Luan Nian suddenly understood what Shang Zhitao was conflicted about.

She was probably thinking that her age advantage was gradually disappearing. Before, Luan Nian was with her perhaps because she was young. After all, almost everyone says men like young women. And now, a 22-year-old newcomer had suddenly appeared—a newcomer who was considered gorgeous by the world, had a background, was talented, and had various rumors with Luan Nian in the company.

Shang Zhitao was perhaps thinking: sooner or later, Luan Nian would be with the other 22-year-olds. Because most men are like that.

Regarding those rumors between him and Song Qiuhan, Luan Nian had heard bits and pieces, but he hadn’t taken them to heart.

Rarely, Luan Nian understood Shang Zhitao’s true thoughts. He didn’t even realize that he had begun to truly empathize with her.

“Don’t you have the answer in your heart?” he asked her. “You can use your brain occasionally, after all, this answer isn’t difficult, is it?”

“Not difficult?”

“How about this: 26-year-old Shang Zhitao goes home, and let’s have 22-year-old Song Qiuhan travel with me instead, how’s that?”

“…”

Luan Nian saw Shang Zhitao turn to leave, thinking Ms. Shang’s temper had grown, and sighed as he pulled her into his arms. “Where are you going?”

“To the car, the wind is too strong.”

“I thought you were going to find a replacement.” Luan Nian teased her.

“In your dreams!” Shang Zhitao laughed. “You don’t know how to speak properly, but I understand what you mean. You’re talking about the present. Right now, you’re traveling with 26-year-old Shang Zhitao. You like 26-year-old Shang Zhitao.”

“You’ve become smarter,” Luan Nian praised her. “You finally used your brain.” Luan Nian held her in his arms. “Let’s enjoy the scenery a bit more, Luke hasn’t run enough yet.”

Luke heard this, became excited, barked once, and ran off again. Luan Nian’s clothes wrapped around Shang Zhitao, with only her head exposed. Around them was breathtaking scenery, with the two people and one dog appearing particularly small against the vastness of heaven and earth. In this vast world, full of wonders, people are often troubled by mundane matters, but in the end, we all return to dust, insignificant in the grand scheme. Being happy in the present is best.

“Can you just tell me the answer directly?” Shang Zhitao started being unreasonable, something she’d learned from Luan Nian. She felt like she was becoming increasingly greedy. She needed Luan Nian to express himself, directly express whether it was yes or no, love or not love—she needed a definite answer. Because certainty is also a form of security.

Luan Nian rested his head on her neck, his breath brushing against the barely visible fine hair on her ear as he spoke: “I choose you.”

Shang Zhitao was overjoyed, tilting her head to avoid him, giggling: “That tickles.” She turned around, cupped Luan Nian’s face and planted a kiss on him: “I choose you too. Even though you’re over thirty.”

“?” Luan Nian pinched her face: “Say that again?”

“It’s fine, everyone gets old.” Shang Zhitao kissed him again and pulled him into the car.

Shang Zhitao started getting a headache. Luan Nian saw her frowning and mocked her: “Impressive, showing symptoms at less than 3,000 meters?”

“You don’t feel anything?”

“I do, but it’s not serious, close to none.” Though he teased her, he was quite concerned and changed course to Golmud.

“Let’s rest for a day in Golmud, you need to adjust,” Luan Nian started talking non-stop. “No strenuous exercise, no running, jumping, or fast walking, no alcohol. Is your headache severe?”

Shang Zhitao shook her head: “Not particularly severe.”

“Nauseous? Chest tightness?”

“A little.”

Luan Nian found a hotel in Golmud and checked in. Once inside, he told Shang Zhitao to rest.

“Go lie down on the bed.” Luan Nian pulled back the covers, had Shang Zhitao lie down, and gave her a tablet of ibuprofen.

“Then we won’t reach Lhasa the day after tomorrow.” Shang Zhitao felt a bit disappointed.

“What’s the rush? Lhasa won’t run away,” Luan Nian said to her. “Health is important. If 20 days isn’t enough, then 25 days. Otherwise, what are you saving your annual leave for?”

“Will you abandon me in Tibet?” When Shang Zhitao wasn’t feeling well, she tended to let her imagination run wild. In her mind, Luan Nian abandoned her in Lhasa and drove away alone. Luan Nian was probably capable of doing such an inhuman thing; after all, he was Luan Nian.

“Are you sick in the head?” Luan Nian flicked her forehead and also got into bed, holding her in his arms. “Sleep for a while, when you wake up, we’ll walk around Golmud. This city is quite nice too.”

“Mm.” Shang Zhitao clutched his shirt, and as she was about to fall asleep, she murmured to him: “I love you a lot, do you know that?”

“I know.”

Luan Nian lulled Shang Zhitao to sleep, then opened his phone to see Chen Kuannian had shared many videos in the group chat of them taking a boat ride and drinking coffee in Giethoorn. Three men, dressed impeccably, like models on a photoshoot. Chen Kuannian also taunted him: “Tsk tsk, without our fashion icon Chairman Luan, this trip is missing something. Fortunately, the girls here are as impressive as ever.”

Luan Nian scoffed and shared photos from his journey.

Chen Kuannian stirred things up again: “You didn’t go alone, did you? Not even a single photo together?”

“You’re not worthy,” Luan Nian replied.

The group chat became lively. Luan Nian chuckled, then looked back to see that Shang Zhitao was sweating a bit. He moved the blanket down and pulled her arm out. He touched her nose with his fingertip and quietly admonished her: “You should be grateful you came to Tibet with me. With someone else, you might have lost your life here.”

“Not reporting in safely?” Dr. Liang also sent a message.

“All safe.”

“That’s it? Where are the photos? I want to see Flora’s.”

“Don’t have any.” As Luan Nian said this, he remembered the drone footage and got up to retrieve the video. Seeing the drone taking off with Shang Zhitao waving, he suddenly felt that Shang Zhitao was quite pleasing to the eye. Although her face wasn’t clear due to the distance, she stood beside him with Luke running around, and it somehow composed a beautiful picture. He exported and edited it briefly before sending it to Dr. Liang: “No face shots, make do with this.”

Dr. Liang looked at it for a while and asked: “How come she looks so much like that Shang Zhitao from the matchmaking website?”

“You still remember what people from the website look like?”

“Your mother has a photographic memory, thank you very much.”

“It’s her, thanks.”

Dr. Liang suddenly felt a bit moved. She showed the video to Luan’s father: “Look, this girl looks nice.”

“Have you met her in person?” Luan’s father disliked women being too emotional, judging someone as good or bad before even meeting them.

Dr. Liang got angry: “What’s wrong with you?” Luan Nian took after his father—truly terrible at speaking properly. Dr. Liang had butted heads with him all her life, and in the end, neither would yield to the other, yet neither could leave the other.

Luan’s father snorted: “I’m just advising you not to be too enthusiastic, and don’t have too high hopes. Your son has always been good at messing things up since he was little.”

“…” Dr. Liang followed behind Luan’s father: “Isn’t that just like you? If he messes it up, then you can look forward to your son growing old all alone!”

Luan Nian was unaware his parents were talking about him. He returned to the bed, held Shang Zhitao, and napped for a while. When they both opened their eyes, it was already past six in the evening. Shang Zhitao felt a bit better.

“Since you’re feeling better, let’s go out for a walk.”

“Sure!” She sprang up but was immediately pushed back down by Luan Nian. “Do you have a death wish?”

“Didn’t I tell you to move slowly?”

“Didn’t I tell you not to get excited?”

“What’s the rush?”

Luan Nian scolded Shang Zhitao one sentence after another. After listening for a while, Shang Zhitao finally couldn’t resist: “Luan Nian, why are you so nagging…”

?

Luan Nian gave her a murderous look, and Shang Zhitao immediately shut up.

She slowly moved downward, trying to be obedient.

Neither of them felt like eating much meat, so they found a place serving yak bone soup with flatbread and pickled vegetables, along with a few thin slices of yak meat. The soup was rich, and after one sip, beads of sweat appeared on the tip of Shang Zhitao’s nose: “Delicious.”

“If you like it, we can come again tomorrow.”

“Aren’t we leaving tomorrow?”

“I’m afraid you’ll die on the road. Let’s adjust for another day, no rush. Tomorrow I’ll take you to see the surroundings. There are many beautiful sights nearby too.”

“Alright. Luan Nian, do you know what? I think I should tell you.”

“What?”

“I enjoy traveling with you.”

Shang Zhitao felt she should learn from Lu Mi and Sun Yu—express love when you feel it, don’t be afraid of rejection, don’t be afraid of ridicule, and don’t think it’s cheesy. If we’re not willing to say sweet things when we’re young, are we going to wait until our hair turns gray to give flowers to the one we love? Although that would be romantic too, what memories would we have of the life that passed us by?

“Anything else? Any other nice things to say?” Luan Nian asked her.

“I like you, I like every path you choose, I like going on adventures with you. I like all the beautiful scenery along the way because I’m seeing it with you.” Shang Zhitao’s face was a bit red. “Can you also say some nice things? I want to hear them.”

Luan Nian took a sip of soup, didn’t even look up, and said: “Same as above.”

What kind of sweet talk was “same as above”? Yet why did Shang Zhitao like it so much? She also took a sip of soup and imitated Luan Nian’s half-dead tone: “So sweet.”

After eating, Luan Nian took her and Luke for a casual stroll in the unfamiliar city, attracting many sidelong glances. Shang Zhitao stopped at a horse-drawn cart selling fruits to pick some fruit. After paying, the old vendor took out another fruit of a different quality from his money bag and handed it to her, making gestures. They didn’t understand, but a young passerby explained to them: “He’s complimenting you for being beautiful and saying you make a good match.”

Shang Zhitao had never heard anyone say they made a good match before.

In familiar cities, they pretended to be strangers, and others always thought they were standing next to someone else. This was the first time in an unfamiliar city that he held her hand, and someone said they made a good match.

Luan Nian saw that Shang Zhitao seemed touched, so he said to her: “The old man has good eyes. I’m not compatible with just anyone.” It sounded arrogant, and indeed it was. In his previous two relationships, his girlfriends were stunning beauties, but others might not necessarily say they were a good match; generally, people would say they’re just having fun. With other women, people would say they were just having fun; with Shang Zhitao, no matter how you looked at it, it didn’t seem like they were just having fun. It looked more like this couple was serious, heading toward a good life.

Because of these words “good match,” Luan Nian was in high spirits and bought many fruits to distribute to those who wanted to buy. He almost seemed like he was going to buy out all the old man’s cart. Luke sat obediently watching his wealthy dad perform, showcasing a dog’s love for wealth thoroughly.

After staying in Golmud for two nights, Shang Zhitao was fine, and the two continued their journey. Shang Zhitao thought that since Luan Nian was so wild, he would be very aggressive during travel. But he wasn’t. He just loved adventure, but didn’t overly pursue goals, and was extremely laid-back. If Shang Zhitao felt unwell anywhere, he would stop. There was no rush, after all.

They began to master the pace, stopping every hour and a half to handle work separately for half an hour. Shang Zhitao’s Northwest project creative review had passed, and the third-party company had begun modeling, so her pressure was relatively less. But she still had to be involved in the modeling process, afraid that any wrong parameter would affect the actual implementation. Luan Nian was busier, with many decisions waiting for him. When handling work, he mostly made phone calls. The rest of the time, he didn’t often check his phone. Sometimes he would toss his phone to Shang Zhitao, asking her to read out any messages, then he would dictate, and she would reply.

The day before entering Lhasa, Luan Nian was driving the last stretch. Shang Zhitao was still helping him handle work when she saw a message from Yilia, which said: “Luke, last night while chatting with my dad, he mentioned casually that next year their group will reallocate their advertising budget. Do we need to participate in the bidding?”

Shang Zhitao read it to him, and Luan Nian replied: “Yes.”

After a few seconds, he added: “Through the proper channels.”

Shang Zhitao helped him reply, then glanced at him. She now somewhat understood that in such major matters, bosses always remained watertight. Online messages would never say: Sure, is there any shortcut? Or, can you help smooth things over?

“When I say through proper channels, I mean through proper channels,” Luan Nian said to Shang Zhitao while driving. “I disdain using other methods, not interesting.”

“But you often have meals with Jiang Lan…”

“Jiang Lan is considered a friend,” Luan Nian told Shang Zhitao. “Having meals is just having meals, but never crossing the line.”

Yilia’s message came in again: “Great. How about we have a meal with my dad someday to gain a deeper understanding of the background?”

“Good,” Luan Nian said.

Shang Zhitao replied to the message and returned the phone to Luan Nian: “You’d better focus on checking them yourself later.”

“Why?”

“I feel uncomfortable. Like I’m prying into your privacy.”

“You watch my home through security cameras every day, do I have any privacy left?” Luan Nian argued with her. Shang Zhitao turned to look at Luke: “The culprit is right there.”

Luan Nian looked at the foolish dog Luke through the rearview mirror. After just a few days out, the snow-white dog had turned light gray, yet it remained oblivious, grinning stupidly: “Because Luke would miss you while you’re in the Northwest, so he let you watch.”

“I know, Luke misses me, and so does Luke.” Shang Zhitao was smugly pleased.

This time, Luan Nian didn’t laugh at her but responded with a low voice:

“Yes.”

Shang Zhitao glanced at him, then looked at the scenery outside the window, the corners of her mouth curving upward. After a while, she couldn’t hold back and laughed out loud.

Luan Nian looked at her suspiciously. She looked at Luan Nian, and perhaps because they were so close to the sun, her eyes were particularly bright. She placed her hand on her chest and said very seriously: “Just now, I truly and deeply felt that your heart is not hard at all.”

Not hard, but very soft.

He was also a gentle person, just that his gentleness didn’t appear in conventional forms.

Others might find it hard to see, but Shang Zhitao saw it.

This was truly rare.