“We… we’re all taking them too.” After a long pause, the mild-mannered Fu Xingyue finally managed to squeeze out a single sentence.

Da Qiang waved a hand and pointed at the collection of bottles and jars in their hands. “Vitamins should be supplemented based on your body’s actual needs — ideally with a doctor’s advice. If your daily diet already provides enough, there’s no need to take so much. Ginseng is a great tonic, but would you try eating two whole roots a day?”

Fu Xingyue looked anxious. She tossed away the vitamin C in her hand as though it were a hot coal. “Then I’ll stop taking all of it from now on.”

“That’s not what I’m saying — don’t go to the other extreme.” Da Qiang sighed. “What I mean is, once you’re back home, consult a doctor and a nutritionist, then get an absorption capacity test done. If your body absorbs a certain nutrient well and you already get plenty of it through your diet, there’s absolutely no need to supplement it further. And if you can get nutrients from food, that’s always better — there’s something to be said for natural sources…”

Jiang Ao’hang hadn’t joined in their discussion about nutrition. He looked thoroughly deflated. In Ba Yunye’s eyes, it was plain to see: his small scheme had been inadvertently dismantled by Da Qiang, and he would now have to start planning all over again — utterly reluctant to let it go.

Fu Yingtao came back inside after vomiting, his face ashen. “I’m never touching those vitamin tablets or capsules again…”

Fu Xingyue poured him a cup of hot water, her eyes vacant.

“Director, the real thing you should do is quit smoking as soon as possible.” Ba Yunye couldn’t help but interject.

Fu Yingtao gave her a displeased look, then promptly ignored her words entirely. Then he turned to Fu Xingyue: “How many times have I told you — those disposable cups are toxic, you can’t put hot water in them. Are you trying to do me in?!”

“This… I… ” Fu Xingyue was flustered by his scolding and couldn’t think of anything to say. She could only go and fetch his insulated flask and refill it with hot water.

“From now on, whatever you want to take, make sure you’ve properly asked a doctor first. Look at all these useless vitamins you’ve bought!” Fu Yingtao was thoroughly furious.

Da Qiang felt deeply awkward and hurried to clarify: “That’s not what I meant… having a risk doesn’t mean a result is inevitable. It’s like the stock market — yes, there’s risk, but people also strike it rich overnight, don’t they?”

Fu Yingtao wasn’t listening. He reprimanded his daughter and son-in-law sharply, as though they had truly held a knife to his throat.

Jiang Ao’hang went very quiet. He let Fu Xingyue put away the large collection of nutritional supplements without making any of his usual eager attempts to help. His phone kept turning on and then off, on and then off again, as though he desperately wanted to contact the outside world — but hampered by the poor signal, he had to keep giving up.

After quite some time, Fu Xingyue finally noticed that her husband wasn’t himself. “Ao’hang, what’s wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell?”

“Maybe a bit of altitude sickness. Dizzy.” He said, subdued.

Seeing him in such low spirits, Ba Yunye was quite pleased. She raised her eyebrows at Diao Zhuo and He Ma.

“A healer’s compassion.” Diao Zhuo placed a hand on Da Qiang’s shoulder. Da Qiang rubbed his abdomen. “My stomach feels like it’s knotted into a ball — who’s going to fix me?”

He, his friends, and Ba Yunye exchanged a glance, and with great unanimity, deployed the standard toolkit of the staunch no-nonsense man:

Ba Yunye: “Drink more hot water.”

Diao Zhuo: “Go to sleep early.”

Dong Bai: “Goodnight, muah.”

“Get lost!” Da Qiang roared.

Outside it was bitterly cold. A fierce wind swept sand and grit across everything, beating against the tent with a steady, muffled drumming. Some climbers left before “Brotherhood of Blades” had even finished, heading to bed. Others, unable to bear the physical toll of altitude sickness any longer, packed their bags through the night, planning to start back first thing in the morning.

Lu Jianyi announced that the next day’s training would include a hiking drill combined with glacier climbing. They would be wearing crampons and getting a taste of real ice climbing.

Da Qiang asked curiously: “Master Ba, what’s the highest altitude you’ve ever reached?”

“6,872 meters,” she answered without hesitation.

“A true heroine among women.” Dong Bai couldn’t help but press his fists together in a respectful salute.

“Driven by necessity — when a client wants to go, I have no choice but to put myself on the line and accompany them.” The heroine said modestly.

When both films were over, it was nearly eleven o’clock. Ba Yunye crawled into the tent, pulled out her sleeping bag from her pack. At that moment, she heard a rustling outside the tent, the flap was lifted, and Diao Zhuo also crawled in. The faint yellowish light cast his strong brows and bright eyes in sharp relief, handsome and striking. The thick stubble showing along his jaw added a rugged masculine appeal. The tent had been spacious enough, but with one powerfully built man added to it, it suddenly felt crowded — yet the temperature inside seemed to have risen.

She deliberately played dumb, kneeling on the ground to lay out the sleeping bag without even glancing up. “Don’t tell me you’re scared to sleep alone out here in the middle of nowhere.”

“Ba Yunye, can’t you say anything decent?” Diao Zhuo half-knelt beside her, voice biting yet extraordinarily gentle as he gathered her into his arms and leaned down to seal her lips with his.

Ba Yunye was kissed into a haze, but still managed to fire back: “Want me to prove you’re not a dog? Produce some ivory for me, then.”

The next second, she was cursing inwardly — damn, that hurts. His stubble was scraping against her face. But the pain was mixed with a tingling sensation, trailing from her lips down her neck, across her chest, and gradually spreading through her whole body.

Diao Zhuo had been longing to hold her ever since she had appeared so unexpectedly at Xi Da Tan, making him realize that this woman, too, would miss him. He held her firmly locked in his arms, those arms so powerful, the dense blocks of muscle taut and hard as tempered iron. He said nothing, yet every cell in him was clamoring, shouting, proclaiming possession and fierce longing. In terms of raw strength and sheer build, Diao Zhuo was the stronger of the two — his advance came fast and fierce, impossible to hold off. At over five thousand meters of altitude, Ba Yunye found herself breathless from the kiss.

The light went out. The two of them were tucked into the same sleeping bag together, Diao Zhuo’s chest and abdomen pressed against Ba Yunye’s back, his arm wrapped around her waist.

It wasn’t yet deep winter, so Ba Yunye had brought an egg-shaped sleeping bag — roomy enough for one person, but with Diao Zhuo squeezed in, it was a different matter. The two were pressed tightly together, without even enough room to roll over. Ba Yunye let out a sudden laugh. “This is the first time I’ve shared a sleeping bag with someone.”

“Sharing in Master Ba’s first — what an undeserved honor.”

She deliberately provoked him: “So, Diao Zhuo — you also have a thing about firsts?”

He didn’t take the bait. No answer he gave could end well. He only said: “This is also the first time I’ve squeezed into a sleeping bag with a woman.”

“Before this it was always men?”

Diao Zhuo exhaled heavily, as though the question had completely disarmed him.

Ba Yunye hadn’t even had time to feel smug. He bit her earlobe, and she let out a soft cry, covering her ear with her hand. She suddenly found herself thinking of the time in Qiang Tang when they had encountered the poachers — he had pressed himself over her to shield her from the shotgun spray. She was a straightforward person by nature, and when a question crossed her mind, she simply said it: “When did you first start to like me?”

“When you were aiming and shooting.” With her, Diao Zhuo was equally candid. But the moment the words left his mouth, he thought — or perhaps even earlier. After all, it only takes fifteen seconds to fall for someone; all the rest of the time is simply spent discovering that fact.

“Ha — the shot that struck wasn’t the tire, but your heart, Diao Zhuo.”

“You write poetry now.”

“I’m just saying — it’s very useful for a woman to learn how to shoot. Because you never know when it might come in handy for getting your man.”

Diao Zhuo felt a chill shoot through him from the soles of his feet upward. “‘Getting your man’ — as in shooting him dead?”

“If I can get him — seduce and ensnare. If I can’t — shoot him dead.” She grinned, showing her teeth.

“Your command of idioms is among the best of anyone I know.”

“Best, or second best?”

He was silent for a few seconds. “Second.”

Truly second to none in absurdity.

Ba Yunye jabbed backward with her elbow. He let out a muffled grunt — that must have really hurt. He grabbed her arm and pressed her hands firmly against her body. “That’s the first time I’ve been struck by a woman’s ‘hidden arrow.'”

Ba Yunye returned his words right back to him: “Sharing in Diao Zhuo’s first — what an undeserved honor.”

Diao Zhuo said nothing in return. He simply held her tighter.

After a while, Ba Yunye said: “As long as Jiang Ao’hang doesn’t cook up some new scheme to harm his father-in-law and interfere with our climb, I think the weather looks like we should be able to make a push for the summit the day after tomorrow. Neither of us is a professional climber, so the time we can spend on the mountain isn’t long. Whether we find the thermos flask is entirely down to luck — if it really can’t be done, we abandon that part. Finding the location where the photo was taken matters more to me. You might have to put in extra effort on that.”

“Why are you suddenly being so polite with me?”

She dropped the pretense entirely. “What do you expect — of course you have to be civil when you’re asking someone for help.”

“I don’t need your civility.”

“Then what do you want?”

“I want you.”

“You really are completely gone over me.”

He let out a soft hum — a low, resonant sound from his throat. Ba Yunye let out a long, wide yawn. She had no altitude sickness, but her body was exhausted, and drowsiness washed over her fully. She sat up. “I doubt you want to spend the whole night squeezed into one sleeping bag with me. I’m going to use the facilities — go get your own sleeping bag.”

“We’ll split up and go.” Diao Zhuo rose with her.

Ba Yunye pulled her jacket collar tight and walked against the wind toward the camp toilet. Most of the tents were dark, their occupants presumably already asleep. Only two or three tents still had lights on, glowing in the pitch-black camp like a few large fireflies. Pikas were still scurrying about in all directions. A sweep of the torchlight would catch their small, fleeting forms hopping and flashing past.

“He Ma, not asleep yet!” She called out casually as she passed one of the tents.

There was a thud from inside, and He Ma’s voice came out somewhat flustered. “I… I’m going to sleep now! Why are you out here! I… I just saw Diao Zhuo heading over to your tent!”

“Heh, nature calls.” Ba Yunye’s voice carried amusement, but her expression was blank. She stood still in the biting wind for half a minute, then suddenly yanked open He Ma’s tent zip at lightning speed, half her body lunging inside with a burst of laughter: “It’s freezing cold and you’re still not asleep!”

He Ma was clearly startled. His sleeping bag was already laid out, but he was sitting bolt upright on top of it, hands empty, looking as though he didn’t quite know what to do with himself.

“What are you up to?”

“Go on, get out — I’m meditating, alright? Don’t disturb my spiritual practice.” He Ma impatiently waved her off. “A spring night is worth a thousand gold — go do whatever you need to do with your Diao Zhuo!”

“Far be it from me to interfere with your path to enlightenment.” Ba Yunye stuck her tongue out at him and zipped the tent flap back up for him.

He Ma watched the tent flap guardedly, and once he was certain she had gone, looked out one more time with lingering unease, then shook his head with a sigh.

Ba Yunye finished her business, straightened her clothes, and hurried back. Then she heard several soft sobs — not the voices of the Tangshan sisters, but sounding more like Fu Xingyue. She pricked up her ears and followed the sound. She could hear Fu Xingyue, voice breaking, say: “Since I was small, I’ve done everything he asked… he didn’t have to say such awful things to me… Does he really think I was trying to harm him?! He ate them too — and so did everyone else! So many people watching… and he scolded me like that in front of everyone…”

So she was upset because Fu Yingtao had reprimanded her publicly. Ba Yunye thought — Fu Xingyue had been an innocent bystander who caught the worst of it.

“Alright, stop crying. If you were truly his biological daughter, he wouldn’t treat you like this.” Jiang Ao’hang’s voice came through.

Ba Yunye froze.

“At least I’m here for you… I’m always on your side, no matter what. He’s just naturally suspicious — at work too, and in life. When I was first pursuing you, how much grief did he give me? As if I were trying to take something from him. Eventually he came around, but he never gave me a kind look in private — especially after your mother passed away. Everything I do rubs him the wrong way. I’ve endured it all for your sake. Honestly, I do feel for you, and I know what your situation is like…”

Fu Xingyue was still crying softly. “It wasn’t me who asked to be adopted. Yet the way he acts, it’s as if I owe him something… he’s always saying things like ‘without me you’d be nothing’… Am I not devoted to him? Other people after they marry move out to live separately, but I stayed home precisely because I wanted to look after them. I’ve cooked the meals, done the washing up, taken care of everything — when he comes home there isn’t a thing he needs to worry about, just pick up his chopsticks and eat, and then he’s off again… and today he actually said I was trying to harm him! I’m so heartbroken…”

“He’s lonely too, and he has his own struggles. Don’t worry — I’m completely on your side in all of this…”

The wind picked up further, striking her forehead like a slap. Ba Yunye had no hat on and knew she couldn’t stay out in the cold any longer. She ducked down and hurried back to the tent.

So Fu Xingyue was not Fu Yingtao’s biological daughter — and it seemed like she didn’t have an easy life in that household. Ba Yunye thought — if one day Jiang Ao’hang succeeded in harming Fu Yingtao and his true nature came to light, what would become of the soft and timid Fu Xingyue?

Every family has its own struggles. Ba Yunye felt worried, but right now there was no evidence and no proof. She feared Jiang Ao’hang would turn the accusation back on her — so she could only wait for the right moment to bring up with Fu Xingyue what He Ma had overheard and what she herself had discovered on Jiang Ao’hang’s phone.

But then — would Fu Xingyue even believe a stranger she’d known for less than a week?