From the novel: I Promise You a River of Stars

The road ahead was every bit as difficult as Ba Yunye had said. The downhill stretch rattled like a washboard, jolting everyone in the vehicles nearly to the point of vomiting. Once they’d finally made it to the bottom of the slope, the ground bristled with stones — upright, like awls — an unimaginable concentration of razor-sharp rock clustered right here of all places.

Xiao Zi had barely stopped dry-heaving from the rattling when she understood why Ba Yunye had told Ye Xun to lower the tire pressure. As expected, Ye Xun’s vehicle was the first to blow a tire. Then, while crossing the Red Mountain pass, the pickup truck’s rear wheel blew out too; and then a warning light on yet another vehicle’s dashboard suddenly lit up.

Crossing Qiang Tang is an extreme challenge for trekkers and off-road vehicles alike — not one person, not one vehicle, comes through unscathed. Or rather, perhaps no one should be here at all — why else would the land’s human ancestors, who spread to every corner of the world and took root in every extreme environment imaginable, have left no trace of ancient human activity in Qiang Tang?

Even if crossing Qiang Tang gives you a story to tell for the rest of your life, in the vastness of Qiang Tang itself, you are nothing more than an utterly insignificant, fleeting passerby.

Everyone got out to make repairs. The fierce highland wind raged wildly, sometimes carrying grit that pelted against exposed skin and left a sensation like ants biting. The physical discomfort was extreme, yet the surrounding scenery was breathtakingly beautiful — truly like paradise. Along the way they passed several small lakes that shimmered in the sunlight like sapphires laid flat on the ground; their surfaces drifted with fragments of ice that hadn’t yet melted. Wild animals appeared with increasing frequency: plateau hares, white-rumped antelope — not to mention the “internet celebrity” Tibetan fox, stolid-faced, poking its head around and passing by with an air of nonchalance.

By evening the convoy reached the “Sheep Lake.”

“Yamdrok Lake?!” Xiao Zi was a little bewildered. She might have had no concept of Qiang Tang, but she at least knew Yamdrok Lake wasn’t here.

Ba Yunye shook her head. “Sheep Lake is an abbreviated name for Yamdrok Lake, but this really is a genuine ‘sheep lake.’ Its layout and orientation are the mirror image of Yamdrok. We’re now in the western section of the Hoh Xil mountain range. If Zou Kaigui made it to here, it means he’s successfully crossed one third of the route.”

Standing and looking out, the water, mountains, sky, and earth seemed frozen together, like a scroll of ink-wash painting unrolling outward to infinity in all four directions.

“How much further do we have to go…” Xiao Zi asked with a touch of exhaustion. Her body and spirit had both reached their limits. This wasn’t a journey with a clear destination; if the person was never found, they would turn around and drive out of the no-man’s land the moment supplies ran low.

Seeing Xiao Zi’s low spirits and hollow expression, Ba Yunye said: “From here on we can only follow this path forward. Whether or not we find Zou Kaigui is down to fate.”

While everyone was making fires and preparing food, Ba Yunye hopped into Diao Zhuo’s tent. “Captain Diao, we have buns, we have air-dried mutton, and you’re a Xi’an native — how about making everyone a pot of mutton bread soup? I remember there’s a song that goes: under Xi’an’s city walls runs Xi’an’s train; a person from Xi’an, no matter where they go, cannot go without their bread soup…”

Diao Zhuo sat without moving, listening to her fumble along in her stilted Xi’an dialect. He found it quietly amusing but kept his face composed, and answered her in proper Xi’an dialect: “I can’t go without my bread soup — but you’re not from Xi’an, so you can do without.”

Ba Yunye perked up again. “But I—”

“Stop right there.”

“I haven’t even said anything yet.”

“I know what you’re going to say.”

Ba Yunye blinked. “What am I going to say?”

Diao Zhuo looked at her and communicated with his eyes: whatever it is, I’m sure it won’t be anything sensible.

Ba Yunye raised an eyebrow at him. “Captain Diao is getting to know me better and better.”

“Proximity to ink makes one black.”

“Not close enough.” She said.

Diao Zhuo looked away. “Could even stand to be a bit further.”

Ba Yunye took a deliberate step back and put on an exaggerated look of disgust, pinching her nose shut. “Fair enough — you’ve been three or four days without a wash, haven’t you?”

“So have you.” He gave a slight smile.

She covered her mouth with a look of theatrical horror. “I had no idea Captain Diao was keeping such close track of whether I’ve bathed!”

Diao Zhuo, knowing she was at it again, walked to the back of the vehicle and with one hand lifted out a bucket of water. “Do you want a wash or do you want bread soup?”

Ba Yunye sat cross-legged on a camp stool, her smile thoroughly wicked. “Which of those options can you personally be involved in?”

Diao Zhuo didn’t blink. “The wash.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ll take the bread soup.”

“Break all the bread into pieces about the size of a thumbnail — not bigger, not smaller.”

Ba Yunye pulled off her gloves, raised her fingers, and examined her bright red nails, then turned her hand around to show them to Diao Zhuo. “Ten nails — which one is the standard?”

He held up his thumb and tilted it left and right. She held up her thumb too and held it alongside his. A man’s hand and a woman’s hand — the comparison was unmistakable. Her bones were slender and long, but her skin was a shade darker than city girls her age; the honey-toned skin was gilded by the last light of the setting sun. Diao Zhuo thought back to the first time they’d shaken hands — slightly rough but soft — and then found himself thinking of the wet heat of her tongue brushing his earlobe.

Absolutely damned.

Out in the no-man’s land with limited resources, Diao Zhuo’s promised “mutton bread soup” amounted to nothing more than dropping the air-dried mutton into a pot and boiling it into a broth; everyone broke their own bread in. Ba Yunye had no patience for careful tearing — she’d barely broken two pieces before she was ripping the bread apart in big chunks like she was tearing paper, tossing the pieces in her tin, then shuffled over behind Diao Zhuo and gave him a firm slap on the shoulder, grinning mischievously as she tried to draw him into conversation.

“Captain, don’t shoot — it’s me.”

Diao Zhuo glanced at her, then raised his hand, extended his index and middle fingers alongside it, and lightly pressed them to her temple — delivering a mock “headshot.”

Ba Yunye put on a show of clutching her head. “You have absolutely no regard for the fairer sex…”

“‘Fair lady’ I haven’t seen. Right in front of me there happens to be a Conqueror of the West.”

“You’re calling me the King of Western Chu? Flattering.” She clasped her hands together in a mock salute. “If I’d had even a third of the Conqueror’s bravery in the army, I’d probably be a female general by now.”

Diao Zhuo returned the clasped-hand salute. “I stand corrected.”

Ba Yunye let out a laugh, then deliberately played on his words by mixing up the homophone: “Something that minor makes you lose bladder control? Too bad there wasn’t enough preparation for this trip — no adult diapers packed.”

Diao Zhuo, mid-throw with the half-broken bread, looked for a split second as if he was about to swing around and take a proper swing at her — she bolted and vanished.

He watched her retreating figure, equal parts exasperated and amused, looking thoroughly at his wit’s end… Not as if I could actually hit her.

Ye Xun — probably having caught a chill after falling through the ice the previous night — was complaining of a bad stomach all day. After hearing Da Qin’s ordeal, he went to find a sheltered spot to relieve himself; but he’d barely gone a few steps before his eyes went wide and he came sprinting back, excitement barely contained in a lowered voice: “Hey! I saw Tibetan antelope! Lots of them!!”

“Impossible.” Ba Yunye shot forward, following the direction he pointed, and took one look — then walked back while already chuckling. “Those are white-rumped antelope, not Tibetan antelope.”

Ye Xun, out of breath from running over, asked: “What do you mean white-rumped?”

“Tibetan gazelle.” Ba Yunye said, then added: “Tibetan antelope aren’t that easy to spot. Stop hoping.”

“I’ve heard that Tibetan antelope gather in one place for a period of time — is that true?”

She shook her head. “I wouldn’t know.”

“Master Ba, your lips are tight.”

She smiled. “I’m not a zoologist.”

Ye Xun could only turn back, disgruntled.

“Master Ba, can you come with me to use the bathroom?” Xiao Zi pointed to a spot in the distance, asking in a tiny voice.

“Well! Right when dinner’s nearly ready, everyone decides they need the bathroom all at once. What, making room for the food?” Ba Yunye said with a sigh, beckoning her to get in the car.

All the people who had just recently relieved themselves rolled their eyes — says the one whose food and toilet are in the same compartment.

They drove over a low dirt rise and got out. With the off-road vehicle as a screen, Xiao Zi rustled and undid her trousers. Ba Yunye said teasingly: “Times like this, I really envy men — turn your back to anything and the world is your bathroom.”

“Master Ba, you’re too free-spirited.” Xiao Zi crouched down. “I’ve never met anyone like you… Can Captain Diao Zhuo handle you?”

She said offhandedly: “A man who can’t take a few words from me doesn’t deserve all those muscles.”

“Why him, of all people…”

She said distractedly: “Obvious, isn’t it? I like him, so I tease him.”

“Haven’t you even asked whether he’s married?”

“Geologists don’t get married easily.” She said with the authority of an old hand. “And if they were, they’re divorced by now.”

“What if he has a girlfriend?”

This question made Ba Yunye pause for just a moment, then she waved a hand. “Impossible.”

“How can that be impossible?”

“Since we set off, whenever there’s a break to rest or eat, how many calls do you see him make? How many texts do you see him send? He’d sooner smoke two cigarettes than glance at his phone — meaning there’s no woman waiting for him to check in with, no one expecting him to ask how she’s doing. He’s got no girlfriend.”

Xiao Zi thought about it. “He’s that much of a man — maybe in a relationship he’s the dominant type, and his girlfriend quietly waits for him to message back?”

Ba Yunye laughed so hard her sunglasses nearly fell out of her pocket. “Dominant, my foot — if I were his girlfriend, I’d have dumped him already for messaging at that frequency and with those gaps in between. Or I’d have given him a few green hats to wear.”

Xiao Zi was appalled. “One green hat would be bad enough — you’d give him several?”

“No, no, no…” She immediately backpedaled, as though Diao Zhuo were standing right there, busily pledging her loyalty: “I’m actually very committed.”

“But isn’t it demeaning for a woman to chase a man?”

“Your point being — I should wait for Diao Zhuo to chase me?”

“Yes.”

“And then?”

“Then agree to him, of course!”

“And then he’ll make it up to me in the difference?” Ba Yunye asked with feigned innocence.

“Uh…”

“Do you see Diao Zhuo chasing me?”

Xiao Zi pressed her lips together. She wanted to tell the truth but was afraid of hurting Ba Yunye, so she settled for a reluctant nod.

Ba Yunye was direct: “Your ability to read men needs work.”

“I still think you’re too forward with him. It’s not a good look.”

“I call it the spirit of the Foolish Old Man who moved mountains, and Jingwei who tried to fill the sea.”

Xiao Zi paused, caught off guard. “…That does show real determination. But haven’t you heard that saying — those you love are separated by mountains and seas, and mountains and seas cannot be crossed?”

Ba Yunye — no great scholar at the best of times — was stumped by the quote. She rubbed the tip of her nose and said: “Whatever about crossing or not crossing — all I know is: nothing in the world is hard if you have a thick enough face.”

Xiao Zi couldn’t follow her logic and fell silent, carefully tucking her thermal undershirt into her thermal trousers, then her sweater into her windproof pants.

“Just pull them up roughly.” Ba Yunye said.

“That won’t do — they have to be properly tucked in.” Xiao Zi replied.

“As long as it doesn’t slow you down if you have to run.”

“Why would I need to run?”

Ba Yunye’s body went taut. “There are wolves.”

“You said wolves weren’t scary.” Xiao Zi finished her trousers, turned around — and let out an ear-splitting scream: “MOM——!!!!!”

A pack of wolves!

They had been watching and waiting for some time, and having judged that Ba Yunye and Xiao Zi were smaller in size and fewer in number than themselves, they decided to attack.

“Get in the car!” Ba Yunye grabbed her and they ran toward the vehicle.

Xiao Zi was completely paralyzed with terror, her mind blank. Under normal circumstances she only needed to follow Ba Yunye back to the car and she’d be fine — but the wolf pack operated tactically. Having apparently anticipated their quarry’s next move, one wolf leaped out and ran alongside Xiao Zi, steering her in a different direction. Xiao Zi, with no experience of this, fell for the tactic immediately and screamed as she ran in the wrong direction — the farther she ran, the farther she was from the car.

Ba Yunye hadn’t even had time to call out to her before she saw Xiao Zi, eyes clamped shut, running blindly with all her might, veering further and further from the car.

“Hey!! This way!! Get in!” Ba Yunye bellowed.

Xiao Zi couldn’t take it in. She glanced back, saw the pack closing in, flanking her from multiple angles — four gray wolves were almost parallel with her. Panic sent her further off course; she was frantic to break free of them, and ran in all directions screaming, waving her arms wildly in hopes of running faster.

Ba Yunye leaned on the car horn; the wolf pack startled and collectively froze for a moment, watchfully eyeing her vehicle — but half a second later decided to continue the chase.

Xiao Zi was still running wild, completely unaware.

For Xiao Zi, this was a genuine flight for survival.

“Xiao Zi — get your ass over here!!” Ba Yunye gunned the engine and chased after her, shouting through the window.

Human speed is no match for a carnivore; and in an oxygen-depleted environment, you can’t keep it up for long. The wolves had already formed a half-circle enclosure — one leap away from pouncing.

Ba Yunye drove into the wolf pack in an S-shaped charge, scattering their formation — but they immediately regrouped. They had been shaped from birth by the harsh conditions of nature; without food, they died, and every cooperative hunt was a matter of their clan’s survival. Wild animals can read strength and weakness; they had fixed their sights on Xiao Zi from the beginning, which was why none of them had moved to block Ba Yunye.

“Damn it!” Ba Yunye hauled hard on the steering wheel, slammed the brakes, and cut in front of Xiao Zi. She’d barely shoved the passenger door open when a wolf thrust half its body through the gap, forepaws on the seat, with a ferocious glare and bared fangs — as good as saying: that piece of prey was theirs; stay out of it.

“Get out!!” Ba Yunye roared, her fury blazing. This had started out as a simple matter; it was Xiao Zi’s panicked, mindless running that had turned it into a matter of life and death. She had no desire to hurt the wildlife here — but she had no desire to be hurt by them either!

The wolf bared its teeth in a warning, then turned back and rejoined the chase.

More than a dozen gray wolves — their eyes steady and savage. The brutal conditions of their environment had made them more aggressive than wolves elsewhere. Once they locked onto a target they swarmed it and would not stop until the target was spent — or the wolves were, though which side would give out first was another question. Unknown numbers of solo trekkers who’d ventured into the no-man’s land might have met their end in those jaws.

Xiao Zi ran and screamed all at once, so frightened she’d even forgotten to cry. She could only run at the absolute limit of her speed. The intense exertion sent her oxygen consumption skyrocketing, and she was gasping within moments; the dry air tore into her chest in rapid gulps, scraping her airway with every inhale.