095 Returning Home, Climbing the Mountain

Driving along the road, Du Ruo was behind the wheel, with Xiang Yuanyuan in the passenger seat. The trunk and back seat were already packed to the brim with jars of liquor and local specialties.

"Why don't you get a driver's license?"

As they chatted, Du Ruo found that after visiting Xiang Yuanyuan's home, his impression of her had improved considerably.

In the past, he had inevitably linked women who loved drinking with nightclubs, bars, and all sorts of messy places. That was only human; people always overthought things. Even if one did not view others through colored lenses, the thought of marrying such a woman home would still bring a measure of concern.

But after seeing the environment in which Xiang Yuanyuan had grown up, he realized that such a heavy fondness for drink seemed almost natural.

"I do have one. I got it in college. I just never bought a car because I was afraid it would interfere with drinking."

As she spoke, Xiang Yuanyuan pulled out another small bottle of white liquor, twisted off the cap, and took a sip.

"Drink less. There's water right there. With such a craving for alcohol, how did you get through school?"

Du Ruo asked, somewhat curious.

"It's fine. Liquor quenches thirst too. Back in school, I used to sneak alcohol into my water flask and bring it to class."

Xiang Yuanyuan said carelessly.

"Didn't you ever think of quitting, or at least drinking less? You're already past the point of moderate drinking. Too much alcohol can damage the internal organs and the nerves, and the craving only gets worse. You're still so young..."

Du Ruo trailed off. They were not close enough for him to say too much.

"Mm. Then I'll drink less from now on."

Xiang Yuanyuan looked at Du Ruo for a while before whispering that softly. Then she capped the little bottle and put it away. After that, she fell silent, simply gazing out the window.

The car fell into a heavy quiet, with only Du Ruo concentrating on the road.

Still, Xiang Yuanyuan no longer pulled out a bottle whenever she got thirsty, as she had before.

At first Du Ruo had planned to drive straight back, but considering Xiang Yuanyuan was with him, they stopped at a service area at noon and ate something.

Xiang Yuanyuan still refused to eat staple food. She had a little to eat, a little to drink, and Du Ruo said nothing. The way she drank before made it unrealistic to expect her to quit all at once; forcing a sudden break would only do more harm. The best that could be done was to reduce it gradually.

And it was plain to see: the moment she had a drink, a smile would bloom on her face. Perhaps, for her, drinking was the happiest thing in the world.

By the time they returned to the guesthouse, it was already four or five in the afternoon. Du Ruo carried the things inside.

The tiger-bone liquor was placed in Xiang Yuanyuan's little wine cellar, and the other specialties were also helped upstairs.

"I'm going to return the car first. Let's eat together tonight. Slice up some tuna, then fry a few sea fish. We'll make do with a simple meal."

After putting everything away, Du Ruo said this to Xiang Yuanyuan and prepared to return the car.

"Give me the keys. I'll handle the sea fish. By the time you get back, it’ll be ready to eat."

Xiang Yuanyuan smiled and reached out to take the keys from him.

Du Ruo drove the car back to town, had it washed, filled the tank, and then drove to his sister Du Na's place.

He declined the invitation to stay for dinner and drove back. By then the sun had just set, and the world was already dim.

After parking the car, Du Ruo pushed open the courtyard gate and went in.

"You're back? Let's eat. It feels like there's a bit of wind today, not quite so hot. We can eat out here."

Xiang Yuanyuan happened to be coming out of the house with a dish in hand. She wore an apron, and because of the backlight, her expression could not be seen clearly, but the sight moved Du Ruo all the same.

"All right. This is quite a spread."

Du Ruo smiled. There were many dishes: boiled fish slices, steamed fish, tuna sashimi, and fish head soup simmered in a pot.

He ate his fill that night, and they drank a little too, though not much: one cup each, and no more was poured after that.

"Boss Du, I saw on the forecast that it’ll rain the day after tomorrow. Let's go hiking then. Weren’t we supposed to go together last time?"

Du Ruo had just seen Xiang Yuanyuan to the gate when she suddenly turned back and said this.

"Sure. But stop calling me Boss Du. Just call me by my name."

Du Ruo agreed naturally, then added that offhandedly.

"I think Boss Du sounds fine. Besides, I'm used to it now."

"If you keep calling me that, I'll have to call you Madam Boss."

...

The next morning, Du Ruo had originally wanted to bring some fish to see the clouded leopard, but after thinking it over, he gave up. The leopard only ate fresh food, and sea fish at that; more importantly, the leopard was already heavily pregnant. It would be bad if he made it ill.

In the end, Du Ruo spent some time buying fresh beef before heading up the mountain.

Every time he went up, Du Ruo was in a good mood. The mountain seemed like a world cut off from the rest of life. Each exploration brought new discoveries and surprises, always filling him with genuine joy and ease.

When Du Ruo reached the boulder, he still did not see the clouded leopard. He was not surprised. The leopard was extremely good at hiding and concealing itself; it usually stayed in the trees. It had probably lain on the boulder that day just to bask in the sun.

Standing on the boulder, Du Ruo focused his inner force around the acupoints near his eyes and looked all around, especially at the tall, dense pines. Those places might be the leopard's nest.

"Heh, found you. So you were hunting after all."

After scanning several times, Du Ruo finally spotted the clouded leopard in the woods where he had found the wild boar last time.

At that moment, the leopard was crouched along the trunk of a pine tree, creeping forward with extreme caution. Not far away was a squirrel, its fluffy tail and furry body busily clutching and gnawing at a mushroom, occasionally looking around.

The leopard fixed its gaze on the squirrel, moving inch by inch along the trunk. Its rounded belly did not hinder it at all, and it kept going until it was about ten meters away.

The leopard was higher up, while the squirrel was below, still gnawing on its mushroom. The squirrel seemed to sense something was wrong and looked around alertly, but never once lifted its head to glance at the neighboring pine.

With a swish, the leopard sprang from the high branch. Its long claws shot from its paw pads, and before the squirrel could react, it clamped its jaws around it, while its claws seized the trunk, leaving it hanging upside down from the branch.

Once it had steadied itself again, the squirrel in its mouth was already dead. After looking around, the leopard instinctively ran toward the boulder where Du Ruo stood.

Du Ruo had watched the entire hunt from the boulder. Seeing the leopard rush toward him with its freshly caught prey, he simply stayed where he was and waited on the rock.

"Meow-roo."

When the leopard reached the boulder and saw Du Ruo, it could not help letting out a soft cry. Climbing up onto the rock, it pressed its head against Du Ruo's trouser leg, then placed the squirrel beside his feet, as if asking him to eat first.

"You eat it yourself. I'm not worthy of eating a national protected animal."

Du Ruo smiled, stroked the leopard's head, and nudged the squirrel back toward it. Then he took the beef from his pocket and set it aside.

"Meow."

The leopard mewed, sniffed the beef, and still chose the squirrel. It was clear the squirrel was its favorite.

Du Ruo sat beside it and watched it eat with relish. One squirrel was only enough to fill a gap between its teeth. After finishing it, the leopard turned to the beef Du Ruo had placed on the ground. As it ate, its long tail kept sweeping across Du Ruo, clearly in a very good mood.

"You're about to give birth, aren't you? No wonder you were basking on this boulder. I wonder how many cubs you'll have."

Looking at the leopard's bulging belly, Du Ruo could not resist reaching out to touch it. The leopard did not object; instead, it wrapped its tail around Du Ruo's arm. It was obvious it no longer held any guard against him.

The belly is an absolute no-go zone for animals. Many house pets will lunge and bite when their stomachs are touched, let alone wild creatures.

Du Ruo played with the leopard on the boulder for a while. He had mainly come to see the leopard, so he did not continue climbing higher. After staying for a bit, he did not linger and began to descend.

"Uncle Yang, pulling weeds?"

After heading down the mountain, Du Ruo saw Yang Chuangguang's father busy in the tea garden, and greeted him with a smile.

"Mm. Up the mountain so early? Be careful. There are wild boars and snakes up there. Don't get hurt."

Uncle Yang instinctively glanced up the mountain and kindly reminded him.

"All right. Thanks. I'll head back first."

"Come by for a drink when you have time. I'll have your aunt kill a chicken."

"Sure, next time."

...

Du Ruo returned to his former quiet routine, helping out at the guesthouse. In the afternoons, he still went to town to pick up Yaya and Maomao, then came back home together for dinner.

Yaya was delighted: there was fish to eat, and sea fish came with none of the trouble of bones. That evening, his mother even tried making fish rice the way Du Ruo had suggested, and it was as if a whole new world had opened up to Yaya. So you could just eat fish and skip the rice, or rather, you could even treat fish as rice.

"Mom, tomorrow take care of Yaya for the day. I’ve made plans to go hiking with someone."

At the dinner table, Du Ruo said this to his mother. He had arranged it with Xiang Yuanyuan, and there might be rain on the mountain top, so it was not suitable to bring Yaya along.

"Oh? A man or a woman?"

His mother immediately asked the question she cared about most.

"A woman. She runs the liquor shop across from my guesthouse."

Du Ruo had nothing to hide. Saying it outright might even keep his mother from arranging another blind date for him.

"Oh, oh. Then go ahead."

His mother kept thinking about what the liquor-shop owner across from the guesthouse looked like, and answered absentmindedly.

"Aunt Yuanyuan is a good person. She's very pretty, and she gave me lots of dried fish."

Yaya, eating fish at the side, said without looking up. After all, anyone who gave her fish was surely a good person.

"Oh? Come tell Grandma about her..."

As soon as his mother heard that Yaya knew her, she quickly夹了一块鱼给她 and leaned over to ask.

Du Ruo shook his head and paid them no mind. After clearing the bowls and chopsticks, he prepared to go upstairs.

"Bring her home another day for a meal, let us see her too."

His father said quietly from the side.

"Huh? Oh!"

...

The next day, Du Ruo got up early and drove to the guesthouse. Before he had even parked, he saw Xiang Yuanyuan already pushing out her little electric scooter.

"Come on, I'll take you there. It's hard to park cars, but this is convenient."

Xiang Yuanyuan patted the back seat of the scooter, looking very cheerful.

"All right, but can this thing handle it? I'm actually pretty heavy."

Du Ruo looked at the scooter and said hesitantly.

"It's fine. Worst case, we'll just go a little slower."

Xiang Yuanyuan did not mind at all, looking eager to try.

"All right."

After thinking for a moment, Du Ruo took two bottles of water from the car and then got onto Xiang Yuanyuan's scooter.

Once they had put on their helmets, Xiang Yuanyuan drove the scooter with Du Ruo behind her, heading toward town.

Du Ruo was still a little unaccustomed to it, and he was too embarrassed to put his arms around her waist, so he just held on to the back seat and let Xiang Yuanyuan's long hair slap at his face in the wind. It was his first time riding on a woman's electric scooter.

In less than twenty minutes, they had reached the ticket office. They had come quite early and did not need to queue. There were many routes up Mount Huang. Hiking enthusiasts could choose different paths, and in different weather it was always worth seeing; each trip brought different scenery.

"Little Mount Huang, here I come again. Today we're challenging ourselves to speed-climb the mountain."

This time they chose the most classic route, up from the South Gate. After buying tickets, they took the shuttle bus to the Brilliant Light Pavilion. This was the most popular starting point for climbers, and from here one could also ascend Heavenly Capital Peak to see the Carp's Back. Standing at the foot of the mountain, Xiang Yuanyuan looked thrilled. Every time she hiked, she could keep her enthusiasm, even though she had already climbed Mount Huang more than a dozen times and walked every route.

Neither of them planned to take the cableway. Du Ruo did not care about physical exertion; as far as he was concerned, hiking was no challenge at all. Xiang Yuanyuan was the same. The reason her figure remained so fine was not merely that she avoided staple food, but also because she maintained it through exercise like hiking. Otherwise, with her drinking and complete lack of dietary restraint, there was no way she could keep such a perfect shape.

The two of them climbed from the Brilliant Light Pavilion upward, then went on to the Halfway Mountain Temple. They did not enter the temple. Here the rocks were perilous and the cliffs sheer as a thousand-foot wall. By the time they reached it, however, clouds and mist had begun to gather around them, and visibility was poor, so they did not linger and chose to continue climbing.

They had not been on the mountain long before they set off straight toward Heavenly Capital Peak.

As one of Mount Huang's three great peaks, Heavenly Capital Peak rises to more than eighteen hundred meters, and the climb is naturally extremely difficult. In many places it almost forms a vertical slope, a constant test of stamina for climbers.

But it was no problem for Xiang Yuanyuan. She walked in front, chatting all the way, enthusiastically introducing everything to Du Ruo, the local.

This was the first time Du Ruo had seen this side of Xiang Yuanyuan.

Heavenly Capital Peak was anciently called the Capital of All Immortals, meaning a heavenly metropolis, and that was how the peak got its name.

As they walked, a light rain began to fall. Xiang Yuanyuan took a raincoat from her bag and handed it to Du Ruo. She was experienced and had been prepared long ago.

After they reached the top of Heavenly Capital Peak, the light rain actually stopped. Standing on the summit and looking at the clouds and mist around them, there was indeed a kind of ethereal, celestial beauty.

Descending from Heavenly Capital Peak, they passed the Carp's Back. This path was only about a meter wide and more than ten meters long, with cliffs on both sides, exceptionally perilous.

Here, everyone else tried to crouch as low as possible. Only Du Ruo could not help standing up. The hundred-meter cliff he had climbed atop the boulder and this Carp's Back were like a minor slope by comparison, or perhaps not even comparable at all.

If there were not so many tourists here, Du Ruo might have been unable to resist practicing his boxing here. Training fists in such a place might truly be seizing heaven's hidden workings.

"Oh no—"

Du Ruo had only just begun to think this when Xiang Yuanyuan, who was walking ahead of him, must have been too excited or missed her footing. Her body pitched forward, her head sliding backward. Even though she clutched the iron chain beside her desperately, the back of her head was still about to strike the steps.