both Qingdao and Weizhou Island are seaside," Chen Mo said, folding the two pieces of paper together, "but Weizhou Island is more pristine, while Qingdao is too commercialized."
"Both Chongqing and Xi'an are historical cities," Lin Wei circled "three-dimensional transportation and dense food" on the "Chongqing" page with a highlighter, and wrote "many museums and scattered attractions" on the "Xi'an" page.
The discussion gradually subsided, leaving only the scratching of pens on paper. Xiaoman suddenly held up the page about Zhouzhuang: "Actually, ancient towns could be an option. If everyone's tired, finding a place to relax and unwind isn't a bad idea."
"Shanghai and Chengdu can be put together," Li Xiang said, placing the two sheets of paper side by side. "One represents urban civilization, the other represents the everyday life of ordinary people. Let's see which one everyone prefers."
When the last piece of paper was sorted and placed, three small piles formed on the coffee table: natural landscapes (Weizhou Island, Hulunbuir), historical and cultural sites (Chongqing, Xi'an), and comprehensive experience sites (Chengdu, Shanghai, Zhouzhuang).
"Vote." A-Jie tossed a red pen onto the table, the cap rolling to the edge of the atlas with its momentum. "Each person chooses two places, but don't vote for the places you nominated."
The six ballots were crumpled into balls and thrown into an empty beer can. Li Xiang shook the can like he was shaking a divination stick container. When the balls were poured onto the table, Chongqing and Weizhou Island each had two ballots, Chengdu and Hulunbuir each had one, and Zhouzhuang had zero ballots.
"A draw?" Zhang Yuan raised an eyebrow in a question mark. "What do we do now? Rock-paper-scissors?"
"Wait a minute," Xiaoman suddenly picked up the paper with "Chongqing" and "Weizhou Island" on it, "Look, Chongqing has the Yangtze River Cableway, Weizhou Island has jet skis; Chongqing has the night view of Hongyadong, Weizhou Island has a fluorescent beach; Chongqing has a nine-square hot pot, Weizhou Island has seafood barbecue..."
"You mean..." Lin Wei's eyes lit up.
"Why don't we go to both places?" Xiaoman traced an arc on the map with her finger. "First, fly to Chongqing, spend four days there, then take the high-speed train to Beihai, and then take a boat to Weizhou Island. That way, we'll have both natural scenery and cultural experiences."
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