Leisurely Traveler with Check-in System

The night gradually deepened, and the wind on the Gexi Grassland also lightened. The newly pitched tent gave off a slight canvas scent, set on the soft meadow, as if sunk into a quiet dream.

Zhu Qingyue put on her headphones, as she hadn’t slept yet, pulled open the tent flap, and silently looked up at the sky.

From this angle, you could just see the starry sky.

When she looked up, the stars had already emerged. They didn’t rush out all at once but seemed to have been quietly sprinkled like bits of silver, slowly diffusing on the black velvet.

The grass in April carried a bit of the scent of moist soil, mixed in the evening breeze, brushing against her cheek.

Li Younan was also awake. Zhu Qingyue glanced at Li Younan’s tent, where the light was still on.

At this moment, Li Younan was further planning the route for tomorrow. He was holding the map, repeatedly confirming some information.

Tomorrow there will be a section of the road that is part of the normal crossing route, which is relatively safe because many people have traveled it.

However, the place where they will camp tomorrow night will gradually deviate from the loop trail.

It’s not that no one goes there at all, but as a transit point for climbing several peaks of Gongga Mountain, very few people go, not enough to become a well-trodden path, as Lu Xun described.

Of course, Zhu Qingyue knew what Li Younan was doing at the moment.

She hugged her knees with her hands, silently listening to the rustling sound of the paper map coming from Li Younan’s tent.

The sparse sounds were particularly noticeable in the quiet atmosphere.

She silently looked at the sky, the stars seemed both very close and very far.

After a while, Zhu Qingyue heard Li Younan probably finished bustling around and started making the sound of organizing his bedding. She asked, ”Are you done?”

Li Younan replied, ”Oh, not really busy.”

Zhu Qingyue tightly hugged her knees and said, ”Can you talk to me for a while? I’m kind of missing my aunt.”

Li Younan softly whispered, ”Mm.”

Zhu Qingyue felt like crying a bit, although she didn’t know why. During the day, she wasn’t this melancholic at all.

She looked at the stars in the sky and said, ”Li Younan, look, the stars in the sky are so bright!”

Li Younan’s voice came from the tent, and he also opened a seam.

Zhu Qingyue said, ”Look at these stars; they don’t blink, just shine so brightly, one by one, embroidered on the sky. When they connect to form a cluster, it looks like a river, slowly flowing. I think my aunt might have turned into one of them. Don’t you think so, Li Younan?”

Li Younan softly whispered, ”Mm.”

Zhu Qingyue chuckled softly, ”Actually, it’s quite nice like this. If my aunt has turned into a star, I don’t have to worry about her anymore. But she can’t speak either because stars don’t have mouths. My aunt had the sharpest tongue; last time, she even mocked that the place I went wasn’t cool at all, unlike her...”

Li Younan remained silent.

Everything was very quiet around, with only Zhu Qingyue’s own breathing, and occasionally a faint animal call from afar, quickly swallowed by the grass, leaving only silence.

”Li Younan, thank you, really, thank you.”

She lay on the moisture-proof mat, without needing a pillow, just looking. The starlight was faint, falling on her eyelids, warm. She felt like she had become part of the grassland, with the grass, the wind, and her aunt in the sky, staying together, without having to speak.

...

Among the gear that Li Younan brought this time was one item that could astonish most hikers. It was a carbon fiber hunting bow.

But of course, this gear wasn’t for hunting.

Actually, there were two reasons: on one hand, it was to guard against possible wild animal attacks.

In the primitive wilderness, there is a possibility of animal attacks at any time.

In these highland areas, many aggressive wild animals live, like wolves and grizzly bears.

In most conditions, one cannot harm these wild animals.

Theoretically, the only wild animal that can be shot without any scruples in China is the rat.

Even wild boars now delisted from the ”three haves” list require a hunting permit from the county level or above to be legally hunted in many areas.

To be honest, this was still a bit of a regret for Li Younan, having the skills of a shooter but not being able to legally hunt some game.

Besides that, he had mastered the skills of identifying animals.

He clearly knew which parts of an animal were good to eat and which were harmful and should be avoided.

The skill description stated that animals are mainly divided into two parts, the edible part, and the inedible part.

If he wanted to fully enjoy the experience, it seemed he would have to find an opportunity when going abroad in the future.

When sleeping at night, he did put the bow and arrows casually at hand, just in case.

The second day.

When Li Younan got up, Zhu Qingyue was still nestled in the tent.

He boiled water using the mountain stove. Although the water couldn’t reach the boiling point of 100°C, it was still free of bacteria and safe to drink directly.

The water was poured into the two thermos bottles they carried with them.

These thermos bottles had a very large capacity, holding over a liter of water and keeping it warm effectively.

After finishing this task, Zhu Qingyue got up slowly. Her hair was a bit messy, she sneezed, then rubbed her eyes and tidied her hair with her hand.

To be honest, Zhu Qingyue was a natural beauty. In such conditions, there was no way to put on makeup, yet she still looked very lovely and attractive, her fair skin flawless.

The breakfast was much simpler. Li Younan handed over some compressed biscuits.

The two ate the compressed biscuits with hot water, quickly filling their stomachs.

Li Younan looked at the road ahead and said, ”Today the difficulty will increase, be mentally prepared.”

Zhu Qingyue nodded.

Before noon, they planned to reach the upper Wuque Camp.

Today’s journey was evidently more difficult than yesterday’s, but fortunately, Zhu Qingyue was gradually adjusting to the highland climate.

Her head didn’t seem as uncomfortable as it did yesterday.

After turning past the last scree slope, the upper Wuque Camp unfolded before their eyes.

The camp was small, with just three black tents belonging to herders. The canvas was pulled tight by the wind, with the corners weighed down by fist-sized stones, still dusted with unmelted snow.

Not far from the tents was a fire pit, smoke rose straight up before being whisked into wisps by the wind, a herder in a dark blue coat squatted by the pit, holding a dried branch and stoking the fire.

The ground, a mix of thawed mud and scree, creaked underfoot.

This spot was a rest stop for those traversing Gongga Mountain’s western line.

Ahead lay the Ri Wuqie Pass, behind was Moxi Gully, and this stretch had no other camps. Initially, Li Younan and his group planned to camp here since it was inhabited.

However, plans changed.

All camping needs were met here; herders could offer a cup of hot water, and with some luck, they might buy some tsampa or dried meat, setting camp on the flat ground near the herder tents, avoiding the wind.

In the afternoon of April, the camp was quiet. When they arrived, apart from the elderly herder guarding the tents, there were only two porters from Kangding, squatting on stones, smoking dry tobacco, with bulging horse bags beside them.

Zhu Qingyue rested to the side while Li Younan chatted briefly with the two porters.

They said this was quite a scene, as it had snowed in the past days, even fewer porters ventured here then.

This time of year, having seven or eight trekkers a day was considered good, most were lightly packed, those with heavy loads waited for more snow to melt.

The ground, compacted and mixed with scree and partial ice shards, could easily cause slips if walked on hastily.

Zhu Qingyue blew warm breath onto her hands, looked toward Li Younan, who was chatting with a herder while holding a piece of compressed biscuit, which the herder jovially declined.

Li Younan chuckled, ”It’s okay, take it, old grandpa.”

The herder laughed loudly, ”I’m only 40, you’re calling me grandpa...”

Li Younan was taken aback, as the herder appeared in his fifties or sixties, with rough, dark skin.

The highlands indeed inflicted great harm on people.

Spending long here was indeed unadvisable.

The herder, speaking in somewhat broken Chinese, said, ”You people actually seem a bit foolish to us. Aging is faster on the highlands. You come just to walk, what does it achieve?” He added, ”A few days back, some people went up, saying they were going to climb the mountain. One of our brothers led them up.”

For a moment, Li Younan didn’t quite know what to say.

From the local inhabitants’ perspective, what these trekking and heavy load traversers were doing seemed purposeless.

But Li Younan didn’t think so.

Seeing their way of life was one of the greatest significances.

If not for this walking, forever trapped within the concrete and steel of the city, busy with a nine-to-five life, you’d never know so many people live lives completely different from yours on this land.

And knowing this made Li Younan feel complete.

They then continued on their journey.

However, an unexpected event occurred.

Zhu Qingyue caught a cold.