This is a very outgoing girl, always the center of attention wherever she goes. In my eyes, she always seems to intentionally or unintentionally gravitate towards Liang Yingwu. In front of Liang Yingwu, her smile is the brightest. Liang Yingwu could certainly be considered a young talent, with his overseas experience and an additional mysterious aura cultivated by another identity, paired with his handsome face that was already well-regarded in university, it would be strange if no girl had a crush on him. Honestly, even if he got involved in numerous teacher-student romances, I would find it completely normal. However, this guy is actually quite dull, very rigid in his thinking; being his girlfriend might not be such a good thing. Nightmare Reappears (3) Another pair of young people also caught my attention. It’s not that these students had anything particularly special about them, but they were inseparable wherever they went. The girl named Fei Qing would stick to Ka Xiaowu—the boy—every chance she got, even lying in his arms on the bus. What their relationship is, I don’t need to spell out. However, looking at these two, they didn’t seem like they were on a wilderness adventure, more like they were on a picnic in a Shanghai park. Yuan Qiufeng, a girl with a slightly affluent look, clearly comes from a wealthy family. By ‘wealthy,’ I mean not just wealthy in terms of stock market fortunes, but from a family with good upbringing and background. Such families, or perhaps clans, are not likely to have suddenly risen to wealth in this generation. Maybe Yuan Qiufeng didn’t want others to notice this, but her actions like laying down plastic film on the train bunk, her posture while sitting, and how she held her tea cup, as well as the slight frown when she boarded the bus, were enough for me to gauge her basic family background. Perhaps this young lady was aware of her own delicacy and deliberately wanted to toughen up through this camping trip. Here, I must clarify something to avoid misunderstandings that I’m some sort of creep who stares at young girls. Although, when I see a beautiful woman, I indeed take a good look, from her face, to her chest, to her waist, to her hips, to her legs, perhaps even her neck and hands, because I am a normal man with an eye for beauty. Yuan Qiufeng isn’t a beauty, but due to my professional habit, I observe details of people around me very closely. Since experiencing some incredible events, this habit has become even more ingrained, as sometimes it might save my life.
Contrary to Yuan Qiufeng, another boy, Zhu Zili, who had slicked-back hair, seemed to be knowledgeable, offering various opinions throughout the trip. However, to me, he appeared rather superficial, with much of his ‘knowledge’ far from the facts I knew. Noticing the jade pendant around his neck, which was of good quality but gaudy in design, along with his Dreamcatcher short-sleeve T-shirt and some unknown brand of denim shorts, and his casual use of profanity when speaking, I could almost conclude he came from a well-off family that had recently prospered. As for his education, judging from these, he seemed just an insecure rich kid. The other three boys, Zhao Gang, Wang Fangyuan, Lin Zhicheng, and the girl Jiang Wei, didn’t stand out initially. Surprisingly, two members of the group, Lu Yun, a girl, and Guo Yonghua, a boy, appeared quite introverted. One would think participants in such an activity would be outgoing and lively, but these two hardly spoke and never joined in others’ conversations. Guo Yonghua, when he did speak, stuttered, not just shy but seemingly with a bit of a stutter. However, everyone seemed used to it, not forcing them into conversations, indicating this was their usual behavior.
The journey from Wuhan to Badong was about three to four hundred kilometers, arriving around three or four in the afternoon. From Shanghai to Wuhan, the urban landscape had already changed significantly, but from Wuhan to Badong, a small county town, the population became increasingly sparse, with dilapidated buildings becoming more common and simpler in construction. Students who had moved to Shanghai from other provinces didn’t feel much, but those who grew up in Shanghai couldn’t help but sigh. Zhu Zili started another lengthy speech, commenting that although these people were very poor, they were inherently lazy and lacked ambition, and it would take who knows how long to develop like Shanghai. He sighed about the plight of the locals but showed no real sympathy, whereas Yuan Qiufeng, silent, had a look of compassion in her focused eyes. I could tell Zhu Zili was trying to catch Liu Wenying’s attention, perhaps all the girls’, but his comments were unremarkable. The differences between regions, from history to the present, involve complex factors that even scholars find challenging, let alone generalizing about human nature. However, Zhu Zili’s verbose explanations might deceive some naive girls.
Upon reaching Badong, the original bus driver, unfamiliar with the mountain roads leading to Shennongjia, was replaced for safety reasons with a long-distance coach in worse condition. The engine noise was like thunder, vibrating our feet, but the driver, with thirty years of accident-free driving, was supposedly very reliable. As the bus jolted towards Shennongjia, the steep mountain road often left half the bus hanging in the air during turns, making me realize that thirty years without an accident meant nothing here. If an accident occurred, being permanently disabled would be considered lucky. Most students hadn’t experienced such a thrilling ride; at turns, they would stick their heads out, gasping as half the wheels dangled over the cliff, with some timid girls not daring to look, squeezing to the side against the mountain, fearing the bus might tip over from the weight shift. Among the travelers was Lu Yun, a native of Hubei. This neat and tidy introverted girl, perhaps feeling more at home, started talking a bit more, much better than her wooden demeanor on the train.
