Shang Zhitao thought to herself that Dunhuang 108 was the kind of trip you only needed to do once in a lifetime. It was exhausting. Truly exhausting.
The next morning when she got up, her legs didn't feel like her own anymore. That was nothing, though. The real challenge was tonight, when they'd be sleeping in tents. Camping was supposed to be nice, and the stars in the desert were sure to be beautiful, but right now Shang Zhitao was thoroughly dreading it.
She got up early to keep an eye on the buffet breakfast, and at the entrance to the dining hall she found Luan Nian, who had risen even earlier than she had. His eyes landed on her slow, stiff walk.
"You need to work out more."
"I don't hike every day." Shang Zhitao muttered a protest, unhappy with his mockery.
"Your stamina isn't great even on a normal day." Luan Nian said it pointedly. Shang Zhitao was always finding excuses to slack off, and in truth he rather enjoyed it when she did.
...
Her face flushed red in an instant, and she looked down to count meal tickets.
Luan Nian stood there watching her count, watching the color slowly fade from her cheeks until she looked normal again. Then he said her name.
"Flora."
"Hm?"
"Have dinner with me once we're back in Beijing?"
Luan Nian imitated Dony's tone, as if he were teasing her, though his expression stayed serious.
"Sorry, I'm busy."
"Then stay busy. All the way through."
Luan Nian was quietly worried that Shang Zhitao might end up going to dinner with Dony anyway, out of deference to his authority. He didn't want to think about what would happen then, because he had no intention of letting it happen at all.
Clients began arriving in the dining hall one after another, and Luan Nian went to greet them. Shang Zhitao watched him work the room with total focus, and threw herself back into her own work just as seriously. A while later, she saw him sit down and start chatting with two clients.
Shang Zhitao didn't know how the strange understanding between them had come about. Probably from sleeping together often enough to know each other well. Like right now, she understood exactly what Luan Nian meant. What he was really saying was: stay away from Dony.
She texted back: "I'm not having dinner with Dony. I only have dinner with Luke. And sleep with him too." A sudden urge to tease him rose in her, and she found herself curious how he'd react to a message like that.
Luan Nian took out his phone to look. Shang Zhitao saw the corner of his mouth twitch, then curve into a small smile. He replied, "Good. Once we're back in Beijing, we'll sleep together too." Then he put the phone back in his pocket.
Shameless man.
She didn't know where those words came from, but there it was: Luan Nian, the shameless man, protecting her without ever saying so outright.
By the time they got to the equipment check, the male colleague from marketing had been thoroughly trained by Luan Nian, and now handled the checks for everyone with real competence. Everything ran smoothly. This was probably what made Luan Nian so formidable. No matter how chaotic a situation was, he could size it up quickly and turn things around.
The third day was slower than the day before, but the scenery was even better. Everyone started taking photos, playing around in the dunes, and the mood turned cheerful again. Lumi deliberately hung back with Shang Zhitao, her arm draped over Shang Zhitao's shoulder. She glanced at Dony, who was at that moment talking to a girl from the planning department, one who didn't get along with Kitty. Kitty, for her part, shot the two of them a disdainful look.
"Can I see today's room assignments?"
"No need. I already sorted it out." Lumi gave a small snort. "Interesting."
Master and disciple had grown attuned enough to each other by now that Shang Zhitao often didn't need to say anything at all for Lumi to read her mind.
That night, Shang Zhitao and Lumi sat by the window, curtains drawn, the room dark. A video camera was propped up facing the building across the way, where a light was on. Shadows overlapped for a moment, then the light went out. Shang Zhitao said to Lumi, "This is way too exciting."
Lumi patted her on the head. "More exciting than a blockbuster. Tsk tsk."
Shang Zhitao felt lucky to have someone like Lumi in her life. The two of them took turns keeping watch at that window, working together to find a way out of whatever trap Shang Zhitao might be walking into.
The day they got back to Beijing was a Sunday.
They'd only been gone a few days, but Beijing's summer had already ended. When Shang Zhitao walked in the door, Sun Yuanzhu was brushing Luke. She set her luggage down by the entrance and endured Luke's earth-shattering welcome. Sun Yuanzhu sat on the sofa, watching the two of them make a racket.
Shang Zhitao pushed Luke off her, walked over to the living room, and sat cross-legged across from Sun Yuanzhu. "All better now?"
"All better." Sun Yuanzhu turned back into that bright, easygoing young man, leaning forward to thank her. "Thank you, Ms. Shang Zhitao, for taking care of me that day."
Shang Zhitao saw the gentleness in his eyes, and a feeling of steadiness settled over the anxiety Dony's harassment had left in her. "Should we celebrate, then?"
"Sure. I feel like going for a walk."
"Let's go."
Shang Zhitao jumped up, and Luke jumped up with her. Sun Yuanzhu clipped on Luke's leash. "Bring him along too."
They went out and walked through streets scattered with a few fallen leaves. Sun Yuanzhu rarely spoke, and Shang Zhitao walked quietly beside him. She wanted to ask him about that time he'd called her "Taotao," but in the end she didn't bring it up. She only tilted her head slightly to look at him. He stayed quiet, with a faint distance about him. His story was hidden behind the lenses of his glasses, and if he lowered his head, you'd never see it at all.
They passed a newsstand. In recent years, newsstands had grown rarer and rarer, and the people who used to hand out newspapers in the subway had vanished overnight. Many people had started counting down the days until some brand new era arrived, wondering who would make it onto that train and who would be left behind by the times.
Shang Zhitao didn't understand Sun Yuanzhu's work. She imagined it as something like writing a program, embedding it into a system, a program that could command a driverless car to race freely down the highways of the northwest.
That must be romantic.
Human imagination was romantic by nature.
They walked along the streets of North Fifth Ring Road, she didn't know for how long, before Shang Zhitao finally couldn't hold back her unease any longer and brought up Dony. "You know," she said, "I'm actually scared. I'll turn him down, but I don't know if that will make him angry enough to do something out of spite."
"I see." Sun Yuanzhu thought it over. "Let me ask you this. Do you think he's done this kind of thing before?"
"I think he has." Shang Zhitao was certain Dony was a repeat offender. He handled this sort of thing too smoothly, leaving nothing anyone could hold against him.
Sun Yuanzhu nodded. "If he's done it before, sooner or later he'll slip up. Let me think about whether there's anything we can do."
Shang Zhitao smiled at him. "I don't know why, but I have a feeling you'll come up with something. The best solution in the world, probably."
"That's not necessarily true. It might be something that wouldn't hold up in polite company."
The autumn wind was picking up, the kind of season people call the finest time of year. At that moment, Luan Nian's car was parked across the street, and he watched Sun Yuanzhu walking Luke, with Shang Zhitao strolling beside him. Ordinary as any family of three, carrying a plain, quiet happiness.
He finally understood why Shang Zhitao always insisted on leaving his place by Saturday. She was eager to escape his house, because what she wanted was to run back to the ordinary reality and happiness she knew. The way she looked at Sun Yuanzhu carried a fondness she probably wasn't even aware of herself.
Luan Nian started the car.
On a whim, he'd decided to go to the bar and mix a drink. The barware had arrived and had been sitting untouched ever since. He'd never come looking for her on his own before. This was the first time, because that day he'd gotten it into his head, on impulse, to say he'd mix her the bar's very first drink. He drove up the mountain the whole way. At the bar, staff were already busy preparing for the official opening. Seeing Luan Nian, they greeted him, and he nodded back.
He had too much free time today.
A Sunday with nothing to do, cutting the workweek cleanly away from ordinary life, left him idle and restless.
He stood at the counter, a full set of barware lined up behind him. After thinking for a moment, he set to work mixing a White Lady. He brushed syrup around the rim of the glass and rolled it through crushed rose petals, so it looked like a woman dressed up for the evening. Luan Nian had studied bartending for a stretch of time. The base spirit was the heart of any cocktail, and everything changed depending on which one you chose.
He mixed drinks however he pleased, with no regard for proper method, as long as it tasted good.
The first drink he'd promised Shang Zhitao, he ended up drinking himself. Tan Mian's call came at just the right moment, asking where he was. He said he was up in the mountains.
"Drinking today?"
"Yeah."
Luan Nian thought he'd picked a really good spot. Sitting by the bar's floor-to-ceiling windows, he could see the early autumn scenery in the hills, and there were always a scattered few people willing to drive dozens of kilometers just to chase that autumn color.
By the time Tan Mian arrived, Luan Nian was taking photos. The green tea leaves in the glass had unfurled, sitting on the table by the window. Beside it lay a book, casually placed, with excellent taste.
He crouched down to find the right angle, wanting the shot to have some sense of depth. He clicked the shutter once and was satisfied with the result.
"You're pretty idle today."
Luan Nian looked at him. "And you're not?"
Tan Mian leaned back against the sofa. "Who else but an idle man would drive all the way out to this place? It's a pain to find." He looked around and could tell Luan Nian had good taste. "Nicely decorated."
"You flatter me."
"Perfect timing, actually. Our company's got an exchange event coming up. Let's hold it here."
"Thanks for the business."
Luan Nian's replies came out clipped, one after another, which was unusual for him. He wasn't normally this quiet around friends.
Tan Mian watched him keep taking photos and asked, "Bad mood?"
"...?"
"I'm asking if you're in a bad mood."
"No."
"Want to go out and have a few drinks, then?"
"I run a bar. And you're telling me to go out drinking?"
"Then we'll drink here."
"I'm not buying."
"Fine, I'll buy. That work?" By now Tan Mian could tell Luan Nian really was in a bad mood, since he was letting things slide left and right. If he didn't let it slide now, what was he supposed to do? The man had a vicious tongue when he wanted to.
"I'll call a few people over to drink, show some support for Boss Luan's new venture." As he spoke he glanced sideways at Luan Nian, who didn't even bother looking up.
Tan Mian went down his contacts one by one. "Come have a drink." In under two hours he'd rounded up seven or eight people, men and women both. There were two girls Luan Nian had never met. Tan Mian pointed at one of them and told Luan Nian: teaches Western literature at a university, parents live abroad, good family background. And look at her, those soft, expressive eyes, those slender hands. Grows flowers and admires the moon in her free time, reads and writes when she's busy. Doesn't that pair well with someone in the arts like you?
Luan Nian didn't even lift his head. He said flatly, "She's fine."
"Since she's fine, why not go over and have a drink with her?"
"You mix it, then?"
"I don't know how. You mix it, then bring it over."
Several of them sat by the window drinking, glancing over at Luan Nian now and then. As the night wore on, Luan Nian got a little careless with his measurements, figuring Tan Mian was paying for it anyway. In the end he mixed himself a Black Russian. It went down easy, though the vodka burned like hell.
He carried his glass over and sat down among them, and they all chatted about nothing in particular until the sky went fully dark.
Before leaving, Tan Mian called the girl and Luan Nian over. "Exchange contact info. Gong Yue's side organizes student events pretty often. I think this place would suit them well."
The intent to matchmake was hard to miss.
"Much appreciated."
Luan Nian took out his phone and exchanged contacts with Gong Yue. Only then did he notice his phone had been blowing up with messages of every kind. After seeing everyone off, he went through them one by one. Two of them were from Shang Zhitao. She said, Luke. I sent the budget plan to your email.
There was another one too. She said, "If you're not traveling for work next week, could you help me look after Luke?"
Luan Nian wrote back, "No."