After changing into a set of pink, ancient-style clothing, she handed the clothes she had hand-washed but were not yet dry to Tao Bai.
Tao Bai took them, gave them two quick shakes, and the clothes were instantly dry.
"Brother Tao, you are so amazing..."
Gui Nianqiu took the clothes Tao Bai handed back and took the opportunity to throw herself into his arms.
Tao Bai gently stroked her back, then patted her head, speaking softly,
"Shh! Save that sentence for later."
Hearing this, Gui Nianqiu bashfully pounded his chest with her small fist...
"Is that Great Cat Mountain in Guicheng?"
Gui Nianqiu looked down and spoke excitedly,
"My elder sister told me she really wanted to climb Great Cat Mountain once.
Tao Gege, can we stop there? I've never been to Great Cat Mountain either!"
Tao Bai didn't tell her that her sister had died on this very mountain.
He simply replied, "Okay."
At this moment, the summit was deserted, so the two landed right at the top.
Gui Nianqiu took quite a few more landscape photos on the mountain.
After coming down the mountain yesterday, she had expanded the memory of her K818C phone to 2GB, allowing it to store more photos.
She had also spent 2,200 yuan at a professional outdoor gear store to buy a SureFire U2 Ultra flashlight.
It had a brightness range of 2 to 100 lumens, adjustable across six levels.
The maximum brightness had a battery life of one hour, while the lowest setting could last over 40 hours.
She bought 20 CR123A batteries as backups, spending another 300 yuan.
Tao Bai felt this was somewhat unnecessary.
Perhaps in a few days, she wouldn't need a flashlight to see clearly in the dark anyway.
But he let her be; after all, the money had come as easily as if it were blown in by the wind.
"Tao Gege, take a few pictures for me."
Tao Bai took the phone and snapped several photos of her.
Gui Nianqiu took the phone back and looked at her photo with the landmark stone reading [The Peak of South HuaXia].
Wearing the pink ancient-style outfit with a camel-colored cape draped over her shoulders, she exuded a dust-free, otherworldly temperament, looking like a fairy descended to earth.
She was very satisfied with the result.
The sun was setting in the west.
Descending from the Old Mountain Boundary viewing platform, they soon arrived at the Cloud Peak Pavilion Resort Hotel on Great Cat Mountain.
Although the hotel's hardware was a bit simple, it was surrounded by primeval forest, offering fresh air and rich spiritual energy.
One could watch the sea of clouds and the forest, and staying there saved the trouble of going down the mountain to find another hotel, making it a good choice.
It was the low season for tourism in the dead of winter, so the hotel seemed cold and quiet.
"Is there any food near the hotel?"
This was Gui Nianqiu's first question when preparing to check in.
The receptionist was a bearded guy, looking about forty years old.
He sized up the couple holding hands and thought to himself:
Truly a talented man and a beautiful woman, a young couple passionately in love.
"There is a restaurant right inside the hotel, specializing in Yao cuisine and wild vegetables.
A standard double room with a view is 150 a night;
Free breakfast includes only plain porridge, mantou buns, and pickled vegetables.
There is no air conditioning in the room, only a coal stove.
You can burn coal for warmth, but pay attention to fire safety."
The hotel only had double and triple rooms.
Without hesitation, the two quickly booked a double room with a viewing balcony.
At 150 a night, what more could one ask for?
Upon entering the room and seeing the two single beds that were only 1.2 meters wide, they exchanged a glance.
Then, with tacit understanding, they began pushing the beds.
The wooden boards creaked creak, creak for a moment, and the two single beds transformed into a 2.4-meter wide king bed.
Smiling at each other, Gui Nianqiu spoke first, "Let's go eat something first!"
After Tao Bai lit the coal, the two left the room.
"Yao-style Smoked Meat with Bracken Fern,
Great Cat Mountain Spring Water Fish,
Stewed Local Chicken,
Stir-fried Mountain Bamboo Shoots, Stir-fried Purslane,
Hot and Sour Shredded Potatoes,
and Tofu Soup—
One order of each."
Gui Nianqiu looked at the handwritten menu on the blackboard and began ordering wildly.
After all, if she couldn't finish it, the person beside her would clean it up.
Before long, the dishes Gui Nianqiu ordered were served one by one.
Gui Nianqiu took several photos of the dishes before picking up her chopsticks.
To eat so much delicious food for less than 200 yuan is such a great value...
Back in the room, Gui Nianqiu sat on the edge of the bed, opened her gallery, and began selecting photos.
She categorized the ones she thought looked good by province and uploaded them to her QQ Space.
She also selected a photo of the food she had just taken and posted a status update (Shuoshuo) with a simple caption:
Less than 200 yuan, super value!
It didn't take long for classmates to start commenting.
Some were envious, some asked where she was, and others maliciously speculated that Gui Nianqiu was being "kept" (supported by a sugar daddy).
Later, a roommate simply sent a QQ message asking if she had any "connections" she could introduce.
There were very few girls in the Computer Science department to begin with—
Only seven in their year—
And they were all squeezed into the same dormitory.
Their relationship was mediocre;
They never had major arguments, but they weren't close enough to share a boyfriend either.
After graduation, everyone was busy looking for jobs and rarely kept in touch.
It hadn't even been half a year since graduation, yet Gui Nianqiu had been to Yue province, opened a clothing store, climbed the highest peak in Yue province, and then, even more exaggeratedly, suddenly went to Xiang province to climb Suxian Ridge and now suddenly returned to Gui province to climb Great Cat Mountain.
Such a dense itinerary seemed incredible to them.
Since her QQ Space had no privacy restrictions, many male students from the Computer Science department also visited her profile.
Looking at the upload times and the timestamps on the photos, they were deeply suspicious.
Three days, three different locations, each separated by two or three hundred kilometers. How was that possible?
They finally reached a conclusion:
She was being kept, and the guy likely drove a luxury car and was very wealthy...
And maybe he's bald...
No wonder she didn't look twice at us back then.
Many male classmates began to mock themselves.
Gui Nianqiu was a bit angry and didn't want to respond to that roommate.
But the roommate kept sending messages, even promising a huge referral fee, which annoyed her to no end.
She replied:
"No connections, I just got lucky.
Declaration: I am not being kept, don't speculate wildly!"
The other party sent an eye-roll emoji and said:
"If you're not being kept, where did you get the money to run around everywhere?
It's not like I don't know your family background.
If you don't want to introduce me, fine, but why pretend to be so high and mighty?"
Gui Nianqiu threw her phone aside, sulking.
Does this count as being kept?
Even if it is, so what?
Gui Nianqiu got up, put her phone to charge, and stopped responding.
Soon, various malicious comments and messages came flooding in.
Terms like "Kept Woman" and "Show-off Girl" appeared in the comments section of her post.
"Haha, the guy is probably only responsible for taking photos, too ugly to show his face."
"As long as there's money, anything goes, right?"
"As long as there's money, no matter how old or ugly, she can stomach it."
"That guy is probably just playing around, looking for something fresh."
"Waiting online for when she goes on the second-hand market."
"Waiting for thirds."
...
Such sentences filled the photo album comments section, but at this moment, Gui Nianqiu was sitting at the head of the bed, looking utterly depressed.
She didn't know her QQ messages and Space had already exploded.
"Nianqiu, why are you upset?"
Tao Bai noticed that Gui Nianqiu's expression seemed off and asked with concern.
Gui Nianqiu knew Tao Bai didn't want to be in photos, and she hadn't asked him to be.
She felt that simply being together was satisfying enough.
She tried not to think about those messy things...
"Some things my classmates said made me a little angry."
Gui Nianqiu pouted.
"Why care about what they say?"
Tao Bai sat beside her and said,
"You and they are no longer people of the same world.
They cannot understand the things you and I have experienced.
What do you expect from them?"
Gui Nianqiu leaned closer to Tao Bai but didn't speak.
"Follow your heart.
If you want to curse, curse back.
If you don't want to talk to her, block and delete her, ignore her completely.
Or, whatever makes them angry, keep doing exactly that."
"Mmh, I'm not so angry anymore."
Tao Bai lowered his head and kissed Gui Nianqiu on the forehead.
Gui Nianqiu tilted her face up and pressed her lips against his.
…