Spruce Meadow
After arriving at Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, the car was parked in the Ganhaizi parking lot.
After getting off the car, Sang Qi looked up and saw the snow-capped mountains standing before him, the mountain range stretching endlessly, majestic and magnificent.
Lu Min had seen the scenery before him at least a hundred times, so he had no interest in looking at it any longer. He simply slung a bag over his shoulder, got off the bus, and said, "Let's take the scenic bus and then the cable car up the mountain."
As the tour leader, he prepared the tickets and itinerary in advance.
Sang Qi followed Lu Min toward the scenic area bus.
Autumn is considered the peak season, with clear skies, crisp air, and a vast expanse of blue sky, free from floating clouds and fog, offering a panoramic view of towering snow-capped mountains.
During peak season, there are many people, and you have to queue for the cable car to go up the mountain.
While waiting in line, Lu Min rented two down jackets.
“It’s windy up in the mountains.” Lu Min handed a red down jacket to Sang Qi.
Sang Qi took it and held it in her arms.
A large, dark mass of people was gathered in front of us.
Sang Qi stood on tiptoe and looked around, feeling somewhat dejected.
"That's how it is during peak season," Lu Min said, taking out a cigarette.
Sang Qi frowned and stared at him.
He just grinned slyly, pretended not to notice, and continued lighting his cigarette.
Sang Qi unconsciously took a step forward, muttering, "Your words don't count."
Lu Min heard her, but let her speak, and silently walked to the side to smoke, some distance away from Sang Qi.
He was feeling sleepy and needed a cigarette to perk himself up.
After finishing his cigarette, Lu Min returned to Sang Qi's queue.
Sang Qi was looking down at her phone when the people in front of her moved forward a few steps, but Sang Qi didn't follow, leaving a gap of two people between them.
Seeing that Sang Qi hadn't followed and that a seat had become available, a man cut in line when Sang Qi wasn't looking.
Lu Min saw Sang Qi being cut in line from afar. He walked over slowly, grabbed the man by the back of his collar, and pulled him out of the line. The man staggered as he was dragged out of the queue.
Hearing the commotion, Sang Qi finally looked up. The man was pointing at Lu Min and yelling, "Who the hell are you? Want to fight?"
Lu Min sneered: "You think you're right for cutting in line? What? You're not happy about it?"
The man, caught cutting in line, looked embarrassed. Passersby stared at him, and he stubbornly retorted, "Which eye of yours saw that?"
Lu Min found it amusing. Having led so many teams, this wasn't the first time he'd encountered a barbarian cutting in line. He wasn't nervous: "That's enough. I don't want to make things look bad. So many people are watching. Go back and line up in your own queue."
Although Lu Min had toned down his sharp edge and softened his tone, the ruthlessness between his brows still made people hesitant to approach him.
Knowing that Lu Min was not someone to be trifled with, the man turned away angrily.
After watching the whole process, Sang Qi belatedly realized what had happened.
"What are you looking at so intently? You didn't even notice you were cut in line." As he spoke, Lu Min moved closer to Sang Qi, wanting to see what Sang Qi was looking at on her phone.
Sang Qi quickly turned off her phone screen and took a few steps back: "It's nothing."
Seeing the somewhat flustered Sang Qi, Lu Min smiled. He had dark eyebrows and bright eyes, and his smile exuded a captivating masculine charm.
The little girl behind Sang Qi was completely captivated by Lu Min's smile and the domineering warning he had just given her. She couldn't help but giggle and whisper to her companion.
After a long pause, Sang Qi finally heard Lu Min say, "Be more careful."
Sang Qi knew that Lu Min was talking about himself.
Hearing this, she was somewhat unconvinced. She put her phone back in her pocket, put her hands in her pockets, and became serious.
After queuing for about half an hour, I finally got on the cable car.
After settling down, Lu Min took out an oxygen cylinder from behind him: "Here you go."
Sang Qi took it and said, "I don't have altitude sickness."
"..."
Upon reaching the snow-capped mountain, a strong wind blew in our faces.
Sang Qi's hair was blown about by the wind. She went to a sheltered spot to put on her down jacket. Lu Min also put on a down jacket and a pair of sunglasses.
"Take care of your eyes." Lu Min handed another pair of sunglasses to Sang Qi.
The snow-capped mountains were a pale white, and the sun shining on the snow was so dazzling that looking at it for a long time without sunglasses would be very harmful to the eyes.
Sang Qi said thank you and put on her glasses.
There were quite a few tourists on the mountain, men, women, young and old. They were not only noisy, but also posed for photos in various ways, so the overall experience was not very good.
Sang Qi only glanced at it a few times before moving aside.
This was the first time Lu Min had ever seen someone spend so much money on a trip just to take a quick look. He approached Sang Qi and jokingly asked, "Don't you find it interesting?"
"It'll have to do."
"Are we going to Blue Moon Valley later?"
Are there many people?
"A question you already know the answer to."
"Then what else did you say?"
"..."
Finally, after descending from the glacier park of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Sang Qi went to the restroom at the foot of the mountain.
Lu Min waited for her outside, then squatted down and started smoking.
In the time it takes to smoke a cigarette, Sang Qi came out. Lu Min checked the time and, seeing that it was still early, asked Sang Qi if he was interested in going to Spruce Meadow.
Besides the Glacier Park at the summit, Blue Moon Valley is the most famous attraction in the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Scenic Area, and it's one of the few places Sang Qi knows about. But she had never heard of Spruce Meadow.
Lu Min added, "You can take the small cable car up to Spruce Meadow in five minutes. It's a pretty big place with alpine meadows, and it's a great spot for viewing the snow-capped mountains from afar."
Sang Qi shrugged and said nonchalantly, "Alright then, let's go."
Seeing that Sang Qi had no objections, Lu Min stepped forward to lead the way. As he passed by Sang Qi, a smell of tobacco wafted into Sang Qi's nostrils.
Sang Qi frowned: "Why don't you smoke less?"
"Are you concerned about me?" Lu Min stopped and turned to look at Sang Qi.
Sang Qi smacked her lips: "It stinks."
"Stinky? But all my girlfriends say it smells very masculine and pleasant." Lu Min scoffed.
Sang Qi suddenly felt nauseous, pressed his chest, and calmly said, "Never mind, pretend I didn't say anything."
Lu Min shook his head and smiled, no longer teasing Sang Qi, and continued to lead the way.
………
Spruce Meadow is an alpine meadow located halfway up Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Herds of horses and sheep roam the meadow, offering direct views of the snow-capped mountains, and it is surrounded by dense, dark green spruce trees.
Looking around, this meadow, backed by snow-capped mountains, seems to be enveloped by a primeval spruce forest.
Walking on the pedestrian walkway, Sang Qi chose a spot to stand quietly and gaze at the distant mountains.
A vast expanse of undulating mountains came into view, their sparsely snow-covered slopes standing out starkly in the sunlight.
Today's weather is bright and sunny, with few clouds in the sky, just clusters of them, which don't affect the weather.
The blazing sun shone on the rugged snow-capped mountains, dividing the landscape into light and shadow. Standing beneath the intertwined branches of the spruce trees, gazing at the snow-capped mountains, pine forests, and meadows before me, I felt as if I were in Switzerland.
When Sang Qi was studying in Switzerland, he would go on vacation to a small town in the suburbs with his classmates during holidays.
Most of the suburban towns are scattered beneath snow-capped mountains and forests, with vast expanses of verdant meadows and azure lakes stretching before your eyes. Nature's colors collide and combine freely, vibrant yet elegant, almost unreal in their beauty.
At the time, Sang Qi felt that most of the world's beautiful scenery paled in comparison to this place. But now, the Spruce Meadow before him made Sang Qi feel that it was no less beautiful than Switzerland.
Lu Min noticed that Sang Qi had been watching quietly for a long time without showing any impatience. He suddenly found the scene before him quite beautiful.
Spruce Meadow is a place that Lu Min always visits when leading a team. He has seen it in all four seasons, in cloudy, rainy, and snowy weather, but it seems that there has never been a time when he felt that the scenery was more beautiful than it is now.
He couldn't resist taking out his phone and snapping several pictures in Sang Qi's direction.
A few flashes of silver light streaked across Sang Qi's eyes as the phone camera took the picture. Only after taking the picture did Lu Min realize that he had forgotten to turn off the flash.
All I could faintly hear was him muttering a curse: "Damn! I forgot to turn off the flash."
Sang Qi turned around, looking at him with a cold gaze, without saying a word.
"Let me take some photos for you. As a tour leader, I wear many hats: tour guide, driver, and photographer," Lu Min said calmly.
"Did you get my permission?" Sang Qi asked quietly.
"It's no big deal." Lu Min waved his hand dismissively. "Don't beautiful women always like being photographed?"
These words made Sang Qi physically uncomfortable, but she didn't react. Instead, she looked away and said calmly, "Stop taking pictures of me without my permission."
"What do you mean by secretly filming? I'm filming openly and honestly, okay?" Lu Min said loudly.
"Open and aboveboard?" Sang Qi snorted. "How dare you say that?"
After saying that, Sang Qi turned and walked towards the meadow.
Lu Min chuckled and shook his head, muttering, "This little wench is really tough."
In Lu Min's eyes, Sang Qi was like a thorny rose, noble and beautiful, captivating and alluring, yet also covered in thorns, aloof and proud.
The women around Lu Min in the past were either as docile as little birds or as delicate as little white flowers. This was the first time he had met a hot and aloof rose beauty like Sang Qi.
Having spent so many days with Sang Qi, I've become quite interested in girls like her, thinking that winning her over would definitely be a considerable challenge.
That's perfect, he's the kind of person who enjoys challenges like this.
Just as Lu Min was thinking about Sang Qi, he saw Sang Qi in the middle of the meadow, taking out a camera from her backpack to take pictures.
He walked in the direction of Sang Qi.
Sang Qi adjusted the camera settings and started shooting at the snow-capped mountains and blue sky, then turned to shoot deeper into the dense forest.
The camera moves as the body turns, and suddenly a figure enters the frame.
Lu Min stood in the center of Sang Qi's camera lens, staring intently at Sang Qi, with the look of a male wild beast in the jungle hiding in the weeds, waiting to pounce and hunt its prey.
Sang Qi put away his camera, pretended not to see anything, and turned to walk back.
"Are you still angry about what happened earlier?" Lu Min called out to Sang Qi's retreating figure.
Sang Qi stopped and looked back at him.
Lu Min walked over, his eyes never leaving Sang Qi.
Just as Sang Qi was about to speak, he felt a thick, strong hand envelop his arm.
Before she could react, Lu Min had already pulled her aside. Immediately afterward, a man fell backward onto the meadow.
Sang Qi looked at the man who had fallen on the ground and realized with a start that if Lu Min hadn't pulled her away, she would probably have been knocked to the ground by the fallen man.
The man who had fallen scrambled to his feet from the grass, clutching his camera, and gave an embarrassed laugh. He had been trying to find the right angle to photograph the snow-capped mountains and had tripped while backing away.
"You can let go of me now, right?" Sang Qi looked at her arm, which was still being held by Lu Min.
Lu Min released his hand, a smile of ambiguity playing on his lips. Looking at the hand he had just held Sang Qi's, he rubbed two fingers together slightly and said, "Your hand is quite soft and tender."
Sang Qi was speechless with anger.
Seeing Sang Qi's choked expression, Lu Min had a half-smile on his face.
Sang Qi turned to leave again, but Lu Min blocked her way once more.
"What do you want to do?" Sang Qi asked coldly.
"Don't be angry, you look ugly when you're angry."
"..."
"Um?"
"I'm not angry, so please stop bothering me." Sang Qi looked away in disgust.
Having gotten the answer he wanted, Lu Min shrugged and stepped aside: "You can continue enjoying the scenery, I won't bother you anymore."
"..."
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